Williams

All Dogs go to Heaven

2012-02-07T12:52:00.000-08:00

I’ve been thinking a lot about my Mase. I suppose it’s time I talk about

this. Some people are probably wondering why he hasn’t been showing

up in my blog for the last year. Honestly, I have been avoiding this

subject. It has been sixteen months since we put Mase down. I’ve had a lot of anger, sadness, denial, and bitterness about his death. I’m finally accepting it. Or just gotten more used it. I have avoided looking at his pictures and thinking about him. It hurts to

remember. Time has made it easier and so has my sweet Ryder.

A couple of my close friends and family have recently put some pets

down, which has made the feelings I have once felt resurface.

Some of you probably think I’m crazy for having such a hard time dealing

with the loss of a pet.
Ever since I was young I wanted an Alaskan
Malamute. I was in love with this type of dog. I dreamed about the

day I could have my own. I wanted the perfect one too. I did a lot of

searching for the perfect one. I found the bloodlines I wanted for my puppy and I

was more than willing to pay the $850 dollars for him, and drive 4

states to pick him up. Yes, I was crazy. He was the one I

wanted. (I really wanted a sled team, but couldn't afford it) Summer of 2008 I got my perfect little puppy. But you see Mase didin't die of old age or illness. The

situation was more complicated than that.

July 6, 2010

I had a dentist appointment after work. I needed to get a root canal.

One of my greatest dislikes is going to the dentist. I have really

sensitive teeth and don’t numb very well. I get anxiety, sweat

bullets, cry…I hate going! I begged Colby to go with me. I was also 3

months pregnant so I couldn’t have Novocain, and I was really freaked

out. Anyways, I talked Colby into taking me. At about six we were

on our way home and we got a call from our neighbor. She said Mase had

gotten off his chain (we don’t have a fence, and didn’t have a kennel at

the time) and he bit a neighbor kid. I was feeling really loopy and hearing

that made me feel worse. Colby had to pull over so I could vomit on the

side of the road. We got home and learned that Mase broke his very

sturdy chain, and bit, not one, but TWO little boys who lived across the

street. One boy was taken to the hospital, and luckily the other boy

just had a scratch. It was so hard to believe our dog did this!

He hadn’t been around kids much but we never expected this! He had

always been so lovey and a gentle giant. Mase was really

intimidating and always caught your eye with his beauty. There had

been times when neighbor kids would taunt and tease him, throw

things at him and stand in our yard as close as they would dare

without Mase reaching them. We always told the kids to stop and

leave Mase alone. It was hard because they would always play with and

want to pet the dogs, especially because the puppies had been born a

few months before. The day Mase bit the kids was the day after

the Fourth of July Celebration in Lewiston. The big parade goes by

our house, the fireworks are less than two blocks away, our

neighbors did lots of fireworks, and we had a lot of family and friends

over throughout the day for all the festivities. We think that this

could have played in a role in why Mase did what he did. He could have

got scared or aggravated with all the commotion. Who knows? We do

know that all those reasons we could think of as to why this

happened didn’t make up for the fact that one boy was badly bitten,

and it could have been much worse.

Mase spent a week in puppy jail at “the pound.” We have had large

claims on our home owners insurance. We had to go to court and talked

the judge into allowing us to work with a professional dog trainer for 3 months

and report back. In the beginning we did everything we

could to keep Mase alive. He was doing really well with his daily dog

training. We spent a lot of time and money on “saving” his life.

Six weeks later, and now halfway through my pregnancy, we

had been doing so much thinking about this situation. It was a chore to

make sure Mase had a muzzle, and leash on at all times, train him and

work with him multiple times a day, and the hardest part was seeing the boys

across the street and the fear they had. We thought about our

unborn son and the “what if’s” and the “could’ve beens.” We knew

that mase was a good dog, but sometimes bad things happen. Something

worse could have happened on that terrible day, or the aftermath could have

been worse. (I had learned that people have been arrested, sued , or lost

their homes because of dog bites or dog attacks) After a lot of

thought, and a lot of tears, we decided it would be best to put Mase

down. It was the hardest decision I’ve ever made. We knew a judge

really had the decision in the end, and Mase was doing really well with

his training. (The trainer was going to report back to the judge with

what he thought.) We felt like we did not want to risk another

accident. It could be an accident with our own son. We also didn’t want

to live in fear, or have the neighborhood living in fear.

On a good note, we still have Minnie girl. She is a sweetheart,

and the neighborhood loves her. I read two books recently about

Heaven. (They were so good! Easy reads, I whipped through them in one

night! They are “Heaven is for REAL!” and “The Message” You should

read them!) Anyways, the books talked about heaven and confirmed

my thoughts that animals do go to Heaven! I’m sure Mase is so happy

swimming and running as much as he wants in such a beautiful place.

Hopefully you don’t think of my Mase as a monster now I shared that

story. Here are the ways I remember the happy, loving, and enjoyable

MASE…

Mase's first time camping, September 2008. We thought we lost him one day, we searched for over an hour. Then he finally came out from under the trailer, he'd been sleeping in the tall grass. We looked there but we couldn't see him!

Mase and Minnie's 5 puppies
March 2010

First time swimming, May 2009. He swam for hours.

Mase's first snow! October 6, 2008

Mase's last night with us. We took him swimming, his favorite thing to do.

Mase caught a fish!! Ice fishing 2009

Mase's first birthday! July 12, 2009

Our last day with Mase....

Little Ann

2012-02-02T13:17:00.000-08:00

Meet Annie. Or little Ann, whichever you prefer.

She lives at Grandpa and Grandmas house.

She is very rambunctious, and loves to smother Ryder!

the boy in the mirror

2012-02-02T13:03:00.000-08:00

Nice hair Ry!

mmmm....beef jerky!

2012-01-24T18:12:00.000-08:00

Ryder is enjoying him some beef jerky....

yummm

I did some reading about toddlers putting everything in their mouth, because this boy does and it's really annoying. Shoes, the booger suckers, books, anything he can get his hands on. Most of what I read said he needs more "oral stimulation". And things I can do to help with that are rubbing his gums, brushing his teeth more, giving him things to knaw (that he is allowed to put in his mouth). What better than beef jerky, right?

homecoming & a blessing

2012-01-19T16:33:00.000-08:00

Right before Christmas my cousin, Elder Courtney Bair, came home from serving a mission in the Netherlands. It was so good to see him! He was an outstanding missionary!

After his family picked him up from the airport, we surprised him at his favorite restaurant, Jeremiah's.

My uncle Blake and his cute family came to Utah for Christmas.

Cole giving Ryder some loves.

Last Sunday Courtney spoke in church. He gave a great talk. It was really fun to hear him speak about his mission and some of the experiences he had on his mission. He is awesome! I am proud of him. He also blessed our little cousin Twila.

Twila

Cousins
Kasey, Kristin, Courtney

Court and his beautiful sisters, Shari & Stacy.

Journee & Twila

some more "lately"...

2012-01-19T16:09:00.000-08:00

With it being January, I've heard lots of people talking about their new year's resolutions. I don't think I have ever made any new years resolutions. I should, but never have. I don't like the phrase, new year's resolutions though. I like goals better. So I am going to set myself some goals for 2012. I figure if I post my goals on my blog, then it will help me to do them, so I can keep track of my progress. :)

GOALS for 2012

#1- Do more Service.

I recently read this book that made me realize how important service is. Why I haven't felt this way all along, I don't know. Seriously, service is so important.

#2- Make progress with my mother.

Some of you are familiar with this situation. I'm not going to go into detail in this post. Figuratively, she just needs to travel in a different direction. I need to help her.

#3-Grow a better garden than last year & can more food than last year

The garden part should be easy, last year was our first experience gardening and we learned a lot about what NOT to do.

#4- Make a quilt & sew more

I have a killer sewing machine I should really use it.

#5- Blog More

I feel like I do a good job blogging, I would like to do more. It's not very convienent when you don't have internet at home (besides my phone, which is slower than tar). Over the years I have tried to keep a journal, I do good for about a week and then slowly I quit writing in it. I found blogging is more fun and it's like a journal with pictures. It has been fun to look back on the past few years on my blog. Now that we have a kid I want to capture all the memories I can (which I've been bad at writing certain milestones and such down, the blog is the best). I really want to stay up on it.

#6-Pray more and Read The Book of Mormon

I have gotten into the habit of praying daily. I love it, it's so great and helps me throughout the day. But I might struggle with reading the BOM. I've tried, and never succeeded. Hopefully I can do it. Lately, I have been reading a lot of inspiring books. They have either been given to me, or someone mentions the book to me so I borrow it or go check it out at the library. Anyways, I can't help but feel like I was meant to read that specific book because it gave me answers, guidance, or comfort when I need it most at a certain time in my life. I feel like that's how it will be the first time I read the BOM. So hopefully that will take place this year. :)

There are always the usual goals of eating healthier, managing money better, be a better wife and mom, exercise more, spend more time with pets, etc. But those should just be habits that I should be doing on a daily basis. So those don't count as goals.

So to help reach goal #5, here is some more of what we've done the last couple weeks:

Two weeks ago the flu bug visited our home. Ryder was the only one who got a flu shot this year. He did throw up once and had a bad case of the D's. (I hate the "d word" it sounds so yucky!) It didn't seem to slow him down like it did Colby and I. Colby got it first and then me. It was only a 24 hour thing. Luckily, Colby was feeling better by the time it got to me. It would have been hard to take care of Ryder while battling the flu.

Last weekend we went to the Preston basketball game. Chris coaches Century girls B-ball and they were playing at Preston. We went and cheered them on, and they won! It was a great game.

We also went to lunch to celebrate Mandi's birthday.

We went to Firehouse, it was delish. We haven't been there in a long time, and we discovered Ryder's new favorite food, Firehouse breadsticks. He couldn't get enough.

lately...

2012-01-11T17:56:00.000-08:00

Lately Ryder has been so funny. He loves playing in the kitchen, or bathroom, or wherever he's not supposed to be. My aunt Kathy gave him some fridge magnets of barn animals and he got some alphabet magnets from Santa to keep him busy in the Kitchen. He likes it and he's learned what a sheep and cow say. He will say "baaa" but he will only say "eww" for moo.

How 'bout this weather lately? We have been taking advantage of the sunshine and nice weather for January!

Lately he has been wanting to feed himself. It is messy, and I hate messes but he screams if I wont let him hold the fork.

Below is a picture of Ryder sleeping with his puppy Scout.

One night we put Ryder to bed and it took him FOREVER to fall asleep. We usually don't let Scout sleep with Ryder because Scout talks and sings and it keeps Ryder up. Colby and I were in our bedroom listening to him on the baby monitor (our rooms are on opposite ends of the house so we still use the monitors.) Ryder was just jabbering away. I said to Colby, "It sounds like he's talking to someone." It really did, it sounded like he was trying to have a conversation. Then all of a sudden we hear, "I love you, Ryder." I almost peed my pants! I thought someone was in my sons room! It didn't take long to realize it was Scout, then we died laughing.

Lately, Ryder loves closing doors when they are open. It's been driving me crazy. I want to go buy door stoppers to keep his bedroom door open.

(I usually take a couple picture of Ryder each day, haha! So sorry there's LOTS of pics!)

TIMEOUT

I have started putting Ryder in timeout. He has been throwing tantrums like crazy. When I take something away from him or take him away from somewhere he will scream or arch his back and yell. So when he does that he either goes in his crib or he sits in the corner in a chair. I have also been telling him no a lot. So now he says no to me all the time. Oops.

The other day Ryder said "puppy" He said it so good! Most of his words aren't pronounced very well, but I was so taken back when he said puppy.

giving his puppy loves

I make smoothies a lot. Ryder loves them.

He starts drinking it from a straw. He usually gets a brainfreeze. The straw doesn't give him enough smoothie fast enough, so he drinks from the cup. Then he gets a smoothie stach. :)

Hardware Ranch

2012-01-11T17:10:00.000-08:00

It has been almost 5 years since we've made it up to Hardware Ranch.

There is no snow up there. They are only feeding the elk for visitors to come see, so there weren't very many. There wasn't a single bull. But it was still fun!

Ryder just woke up when we got there, here he is cuddling Dad.

scraggly looking elk

Ryder liked the horses most! He wanted to get down on the ground. He thought the elk poop was cool, he kept pointing at it and saying "oooohh".

uncles

2012-01-11T17:01:00.000-08:00

Ryder is lucky to have these guys for uncles...

Uncle Kurtis & Brayden

Uncle Dar

Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!!!

2012-01-04T15:06:00.000-08:00

Yay for a new year!

For my own silly blogging purposes, let's take a look back at 2011.

January- I went back to work at Cache Valley Oxygen :( Thankfully, Ryder could go with me. :)

February- Brayden won another state championship in wrestling!

March- Ryder recieved a name and a blessing from Grandpa Todd. I don't think I ever blogged about this, what a special day!

April- Went to Island Park with the Williams family, stayed in a friends nice cabin for confrence weekend.

Ryder had his first Easter. (I LOVE Easter, so I was excited about this!)

May- Went to Blackfoot Resivoir with the Shuler's. Celebrated my first Mother's Day.

We enjoyed watching some of Brayden and Kurtis' baseball games.

June- I quit my job! We packed up and headed to Montana. Colby had his first Father's Day.

July- Soaked up every minute we were in Montana.

August- Finished some remodeling on the house. Ryder has a bedroom!
Colby and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary.

September- We harvested a garden!!!

I'm quite proud for all the gardening Colby did and all the canning I did!

October- Let the hunting begin...

November- Ryder began to crawl, thus began a very busy boy. Ryder's first Thanksgiving.

December- Ryder turned ONE! And of course Christmas!

Happy New Year!

A Cute Christmas Story

2011-12-29T15:53:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Day our little neighbor boy and his dad came over. He came over to give this tricycle to Ryder for Christmas. He said he got it in the tub to get it all clean for Ryder to have.

How sweet is that little boy?

(He looks a little hefty in this pic. Remember, the camera adds ten pounds.)

Christmas Quilt

2011-12-29T15:41:00.000-08:00

Aunt Mandi made Ryder this very cute quilt. It is super soft and has brown minky dot on the back.

Ryder loves it!

Thanks Mandi!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-29T15:23:00.000-08:00

Christmas is so much fun with a little one.

Great-Great Grandma Griffin gave us some pickles.

Ryder got spoiled. Not just by Santa, but Grandparents too. His favorite toy was an elephant Great-Grandma Johnson gave him.

We had 3 different family Christmas parties and I forgot my camera at each one. Christmas Eve Eve was spent with the Williams family. It was a fun night. We ate lots of soup and other yummy foods, played some games, and took some family pics. It was fun seeing all of the Williams side.

Christmas Eve we went to the Grandma Johnson's house. Ate some more yummy food. I normally don't like ham, but I couldn't get enough of grandma's ham. It was so tasty! On Christmas Eve, we always play lots of card games. But with all the toddlers and babies we didn't even make it through one game of Rummy. Colby says our card playing days are probably over. Sad.

Christmas afternoon we joined the Hancey Family for Christmas dinner. It was like Thanksgiving all over again. (which is a good thing)

I have to say though, I am glad Christmas is over. It was a busy couple weeks! I procrastinated again with Christmas shopping. I hate it. I hate the craziness and all the millions of people and millions of things I have to do. I do love Christmas time but I don't think anything could top the Christmas spirit like it did last year. To have a newborn at Christmas is miraculous.

Preston Lights & Birthday

2011-12-29T14:41:00.000-08:00

We visited the Preston Lights this Holiday season.

It is like the pumpkin walk, only instead of using pumpkins they use Christmas lights! Pretty cool.

We went to the lights the night before my birthday. I was excited to see them because we didn't make it last year. We also grabbed a bite to eat at my favorite fast food joint, Big J's. We had a scary experience that involved a chicken nugget and some choking. Note to self: Don't give food to Ryder in the car. If he does happen to choke, the carseat makes it really hard to help him. Sometimes I feel like an idiot.

For my Birthday, my very nice friends bought me french toast from Kneaders. Yummy. I saw a bobcat!! Never seen one in the wild before (that was probably the highlight of my day, it was so cool!) Went to cheer on Kathryn at her basketball game. They won, of course. And Colby took me to Olive Garden for dinner.

Great B-day.

Getting BIG

2011-12-15T14:34:00.000-08:00

Big News! Ryder started crawling! It's been a couple weeks now since the stomach-off-floor-crawling began. He used to just roll aroud or scoot everywhere to get places, but he's learned how much faster crawling is. I'm kind of bummed about this because more work for me! (I've had it so easy for the past year!) Along with crawling, him and his hippo walk everywhere together throughout the house. He can stand so well by himself but doesn't want to walk by himself. He is very easy going and content, never in a hurry to reach these milestones.

He is still a very happy boy.

Even though he's been busy getting into anything and everyhing, I am still grateful for how good he is.

Here are some pictures of the little monster...

Cleaning his face with some wipes.

Reading the Rifleman

Eating some puffs

Poor guy got 5 shots today.

Weight- 27 lbs. 10 oz -95%

Height- 30"-65%

Head- 18" -40%

The pediatrician's office was super busy today. The waiting room was packed. Ryder was talking and waving at every kid he could see. I love my social little man.

November Fishing

2011-12-15T13:42:00.000-08:00

Colby works like a mad man sometimes. About 60 hours a week at the shop, many hours on our home/automobiles, and being a nice neighbor/family member/friend helping someone with some odd job.

So when his friend mentioned a fishing trip to Clark Canyon Dam, we both felt like he deserved a little get-a-way.

I was happy he got to go, but even more happy on the second day when he called saying he was really homesick and missed Ryder and I.

First Birthday

2011-12-15T13:24:00.000-08:00

Ryder is ONE!!! Crazy how one year can go by so quick!

Obviously, I wanted to make his day a special one. It was chaotic, and a little stressful. But it was fun.

We started the morning off with some multi-grain pancakes.

I threw him a little party. I baked alot of goods and made some crafts. During and after the party I kept wondering why I put so much time and energy into everything. Ryder DID NOT care! I shouldn't have stressed so much. I thought he would be so excited to open presents and eat cake. He can't seem to leave the gifts alone under the tree, but he wasn't to thrilled when we gave him the go-ahead to open his gifts.

And the cake...

I hand-crafted this beauty.

Ryder didn't even like it.

Luckily, a couple weeks ago I took some pictures of Ryder for his invites. He got a "practice round" at eating birthday cake, and he loved it! So no big deal he that he wasn't loving his owl cake. Maybe it was too chocolatey.

Since Ryder was kind of a party pooper, we stayed up late and partied just us three. He opened a couple more presents from us, and played Dad coached him how to use his new b-ball hoop.

Happy Birthday Mister Ry! We love you so much! Hope your first b-day was fun for you!

a year ago today...

2011-12-13T14:33:00.000-08:00

A year ago today I got my bed-ridden butt off my couch and went for a routine doctors appointment. It marked the 37th week of my pregnancy. Wahoo! I had made it to full-term! My doctor gave Colby and I the choice if I wanted to be started that day, or wait three more days. It was a scary decision. He left us in the office for a few minutes to talk about it. I was thinking yes, but I'm so indecisive I honestly didn't know what choice was best. We said a prayer, and both felt like it was time. I can still feel the excitment and nervousness that I felt on our way to the hospital. It's hard to believe that was one year ago.

I can't help but feel sad that my baby is ONE! I am sad because he is not much of a baby anymore. He is growing up way to fast.

I am having a hard time with this, actually. I have always been very nurtering. That is in my words, Colby's words are "you baby him." I admit, I do baby him. I don't want him to grow up.

Ryder,

What a wonderful blessing you are. You have filled our lives with so much love, laughter, joy, and of course, responsibility. :) We are so grateful to call you our son. The past year has been incredible getting to know you. You have taught us so much. You truly are a gift from God.

We love your cheerful personality. We love the way you tilt your head when you look at us. We love how you point at everything. We love your big, blue eyes. We love how you love books and animals. We love your open-mouth kisses. We love how you're so friendly. We love how you aren't picky. We love the way you jabber on and on. We love how you dance to music. We love how easy-going you are. We love how you love to play all day long. We love how you're constantly waving. We love how you're always putting random things on your head. We love when you mimic us. We love how you say, "no no no". We love how you are cuddly and sweet.

Thank you for the best year of our lives.

We love you so much, Ryder!

new favorites

2011-11-14T18:16:00.000-08:00

Sitting in the window... looking for cats, dogs, birds, etc.

Going for laundry basket rides...

Taking steps with his walker...

Powerade...

11 months

2011-11-14T16:38:00.000-08:00

Today my little man is eleven months old. Each day he becomes more hillarious.

He waves at everything! If he see's a picture of Colby in the house he will say "Dada" and wave at it. He loves to wave at the deer in our living room and sometimes he stares into space and waves. It kinda freaks me out, like he can see things I can't.

I ask him where his teeth are and he points in his mouth and says "arrhh".

You ask him what a dog says and he will (most of the time) say "fffffff" (like ruff)

He is becoming more brave and will let go of things to work on his balance.

His babbling has started to turn into babbling sentence's and stories. It's so funny to listen to him.

hunting

2011-11-12T12:38:00.000-08:00

Every weekend (plus some days) during October we went hunting. We left the trailer in the same awesome camping spot the entire month. We camped up the sinks. It was the first time we've camped/hunted that area and we saw more animals than we ever have in Utah.

We were unsuccsesful in our hunts though. Colby's little brother shot and hit a elk. We tracked it for awhile but couldn't find it.

Brayden and Colby saw lots of deer and even shot at one but couldn't get it.

Camping was so fun. It brought back lots of memories from Montana.

Ryder had a blast playing in the dirt, and playing with Minnie (when it wasn't too cold!)

(Don't worry Grandma, we only rode about 20 feet!)

Brayden being a gargoyle...

Colby got a chainsaw for his birthday and he went a little crazy with the wood-cutting.

We went on some four-wheeler rides, and saw some beautiful sites! From this spot you could see Bear Lake, Evanston, Wyoming, lot's of Logan Canyon, and the Uintahs. The view was breathtaking! The pictures don't do it justice.

Somedays were really cold. During the deer hunt we mostly hung out in the warm trailer.

Many hours were spent playing card games...

Colby and I both had elk tags so we brought Brayden along as our babysitter. Brayden experienced his first poopy diaper. It was nice to spend time in the great outdoors with Colby and to get a little break from Ryder.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-12T11:38:00.000-08:00

I'm getting behind on blogging. I wanted to post about Ryder's first Halloween.

He made a cute elephant. He was also a sleepy elephant. I toted him around everywhere that day and he only got a 20 minute nap. We were up late too, good thing we had a lot of entertaiment to keep him distracted.

We had our cousin Halloween party. And of course we had a spook alley, put on by Brayden and Kurtis.

This was the best picture I got of the group.

Grandma and I are boring!

Batterina

Skeleton

Baby Twila was a cute little owl

Prince Phillip

Colby even put a mask on and had fun scaring kids in the spook alley.

Dorothy

Cupcake Fairy

Kitty

Another fun thing we did on Halloween was met up with Ashley and Maleaha at the mall.

Isn't she the cutest little witch?

We LoVe FaLL!!!

2011-10-26T16:58:00.000-07:00

We have been camping every weekend this month (post to come) Being in the canyon this time of year is my favorite. The bright, vibrant colors are so beautiul! I had to snatch some photos of Ryder in camp last weekend.

Oh man, he had so much fun being on the ground. When we were outside, which wasn't much because it's getting chilly out, he wanted to get down. He reaches for the ground if your holding him.

This picture says it all. Dirt, sticks, rocks, pinecones, leaves -everything goes in the mouth! When does this end?

His first pair of cowboy boots!

Colby said he was going to mow the lawn today, which means mow up the leaves. I coudn't miss out on the opportunity to let Ry play in the leaves, and of course take some pics.

You can see his top tooth poking through. Just one for now, he is a hillbilly. (:

I am so HAPPY with how good these pictures turned out. I am quite proud of myself! If anyone wants some pictures done I would love to take some for you....FOR FREE! (I'll tell Colby to save the leaves.)

Pumpkin Walk

2011-10-26T09:35:00.000-07:00

Having a child makes any holiday 10 times the fun. I was looking foward to taking Ryder to the Pumpkin Walk, regardless of what Colby said. "He's not going to remember it, you might as well save the gas to drive there." Well, that's what pictures are for! I tried uploading more but my computer is being really slow.
We went Monday early afternoon, the weather was perfect and we beat the crowd!

Cash wanted to go back to the Pumpkin Walk, even though he had already been twice. Jill warned us we would be spending lots of time at the winnie the pooh scene. That was Cash's favorite. All of the scenes were great, the volunteers are so creative!

10 months

2011-10-18T19:27:00.000-07:00

Ryder reached the 10 month mark last Friday. He is a funny little guy with a friendly personality. I feel blessed to be a Mom to this sweet baby.

He is not crawling yet! I'm a little saddened by this because I feel like it's about time he took off! I've said it before, I think he just may go from rolling to scooting to walking. And just skip the hands-and-knees stuff. If he does crawl, he will do it on his own time and I just need to be more patient. :)

Oh and his arm issue that I was worried about, I think is nothing. I've been watching it close lately and he does use it some, he just perfers the left hand. I'm just a worrier!

He is cutting 2 teeth right now (which will make 4) and has been a "Grumpy Bear" (That is what we call him when he is fussy)

"More"

2011-10-07T22:09:00.000-07:00

Ryder has had a BIG appetite lately. He has been eating everything that we have been eating, which has resulted in him not wanting most of his baby food. He isn't picky *knock on wood* but he doesn't want purees anymore, he prefers something more hearty and more tasty.

When I give him a taste of something he will scream, hit the tray, or cry for more food. I've been trying to get him to say, "more". The other day he said it! But he said it in baby sign! I was so excited! I started teaching him that a long time ago but I wasn't very consistant. With his little food tantrums he's been thowing lately I really pushed the word "more" (both verbally and by signing) and what do ya know? He caught on!

I'm not sure why I take so many pictures of Ryder while he's eating...

maybe cause he's so cute!

He's getting really good at feeding himself, with his fingers and notice he only uses his left hand. If I put something into his right hand he will either grab it with his left one, or his left hand has to help push the right one to his mouth. I'm really concerned because when Ryder was born he was stuck in the birth canal and they thought he broke his collar bone. Since he has started moving and trying to pull himself up and attempting to crawl he rarely uses it! I'm probably just worrying too much like I always do! I asked my aunt who is a nurse to check him out and she says everything feels normal, and symmetrical. We will see how he does and ask the pedi at his next appointment.

Obviously, he was not satisfied with the baby food, he wanted some yummy breadstick instead.

Sorry lot's of pics.....

Mr. Ryder loves fruit! He has this cool net thing (thanks
Aunt Kathy!) that I put a chunk of fruit in. He will suck that
piece of fruit until there is nothing left! And then of course
he wants some more!

And he could drink 40 ounces of water if I let him! He gets so mad at me when I take it away.

Long Island Medium

2011-10-03T21:49:00.000-07:00

There are a couple television shows that I love. I usually record the shows and watch an episode (or two, or three) at night before falling asleep. It's my relaxing time. I hate that we have Direct TV... I also love that we have Direct TV. I hate it because I constantly find myself wanting to watch these shows and thinking about them...and I record them so they are always there, always available for my viewing. I hate it! I don't like to be glued to the TV but I do love the shows...I've been sucked into their lives. There is a new one and it's my favorite. It's called Long Island Medium. [A medium is somebody believed to trasmit messages between living people and the spirits of the dead.] This lady is amazing! She truely has a gift from God. At least I think so. Most of you are probably thinking I'm crazy! The lady's name is Theresa and she is all about helping people and believes that is her purpose in life. Theresa makes you realize that our loved ones, who have passed on, are constantly with us and watching over us. She knows it for a fact (because she can talk to them) it just serves as a reminder for me. On a side note, I'm a very gullible person and this stuff is right up my alley! But you should watch it for yourself! Long Island Medium is on Sunday nights on TLC. If you want to watch the first 4 episodes come on over, I'll watch them with ya! (:

September Birthdays

2011-10-03T21:27:00.000-07:00

We have a lot of birthday's in September. A few cousins, friends and some uncles, Colby, Great-Grandma Johnson, Papa Todd, Brayden and Kurtis.

So we did lots celebrating this month!

Ryder adores his grandpa, I think they have a special little bond.

My little brothers, gosh they are growing up. Kurtis is now 17 and Brayden 19.

They are great kids (almost not kids anymore?) I am so proud of them.

Kurtis is so smart! He always get's 4.0's, makes the honor roll every semester, has recieved Student of the Month, and is a Student Ambassador. He is very mature and very hilarious.

Brayden is hilarious as well. And when you mix the two of them together, you're in for a treat!

Brayden is playing baseball for Utah State (and he's pretty smart too)

Our Mom took us out to eat for Colby's, Brayden's, and Kurtis' b-days.

motorcycle trip- August 2011

2011-09-22T00:06:00.000-07:00

In August, Colby's Dad took him on motorcycle trip. Colby's Dad and Tom, a family friend, go on a little motorcycle trip every year and this year Colbs got to go! They mostly went on back roads and dirt roads beginning in Utah, riding through Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho againg and then headed back home to Utah. How fun would it be to hop on a off-road bike and drive wherever you please? I think it sounds fun. And very peaceful...

If you look close in the slideshow there is a picture of a bear!

our little buddy

2011-09-17T22:37:00.000-07:00

Ryder gets so happy when his Daddy comes home from work...

But he's still a mama's boy...

a happy 9 month old

2011-09-17T17:31:00.000-07:00

This happy boy turned 9 months old on the 14th!

His stats:

25lbs 5 oz - 97%

291/2 " tall-75%

He says Mama! He started saying it a couple weeks ago. Most of the time he says it in a whiney cry. I'm just glad he says it! So his two words he knows are Dada and Mama! Last Sunday Ryder pooped and I asked him, "Who do you want to change your diaper, Dada or Mama?" It took him a second and then he answered, "Mama." (Colbs is nice though and still changed him!)
His favorite food (baby food) is garden vegetables and whole wheat pasta, he scarfs it down!
Is super ticklish on his thighs and shoulders.
He's been very social. He has yet to be scared of anyone or cry when he goes to somebody.
He thinks it's so funny when he sneezes or if someone else sneezes.
Still has a passion for suffed animals.
Loves eskimo kisses
Grabs anything and everything he can get his hands on.
Is obsessed with wheels! He loves to spin them.
He is getting good at mimicking. If I make a certain sound or stick my tounge out he will try to do the same.
He has mastered grabbing pieces of food to put in his mouth. He would get so excited about the food and would grab it and squeeze it tightly in his hand. Then he would try to put his entire fist in his mouth. I showed him how to use his fingers to pick up the little pieces and now he's got it down. It's crazy how fast he learns and pick up on things.
When I say, "Where's Minnie?" He know's to look for the dog.
His favorite toys in the tub are his ducks. He laughs when I show him the ducks and say "quack."
He has shown interest in certain toys, like his blocks that have things inside them. He likes to pile them inside his hippo and then take them out.

He has been sleeping so good lately. Keep it up buddy!

He is like his mom and pulls the blanket over his head to fall asleep.

What a sweet little boy!

Fishing

2011-09-15T23:16:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday C-Dub!!!

2011-09-15T22:25:00.000-07:00

On the 7th of September we celebrated Colby's 23rd birthday. Lately, Colby has been working 14 hour days for 6 days a week! The shop has been busy busy. It's no fun, but it will pay off next month when he takes some days off for hunting season.

On his birthday he went in really early (5:30) so he could get off work at a decent time. I decided to be a nice wife and cook him breakfast at five in the morning. It wasn't the best dish I've ever made but he was happy.

Breakfast in bed for the birthday boy!

I've been wanting to take Colby to Gaucho Grill for a long time. We went for his birthday. It was pretty good. I thought it would be better, I've heard alot of people talk about how great it was. I'm not much of a meat eater, but Colb's is basically carnivor so he enjoyed it. The grilled pineapple was to die for and I liked the salad bar.

Colby wanted to go fly fishing after dinner. We headed up the canyon, it got dark pretty quick so we went to our favorite spot instead and had a fire, talked and ate some treats. It was fun to spend the evening with my boys.

Happy Birthday love.

We grow em big...

2011-08-30T21:17:00.000-07:00

Ryder's Room

2011-08-30T21:09:00.000-07:00

Here are some photos of our latest home project. We (and when I say we, I mean Colby) tore down the old walls, updated the electrial, insulated, built new walls, and did all the fininshing touches to make the room look like new.

BEFORE

AFTER

Colbs did an excellent job on the closet. Before there was one little shelf and one rod. Now look at it!

Honestly, what do you think of the accent wall? Is it a bit much? While I was painting it I thought it was awful! I thought the 2 colors clashed. I wanted to change it but Colby wouldn't let me. It looked like the desert and the ocean in one room. Once everything was put together I thought it looked better and now it's grown on me. But honestly, is it weird?

And new carpet throughout the house...

Love the new carpet...especially when my baby is rolling all over it!

busy life

2011-08-30T14:20:00.000-07:00

August is coming to an end. That means summer is almost over (and it's been 4 weeks since I've blogged!) Sad. Why can't summer begin in March? Instead of showing up in July. There is one good thing about the end of summer....the begining of fall. Fall is my favorite season. Not just for hunting. :) I love the feeling of fall; the crisp air, the colors, the holidays. It's too bad fall only lasts a couple months. Everything just goes by so fast! Now that I have a child it makes me realize how quickly time slips away. One month is so short! My baby has been out of the womb for almost nine! I feel so lucky to spend all day with my little nugget. He is growing up so fast, I just want to savor every moment with him. He is so much fun right now...I know he will get even more fun but I am loving this baby stage right now. He says "Dada" all the time. A couple weeks ago Ryder saw a picture of Colby and said "Dada". When Colby got home I took him over to the picture and told Colby what happened and sure enough Ryder said it again. The kid loves his Dad! Colby left on a motorcycle trip with his dad for a couple of days. I've never seen Ryder get so excited when Colby walked through the door.

What some great boys I have!

Colby and I have been very busy lately. We feel like our to-do list's never get any shorter. The way our year has gone it seems like one thing pops up after the other.

We have been doing some remodeling on our house pretty much since we've moved in. Remodeling sucks. My advice to someone who wants to buy an older home that they think has potential and then fix it up themselves is: don't do it! It's hard work. And if you're a perfectionist, like my husband, it will take 12 times as long as you planned. We just finsished Ryder's bedroom. It only took us 8 months. It was hard for us to find time to work on it. Colby has been very busy at work, when he gets home from working 12 hour days he's too tired to do much on the house. I was so sick of having my house tore apart. My floors were always dirty from all the dust and crap being used in his room. In our living room we had some older carpet that was pretty dirty and needed to be replaced. We purchased carpet for our entire house last year and with Ryder scooting (not crawling, just scooting) we felt better about him being on the new carpet. We worked our butts off, and with the help of some family, we finshed! There are still some things that aren't quite done but at least he has a closet for his clothes, a place for his toys, and his own room to sleep in. Thanks Colb for all your hard work. You are amazing!

I'm so lucky to be Colby's wife! He was ok with me quitting my job to stay home with our son. It didn't take long to see how hard it can be without another income. Even though I always felt like working full time for a little paycheck never seemed worth it, that paycheck would go a long way right now. We need to budget and save better. It is all worth staying home! Even though I'm not spending 9 hours away from home I still feel so busy! When I was working I would always dream of the jobs and projects I could be working on at home. It's still hard to find time to do those things. Could someone help me manage my time?

I can't say that I don't have a job though! Just this month I started working as an independent business owner for ACN. With this job I can work from home as much as I want! I'm really nervous about it because it's a little out of my comfort zone but I know it will be a great thing for me and my family.

This month Colby and I celebrated our 3 year anniversary. We broke tradition and stayed home. Every year since we've been married we've gone somewhere. Having a baby (and no money) makes it easier to stay home. :) Colby took me four-wheeling and out to dinner. It was nice to spend a relaxing day riding in the mountains. Thanks for a fun day babe!

RJ

2011-07-26T16:18:00.000-07:00

This chubby boy is the greatest! Part of me wishes he would stay this age forever. He is so fun and pretty easy for the most part. He is what most would call a lazy baby. He is pretty content to just sit there. I guess the doc says most of the chubby ones are a little lazier. That's not to hard to figure out. :) He loves to stand up and jump in his jumper though. I've been thinking I could have one of those babies who walks before they crawl.

When we got back from Montana we took Ryder in for his 6 month check-up, even though he was 7 months. He weighs 24 pounds and he is 28 inches tall!

7

2011-07-26T16:17:00.000-07:00

7 months old!

(it's a 7 layer bean dip by the way and Ryder did not eat it)

Graves Creek Falls

2011-07-26T15:21:00.000-07:00

Just a few miles from our camp there was this waterfall. The trail was right along the edge of the cliff and the very top of the waterfall. A little scary if you're afraid of heights!

Ross Creek Cedars

2011-07-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

My favorite place in Montana was the Ross Creek Cedars. They had gigantic trees!

This tree got struck by lightning!

Fishing

2011-07-26T13:37:00.000-07:00

I don't know what Colby was more excited about while in Montana, school or fishing. He went fishing lots with Noel, his friend from school.

We experimented with many different foods in the dutch oven. The boys wanted to try to cook their catch in the dutch oven. I'm not a fan of fish but they said it was pretty good for trout.

One day they went to Flathead Lake, a huge freshwater lake in Northern Montana. A guy they went to school with took them in his boat. Colby caught a huge lake trout but he didn't take the camera.

Noxon

2011-07-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

We went to see a very large dam on the Clark Fork River in Noxon, MT.

It was huge!

Visitors

2011-07-26T13:01:00.000-07:00

While in Montana, we had a few visitors. My parents came up for a few days in June and my Grandma and Grandpa Hancey came to see us in July. We were so happy to see them! Most people are probably used to going a few weeks without seeing extended family, but normally we see ours on a weekly basis. So it seemed like a really long time to go without seeing Grandparents.

My Grandpa was familiar with the area because he had been bear hunting up there a few times. He told us hunting stories with Colby's uncle and his grandpa, Darwin. It was fun to hear those stories. We think it's pretty neat that our Grandpa's were friends.

We were very thankful my parents could come see us. They brought us lots of stuff from home that either we forgot or decided we wanted/needed once we were up there. Thanks Mom and Dad!!

Ryder enjoyed having his Grandparents and Great-grandparents come see him!

Missoula Valley School of Taxidermy

2011-07-19T16:21:00.000-07:00

Colby loved school and wishes he could've stayed for a few more weeks to learn more. There is so much to learn with this trade. I went to school one day and learned how to stretch rugs.

Here I am stretching Colby's raccoon rug.

Colby is the perfect person to do taxidermy. He is a perfectionist. We really butt heads when we are working on house projects, I am inpatient and just want to get the job done. He, on the other hand, does things the right way (even if it takes 8 months, like Ryder's bedroom, but that's another story!) And things have to look perfect and it needs to look that way forever. He's awesome! And his animals looked amazing! Below are Colby's mule deer, white tail deer, and his coyote. He also mounted 3 different kinds of fish, and two birds, and made a raccoon rug. The birds are not completely done and one fish doesn't have a face yet but that's because it's got to be done right! And 5 weeks is not long enough to mount all those animals!

Birdland Bay

2011-07-19T15:53:00.000-07:00

Birdland Bay was the awesome RV Resort where we stayed. Back in March when I made reservations I chose a great spot! We were in the far corner of the campground and facing away from everybody else's trailers. We were only close to one other trailer and they were only there for a couple weeks.

The campground sat on a good chunk of land that bordered the Clark Fork River. There were lots of walking trails, some would go down to the river. After the water started to go down in July there was a sandy beach on the shore of the River. The camp held craft and game nights, and had bbq's and a pancake breakfasts but we were the only people under the age of 65 there so we didn't quite fit in. All the old retired folk LOVED Ryder! They were sad to see us go.

This is the pond that we would walk around every morning. There were a family of turtles that lived in the pond, they were usually sunbathing when we would walk by. Everyday I would try to take a picture and the little rascals would jump in the water before I could snap one.

This is our camp spot. The trees surrounding us were gigantic! There was a crazy wind storm one afternoon and the top of a tree fell over, just a few feet away from someone's trailer.

Boy, I am going to miss this place!

for your enjoyment

2011-07-19T15:17:00.000-07:00

Here is a slide show of some awesome pictures of Montana. Enjoy!

Montana Adventures

2011-07-19T14:30:00.000-07:00

We are back! We really, really miss Montana. It was so peaceful and beautiful there. I thought I would get really homesick but the only day I missed Cache Valley was the Fourth of July. Other than that I never got homesick or bored. I did miss my dishwasher, washer, dryer, and bed. It cost me $12 to do 4 loads of laundry! And the washers were tiny and didn't even get the clothes that clean. It was great to get out of Cache Valley for awhile, we almost didn't want to come back! :)

Thompson Falls, Montana

2011-06-22T15:01:00.001-07:00

Thompson Falls is a cute little town in northwest Montana that we get to call home for 5 weeks.

Colby had an opportunity to go to taxidermy school. He has always had an interest in taxidermy and couldn't turn down a chance to go. He has been in school for a week and a half and he loves it. He's learning a lot and has already mounted a white tail deer (pics later). He is hoping to do this as a hobby and hopefully make some muh-la when he has a few animals under his belt. So if you or someone you know needs an animal mounted call Colby. (No pets please :))

We are loving it here! It is so beautiful and everybody is so nice. I will post more about where we are staying later... I have a baby who wants me to get off the computer.

Half-a-year!

2011-06-22T15:01:00.000-07:00

Ryder is 6 months old! Where does time go?

He is so much fun! Some of his latest things are

He sucks on his bottom lip all the time! That is his paci (sence he wont take one) It's really nice because he never looses it.
He has been teething for forever. But still no teeth...
On the Williams scale he weighs 22 lbs. Wonder what the docter one says? We wont know until July.
Is so good with his little hands. His favorite thing is to grab Dad's goatee. It's hillarious. And he loves to pet Minnie.

For his 6 month old day we went out to eat and let him taste some ice cream.

Stay-at-home Mom

2011-06-22T15:00:00.001-07:00

It is the best feeling in the world to not have to spend 8 hours a day at this place...

I have better things to do then to spend all day there! I'm so happy I can dedicate all my time and energy to my family and my home.

Graduation

2011-06-22T15:00:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Brayden is a high school grad! Crazy!

Memorial Weekend

2011-06-22T14:58:00.000-07:00

For Memorial Weekend this year Chris and Mandi invited us to the Cabin on Blackfoot Resivoir. We had lots of fun, even though we couldn't spend much time outside because of the cold weather. We played lots of games inside the cozy cabin and I got to watch Tangled for the first time, I actually watched it about 5 times with Adelynn.

The Shuler Family

Pam, Chris, Adelynn, Mandi, and Scott

Cousins!

four month stats

2011-04-20T06:55:00.000-07:00

height- 24 3/4" 50th percentile

weight-18 lbs 11 oz above 97th percentile

head- 16" 15th percentile

His head really doesn't look that small...maybe it's the chubby cheeks that make his head look more porportioned.

Sweet Baby Boy!

2011-04-13T08:07:00.000-07:00

What a sweet baby I have. Ryder is so much fun. He laughs, smiles and talks lots. We are discovering such a charming personality. Here are some fun facts about Ryder:

He is very ticklish, it's so fun to make him laugh (In fact I had a video of this and lots of other pictures I was going to post but I lost my camera card! :( When I find it I will post it.)
He will not take a bottle!
Still loves bathtime and could play in the tub for hours!
His favorite toys are mostly stuffed animals...Mase dog (a little puppy dog), an elephant, Lola bug, April (a bunny) and his rainforest play mat
He will not take a binky, just sucks on his hands
Loves it when you motorboat your lips, he does it every once in a while but not on purpose.
Wearing size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothes
He mostly takes catnaps (which I don't love so much)
Sleeps through the night about 50% of the time (he's just a hungry little fart)
He likes to watch TV, Sprout and Glenn Beck are his favorite show

He has his 4-month check up next weeks so I will update his stats then...

Kiss Me, I'm Irish!

2011-03-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

I am one LUCKY mom!

3 months

2011-03-15T16:43:00.000-07:00

Wow! I can't believe my baby is 3 months old!!!

Record Breaking

2011-03-15T16:33:00.000-07:00

If you read the Hearld Journal you have probably seen many photos or articles on Brayden Anderson. Once again, my brother had a amazing season of Wrestling. Brayden placed first in state, which makes him a two time State Champion! His record was 44-3 for his senior year and 159-37 his entire career at Sky View. He is a very dedicated athelete and such a hard worker. Brayden has the most wins of any other wrestler in the history of Sky View High School. He has won many other awards including first place the Richardson Memorial (2nd year in a row) and he was awarded "Outstanding Wrestler" for the tournament. He placed first at sectionals, second at region, and was selected to wrestle in the Utah All-Star Duals. This is a huge accomplishment for any wrestler.

Here are a few pictures from the State Tournament...

Bray has lots of fans...

We are so proud of you and all your hard work Brayden!

Colic Cure

2011-03-04T18:17:00.000-08:00

Yes, I have found a cure for the colic. Her name is Sharon.

She rubs Ryder's little body and teaches me how. And that's that! I took Ryder to see her for a few days. After the first day of massages from Sharon the stomach pain stopped! She must have a gift! She said he had lots of knots in his tummy.And he was pretty tense everywhere else. She made him nice and relaxed.

See how happy this boy is?!

When Ryder is fussy at night it's a sign that it's bath time!

It calms him right down! It's his favorite time of day.

(These pics are from when he was only about one month old)

He's also discovered his hands. They usually are in his mouth. He likes to wack his toys and sometimes he can't control them and he wacks himself in the face.

Yesterday we were doing tummy time and Ryder started to fuss. So I turned him over and noticed he had a big boogie in his nose! I left him on the floor and ran off to find the booger sucker (which he hates). It took me a minute to find it and I had to open a new box of tissues. When I came to back to suck some boogies Ryder was on his belly! I missed his first time rolling over! I tried all day to get him to do it again, but of course he wouldn't...

Handsome like Daddy

2011-03-04T16:34:00.000-08:00

Tough guy

2011-03-04T16:26:00.000-08:00

2 month shots!

A Busy Life

2011-02-19T13:54:00.000-08:00

Life has been crazy at our home. I now understand why everybody tells you to enjoy every moment with your little baby because it goes by so fast. Time really has flown by! I can't believe Ryder is already 2 months old! He grows so much each day.

We just went to the doctor and he weighs 13 lbs 13 oz. He has gained 5 lbs in 6 weeks! The doctor says that is 2 lbs better than awesome! The doctor also said I must have cream for milk. He is 23 1/4 inches tall. Which is in the 75 percentile for height and weight.

So I probably need to do some catching up since I have been a slacker at blogging. So I will start way back in December...

Ryder was released from the NICU on December 23. We were so happy we didn't have to spend Christmas in the hospital. Even though it was only 9 days spent there, it seemed like forever.

Christmas was wonderful! It was such a joy to spend it with our new baby. When you have a baby that time of year you really feel the spirit of Christmas.

When Ryder was 5 weeks old I went back to work. :( Luckily, I can take Ryder with me. Otherwise I don't think I could make it through the day! It's been really hectic since then. I feel like I have no time for anything and I'm exhausted most of the time. I think that's just motherhood though!

Just last week Colby got the flu. He stayed at his mom and dad's house until he got better. It was hard to be husbandless for a week. It really made me realize how much he helps me out and how grateful I am for him. It would be really hard to be a single parent.

Ryder is so much fun! He has been smiling SO much lately. He is also "talking" to us. And as much as I hate to admit it, he sometimes is colicky. When his belly doesn't hurt though, he is a happy guy! We feel so lucky to be Ryder's parents. He is the biggest blessing in our lives.

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-15T16:29:00.000-08:00

2 months old!

Longer post coming....

Ryder James

2010-12-19T13:02:00.000-08:00

Ryder James Williams

Our big baby boy was born Tuesday, December 14 at 3:22 a.m. Even though he was 3 weeks early he weighed a whopping 8lbs 8oz. I couldn't believe it when they put him on the scale and it kept going past 8!

Here is his first picture, only a few minutes old!

First time holding my little man!

I know I look disgusting but this was a special moment :)

LABOR

My labor was very ideal. It was so much better and easier than I expected.

I checked into Labor and Delivery at 4 pm on Monday December 13. I just had an appointment with Dr. Kirkman at 2:30 and he sent me over to be induced. At this point I was dialated almost to a 2 and 80% effaced. I was only 36 weeks and 5 days pregnant. After we left the doctor's office we were supposed to go straight to labor and delivery. Yeah right, I knew they weren't going to let me eat or drink anything so I had Colby take me to Carl's Jr. for a famous star and a coke.

When we got there they started the pitocin right away and Colby ran home for a few things. While he was gone I started feeling some really small cramps in my back, nothing major. At about 5 Dr. Kirkman came over and broke my water. Then things started to get wild. Colby was not back yet and my cramps were turning into contractions. I was getting nervous and I didn't want to have bad contractions without Colby there. When I felt a contraction I would look over at the monitor and there were just these small rolling hills along the screen, which meant they were not very strong. Well the contractions were hurting more and more yet the monitor was not showing much. This really scared me. I was thinking if these are this uncomfortable now I don't even want to know how bad it's going to get. The nurse came in shortly after and asked how I was. I told her my concern. She moved the little thing on my stomach and then I saw the tall peaks appear on the monitior. That made me feel better.

I started dialating a centimeter an hour. Contractions were getting stronger. I wanted to see how much pain I could handle before I got an eppidural. I made it to 8:30 pm, 4 centimeters dialated, and completly effaced. The contractions started escalating fast and right after I got my epidural they were right on top of each other. I was so happy I got the epidural when I did. I don't know why anyone would not want to get an epidural. They are amazing! Labor was great after that. I could still move my legs but I felt no pain. I got nauseas and threw up the 5 banana popsicles I had eaten earlier. Then I felt great. I even got a little bit of sleep, as did Colby. By 1 am Dr. Kirkman came back to check me. He told me I was fully dialated! And his head was right there. Usually once you're fully dialated they have you do an hour of "rest and descend" but they told me I could start pushing. I got so nervous, I was shaking like crazy.

I started pushing at 1:15. It was really exhausting. The baby doesn't have that far to travel, so I was surprised when it took over 2 hours to push him out! He started crowning and they called Dr. Kirkman in. With his head being right there you think it would only take a few more pushes and out would come a baby. Well it didn't happen like that. I would push, really reall hard and his head would stick out, and then get sucked back in. This kept happening. Everytime I pushed they said I was pushing so good. Then after almost 20 minutes of that things started to get scary. I heard the frightning words Dr. Kirkman said to the nurse, "Get me some help". I was freaked out. I had constantly been pushing instead of waiting for contractions. My next push I gave it everything I had and then Dr. Kirkman said nevermind to the extra help. That made me feel a little relieved. They quickly laid my bed back and the nurse was doing something with my hip that was the worst pain of it all.

At last Ryder opened his eyes to a new world. The labor was really hard on him. His huge shoulder was stuck and that's why the nurse was pushing on my hip. (His arms and shoulders really are so big) And his poor head was all bruised and sore. I didn't get to hold him right away, he wasn't crying but he was grunting alot.

The scale was right there by my bed and I watched as the put him on it. I was shocked when I saw he weighed 8 and a half pounds! He was 3 weeks early! I don't think I could've pushed him out if he was born at 40 weeks. As I think about my labor now, it was great. Our bodies are so amazing and I told Colby I could do it at least 5 more times.

Unfortunately, Ryder's blood sugar was a little low so he had to go to the NICU right after I held him. Colby got to go with him. They did the normal blood tests and it showed he had an infection. He got the infection during labor. I got a small fever while I was pushing which is the reason he got the infection. He has been pretty sick and grumpy the last few days while fighting off the infection. He has to have at least a week of antibiotics before he can go home. We are hoping to bring him home on Tuesday. We are doing the hotel stay at the hospital, which is really nice. It's only 15 dollars each day and it's so nice to be close to baby Ryder. I went home on Thursday to get more clothes and I had a meltdown. It was sad to leave without him.

He had to be on bili lights for the first 2 days.
He also has a little bit of oxygen.

My friend Kristin works in the NICU and she was able to give Ryder his first bath.

He didn't like it so much, but Kristin did really good and she was quick!

Proud Dad

Some more cute pictures of our baby boy...

Colby changing his diaper for the first time.

Chubby boy!

Check out how big his hand is! Maybe he'll be a basketball player!

Pregnancy Update

2010-11-04T14:53:00.000-07:00

My belly is getting bigger by the day! Our baby boy is doing really well. We just had another ultrasound done this week and he is almsot 4lbs! We had a little scare during the last few weeks of my pregnancy. I went to the doctor on October 8 for a normal prenatal visit. I was a little nervous for this appointment because I had to do the glucose test. When I got to the doctor we did the normal thing, take your blood pressure, check your weight, leave a urine sample, and get my blood drawn for the glucose test. My blood pressure was high but I didn't think much of it because I was nervous for the test. (I did not want to have gestational diabetes!) So I went into the room and waited for Dr. Kirkman. He came in and told me he was concerned because there was protein in my urine, and when you have that and high blood pressure it's preeclampsia. I've heard of preeclampsia before and I was so shocked! From what I have heard about it is not good. He said it's just a little warning flag, and we need to watch me really closely and he would like me to come back in a couple days to leave another sample and get my blood pressure checked again. I was so confused because I had been feeling great and I did not expect this! For the next couple days Dr. Kirkman told me to take it easy. All I could think about was Preeclampsia. I read a lot more about it and I had so many questions for Dr. Kirkman. There is no cure for Preeclampsia, it can be very dangerous for the mom and the baby and the only way to end Preeclampsia is deliver the baby. Yeah I was scared! I still had almost 3 months left!

When I went back the doctor my blood pressure was still high. Dr. Kirkman wanted me to do a 24 hour urine collection. That was fun carring a jug around work and storing it in a cooler! My next appointment we went over the results and Dr. Kirkman explained everything really well to me. He said he wanted me to go see a high risk pregnancy doctor and that they could give him and me a better understanding on where I am with the preeclampsia. He said they would do another ultrasound to check on the baby and make sure the high blood pressure had not effected the baby. He also said I needed to be on bedrest! Dr. Kirkman told me if I was not a reliable patient who did what they asked and came in every week for my appointments they would put me in the hospital, and if it my condition got worse I would be hospitalized! I did not want that at all! So I have taken the bed rest very seriously and I think it has helped because my blood pressure has been lower the last few days. The high risk pregnancy doctor said that in most women the Preeclampsia gets worse, to the point of delivery, in an average of 4 weeks. She said to try to make it through November! She aslo said that as long as my blood pressure remains under 155/95 I will not have to be in the hospital. I have started this week with getting non-stress tests for the baby. They hook you up to a monitor for 20-40 minutes and monitior the baby. I have to do this twice a week. Right now it's just mild preeclampsia and hopefully it stays that way for a few more weeks! I pretty much have been a bum lately. It's been kind of nice to sit around all day and take naps whenever I want. It was hard and weird to go from working full time and being so busy to doing NOTHING at all. Colby has been great to make sure I don't do anything. He has been super busy at work but he doesn't complain. My mom and Colby's mom have been out everyday to cook for me or clean. I am so thankful to have family and friends so willing to help me with everything. We are keeping a positive attitude but also expecting we may have an early baby.

22 weeks

24 weeks

26 weeks

27 weeks

28 weeks

29 weeks

30 weeks

Deer Hunt

2010-11-04T13:57:00.000-07:00

Colby and I had deer tags for the short 3 day hunt here in Utah. We camped up by Tony Grove and went up a few days early to do some scouting and just to get away from work! The first few days the weather was great and the first day of the hunt the weather was perfect. Nice and cool and the boys went out hiking all day long. That night it snowed just a little bit.

Minnie had gone on a long hike with Colby and her hips were bothering her. Uncle Brayden was nice to carry her up the hill.

Then the next day it rained all day long. We didn't even go out to hunt because it had rained all night and snowed higher up in the mountains. The next morning on the last day of the hunt we woke up to about a foot of snow. It was a pain trying to pack everything up. Most of our stuff was frozen or just burried in snow.

And in the mist of all the rain and snow I was able to shoot my first deer! Please don't laugh at how huge I look and how small the deer is. I am proud of my first kill :) even if I am bigger than the deer.

Colby's Birthday

2010-11-04T13:35:00.000-07:00

Back in September we celebrated Colby's 22nd Birthday.

My mom made him his favorite cake and he got lots of fishing stuff for his Birthday.

So of course he had to try out his new presents.

Happy Birthday babe! Thanks for all you do for me! Love you lots.

Finally...

2010-11-04T13:26:00.000-07:00

Most of you know since I've been 16 I have been driving the same old car. It has been an good first time car but we were SO sick of it! Colby has had to fix so many things with it over and over and over again. And it's a two door. I did not want to haul a baby in and out of a small two door car. We've talked about getting a new car for a couple years and it just never has happened. Well finally we made the decision and went and traded in my old thing for a 2007 Chevy Trail Blazer!

I can't describe how happy I am to have a reliable car! It's so much better than the Pontiac. I will feel a lot safer driving this, especially in the Winter!

Yellowstone & Island Park

2010-11-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

This fall my family decided to take a trip to Yellowstone. Colby and I have gone every year since we've been married so we were happy to go with my family this year. We went during Brayden and Kurtis' birthdays. I can't believe how fast they are growing up, Brayden is 18 and Kurtis turned sweet 16. It makes me feel old!

We did lots of driving on this trip. Colby really wanted to go see the Bear Tooth Mountains. It is in the far North East corner of the park (except it's a ways out of the park). We made the LONG drive up to the Pass and it is beautiful up there. When you get to the top it's really scary but you see some amazing things. You can see for miles and there are some really steep drop-offs. It's hard to tell how breathtaking it is from the pictures.

We some some mountain goats on the top of the pass. The little babies were so cute!

There was also a big fire in Yellowstone while we were there!

My co-worker let us stay in her beautiful cabin in Island Park again. Since we didn't see any bear in the Park we decided to stop at Bear World. My niece Marissa went with us and she loved seeing the bears. Especially the cute bear cubs.

Hopefully we get to go back next year!

Summer 2010

2010-11-04T12:52:00.000-07:00

I have terrible at blogging lately! I really wanted to blog about some fun things that Colby and I did this summer. We were able to go camping with each side of our families in July. We went up to Swan Flats with the Williams family.

One afternoon we went over to Bear Lake and had a picnic. Adelynn loved the water!

Colby cooked his yummy Dutch Oven BBQ Chicken.

This was my first time shooting a bow. It was fun, a little tricky sometimes but I enjoyed it more than shooting a gun!

Colby and I on a four wheeler ride.

We went to Beaver Mountain with my side of the family in July also. My aunt Karalee and her two kids were able to come from Seattle. It was so good to see them! Quentin and Kayla are growing up so fast, I wish we could see them more!

Stacy and CJ looking for squirrels. That's what the little kids did most of the time.

Kayla & Kasey

My uncle Blake and his wife Chrissy had a new baby boy in July. Their family came to visit for a few days after he was born. He looks just like his brothers!

Baby Cole

The Hancey Family

At the end of July my cousin Statham turned 1!

Halfway!

2010-08-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

20 weeks!

I can't believe we've already made it halfway! It's going by super fast. I'm enjoying every minute of it though! The last few weeks have been the most exciting because I can feel him moving around in there. He moves lots, especially at night. He's growing more and more each day and he is now the length of a banana. Crazy!!

I have been very lucky, I haven't had any morning sickness. Which is great because I have a HUGE appetite! I have had lots of headaches though, which aren't so fun. I still have been way tired, even though they say in your second trimester you feel not as tired and that you have more energy. That is not the case for me. I took a nap last saturday night at about 6 o'clock and I slept until 10 o'clock on Sunday morning. Of course I woke up a couple times for the usual trips to the bathroom! Needless to say I'm always tired.

Can't wait til Jan 5!

IT'S A BOY!!!

2010-08-05T14:31:00.001-07:00

We're expecting a baby BOY!

This picture isn't the best but if you can see it there is an arrow pointing to his boy parts.

And this picture below is my favorite. You can see his little legs and his hand. Right above his hand is his peeper! :)

Yep, it's a boy for sure! Everything is going great and our little guy looks healthy. We are SO happy!

Sew Cool

2010-07-21T12:56:00.000-07:00

I am the excited new owner of this machine....

Thanks to my mother-in-law, she hooked me up with a sweet deal on a nice Bernette Sewing Machine. My MIL, Kim, is an amazing quilter! She taught me how to make this cute apron. I was really happy with the final results, and so surprised that I really made it! Kim has already made me a couple aprons over the years so I decided to give this to my friend Kenzie. She loved it as you can tell. :)

Hopefully I will learn to make other cute things!

Under Construction

2010-06-17T15:50:00.000-07:00

We will be adding to our little family in January 2011, and we couldn't be more excited!

A couple days of Summer...

2010-06-17T14:50:00.000-07:00

So it is the middle of June and most days are cold, windy and rainy but we have been lucky to have a few nice days. One weekend it was so hot, Colby and I had been slaving away on our yard work. It was probably one of the hottest days so far and the dogs were feeling it. It's sad when your dogs are bred for the harsh winter and they are basking in the heat in their thick fur coats. So we helped them out a bit...

It's amazing because this is nothing compared to how much they have already lost just this spring/summer. It just keeps coming out! For anybody that has pets I recommend a brush called the furminator. I have tried tons of different types of brushes and this one is by far the best! It is kind of expensive ($40) but it is worth it. It has a yellow handle and I got mine at Cal Ranch. It even works great on the cats.

That same hot day we took the dogs on a drive. (that's Minnie's favorite thing is to ride in the back of the truck) We decided to take Mase to go swim and cool off.

Mase could play fetch in the water for hours. He loves it! As soon as he comes out though he shakes and so the person playing fetch with him gets soaked.

Minnie is not a big fan of the water but Colby got her to stand in it, and I think she kinda liked it? She would just rather explore and sniff around.

My lilac bush is in full bloom. The bush is so ugly except when it has these nice smelling flowers growing on it.

I am excited to announce the cats have been kicked out of the house for about two months now. It is soooo wonderful not having any pets inside. They were seriously taking over the house. They had a hard time at first, especially Zoey. She was trying to find ways to get in.

....Like the window.

Oliver has been doing really good. He is a good little hunter.
There is a new dead bird in the garage every week.

Update

2010-06-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

I've kinda been a slacker at blogging lately. Here are a few things that happend in May that I never got to blogging about.
Cash man had his first Birthday! I can't believe he is already one. He is walking now it's so crazy because he seems too little.

Love you Cash!

We found a home for Tank. It was a sad day, but the family that bought him were really cute. I am happy that he has a nice home to go to. The family had two little kids so that will be fun for Tank. I miss all the puppies though. :(

Oliver probably wont miss him very much because I'm sure he's four times the size of Oliver now. That's not much of an even match.

We got to go camping for the first time this year! We went over Memorial weekend to one of our favorite places, Diamond Creek. We had lots of fun even though we got rained on, hailed on, and snowed on the first two days. It wasn't too bad because we brought lots of games and it's nice that we have a trailer to keep us warm and dry. The last two days were nice though. Colby got a great workout all weekend, our chainsaw wouldn't work and so he cut down and chopped all of our wood by hand. Who needs a chainsaw when you have a big strong husband?

Anyways camping was great, can't wait until we can go agiain.

This is a moose if you can't tell. Moose are my favorite animals to see!

Sunday Picnic

2010-05-17T13:49:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we went for a drive up the canyon to have a bbq with my family. We mostly went to scope out some spots for camping. Our favorite place, Franklin Basin, was closed. We went up Beaver Creek instead. It was fun to be up in the mountains. I miss it, I can't wait for Memorial Weekend when we can go camping.

There was still some snow here and there. Mase enjoyed it, all the dogs were way wore out from running and exploring so much. They missed camping too. It was Tank's first time in the mountains. He loved it. He followed his Mom and Dad everywhere.

We had so much food, it was yummy. We grilled burgers & corn on the cob. We also had pasta salad, bbq baked beans, chips, and we roasted starburst for dessert. It was fun to spend time with the fam around the campfire. :)

There were some big red/orange mud puddles on the road. Brayden & Kurtis loved hitting all the puddles in Brayden's pathfinder and here is a big one they kept speeding through.
Such boys...