Christmas Eve

I know Christmas was almost a month ago, but things are finally settling back down after the holidays, and I am just now having a chance to look back through at pictures from the holiday. We were so blessed to be able to have a few days off work and to be able to get out of the frozen wasteland of Provo and head on down to California for Christmas. This year was especially fun with being able to celebrate with Ryder man. Most things just went right over his head, but he was definitely a big fan of the lights, getting fed way too many sweets by all manner of family members, and tearing apart wrapping paper. We loved just being able to get away for a few days and spend time with family... which is what Christmas is really about.

 Going to visit Nana...

Christmas Eve

Christmas Caroling

One of my favorite memories of Christmas is the traditional evening of caroling with family friends. This year almost everyone got to be there, including us! Over the years, the night has become such a special time to get together with friends, stuff our faces with the absolutely most delicious cinnamon rolls ever created, and sing Christmas songs to various friends and neighbors. We've been doing this night for as long as I can remember, and even now that we are older, some of us are married, and some of us have kids we are still such good friends. Even when it's been a little while since I've seen or talked to some of these friends, we still pick things right back up where they left off. I hope someday we can make such good friends and my own kids will have this same experience to treasure.

{Ryder :: 11 months}

Everyday Ryder man grows up more and learns all sort of new tricks, at 11 months, here are some of the things that make Ryder man the cheeseball that we love so much...

• crawls for real now... up on his knees and everything
• HATES having his diaper changed, which makes it a fiasco every. single. time.
• officially owns his first pair of Chucks, a milestone in any kid's life
• getting more and more opinionated about the kinds of foods he will eat which means when I try and sneak peas into his pureed meats he sucks all the good stuff off and then spits the peas out
• loves to be the center of attention
• cruises around furniture like a pro
• waves hello and goodbye
• loves to shake his head 'yes' at spontaneous moments and gets so involved in the activity his eyes start to roll back in his head. It's hilarious.
• sporting the rosy cheeks this month because of the cold and eczema
• when he's falling asleep he loves to grab our faces and either try and pull out our eyelashes, stick his finger up our noses, or smack our foreheads. 
• will occasionally give open-mouthed kisses on command
• still takes 2 naps and is a cranky pants without them
• loves to be out and about, especially if it involves going to visit daddy at work
• has had a cold off and on for the last month, he just can't seem to kick it
• foods of choice: graham crackers, frosting, watered-down apple juice, cinnamon ABC cookies, and quesadillas 
• points to give us directions of where he wants to go
• when being held, he always wants to touch and play with any type of switch/box/control buttons on the walls
• he is always on the go and does not understand the whole "holding still" concept... as you can see from the pictures below. It's a good thing he's got such a cute little bum!

 

 

 Can't believe his birthday is right around the corner!