Moving.

Moving, in general, is not one of my favorite activities. It's a good thing we had so many friends and family members who were willing to lend a hand! It definitely made for a very fun and quick moving day. My parents came up the day before and we spent that night finishing up some last minute packing and enjoying having family around. Ryder did his best to pitch in, he ate ice cream out of the carton for dinner the night before (we had to get rid of that ice cream some how). Papa, of course, had to join him.

Ryder's favorite part was definitely the moving truck. He could not get enough of it... running in the back while it was empty or sitting up in the driver's seat. He was one happy kid! Then, as 9:00 am rolled around on moving day, so did our friends and in a little than an hour we had the truck loaded up and ready to go. That, my friends, is what I like to call a success! Not to mention that the apartment was squeaky clean. Our friends are gems. I am embarrassed to say that I did not pick up or load a single box in the entire process. Turns out that moving when you're 7 months pregnant is also not the best idea in the entire world. It makes you pretty unhelpful.

I finished up a few things at our old place and by the time I got over to the house, the truck was mostly unpacked. After a morning of moving, we all headed to In-N-Out for some lunch. The perfect way to celebrate having all our stuff in our brand new house! I only wish unpacking could go as smoothly as the actual "moving" part. Almost a month here and we are getting close to emptying the last box. Not there yet, but not far off. I hope I never see another cardboard box. Done and done.

Homeowners.

 That's right folks. We are real, live adults now. After months of house hunting, we finally found "the one" and we did something crazy and just bought it. We bought a house. I kind of still can't believe that we are actual homeowners. That's probably because we haven't actually had to pay the mortgage yet, so I'm sure that will definitely make it feel more real.

We officially signed the papers on Tuesday, February 25th and then we got the keys on Thursday, February 27th. We met at the house that afternoon with our awesome realtor Ben Waller and he officially gave us the keys! Ben helped us every step of the way (buying this home had its fair share of roadblocks), and if anyone is looking for an awesome realtor, we would definitely recommend him! Ben was actually a missionary in the Marina Hills ward way back when and Chad knew him from his mission. It's always good to have people you can trust when you're doing something as big/insane as buying a house.

Our cute little home is in Daybreak and we absolutely love it. It was kind of a crazy couple of weeks, doing the whole "packing up, moving, unpacking, organizing, settling in" thing, but we have finally gotten to a point where things are starting to really feel like home. We've still got a ways to go, don't get me wrong. Chad just said last night that he's ready for a weekend when he doesn't actually need to build something... but we are getting there. All of the house hunting, waiting, playing the real estate game... it was all worth it to now have such a beautiful place to call home. Home sweet home.

Pregnancy: 29 weeks

It turns out that pregnancy is different the second time around. Mostly because I spend so much time chasing around a busy two-year-old that I don't have time to stop and think about being pregnant. With Ryder man, it seemed like the days dragged by because I was so eager and anxious to meet him! I feel that excitement and eagerness with this baby too, but I also feel like I need every day I can get to prepare as well as I can for having 2 little boys around! Some days I get overwhelmed with the thought of having 2 kids, and those days I appreciate every single day that I have with just Ryder man. This baby will be here before I know it.

On the flip side, I feel huge at 30 weeks and like this baby is making himself comfortable much sooner than Ryder did. I have a lot more shortness of breath this time around and my body feels so much more achy. He especially likes to kick me in the ribs on the right side. I take it as a sign of affection.

So, I decided that I need to document this pregnancy at least a little bit... so here is a picture taken at 29 weeks. We took these pictures on a Sunday afternoon and Ryder wanted to get in on the action. He, of course, stole the show and had us laughing at his posing in his sweats and snow boots. That kid kills me. Can't wait to meet this new little man of ours!

Birthday Celebrations

Birthday celebrations for Ryder man... a birthday party with good friends, cars cupcakes, a donut for breakfast (which he completely devoured), cousin hangout for lunch, and then a first time bowling experience. All in all a good birthday for a 2-year-old. All of his favorite things and favorite people to spend it with.

and then my baby turned 2

2 years old. That's real. I can't believe we officially have a 2-year-old running around these parts. I don't know who told him he was allowed to grow up and get to be so big, but he went and did it anyway. Here are some of my favorite things about our little 2-year-old that make him the happy go lucky Ryder man we all love:

• OBSESSED with all things basketball, soccer, & football. Mostly basketball though. He shoots hoops in his little basketball hoop at least every day and has gotten really good at making baskets consistently.
• Drools like a fool. Seriously, the drool is unreal. He gets a new shirt at least twice, if not three times a day. He'll be getting his tonsils and adenoids out later this month, so hopefully that will help with that situation.
• Loves tunnels; loves to drive through them in the car, build them out of legos, and create them with parental appendages.
• Is still a picky eater, but we're working on it. He pretty much lives off of peanut butter sandwiches, yogurt, toast, graham crackers with peanut butter, grilled cheese, fruit snacks, squeeze packs, crackers & cheese, pirate's booty, and all things sweet.
• Everytime we see a truck, he asks, "Papa's truck?" Everytime. Clearly his time spent with Papa playing in his big white truck over Christmas has stuck with him and cannot be forgotten.
• Chad taught him a fun trick. When we ask him what the mama says, he will shake his finger and say, "no, no, no..". Perfect.
• Wants to spend as much time as possible outside, even in the cold and snow. We have been known to go to the park in our snow clothes just to play, even if that means tromping through the snow to do so.
• Loves to wear his boots and insists on pronouncing them as, "poop".
• Got a pair of grey, converse high tops for his birthday and calls them his, "cool shoes". He throws a fit any time we try to put him in his other pair of tennis shoes. And so it begins.
• Loves to go to church and gets excited to put on his church clothes on Sunday morning. Whenever we drive by the church he always asks, "church, mama?"
• Wants to do the upper buckle on his car seat by himself and refuses any help from Chad or I. Turning into Mr. Independent.
• LOVES to spend time cooking with mama. He will go into the pantry and get his stool out so he can stand by me and help me cook. Some of his culinary skills include grating cheese (ineffectively), skewering fruits/veggies with his little plastic knife, mixing up bowls of water like a pro, and pouring small amounts of ingredients into whatever we're cooking. He could stand and help me with "cooking" for a good hour. I love his enthusiasm but it does make it hard to actually get anything done. Such is mommy life.
• #1 fan of "Buzz, Cowboy, Dinosaur, Dog, Pig, Potato show". "Buzz & Cowboy show" for short. It's a really good thing there are 3 Toy Story movies to shake things up a bit.
• His cousins are some of his favorite people in the world. He loves to go to the "girl's house" to "tay". Also a little obsessed with Uncle Dan and will list off the girl cousins with "and Dan" in between each of their names.
• Still a good sleeper, which his parents are very grateful for. Will sleep from 8:30-9 pm to about 7:30-8 am. Then takes a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. He now insists on sleeping every night with his dinosaur, dog, Cars blanket, and bike blanket.
• Loves reading books, especially with a "pullo" in mom and dad's bed.
• Is a skyping fiend and will skype with anyone who wants to talk to him/entertain him.
• Still Mr. Social, loves to play with friends and meet new people.
• Can recognize his 3 favorite stores by sight: Costco, Target, and Wal-Mart. Costco his still his #1 though.