May the Force be with you....

Happy 7th birthday Rayden!!! He wanted a Star Wars party this year. Since I'm 8 months preggo and didn't have the energy to do a big party with games and pinata, we had a swimming party at the hotel pool. The only decorating I had to worry about was decorating the cake! He requested a Yoda cake. This was my attempt at a Yoda cupcake cake. Cupcake cakes are my new favorite thing! I think it turned out pretty cool and he absolutely loved it!

The cousins and friends had a great time swimming! We practically had the pool to ourselves and they loved it. When we first got to the pool there were a few other groups swimming. After about 30 min. most of them had all cleared out and we had the place to ourselves!

Ryker and Daddy! We cut Ryker's hair the other day and he looks even more like his Daddy!


Geronimo!!!! Rayden sure is getting to be quite the little fish! He is swimming so good. I keep thinking I'm a horrible mom because I'm too cheap for swimming lessons. Every time we go with daddy on work conferences we always try to work with him on his swimming at the hotel pool. It's been paying off because he has been swimming pretty good!


Rayden was glad he got to spend his special day with a lot of his cousins on the Riddle side. They spend the whole week playing and swimming together!


I thought I better get at least one shot in my maternity swim suit before I have this little baby. I've sure spent enough time in it this summer to get my money's worth and I'm sure there will be a few more swimming trips before I deliver. As much as I hope this baby is going to come early, I seriously doubt it will. My body likes to tease me the last month of pregnancy. At 36 weeks I was dilated to a 2 and having quite a few contractions. I seriously thought I would go into labor! Now, at 37 weeks I am not quite to a 3 and 80% thinned out. Still having some contractions here and there but nothing to indicate that this baby is coming. 3 more long weeks to go!

After swimming we headed into the conference room and had cake and ice cream! Easiest birthday part ever!!! The kids had a blast and I didn't have to do much entertaining!

Make a wish! I think it's funny that in all our pictures over the last few years of kids blowing out candles they all have their hands over their mouths (so they don't blow out the candles while singing). Next birthday I'll have to remember to take a picture before they all cover their mouths.



Present Time!

The boys enjoying some Yoda cupcakes.

Last weekend we spent a whole day at Seven Peaks with our Hunt cousins from Spanish Fork. The boys had a blast and let's just say by the end of the day I was completely exhausted from going around the lazy river and walking back and forth across the park, up stairs and around towels. I have only been one time before when Ryker was about 1 yr. old and I spent the whole time in the kiddie pool. This time, I was 8 months preggo and couldn't ride any water slides. Maybe next year. Anyway, we got fried by the sun and woke up the next morning only to head to Willard Bay and spend another day in the sun!

Here are all the boys on the tube. I didn't think Ryker would like it but Randy insisted on taking him. He lasted all of half a second when the boat started moving and he started screaming and crying. He doesn't like to get splashed in the face. So we had to stop and get him off. Rayden and Randy sure had fun though.

Ryker may not like the tube so much, but he sure loved riding in the boat!!!! He just laughed and smiled the whole time the boat was moving. It was such a windy and busy day that the water was sooooo choppy. When the boat stopped it would just rock back and forth so much! I kept thinking that if the events the day before at Seven Peaks didn't put me into labor that for sure this boat ride would! But alas, it didn't :(.

Mom BTW at the Captains chair!

This is about as far as Ryker would go into the water. For someone who loves to take baths all day long, he sure is timid when it comes to going swimming at the pool or lake.

Randy was in Heaven picking cherries from my parents tree. The boys just love helping daddy do just about anything. I wish they would help mommy as much as they help daddy! Too bad housework isn't as much fun as climbing ladders and trees!


If you look closely you can see the cherry juice all over his mouth! I think he ate more than he picked!

What's in a name?

Okay.....time to get serious!!!! I have approximately 4 weeks left until this little baby joins our family and I still do not have any names picked out!!!!! I have a couple that I think I might like, but either it sounds good only as a middle name or I can't seem to find a middle name to go with a first name. And really I don't love anything I have come up with yet! Every time I ask people for suggestions, nothing they suggest really pops out. I keep thinking I'll know when I hear it but I just haven't heard the right name yet. With my boys it just seemed so easy. Well, actually it took awhile for Rayden to grow on me but my husband was determined that the baby would be named Rayden if it were a boy. I realized right then that the baby was most likely going to be a boy and that I better just get used to the name. Turns out I ended up loving the name! With Ryker we actually found out what we were having and the moment my sister suggested Ryker we just knew that we loved it!
So why am I having such a hard time this go around? Why is it so difficult to just pick a name? Part of me thinks I should pick a family name, but they are all so boring or already been used by a ton of people already. I also don't want a name that so common that every other person is named. You can't just have a Rayden and a Ryker and then just throw in a Bob or a Jim or an Emily or Ashley (no offense if that is your name or your kids). I also thought it would be fun to keep the "R" thing going but I just haven't found a girl name that starts with R that I like. I wanted Rachel but my niece is already named Rachel and I don't want to make things confusing since girls on that side are few and far between as it is. I have an R boy name that I love - Raice, but my husband and kids don't like it and I can't think of a good middle name to go with it. I keep telling them that they will just have to like it because that is going to be the name if it is a boy. At the same time, I want my husband to agree on the name since it is his kid too. Oh man why is this so difficult??? I guess I'll be in the hospital flipping coins and asking every other person I see for suggestions! LOL!!!
Any ideas on how you all pick your kids names or name suggestions are greatly appreciated!!!!

Happy fourth!

Blogger keeps putting my pictures out of order. Anyway, we had a great 4th of July!!!! We started off by sleeping on the tramp the night before! Yes that's right, little ole 8 months pregnant me slept on the trampoline!!! It was actually pretty comfortable. Randy headed back in the house around 2 am. Ryker woke up crying around 3:30 am so I took him in and got in my bed. When we woke up, Rayden was the only one still outside! What a trooper.

Randy decided to run the 5k with his sister and brother-in-law. He did pretty good for not really training. I think he ran about an 8 1/2 min. mile. After the run we headed to the parade! We sat in our usual spot with the family! After the parade everyone heads to the park for all the food, games, and entertainment! We didn't stay long because the boys were already exhausted and whining. We had planned to take them swimming at the pool but when we finally went after they had naps, the pool was full to capacity and they weren't letting anyone else in. So, we went to our neighbors we used to live by and swam in their free standing pool for a little bit.

Later on we had a BBQ with our great friends and headed off the the fireworks!!! I love fireworks!!!!

Waiting for the candy!!!!

Ryker pretty much spent the entire parade eating the candy as it got thrown at him! He was in heaven!

Here's our little crowd at the parade! Luckily the sun wasn't beating down hot, but it sure was muggy and humid. I felt like I was in Missouri again!


The boys loved the bouncy slides at the park after the children's parade!!!! Luckily we had them play on Saturday night, instead of on the actual 4th. It was a lot less crowded and cooler weather!!! They practically had the place to themselves!!!!!

Ryker was a little scared at first....but it didn't take long to fall in love!




Every 4th of July, (it's usually the night or two before the big town celebrations) we go to the Children's parade. All the children decorate their bikes and ride down main street and end at the park for popsicles and festivities at the park! Here are the boys with their bikes!


Our new ward that we just moved into does face painting before the parade for the kids. There were so many creative and fun faces!



Ryker celebrated his 3rd b-day this year!!!! He has been watching a lot of trucks videos on You Tube lately and one of his most favorite one to watch is a demonstration of this lady making a firetruck birthday cake. For months he kept telling me that he wanted that cake for his birthday, so I had no choice. He absolutely loved it!!! Grandma and Grandpa ended up coming over to our house on the day of his birthday to bring him his present....a jungle gym! It was actually a very old and rusted one sitting in their backyard that Randy used to play on as a kid. They cleaned it up really good and gave it a good spray paint and hauled it over! The boys absolutely love it!!!! Then we were lucky enough to have some cousins visiting over the weekend for Father's Day so we had a big birthday celebration with the cousins.

Oh I almost forgot.....on Ryker's birthday, Randy got a call from the local radio station saying that Ryker had won a free birthday cake! I guess they announce all the birthdays for the day and draw one person to get a free cake. Ryker won the cake!!! I don't even know how the radio station had all our information or knew it was his birthday because we never sent it to them! Kind of funny.

He was so proud of his Firetruck cake!!!

Here is an updated picture of the garden at grandma's house. We have had tons of food from it already! Cabbage, onions, peas, broccoli, lettuce, radishes. Yummy!!!

I guess it has been a while since Randy rode 100 miles in the Tour de cure in Brigham City. He headed up there with some of his besties from Richfield and they all rode. I stayed at my mom's and ended up going boating with the family. Since Randy had my camera I don't have any pictures of me and my belly in my oh so cute maternity swimsuit! LOL!!! Anyway, he survived the ride without too much trouble! He said he kind of had an off day and wasn't at his best and actually he told me he was way more interested in looking at all the vegetable gardens along the way. What a weird guy! I have never seen someone more addicted to gardening in my life!


What a hottie husband I have!!!!