Days 1-2 in Orlando

On October 7th, we flew down to Orlando to spend a fun week there!!! And boy, was it fun!  It was warm everyday.  It was weird for it to be almost 90 in October!  We got to our BEAUTIFUL place that evening after getting a little lost in my very first rental car (haha).  We stayed in a time share that Joe's cousin has with Joe's parents.  We had a room with a king sized bed, jacuzzi tub, and its own bathroom.  It was awesome!  It was also nice because they provided a crib and a high chair!
 On our first day there, we hit the pool.  The pools were huge there, and it was neat because they had kiddie pools too for the little ones!  Later that day, we headed to Disney World for Mickey's Scary Halloween Party.  We watched the Halloween parade, rode It's a Small World, Peter Pan, and a few other fun ones, and we also watched the amazing firework show!  Pregnant women can't ride a lot of the rides, so it was nice to get to ride a few of the easy going rides.  Since we were up until 1:30 Monday night, we mostly just relaxed on Tuesday and swam some more.  Oh, and we took great advantage of that jacuzzi tub in our room.  I think we got in that thing every single day! Now for some pics!

My first rental car (it reminds me of a bigger PT Cruiser)

 There was a balcony in the back of the time share we stayed in.  This was the first official picture I took, and it's funny how the camera kind of fogged up from the humidity!

 Ryker in the kiddie pool with Daddy

 With Mommy

 Joe took this little goody of Ryker... haha!

 This was on the tram that took us to the ferry that took us to the park!

 On the ferry to the Magic Kingdom!

 Family pic in front of the Castle

 This is Ryker watching the Halloween parade on Daddy's shoulders

We saw Lotso on our way out of the park, and Joe and I had to take a pic with at least one Disney character...Ryker was zonked out by this time.

Here's a video of Ryker on "It's a Small World" with his Grampy:

Our Little Man

It has been so long since I have done a post just about Ryker!  Ryker turned 18 months on September 18th.  Ryker is definitely all boy! Busy, busy, busy!  Ryker is pretty social as long as he is well rested and feeling well!  He just started nursery a couple weeks ago.  It was a breeze.  He pretty much went in there and waved bye-bye.  I'm not even sure if he noticed we even left.  He loves being around other children.  The nursery class is HUGE.  There are always at least 10 children in there.  The nursery teacher said that he is always so good and does so well at snack time and loves to color!  His best friend's name is Jenna.  She is so cute.  They've been buddies since we moved into the ward (she is 2 months older than him) when he was just two months old, and they get so excited when they see each other.  They just run and hug each other.  It just melts my heart to see how much love a child can have for an individual.  I really need to get a picture of them together sometime. :)

 Here's our little man at 18 months!  Well, I think it was about a week before he was officially 18 months.  I haven't been the best at getting pictures of him lately.  Isn't he getting so big and even more handsome? We just love having him in our family!  We're excited to see him continue to learn and grow and become a big brother! :)

As for language, he is finally starting to say words that we can understand!  He's always been a babbler.  He loves to talk, talk, talk.  But just around the time he turned 18 months, he repeated "bye-bye" after I said it.  Lately, we've been asking him to look at us while we say the word.  You can tell he is concentrating on how the sounds are made when we say them and then he takes a whack at it and does pretty well most the time.  One day he just said "cracker" and the other day he said "tickle" on his own.  He'll say "tickle, tickle" and start tickling his feet.  It's so cute!  He also says "Daddy" perfectly.  Some other words that he is saying are more, car, go, dog (daw), up, down (dow), Elmo (eh-mo), banana (na-na), two, "what's that?" (uh dat?), and I am sure I am forgetting a few others, but he is doing so well!  We are even more excited for when he can tell us what he wants or needs, so he won't get frustrated with us. :)  He also like to count... it goes a little bit like this *starts pointing at things* " un....two....two....dor...two"  basically he loves the number two.  He's so silly!

So, since it's been so long since I've done one of these things, I'm just going to list off some things about Ryker to make it quick and easy.  This post is already getting pretty long!!!

• Ryker loves giving people hugs
• He loves to climb, especially off and on chairs
• He LOVES LOVES LOVES to be outside.  Any chance he can get, he'll beg to go out there.  It's been raining for like a week here, so he's been going a little crazy
• He loves the gymnastics room at the YMCA.  We get to go during open gym, and he can go in and jump on the tramps and do anything he wants in there!
• He loves to color
• Loves ELMO
• His foot is now a 6 1/2.  He went from a 5 to a 6 1/2.  Big boy!
• He loves to take tissues and blow his nose (he breaths in and out, haha)
• He loves to put shoes on.

• We make veggie drinks a lot in our blendtec (that thing can get loud), and he covers his ears when we run it.  He loves the veggie drinks, too!
• One time we were playing in the backyard, and he was playing with a tennis racket, and he started strumming it and singing!
• He loves to sing!  We sing hymns every night with our hymn books, and he'll open it and start singing his own song.  Last night his song went a little like this....ya, ya, tickle, tickle. HILARIOUS.
• When we say it's time for prayers, he folds his arms.  Sometimes we'll ask him if he wants to say it, and we tell him to "say this and say that.." and he giggles almost like he is shy or something.  Then he tries to say "amen."  It is such an amazing thing to see our child learning to pray.  I'm glad that it is something that we can start from the time our children are born, so that it is second nature to them! :)
• He loves to play hide and seek and be chased
• He has recently started loving showers...actually prefers those over baths
• He loves to turn the faucet on and off and wash his hands
• Ryker is a very strong kid.  He can throw a bouncy ball higher than I can!  He's got quite the arm! We joke that he will be a baseball pitcher! haha
• He loves to build with legos, play with cars, and throw balls (he's ALL boy)  He can hold his own weight too... He's 30 pounds.  I can hardly lift him!!! haha

 Anyways, I think that I'm happy with what I've got.  I wanted to get this post done before I forget everything and he is doing even more things!!! Also, we are headed to Disney World on Sunday until the following Sunday!  We are hoping to make it to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter as well.  Well, there is so much to do in Orlando, I don't know how we could do everything we want to in just a week.  We are super excited!!!  I've never been (I've been to Disney Land, not since 2006) and Joe hasn't been since he was 7!  So this is just as much for us as it is for Ryker!  I guess you now know what our next post will be about!

Here's another picture of the cutie to finish this blog post off!

Learning to Save Money!

So, I've been trying to get into couponing (I haven't done much yet), but I have been trying to look up deals and ways to save money, especially as baby #2 is on her way! Diapers can be expensive, so I've been looking up sales and coupons lately.  I found this awesome blog that does diaper giveaways! How awesome is that?! And they tell you when there are coupons!  Here is the website if any of you parents are interested!!! http://diapercoupons4moms.com/

A Wedding in Providence, Rhode Island

Wow! I cannot believe that  September has passed and gone!  On the weekend of September 2, we drove an hour and a half over to Providence, Rhode Island for Joe's brother Steve's wedding.  We got to stay two night in Hotel Providence, which is a pretty fancy hotel!  We had a KING sized bed.  I guess I never realized how big those beds are.  Joe and I could both spread out without falling off! Anyways, as you can see, I was pretty excited about the King sized bed.  Ryker was too.  He didn't want to sleep in his pack n play. HAHA

So, the rehearsal dinner was that Saturday night  at a nice little place.  The food was delish, and the family had a great time.  Ryker got his own plate (it must have been adult size) of chicken tenders and fries.  He was in heaven because he loves french fries, and we don't let him have them often.  Steve and Tracy got some nice gifts for their groomsmen and bridesmaids.  Ryker was the best "little" man, while Joe and Rick were the Groomsmen.  I'm pretty sure Steve just didn't want to have to choose between his brothers. :) That's okay.  Ryker was one awesome Best "little" Man!!!  Steve got him some cute little shirts and a little stuffed monkey that sings the ABC's, and he got Joe and Rick those mini helicopters that those guys are always flying around at the malls.  Pretty sweet gifts!!!  Here are some pics from the Rehearsal Dinner:

 Here's the Best "Little" Man looking all dapper while he waits for his adult size meal! haha!

 The parents of the groom! AKA my wonderful in-laws :)

 Joe got a pic of the groom.  I think he was trying to get Tracy too, but she looks like she was talking to someone at the time.

 Joe would kill me if he found out I posted this pic.  He told me not to put it on facebook, so I didn't.  I think this picture is so funny.  He was taking a pic of himself looking "femi" and I jumped in the picture.  I had no idea that he was posing that way! haha!

 Joe's sister Liana and her fiance Greg!

On September 2nd, we headed to a ward in Warwick, Rhode Island.  We ran into one of the missionaries that used to be in our ward, so that was cool! He hadn't seen Ryker since he was like 8 months old, so that was fun.  We left after sacrament because we had to get Ryker some breakfast.  I know, I know, what kind of parents don't feed their child before church? haha.  We were in a rush that morning.  He's always a trooper anyways!  The wedding ceremony was in a beautiful park in Providence at 4:30.  The Bride and Groom were a very handsome couple and the ceremony was beautiful!  I do have to say though, it's tiring having a 18 month old in a wedding party, let alone a husband ;) Just kidding. Ryker, Joe, and Rick were all matching, so I thought that was just so awesome!!!  Here are some pics from the wedding day!

Best "Little" Man with Daddy!!!

 

Bride and Groom after ceremony.  The lighting was really bad on my camera!

 

 Ryker at wedding dinner with Tracy's nephew Jack.  Ryker loved him, and Jack loved Ryker.  Dinner was delicious! He had some pasta.  I had a nice piece of swordfish. Delicious! It really is the steak of the sea! so good! And Joe had some chicken.  It was all so good!

 Rick and his fiance Katie! :)

 The day after the wedding, the bride and groom surprised the family with a morning gondola ride.  They were real gondolas-legit from Italy!! :)  Ryker was asleep when we got there, so he got on with his Grampy and Mimi, and he decided to wake up for the fun! :)  After the ride, we headed back to hurry and check out of the hotel!  Instead of going straight home, we headed the the Providence Place mall.  That is one HUGE mall.  It is three stories and there are more underground stories too.  On the way home we stopped at Red Robin next to Gilette stadium where the Patriots play.  We don't have a Red Robin near us, so we were pretty excited to have one of their amazing burgers and their delicious steak fries!

Here are 3 prof pics from the wedding that their photographer Kristen Jordan took.  I think she did a great job! :

 Steve and his brothers

 I love this picture!  It's totally a precious moment! Ryker was trying to take Steve's hat!

After the park, they headed to a carasoul that is also part of the park, and they took pictures on it.  What a cute idea! Here's the wedding party!

Ryker is Going to Be a Big Brother...

to a little sister!!!

Most of you already know this, but...

IT'S A GIRL!!!

The ultrasound went really well.  Everything looked really healthy... two halves of a brain and 4 chambers to the heart.  The ultrasound tech kept saying perfect to everything.  I guess the baby was really cooperating too.  We are very blessed!  When we first got in there, she was like do you want to know what you are having, and Joe told her that he wanted to see if we could tell before she told us... in my head I was thinking, hmmm... I don't really see anything between those legs,  maybe it IS a girl after all! (Joe said he was 100% this time that it was a girl; I was unsure again).  After a while, we were like is it a girl? and she was like it IS a girl!  I don't know why I feel like I can't believe it's a girl.  I guess I just thought I wouldn't be surprised if I had all boys.  Anyways, we are very excited, and Ryker is excited to have a little sister soon!  I've wanted so bad to buy all this girl stuff, but we are going to wait until two of Joe's cousins give us all of their girl clothes and then we can buy what we need.  Yay! She'll be here at the end of January!!! :)  Maybe earlier, but I hope not too much earlier! :)

18 Weeks!

I wanted to get all my posts done before my doctor's appointment this afternoon, but I have one more post about Joe's brother's wedding this passed weekend that I will post about later.  But here is a pic of me at 18 weeks.  We find out if it is a boy or girl today! What are your guesses?  We are so excited!!!

Anniversary and Birthday

Ryker and I got back from SLC the morning after our anniversary (August 8).  It has been 4 blissful years, and I wouldn't change a moment of it!  We didn't get any pictures, but we just celebrated casually by going to a movie and dinner.  We are going to go up to North Conway, New Hampshire in two weeks to spend a week there for our anniversary.  Ryker is coming with us, so we are celebrating as a family. :)  It will be fun!!!
Joe's birthday was August 22nd.  We went to breakfast as a family, and it was fun.  Later in the evening, Joe's parents took us out to dinner at a place called Danvers Port Yacht Club.  It's a nice sea food place.  Joe loves their lobster rolls. I like a lot of sea food, but I'm not a fan of lobster...too fishy to me, so I got a tasty buffalo chicken wrap.  We had a fun time, and it was very nice!  Didn't get any pics of the night  unfortunately!!!
Also, within the last month or so, Joe's brother Rick got engaged and so did his sister Liana! So, within a short 6 month period, it's going from Joe being the only child married, to all 4 of the kids being married!  I think my in-laws are overwhelmed! But very happy of course! 3 weddings and another grandbaby on the way!!! Actually, it's only 2 more weddings, because Steve just got married September 2nd!!! :)

 Ryker and Daddy at Friendly's for Daddy's birthday breakfast! Delicious!

 Ryker loves putting head phones on

Joe took this pic of Ryker, and I thought it was super cute.  What a great smile!!!