Sloanbook

Rowen’s Birth Story

2015-08-27T17:59:00.001-06:00

First of all, I just want to thank Kevin for taking notes which helped make this story possible. He did this with Ryder’s birth and it was so helpful so he took notes for me again during Rowen’s birth.

And secondly, this is SO long. I am not a concise person and I wish I could be, but I am not. SORRY if you are reading ha.

AND Before we get into Rowen’s Birth Story, feel free to read Ryder’s Birth Story HERE… That would probably help in understanding the situation, with certain decisions that we had to make in regards to Rowen’s birth. Ryder’s birth story was a crazy one and I ended up having an emergency c-section.

Because of the reason of Ryder’s emergency c-section, I knew for awhile that I would probably end up having a c-section with my next kid or future kiddos. { In a nutshell, I had an emergency c-section with Ryder because he was big…but was overdue and born at 41 weeks. He was 8 lbs. 11 oz. Because he was bigger and apparently my pelvic/bone structure is smaller, he didn’t fit. I pushed for 3 hours, then with a vacuum, and he still wouldn’t come out. There was nothing left to do but an emergency c-section. When Dr. Vance delivered him, she said I could have pushed forever and he wouldn’t have ever come out. I am grateful for modern medicine so that Ryder & I ended up healthy and safe :) }

Then I got pregnant with Rowen. I always knew that I probably wouldn’t go past my due date because of what happened with Ryder’s birth. That was comforting because who wants to be pregnant a week overdue?! I also knew that my OBGYN, Dr. Micetich (who is awesome!) from The Women’s Clinic probably would order an ultrasound to check in on the baby’s size later in the pregnancy. Dr. Vance, who did my c-section with Ryder, cut me in a way so I could try for a Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (VBAC). I knew the big decision in the end would be VBAC vs. scheduled c-section.

>>> Then we get to add Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) into the mix! AS is a type of inflammatory arthritis of the spine that affects other joints too. I had met with a rheumatologist before having Ryder and we had been suspicious of the disease but it wasn’t confirmed. My pregnancy with Ryder was SO painful! I thought I had “typical pregnancy back pain” but NO…unbeknownst to me, it was this disease, AS flaring up. This disease is WAY worse than pregnancy back pain ha. After having Ryder, it got so bad that I couldn’t walk, take care of Ryder (bathing, lifting, getting him in/out of the car in a car seat, moving the stroller, etc.), or even sleep. The only thing that put it into remission is a miracle medication named Remicade which is given via IV infusion for a few hours and that your receive every 8 weeks. It suppresses your immune system. I stopped getting Remicade when I found out I was pregnant but had to start it back up when my AS came back full force! (I cannot explain how painful this is, but I did EVERYTHING to avoid medication during Rowen’s pregnancy. I even went Gluten Free which is a bunch of bologna for the smallest chance that it may help. I could go on and on about this.) So, I received 2 infusions during this pregnancy with Rowen. BECAUSE of the disease & Remicade in my system, I was monitored very closely at The Women’s Clinic. I even met with their perinatologist, Dr. Schneider, about my medications and disease. I received monthly ultrasounds (which were fun) & weekly non-stress tests from 32 weeks on. Everything was looking great with Baby Rowen!

Back to the birth story. Basically, whenever I had OBGYN appointments, we would discuss the possibility of a VBAC and the option for a scheduled c-section. We talked about the risks of a failed VBAC (1% chance of uterine rupture and if that happens you often times lose your uterus, possibly your life and/or your baby’s, need blood transfusions, etc.) and the benefits of a successful VBAC which are kind of obvious. A successful VBAC would be easier than a c-section which people often forget is a major surgery – on top of having a newborn! Obviously, there are risks with a c-section, but they are kind of pointless to worry about because if that is the only way to get your baby out, then you just have to do it. The main problem I had with a repeat or scheduled c-section is that besides it being awful, is maybe limiting the number of kids you have. Obviously, you hear of people having more than 3 kids with c-sections, 4 or 5, maybe 6?! But you never know how you are healing until they perform the next c-section and look inside. Maybe you healed great and maybe not so great, and end up with a window, and then the doctors may say that you shouldn’t have any more kids. The main issue I have is having a doctor tell me how many kids I can and can’t have because of how my body heals. It is nothing against them but just a bummer that it depends on how your body heals inside. I definitely don’t want to have a ton of kids or anything crazy but maybe 2-3 more. I just don’t want to have another and then want one more and it not be an option. Hope that makes sense.

When I was around 8 months pregnant, we decided to schedule a repeat c-section at 39 weeks because Rowen’s head circumference was measuring 2-3 weeks ahead and he was kind of big. I could have chosen anywhere from 39 weeks to the due date…but as you get closer to your due date, you are more likely to go into labor and you want to try to do the scheduled c-section before you go into labor. But I was a week overdue with Ryder so I wasn’t too concerned with that, ha! We just wanted to get it scheduled so as it got closer we had it on the books, instead of trying to schedule it later and the hospitals being booked. So the big day was supposed to be July 2nd! It was nice having it scheduled because I was counting down and getting things ready and fitting in last minute ‘family fun’ activities with Ryder getting lots of attention. As it got closer, I started getting nervous and unsure. I wasn’t feeling as good about it anymore, probably just because it was coming up ;)

June 30, 2015 ~ 38 Weeks, 5 days ~ I met with Dr. Serniak, the OBGYN who would have performed my scheduled c-section at 39 weeks. I told her I wasn’t sure about the scheduled c-section anymore and actually was thinking about pushing it back to my due date, on July 9th. I just wasn’t feeling good about having Rowen on July 2nd, as much as I wanted to meet him and not be pregnant anymore! She said that it was fine to push it back if I wanted. She did say that the same situation could happen again for me ending up in an emergency c-section. I knew that could very well happen. The fact that they had tried a vacuum which failed wasn’t a good sign. I don’t think any doctor or midwife really seemed to think I was a great candidate for a VBAC or anything – just judging from how the appointments went, ha. And I met with a variety of the OBGYN’s and midwives since I was always at the doctor. They would tell me the risks and facts.

* My Reasoning: At least if I pushed back the c-section to my due date and he didn’t come on his own, I would have at least tried and did everything I could. And I went to 41 weeks with Ryder…so I was used to being pregnant for a long time. It sucks but is doable. Plus, it was the 4th of July weekend so I would hopefully be busy with fun plans, which would help. If he came on his own and I ended up with another emergency c-section, then again, I would have tried everything I could! I would not have to ever wonder if I could have maybe had him naturally if I had just waited a little longer. The worst case scenario would be if I went into labor and ended up with an emergency c-section. I had read how some people were able to go on and have successful VBAC’s birthing larger babies… So if Rowen was big, I still had a chance ;) If I could try to avoid a major surgery, it would be great! I could have an easier recovery and get my arthritis meds sooner, etc.*

…So, we scheduled my c-section for July 9th, on my due date, at Medical Center of the Rockies (MCR) with Dr. Vance. Then I asked Dr. Serniak to check to see if I had progressed or dilated any from my last appointment, just in case. At 37 weeks, I wasn’t dilated at all and 50% effaced. She said I was 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced. I was shocked and kept asking “Are you serious? You’re kidding!” I was freaking out haha. Because when I had Ryder I wasn’t dilated at all (maybe 1 cm) and I was 41 weeks haha. Judging from Ryder’s scenario and the past few weeks, no one really thought I would have progressed…I was more one of those eternally pregnant people with no change in their cervix ;) The kind of people who always go overdue with their kids…I feel for them lol!!! I was excited because this meant I had options to try to “induce labor.” Examples: Stripping the membranes (have to be 3 cm and 39 weeks AND Group B Strep negative) and Breaking the bag of waters. I would find out at my next appointment what the plan would be.

July 1st, 2015 ~ 38 Weeks, 6 Days ~ I decided to call Dr. Serniaks’ nurse the next day to see if she could strip my membranes at 39 weeks since Dr. Micetich (my OBGYN) was out of town.

July 2nd, 2015 ~ 39 Weeks ~ Dr. Serniak was so awesome and had me come in on July 2nd to strip my membranes! I felt so lucky that I had dilated to a 3 cm so I could even have the chance for this to maybe work. Also, I was lucky I was Group B Strep negative since with Ryder I was positive, and you have to be negative to do this. She said that I would probably know within 24-48 hours if it had worked (by going into labor). It was weird because that was the day we were going to have Rowen (via first scheduled c-section) and I planned to eat flag cake watching the fireworks on the 4th of July outside of my hospital room ;) Instead, Ryder & I went to Firehouse Subs with my mom, Zach, & Hunter. Then Ryder & I colored ‘Welcome Baby’ signs with chalk on our driveway haha ;) We were hopeful!

After a day, I kind of knew that stripping the membranes wasn’t going to work :( The weekend came and passed but we kept busy by celebrating the 4th of July. I was thankful for the fun weekend of distractions! I looked forward to our July 6th appointment to see what our plan would be!

July 6th, 2015 ~ 39 Weeks, 4 Days ~ Early in the morning, we went into the Women’s Clinic and had a non-stress test. Rowen’s heart rate was doing something weird so we got an extra ultrasound to thankfully confirm all was well! We were so relieved. Then we met with Dr. Micetich. I told her that I really wanted to try for a VBAC even if it failed, so I would at least know I did everything possible I could to try to have one, and if it was successful, then great! I asked if I could have my bag of waters broken and we decided it was an option we would try, since stripping the membranes did not work. She checked to see if she could strip them more but it was basically done. And again, I felt so lucky I was dilated to a 3 cm to even try this AND Group B Strep negative. There aren’t really any other options to induce for a VBAC.

Once we made this decision, Dr. Micetich would need to see if there was availability in either MCR or Poudre Valley Hospital (PVH) before my due date WITH a doctor who may be willing to augment labor with Pitocin. Pitocin is a little controversial in VBAC’s. Many obstetricians are against all Pitocin, because it increases the risk of a uterine rupture. Some are okay with giving you a little bit if you are in labor and need a little push to have your baby. Some are not even okay giving a little bit in labor. As far as I know, I don’t think there are any (or maybe very few that I am unaware of) who will give you Pitocin to put you into labor.

So basically, Dr. Micetich was going to call and ask the obstetricians on-call at MCR and PVH (my second choice hospital) if they would be willing to take me for an induction (if there were even any openings) and possibly augment labor with Pitocin, should I need it. We basically had 2 days until my due date and we wanted to have him before my due date for the best chance of a successful VBAC. Oh and it was the 4th of July weekend so she said some obstetricians may be a little unavailable or slow to return her calls. But we left hoping we could do this!!!

Later that afternoon, I got a call saying Dr. Priebe at MCR would be willing to take me and augment the labor with Pitocin if I needed it…and the next day, July 7th, so we said yes!

All afternoon and evening, I was throwing last minute things in my hospital bag and also a bag for Ryder, as my family would be watching him. Also, I wanted the house very clean so when we came home with Rowen, it was all clean and organized. I hate clutter and dirtiness. We finished the night off watching The Bachelorette! I knew we should go to bed early because I would hopefully be laboring the next day and needed my energy and strength, but I can never say no to that dumb show haha. After it ended, we went to bed and of course, I had a hard time going to sleep. How can you sleep when you know you are meeting your baby the next day?! It’s like Christmas Eve :)

July 7th, 2015 ~ 39 Weeks, 5 days ~ Rowen’s Birthday!

5:30 am: I woke up and immediately called the Labor & Delivery floor to check with a nurse that they would be ready for me to come in at 7:30 am. They said I could come in! { There was a chance of me getting bumped until later (that day maybe?) or just the following day if too many people go into labor and fill up the hospital. Since I was getting “induced” they had priority over me. } Then I got ready. I curled my hair to hopefully look “better” than last time haha. With Ryder’s birth, I ended up looking (& feeling) like death haha. I actually did straighten my hair and attempt to look decent before having him but being in labor messed it up lol. Kevin thought I should just sleep in a little bit longer.

7:10 am: My dad stopped by our house and picked up Ryder, since he would be watching him for the day. My mom would be with Kevin & I and be our photographer. ;) He took Ryder immediately to Lamar’s Donuts for a fun breakfast! They ran into my friend Natalie Brown there.

7:30 am: Then we drove to MCR. It was a rainy and dreary day and I loved it. I just love the rain! So this was a good start! We arrived at MCR and carried our stuff in. We took the elevator to the Labor & Delivery floor and headed to the nurses’ station – with smiling nurses – to check in. We checked in and got taken to Room 5126. My nurses were Candice and intern, Kimberly. They told me to get dressed in a hospital gown and they would be back in a little bit.

7:40 am: As soon as I got dressed, my favorite lactation consultant, Becky Boyd came in to say hi! I had told her that I was coming in the day before and to see if she was working when I would be in there. She is awesome and helped me SO much with Ryder. He was awful at nursing because of his traumatic birth. It took him 2 months to figure it out but we did it! That was nice of her to pop in right after we got there! :)

9:15 am: Dr. Priebe came in to see me. He said that he saw me last time at MCR with Ryder maybe on the last day when I was discharged. I vaguely remember that ha? He said he had a c-section he had to go perform so he would stop by after to break my bag of waters. I think he didn’t want to break it before in case I went into labor quickly and would be unavailable doing a c-section. Oh, and he said that the baby had to be down low enough in order to even break the bag of waters. If the baby is too high and they break the bag of waters, it can be dangerous because of an issue with the umbilical cord. So then I was worried he may not even be low enough! It would have been a big bummer if we packed everything up to have our baby and then not even be able to break the bag of waters. We asked our nurses how long a c-section takes and got an idea of when he may be back. We thought we had maybe 2 hours to kill.

Meanwhile, there was a person in the room next to us who was in labor and moaning for awhile. It was kind of freaking me out and making me nervous haha. I was afraid for when I would hopefully go into labor lol. But really, it did kind of freak me out.

* Crazy Story: One of my best friends here in CO is named Abby DeGraff. We ended up both getting pregnant and having the exact same due date! We both also ended up having boys…and she had her son, Samson, the night before in the same hospital! So I was texting her because if I had any free time, we wanted to walk over and meet her little guy! *

Then her husband Ryann came in to say hi and we talked for a bit and heard how their labor and delivery went. Kevin & I decided to walk around a bit on the floor. Kevin hit up the snack room for some Oreos and Lemon Lime Shasta (important things to document, haha!)

10:35 am: Dr. Priebe came in after the c-section. He checked my cervix and it was 3 cm dilated and I was 70-80% effaced. This was favorable to break the bag of waters. Also, Rowen was down low enough to be able to break the bag of waters. I think they may have checked with an ultrasound to see if his head was still down but I am not sure haha. I asked what percentage of the time do you go into labor after breaking the bag of waters but couldn’t really get a straight answer or maybe I don’t remember it? I wanted to know my chances ha. Basically, we would find out soon!

The night prior, I had talked with my friend Sage Pierce who used to be a labor & delivery nurse at MCR and she gave me some tips for having a successful VBAC since she has had them! Plus, she was a nurse there so she knows all about delivering a baby - obviously. She said to move a lot and stay active. So Kevin & I did just that! { Also, she said she loved Dr. Priebe so that made me feel good he would deliver Rowen. }

Kevin & I hung out, walked around, I bounced on a big medicine ball… Oh and you can walk around on the floor, even when your water is broken. They put monitors on your stomach and you get to wear monster pads to catch the water leaking haha. So awesome. I was having pretty painless and irregular contractions so we just kept waiting. Below is a picture of…like no contractions haha.

12:20 pm: Nothing crazy was happening and it had been a couple hours since Dr. Priebe broke my bag of waters. I was starting to get a little worried and thinking it may just not happen. We walked over to visit our friends, Ryann & Abby DeGraff & met their little baby boy Sam. What a cutie! We hung out with them for a good while…maybe an hour. I was talking normally and for the most part with no problem, so that was a little concerning ha! I think we asked our nurses if this was common or if this meant I probably wasn’t going to go into labor if the contractions weren’t consistent or getting stronger. Actually, I know we had this discussion multiple times. I was getting worried!

1:30 pm: We walked more! I told Kevin we needed to find a long list of questions to ask each other online because we were running out of things to talk about as we walked lol. We just walked and walked! I thought maybe we could watch something while we walked laps and he found one of the shows we watch, The Profit, (business type show) on his XFinity app on his phone. So for a bit he held the phone out and we watched it while we walked haha. It was probably funny to see. The plan was to meet with Dr. Priebe to check to see if I had progressed at all around 6:30 pm and go from there. If I got some good contractions going, we would have the option for Pitocin.

3:30 pm: I got tired of walking for the past 2 hours so we decided to hangout in our room for a bit. Kevin found a documentary called Fed Up on the hospital’s entertainment system so we watched that while I moved around on a large medicine ball. The nurses came in and I asked what else I could do to help have the baby… They said I was doing everything I could!

Meanwhile, all day, my mom had been texting us asking for updates and wondering when she should come to the hospital. She was willing to be at the hospital at 7:30 am when we checked in but we thought we should have her come once my water broke and things got going…if they did… So, I told her she could come whenever because it had been basically half the day and nothing crazy was happening. I also would know what the plan would be in a few hours.

4:30 pm: We started walking laps again. We went by and said hi to Abby again. We were just waiting around to see Dr. Priebe. Apparently, a bunch of people came into triage and he got really busy for awhile.

5:15 pm: We met with Dr. Priebe. Honestly, things weren’t looking that great for me, at least, for me having a successful VBAC. I already knew that. I just knew it an hour or so after he broke my water that nothing was really happening. Even though I was having contractions, I wasn’t in labor. I could easily talk and wasn’t in pain. When I was in labor with Ryder, it was the opposite, and so painful. The nurses kept saying I looked great and wasn’t in labor… We all know what labor is and that wasn’t happening. Unless things started picking up real soon, I would be having a c-section. He said he would come back in an hour or so (after taking care of other patients), check me, and go from there. Since nothing really had happened at this point, chances are I wouldn’t be going into labor. When Dr. Micetich originally called me to see if I wanted to come in for an induction, she said that after Dr. Priebe broke my water, he would give me 8-ish hours (give or take, I forget) to see if I would go into labor. We were basically at that number! Dr. Priebe also said that I could wait a few more hours, or even longer if I really wanted, but the risk of infection goes up the longer your water has been broken. I kind of knew what was going to happen but planned to wait for Dr. Priebe to return. { Oh, and you can’t just leave the hospital with your water broken ha, in case you didn’t know. }

7:15 pm: Sometime between 4-7-ish pm, my mom arrived? She arrived when, surprise, Kevin & I were walking around giving myself pointless contractions haha. OH, and we walked 8,100 steps…4.4 miles at this point! You can’t say we didn’t try! Since my mom was our photographer, we practiced with a camera she brought in different lighting (flash and no flash) and also our cell phones, trying to decide which one to use for the action shots when they pull out the babe ;) My mom was around for Ryder’s birth and got some sweet shots in the operating room! So, she was definitely invited for this again haha. I was worried about pictures being blurry so we were being crazy moving in the hallways trying different settings on our cameras trying to find the right one haha. This probably looked pretty comical to whoever was around… It was time to get new nurses so Candice and Kimberly found us in the hallway and we talked in the snack room. That was the closest lighting they said to the operating room ha. They did a shift change and I met my new nurse named Sarah. Oh and my aunt NaNet stopped by and said hi. She works in the hospital in Public Health, so just a few floors below the Labor & Delivery floor. She also stopped by earlier in the day to say hi and see if anything was happening. At this point, we were just waiting for Dr. Priebe to return from dinner and basically just have a c-section, unless there was something else he could do!

7:45 pm: Dr. Priebe came in and since I wasn’t in labor, we didn’t really have any options besides waiting for more pointless hours. So, we chose a c-section. I asked when they would perform the c-section and we would be able to after the anesthesiologists arrived. It could be anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple of hours. Someone went off and called for them. I thought we would have some time before they came but before you knew it, they arrived! The anesthesiologists came so fast! I guess they didn’t have anything going on at the moment. When they came, I almost didn’t even feel ready! I was kind of freaking out. So many things had lined up right to try for a VBAC which is why I think I had a hard time letting go of it. My mom and Kevin got dressed in the scrub type things you wear over your clothes if you are going into the operating room as a support person. The anesthesiologists asked me some questions and I signed some papers. I remember them asking about my disease, Ankylosing Spondylitis and I said that I had talked to my rheumatologist and my spine shouldn’t affect any of the medication. HA. Thank goodness my spine isn’t fused from my AS or anything crazy. Things work as they should :)

8:20 pm: Then it was time to walk back to the operating room. I remember being rolled back on a hospital bed last time and feeling like I needed to push Ryder out – that was weird. This time I walked back with everyone. I remember telling my nurse that I was still leaking water because I was mortified about that and she said it was okay haha. I was freaking out and everyone said, “But you are going to meet your baby!” Haha. Thank goodness I got a baby out of the surgery.

C-Section Time!

{ If you have had a c-section before, this will make sense and seem familiar. ;) }

We walked into the bright and sterile operating room and it was full of medical personnel – people for me and people for Rowen. It is pretty weird walking into a room where you are about to have surgery. I immediately trusted them so much ha! Apparently, not all obstetricians are in the room with you and stand next to you while you get your spinal block, but Dr. Priebe did (& does?), which was SO sweet and kind! I was very nervous and my nurse Sarah and Dr. Priebe were SO great at comforting me! I sat there on the table and got my spinal block with numbing and morphine instead of an epidural. I then laid down? with my arms out. I think at this point, they put up the drape so that you can’t see the surgery. Either the anesthesiologist or nurse anesthesiologist started scratching me with something on various parts of my body asking if I could feel it. I guess they do this to make sure the medication is effective. That made me nervous last time and this time, like, “yeah, I don’t think I feel it?” Ha! Sometime my mom and Kevin came in. Kevin sat down next to me. My mom was probably lurking behind lol. One thing I remember was that a lot of the people were counting things and taking turns? Like 1,2,3…etc. I guess they count things so they know nothing gets lost into you and then count the equipment before they sew you up?! I had not thought about this before! So crazy. Kevin & I both made a guess of Rowen’s weight and we both randomly guessed 8 lbs. 5 oz.

* It was pretty weird being so alert during this surgery because with Ryder, I had been in labor for like a day, and was so tired. After Ryder was born, I am pretty sure I fell asleep while they finished the surgery. *

I guess they cut me open and thankfully I didn’t feel it. The weird part is when they try to get the baby out of you. I felt like people were pushing hard on my ribs with Ryder to get him out and it was so uncomfortable! You do feel “tugging and pulling” as they say. I felt the same with Rowen. I kind of hate this part. Sooo weird! My mom and Kevin kept me updated on what was happening and kept saying, “He is almost here!” These moments feel like a lot longer than they really are!

8:43 pm: Then I heard a cry and some exclamations of how big he was haha. Rowen was born! { Dejavu like with Ryder! Everyone was like “Wow! What a big baby! You could have pushed for days and he would have never fit!” } I was like “Oh dang, how big is Rowen?!” But, I was so excited to see him! They showed him to me and he was so cute and mad…since he was crying! Then they took him away to do a quick look-over and get him swaddled before returning him to me. He calmed down from crying pretty quickly though :) Kevin cut the umbilical cord. They got his stats. They said his weight was 8 lbs. 4.5 oz., which they rounded up to 8 lbs. 5 oz.! Weirdly, Kevin & I both were right, so crazy. He was born at 8:43 pm and Ryder was born at 8:41 pm. So close! I should have told them to hurry up so they could have had the same time ha! He was 20.5 inches tall. His Apgar score was a 8/9 which was great. I guess Rowen peed in the air over the inspection table for Kevin and the nurses, ha. They thought that was funny.

I guess there is new protocol with c-sections at MCR and PVH where they place the baby cheek-to-cheek with mom right in the operating room! I was super excited about this since with Ryder I felt like I didn’t see him for awhile. I think I saw him during my c-section and then after in the Recovery Room. I think having your baby next to you immediately helps with bonding and more successful breastfeeding. I bet there are more benefits too.

Meeting your baby for the first time is so awesome!! He was placed cheek-to-cheek with me and since your baby’s cheek is next to yours, it is really hard to get a good look at your baby because they are so close ha. He kept doing sucking things with his lips and my mom and Kevin were saying that they bet he would be a good nurser! I was hoping that was true since Ryder was so terrible. He was so calm just sucking on his purple hands. They were also saying how cute he was. Kevin said Rowen’s eyes looked cool…glazed brown with blue highlight. I think they will turn out brown :) Meanwhile, my mom was taking tons and tons of pictures. Oh, she also took some videos and of the surgery, ha. I got to watch a video of the doctors sewing some layer of me back up ;)

While Rowen was cheek-to-cheek with me, Dr. Priebe and the surgeons were finishing the surgery. This is the part that felt MUCH longer than last time. I think it felt longer since I was so alert and awake. I kept asking, “Is everything going ok?” Ha. They kept reassuring me that everything was going great. I listened to their conversations and heard them talking about adhesions (which they removed). I asked, “How many more kids can I have?” HAHA. While I was finishing having one at the moment… Dr. Priebe said, “1 more, possibly 2.” I kept asking “How did everything heal?” It looked great lol. Here and there my mom and Kevin would exchange glances, which made me nervous ha. At one point, I guess my uterus was having a hard time contracting and I heard them saying things like “because the baby was so big?” So then the nurse anesthesiologist poked me in the right shoulder with some medication which apparently helped it contract? I have no clue. But Kevin & my mom were both watching this and later they told me that they removed my uterus and was massaging it - outside of my body - to help it contract and get smaller? No clue with this one here. But they placed it back in me lol. I heard some more counting, of utensils and surgical objects.

Then eventually the surgery was finished up. I was glad and wanted to hold Rowen! They lifted my legs (SO weird to see your legs move and not feel them!) and my body and put me on a hospital bed.

They then wheeled me to a Recovery Room. Everything seemed like a blur and was so surreal. It is just so crazy meeting your baby! It doesn’t even seem real! It kind of feels like you are in a dream at first? Rowen was just a perfect baby! He looked great and healthy! He then nursed awesome which I was so thankful for. Kevin said I was doing much better compared to my last c-section with Ryder. I was a lot more coherent but had the normal shakes. Oh, I hate the shakes! You just shake like crazy and your teeth jitter. And I am always cold! Warm blankets are awesome. Come to think of it, that started in the operating room. Some nurses kept putting warm blankets on me :) Luckily, the shakes and coldness wear off.

The rest is kind of a blur but we got moved to Room 5118 where we stayed for another 4 days. Pretty sure this was our normal room and not the Recovery Room. OH, and on our way there, they played the lullaby music on the hospital’s loud speaker meaning a new baby was born :) Honestly, I don’t remember hearing it, either time ;)

Because it was so late, we decided to have Ryder come meet Rowen in the morning. My dad and Zach came to meet Rowen this evening. Hunter stayed home with Ryder, since he was asleep. Oh, and my mom was obviously still here (photo above). I don’t really know what else happened but we were just enjoying having Rowen here, safe and sound :)

We are so grateful everything went smoothly and that both myself and Rowen were healthy and that all went well! We are so in love with Rowen and happy he is apart of our family, of four! :)

*** Weight Gate: In Kevin’s words-- Rowen was weighed 5 times 24hrs after birth, all registered at 8lbs 14oz. Doctors said they'd never had a kid gain that much weight (7+%) within the first 24hrs. Then he was weighed 36 hrs. after birth and was 8lbs 10oz. So with c-section babies losing an average of 5% within the first 24 hrs., Rowen's estimated birth weight was 9lbs 5oz... ***

Basically, the scale in the operating room messed up. They said it had been a little finicky and people had looked at it and apparently “fixed it?” Long story short, Rowen was much bigger than 8 lbs. 5 oz.! Kevin and I were wrong with his weight guess ha. It is kind of a bummer we won’t ever know his birth weight but oh well, what can you do? We are going to go with 9 lbs. 5 oz. because at least that has some science behind it (5% weight loss from birth to 24 hours in a c-section baby)… I just cannot believe I grew a baby that big! I gained a healthy amount of weight (within the healthy recommended weight gain range) and never measured big at any appointment! I think it was actually a blessing in disguise that I didn’t go into labor because I would have ended up with an emergency c-section again. That would have been worse than just getting a c-section like I did! I guess I just make big babies, ha! So so crazy to me!

Rowen David Sloan

2015-08-04T18:15:00.001-06:00

Introducing our son…

Rowen David Sloan

Born on July 7, 2015 at 8:43 pm

Approximately 9 lbs. 5 oz.

{ more on his “birth weight” later }

20.5 inches long.

We LOVE him!

[ And yes, I realize I haven’t blogged since December of 2014 :( I am hoping I can get caught up! First up, before trying to catch up on months prior, will be Rowen’s Birth Story. ]

Got a Sports Fan in your life?

2014-12-21T20:54:00.001-07:00

Need a last minute Christmas gift for that sports fan in your life?

We recently purchased this Rockwell BYU watch for my dad for Christmas/for his birthday (2 days after Christmas) & I was very impressed! Guys love watches and not only that, one with their team on it! Rockwell is a high end licensed collegiate watch line.

And in case you are from the dark side…yes they have Utah watches…

Mention my blog & use this promo code: FFChristmasEvent2014 to take 25% off through Christmas!

Get on it! You can’t go wrong with one of these watches. They are really that good.

Check out their site with watches HERE.

A Big Announcement

2014-12-16T10:59:00.001-07:00

Santa asked Ryder what he wants for Christmas, but he will have to wait until July to get it!

[ Due July 9th & so excited! ]

December Catch Up

2014-12-16T10:50:00.001-07:00

{ December 1st – December 14th, 2014 }

These past couple of weeks have been crazy. I have been doing a lot of Christmas & vacation prep. Also, getting over a really bad cold that almost lasted 2 weeks that I started getting in KC! I didn’t document via photos that well, so I will just catch you up so then I can be good for Christmas, mostly. ;) Some of the stuff that went down…

+ Ryder got his own Advent Calendar this year thanks to Omi & Opi. HE LOVES IT! Everyday he is so excited to look for the numbers on the door so he can open and eat his chocolate :) (Photo above)

+ Shopping ~ I found a Groupon for Christmas cards with Photo Affections & got a great deal! They were a better price than last year when I got ours with Tiny Prints on sale. I finally ordered a camera bag for my camera! I have been nervously carrying it around hoping it wouldn’t get damaged ha… I got the butterscotch Allison bag from JoTotes. I ordered it on Cyber Monday so it was a much better deal. Love it! I also went to Target more times that I would have liked.

+ Kevin went on a business trip to Indianapolis with my dad from December 2nd through the 4th. When the men came back into town, we ate at Bann Thai and got some pad Thai :P So good! (Photo above).

+ The Revenge finale happened & OH MY GOSH. It was good but yeah, can’t give anything away! :O And since we are on the topic of TV… Kevin and I got caught up on New Girl, Mindy Project, Shark Tank, & The Profit. Good times! We can’t wait for The Bachelor to start with Chris!

+ Ry & I joined my mom & Hunter for dinner at Dominic’s. I had never eaten there but seen the restaurant for years. It was good! They had a lot of Italian food as well as other cuisine. We went because Hunter’s friends’ parents own it.

+ We had a play date at Gwen’s house. Abby came too. The kids all “made” felt Christmas trees to decorate with felt ornaments… aka the moms made them ha! (Photo above).

+ Saint Nick came and brought us some German food (spaetzle, dumplings), some ornaments, German chocolates, & Gummi bears on Saint Nick’s Day… December 6th! (Photo above of treats in our boots) Love being German :)

+ We found a new home for Katinka which is a separate post in its own but all in all, I think we made the right choice for her and for us. Of course I am sad, but I think her new family couldn’t be more perfect and she even has a dog friend…and she is only a minute away! Will expound on this later.

+ We ate dinner and watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional at my parents one Sunday evening.

+ Finally got my hair cut! It had been so long. The last time I got it cut was when I donated a bunch of it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths to be made into a wig for cancer patients (more on that HERE). My hair had grown out all wonky and it was time! It feels so much better now. I need it to grow a little longer now :)

+ Kevin & my dad also went on another trip to Atlanta from December 10th through the 11th. Meanwhile, my mom and Hunter went to Café Rio. Always a good choice!

+ I’ve been wrapping lots of presents which I love to do :)

+ I had Ryder make a card for Addie Lynn (photos above). If you Google Addie Lynn or look up “Little Addie” on Facebook, you can read about her and her family. Addie is a 6 year old girl who is actually tinier than Ryder. She stopped growing at age 3. Her mom first noticed she stopped being able to hold a crayon, or hold a spoon. She stopped developing in all ways and is slowly forgetting everything she knows. She has a mysterious condition of the brain that is atrophying. This will be her last Christmas. Her wish is for a lifetime of Christmas cards. So we sent her our card along with Ryder’s pictures! She has been receiving lots of cards (& the post office has had to hire more people to work there because of it). Everyone is sending her cards and presents from all over the world. Read her story. She is a sweet girl & send her a card if you can!

+ Bekah Wilkey & her girl Carmen & Ry & I went shopping for sandals for Ryder. ( Photo of Ry & Carmen above in Old Navy ha. ) We struck out everywhere! We tried: Once Upon a Child, Target, Kohl’s, JCPenney, Old Navy, Crazy 8, Children’s Place, Babies ‘r’ Us, & I called different Old Navy locations & looked at store inventory online for Famous Footwear, etc.… We were needing to get Ryder some flip flops for a trip we are going on soon where it is warm :) I ended up ordering some off Amazon. Thank goodness for Amazon Prime! We ate at Chik-fil-a after since we were all tired and hungry from shopping!

+ We went to our Ward Christmas Party. The food was delicious haha. I love funeral potatoes… The Primary kids put on a cute program. All the kids got little lights to hold and Ryder was in heaven because of that. We had a fun evening!

+ We saw Santa…more on that later!

+ We had the missionaries over to share a message.

+ Sunday usual ~ Church, Kevin or I have a church meeting (this week it was Kevin’s turn), we got home taught… the good stuff! I visited Katinka & brought her more of her stuff… and we watched Shark Tank to end the night!

Overall, everyday, I have been really busy, just getting ready for Christmas and our trip. So yeah, I think I will be prepared :)

Hope your December is turning out nicely!

xoxo

{ 2014 } A Kansas City Thanksgiving

2014-12-15T18:46:00.001-07:00

{ November 21st – November 30th, 2014 }

This year we drove to KC for Thanksgiving! The drives are sooo fun ;) JK. Road trips are not really fun… Anyways, we got there late Friday, November 21st. We had Thanksgiving prep over the weekend and celebrated Thanksgiving early on Sunday, November 23rd! The Reeses & Anna were going to be out of town in Texas over real Thanksgiving so we celebrated with them early, as well as some extended family as well. The Thanksgiving feast was delicious!!! They know how to throw a Thanksgiving meal! Tara & I went shopping at Oak Park Mall & hit up Nordstrom Rack, Nordstrom, & some other stores. We had a fun night! Shopping is definitely one of our favorite things to do! Ry & I also went shopping at Gordman’s with Kathy & we had such a successful time that we stayed in there for a couple of hours! Kathy got Ryder some Thomas the Train toys & he was in heaven. Kevin went hunting that day and had a successful hunt. They hunted pheasant I think ha. On the 26th, we went with Greg, Kathy, Simeon (Kathy was watching him), & the Painter’s to Union Station in downtown Kansas City. Union Station is a fun place with restaurants, museums, movie theatres, & a big train area where they have hundreds of miniature trains for people to look at. When I heard about it, I thought it would be perfect since Ryder LOVES trains! Well, it was perfect. The kids all rode on a train and then looked at the model trains. Ryder’s favorite train was the most basic train, a Thomas the Train set haha. He waved every time Thomas went around yelling “Hi Thomas!!” They got to play with train sets at the end as well. (Train photos above.) Then afterwards, we ate lunch at Fritz’ which is a restaurant where your food is delivered by a train railway on the ceiling haha (photo above). The food is subpar but the environment is fun ha. Thanksgiving day we had Thanksgiving with Greg, Kathy, Kyle, & the Painter’s. After another delicious meal, David, Kevin, & I went to see the Hunger Games: Mocking Jay in theatres and it was AMAZING! Gosh, I loved it. On Black Friday, Kevin & I went to the Kansas City Temple which was great (photos above). We spent the evening at the Plaza, eating at a BBQ restaurant, and doing some shopping. Our last day, we met up at Penguin Park (where Kevin & all his siblings played at growing up) with the Painters & had fun. Ryder loved the swings and slides of course. We ate lunch at Zona Rosa at Noodles. Then later that evening we watched The Giver which was also good! I had read the book a little earlier in the year, so that was fun. I love when books I read, are turned into movies! We drove home on November 30th. We had a great trip!

Pre-Thanksgiving Hibernation

2014-11-22T16:20:00.001-07:00

{ November 10th – 20th, 2014 }

A big winter storm hit so we kind of hibernated this week and the following…before our Kansas City trip (which will be the next blog post)! Besides the snow though & it keeping us in a little bit more, we had fun!

What went down:

+ Kevin went to Nashville for a business trip from November 10-11th.

+ I did a ton of reading…the perfect snow storm activity!!! I flew through the Delirium series!

+ Met up with Abby DeGraff at the Council Tree Library for story time. Ryder was kind of naughty ha. He threw away some stuff in the trash that wasn’t trash… props the kids played with and my iPhone…so that was fun to dig out ;)

+ The Missionaries came over for dinner & we had some yummy Italian pasta that Kevin made. I am still thinking about the homemade sauce and noodles!!! Then Kevin peaced out quick to go to a member’s house for genealogy. I guess it was a church-y day!

+ I sold clothes at Plato’s Closet & Clothes Mentor…and meanwhile, we killed time in Pier 1 Imports and Ryder broke a vase by running by it (not playing with it)…and it was super embarrassing haha! It cost $55…and immediately we kept saying, “We will pay for it! We will buy it!” Then the girls assured us that things break AT LEAST one time every day from customers. One girl said she has even broke 7 things herself. They were just glad that no one was hurt. I guess the air must have knocked it over? Or maybe Ryder’s coat? So weird! But then in the end, I didn’t feel bad ha. I did want to buy something because of it and Kevin said no and just wanted us to leave lol. Then we had a date and took the Ry man to Nordy’s BBQ. It was DELICIOUS!!! Love their cornbread muffins so much!!!

+ Sunday was jam packed full of church, as usual. But we had two extra meetings than usual… tithing settlement at 10:30 am, 11 am – Relief Society Presidency Meeting, 1 pm – church, 4:30 pm – Kevin had home teaching, 6 pm – Ward Family Fireside! Very hectic! The Fireside was cool though. Our liaison for the Fort Collins Temple (the Tingey’s) spoke about their experience with the planning and construction of the temple. It was cool except for Ryder was a little crazy. They had ice-cream sundaes afterwords which were surprisingly delicious! Homemade and fresh strawberries and syrup on top, SO good.

+ We really did a lot of trip prep – laundry all day, Target runs, checking out and returning new books from the library, cleaning, last minute annoying insurance phone call type stuff, etc.

+ Had a few doctor appointments…saw my rheumatologist. Ryder did GREAT for that appointment!

+ Ate at Mimi’s Café with my mom, NaNet, & their friend Janiene Brewster who used to live here along with her son Tony while we were growing up here. They have amazing quiches – go get one!

+ I went to a Relief Society Mid-Week Activity where we had a yummy soup dinner (potato soup was LEGIT), salads, & Texas Roadhouse rolls. It was the Christmas activity…

Next Up: KC Thanksgiving Trip!

Welcome November!

2014-11-12T17:11:00.001-07:00

{ November 1st – 9th, 2014 }

November has been busy, cold, and snowy :/ …and I am now realizing I have kind of slacked with photos and documenting it…but here is what I got… I did get the new iPhone 6 that has a BETTER camera than my old iPhone 4 & somehow I have taken less photos!!! Working on that…now!!!

+ Kevin had an account in town – Washington Bookstore buyers – and so he invited Ry & I to join him, them, Mike Puccetti, Nick Gendill, my dad, Hunter, & Patrick at the Washington vs. CU game in Boulder! The last football game we took Ryder to, he loved! Good old BYU Football and he still talks about it…so of course, we decided to come along! It was kind of cold, but bearable. Washington ended up winning! OH…and that morning, Kevin showed me some Washington hats he brought home from work so I picked one and decided to cheer for them that day haha. I chose the right team ;) But Patrick does go to CU…ha…next game I will root for them! The stadium was really scenic (panorama shots above)! Beautiful mountains! Just amazing. I had never really been on CU campus but it was sweet! The first half of the football game, my dad, Patrick, Hunter, & I sat in the best seats ever! They were basically on the field and we had a waiter (photos above). I ordered a pulled pork sandwich. SO GOOD!!! Then the second half of the game, the Washington people went down there and we sat up on the bleachers with Kevin, Ryder, & Nick. Ryder was in heaven!

+ Cars Night! My mom was out of town in Hawaii and my dad has been wanting to introduce Cars to Ryder since he hadn’t seen it, so we had a Cars movie night! We ate crappy Nascar food haha, hot dogs, etc. ;) It was actually the lovely Daylights Savings Day so we were all a little tired! Ryder loved the movie! We need to buy this for him sometime soon! Next we want to do a Cars 2 night!

+ Kevin was the sweetest & switched all of my iPhone 4 stuff over to my iPhone 6. I’m loving it! So glad I got a new one! Gosh, my old one was going downhill!

+ Ryder & I joined Kevin for lunch at work…he forgot some important stuff he needed that day ;)

+ We knew the last of the snow-free days were coming so we made sure to hit up the park, even if it was a little chilly. One evening, we met up with Bekah Wilkey & Carmen. Ryder & Carmen had fun chasing a ball around and we ran into some friends from church!

+ Kevin went on a business trip to Newark to meet with Barnes & Noble from November 4-5th…

+ Oh, I voted…Republican ;) (Photo above)

+ Ryder & I took Hunter on a little evening date. We hit up Barnes & Noble (I got a planner), Old Navy (got a camo lightweight coat), & ate at Larkburger – Hunter’s choice (& photos above)! Ryder LOVED his fries and the side of edamame we got. Fun times!

+ We met up with Gwen Valles & Abby DeGraff at Miramont Park. We ate our lunches there and basically I ended up chasing Ryder around a soccer field. He would not stay by the park ha. Oli & Finn & Ryder had fun stealing some boys soccer balls and playing in a lacrosse goal (photo above of Finn & Ryder’s faces smashed into the goal). HAHA.

+ Took Ryder to get his haircut and he thought it was ticklish…it was hilarious (photo above). I asked if he liked his haircut and he always is talking about it and saying “Like it?” & yelling “LIKE IT!!!!”

+ Ryder & I met up with Ashley Bean & Bekah Wilkey at Water’s Way Park… It was the last day where I remember the sun being warm on my back. We ate our lunches there of course and had a good time! Then Ashley Bean sent me an amazing pumpkin chocolate chip cookie recipe which I made (photo above) & it was SO GOOD!

+ Kevin went on a day business trip to Chicago on November 7th.

+ Ryder & I did Body Define Yoga & hit up Warren Park with Abby DeGraff. The boys liked the teeter-totter (photo above). I think that was Ry’s first time on one and he loved it. It got too cold and windy so we had to leave early!

+ Kevin went to Denver to the Temple because of the Stake Youth Temple Day. Later that evening, we ate at Café Mexicali with my family because I was really wanting it and HELLO, it’s amazing. Definitely had to put that in here.

+ After Church on Sunday, Kevin made an amazing dinner for my family – ribs, mashed potatoes, asparagus, & bruschetta. We had a yummy Ben & Jerry’s ice-cream cake afterwards. It was great!!

Well, it is now snowing hardcore so it is keeping us in a little more…until next time ;)

xoxo

Pumpkin Carving, Royals in the World Series, & Halloween!

2014-11-10T17:40:00.001-07:00

{ October 27 – 31st, 2014 }

This week was full of Halloween festivities! Lots of fun :)

+ But first, we went to a new fun trampoline place called Fly High Trampoline Park with some friends after the gym. We met up with Abby DeGraff, Heather Hartman, Carrie Woolley, Erin Neville, & Cosette Crane. Ryder was afraid of the trampolines at the very beginning but at the end he was loving them! He carried around two big balls the whole time (1st photo above haha) & was in heaven. He would run up and down the trampolines. He also loved the music since it was loud. And as you can tell, the moms had fun too (photo above…PS. Didn’t get the memo it was a “Mom’s only” photo so I’m holding Ryder and of course, jumped too late so I look super lame ;) We will be going back!

+ Kevin went on a business trip to Utah from October 27th to the 28th.

+ Because of all his traveling and accounts in town, we kind of ran out of time to go to the pumpkin patch as a family… :( Of course, Ryder & I went on 3 play dates to them haha. I ended up having to run to King Sooper’s to get overpriced lame pumpkins because Kevin only had a small window of time when he could carve them! We carved (me really) pumpkins during a Royals game (they were in the World Series)… I carved Ryder a Mickey Mouse pumpkin which kind of turned out lame haha. I accidentally made the Mickey Mouse face WAY TOO BIG that you could see into the whole pumpkin lol. Usually I think things through but I was trying to get it finished before he went to bed… I learned my lesson lol. He did like the pumpkin though!!! He wanted to carry his pumpkin full of candy out to it and eat candy while looking at it (photo above) ;) The next day I carved my pumpkin into an owl which turned out awesome but I didn’t get any good photos of it! Kevin procrastinated and didn’t even carve his pumpkin! Next year!

+ While Kevin was out of town, Josh & Emily Peterson (& baby Skyler) came over and brought me a Mary’s Mountain Cookie since they knew I was all alone. They were SO nice to do that! We hung out for a bit and then they left back home to Loveland. They are the best!!

+ I checked out a new series at the library, the Delirium series written by Lauren Oliver & I am loving them! I am currently in the second book, Pandemonium. I highly recommend them! (Photo above)

+ I had to do some insurance paperwork at some of my doctors in Loveland so I stopped by Wee Steps since Gwen told me they were having their Halloween Party that day. I invited Emily Peterson to come along with. We just hung out and talked and ate some yummy Halloween treats they had. It was fun! Oh, and funny thing, Gwen was wearing a San Francisco Giants t-shirt & I was wearing a Kansas City Royals zip up hoody so of course we got a picture… (photo above)…FYI I just came from the gym guys!!!

+ The Kansas City Royals were in Game 7 of the World Series vs. the San Francisco Giants so obviously we watched it! Kevin is in Young Men's so he made them come over to watch the game at our house haha. Unfortunately they lost…but they did play well in all of the playoffs & World Series! Cool that they did so well!

+ Tiny Tots Trick-or-Treating on Halloween: Gwen & Anna invited us to join them for Tiny Tots Trick-or-Treating in downtown Fort Collins! We met up at 10 am and downtown was a ZOO! I was shocked how popular it was. It was actually kind of cold too. Luckily, I had Ryder in the stroller so I wasn’t chasing him haha. But we pushed the kiddos around and they said “….treat!” and got candy ;) It was fun but then just got too crazy and cold! ( Photo above of the kiddos! )

+ Halloween! Ryder’s 1st time legit trick-or-treating happened! And it was probably one of the funnest nights in a long time! Kevin and I took him out for an hour and he just was loving it. He would say “trick or treat” but mostly treat…and would say “thank you.” Almost every house we went to, he would be like “WOOK!!!” and crouch down and get a good look at the carved pumpkins on everyone’s doorsteps. Sometimes he would walk to the next house and sometimes we would carry him. It was so funny that he struggled to get candy sometimes due to his Rio bird gloves ;) We chose a new neighborhood kind of behind ours that is full of a bunch of ranch-style homes. We were hoping they would be more older people who would be home instead of families off trick-or-treating themselves and we were right! Some of the people wanted to talk to us for 5-10 minutes lol. One lady was waving us over to her house! They would ask “So which house are you in?” etc… so the people we trick-or-treated at needed the trick-or-treaters haha. It was fun. The people were so cute. Then Kevin had to go do dinner with an account in town and I put Ryder to bed and passed out candy to the trick-or-treaters at our home.

What a fun Halloween Week! That should be it!

xoxo

Ward Halloween Party

2014-10-31T15:20:00.001-06:00

{ October 24th, 2014 }

We had a blast our Ward Halloween Party! Ryder was Blue from Rio ;) Okay he is a parrot but all birds are Rio so I got it. I showed it to him and he said, “Rio!” He just loves the movie Rio so it was a perfect costume for him. Kevin got home from work and was like “What should I wear?” We remembered he had a Brazil t-shirt and Brazil Snapback so it worked out perfectly, since Rio is a Brazilian movie :) I, of course, wore my parrot shirt ;) Super convenient I have it haha. At the party, we had yummy chili, cornbread/rolls, & desserts… Okay I was too full for the desserts but Kevin tried some! Ryder enjoyed running around with lots of other kids, stealing desserts off the table, going on a kid parade, playing with a parachute in the hallway, tossing bean bags into holes (he was pretty dang good!!!), & trunk-or-treating. He was pretty good at saying “Trick-or-treat” but mostly just says “Treat!” It was so cute. Holidays are much funner when you are parents!

Happy Halloween!

Lots of Fall Fun + a Day in Denver

2014-10-31T15:12:00.001-06:00

{ October 20 – 26, 2014 }

What a week!!! And a side note: Now that I am using my Canon more frequently, my iPhone as usual (horrible photos), & Kevin’s Samsung phone occasionally, my picture quantity is getting out of control. It is taking longer to do these “quick” catch up posts for me sorting through hundreds of photos! I need to delete a bunch of ‘blah’ photos before uploading them. Moving on ;) Anyways, so this week was great… first, THIS went down & now for the rest…

+ I went to my friend Mindy’s last yoga class she taught at Miramont Lifestyle Fitness. She is now living in San Francisco! I miss going to her yoga classes and of course, her being here, as her, my sister Kelsi, & I grew up together playing tennis at Miramont & whatnot. So, we have known her for awhile! Bittersweet!

+ We ate at Chik-fil-a with Lori Croft (Katie, Tyler, & Cameron) & Emily McDonald for visiting teaching. Ryder didn’t escape Chik-fil-a this time so it was all good :) We had fun!

+ I had a doctor appointment and Lori was SO nice to watch Ryder during it. Ryder had a blast playing with Katie & Tyler. Then we went to Miramont Park with them and met up with Ashley Bean (Lizzie & Henry) & Candis MacKay (Parker & Coleson)… We ate lunches there and the kids had fun! Ryder & Henry had fun “sharing” a ball together :) (photo above of them both reaching for a ball)… Boy problems!

+ Kevin was with accounts multiple times for dinner….one such evening, Ryder & I rented Rio 2 & watched it and had mommy-son time :)

+ Something from the Farm: We went to another farm/pumpkin patch – Something from the Farm - and had a play date with Gwen Valles & her girls, Abby & the twins, & Jocelyne & baby Lila. We ate our lunches there and chatted while the kids ran around chasing the farm dog and getting into who knows’ what ;) Ryder loved the chickens (photo above) & of course, pulling around a wagon (photo above). We couldn’t get a photo with all the kids cooperating lol. Toddler problems!

+ I made Bekah Wilkey’s homemade chili…my favorite!

+ We had a bunch of church things one evening… We had the missionaries over for a message, then Kevin went to YM and brought Ryder while I went to a Stake Auxiliary Meeting for my Relief Society Secretary calling… We barely fit it all in. Crazy night :)

+ We hit up Miramont Park again and hung out with Abby & her twins and LaNae Pittsenbarger. We chatted and the kids played! Good times.

+ Our Ward Halloween Party happened & was a big success! Coming up next ;)

+ Kevin & I took Ry up to Denver and we took turns going into the Denver Temple. Kevin went in first and meanwhile, Ryder & I hung out at Nordstrom Rack. It was probably the best shopping experience I have had with him for clothes for myself haha. I went in and put on Frozen on the iPad and I tried on probably like 50 pairs of jeans for TWO HOURS! while he sat like a little angel in his stroller watching the movie. It was AMAZING! I did give him some Goldfish and some food pouches and obviously, they worked like a charm. I got myself some jeans and Ryder some shoes to grow into. It was just perfect! ( Photo above of the angel Ryder above in the stroller with our iPad haha ) Then we went back and ate lunch with Kevin on the temple grounds. Kevin took Ryder to a nearby park and mall (while Ryder slept in the stroller) & I went in. Afterwards, we ate a quick dinner at Panda Express ;) and drove home. Super last minute, I went with my mom to Ulta to stock up on makeup because they were having their 20% off sale, so all in all, it was a long day! Oh and I also ran in the library and checked out some new books lol!! Successful Saturday!

+ Sunday usual… Relief Society Presidency Meeting, church, go on a walk, lovely Sunday things!

+ OOH and the photo of Ry & me waving at the construction site…is actually the progress of the Fort Collins Temple! We drive by it daily and it is so fun to see the progress!!! It is also right across the street from our church so we always see it then.

That’s a wrap! And up next is our Ward Halloween Party!

xoxo

Always a good idea…

2014-10-31T14:42:00.001-06:00

…to take a walk over to our nearest park, Water’s Way Park. Ryder enjoys the swings and slides the most. He did make a little girl friend at the park this fine day. They took turns going down the slide and smiling and cheering for the other when they went down it. Ryder’s big grin is watching his friend go down the slide (above in photos). Then I stuck him in tall grass and took some photos for fun ;) He didn’t like the grass getting in and tickling his face haha. We are park regulars over here!

Sometimes I Try…

2014-10-22T21:22:00.001-06:00

Sometimes I try to take better photos of Ryder…better as in better than my old iPhone 4 ;) October 19th, 2014, was one of those days. After early Stake Conference and after Ryder’s nap, I persuaded him with fruit snacks to cooperate, a little bit, with me to try to take some photos! Taking a photo of a running toddler is HARD GUYS LOL! Anyways, obviously I need to work on my photography skills! I know that. But I am just having fun for now and this is better than my phone. BUT, I already got plans with two of my friends (who definitely take better photos than me) to take pictures for fun, heh. Anyways, I just love this kid and as you can see, well, if you’ve ever seen my blog at all, you would know he is my favorite subject to photograph. So yeah! We had a great Sabbath! xoxo

Fall Has Officially Arrived

2014-10-22T15:40:00.001-06:00

{ October 13th – 18th, 2014 }

Last week was great. It seems that Fall is officially here. All of the leaves are changing colors and they are falling off the trees too quickly. I love all of the Fall colors! It is so pretty just driving around! Last week was another busy week…as that is how I do ;) What went down?

+ Went to story time with Abby DeGraff, Gwen Valles, Heather Hartman, & Cosette Crane. It was lackluster ha, well the story teller? It was good to get some story time in though!

+ Made THIS Chicken Tortilla Soup. It was good, but made a lot! I ate it a few days ;)

+ I saw Meet the Mormons with my dad, mom, & Hunter. Kevin had already planned to watch the Kansas City Royals game but then last minute, it was pushed back a day, so he could have come, but it was too late. The movie was REALLY GOOD! I guess I had low expectations. The last church movies I remember seeing, like Singles Ward, were well, okay haha. But this movie was amazing! I loved it! I wished I had taken some friends when I went as well. When it comes out on DVD, we will have to watch it again. It was funny to go though since when we got there, we practically knew everyone in the theatre ;) We just saw a bunch of ward members and other members from the area ha. OHHH and I had my mom and I wear matching ice-cream cone sweatshirts we got from Nordstrom haha. My mom felt awkward wearing them but I thought it was hilarious. (Photo above)

+ Girl’s Night: Abby DeGraff, Anna Yancey, & Gwen Valles & I had planned to have a Girl’s Night out. We originally were going to see The Giver but it had just left theatres a week before. I was bummed since I had wanted to see it! We decided to just rent a movie and watch it at Abby’s. Anna rented Mom’s Night Out…it was interesting ha. But we had fun! We also ate delicious pumpkin cookies, homemade popcorn, and Mint Milano cookies haha.

+ Mindy, my mom, Ry, & I went to a going-away breakfast for Mindy – at SNOOZE - as she was about to move to San Francisco to be an Assistant Manager at a new Core Power Yoga studio. After breakfast, we walked around downtown. We checked out a few boutiques and weirdly, they all had like a store owner’s dog in there. Ryder is obsessed with dogs and would yell, “Wait!!! DOGGY!!! GOGGY!! Wait!!!” So he was insanely loud and I had to take him out of the store ha. So I was like “Phewf, let’s try a new store.” And then it happened again in the next one haha. Kill me. The photo of Ryder yelling in the mirror above is in a boutique where he was begging for a dog haha. Toddlers.

+ I got a massage at Miramont. Always a good idea!

+ Ryder went to the Dentist and he was totally not in the mood for a cleaning. They were lucky to get fluoride on his teeth. He did enjoy the video games in the waiting room ;) (Photo above) Next time!

+ Went to a Relief Society Mid-Week Activity. We listened to some sisters in our ward talk about their missions. Afterwards, we tried some mission food, cookies, & other treats. It was fun!

+ Ryder & I met Bekah at Water’s Way Park. Ryder & Carmen enjoyed skull suckers (photo above). They also had a good time on the swings and slides. It was fun to catch up with Bekah!

+ This weekend was Stake Conference. It was great! Kevin went to the Stake Priesthood meeting and I went to the Adult session with my parents and Hunter. We had just found out they made the session for 12-18 year olds as well, so that basically cut out the babysitter situation. Since Kevin went to the Priesthood Meeting, I got to go to the adult session. Oh, and I also went with my family to Trent Parry’s Wedding Reception down at the Lory Center on CSU campus right before Stake Conference.

+ Oh, on Saturday also, Kevin & I worked on the basement. It was pretty much organized but we tried to turn it into a play space/room for the Winter. We are planning on putting the ride-on toys down there that usually are rode outside… balance bike, plasma car, etc. as well as older toys we are putting down there. Also, a lot of big balls and a goal net… As long as we don’t have too many spiders & wasps, it will work out great! I’m so thankful for Kevin because without his strength this wouldn’t have been able to happen ha. I cut apart a gazillion boxes though ;) And did some Goodwill donations!

Meanwhile, I had made a fort for Ryder (photo above) & he enjoyed watching Planes while we worked on the basement. Then he came down and hungout with us while we were organizing.

+ We were BOO’ed by Emily McDonald ;) Basically it is a Halloween tradition where you ding-dong doorbell ditch treats, a bucket of candy, whatever, at someone’s house (photo above of what we received). Then they are BOO’ed and have to hang up a ghost sign in their window or on their house and BOO 2 other houses. So we were BOO’ed! Have you ever been BOO’ed before?

And that’s about it!

xoxo

Halloween Crafting, Pumpkin Patchin, & Boulder Shopping

2014-10-20T15:54:00.001-06:00

{ October 6 – 12th, 2014 }

Hello busiest week ever!

+ Abby hosted a Kid’s Craft Day at her house. It was very cute! The kids made Halloween crafts – spiders (out of foam balls & pipe cleaners) & pumpkins (out of paper plates & felt). The kids had a blast and the moms chatted. Abby is the best for throwing this! If my house was bigger, I might consider it ha ;) [ First photo above ]

+ ENT Follow Up from like ages ago… My mom watched Ryder & they played with trains for a majority of it (photo above). I had been meaning to see the ENT for months but just never got around to it. I’m still having some plugged ear & ringing (tinnitus) hearing issues… Unfortunately, I learned that there is nothing else they can do. My left ear had a little hearing loss and nerve damage from the ruptured ear drum and double ear infection. I think the – almost always there – ringing in my left ear is the most annoying thing. I hope I get used to it over time. Such a bummer !!!

+ I joined my parents to see Hunter in a choir concert he was in. He did great!

+ We went to another farm…Something from the Farm! It is my favorite farm probably because they have the best produce that we occasionally buy and also the location is super close to us! We went with Heather Hartman, Kristi Hartman, Ruth Buxton, Lara Osmond, Carrie Woolley…think that is about it, well, and everyone’s kids. The kids had fun running around in the pumpkin patch and corn maze (made from hay bales). They also had a blast chasing one of the farm dogs. They just threw apples at the dog and the dog would catch them! They had fun feeding the chickens, well, and when we left, Ryder had to say goodbye to each and every chicken haha…”Bye bye chicken!” Ryder loved sitting on the tractor as well. ( Photos above ) I bought a spaghetti squash when I was there and cooked it later that week. We had a blast!

+ We went to one of Hunter’s tennis matches as he was in a tournament. Ryder loved throwing and hitting the tennis ball (photo above)… Not going to lie, he has skills! He loves to see Hunter play tennis and is always asking about Hunter and balls ha.

+ We took Katinka to get groomed at DOGS out at Centerra. While she was getting groomed, we explored the shopping area.

+ Made spaghetti squash for dinner! Interesting stuff ;)

+ We went to Erin Neville’s PiYo class before Music Makers (photo above). The kids all run around while the moms try to work out haha. Ryder kicked and threw balls at other people doing yoga as well as climbing all over me while I was doing yoga…so it was interesting, but fun! Then we stayed for Music Maker’s and had a blast. I think it was funner than the last time we went. ( Photos above)

+ We were going to go pick out pumpkins with Ryann & Abby DeGraff (& their twins) Friday night but it had rained all day and was going to be cold, so we had to take a rain check. We didn’t want to get all muddy either! We ended up going to Chik-fil-a for a classy dinner haha ;) While Abby & I were ordering food, somehow Ryder escaped the husband’s attention and I noticed him outside by the door!!! Gave me a heart attack! Then we let the kids get ice-cream cones (photo above) & Ryder fell off a chair and cut his lip open. We made a spectacle that night! So embarrassing but funny haha. The Chik-fil-a employees were so nice and brought Ryder a bag of ice and a Chik-fil-a stuffed cow to make him feel better. What a night LOL!

+ On Saturday, my mom and I went to Boulder to go shopping. We ate at Moe’s Bagel’s for lunch which was delicious. Then we hit up Nordstrom Rack (& we tried on the whole stole haha proof from that photo above of me with a stack of clothes), Anthropologie, & LuLuLemon before seeing Patrick at his apartment. It was good to see him! Oh, and we did get a few cute things! Then after seeing Patrick, we went to Nordstrom. I dropped off my Frye boots to get stretched. Then we ate at an Indian restaurant called Ezitra which was awesome! My mom and I shared Chicken Tikka Masala with Naan! I recommend trying it if you haven’t.

+ Church… I then had my mom take photos of my eShakti dress for a review HERE… had dinner with my parents & then my mom and I watched the General Women’s Meeting!

Solid week!

xoxo

{ eShakti Dress Review } Falling for Herringbone

2014-10-14T15:09:00.001-06:00

Dress: eShakti // Boots: Enzo Angiolini ‘Saylem’ Riding Boots (similar HERE) // Infinity Scarf: Loft (similar HERE) // Tights: Nordstrom

A few months ago, eShakti emailed me in regards to reviewing a clothing piece of my choice. eShakti is an online clothing company that sells dresses, coats, skirts, tops, etc. that are completely customizable to your body (height, size, & other options). They include sizes from 0-36W. I had seen other blogger friends review dresses, skirts, and whatnot for a few years now and I was excited that they had contacted me to give them a shot!

When you visit their website you will see lots of cute and unique pieces. In their email, they actually sent me a link to a special blogger selection of clothing that was only a smaller selection of what they have on their website. The smaller blogger selection is there so that they don’t have a bunch of bloggers review the same exact clothing garment. They let each item be reviewed by maybe 2-4 bloggers, remove it, and replace it with new designs as they come in. I guess that is understandable but I had seen a bunch of cute items that I would have loved to try that wasn’t in the blogger selection.

I originally ended up choosing a yellow and white striped poplin dress (similar HERE). I chose the option to add sleeves and chose a smaller neckline. It arrived fairly quickly and I couldn’t wait to try the dress on. When I tried it on, it was HUGE in the chest and waist area. I was kind of confused what had happened. I had Kevin do my measurements as I chose the custom size dress option and wondered if he got it right. We followed every step in the process very closely but we were confident he did get all of them right. I was pretty bummed since I had thought if you ordered a completely customizable dress from a company who specializes in that, it would fit like a glove. Somehow it didn’t at all.

I emailed eShakti & asked if there was anyway they could make the dress smaller or if I should just write an honest review on it…it being big and all, and they replied saying to take photos of the dress, email the photos to them to see what had happened in the manufacturing process, and pick another dress to choose from.

The first dress I had chosen would have been a perfect spring/summer dress. It was the end of summer and fall was quickly approaching, so I decided to get a dress that would be good for the fall and winter. I chose the this herringbone number. I’ve always been a big fan of herringbone and it is the perfect fall/winter pattern! I also thought it would be a classy, basic, fall/winter piece to add to my collection. [ I am not finding it on their website to link to, so there is a chance that it is sold out. ] I decided to give the customizable dress option another shot but this time, I had my mom do the measurements. Hers and Kevin’s were pretty darn close. On a side note, my mom sewed a lot in the past so I know she knows how to measure, and that makes Kevin too ;) I decided to add 3/4 sleeves, keep the longer length, and chose the smallest neckline.

Finally, it arrived and I tried it on! From the photos of it online, I thought it was more of a black color so I was planning on wearing my black Frye boots with it (or fancier black shoes if it wasn’t too snowy here in Colorado) but when it arrived it was definitely brown! Good thing I have a favorite brown pair of boots that looked alright with it. That was a little shocking but it wasn’t that big of a deal. I do think this dress fits a little better. I think the tied bow helps it fit better since the last one didn’t have a tie around the waist. The chest area is still a little big. I actually think they made the wrong neckline but I didn’t want to bother with any more dresses being made, etc. I chose the higher neckline because since having Ryder, I don’t like things that are too low or revealing, same goes with skirt lengths, because I am always running around and chasing him! I don’t want to have to worry about flashing anyone, in any type or form ha. So the neckline was a surprise but according to my mom and Kevin, they think it is fine, as long as when I bend down, I cover the top of my dress... Still, in my opinion, it is a little too big (in many ways). I am not sure if they are over-compensating the measurements when you send them in or if I have a weird body shape or type. Maybe some people measure themselves smaller than they really are? Also, from the photos, you might think the material is thick and warm. It is not. It is thin and just has the herringbone pattern on it. That is okay; it might be better for a slightly warmer fall/winter day. After seeing the dress and wearing it this past Sunday, I wished I had made the sleeves longer since it is basically a fall/winter dress and the 3/4 sleeves were a little chilly. I had the option to make the dress long sleeves. That isn’t eShakti’s fault though, just something I learned by wearing it. What I do love about the dress is the length. Yes, it is pretty long, but at the same time that is awesome. I didn’t ever worry about it riding up or being shorter while walking or flashing anyone while chasing after Ryder and grabbing him in the church hallway. It is a great length for not worrying! Also, when I go to stores, most dresses I try on are ALWAYS too short. This is almost too long, but much better! Another big positive, most dresses automatically come with pockets (unless you don’t want them) but I love pockets. Perfect for my iPhone & lipstick ;)

As you might be able to tell from the photos, it was a windy day! It was a very windy and cold day, thus the infinity scarf and boots. Also, it was kind of convenient since the scarf hid the neckline I felt uncomfortable about. The pockets were great to hide my cold hands in.

All in all, I would say I am happy with my dress. The main concern of mine is the neckline and chest/waist area being a little too big. According to my family, they think it looks alright. Personally, I wish that part was smaller.

*** eShakti does have a lot of really cute stuff and I would think that it is a good option for certain people. If you are extremely short, tall, or plus size, this may be a good way to find something that will fit vs. shopping in a brick and mortar store and them not having much of a selection for you. If you fit like a glove in most stores, I would maybe stick with doing that unless there was a style you love on eShakti’s website. I was happy with their customer service. They were great to work with. I was very embarrassed to tell them the dress didn’t fit, the first time around, and they didn’t mind and let me pick out another dress. I just think, here and there, you might run across a sizing issue. If you order for them for a special occasion, I would give extra time, just to be safe and to ensure a good fit. And…I did receive a few compliments on my dress, the first and only day I wore it thus far (& when my mom took photos), so I do think people like the dress. I just think it could have fit a little better as ‘a perfect fit’ is their company’s core competency. But really, I am happy with this dress. I might have to wear a scarf most of the times, but is cute and long enough.

If you are interested in eShakti, you can check out their website, Face book, Pinterest & Twitter!

xoxo

* FYI: Everything in this post are my own thoughts and opinions. I did receive this dress for an honest review.

General Conference Weekend!

2014-10-10T12:33:00.001-06:00

{ October 4 – 5th , 2014 }

General Conference Weekend came & went! It is a little different having a toddler since you are a little more distracted and can’t fully listen to the apostles & President Monson you know :)

[ Kevin found out his parents got 2 tickets to the Kansas City Royals Baseball game which they were lucky to get since they are in the Playoffs! Because they hadn’t been to the playoffs since Kevin has been alive, haha, he road-tripped it out there on Saturday, October 4th, went to the game with his dad on the 5th, and came back on the 6th. He watched Priesthood session while eating some BBQ as soon as he got there and General Conference with the whole family on Sunday. The KC Royals luckily did win! So glad they did ha. He had a blast and said it was probably the funnest game he has been to. (Photo above.) ]

Meanwhile, my mom & Hunter were out of town since Zach was competing (Yo-Yo) at Nationals in California (& they met him there). So my dad, Ryder, & I were left in town! I watched some General Conference Saturday in between getting distracted by the Ryder man. Then after both sessions, we met up with my dad at Famous Dave’s for some BBQ. Love that place and especially their cornbread muffins. Divine! Then Ryder & I hit up Super Target, Staples, & Walgreens for a few things. I caught up on laundry & blogging that night.

>>> OH…and YES HE WON NATIONALS! He is now the TWO time National Champion in Yo-Yo’ing! He is amazing. See his winning performance HERE. <<<

Sunday, we went over and hung out with my dad. He made yummy banana pancakes. We watched General Conference. In between sessions, Ryder & I had a bug hunt and found a lady bug in the backyard. We hung out on the tennis courts as well. Good times. Then later in the day, my mom and Hunter came back in town. We took Ryder out on the tree swing and HE LOVED IT. Obviously, I took many pictures. We had a delicious crockpot meal and called it a day!

I do feel like I need to re-watch every General Conference talk though, haha. Kids! :)

Until next time!

xoxo

October & Pumpkin Patch’n

2014-10-09T22:35:00.001-06:00

{ September 29th – October 3rd, 2014 }

Despite the little sickness we got over THIS weekend, this week we healed up pretty well & got right back into the swing of things! This week consists of basically everything up until General Conference! That’ll be it’s own post due to the amount of photos haha.

+ Ryder looking all guilty because he unbuckled himself while driving. Yeah…working on that! (Photo above) He also picked out his “Bay-Bee-You” shirt aka BYU ha.

+ Skipping the gym and running errands (don’t want to take Ryder in sick…wish others did the same at the gym)… Bed, Bath, & Beyond, Goodwill drop off, Walmart (oil change & groceries)… Super fun ;)

+ Kevin had JM over to watch the Kansas City Chief’s game. I blogged ;)

+ Took Ryder to Hunter’s tennis match. He LOVES going to these. He may be a little distracting but hopefully not haha. He sees Hunter & yells, “Huuuntterrr!!!” “Look, ball!” etc. etc. Then afterwards we ate at Noodles with my parents & Hunter as Kevin was out eating dinner with an account.

+ Bartel’s Farm Pumpkin Patch Play Date: We went to the Bartel’s farm up North in Fort Collins with Abby DeGraff, Gwen Valles, Anna Yancey, Courtney Stutznegger (who I used to visit teach), & Carrie Woolley (and all of everyone’s kids of course!) It was fun! The kids chased chickens…poor Emery got attacked by a duck, for real. The kids played on some play things (swing set, ride on toys, etc.). We went on a hay ride (photos above). Ryder fell in love with wagons ha. And he wouldn’t let go of a random basketball he found at the farm…you’d think he would be holding a pumpkin but no! Lol.

+ Put in my order for my new iPhone 6! Still waiting on it!

+ Hello New Girl & Mindy Project. The best!!!

+ Went over to Laura Neibaur’s for a play date. She had just had baby Conner maybe a couple of months ago? She also had over some other friends, Sarah, Candra, & Chantel…basically they all had newborns or were pregnant! But not me! Ha. But we had a little dessert brunch ha. It was fun. Still thinking about the cake Laura had got from Sprouts, so delicious. The kids played and of course they all loved that. Ryder chased the girls around, it was hilarious!

+ I went with the Relief Society Presidency to dinner at McCallister’s and then to a CSU Women’s Volleyball game since Tawna Parry has season tickets. I hadn’t ever gone to a Women’s Volleyball game there before…actually I don’t even know if I’ve ever gone to a CSU event in my life, weird, considering I really grew up here, but it was fun! I do love to watch volleyball. Also, their team is amazing and is ranked like 8th in the nation? So of course, they won! Oh, and they played UNLV. It was a fun evening!

+ Oh and if you see the picture with Ryder and eyeliner all over him…he got into my eyeliner and said he did “his eyes” HAHA. It was too funny, I had to leave it on until Kevin got home from work to get a kick out of it! Hilarious kid but it won’t be funny if he does this when he is much older ha.

+ I had planned a play date at the Spring Creek Gardens and of course it was crazy cold. None of us stayed that long but Gwen Valles, Abby DeGraff, Jocelyne Heinzen, & Jaclyn Jeppesen made it out there for a bit. Such a bummer it wasn’t warmer. It is a little kid’s play area in the middle of gardens, so it is beautiful. They have water features in the summer, a Dr. Seuss house, and a train/gondola set that the kids can push buttons to make it go and watch through glass (picture above). They LOVED that!

+ And of course we had a BYU Football game!

What a week! I am glad we got over our sicknesses quicker than normal (at least I did - so glad it didn’t turn into an infection) & had a great end of the week!

Next Up: General Conference Weekend!

xoxo

Remicade & Sickness + Weekend with the In-Laws!

2014-10-06T15:44:00.001-06:00

{ September 22nd – 28th, 2014 }

This week started out great & then we all eventually got sick at the worst timing. Sadly, we weren’t our usual selves when Kevin’s parents came in town due to sickness :( But lets start from the beginning of the week…

+ Mindy’s yoga class!

+ Super Target run: Ran into basically everyone I know that day ha. Saw Gwen Valles & her girls (photos above), Jocelyne Heinzen & baby Lila (another photo above), Elise Pringle, Natalie Brown, & someone else I forget. Basically, Target is the place to be ha!

+ Dinner with Jared & Lori Croft & their littles, Katie, & Tyler & their newest baby boy, Cameron (photo of the kiddos in the goal above ha). We had yummy quesadillas, Lori’s homemade apple sauce, & some Shirley’s rolls from Utah for dessert! We had a great night!

+ Remicade Infusion Day! (Photo of me and my IV in above ha) I had an appointment with my doctor before which is always unfortunately much anticipated. I always have a ton of questions for him! Ugh. Whelp, as long as I get a break from all my infections from my immunosuppressant drug, Remicade, I will be in a better relationship with my drug again haha. Crossing my fingers! But yeah, it all went well!

+ Ryder got a cold sadly and it started basically the day of my infusion. You cannot get an infusion with any symptoms of any kind of sickness. I was feeling totally fine when I went to get my infusion and when you get your infusion, it basically just hammers your immune system. Basically, my infusion just keeps my immune system suppressed so my body doesn’t fight itself and cause pain. So yeah, perfect timing for him to get sick and me be at my weakest! Gradually over the next few days, I started to get a cold. Ah!!! I couldn’t beat this one. But luckily, now I can say, it didn’t get that bad nor turn into an infection :D

+ Oh, and we went to Hunter’s tennis match to get out of the house for a bit. Ryder was hilarious!!! It was the first time we took him to a tennis match. The whole time he was like, “Look!!! Hunter!!! WOW!!! Oh gosh!” It just depended on what happened in the game haha. If a shot was missed, he would yell, wait… scream, “Oh gosh!!! Look! Baseball!” Yes he is a little confused about the difference between baseballs and tennis balls. But it was awesome. He was very upset that he couldn’t put his hand through the tennis fence and pull through a ball because the opening was too small. Luckily, we found some balls for him to play with. Hunter & his partner won & did great! We had fun!

But…

+ WEEKEND: My In-laws came in town for a quick 3-day weekend trip from September 26th through the 28th. We checked out the Zephyr office, where Kevin works. Ryder loved the ‘War Room’ which is basically a room where they strategize with painted planes on the walls. It’s a sweet room (photo above)! Then we ate brunch at the Original Pancake House. It is a new brunch place in Fort Collins that is delicious! Then I put Ryder down for a nap. When he was sick this week, he had a hard time going to sleep, so I snuggled him and rocked him and laid him down. It was so nice, but only when he is sick lol. Don’t want him to get into a habit ;) (Photo above.) After he woke up, we all went and grabbed QDoba for dinner and Mary’s Mountain Cookies for dessert while watching the Kansas City Royals Baseball game. // One thing that was super helpful was that they helped us do our water barrels for food storage. Kevin had ordered two big barrels, gosh, like a year ago? And they have been sitting in our garage. They are now in our basement full of water and ready for a disaster lol. I am so thankful they helped with that! Been on my “To-Do List” forever! We introduced them to Café Athens for lunch. They have the best gyros! While Kevin & Greg put Ryder down for a nap, Kathy & I went to Ulta and the Centerra area to shop at Loft. We got some fun cute things! Then we grabbed a few things from King Soopers on the way back and then watched the Royals Baseball game again. ( They are actually good this year and are in the playoffs ha! It is like the first time they are in the playoffs since like 30 years ago? The first time since Kevin has been alive! Lol. ) Then mid-way through the game, we went over to Bann Thai for some pad Thai which was SO good. Then we came back and finished the game. They won again! Since we were sick on Sunday, we didn’t attend church. We just hung out and got a little fresh air for a bit at the Spring Canyon Park. Ryder enjoyed the swings, walking on a balance beam type thing (with Kathy’s help), standing on my scooter with me haha, kicking a ball around, throwing a frisbee, & more ;) It was good to get out for a bit of fresh air. That is basically how this weekend went down! Unfortunately, we couldn’t have been healthy, but oh well, I guess there wasn’t anything else to do. :(

Next Up: Last week/end stuff :)

Fall Utah Visit Part 2/2

2014-10-05T16:44:00.001-06:00

{ September 19 – 21st, 2014 }

See Part 1 of our Fall Utah Visit HERE!

Now for Part 2 (& the last Part in this trip)!

Friday, September 19th, Kevin woke up really early to go play in the Jimmerosity Charity Golf Tournament. This year the tournament was up at Thanksgiving Point. Ryder & I ate breakfast at the hotel and waited for Kelsi to come pick us up. Her & Zach actually spent the night out in Murray I think, since Zach was waiting for the new iPhone 6 to come out and needed to get it the first day haha. That is the last thing I would want to do…spend the night waiting for a phone to come out especially when they don’t even know how many of each style, size, and color they will have! So Zach did get his phone and had to wait almost all day for it as well ha. So Kelsi came and got us & we went over to the Riverwoods to check out Called to Surf & Soel Boutique – some favorite stores of mine. Kelsi got a couple of things at Called to Surf & I got a dress from there. We ate a quick lunch at Subway. Then we went back to our hotel & Ryder took a nap. After Ryder woke up, Kevin had just gotten back to the hotel from golfing, and we went to the BYU Bookstore. We got Ryder a BYU t-shirt and myself a BYU Underarmour dri-fit type long sleeve pullover workout shirt. I LOVE IT! Weirdly, I have barely anything BYU so I am stoked to get this. Then we left for the Riverwoods. We had a little time before dinner and checked out Blickenstaff’s which is an awesome kid’s store (photos above). It is so cute & I love the products and brands they carry. We then ate at Happy Sumo with two of Kevin’s old BYU Baseball buddies, Sean McNaughton & Blake Torgerson (photo above). The BYU Baseball Alumni Golf Tournament & Baseball Game was actually this weekend so they & other Alumni were also in town. Perfect timing for us so we could see some old BYU Baseball friends! Dinner was great. I love that restaurant. I wish they had one in Fort Collins!! It was fun to catch up with them. I was friends with them maybe a little bit before meeting Kevin. Then we made our way back to the hotel.

Saturday, September 20th, we woke up & got ready to go to Shirley’s. Shayla Forsey, my first friend from BYU, met us there. We LOVE Shirley’s! They had moved to a new location from when we lived there. They have the BEST sweet rolls. There’s a photo of Ryder pounding a sweet roll above. The last time Kevin went on a quick trip to Utah, I made him bring back a box for me haha. They are THAT GOOD! So we ate there with Shayla and went back to BYU campus. We walked on over to the Hinckley building to get our BYU Football tickets from the BYU Licensing Director. Kevin works with him so he hooked us up with extra tickets he had. Then while we were waiting, we walked to the Tanner Building which is where the Marriott School of Management is located. That is where, Kevin, Shayla, & I all went to school. Kevin studied Entrepreneurship & Shayla & I studied Marketing :) So we had to get some photos in front of it ha (photos above). Just being on BYU campus brings back so many great memories!

Then we walked over to the BYU Baseball field since the BYU Baseball Alumni game was just starting. It was SO hot so we didn’t sit and watch the game for long (well Kevin did) but Ryder & I hung out in the shade. Whitney Torgerson was there with her little boy Tyler and Ryder & Tyler played with balls for the whole time. They even went onto the BYU Softball field & played. They were so cute together! The last time we had seen them was a little over a year ago when we were in California. The boys definitely got along! We also talked to Sean McNaughton for awhile and then Shayla needed to leave. We also saw Thomas Bills, one of Kevin’s good friends. We had some free pizza after the game which was perfect because we didn’t feel like buying overpriced food at the BYU Football game for lunch.

Next up was the BYU Football Game! We had actual seats because our tickets were better than the normal ones (thanks to BYU Licensing!) which was AWESOME. So much more comfortable than just sitting on bleachers! Kelsi & Zach came & squeezed into some open seats around us. Kelsi got in for free since she is doing the BYU Sports Marketing Internship. She actually set out thousands of white t-shirts on a lot of the seats since it was a white-out game! I didn’t realize that I wasn’t going to get a free t-shirt so I wore a 3/4 sleeve BYU shirt that was hot! I was going to change once I got my free one but our seats didn’t come with them. Bummer! We got some BYU Creamery ice-cream during half-time which was much needed and very delicious. Oh, and while we were eating our ice-cream we saw our friends Wade, Jaclyn, & baby Owen Jeppesen just walking around. They are our friends here in Fort Collins. So random! The game was a lot of fun. Ryder kept asking to sit with “Elsi” aka Kelsi. One of his favorite songs was played on every certain down (or something like that) during the game so he was in heaven. He would dance each time. Oh, and the game started during his nap time so he didn’t get a legit nap. He did, however, fall asleep on Kelsi for maybe 30 minutes. So much cheering & dancing! He still, to this day, talks about “Bye-bee-you Football.” He can’t say BYU so he says, “Bye-bee-you!” So cute. We had a blast. Then afterwards, we were going to eat dinner and called Tucano’s for Kevin’s Birthday dinner again but the wait was too long. Such a bummer! It is such a popular restaurant. He chose Gloria’s Little Italy which is an authentic Italian restaurant in downtown Provo. He actually worked there for a few weeks when we lived there ha. The food was delicious of course. They gave Kevin an insanely huge Italian dessert for his Birthday so he was in heaven (photo above). They also had an accordion player there so Kevin had him play some of his favorite Italian songs (photo above). So cool. Also, the Provo Tabernacle Temple is catty-corner from Gloria’s Little Italy so you can see the photo of us above in front of it. It is still in the process of being fixed up and re-built after the fire (when we were at BYU)! Then Kevin took Ryder back to the hotel to go to sleep and I went with Kelsi for a quick trip to the Riverwoods again. We were supposed to get matching shirts a long time ago and finally picked out some matching sweaters from Called to Surf! Then she drove me back to the hotel and that was that.

Sunday, September 21st, Kelsi came over in the morning early for a quick hotel breakfast. We wanted to attend church somewhere but it was actually the Ogden Temple Re-Dedication that day so all church services were cancelled except for the broadcast of the Re-Dedication. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the pass or whatever we needed to go to it since we didn’t even know about it until we got there! So, we drove back to Colorado.

Such a fun trip! Whenever I go to Utah, I always want to go back and stay for longer. We still have a bunch of friends out there (and family) and we don’t have enough time with everyone I feel like, or even to see everyone! We had a blast though! Until next trip ;)

Fall Utah Visit Part 1/2

2014-10-05T13:49:00.001-06:00

{ September 17th – 18th, 2014 }

Kevin had some work meetings and the Jimmerosity Charity Golf Tournament to attend in Utah so of course, Ryder & I wanted to join in ;)

We left on Wednesday, September 17th, bright and early at 7 am and arrived just in time for one of Kevin’s meetings in Salt Lake City at 3 pm. Ryder & I dropped Kevin off & drove around, actually in West Valley City, and found Target to entertain ourselves. About an hour or so later, Kevin got dropped off at the Target & then we headed over to the University of Utah Bookstore. Neither Kevin or myself had been in the Utah Bookstore and Kevin wanted to check it out for work, so we went. Since Utah & BYU are rivals, it was weird going in there. Haha. I was never an extreme hater or anything but it was still weird. I would look around at clothes and be like “Oh, Kevin, look this is cute….if it were… you-know-BYU” Haha. Ryder kept trying to cover his face with the umbrella sun cover (photo above) ;) He already knows we bleed blue!!! Afterwards, we made our way over to City Creek for a little ‘shopping’ until we met up with Dane & Taylor Nielsen & their cute kiddos, Kalei & Christian (photo above of all of us at City Creek). Kevin & Dane played BYU Baseball together so that is how we are all friends. We grabbed Kneaders for dinner and ate outside since the weather was nice. Then the kids looked at the water fountain and ended up playing in the dinosaur kid’s play place (photos above). Ryder is now obsessed with Kalei! They were so cute together! We stayed until almost 10 pm and then decided we needed to leave because we still had to get back down to Provo (an hour away) & check into our hotel & unpack & all that fun stuff. We didn’t want to leave! It was so fun hanging out with them!!!

Thursday, September 18th, was actually Kevin’s 29th Birthday! Ahh! Can’t believe he is 29! I can’t believe we are getting older haha. So we ate breakfast at the hotel and then headed out to Orem because Kevin had a meeting scheduled with Mission Belts (Yes! As seen on Shark Tank!) Ryder & I went in with Kevin to check out the office. I had wanted to & to meet the people because we saw them on Shark Tank years ago & Kevin knows them all well. And randomly, a girl who was good friends with one of my old roommates while at BYU, Candice, works there! How random. So we saw her as well! Then we drove over to BYU & met Zach in the Cougar Eat. I was hoping to eat at Tommasito's since that is where Kevin & I met but the Cougar Eat switched it up & put a Chik-fil-a in their spot! So sad haha. The food wasn’t that great though so I understand why they kicked them out lol. It was crappy Italian food! Afterwards, Zach & I checked out the BYU Bookstore as he had to get a binder for a class and then we checked out the Museum of Art. I showed him the café where I liked to eat when I went to school there! Then I had to get back to get Ryder down for a nap. We dropped Zach off at his dorm & made our way back out to Orem. Oh, speaking of naps, Ryder is always an amazing sleeper – at night and naps – but the weekend prior, I had cut his binkies haha which was a great self soothing thing for him. He didn’t sleep as well on this trip in the hotel. I guess that is to be expected since he can see us in the same room unpacking & getting ready, but still. He has slept amazing in hotels before! So this nap time, Ryder & I took a ‘nap’ together. He wouldn’t sleep unless I was next to him so I lied next to him for 2 hours lol. Then Kevin got back and we headed out to see Karina Powell & little Ryan! Unfortunately, Aaron (Karina’s husband & one of Kevin’s best friends from BYU) had left back home to Texas a few days prior. Too bad we couldn’t see him! But it was fun to see Karina & Ryan while they were visiting her family in Utah! We checked out her parent’s new home and Ryder & Ryan had fun playing in the kid’s room. They both were obsessed with the train set in there. They also loved the indoor basketball court. And of course, the pool table & balls! (Photos above) Then we had to hurry back to Orem since we were going to eat at Tucano’s for Kevin’s Birthday with Kelsi & Patrick, however, the wait was too long & so we switched it up and ate at Terra Mia. It was Zach’s first time going there and he was a fan! After dinner with them, we made our way back to the hotel and Chantell Perry picked up me (photo above). She does hair south of Orem so I was on her way back to where she lives. She hadn’t eaten dinner yet so we went to Café Rio. I just hung out while she ate and we caught up on everything in the past year! I need to get to Utah more often! Haha. But it was really fun. It was great to catch up with her. I miss her! Then she dropped me back off at the hotel and we called it a night.

Next Up: Fall Utah VIsit Part 2/2!

September Happenings + Kevin’s Early Birthday Celebration

2014-09-30T12:37:00.001-06:00

{ September 8th – September 16th, 2014 }

This week (& a half) was fun! Well, Kevin was in Pittsburgh and also NYC on business for some of the week (September 7th through the 11th) so Ryder & I kept ourselves busy just hanging out the two of us.

What were we up to?

+ Usual: Gym, Visiting Teaching, Blogging, Shopping (Target, Sam’s Club, Dollar store, Party City), Laundry

+ Sarah came over & we watched the Bachelor in Paradise finale. Ha. What a dumb show but somehow we all watched it lol.

+ For my calling, we conducted Visiting Teaching Interviews.

+ Café Rio with the family! Can’t go wrong with either of those ;)

+ Got our yearly flu shot! And I was impressed to see on the paper you fill out at Target (to get your flu shot), that it had a place where you could check if you or someone you know, has ‘Ankylosing Spondylitis’!!! I was like “YES!” Also, a place to check if you or someone close you know is on an ‘Immunosupressent’ drug, “YES!!!” Slowly, it is maybe becoming a little more known in the world haha! Probably not ;)

+ Panera lunch with the Relief Society Presidency.

+ Cool Beans with the DeGraff’s. Ryder, Finn, & Oli had fun riding matching tricycles around and running around playing with all the random stuff to do at Cool Beans! We went in the evening & stayed pretty late since both husbands were out of town!

+ HuHot Express with my mom & Hunter! So good.

+ Oh, I cut Ryder’s binkies (BIN-T how Ry says it) & he was upset the first few nap times but honestly, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be! He just knows his “Bin-tees broke!” Haha. I was shocked that it wasn’t harder! He is doing great now. There was a little transition time and days but honestly, not bad!!! If only he knew that I broke them!

+ Music Makers: This was our first time going to Music Makers (a free music class that some girls from the church put on) & Ryder did alright. It was all new to us and he isn’t the type of kid – yet – that will sit quietly and raise his hand for questions or to be called on haha. We will maybe try it again sometime soon. That is where the parachute picture is from ;) That was Ryder’s favorite part of the class.

+ FHE with Kevin and we also watched Need for Speed ha. Just reminds me of Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad.

+ Ryder got his first pompadour haircut haha. I’m not sure what I think of it. I think I miss his longer hair, not that it was really long to begin with though. We take him to a cheap-o place and the lady cut too much off the top of his hair, which is kind of the point with the hairstyle. Oh well, it’ll grow out! It was an impulse decision! HA.

+ Cherry Creek Shopping: Went there with my mom and Hunter. Patrick met us there as he was looking for a business suit for a college business trip coming up soon. We didn’t have much time at all to do anything other than suit shop! Need to go back ASAP! I did run into H&M & got Ryder a pair of shorts and some beanies really quick. Meanwhile, Kevin took Ryder to Walmart to get the Mazda’s oil changed. They hung out & watched Frozen & ate McDonald’s. The wait was long! I hate that!!! (Photos above lol).

+ Then we drove off to another part of Denver for my cousin, James Seilbachs’ son, Adam, because he was having a Book Release/Signing Party at their home for friends and family. He just wrote a book and is donating some proceeds to charity. It is on Amazon. I think Hunter is going to read it! They had their house all decked out in the theme/style of the book. It was sweet! We ate dinner there. Oh, and Kevin & Ryder drove up for the fun! Pretty awesome!

+ Fossil Creek Play Date with Abby & her twins. We met at the baseball field at Fossil Creek Park. We brought balls. The kids ran around, threw balls, and basically we had to chase the balls for them since they just kept throwing them over a fence haha. Not exactly the point of bringing them there to do that lol. Then Erin Neville came with her daughter Nora and we hung out at the park area of it. Good times!

+ Kevin’s Early Birthday Celebration: Since we were going out of town to Utah that weekend, my family wanted to celebrate Kevin’s Birthday before we left. Kevin chose to eat dinner at the Macaroni Grill. It was very good! He got loaded up with tons of BYU gear for his Birthday. Perfect timing since we were heading out there and going to a BYU Football game! He also got some camping equipment we needed and some KC Chief’s Football cards ha. It was a fun night!

+ And lastly, the New Girl & Mindy Project had their season premieres so you better believe we planned to watch that…so I had to do lots of packing earlier and not last minute ;)

Next Up: our Utah trip!

xoxo

Ryder’s 2nd Birthday Celebration ~ with my Family

2014-09-28T18:08:00.001-06:00

{ Sunday, September 7th, 2014 }

We started the morning off by going to a Special Stake Meeting. Kevin was out of town on a business trip so I met my family there. Ryder loved hanging out with Hunter at church. Then during Ryder’s nap, we had a Presidency Meeting. After…we went to my parents to celebrate Ryder’s 2nd Birthday with my fam! My mom was out of town on his actual Birthday so she wanted to do something for him and also so he could open his presents! Ryder opened his presents – with my help – and was spoiled. He got an awesome winter jacket, Disney Zsum Zsum little stuffed animals from Hunter, soccer/hockey net, Plasma ‘wiggle’ car which he calls his racecar, & the cutest G is for Goat book which kind of matches his Bla Bla Billy the Goat stuffed animal he sleeps with! Ryder loved riding his racecar around the house while holding onto his hockey stick. He also loves doing anything with Hunter. They played mini hockey and soccer for awhile as well. We had a yummy dinner but I can’t remember what it was at this point ha. Then we hung out outside and drove his racecar around and he also played with my dad’s remote control car. We had a great time hanging out with my family and celebrating Ryder’s big day a little late. What a great Sabbath!

Ryder’s Planes 2nd Birthday Party!

2014-09-26T20:59:00.001-06:00

The week before Ryder’s Planes 2nd Birthday Party with friends & family, I had thought we weren’t throwing Ryder an extravagant (to me) party. Then Kevin was like, “Well, we threw him a big 1 year Birthday party…we have to throw a big 2 year old one!” HAHA. So I quickly hit up Party City & Super Target the following day and got a bunch of Disney Planes themed stuff (cups, napkins, tablecloths, plates, party hats, etc.) as well as got the evites sent out! Oh, and if you are wondering Target sells cute Planes t-shirts! ;) I decided that I would make some Planes type banners…so I made some paper airplane ones (Kevin folded them) & cloud ones. We ordered a cake from Sam’s Club since they are always the way to go (cheapest compared to grocery stores)! We decided to do snacky foods for dinner & cake, of course! I looked around on Pinterest as well for ideas. It just was too overwhelming and (not enough time in advance) to pull anything more extravagant off than what we did haha. And this is going all out for me! I hate throwing parties, honestly. It stresses me out. Also, it gets SO expensive!

The party was on Saturday, September 6th from 6-8 pm at our house. As I was setting up with Bekah Wilkey (she came over early to help me), it started raining really hard! It looked like it would pass over within the next half hour or so. So it finally did pass over around 6:20 pm? I didn’t know what to do. I could either bring the party inside (our main level isn’t that big) or wait it out, and have it outside. People started coming over and hung out inside for a bit. All the chairs I set up earlier got soaked!

* Oh, and the one thing that I hate that I never am good at when I throw these parties, is taking pictures! The pictures I have aren’t great. They are just ones I took REALLY quickly when I had a minute. The table wasn’t all set up and garlands up, etc. But it did take A LOT of time to plan, craft, set up, etc.! So this is what I got… I really need to have someone else take photos for me, I guess!

Moving on. We had chicken salad croissants, chips, fruit salad (amazing one my dad makes), fresh veggies & dip, & cake. I had a sign that said, “Fueling Station.” The drink was a cran drink with Sprite and it was called, “Motor Oil.” We also had bottled water in the orange container.

We put balloons all over the yard and they were secured by golf tees. The signs and banners I made prior in the week.

Who came? My parents & brother, Hunter, Brittany & Tyler Wallace (friends from work), Bekah & Carmen Wilkey, the Valles’ (Danny, Gwen, Valencia, Gabrielle), the Yancey’s (Drew, Anna, Emery, Allegra), Jocelyne & Lila Heinzen, my aunt, NaNet Puccetti, Derk & Sloan Masters…and I think that is it haha… Oh, my friends Josh & Emily & baby Skyler Peterson were going to come but they got sick so didn’t come last minute. Also, Sarah Fleming (friend from work) had family unexpectedly come in town… But we had a blast, all of who came!

Ryder opened some presents. He got some awesome things from his friends! He got a soft soccer ball pillow, Matching First Words game, Target gift card, bubble machine, 4wheeler car which he calls a ‘racecar’, lacrosse sticks, & think that is it! He is lucky to have such good friends :)

All in all, Ryder had a great Birthday! He had fun running around with friends, Hunter, and playing with balls in the backyard. I was a little thrown off by the rainy weather and felt it was a little hectic and chaotic, but nothing you can do about that but swing with it!

We are so grateful for all of our friends and family who love Ryder and are lucky to have them in our lives! :)

Soaking in the last of Summer

2014-09-26T19:52:00.001-06:00

{ September 2nd & 4-7th, 2014 }

This post is basically Ryder’s Birthday week minus the festivities ;)

So… September 1st… Labor Day Weekend Camping HERE.

And on September 3rd, Ryder’s 2nd Birthday HERE.

And I will post about Ryder’s 2nd Birthday Party & his Birthday celebration with my family soon…because that is also this week. Moving on!

// Some fun things this week (minus Ryder’s doctor appointment & shots) included…

+ Fossil Creek Park with Lauren Moore & her kiddos, Simone & Harrison (photos above). Ryder & Simone had fun playing in the baseball field and running bases together. So cute. They also did big slides, climbed up rocks, rode little dinosaurs, and swung with Harrison in the baby swings. We also got a cute photo of Ryder & Simone, and Ryder made the move and held her hand haha. Cutest!

+ Centerra, not once, but three times this week! Hit up Loft and Victoria’s Secret. Bekah Wilkey & I went together and Carmen & Ryder watched Frozen while we shopped at Gap. Then we let them play in the Centerra splash pads, in their clothes…ha (photo above). We didn’t think ahead to bring swimsuits! It was actually a little chilly but they didn’t care at all. They were screaming and running through the fountains. In heaven!

+ Texas Roadhouse with my dad & Hunter while Kevin and my mom were out of town. Can’t go wrong with their rolls! Delicious.

+ Kevin had a quick business trip to Wisconsin from September 2nd to the 3rd.

+ Ryder had his TWO Year Wellness Check-Up with the Pediatrician. Stats: 36 inches (85%) & 27 lbs. 9 oz (50%)! He is getting taller and did gain a little weight so he is average now :) Pretty perfect! He got a flu shot and a toe prick to check for anemia I think. He HATED the warm diaper on his toe. They did that before they pricked his toe haha. He cried so hard having it on his toe! (Photos above). He did awesome! Afterwards, we went to get a present for his friend Carmen & got him and her matching ABC puzzles to help them learn their letters. Ryder had Birthday money :)

+ Lunch at Zephyr with Kevin. We brought Kevin a lunch at work. Ryder basically ate two bites and ran around too interested to really eat his meal. He liked talking and hanging out with other employees. He also took over a warehouse walkie talkie and was talking into it ha.

+ Party Preppin for Ryder’s 2nd Birthday. Sam’s Club, Target, picking up cake, balloons, Keving got a haircut, etc…more on this soon!

+ Special Stake Meeting: Our Stake had a Special Stake Meeting on September 7th, so I went to church and met my family since we met at the same time that day. Kevin actually left on a business trip that morning to Pittsburgh and NYC so he didn’t make it. We celebrated Ryder’s Birthday with my family later that day since my mom was out of town for his actual Birthday. More on this later!

Whelp, that’s a wrap! More Birthday posts coming! :D