A Video that Makes Me Smile

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope that everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving and a great Black Friday! :) Joe had to work Thanksgiving day, which kind of stunk, but we have him for Christmas so we're pretty happy about that! Plus, Friday felt like Thanksgiving too, and we had Joe home for that. We spent Thanksgiving with Joe's siblings and their significant others. Joe's mom did a wonderful job on the food. MMMM... So good! I did miss my family this Thanksgiving as well, but we had fun! And it was another happy day because I ran my very very first race, a 5 Mile Wild Turkey Race in Salem. I was hoping to finish it in an hour, but I finished it in 54 minutes and 22 seconds! Crazy I know! Katie figured out that there were little chips on the back of our bibs (numbers we wear) and that's how it tracked when we crossed the starting and finish lines. I have to admit though, I thought I was going to barf after I crossed that finish line, but it went away right away, so thank goodness for that. It was cold and I was decked out in my technical shirt, head band, mp3 player, and gloves. Glad I didn't wear a jacket because I was sweating like 3 minutes into that race. I had to take my gloves off and hold them because my hands started to sweat. I'm so thankful that it was so sunny and beautiful on Thanksgiving because the day before it was dark, dreary, windy, and rainy. It was also a beautiful day because Joe's brother Steve finally got engaged to his girlfriend Tracy before the race! Congrats and it's about time! Ryker needs some Gebhardt cousins! It was kind of neat because all of the girls ran it.... me, Joe's sister Liana, Steve's fiance Tracy, and Rick's (Joe's oldest brother) girlfriend Katie! And we all did awesome. I was last place out of all of us of course, but I can't complain! We all came in within a minute or seconds of each other. Well, Tracy was like six minutes before us all, but close enough. ;) After we stopped running and were standing there for a little bit, we got pretty cold because it was still under 40 degrees out (I think) and we were wet from sweat. I pigged out at Thanksgiving dinner so I'm pretty sure I canceled out any calories I burned that morning. I wish I had gotten a picture of the event, but oh well. I was wicked sore yesterday too. My shins, my quads, my ankles, my feet were all so sore, but I sure love that feeling! :) Here are all the girls results. I think if you double click you can see it better. :) It gives what place number, the name, where they are from, their bib number, age, gender, age group, time, and time per mile!Thanksgiving dinner was delicious as I said before, and Ryker had a blast with his uncles and aunts! :) He was also very happy when Daddy came home that night!
Friday morning, we went to have breakfast with Joe's dad and sister. It was fun, and then Joe and I were off to the malls for some Black Friday shopping. I saved 120 dollars at Kohl's and got some things for Christmas at a couple other shops and another mall. We went to dinner with Ricky and Katie at Chili's, and we had a lot of fun. Ryker joined us for that one.
Anyways, we love the holidays and we had a great last couple of days! :)Here is my technical shirt and my bib. I figured since I didn't get a pic of me wearing it during the race, I'd just take a pic of what I wore. Not proof, I know, but man am I happy I finally accomplished one of my goals! :)
Ryker's first Thanksgiving! :) I'm thankful that I can be a mom to such a wonderful boy and a wife to such a wonderful man! :)
I'm grateful for my sweet little boy. Check out that turkey with his huge blue slippers on. :)
Thanksgiving dinner knocked him out. Haha. Seriously though, we were all eating dinner at the table and looked over and he fell asleep. :)

I'm thankful for so much this year. As I mentioned above, I'm thankful for my family, I'm thankful for all that we have been blessed with...and we have been blessed with so so much! I'm thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that I have a Heavenly Father who loves us and wants what's best for us so that we can return and live with Him after this life. I know that that couldn't be possible without Jesus Christ atoning for our sins. I am forever thankful for Him. I love Him. I'm thankful for eternal families and that I can be with them forever. I can't imagine life without my family. :) I love them so much! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! :)

8 Months Old!

Ryker turned 8 months on November 18! We can't believe it! He has learned so much in the last month, it's crazy! It's amazing how fast such a little person can learn! Here are some things about Ryker!
-Ryker learned to crawl at 7 and a half months (it was about time! He's been trying so hard for like 2 months now!)
-He loves pulling himself up in his crib and bouncing and walking around in his bed
-He is very very talkative and now says "Ma-ma!" (first said it on 11/11/11)
-He likes to mimic people as you will see in the video below.
-He can have yogurt now, and I'm pretty sure that's his favorite thing. He also loves his Mum-mums, which is like a cracker for a baby (dissolves in his mouth)
-He is cruising (furniture walking)!
-He loves being on his legs; he definitely wants to walk!
-He wants to see everything that is going on around him and will grab at everything. He especially loves grabbing things off the shelf at the grocery store.
-He just wants to do what everyone else is doing
-He started this new thing where he looks at people all innocently, and it looks like he is wondering if he is supposed to be doing what he is doing.
-He really loves his mommy and daddy and is really starting to be clingy. When we try to give him to someone he'll lean towards us like he doesn't want to go, but when we give him to someone he doesn't really cry either. He also started this thing where he lays his head on our shoulders when we pick him up or take him out of his crib when he is crying.
-He's so cuddly.
-He likes when we sing at church. I'm pretty sure he tries to sing because it's only when we sing hymns that it starts to sound like he is shouting. He did it during the closing hymn last week, and then when we were in relief society he did it again. I think he likes to sing.
-He really enjoys the song "Called to Serve"
-He likes to dance to music.
We love him very much. He is just growing up way too fast! Love you Ryker Thomas! :)

Celebrate!

A glorious thing happened to me yesterday. I was putting away Summer clothes and getting out Winter clothes, and organizing maternity clothes, prepregnancy clothes, etc. Well, I forgot about my favorite pair of skinny jeans from before pregnancy. I was just messing around, but I tried them on and they fit! I was so happy that I danced around in them while cleaning all day yesterday! Makes me want to go buy my second pair of skinny jeans ever! I've been converted to the skinny jeans! :)

Halloween and Some other Fun!

"I'm gonna get you Mom!"

So, I know I'm a little late on this, but I figure if I don't do it now, I will never get this post done! We had a good Halloween. Ryker was a cute chubby monkey. I didn't even realize when I bought the costume that it had all this extra fluff in the middle until I put it on him and he looked like a fat monkey. :) Ryker went trick or treating a total of 3 times. The first time was at our ward trunk or treat on October 25. Here are some pictures from that night. We joke and say that Ryker was an Angry Chubby Monkey because he hardly smiled in any pics.The next time we went trick or treating at my sister-in-law's work on Thursday October 27. It is also my brother-in-law's girlfriend's job (she's a scientist). We walked around and went to different places in the building to get candy. They had free food and there were lots of cute little kids. Ryker was the cutest of course. ;) Joe's parents came with me. Joe had to work that day, but we had lots of fun. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of that day.

Not sure if anyone heard of the winter storm that hit New England late Saturday (Oct. 29) and early Sunday, but it did, and I was a little annoyed that the meteorologists were correct about this storm. Usually, they are at least a little off. This time they were dead on. It was so windy and cold! We lost power a little after midnight and didn't get it back til almost 11a.m. We were freezing. Ryker wore his snow suit in bed and was a little fed up with the fact that he could hardly move in that thing. It was so cute. There are still some without power today. I am so grateful that we have power and heat. :) Here's a pic of the snow from our side yard and backyard. It was only like 3 or 4 inches in our city, but some got a foot or more! yikes!
Most the snow had melted by Halloween, but there are still spots where there is snow today. Some cities had to post pone trick or treating because of the power outage. Luckily, we had power, so we went trick or treating! Joe had to work that day as well, so Joe's mom came with Ryker and I. Ryker was an Angry chubby monkey when we were trying to get pics of him in his costume. Ryker got some nice comments and some nice loot for his family! ;) Here he is on Halloween. We also carved a pumpkin as you can see in the pic with Ryker!

This was a little bit before we went trick or treating. He was showing off his muscles to his Uncle Steve. That kid is so strong. Sometimes I feel like he's stronger than me.

Ryker and his Mimi!

The Angry Chubby Monkey!

We also had the missionaries over that night, and here are some pics. He particularly enjoyed their ties. :) Ryker also enjoyed Elder Ban. In every group pic we tried to get, he was looking over at Elder Ban. He also wanted to eat Elder Ban's tie. Maybe Elder Ban smells like Cambodian food. ;) Elder Ban also enjoyed eating our Halloween candy. ;) We were happy to give them all the Halloween candy. I was still wearing my work shirt. Sometimes I just stay in my work clothes all day. Lazy of me, I know.

Check out Elder Ban!

Happy Boy!

MMMM Tasty!