Santa brought him a BARN!

Just what he asked for, and this boy couldn't be any happier! He plays with this barn non-stop. He plays on it, in it, around it, and even beats on it with his new tool set :) Great Job Erik! (I mean Santa) :) We hope you all had a very merry Christmas!

Peek-A-Boo

We had our big ultrasound today! Little Baby is growing and all looked well (what a relief, I really worry about appointments like these) Anyway, he mostly wanted to hide from us. Ryder thought it was quite a fun little game playing Peek-a-boo with his new little brother!

Funny, he hated it last year...

Em reminded me of Ryder's dislike for snow last year. I had to re-post this picture, just so you all could see how things change. I got a good laugh out of it....

Somebody at our house....

LOVES THE SNOW! Where did Ryder come from? We're not sure.... all we know is he loves the snow. After begging all morning yesterday, Erik took him out in it. He was in heaven! Me and Erik are not huge cold, snow people, but our little guy wants nothing more then to freeze his little hands and face :) I guess it does make it look a little more like Christmas, so thats good! Hope everybody had fun in the SnOw!!!

Looks like Dad might be getting a snow shovel for Christmas!

I Love This!

All READY to PLAY!

No, this isn't a joke....

this really is ME. I am huge, I told you all. I am 19 weeks today with this giant - little man. I am doing good, and so far this pregnancy is going really well. I think we have decided on the name Madden. Middle name is still a debate :) This picture compares to the one when I was 7 or 8 months along with Ryder. By my third or fourth baby, I may not be able to get out of bed after the first month! :)

baby BOY`update :)

Well, we went to the doctor last night, and our little guy is definitely still a BOY! I keep having people tell me that it could change, and I really had my hopes up for a boy. So we were relieved to know that 'he' is a BOY! Everything looks good, he was darling, sucking his thumb and kicking like crazy. It seems like it has been a long time since I was pregnant. Man, you forget things fast. This is quite a journey and we feel so blessed to be adding to our little family. I am 18 weeks, so nearly half way there. And his name is still undecided, but we are leaning towards Madden, since Ryder is still set on it :) He knows something we don't, at least thats what it seems sometimes! Anyway, I will post belly pictures soon.. (and yes, my belly is huge) I'm already having to wear maternity pants and my doctor Machel last night, said, 'Wow, you're really poking out'.... way to make me feel even bigger :)

Is it too early??!

We couldn't wait. We had to put up the trees. Ryder has been asking for awhile now and I finally gave in! I thought for sure we would have alot of broken ornaments, but he has done really well. He loves 'His' tree. When I found the ornaments last year I couldn't resist. It is definitely an all boy tree:) We set his up in his playroom, with a train and all underneath. It is fun to have a new house this year and places to decorate. I am realizing though that my few Christmas things don't really fill up the house. I guess its time to go shopping:)

We're having a BOY!

Yay, we are so excited.... our little baby is a boy! Ryder knew all along, and he is really happy to be getting a brother. He keeps saying, 'he play trains with me'. He can't wait:) Last night he kissed my tummy and said, 'Mom, get baby out!" He was pretty upset that he couldn't come then! It might be a long 6 more months:) We are trying to decide on a name for this little guy. I like to have a name right away so I can actually call the baby something. We have a few in mind, but nothing set in stone. We like Jett, Cruz, Hazen, Hinckley, and Madden. Ryder is calling the baby Madden. That might end up being the name since Ryder is dead set on it. It is almost like when I mentioned it around Ryder, he already knew that it was his brother. It is kinda wierd... whenever we suggest something else, he says, 'no, my madden.' So we'll see. I'm not sure its unique enough for me. Let me know what you guys think??

Little Fireman

Ryder is such a cute little fireman! I actually had bought him a darling Pirate costume for this year, but he was having nothing to do with it. He wanted to be a fireman, and for those of you who have little kids this age, you know that they usually get exactly what they want! Well, I decided to make him a cute fireman (all the ones I found were really cheesy), I think it turned out pretty cute, and he couldn't be happier!

We're excited to tell everybody that Baby Steele is coming the First of May! Ryder is excited too (we think). He keeps saying 'big brother'! We think he'll be a great one. We'll keep ya posted on the growth (which is already happening pretty quickly:)

We Love Fall!

I just love this time of year! I love that you get to decorate for fall, I love that it isn't so hot outside, that it gets darker earlier, that you get to wear pants and sweatshirts, and that you get to go to the PUMPKIN PATCH! I took Ryder to the pumpkin patch for the first time when he was just 3 months and its been our little tradition each year. He loves picking out pumpkins and I love taking pictures of the whole thing. He is so funny and cute and this year was definitely no exception! He has this new face that is hilarious, and he says the funniest things. (the newest of which is Happy Weeny (happy halloween) :) He said it to us last night, and we all about fell over laughing:) Here is a look back at the pumpkin patch, Enjoy! and Happy Fall!

USBORNE BOOKS!

Hi everybody! I just wanted to let everybody know that I started selling usborne books. If you haven't ever seen them, you need to:) They are incredible. I am going to have a party at my house in a few weeks. If you want to come, let me know, or if you want to host a party at your house (and get free books) let me know too! You can check them out at www.ubah.com/X2501 (thats my page, until I figure out how to change it to something better:) HAPPY READING!

After the Rain....

We had quite the rain storm yesterday! And wind too. Our neighborhood had random toys (little swimming pools, blow up toys..etc) scattered all over. Last week we dug up this nasty rock garden on our back yard and are planning on just putting grass there, but with the storm we learned it is some kind of drain. It turned in to a little lake and Ryder thought it was the happiest day of his life He loved playing in the "Mun". (Mud)

Zoo, Firetrucks and Big Balloons!

We have had a pretty busy, eventful month so far. Ryder got a zoo membership for his birthday so we went there. He loved it, especially the train and riding on the carousal. Then on Saturday we went to the McKay Dee NICU Reunion. Ryder was in heaven cause the firetruck and lifeflight were there! He even got to sit in the firetruck, he liked it until another little girl inside pulled the siren, then he was done! We ended the week with the Balloon Festival in the Valley. It was fun, I was a little disapointed though, I thought the balloons would fly, not just sit there on the ground :) It was still pretty.

StRoLLeR ObSeSsIoN!

Call me obsessed... I've got a thing with strollers. Erik thinks I am crazy, maybe he's right! I think strollers are like shoes and purses. I like to have everything match. Especially stroller and diaper bag, I'm really crazy about that:) Well, I had a graco stroller and carseat when Ryder was a baby... I liked it, didn't love it. It was way to heavy to throw in and out of the car. Well, when he was about 6 months I bought this Maclaren stroller, and I have loved it. We have gotten so much use out of it. It is so light and so easy to fold up and it reclines so when he is asleep it works too! We have taken it on all our vacations and I love it! (should I be a stroller critic or what??!) Well, yesterday I was on KSL (my latest addiction) and I was looking through the FREE Ads. What do ya know, there is a stroller, and a brand new one at that. The lady ended up with it at an auction and she didn't know what she had. Its a Bebelove and it retails for like $300.00! She lived in West Jordan but me and Ryder made quite an adventure out of it and set out yesterday to pick it up! Wow, a free stroller! It is really nice, its missing one part but I called and It is $25 to replace. And after all that, I think I will sell it rather than keep it, its nice, cute, but I'm not crazy about the color. Someday (not an announcement), when we need another stroller I am gonna know everything about every kind out there! Maybe I should start a Stroller Blog:)

I Like fRoGs!

Guess he is all BOY! We have frogs at our new house, well their more like Toads, big ones.. (gross) Ryder has some sort of love for these gross, slimy little creatures. He can just reach out and grab one, its actually pretty amazing:) Anyway, last night he had a lot of fun catching, playing with, and mostly squeezing to death these toads! He sure is cute though:)

Birthday Boy!

What a Fun Birthday! Ryder was SPOILED ROTTEN... again! We had a fun John Deere Party, mom even made a pretty cool cake! We had a pinata and a lot of FUN!

Happy Birthday Ryder!

I can't believe my little boy is TWO! We had a little party for him last night and it was so fun! He loves tractors so we had a John Deere Party! This was the invitation! I must say, I think it turned out pretty cute:) More pictures to come...

American Idol Tour...

First I have to tell my cute husband THANK YOU SO MUCH for taking me to the American Idol concert.... he was a little hesitant because he of course doesn't want to look like a 'teeny bopper' as he calls them. Them being probably 90% of the crowd :) But, I loved it and I think he secretly had a little fun too... My favorites were Brooke, Jason, Of course David Archuleta who is 100 times better in person then he was on the show... he can really dance! David Cook was great and of course I LOVE Michael Johns. Anyway, it was really fun, we had good seats on the 10th row, and we didn't get stuck next to people who drank (always a plus at a concert). (maybe its cause they were all like 12-16 years old:)!!) When David Archuelta came out you couldn't even believe the crowd, he just had to stand there for like 10 minutes cause he couldn't even get a word in. Finally he just started bawling.. I don't think he quite knew what to do... I'll post pictures soon :) thanks again to Erik, theres nothing wrong with looking like a 'teeny bopper' is there?? !! :)

4th of July Weekend

I love the 4th of July! The parade this year was so fun, Ryder loved watching it and especially getting all the candy. The best part was the people who threw otter pops! I think we all ate about 10 each while we sat there :) Ryder and his cousins decorated shirts and rode in the parade. Ryder loved the giant tractors that took up the whole road. After the parade we went to have lunch with my family. Ryder had his first KFC and actually ate more than he ever has. He was running around with a chicken leg and loving every minute of it! Then we did the annual Farr West Greek Food at the Park and watched the sky divers. Ryder wasn't sure about that, but after he kept and still keeps telling us he saw 'Guys' in the sky, and they looked like 'Bugs'. How cute is he?! We saw the fireworks from the car, he didn't cry this year though. Slowly he is getting a little braver I think :) On Saturday morning we left to go up to Erik's families cabin in the Unitas. We had a lot of fun all day. Ryder LOVED the dirt and by the end of the day we weren't sure if his skin really was white. We had yummy dutch oven, and I actually made a peach cobbler. It turned out good :) (it was really hard... cake mix and peaches !) We planned on staying the night, but at about 9 Ryder started crying saying 'Home, Home'. It was kinda sad. He really is a homebody. We never go anywhere, so he had a hard time going to sleep. We left and made it home at about 12:30. He slept the whole way home and most of the night. Anyway, thats a long story I guess. We had a fun weekend though. I love holidays where you get to be with family. Its the best.

I think Ryder's found a JOB!

This week we did the funnest thing! Ryder and all his cousins got to go on a little field-trip to Pizza Man, like the best pizza place on earth! It was really fun, they learned to make the dough, roll it into the unbelievably good bread sticks, and then they all got to make a mini pizza! Ryder loved it, although most of his toppings didn't make it onto his pizza :) I think he was a little hungry! Anyway, we had a great time. Thanks to Pizza Man, they were so nice to let us in there and do this for the kids:)
The whole group!


Little Pizza Man!

He would rather eat the ham then put it on the pizza :)

All finished and ready to go eat the PIZZA! (which I must add, he LoVeD!!)

July 1st... 4 years :)

Well, today is mine and Erik's 4 year anniversary! Wow, I can't believe that time goes so fast. I feel like we just got married yesterday. Anyway, I had to wish Erik a happy anniversary and tell him how much I love him. He is a great husband and father and my life is very blessed.

He went in the POTTY!

Yea for Ryder! This morning he went pee on the potty! What a big boy! Me and Erik were quite proud :) Ryder just looked at us like, why are you jumping up and down??! Once he realized what he had done, he was pretty excited too! I hope this lasts!

To Cute!

I know I post like a thousand pictures of this cute little boy, and here is yet another. In his new Bike Helmet, just like Dads!

Discovery Gateway & My Birthday!

Well, it seems like we have had a pretty busy week or so! I wanted to go shopping at Gateway for my birthday last week, and we decided that we would take Ryder to the Kids Museum down there! Can I just say WOW! That place is amazing, if you haven't been, you've gotta go! He absolutely loved the place and I'll admit, Erik and I had almost as much fun:) (maybe more!)

Erik and Ryder gave me a Sander for my Birthday:) (nothing like getting power tools!)

This wall was magnetic, you put ping pong balls through the pipes

On top theres a Life Flight Helicopter, Ryder loved being in the pilots seat!

Spelling his name!

This was his Favorite thing, the water goes through all kinds of bowls, pipes, strainers, and its totally hands on!