Summer Fun

We had so much fun with the Riddle & Buchanan family at Seven Peaks!!! I could not get Rayden out of the pool, he just swam and swam and swam. He also LOVED the kiddy waterslides. I have to say that Seven Peaks is really kid friendly because they let the kids go on just about any waterslide. Too bad I was holding Ryker the whole time or I would've taken him on more slides. But, we had tons of fun!!!!

We also spent a lot of time at Lagoon-a-Beach this summer! Rayden's favorite thing was to go around and around the Lazy River with his cousins.

The Demolition Derby was an exciting thing for Rayden to see. It's the biggest thing to come to Richfield in the summer with the County Fair. It was fun to see all the cars crash into each other, not to mention LOUD as well!!!! Rayden and his Hunt cousins had fun submitting a lot of produce and baked goods in the county fair. Of course Grandma Riddle was a big help!! Altogether they made around $80!!

Soon to Come......

Updates on our exciting and crazy summer!!

Festives on the Fourth

Our Fourth was pretty HOT and pretty fun! Randy woke up early and ran the 5K Richfield Liberty Fun Run with his sister RaNell and her husband Mike. They were pretty tired and hot afterward but they had a great time! I really wanted to go with them (ha ha), but someone had to stay with the kids right? They got back from the run just in time to have breakfast and head off to the parade. The parade was pretty great, however, their marching band was nothing to envy and I could not believe they didn't have a colorguard with thier band!!! Oh well, maybe next year we will get to head up to my hometown for the parade. We did get a million sacks of candy that I look at everyday and threaten that I'll throw it away!!!!

The kids don't look too excited to sit for a photo session because they would rather be gathering up the candy.


Rayden just kept darting out into the road to get the candy and I about had a heart attack! Good thing Daddy was close by to keep an eye on him.

This is a small portion of the big crew we had gathered at the parade. All of Randy's family came for the holiday and also brought along friends! Let's just say we had a pretty full house!!!

Notice Ryker's tongue....IT is always sticking out!!!
After the parade we headed over to the park for food, games and fun! The kids made stuff at the Home Depot kids club, with the help of the Dad's of course! There were great big enflatable's that the kids played on, kid's races, the infamous fish grab, and of course the gold fish pond. All the cousins had to spend all their money on the gold fish. I regret to say that Rayden brought home two fish. I didn't expect them to last the night but they actually did! However, one fish didn't last much longer and we had to say goodbye. The other fish is now Rayden's first and probably only pet he'll ever get. He nambed him X-bo. I'm not sure where he came up with that name. Maybe he was thinking X-men and Rambo but somehow mixed them up in his mind???? Anyway, we had a lot of fun at the park. It got pretty hot so we headed home for some afternoon naps. That evening we headed over to Randy's brother's house to do fireworks and watch the City fireworks. They had some pretty cool fireworks and we ate a lot of popcorn and cookies!! The city fireworks were pretty amazing but I wish we could've been right under them. I love wathcing the fireworks up close and hearing the loud booms and seeing them almost land on me!! Next year we will definately have to be closer!!!




Ryker actually did pretty good with the fireworks and only got scared at the very first! I think the popcorn distracted him enough that he didn't even pay attention to the noise. We had a pretty great day and loved spending time with family! Most of all we are so gratful for our FREEDOM and for those who have fought for our country!

The Big 30

Yep that's right, Randy is 30!!! I can't believe it!!! I don't think he looks that old but I've never really been a good judge at how old people are. Randy told me he was responsible for taking treats to work on his birthday, which I hardly thought was fair, because you know darn well that means it's MY responsibility to make something!!! So, I thought I would make my wonderful cinnamon rolls because the recipe makes sooooo many and they are soooooo good that I just end up eating them all. I thought if I made them, I could just eat one and send the rest to work with him!!!!

So, Randy and I started off his birthday with a nice little jog this morning. It was so nice to just get out of the house in the fresh, cool air. It really made me realize how blessed I am to have a wonderful husband that will actually jog with me. And when I got too tired to jog, he practically just ran in place while I walked. He is such a sweet husband, I just love him so much! He is the most selfless person I have ever met in my entire life! For example: I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and he said, "the climbing shoes I bought YOU can be my birthday present because now you can climb more with me." It made me feel like crap because I have a huge list of things I want for ME and I use every excuse I can to buy them!

He is also so extremely PATIENT with me all the time. Sometimes it makes me sick how patient he can be because we all know how extremely impatient I am, but I would rather him be patient because it is probably the main reason why we get a long. I guess opposites DO attract each other!

I took the kids over to his work for the first time this morning and we took Randy a Balloon Bouquet. It was fun to finally see his office and meet some of the people he works with. He is loving his job so much, even though he's still trying to learn all the procedures when it comes to court. He finally finished his class and is enjoying a little break until he starts Graduate School! He is such a hard worker and I am so proud of how far he has come with his schooling! I love you Randy!!! Happy Birthday!!!

Good Times

What a week it has been for us. Initially I went up North to attend a Temple Sealing of a long time friend, Dorothy and her husband Lynn. They were sealed for time and eternity in the LDS Temple. It was such a wonderful sealing and I'm so glad we were able to make it. I just love going to Temple sealings because I learn so much and I'm reminded of my own sealing.

Later that day we decided to go to Lagoon. It was a cold, miserable day for Lagoon and it was busier than I thought it would be for being so rainy! We had a good time anyway. We stayed mostly dry, except for our feet and hands, and the kids loved it! By the end of the day most the people left and we didn't have to stand in any lines!!



Instead of going home on Sunday, I decided to stay up for the next week to enjoy some more time at Lagoon. We went to Lagoon A Beach a couple times and also rode some rides. Rayden absolutely loves the Lazy River. He loves to get a life jacket on and just float around and around the river. He also loves the kiddie pool. I wished we lived a little closer to Lagoon, we would spend everyday there.

Randy had to come back up to go to some training for work so he picked me up after training and we headed to American Fork Canyon to do some climbing on the way home! It was a gorgeous day for climbing! His sister's were also able to come and spend some time climbing with us. I hope we can get some more time this summer to climb in AF Canyon because it was beautiful! I also really liked the routes we went up.



OH, and one last thing....if you notice my foot in this last picture...My wonderful husband bought me some new climbing shoes and I LOVE them!!!! So, we better do a ton more climbing this summer so I can get some use out of my shoes! I'll have to take a better picture of them so you can see how sexy my shoes are!

Here we go again...

I forgot to mention a few weeks back that Randy got accepted to his Master's Program! He starts this fall and it's about a 2 1/2 year program. After these last six weeks of his online class, I'm not sure I really want to do the school thing again! As part of his prerequisites for his Master's Program he needed one class that he didn't have. So, he's been trying to knock it out real quick with an eight week online course. If there is one thing Randy is not good at, and this may the one thing because I swear he is practically perfect (compared to me), it is teaching himself in an online course. I guess he just loves tradition school and listening to the teacher. He is doing a pretty good job considering it's summer, but he would just rather be outside in the garden instead of reading a text book!! Anyway, he's on the home stretch with his online class and then we have a nice break of about 1 1/2 months before it's back to school! I guess I'd rather he get it done now while we only have 2 young kids. I'd hate for him to decide to go back to school later down the road when we have like 10 kids. Just Kidding!!! If I ever that many kids I think I would need to be on medication, that is if my body was still holding itself together! Anyway, stay tuned for more pictures from our awesome SUMMER!!!! Did I forget to mention how much I LOVE summer in Utah. I'll have to do a post on that later.....Rayden is bugging me to tell him about all the rides at Disneyland. Yes, we are planning a Disneyland trip in about 1 month and Rayden just thinks that it will NEVER come! I try to get him to stop crying by describing all the rides. Too bad it's been a million years since I went and can't even remember half of them. I've already described all the ones I can think of and he keeps asking for more! Oh, what did I get myself into? Maybe you all could comment about your favorite ride to help jog my memory!

Birthday Boy!

Can you believe this little guy is 1 year old already!!! I can! It has been a long year and he has been such a trial for me. I heard or read something the other day about mother's and how they bond with children and I think I can totally relate. Some mother's can bond immediately with their child but other's it often takes time to bond with them. Sometimes this can be frustrating because it is hard to really love and care for your child when you haven't bonded. Well, I immediately bonded with my first child and everything felt natural. With Ryker, I felt awkward as his mother for the longest time and I felt so much stress everytime I tried to comfort him and couldn't. Eventhough he has been so clingy and needy ever since the day he was born, I have had the hardest time bonding with him. It wasn't until just a few months ago that I finally felt that natural motherly instinct with him. I finally know how to comfort him and I finally feel like I have bonded with him! He is such a sweet little angel and I am so blessed to have him! He brings so much joy to our family! Happy Birthday little Ryke's Bikes!!!!

I slaved for two days to make this lego cake and I think it turned out so cute! It was actually really fun to make and I think I will have more fun in the future expirimenting with marshmallow fondant!!

Ryker got his very own lego cake to eat! He actually didn't get too messy and he ended up eating about 1/4 of it! He's my good little eater and will just keep packing the food in as long as it keeps coming! When we go to summer lunch at the park (free lunch at the park for kids every day) he sometimes eats more than his brother Rayden! I can't believe he stays so little!!

We love you Ryker!!!!!