HELLO SUMMER!

Today is one of the most blessed days of the year also known as the LAST day of school! It is such a good feeling to get some freedom for the hot days to come. This year was a little bitter sweet for me. We are losing our "award winning" principal to Brookside Elementary. I say award winning because she has seriously won awards for her greatness. I will miss her more than I can even imagine now. I meant to get a picture of all of my colleagues who are leaving, but I was in a hurry to get that baby of mine. This picture is of DeAnn and Amanda. Both of them are going to Brookside. Yes, that is Trace in the middle. DeAnn will have the pleasure of proudly displaying him somewhere. Hopefully in her home where she can embarrass her three daughters. Amanda started at Canyon the same time I did. She just got married last month and has yet to return to earth. Canyon will not be the same without them.
This is Melissa Holmes. She left us this year for 1st grade but we still got to see her quite a bit. Her husband is headed to med school so of course she is off. It will be a little weird to come back after summer vacation and not see some of my old friends. Farewell and good luck to all of you!

BBQ

We had a little BBQ at Wells and Chrisi's house which by the way is so cute! Chrisi is great at decorating. Scott and Kat are in town for the week. It was so fun to see them. They just had little baby Sophia a couple of weeks ago. She is just precious and beautiful like her mom! She is so tiny. I wish I would have gotten a close up of her. Kat of course looks phenomenal two weeks after giving birth. This is all of the girls + Ryder.

The kids! Carter is a cute big brother!The boys...

Ikea!

After Ryder's birthday, we were in need of toy storage. We took a trip to Ikea. It was a little overwhelming, but we got some good stuff. Don't worry we did not let Ryder ride in the cart like that the whole time.

Karate Kid!

I told Brad that I wouldn't be posting anything on the blog for awhile because we don't really have a lot going on, but I was wrong. If any of you knew Brad when he was young, you know that one of his all time favorite movies was Karate Kid. If you know him now, you know that he can't sit still and could possibly need some medication. I was making a snack in the kitchen when I heard "hi-ya". Ryder was laughing so hard. We have some balloons leftover from Ryder's birthday that are losing their juice. In order to make Ryder laugh, Brad was jumping up and kicking them. A little bit like karate kid... I got a few shots to share with you. (Especially Kim, Emily and Scott) This is my husband...

Sprinkler Time!

This is Brad. This is my first time posting. We had the sprinklers on and Ryder ran directly into them, no fear. You can't tell, but Ryder is soaking wet. It should be a fun summer...

Happy Birthday Ryder!

I took the day off for Ryder's big first birthday! Here he is ready to go. We went shopping and to McDonald's. We had a lot of stuff to do to get ready for the big party. It was a really fun day. I am so excited for summer. This day was just a little taste of the sweet freedom to come.
I wore Ryder out before the party! Don't worry, after a quick nap he was back in business.
We did the traditional personal cake for Ryder. He played in it for a minute, but it turns out he didn't like the sticky frosting all over his fingers. Maybe he just likes to be clean? Probably not...
It was so nice to have family and friends over for Ryder's birthday. He is such a lucky little boy because he has so many people who love him. Happy Birthday Ry!

What a year!

Last week we got Ryder's one year pictures taken. Our neighbor and friend, Sarah Ward took them for us. She is an amazing photographer! Ryder was not very cooperative and she still got some amazing shots. We love them and couldn't be happier. Thank you Sarah!

Ryder has been pulling this face lately whenever we take something away or tell him NO. We call it his "stink face". It is so funny!

Mother's Day Fun

Today was my first official Mother's Day. Last year I was overdue and waiting to pop. This Mother's Day was much better. I feel so lucky to be Ryder's mom. He is so fun. He can always make me smile. I just love him! My sweet husband cooked breakfast and got Ryder ready for church. He also gave me tickets to Stomp, which I am very excited about. We had a nice day visiting family. Here are some pictures of the special mothers in my life.

Ryder showing off those rabbit teeth with Grandma Hales.

Ryder and me with Grandma Bufton and Great-grandma Ludlow.

Ryder and Great-grandma Bufton.

My mom and me with Adam and Kylee.

Ryder and Grandma Bufton.

Congratulations John!

If you are not sure who these kids belong to, I'll catch you up. Zane and Tavell (red shirts) belong to Michelle. Cooper and Crew (blonde hugs) are Kelli's. McKenna (cute girl in front who I couldn't get to look, but look how cute her hair is) belongs to Summer. My Ryder is wearing stripes and wondering what all the big kids are playing with. Ryder is still a little young, but the other kids loved playing in the water at the ranch.

John just finished law school! Three cheers for John!! I can't believe they are home for good. Summer and I will be spending hours at the pool with the kids this summer. It was fun to see everyone. Thank you so much Summer!

Are you sure?

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family reunion - Free family tree template

Go UV!

We took Ryder to his first baseball game last night at Utah Valley. He loved all the action, but he cried every time someone near him cheered loud. We will have to work on that...

Ryder's new kicks

Ryder started walking about two weeks ago. We decided that it was time to get him some shoes. He loves to walk, but he hates the shoes!

Trip to Cancun!

"Could you rub some lotion on my back Brad?" No comment needed!

Jessica and I rode the city bus all the way to Wal-mart to buy lounge floats. We got to Wal-mart and all we could find were these floating animals. I got a sting-ray and Jess got an alligator. We had a hard time communicating because we didn't know Spanish. On our way home we found the floating lounge mats at a flea market for half the cost. Oh well.... we had a good time.

Brad promised me a trip to Cancun last fall. We finally made the trip over Spring Break with Scott and Jessica. It was so much fun. We spent five wonderful days on the beach. We sure were excited to get home to see our babies!

Easter

Ryder is still too young for Easter egg hunts, but he loved playing with the eggs. He did not love his Easter outfit.