Happenings

Lots of things have been happening around our neck of the woods lately. We are just busy busy busy all the time. Rayden finally started Kindergarten!!!! He absolutely loves riding the bus everyday. One day he wanted to go to story time at the library but it starts right as school gets out for the morning kindergarten class. So, I told him if he wanted to go to story time then I would have to pick him up from school. He decided that riding the school bus home was way more fun than story time so I guess no more story time (It's not like we've been going a whole lot in the last year anyway so not much difference there). He also has some neighbor kids in his class and he really is liking his new teacher. However, I am having a hard getting into the homework routine. I guess I'm not ready for summer to be over because we are still playing quite a bit! I also decided to go to the PTO meeting the other day and it felt so weird. I do not feel old enough to be going to PTO meetings!!!! It's fun to get involved and it's also good to know what's going on at the school. It's also been really nice to have some one on one time with Ryker every morning.
We also have been doing soccer this year! I decided to volunteer to be Rayden's soccer coach (another thing I don't feel old enough to do)! Rayden loves to go and his team is just so cute. We are nearing the end of the season and it is amazing to see how much the team has improved over the last few weeks! I haven't decided if I am ever going to coach soccer again. I don't really know much about it but I figure the kindergarten and 1st graders don't mind.

Rand and I also celebrated our 7th anniversary last month! We didn't do much to celebrate because we were so busy. We took a little four wheeler ride up the mountain and watched the sunset. I can't believe it has been seven years already. I have been so lucky to have such an amazing husband. We get a long so well together and just really enjoy being together. I must have truly been inspired to say yes to his marriage proposal after we've only been dating about a week because he truly is the perfect person for me!

In August we had a fun trip to Bear Lake with some friends. We truly have been blessed to find some great friends here who love doing the same things we do. Randy has been into cycling now that he has his new road bike. They rode around the lake a couple times and we had a lot of fun playing on the beach! Randy has also been training for a 100 mile ride this weekend up in Heber. I decided I would ride, but only the 25 mile. I hope I can make it, I haven't even done a bike race before so we will see how it goes.

So, here are some pictures of exciting adventures:

Bear Lake!!! Ryker loved playing with the big tractors. It kept him busy the whole time!



It was a little overcast when we were at Bear Lake. But, it didn't keep us from having fun!


So much for my pedicure. Ryker jumped in and played in the water for the longest time! I guess now I know what I can do if I need some quiet time and need to keep him busy!

Rayden's first day of Kindergarten! I can't believe how big he is!!!


Ryker likes to put on Rayden's soccer socks and shoes! What a cutie. It reminds me of how Rayden used to put on Grandpa Bytheway's boots!

We went camping over labor day weekend to Piute Reservoir. It was so hot and windy! We had so much fun though. The kids rode the four wheelers, swam in the water, and we even found a spot up on the mountain to shoot some clay pigeons!

He's starting to climb just like his daddy. Strap some climbing gear on this kid and he'll be ready to go!
Here's our little camp spot off by the rocks. We were a ways away from the rest of the camp trailers. It's probably a good thing because we have some noisy little boys!

Here's all the guys....oh and Raimee. She totally shot better than most of them! Way to go Raim!!!

Here are the ladies with the guns. We all took a few turns shooting the clay pigeons. Notice I don't have a gun. I probably shouldn't be trusted with one, we almost had an accident while I was holding it!

Rayden was an animal on the little bike! He was pretty brave to drive by himself. He only got a few war wounds!


Randy studying!
Gotta love the crack! He's actually got such a little bummer, but without his diaper, his pants just fall down! Yes, I forgot to mention that we are potty training. We had a pretty good first couple of weeks. He had a hard time going #2 but we finally got the hang of it. Then, we had to go off and go camping and it has been a struggle ever since we got back. He just doesn't want to sit on the potty anymore. So back to square one!

We've had a really fun summer but it's nice to relax a little bit and get back to a schedule. Randy is back at school, he only has one year of lecture left!!!! I just can't wait for school to be over!!!! Now it's time to get ready for all the holidays!

More fun!

This summer just hasn't been slowing down for us!!! On the 24th of July we went to Monroe to see the kids and grandma in the pioneer parade! They were pulling a handcart with grandma! We also had to stand in line for more than hour so Rayden could jump on the trampoline with the bungee cords. I wouldn't have let him do it because it is such a waste of money but he had his birthday money and was determined to go!



Last weekend we went on another vacation, this time to Bear Lake!!! Unfortunately I forgot to pack my camera :( However, I found out on the last day that Randy packed it but by then it was already too late! We had a great time though. The kids could just live on the beach if I let them! As I sat on the beach enjoying the sun, I realized how dirty Rayden's swimsuit has gotten over the summer playing in all the water and sand! Then I realized how blessed we have been to be able to go on so many fun vacations this summer even though Randy has been in grad school all summer! I guess his teacher's have wanted to have fun too because they have been a little relaxed. That is another exciting thing....Rand is officially half way finished with the lecture portion of grad school!!!!! HURRAY!!!!!! We made it one year, the first semester was horrible and I thought I would go insane before the two years were up, but I have to say it hasn't been too bad.
Randy has also taken up a new hobby :( I don't like his hobbies because they don't usually involve me. I know I'm selfish. I have to blame myself a little for this hobby interest because I gave him my dishwasher fund so he could buy himself a road bike. Now I'm stuck home doing dishes all day by hand while he is off riding with the guys. I guess I should confess that I have a dishwasher....it just doesn't do so great on the washing part. I figure if I'm going to have to pre-wash all the dishes and wash some the dishes again after they come out, I might as well just wash them once by hand. So, if any of you feel sorry for me....feel free to donate to my new dishwasher fund!!!


After we got back from Bear Lake we jumped right into the county fair activities! Grandma R. likes to get all the grand kids and do little projects with them that they enter in the fair. She also lets them enter all her produce from her garden! I entered my canned peaches and peach salsa this year and they both took first! I'll have to get started on some projects for next year! The kids also participated in the kid rodeo! They love just being out all night with all the cowboys and cowgirls in town!!!


Here is Rayden next to his lego creations. He got a blue ribbon!! (1st place)

Of course Ryker loved the tractors!!!! This boy was born to be a farmer!!!! All he says day after day is truck and tractor!!!!
Oh, here is a video clip of Rayden riding the mutton! The first year we lived here we was a little too scared to ride. He was also a little young. The second year (last year) we were all sick and had to stay home on the couch while all the cousins went. This year I was shocked that he wanted to ride the mutton! I thought for sure he would be too scared. Sure enough, he went ahead and rode the mutton! He was so brave too!!! He didn't even cry after he got bucked off and trampled!! I think next year we'll bring a helmet! Our next adventures for a little while will be soccer! Rayden is playing this year and they asked me to be his coach, heaven knows why?? I mean about the coaching part. I know very little about soccer but I guess that's okay since he is only 6! Wish me luck!

Summer Fun!!! (really long post)

So, we have been very very very busy this summer. I just feel like I have been going non-stop for the last few months. It felt good to actually sit down for a few hours today and relax and catch up on some blogs. Then I realized how long it has been since I blogged and thought I better get to it! Here is what we have been up to:

We started out the summer with a trip to Zion's! I don't remember ever going to Zion's before so this was really fun for me! We headed down with a bunch of my family and took a nice easy trail for the kids. It was pretty hot, we had to stop quite often to count kids and take water breaks, but we all made it safe and sound! Well, except for a bloody toe at the very end for someone not wearing shoes, but other than that it was great!

The kids loved the little pool of water at the end of the hike! It was nice to cool off!

Here's our cute little family! Don't look too long however, we're a little sweaty and gross!

And of course, all the kids!!! Well, most of them anyway!! What were we thinking taking all those kids hiking????
My two little one's are just so cute!!!

We also went and did a little rock climbing!!! That was even hotter than hiking because we waited a little too late in the day. The itty bitty ones had a hard time with the heat and headed out yearly but the older boys had a blast. They climbed up those rocks so fast and were so brave to go all the way to the top!!! I think we'll have some great climbers in this family!

All my boys have summer birthday's, so we have had a lot of birthday celebrations lately. Ryker's birthday came first. He LOVES trucks!!!! So you can see why his birthday cake just had to be a truck! He turned two this year and he is all over that terrible two business!!! It's lucky he's so cute or else I don't know what I would do. His cake was a little sloppy because I had to make it in a hurry but he loved it! We had a good time celebrating with family!!!

Randy celebrated his birthday second but I forgot the camera. We were actually in Lake Powell on his birthday and didn't do much to celebrate except for ride the wave runners!!!!

This was our first trip to Lake Powell this year. We went with the Riddle family to Antelope point marina and took a houseboat up Navajo canyon. It was beautiful weather, except one day, and we had a blast! The houseboat was really nice and we had a fun slide on the back. We also had some friends next door on a houseboat with a slide that was even higher! It was great!

Ryker is seriously contemplating whether or not to get into the water or finish his gogurt!

We made a waterslide down the hill into the lake. The kids loved it! I tried it once and wasn't a huge fan. It hurt!

I love how you can see Rayden's arrow in this picture! We like to experiment on his hair in the summer and he wanted an arrow like on the last airbender! He felt pretty special to have different hair and all the cousins loved it!!!

Randy liked the water slide....ouch!!!!


Ryker loved the boat. Except he always fell asleep. I could never figure out why kids always fall asleep on the boat. It seems so uncomfortable!!!


Randy was a pro at knee boarding. He had a rough time getting up everything else but he dominated on the knee board!!! Go Babe!!!!

This was the whole crew!!! It was so much fun, thanks mom and dad Riddle!!!!!

This is what the cousins do when they get together. The girls like to dress up the boys. Can you believe Rayden is the one in the hat. He can play a pretty good girl!!! I'm going to have to use this picture as blackmail when the boys grow up!!!

Fourth of July was pretty crazy this year! It was hotter than ever and crazy too! We had fun going to the parade, having a bar-b-que with friends and then watching the fireworks! I love the fireworks!!


This is our second trip to Lake Powell!! We camped at Lone Rock with my family and had a blast! Ryker was totally in his element! Food and treat galore, sun, water, sand!!!! What more could a kid want? We were fortunate enough not to have a fire incident this year with Ryker. Although, cousin Zack wasn't as fortunate, sorry bud :(

The kids loved playing in the island. It was so nice to have, thanks Sarah!!!!!
The boys love to sit on the wave runners and pretend like they are going on an awesome ride! This is actually as fast (or should I say slow) as some of them like to go! Ha Ha! Actually most of the boys love going for rides! Well, at least my boys do!

How many kids do you think it will hold???

I guess I was the only one paying attention in this picture. We had a lot of fun at Lake Powell with my family. Minus the sand in everything it was a pretty fun and relaxing trip! It was hotter than Hades but the water was warm and the skiing was great!!!

Rayden turned six years old today!!! We celebrated by having Sponge Bob birthday party last weekend with some friends and family. He loved his cupcake cake!!! I almost backed out of making it at the last minute because of my medical situation but he was almost in tears because he really wanted his cupcake cake. I thought that sitting down and frosting a cake wasn't too stressful so I decided to go ahead and do it. It turned out really cute and it made him feel pretty special. If it weren't for my amazing sisters who pulled together and helped me with the birthday party it would have been a huge disaster. Thanks girls!!!!
Anyway, Rayden is six now and I just can't believe it! He is getting so big! He has already lost two teeth and just informed me that he has a molar coming in in the back of his mouth! He loves loves loves playing Legos with his friends and he recently has fallen in love with star wars! He is such a big helper and loves having his own room!

This is my little Ryker......he may be little but he has a big personality!!! He's a wild one!!! He really keeps me on my toes. I have to constantly watch him or he gets into everything!!!!

A couple things I have left out that has made our summer even crazier is we finally moved into a new house!!!!!! It was kind of last minute but I am so grateful that we were able to find a fairly new house that was in our price range and that would fit our family. There weren't a whole lot of options available in our small town and I've been watching the market in our area over the past few years. When I first saw this house, Rand and I wanted it so bad but it was a little out of our price range so we kind of just forgot about it. Then, our Realtor found out that the seller's were willing to drop their price! We were so excited and knew we had to jump on it! So far it has been a dream come true having my own house again! But, it has also been a lot of work! Having everything in storage for two years was a nightmare!!! I couldn't remember what boxes everything was packed in. Anyway, we are slowly getting settled. It has been hard since we have been so busy but little by little it is falling into place.

Also, just a week after moving into our home we found out we were pregnant with our third. I was a little shocked (well actually a lot shocked) but excited at the same time! Everything seemed to be going well, no sickness and feeling great, except for being really tired and really hungry all the time. I was even able to keep running and run the fourth of July 5k run. I felt great! Well, last week I started having complications. After having an ultrasound and seeing the babies heartbeat I felt a little better but I still felt like things were not going to end well. A few days later I had a miscarriage. It was difficult to go through but I was very blessed to be able to have my family around to help me get through it all. In a way, I was really grateful that I was only 7 weeks along because it was a lot less complicated then if I had been further. It was also a really good learning experience for Rayden. He has learned so much about prayer and Heavenly Father's plan for our family. In a way, I never really felt like it was time for this little spirit to come to our home. I am so grateful that I have learned early on that life isn't always about what I want, but what Heavenly Father wants for me. So, anyway, our little family is doing great and we are really loving the summer and all of the fun activities we have enjoyed! We have been surrounded with family and friends and we are loving life!!!

Hopefully soon I will post pictures of the new house!!!!!

Finally!

This was Randy's experiment on Rayden's hair! We just left in for one day just for fun. Rayden ended up liking it so much that he cried when we cut it off the next day. I guess this summer we'll have to experiment again!

Rayden lost two teeth this last month! He is getting so big I just can't believe it!

The primary had a box car racing activity. Rayden wanted a jet! His grandpa worked all day long to help him build a pretty cool jet! He said it is the fastest jet in the whole wide world! Thanks grandpa for helping!
The boys have been wanting dad to help them build a tree house for quite some time! They finally got a few minutes to get some steps put on! Maybe in a few more weeks they will have some more additions!

Ryker is so glad that the weather is finally starting to get a little warmer. He LOVES being outside! I can't wait for it to be full on summer. No more snow!!!!

Ryker just loves his new baby cousin, Laytyn! He is such a big helper, always making sure she has her blanket and binki and bottle! However, he is quite jealous when mommy or daddy hold the new baby!!!

He loves holding Laytyn!

Rayden graduated from Preschool! His teacher was so amazing this year and he just loved it! They had a cute little program at the park today and Rayden was in a little skit. He was so cute. He got to wear all of these fabulous hats! He loves hats!!!

Here is my graduate!!!! I am so proud of this little fella! He is the smartest 5 year old I know! I just wish he would stop growing up so fast! I'm going to blink and next thing ya know he'll be graduating from High School and getting ready for a mission!

Such a slacker!!!

I have to admit, I have been really slacking in the blogger world. I realized the other day as we were rushing out the door to a primary activity and Randy asked "where's the camera?" I had no idea when the last time was that I actually snapped a picture of the kids. I didn't have a single clue where the camera was and I was not about to go looking for it! Not that we haven't been on picture worthy adventures, I just haven't even thought about capturing a moment of it on camera! I think sometimes I just like to enjoy the moments without having to worry about if my blogger friends will think I have the cutest and most wonderful kids in the world! Because let's face it, you already know I have the BEST kids in the world, and you don't need pictures to prove it!!!! LOL!!! I actually do have some great pics to post but I really don't know where I left the camera last. So here is what we have been doing, you'll just have to imagine:

House hunting (imagine me singing the hallelujah chorus at the top of my lungs!!!! Feel free to join in!)
Playing outside on the rare days that we have had sun (and I thought Missouri weather was crazy!)
Traveling to G-ma BTW's house to play with cousins!!!
Playing with friends
Building with lego's
A LOT of visit's to the Dentist (with more to go! I think I will have to sell my first born to pay the dentist this year)
Bike riding
All sorts of family/church functions
Rayden just finished his third year of Preschool! I definitely think it's time to move on to Kindergarten!!!

I think that pretty much is the bulk of what we have been doing. Of course I left out the mundane things like laundry, bath time, cleaning, attempting potty training, and so on and so on. The most important thing I left out is how I have completely had a change of perspective on my life and I am trying to re-vamp, start fresh, and just do all those things I keep telling myself that I will eventually do. I went to BYU women's conference a few weeks ago and it was exactly what I needed in my life right now!!! Also, to add to all the wonderful people I heard speak, we recently had General Conference, Bi-stake women's conference, and stake conference. I don't think I have ever been to so many conferences in a two month period in all my life! All of it was so amazing and I swear the speakers must of had me in mind when they prepared their messages because it all was JUST FOR ME!!!! So, as long as I can just remember all the wonderful things I heard and I can remember how I felt, and my determination to succeed, then life will be wonderful no matter what!!! So here is to the rest of 2010......NO MATTER WHAT!!!!

Goals

I'm trying to reach a goal I set for myself this month and I need your help! If anyone is interested in getting some free and discounted pampered chef products by hosting a show or knows someone that would want to, let me know!!! I'm actually looking for someone who would be interested in doing a catalog show this week because my schedule right now is pretty packed! My amazing sister-in-law just a did a catalog show and earned some free stuff and I just know there are others out there who are just dying to get some free-bees!

Some people think that hosting a show is difficult but it is actually pretty easy! It can be as easy as emailing, calling, or texting all your friends my personal website and they can view and order right online!

The month of May is Help Whip Cancer month and there are some special limited-edition pink items available this month! You know you all want a pink tomato knife which is among the special edition items! Also, $1 will be donated to the American Cancer Society for every special edition item purchased!!! If you know anyone in your life who has or is suffering from cancer, this is a great way to help!
Let me know if you are interested in helping me reach my goals! You can send me an email to barbsriddle@yahoo.com and I'll get you set up so you can get those free products!

Foxboro North Boutique

Hey all you gals, this Saturday from 10-4 I will be doing a Pampered Chef display at a Boutique in North Salt Lake! There will tons of other ladies there with some amazing things! They will have purses, jewelry, hair bows, vinyl lettering, scentsy and so many more things!!! If you want to check out a little preview and get specific directions go to http://foxboronorthboutique.blogspot.com/

With Mother's Day coming, it's a great way to get some personalized things for those amazing women in your life! Or just pamper yourself!!! I hope to see you all there!!!