Corn Belly's

I have always heard about Corn Belly's but we had never gone until this year. It is basically a huge Halloween/Fall festival at Thanksgiving Point. There are rides for the little ones, tractor rides, hay rides, tons of fun little play places for kids, a huge corn maze, a bunch of smaller mazes, a pumpkin patch, food, etc. It was a little expensive, but I had coupons, so we decided to go. It was so much bigger than I had expected! There was just so much to do! We stayed for about two hours and Ryder had so much fun. If we are still here in Utah next year, we will have to try to go again because I bet he would enjoy it even more if he was a little bit older.

 The sun was so bright I could barely open my eyes!

 What a goof

 Riding on the "cow train"

 Driving a truck

 A huge tractor!

 Hiding from Daddy

 Driving the "cool bus"

 A little mini maze

 A huge tower of carved pumpkins. there were some really cool designs

 Tractor ride!

 Tractor ride through the corn

 Getting ready to climb the hay mountain

 Almost 3 feet 

Our family with Ryder barely making it in there!

 "driving" a tractor

Me and Ryder in front of a massive pumpkin

Grandma Nelson's "Spooky Bake"

This past week (Oct 17), Ryder and I went down to Orem to my parent's house for Grandma's Spooky Bake. My grandma Nelson always does a cookie decorating party for all the grand kids at Christmas time. My mom wanted to continue the tradition with her grand kids, but decided to do it at Halloween instead. Hence the name "Spooky Bake." Before decorating cookies, we went to a little pumpkin patch and the kids got to each pick out a pumpkin, as big as they wanted! Ryder really just liked the small "baby" ones. So that's what he got. 

Then we went back to my parents' house and decorated cookies. Ryder and Payton were definitely more interested in just eating the frosting rather than decorating their cookies with it. They definitely all got a lot of sugar. Payton was especially a huge fan of the sprinkles! It was fun and I'm thankful to my mom for doing a fun little party for her grand kids.

 Ryder and Payton at the pumpkin patch

 Me and Ryder with his little pumpkin

 Ryder with my dad

 Ryder anxiously waiting for the frosting

 Yum!!

 Me and my bud

 His finished cookie (with some help from me)

 Mom with her grand babies

 Payton covered in sprinkles ha ha!

 I think the sugar really started to get to Payton!

Me and my mom. I look as white as a ghost next to her!

Little Memories

It seems like everyday Ryder will do or say thing funny or sweet and I always think, "I need to write that down!" I keep a journal, but I'm probably just as good as writing in this blog as my journal, so I decided to share a few of them here. Some of them are just cute little memories I don't want to forget.

September:
-Ryder was playing next to me in bed one morning as I laid there with my eyes closed, resting. It get's really quiet, and then I hear, "Father, blessings, Jesus, cars, Jesus Christ Amen!" He was just praying to himself!

-One evening, it was raining like CRAZY here and we pulled up to the house from going out to eat and we noticed the Briggs' dog, Larry, had been out in the rain the whole time and was soaking wet. I said, "Aww, poor Larry! He's been out in the rain all alone and he's all wet now!" Ryder got a really concerned look on his face and then burst into tears saying, "Get Larry inside!!" He has such a tender heart.

-While watching Baby Einstein (one about space/planets), the DVD player froze, and Ryder impatiently yelled, "Oh come on planets!!"

-On the same Baby Einstein DVD about planets, it goes through all the planets and says their names. Ryder always repeats the words. When it said Venus, Ryder said "penis!"

-Ryder always tells me, "Mommy so pretty and cute" So one time he said it, I said, "Thanks bud! You are so cute and awesome!" He turned to me and very seriously said, "Ryder not cute. Just awesome."

-This past weekend, Ryder was laying in bed with me and Kevin before we were ready to get up. He sneezed and we said "bless you" Then I heard him tasting something in his mouth. I said, "are you eating something Ryder?" He replied, "eating a bless you" Funny and gross!

-Ryder came up to my belly today and patted it while saying, "Hi baby! Baby sleeping? Here's a blanket (he ran and got a pair of his pajama bottoms and laid them on my belly). Love you baby!" Then he read the baby a couple books and shared his sippy. He's going to be a great brother!

Oh Boy!

When I went to my last doctor's appointment to check up on our little baby, I was able to schedule my 20 week ultrasound, which is where you get to learn the gender of the baby. It was over 5 weeks away, and I was bummed having to wait that long. However, we found a doctors office down at the Utah Valley Hospital that will do a simple "Gender Check" for 45 dollars as early as 16 weeks. We made an appointment for Sept 13, which happened to be the same day my parents and Nelson grandparents were leaving to go on a three week trip to South Africa. I was hoping we would get to find out what we're having before my parents left, but I was nervous that we wouldn't be able to get a good shot or that even if we could see down there, we wouldn't be able to tell what it was yet.
The whole ultrasound took less than two minutes. We got to see some cute shots of the arms, leg, spine and head. Then, for the big reveal... As soon as the ultrasound tech moved to look between the legs, I saw it! It is definitely a boy! There was the teeeeeeniest fraction of a second where i thought, "oh... not a girl" but it was immediately replaced with the happiest thoughts of Ryder with a sweet little brother. It feels so perfect and I'm so happy to be having another boy. Just knowing it's a boy already makes me feel that much more bonded with him :)
I have not felt him move yet, at least not anything I would say was definitely him. I'm still waiting untl I can feel him and know for sure it was him. That's one of the most incredible feelings in the world. I am 16.5 weeks now and still feeling  sick, but not too bas if I take the Zofran. I guess I will just keep taking it, alhtough I would love to get to the point I don't need to. This week our little guy is just about 5 inches long crown to rump, and 4.5 ounces. Five and a half months to go; feels like a LONG time, but i'm sure he'll be here before I know it!

The pictures they gave us were horrible quality on top of ultrasound pictures being difficult to interperet to begin with. However, this is the shot that you can see between his legs, all boy ;)

The Scriptures

Tonight I was making dinner, and it dawned on me that Ryder had been quiet for a while. That usually means he's getting into trouble! So I went over to check on him. He was sitting on the couch, looking at the scriptures! What a sweet boy! I hope he always loves the scriptures!

Hiking

Kevin is always itching to go do something outside, which is great, except that it's been so hot, and the heat makes me feel nauseous. He really wanted to go do this quick little hike up to a waterfall nearby, and I really didn't feel like it. However, we ended up going, and it wasn't as bad as I thought. I was pretty winded going up, not because I'm that terribly out of shape, just because I'm pregnant. However, it was nice and shady at the top and we were the only ones there, at least for a couple minutes. Ryder definitely loved it up there. He was playing with his truck in the water and dirt. Such a boy!

I love pictures of Kevin and Ryder holding hands; it's just so sweet!



Day at the Zoo

For Labor day this year, we went to the Hogle Zoo with Kevin's parents and Casey. It was super crowded and a little warm, but we had fun! Every time we take Ryder to the zoo, I think he enjoys it a little more because he remembers seeing the animals in books. Afterward, we went to dinner at Red Robin. Thanks to Chad and Jeannine for a fun day!

Fifth Anniversary

Five years ago today, I was getting married to my best friend. It was a beautiful, hot, Augut day. The sealing ceremony done by my Grandpa Nelson was so special. We've had so many good times, hard times, and times of growth during these past five years, but I couldn't imagine anyone I'd rather experience it all with! Kevin has given me one sweet son and another baby on the way. I love my little family and am so grateful for the incredible man I get to share eternity with!

Ryder's New Big Boy Bed

Since we have another little one on the way, we decided to move Ryder out of his crib and into a big boy bed. I was expecting it to be very difficult and that he wouldn't stay in this bed after we got him down at night. We went and picked one out at Kid to Kid for about 30 dollars (can't beat that!) It's a Mater bed (from the movie Cars). Ryder was VERY excited! That night at bedtime he completely surprised us and did awesome! It's been about 5 days so far and he hasn't tried to get out of the bed once at night or for his naps! There has been a few times when he's pointed at his crib (we haven't taken it out of his room yet) and said, "sleep in that bed), but we just tell him he gets to sleep in his big boy bed now. We do our normal bedtime routine, and then lay him down and he goes right to sleep! I'm so relieved! Now it will be much easier to use the crib when the new baby comes.

Baby #2 Is On It's Way!

     If you haven't heard our good news yet, I'm more than happy to share that Kevin and I are expecting baby #2! This little one is due February 28, 2013 (although I'm going to just assume it won't be until March.) I am 11 weeks along today. That means the baby is now about 2 inches long from head to rump and by the end of the week will be about 2.5 inches.
     This pregnancy has been different than Ryder's in that I have felt a lot sicker, a lot earlier. Hopefully as I get into the second trimester I will start to feel better. I have also already started to show, which has been tricky since we weren't telling people until just yesterday. I have been wearing looser clothes to hide my teeny bump.
     I had my first appointment with my new doctor yesterday and it could not have gone better! I love our doctor! She is so enthusiastic and bubbly but really sincere. One thing I really wanted to talk about was the issues we had with Ryder having been so small and what we can do with this pregnancy to keep a better watch on that. It was like she could read my mind! The first thing she said after coming in and congratulating us was, "OK, we need you to have a bigger baby!" I was so relieved she was on the same page as us. She made sure to reassure us several times that this time around we would be keeping a very close watch on the growth of this baby, especially in the third trimester. I feel very good about this doctor :)
     Another really fun part of the appointment was that we got to have an ultrasound and see the baby. With Ryder we only got to have one ultrasound at the midway point, so I wasn't expecting one this early. It was incredible to watch our little one already so active and squirming around. It was so cute because the baby had it's legs stretched straight out just relaxing! The baby is actually measuring 2 days bigger than 11 weeks, so that's good, let's hope it stays that way!
     Ryder knows about the baby but I know he doesn't really understand what it all means. It should be very interesting when this little one is born and Ryder isn't the only one anymore. Ryder will be about 2 months away from turning 3. To be honest, it's terrifying to think about having two, when some days I feel like I can barely handle one! It will be an adjustment for all of us, but we are so beyond happy to become a family of four :)

 Our sweet baby

 This one was showing the heartbeat

 Another shot zoomed out a little

Since it can sometimes be hard to tell what you're looking at, I outlined and labeled this one to show what everything is. I love the legs sticking up! I'm sure I won't think it's so cute once the baby is bigger!