Atwood Family

Riley's 3rd Birthday!!

2011-04-18T12:07:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Riley's 3rd birthday!! I can't believe he is this old already!! Time has gone by so fast! Now I have Lexie too!! I remember the day he was born and everything that happened that day like it was yesterday. I feel sooooo old (even though I have many friends with 3 or 4 kids already and some have kids as old as 7 or 8) it makes me wonder how they must feel lol!! Before I know it Riley will be starting school, then finishing elementary school, then graduating High School and then I will feel old!! Anyways enough of the feeling old business!

So we celebrated Riley's birthday yesterday. It was a Sunday and we have church at 1pm and that time really sucks when you are trying to organize family get togethers and dinners but we decided we better go to church (I won't lie we honestly thought of skipping). Riley decided he wanted Pizza and a Race Car cake with Lightening McQueen and Mater on it. I only make simple cakes and have no creative or cake decorating talents so I decided since I wouldn't have time to make it (we were busy the day before and went swimming for his birthday) we would just take the easy way out and get one from Safeway. I also didn't want to mess up on it and him not like it. I am really sure he would have liked it just as long as Mater and Lightening McQueen were on it I was mostly just trying to save time. So since I teach Primary Jesse took Lexie home during Priesthood/Relief Society and started making the pizza. By the time Riley and I came home from Church his grandma and grandma Atwood were there and so were Nana and Papa McMurray. They were helping Jesse and it was almost ready. Riley was so excited to see them and was happy we were having pizza. He was so excited he started doing his arm flapping thing he does when he is really excited!! He had a lot of fun and Nancy and Eric and their kids came later for cake and the present opening. He was a very spoiled boy this birthday and got A LOT of stuff!! I have always wondered what people do after every one of their kids birthdays when they keep getting more and more stuff and then their siblings get lots of stuff each birthday and Christmas as well. What do you do with it all?? How do you have enough space, especially when you already have lots of toys and things to begin with that are still being played with??? Our basement is just full of toys and Lexie's birthday is in 3 months and then like 5 months after is Christmas!! I guess I just need to go easy and not buy as much or dejunk maybe??

Anyways here are some photos of his fun filled day!!! We forgot to take a big picture with him and all the grandparents!! We kept meaning to but forgot so we don't have proof they were there lol!! So just imagine they were where when you look at these pictures cuz they were there. I wasn't in one either cuz I was taking all the pictures, it looks like it was just Riley, Lexie, Jesse and the Bly kids lol!

Riley's race car cake!! He absolutely loved it!! He couldn't stop staring at it!!
He wasn't sure what to think of the sparkler candle, he was kind of afraid. We got good evidence of this on the video tape as he kind of freaked out a little and didnt want to sit by the cake anymore when it was first lit!!

Our Birthday Boy! He really was happy even though he isn't smiling!

We caught him making some strange faces while eating his cake lol!

He wasn't sure if he liked the red icing!

Lexie was just happy to be there!!

Riley opening his first present!

He loves puzzles!!

He loves Toy Story and was thrilled to get a talking Woody from Nana and Papa

Riley with his cousins Tamryn, Camille, Justin and Nathaniel

Riley with all his birthday loot!! I think his grandparents cousins and mommy and daddy spoiled him!!

It was a great day!!!! Happy 3rd Birthday Riley!!! We love you and are happy to have you as a part of the family!!

Riley is Potty Trained!!

2011-03-13T20:31:00.001-07:00

Oh my goodness I never thought this day would come. After two long weeks of cleaning up pee and fighting with him and crying and him crying and him having melt down after melt down, we can finally all enjoy some peace. For most of the month of February Riley was showing interest in using the potty. He is a very strong willed stubborn child, and I thought we would never be able to get him to go potty. We bought 2 potty seats one for downstairs and one for upstairs and we got out the jelly beans, chocolate chips and race car stickers. Jesse got him to go while he was still in diapers. He would get out his ipod and show him little clip shows that had toy story characters or cars and would play the little clip telling him to show woody he could pee or show buzz he could poop and he did!! I couldn't believe how simple that was. Of course only daddy could get him to go by using that trick. I had do some bribing in different ways like get him a treat or a toy from the dollar store. More towards the end of Feb he was going about half of the time. On Feb 28 we made the scary decision to get rid of the diapers and to put him in underwear. A few days before we took him to Walmart and let him pick out some big boy underwear. He picked out some Winnie the Pooh, Cars and Toy Story underwear. He seemed sooo excited he kept saying underwear underwear all the way home. So Day 1 with no diapers he had about 6 accidents and I didn't feel like I could do this anymore. The thing that started to work was that he got really sad when he peed his pants and I had to take them away to wash them. That devastated him and he started telling me he had to go more often. Day 2 he had 3 accidents, Day 3 he had 1 accident and Day 4 he had no accidents. I am sooo proud of him. Of course Jesse and I were so proud of ourselves for training him so fast we thought we were the best lol! A week later he started peeing his pants again and then refusing to go, then we thought were weren't so hot lol! Now we have no problems with him, he even wakes up dry and goes as soon as he wakes up. So I am just happy that we got him trained during the day and even through the night before he is 3.

Way to go Riley!!!

We got him a potty training book to read while he would sit and try. That seemed to be the only thing that would get him to sit there long enough to try and have something happen.

RIP Max

2011-03-13T20:30:00.001-07:00

Some of you that I grew up with in Cardston might remember my family's dog Max. He was a bichon Shitzu dog.We got Max when I was only 12 years old, we still lived in Magrath at the time. Now I am pretty old some of you know how old I am and other's don't and I am ok with that lol! For those of you who know how old I am, you know that Max is a pretty old dog. Okay, so I will tell you how how old Max is. He was 16 years old! He started getting sick at the beginning of this month. He wasn't eating, he was losing teeth, he had problems with one of his eyes and he just grew really weak. He couldn't hardly walk and he just sat in his bed all day long and didn't do anything cuz he could hardley move. On Thursday night I got a phone call from my mom telling me that on Friday they were going to be taking Max to the vet to be put to sleep. They said it was the best thing to do for him because he was suffering and unable to eat so he was basically starving himself, they were not sure why he wouldn't eat and they tried many many times to get him to eat. They even tried giving him cheese which he loves and as soon as one of us would get cheese out and start cuttng it, he would come running. It was just better to take his pain away and let him rest I guess. I was so sad and I still am. Max had been in my life for a long time. He was mostly my sister Becky's dog and she was devastated. My parents were even sad and I didn't think they would be. They always thought he was so annoying and couldn't wait to get rid of him after we all left home, but they never did, they held on to him because all us kids loved him so much. Growing up dad would always joke every year and say that this Christmas he was going to be getting Max his coffin. On Friday Dad really did build him a coffin. I didn't think he would but I think it was sweet that he did. After Max was put to sleep he was wrapped in a blanket that was used in his bed. In the coffin were his favorite toys. I wasn't able to be there to bury him but my parents, Becky and Jon buried him close to my Grandma and Grandpa McMurray's house in Beazer. It was a sad sad day and I am kind of grateful I wasn't there to see him so sick and weak just thinking about that was enough to make me burst into tears. He was a good dog, we all grew so attached to him and will really miss him.

Some of my memories of Max were when we always included him at Christmas. He had his own stocking and Becky wanted us to include him as well in the family Christmas draw, and we did every year. Everyone always wanted to get Max's name. One year I didn't know what to get him and dad told me to get him this rubber bone (I was about 13 or 14 years old). This bone cost $9 which was a lot to me then. Max hated it and wouldn't even touch it, and I always would bug dad year after year saying "Nice choice dad!"

I also remember dad giving him funny hair cuts making him look like a buffalo, or a lion, giving him a beard.

I also remember one time when we were camping, Max was about a year old and we were at Beazer swimming in the creek and Becky asked dad if Max could swim and he said 'lets find out' and he threw Max in the water lol! Becky was so scared thinking Max would drown but sure enough he swam right to the edge and was able to get out.

We also taught Max many tricks and Becky was having him jumping throw a hula hoop, she built a bar supported by two pillows for him to jump over, he would shake a paw, dance and roll over.

Sorry if I am boring you guys to death but this write up is mainly for my family to read our memories and for me to have a record of it.

Rest in Peace Max you brought so much joy to our family for 16 years, I will always remember you and you will be missed :(

Lexie eating solid foods

2011-02-16T23:38:00.001-08:00

Here is a picture of my cute baby eating solids when I am not giving it to her fast enough she grabs the spoon and shovels it in.

My baby girl is getting so big. She is 6 1/2 months old now. We sure love her. She always has a big smile on her face. Since she is finally better and over her cold and fever we decided it was time to try feeding her solids again. We started them a few weeks ago and she was kind of cranky with being sick and the whole moving thing just kind of ruined her routine. Now we are settled somewhat so we tried giving her some rice cereal which so loved. We always add apple juice to it instead of water to give it more flavor. We also started her on peaches today. She just absolutely loves them. We couldn't get each spoonful to her mouth fast enough. She would grunt or grab the spoon from me when I wasn't going fast enough, it was really cute!!

Riley's fear of flies

2011-02-16T23:37:00.003-08:00

So yesterday I was watching something on TV and Riley was playing on the floor with Mr. Potatoe head. There was a paper close by and a fly started to crawl on the paper and he started watching it. Then it started flying around and Riley started freaking out, I meaning literally freaking out. He was running all around screaming ducking down as the fly flew around, layed on the ground and was kicking and screaming for me to get the fly. Then he wanted me to kill the fly and of course I can't find the fly swatter. Finally it landed and I was able to pick it up and I just threw it outside. Anyways for the rest of the day he was just terrified, even if he saw a piece of black fuzz he thought it was a fly and he would start his screaming terrifying fit again. I had to show him that it was fuzz and that there were not any flies. It was ridiculous, it got to the point where he was too afraid to walk on the carpet (cuz that is where the fly was when he first saw it). Our kichen has half tile floor and half carpet (I know, that sucks) and he would stay on the tile, he would want one of us to carry him across the carpet if he needed to go there and once he was at the couch he thought he was safe. We also have this rug that is colorful and we put it under his chair when he eats because where out table is has carpet. The rug has some black in it and he thought the black spots were flies and he was screaming wanting me to kill the flies and he wanted the carpet moved and oh my goodness it was frustrating but hilarious at the same time. This went on for about 8 hours (that was too long). So finally I had a talk with him and told him that flies are nice, that they are our friends lol! I told him he can say hi to the flies and they won't hurt him. I told him they like to fly around like birds or butterflies and those don't hurt us either. Anyways today, as I am busy doing some housework he starts thinking he sees flies again and is screaming and crying "Mommy kill the flies!" I kind of ignored him then I heard him say, "Hi fly!" "Happy Fly." "Nice fly." "Follow the prophet fly!" LOL, not sure why he told the fly to follow the prophet but it was funny. Then he starts singing ABC's, Follow the Prophet, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star etc. I don't know if he actually saw any flies at all but I thought this was cute and funny. Yes he is still afraid of flies when he sees one or if he sees fluff or fuzz that is black. You think he would be afraid of bees or wasps cuz they could actually sting you but no he is afraid of flies. I hope he gets over this quick otherwise we will not be going out much all summer. Jesse was going to take him to a basketball game tonight but we thought maybe Riley should stay home, I am sure Jesse would be quite embarassed if Riley started a screaming fit if he saw a fly. Anyways just thought you would all like to hear about this funny fear of his as it is fun to keep record of these funny things before I forget them.

The second move!!

2011-02-16T23:37:00.001-08:00

So for those of you that don't know we have moved again. This is our second move in 5 1/2 months. We moved from Sherwood Park to Stirling (hoping we could live there for longer than 4 1/2 months) and then we moved from Stirling to Lethbridge. We moved January 29. It was a rough week because both of my kids were sick with fevers and colds. Poor Lexie had such a bad cold and wasn't wanting to eat anything. She also didn't ever want to be put down, she wanted me to hold her every second. She would just cry and cry which made it hard to get everything packed. We managed with the help of some ward members and family. My mom took the kids Fri-Sun. Jesse and I with the help of his parents were able to get the whole house packed up in a day and a half. They packed the whole kitchen which I was dreading (that is always the worst thing to pack and unpack). Jesse went to the house in Lethbridge with the truck full of our stuff and I stayed to clean everything with some relief society sisters. When Jesse came back everything as out of the house we just did one final walk thru to make sure we had everything. We packed up the cleaning stuff and as he backed the van out it started leaking transmission fluid AGAIN!! (this is the 3rd time in two months). So we couldn't go anywhere!!! We were stranded in Stirling in an empty house!! I was soooo not impressed!!! I was already not impressed that it was -30 degrees and snowing on and off and to have this happen on top of that just made me angry. We were finally able to reach my dad to came and took us to Lethbridge. That night we went out to Earls to eat, and enjoyed a nice night out without kids which we don't get that often and I think that was the first time getting out without either kid since before Lexie was born (I know sad considering she is 6 1/2 months). We are happy to be in Lethbridge instead of Stirling, it is more convenient and now we will save money on gas. Jesse is so happy to not have to do that drive on the highway in bad weather and I feel better knowing that he doesn't have to. Hopefully we will live in this house longer than a year (Riley has celebrated his birth and each of his birthday's in a different house), unless we magically have enough money to buy a house before then which would be nice but I doubt it. Thanks for reading my rambling, hope you enjoy!

Happy New Year!!!!!

2011-01-01T22:59:00.001-08:00

I know this is a bit late but better late than never. I always like to do a recap of the year around Christmas and New Years just to let all my friends and family that I don't see very often to know how we are doing and what is going on in our lives.

This was kind of a crazy year for us. It was busy with Jesse being in school for his last semester, me being pregnant and having lots of doctors appointments, me having gestational diabetes, being blessed with the birth of Lexie, Riley becoming a big brother, and having to deal with him not having all the attention all the time, Jesse getting a new job, moving to Stirling, and then hearing that we have to move again after only living there for 4 1/2 months. There was lots and lots of stress this year so we are very glad to have this year over and to see what exciting things 2011 has in store for us.

Jesse finished his last semester of school at Nait in the Landscape Architecture program. He graduated in May. He worked for Classic Landscapes at the tree farm during the spring and summer while trying to find a job. He wanted to find a job in Edmonton or Sherwood Park because we had just moved to Sherwood Park in the summer of 2009 and we really really loved it there, but things don't always go as planned. Jesse had done a work week in Lethbridge for school in the fall of 2009 at Stantec. Well, the boss there contacted Jesse in June and asked if he was still looking for a job. Jesse went for an interview at Stantec in Lethbridge in July. They offered him a job during the interview. It had full benefits and paid more than any job in his field in Edmonton or Calgary. He took the job and we ended up moving to Stirling in September. We lived with Tammy and Craig for 3 weeks until we found a place since we weren't able to find something earlier (I was very pregnant and ready to have Lexie anyday). We moved into a beautiful house in Stirling only to learn 2 months later that they sold the house and now we have to be out the end of January:( So we are busy now preparing for yet another move. Good thing it is only to Lethbridge and we were able to find a place very quickly. Jesse is happy to be closer to work and not have to make the 25 minute drive or more (in winter) anymore.

I spent half of the year pregnant. It was a good pregnancy. I wasn't sick this time around at all. Riley kept me on my toes!! I had gestational diabetes again but managed it well and had a very good labor and delivery. I had been worried all year about being huge in the hot summer and how uncomfortable that would be but wasn't even really hot all summer. It was probably the coldest summer I can remember with lots of rain. We did do some fun things with Riley before Lexie was born like going to spray parks, taking him swimming, taking him to WestEd on the rides, and to the Edmonton Zoo. On July 26 we were blessed with the birth of our beautiful baby girl Lexie Kaye. We love her sooo much. She is such a good baby!!

Riley has grown us so much this last year. He has had kind of a hard year, becoming a big brother for the first time, moving (and we will be moving again this month). He enjoys playing at the park, swimming, playing with trains, going to Stay and Play and playing with other kids, helping me cook and prepare food, going for walks (he misses our old house for that, there were so many trails around to go for walks and he loved walking around our townhouse complex), reading stories, eating treats, singing songs, giving Lexie hugs and kisses, doing puzzles, and playing Baseball on the Wii! When Lexie was born he was really upset for a few months, having numerous tantrums, and trying to get us to get rid of Lexie (he kept taking her diapers, blankets and carrier seat by the front door). Then we moved so it got even worse. He didn't get to see any of his little friends anymore, or go to any of his favorite places. He is doing MUCH better now and really really loves his little sister. He likes to play with her and make her laugh. He is always giving her kisses and likes to help me pick out her socks and shoes everyday. One awesome thing that has happened at the end of 2010 to Riley is he finally started talking!!! Wahoo!! He said nothing except 'mommy' and 'daddy' until Lexie was born and then he started saying 'baby." He made a few animal sounds when he would see certain animals at the zoo but he never said anything ever until then. I was kind of worried. Then around the middle of October just before Halloween he started saying a few words. Then in November he was saying more and more words and telling us what shapes and colors things were (don't remember teaching him those), then in December he started counting to 10, telling us the name of animals what color they were and what sound they made, as well as naming cars, trucks, etc. So he is doing really well, so I can stop worrying lol!! It makes life a lot easier when he can tell me what he wants to eat and drink and what things are etc.

Lexie is such a sweet little baby. We love her. She has changed so much already in such a short time. She is 5 months old now. She now sleeps 10-12 hours at night. She smiles like crazy and loves to watch her big brother play. He comes and lays beside her while she lays and plays on her playmat, it's so sweet. She takes a bottle no problem which makes life a lot easier (Riley wouldn't take a bottle at all until he was 9 months old). She is just starting to laugh and grab toys to play with and of course everything she grabs goes in the mouth.

We had a good Christmas, we went to my parents house for a yummy steak dinner on Christmas Eve. We spent Christmas at our house with our kids and nobody else. For the first time since we have been married, we haven't had to pack up the van full of Christmas gifts and other luggage. Riley was really excited for Santa to come. He had been asking for about 10 days everyday if Santa was coming that night!! He got a kitchen from Santa and he was also very excited about his train set!! He loves trains and was so exited when he open it. He had a big smile on his face and was jumping up and down. Lexie got a few baby toys, teething rings, baby food (time to start solids soon), and a play table with lots of fun toys on it.

We spent the rest of Christmas at Jesse's sister Tammy's house for Christmas dinner and then headed to Bow Island to see his parents who just got home from their mission (Vancouver Canada Mission). They reported their mission on the 26th and so we went to hear them speak. We also had a little dinner at the church after and they had a little fireside with just the family to tell us all experiences from their mission. It was fun for the whole family (48 of us now) to all get together. It doesn't happen very often. We had a good time and then that night 32 of us stayed at his parents house. It was a little crazy but we all had fun playing games and visiting. We went home to Stirling and then to my parents house for New Years. That pretty much sums up our year!!

Thanks for reading!! Sorry it was soooooo long winded!! It is more for me so I can have it for a record. All the best to you all in 2011!!!!

Here are some fun photos of the year!!

Finally got this boy to eat cheese - January 2010
20 months old

Playing in the pantry - February 2010

Playing in the snow - February 2010

March 2010

Riley's 2nd birthday

He loved this necklace, wouldn't take it off for a few days - May 2010

Riley pretending to make something in the pot - June 2010

Riley playing on the slide - July 2010

Riley and Lexie at the hospital the day after Lexie was born

Lexie 1 week old - August 2010

Lexie on her blessing day Sept 5, 2010

Riley holding his baby sister!

Riley riding his bike at aunt Tammy's house - Sept 2010

Riley and Lexie in their matching skeleton pjs!! Riley loved how they glow in the dark!! Notice hsi mis matched socks?

My cute little ballerina!

My cute little horse!

Riley 2 1/2 years wearing his favorite basketball jersey and his classic non matching socks!!

Lexie almost 4 months old

Lexie 4 months old

My cuties in matching colors!!

Riley with Jon and Becky Christmas eve 2010

Lexie's Blessing Day

2010-09-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

Lexie was blessed in Cardston on September 5 in my parents ward. It was a good day and lots of family came. My parents were there as well as my sister Becky and brother Jon. Jesse's brother Doug and family were there as well as Tammy, Leon, Nancy and their families. We didn't have a big dinner with the family to celebrate which I still feel bad for but we couldn't because we just moved down here from Sherwood Park and didn't have a place of our own yet (we are living with Tammy) and couldn't really afford to feed that many people or have a place to feed that many people. We wanted to wait until we found a house and knew what ward we were in before we blessed her but we didn't know how long that would be. We also needed to get it done so that her dress would still fit her as it would only fit as big as 10lbs.

It was a wonderful day and Jesse gave her a beautiful blessing! Thanks to all who came and supported Lexie on her special day!!

Here are a few pictures of Lexie on her special day! She is 6 weeks old!

We found her dress at the Bargain Barn and it had never even been worn!

Marrianne Taylor from my parents ward made her cute little shoes to go with the dress

Mommy and Lexie

Proud Daddy with his little girl!!

Riley and Lexie with Uncle Jon

Me with Riley and Lexie before church

Lexie's crazy hair!

Lexie at 6 weeks old

Summer and Moving

2010-09-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

I am so behind on EVERYTHING lately it seems. We moved almost a month ago and so many things happened all summer long before and after Lexie was born and I just haven't had the time or energy due to lack of sleep to keep writing frequent updates. So here is the update of the month.
Way back in July on the 12th, Jesse had a job interview in Lethbridge at Stantec. He did his work week there for school last year. Anyways he went and I was freaking out the whole time in my mind thinking "oh no, now we are going to have to move." I had that feeling over and over in my head before he even had his interview that we were going to have to move and if we did I was hoping it would be in the new future like November or sometime next year like April. Well my feelings were right about him getting offered the job and us eventally moving. I was wrong about when we would move. So Jesse calls me up from Lethbridge and tells me that he was offered the job and that they wanted him to start on August 3. So I was kind freaking out because our baby was due on July 30 and at that point we didn't know what day we would have her. Anyways they sent him the offer and they wanted him to reply and accept the offer my Thurs, they gave him the offer on Monday. Of course my stress level went way up, I was relieved that he would have a job and that we would be closer to family but at the same time I was upset because I didn't want to move and leave all my good friends and community of Sherwood Park, also I didn't want to move that soon after having a baby. Jesse took the job and because of our situation with the baby, they were willing to move his start date back to Sept 7. We were so grateful for that. We really miss our neighborhood and friends in Sherwood Park but are happy to finally have the move over with.
Moving day was great!!! We had lots and lots of people from our ward help load all the stuff into a trailer and a truck (ya we have lots of crap). People also helped us clean, which I am so grateful for, I was wondering how I would get everything done being that I just had Lexie and was still feeding her every 1-2 hours.
Also for those of you that don't know, the move gets even more interesting in that when we gave our notice to move out in Sherwood Park, we didn't know where we were moving to (which house or what area of Lethbridge). We couldn't even go down and look because I was due to have Lexie soon. So we moved all our stuff down and stored some of it in an empty house my my aunt Wendy Nish's house. We stayed with Tammy (Jesse's sister and her family) while we looked for something. There was nothing in Lethbridge. Everything was soooo small, or run down, had no yard, was soooo expensive or was in a scary neighborhood. We didn't know what we were going to do and were getting so annoyed of not having all of our stuff and all 4 of us being squished in one room. We finally found someone renting out their new house in Stirling. At first Jesse and I did not want to be in Stirling. Let me tell you, it is a slower pace of life as compared to the city. I am having a hard time with the change and I am not sure why, maybe just because I lived in Edmonton for 7 years and just appreciated all the conveniences of living in the city, and there is more stuff to do. I also miss my mom and tots group I went to and all the kids for Riley to play with. With time I am sure I will eventually like it out here.

Here are some pictures of our summer before Lexie was born. Time has gone by soo fast!!

Riley and I the day before Lexie was born!

Trying to get a picture of Riley and I at the Spray Park in St. Albert. This was 2 days before Lexie was born. There was FINALLY a nice hot day to do something fun as a family before all the chaos (new baby and moving).

He finally went in the water!

Almost half falling asleep in the swing. It was around 9:30pm here. We were waiting for the fireworks to start!

Happy going down the slide!

We FINALLY found a vegetable Riley likes. He only will eat it on the cob though lol! Here is proof that we have got him to eat one vegetable (he hates all vegetables).

Riley helping make a Salad

He won't eat vegetables but he loves to help cut them lol!

I love his concentrated look while he is helping cut the vegetables.

Lexie Kaye Atwood

2010-08-17T14:36:00.001-07:00

I know I am 3 1/2 weeks late with this post but its better late than never. We have just been so busy preparing to move and adjusting to having 2 kids. I have just been sooo busy I haven't gotten around to blogging.

Lexie Kaye Atwood joined our little family on July 26, 2010 at 8:50pm. She was 7lbs 6oz and 21.5 inches. She is such a beautiful little girl with wild hair. We love her soo much!

The delivery went really really good. I wasn't as big this time. I was induced again because I once again had gestational diabetes.

My parents came up to stay with Riley. I was induced at 8:30am that day with a cervidil insert. After about 45 minutes I started feeling cramps which they called tightenings. They got stronger by the time my two hours were up (I had to stay at the hospital for 2 hours after they put the cervidil in so they could monitor me). The nurses told me to go to the mall and walk around for awhile to see if the cramps would feel better and by walking that would help my contractions to start. Also we needed to go to the pharmacy so I could get a new insulin pen which was kind of a waste because I only needed it for one more meal. So Jesse and I walked around the Millwoods Mall. My butt started hurting so bad. I felt this cramping in my right butt cheek which was weird! I never felt that kind of pain when I was having Riley. I didn't feel any contractions or anything so after we got my insulin pen and had lunch we went home at around 1pm. From about 1-3pm I felt contractions on and off but they weren't regular. I wasn't even sure if they were contractions or not because last time my labor pain was all in my back but the pain got strong enough that we finally decided to time my contractions. They were coming every 2-3 minutes. That was closer together than last time so I was a little worried. We headed back to the hospital around 3:30pm. I was only 3cm dilated when we got there so I just had to lay on a bed and wait for things to get moving. A few hours later I had dilated to 4cm and I got my epidural (blessed invention). I actually had a little nap this time and so did Jesse I was still only 4cm even a few hours later. I woke up at around 8:30 pm and I had a strong pain in my butt cheeks. It hurt sooooooooo bad. Then it felt like I peed my pants which the nurse checked and told me my water broke. She wasn't sure why I was in so much pain so Dr. McCubbin came and checked me and said it was because I was 10cm and ready to push. It went crazy fast. Jesse and I couldn't believe it. We both just woke up and then 15 minutes later Lexie was born. I felt more of it this time and it hurt way worse than last time but I was happy to experience it and it was totally worth it.

I named Riley so Jesse had said he wanted to name her. We both didn't know what to name her when she was born. When the nurse handed her to Jesse she said he thought we should name her Malea. I kept asking him if he was sure that he wanted that to be her name and he said he thought so. When they moved us into another room and after she was cleaned off, Jesse looked at her a little more and decided she looked more like a Lexie. To make it even more special is that Lexie is my Grandma McMurray's name. Her middle name is Kaye which is my mom's middle name and Jesse had a lady from his ward that was like a Grandma to him and her name was Kay as well.

Right before I was induced

Lexie minutes after she was born! She wouldn't hardly cry. The nurses kept flicking her feet to try and get her to cry so they could clean out her mouth.

Lexie and Mommy 5 minutes after she was born

Our family minus Riley

Lexie and Daddy

Lexie's first bath

Riley meeting his sister, he wasn't too interested in looking at her as your can see!

Riley checking our his new baby sister

Riley happy to be a big brother, this is a fake smile, he only did it so he could get down. He was pushing her away a few seconds after!

Sweet little Lexie

Mommy and Lexie

Riley enjoying his new toy from Lexie

More interested in his toy than in smiling at the camera or looking at his sister

Riley trying to grab Jesse's hand. He didn't want him to hold Lexie!

Daddy and Lexie getting ready to go home from the hospital

Mommy and Lexie ready to leave the hospital

Lexie ready to go home from the hospital

Riley and his new little sister Lexie

Riley finally decided that he likes Lexie, now he always wants to give her hugs and kisses, he isn't always gentle but at least he loves her now.

Summer is finally here!!!

2010-06-29T14:18:00.000-07:00

Before the summer if over I thought I would update what has been going on this month before I have the baby and forget everything that has happened. I will be 36 weeks pregnant this Friday!!! Time has gone by insanely fast. It seems like just yesterday I went for my 20 week ultrasound and then it also feels like yesterday I took a test to find out I was pregnant which was actually on my birthday that I found out (Nov 26). This baby will be here before we know it. We are very excited and a little nervous about how the 2 kid thing will be (sometimes I have a hard enough time keeping track of 1 kid). It will be so nice for Riley to have a little playmate. We have told him about the baby and that he will be a big brother but I don't think he really understands what that is all about yet. He is starting to say baby whenever he sees a picture of a baby in one of his books so I am sure he knows what a baby is he is just not sure how it will be living with a baby but will find out soon.

This month it finally stopped raining!! Jesse is finally getting some hours at work. It was so annoying when he would work like 3-4 hours a day and sometimes he wouldn't even work because it was so wet. He has been trying to find a job as a landscape technologist (what he went to school for) not as a landscaper, there is a big difference. Some people think all he does is landscaping which he does now but a technologist make more money and they don't have to be out in the hot sun doing all the hard manual labour. They do the designs and then other people are hired to do all the hard work.

I am in my final month of pregnancy with just over 4 weeks left. I feel great!! I love this weather but don't enjoy the really hot hot days! I just like it warm with a nice breeze.

Here is a picture of me at 27 weeks so just about 6 1/2 months pregnant. I need to take an updated picture which I will post soon.

These are Riley's favorite toys these days. He always gets these same things out every day and pretends he is making something. He stirs his pretend food in the measuring cups and pots and pretends to pour food from the cans. It's really cute!!

Riley's head was starting to be really sweaty when I would get him up in the morning so we decided it was time for his first buzz cut!! He held still the entire time which I wasn't expecting at all!! He loved it and thought it was so cool to have his hair like his daddy's.

He loves his hair and is always rubbing his hand over it over and over again lol!

We put Riley in his big boy bed the end of April but I never ever was able to get a picture of him in it then because he wouldn't stay in it. So two months later we finally have one!! He loves his big boy bed!!

I love him!! He is such a big boy now and looks so much more grown up with his haircut!!

Riley and Mommy

Riley and Daddy

Riley and Mommy after church!! Don't have very many pictures of me with him since he rarely holds still. I am glad to finally have a few.

Riley at the ledge doing his classic 2 year old look! He is mad at Jesse for trying to get him to hold still for a picture. I kept trying to take some and he just kept walking away so we didn't get many.

He will never look at the camera!!

He loves my seashell necklace. He wore it this day for like 5 or 6 hours and wouldn't take it off and if I tried he would scream lol!

We were slowly trying to go through baby things and Riley loved playing with the baby tub. This was a few months ago as you can tell by the fleecy pjs.

We went to the Zoo in Edmonton 2 or 3 weeks ago and ever since we went there Riley loves animals so much. He has finally started saying some animal sounds. He knows what the sounds a horse, monkey, snake, lion, sheep, cow, duck, and tiger make. For a cow he thinks it says booo instead of mooo! A horse to him says Kneee instead of neigh. For the longest time when he would say a cow or horse sound we had no idea he was trying to make the same sound they make. It's so cute. Now if we could just get him to talk. He doesn't say much at all except for those animal sounds, mum, dad, no, he can kind of say baby. That is pretty much all though so I hope he talks soon. I am not sure if I should be worried that he isn't really talking or not. Anyone have any suggestions????

Riley also loves going for walks, he could walk all night all over the Co-op (our housing complex) if we let him. He loves to walk, he will hardly go in a stroller or wagon when we go for walks. He loves blowing bubbles which can last for hours some days ( need to get a bubble machine), he loves sidewalk chalk and playing with his climber and water table. He loves the outdoors so much that it makes me wonder what we did all winter lol!! I will try and get some good pictures of him playing in the yard before I have this baby as not much will get taken for awhile after that. That is my update, I have more to update about the first part of July but will once I can upload pictures!!

Catching up March!!

2010-06-13T21:48:00.000-07:00

I feel like I am always catching up on things especially my blogs. Life just gets so busy as I am sure you all know. I realized I hadn't posted any pictures of Riley in March. He was 23 months old so almost 2. The terrible twos had already started by this month and had been going on for a few months. This month I had just started my 5th month of pregnancy. I finally started showing a little bit. It took me forever to show this time. When I was pregnant with Riley I started showing right away at like barely 4 months. I wasn't really big but I am starting to get that way now. I feel good, not sick this time which is great!! Riley kind of wears me out though but I love him.

This month Riley:

-Started showing interest in helping with the dishes. Jesse started having him help unload the dishwasher. I have mixed feelings about this, it is good that he is learning how to empty the dishwasher but not good at the same time because now he always wants to empty the dishwasher even when the dishes in it are not clean yet. He doesn't understand that the dishes are dirty and need to be clean first, he just thinks we can put them in there and then take them out right after to put them away LOL!!

-I had never really been brave enough to let him make cookies with me until around this time. Jesse and I did this with him for family home evening one night. He absolutely loved it!! We would fill the measuring cups or spoons full of the ingredients and would have him dump them. He kept wanting to do it again and again and was rather disappointed when there was nothing else for him to dump into the bowl. His wasn't disappointed for long though because we showed him how to turn on the kitchen aid so that it would mix everything up and he thought that was the coolest thing ever, he kept turning it off and on over and over again. He also didn't want to stand on a chair and help he had to be right up there sitting on the counter right beside the kitchen aid.

Riley still really loves looking at books. He has since he was about 6 months old. I always catch him sitting on the floor somewhere usually in his room, looking at books. At this time he just liked looking at them himself and now he is actually starting to let me read them to him.

Riley making cookies and loving the kitchen aid!

Riley making a goofy face as he stands at the dishwasher!!

He would and still does get into the pots and pans and likes to twirl the lids from the pots so they go around and around making a loud sound as they hit the table. He thinks it's hilarious, it entertains him for awhile!

He loves playing with playdough. At this time he would just like me to make things out of it for him because he had no toys to use with it (rolling pin, playdough molds etc)

This was funny!! He fell asleep during dinner time while eating his Pizza. He was snoring yet he kept taking bites of and chewing his pizza. We tried taking it away so he wouldn't choke but he had a death grip on it and wouldn't give it up!!

Wearing Mommy's shoes!! He likes to try on my shoes and wear them around the house!

Riley during swimming lessons!

Riley doing a tummy float!! He loved swimming lessons and learned many new songs that we are still singing today!!

Thanks for reading my late negelected updates!! I think I only have one more catch up post and then I should be right on track.

Catching Up January and February!!

2010-06-07T21:40:00.000-07:00

I have been such a horrible blogger this year! So many things have happened so far this year. Riley has changed so much! This post is catch up photos and details for Part of January and all of February.

In these pictures Riley is 21- 22 months old!! He is getting so big so fast. I can't believe he is two years old now.

New things and other things Riley has done these two months (I wrote it all down in a journal that is how I remember otherwise I wouldn't).

-He started climbing on and off the chairs around the table as well as on and off the couch all by himself!

-He finally likes eating cheese (tried forever to get him to eat cheese or things with cheese on it and he would not)

-He figured out how to open the pantry and now he always emptys it putting all the canned foods or most of them on the floor. This would entertain him for hours and it still does.

- He played in the snow for the first time this Winter mostly in February, it hardly snowed at all in January. He loved trying to build a snowman with the help of his daddy!

- Learned how to play basketball from his Dad! Jesse taught him how to do forward and backward dunks!! He loves basketball, and to get him upstairs when we wanted him to we would ask him where his basketball was and he would just bolt up the stairs!! He used to love it so much he could play for hours and now he has other interests!!

-He has started understanding a lot more and can follow simple commands such as "Go get your shoes."

-He loved to look at books and do puzzles and he still does!!

-He loves it when Jesse or I sing him songs!

There are probably more things I could have written about our time in Jan and Feb but much of it was spent indoors so not much fun.

Riley trying out a back dunk his dad taught him!

Riley about to do a front dunk!!

Climbing on the chair

Riding the cars at Galaxyland! He loves it!!

Riley loving the Merry Go Round at Galaxyland!

Building a snowman!! I love how small the little ball is he made lol!

My cute little boy all dressed up in his snowsuit!!

Riley emptying the cupboards!!

January

Riley was so proud of himself that he could get up on the couch all by himself!!! Little stinker!!

Riley with a funny hairdo!!

Riley will finally eat cheese!!

Well there you have it an update of January and February!! Better late than never, I am going to try and not get so behind on my blogs but it is so hard with being busy and pictures that take so long to upload!!

Happy Birthday Riley!!!

2010-04-17T22:07:00.001-07:00

So I have seriously been slacking on my blogs lately. Today is Riley's Birthday!! I can't believe he is 2 years old already!! I feel like I was just in the delivery room waiting for him to be born. He had a good birthday. My parents were able to come up to celebrate with us. He knows them as Nana and Papa. Uncle Lloyd came as well, the rest of his family couldn't make it. We had a BBQ with burgers and hotdogs, chips and strawberry lemonade. My favorite was his cake.
He is really into sports especially basketball lately so we made him a basketball cake. The sad thing is he didn't want to eat any of it, ever. He was not interested! He was very facinated with the candles and the sparkly candle but did not care for the cake. Now I am thinking we should have made him cupcakes and made them basketball cupcakes then he probably would have eaten them. We had kind of a sports theme for his birthday party. He got a jungle gym climber with a slide, basketball hoop and some sports balls (basketball, soccerball, and football), he got a T-ball set that can also be used to play golf with. He loves it! Nana and Papa got him some clothes, lots of clothes for summer (PJ's, t-shirts and shorts). Uncle Lloyd and Family got him a Mr. potato head which he really loves playing with. I thought this birthday would be different than his last in that he would really enjoy opening his presents. He did not!! He screamed and cried the whole time!! He kept wanting to go climb on the table that had a nice colorful birthday table cloth, and as most 2 year olds, he didn't like to sit still for a minute to open a gift. He half opened one and then was done with it. We tried holding him there to open the rest of his gifts and this is what we got!!

He was so mad, not sure why, most kids love opening presents, hopefully one day he will!!

He opened half of this gift without crying!

Our grouchy 2 year old after being forced to sit and help open his gifts!

Basktball cake

Learning how to play T-ball

Mommy and he 2 year old!!

New Years family letter!

2010-01-10T22:09:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!!!! I know this is late but this is what happens when you are gone for 2 1/2 weeks and then have a week before your husband goes back to school. I just thought I would write a little New Year letter letting you all know what we have been up too for the past year. We are so happy that the year 2010 is here, 2009 was a stressful year, we were very happy to see it go and are happy to start fresh again.

An update on 2009:

Just before the New Year our basement suite flooded right before Christmas. So we spent the New Year (2009) frantically trying to move into another place, another basement suite. I was not too impressed about this because I hate basement suites but we had 3 days to be completely out of our flooded basement and that was the only thing we could find in that short amont of time. It was smaller than what we lived in before but just temporary until we could find something else. It was -30 degrees when we moved to and Jesse and I did most of it all ourselves cuz everyone was too busy with Christmas and New Years plans to help. We managed and moved in, we had stayed with Jesse's brother Lloyd while we were moving. Even though it sucked at the time it was a blessing in disguise. We were able to get a sweet King size bed as well as some other things with the money we claimed from insurance.

In February Jesse had surgery on a hernia. He was not able to lift anything over 10 pounds for 6 weeks. It took him a few weeks before he could walk normally. Riley also decided at that time that he was going to learn how to crawl, pull himself to a standing postition, climb things and get into things at that time. So I was very busy and very happy when Jesse was able to pick him up and play with him again.

Riley also turned one in April. He had a good brithday. Both his grandparents and some friends were able to be there. We went swimming, made pizza, and had a wonderful cupcake cake which is the first cake Jesse and I had ever cooked and icinged. It was a teddy bear holding balloons.

In May my sister Julie got married. She got married in Utah and we were able to go down for her wedding. Riley wasn't walking yet so that was kind of a relief because it was a super long ride for him. Baby Einstein saved us and he was happy the whole trip.

In June we moved again, this time to Sherwood Park into the Brittany Lane Housing Co-op. We had applied for this almost a year back and were so happy to get in. We have some good neighbours. We have more space. Riley finally graduated from having to bath in the sink to having a bathtub which we were super excited about. We bought him some tub toys to celebrate. We also have a basement to store stuff which is awesome. There is also subsidy here so we will be able to save lots of money while Jesse is a student.

We had a good summer, many trips to the spray parks and millenium place (pool in Sherwood Park). Riley took a tiny tots swimming class. We also went to Capital Ex and Riley had his first experience riding some rides. His favorite was the Merry Go Round and it still is. We were also able to go to the Zoo both in Edmonton and Calgary, Riley rode a pony at the zoo in Edmonton,as well as go on a 4 day camping trip to Aspen Beach, which was so fun. Riley loved the beach and playing in the sand. There were also countless walks and daily trips to the park, and playing in the yard. We also had a huge tornado like storm that broke our canopy in our yard and left our poor babysitter whithout power for a few hours. We didn't think to show here where some candles or a flashlight was.

We had a nice fall. It was as warm as summer some days. We went to the park many times. Jesse started school again. Riley dressed up as a pumpkin for Halloween, Jesse a vampire, and me a witch. The weather was perfect. We got a lot of candy and still have some of the candy. Riley really enjoyed opening the lid of the pumpkin and looking inside.

We had a warm November and this month kind of sucked. Jesse got the good old H1N1 flu. It sucked. He felt normal the day it hit. Around the afternoon he started feeling aches and pains, a few hours later, he had a nasty cough, bye evening he had a high fever and could hardly move, and had no appetite whatsoever. It just got worse from there. The next night he had a fever of 106.3 and had to go to the flu assessment clinic and hospital where they confirmed he had H1N1. To top that off a week later he had pnemonia added to the H1N1. He had to miss over a week of school. Got so behind. We are just lucky that Riley and I did not get it. It could be because I was a germ freak and used lysol around the house all day long wiping everything down constantly. I also made Jesse sleep downstairs in the guestbed. We were so lucky though that he recovered well and that the rest if us did not get it. I hope it never comes back!!!

December was busy, Jesse had all final projects for school due, we had Christmas shopping, organizing our house, packing for Christmas holidays, Christmas, many parties and dinners, New Years Eve, 2 basketball tournaments to go to where my brother played. We went to my parents house for Christmas. It was fun but Julie could not be there, her papers did not come so she couldn't leave the country (she got married in May and is in Utah), Jon's team won both the Cougar Classic, and Raymond Sugar Bowl High School basketball tournaments!! Go Cougars!!! We had our annual family fondue party, we usually do that Christmas eve but this year we celebrated my Grandma McMurray's 80th birthday!! We did a nativity, and opened gifts. The whole family got basketball jerseys from Grandma and Grandpa.

For New Years we went to Tammy's house (Jesse's sister) almost everyone from the family was there except for Jesse's parents (they are on a mission) and 2 of his brothers.

Despite how crazy the year was: Moving 2 times, Jesse's Hernia, Jesse getting H1N1, having to go to Utah, we still did have some good times.

Right now Jesse is in his last year of school at Nait in the Landscape Architecture program. He will be done in April and then we have to see where we end up living and doing with the rest of our lives I guess. School keeps him really busy but we are happy to see the end in site soon.

I am busy being a stay at home mom. I play with Riley all day long and try and get a nap every now and then because he is so busy and really wears me out some days. I also try and find some time to read, scrapbook, go on facebook to stay connected with friends, and clean my house.

Riley is a very busy boy. We love him so much. He has changed so much in a year. Last year he learned how to crawl, walk, say a few words, eat real food, and play with big boy toys. It is crazy how fast he is growing up. He is 21 months old now. He goes to nursery and loves it. He still likes watching his Baby Einstein shows, doing puzzles, looking at books, playing with my oven mits, emptying cupboards and book shelves, playing with shape shorter toys and his recent favorite is playing basketball with his dad with Rileys basketball hoop.

Happy New Year Everyone!!! We didn't get many pictures of Riley during the holidays cuz he wouldn't hold still so here are the few we took!

Trying to get him to open his Christmas PJs on Christmas eve but as you can see he didn't want to. He was too tired. So I ended up opening it for him.

Tearing open a Christmas gift. Sadly this is the only one we got on camera. He wasn't as interested as I thought he would be at opening presents. He just wanted to play with his toys that were sitting out and not wrapped.

Riley and all his Christmas loot. Well the things on the right side of his airplane are not his but the rest is.

He took his plates and utensils up to the bedroom we were staying in and starting playing with them, for like half an hour.

I guess I can share some exciting news now with everyone!! I AM PREGNANT!! That's right baby #2 is on the way!! I am very excited but kind of nervous about having a newborn and still having to chase and take care of Riley. He is in a wild stage right now always running everywhere, getting into everything and climbing things. This will be an interesting summer!! I feel great, it has been soooooo different compared to my last pregnancy. I have felt a bit nautious but haven't puked 6-7 times a day like last time. I feel more tired though probably because Riley wears me out but it has been good so far. I am hoping this time I won't have gestational diabetes, but we'll see.

The rest of 2009

2010-01-10T21:08:00.000-08:00

Riley's haircut

Riley was growing a mullet, as some people were telling us. He has some funny hockey hair going on so we decided it was time for a haircut. We hadn't cut it since July. He was really not impressed during the whole procedure. I wish we could have gotten some pictures or a video recording of the struggle it was but I had to hold him down and Jesse was cutting his hair with the haircutting clippers so we didn't have anyone available for to take pictures. Too bad though, it was a classic fit let me tell ya! He is a front view of the before picture!

Before

After

After

LOL!! I was just laying on the couch and Riley just went around the house picking up things on the floor and other places and just kept piling it on top of me. I thought it was kind of funny!

Riley was looking at his book and kept kissing the pages that he liked, which was cute!

He found a paper towel and ripped it into tiny pieces all over the living room floor.

Some cute poses of Riley playing with my oven gloves!! He loves to play with them so much. He always gets this big smile on his face when he finds them or when I get them for him. He packs them around the house most of the day and hardly lets them out of his site! Kind of a funny thing to like playing with.

Cute little mohawk

Jamming on his piano!

He loves giving kisses, he will just pull you in for them randomly, it's so cute!!

I just thought I would post some new pictures

of Riley that were taken the end of 2009 in Nov and Dec. I have been a horrible blogger. He was 18-19 months old in these pictures.

Halloween

2009-12-06T22:42:00.000-08:00

I know these pictures are over a month late and I should be posting pictures of my lovely Christmas decorations and not Halloween!!! Well I would have posted them earlier but November was just a crazy crazy month!!! Plus my computer has been extremely slow lately at uploading pictures and I was busy and just didn't have the patience to wait for them.

This Halloween Riley was 18 months old. He was a cute little pumpkin. He didn't like us holding him still to put his costume on but once it was on he was ok with it. The hat was a little big and he didn't like it that much. We thought he would only last for a couple of houses but he started getting excited and loved seeing people drop candies in his bag. He got lots of candy and we only went out for about 45 minutes. Jesse dressed up as a vampire. We found that costume last minute at Walmart for only $6. I was a witch!! I seem to be that every year, maybe next year I will be something else otherwise a witch is all anyone will ever see me as lol! We had a good time though and the weather really cooperated well. Every Halloween it is usually cold and snowy but we were lucky for once this year.

My cute pumpkin

Riley and Daddy

Riley and Mommy

Checking out the pumpkin

Catching up on my October blogs

2009-12-06T21:45:00.001-08:00

So I have been really slacking on my blogs lately. I am just trying to catch up on my October blogs I could have just skipped all my October blogs but I thought everyone would want to at least see some pictures of Riley and what he has been up to.

Starting about the middle of Oct and lasting for a month, Riley hated his bath. He would be fine playing in there and as soon as we would start washing him or rinsing his hair he would look like this. He would stand up and keep wanting to get out and it took Jesse and I both to wash him and hold him down so he wouldn't get out. We are not quite sure what that was all about. About 2 weeks ago he started liking his bath again and now he gets mad when we take him out. It is weird how one minutes toddlers hate something and then they love it.

Making a mess as usual

Making a funny face

He loves reading books on the stairs, not sure why!

He started opening the dishwasher just over a month ago and would climb in it, start pulling out the cups and dishes and the sharp knives. So we decided to put a stop to that by getting a latch put on it.

Riding his horse

He likes to climb on his toys and then can't get down.

Riley is my little helper. Everytime I sweep the floor as soon as I am finished or even before I start sometimes, he wants to have a turn. He gets this big smile on his face cuz he thinks he is helping. It's so cute. Hopefully he likes to help me this much when he is a teenager.

Excited after finishing a doughnut!!

Riley

2009-10-16T22:23:00.000-07:00

Riley has changed so much in the last few months.
-At the beginning of the summer (June), he couldn't walk yet. He would take a few steps and then around the end of June he was walking but fell alot. Now he runs all over the place, climbs on top of chairs, couches toys, whatever he can.
-At the beginning of the summer we used to have to lift him up to go down the slides at the playground. Ever since around the end of August/beginning of September (sometime in there), he has started climbing playground equipment and can go down the slide all by himself. We still have to remind him to hit down sometimes as he gets so excited and then trips. Once forgot to sit down and went headfirst down the slide. He went so fast I didn't have time to catch him. He got a mouth and nose full of sand. He was crunchin on sand for a few hours it was so gross. It didn't help that he had his mouth open when he fell as well.
-He loves waterslides, a few months ago he was scared of them.
-He doesn't take much, he says Mum, Mama, Dad, Go, Caca (which means cookie), the C sound (which means car).
-He loves making sounds with his lips, and tongue and voice. He likes people to copy him when he does this. He thinks it's funny.
-He likes to scribble on paper. He has finally learned not to eat the crayons.
-He still loves Baby Einstein and has since he was 9 months old.
-He thinks it is hilarious when Jesse twirls a couch pillow on his finger!
-He loves turning the TV on and off and loves to pack the remotes around the house.
-He loves to sweep the floor (I hope he still does when he is a teenager)
-He is the most affectionate little boy, he loves to give hugs and kisses and he will kiss anyone who will let him even if he doesn't know that person! It's cute!
-He loves swimming
-He loves playing with his cars, shape sorter, and basketball hoop.
-He loves books, mostly ones that have flaps, or pieces he can take out, or feel.
-He loves playing with Mommy's hair.
-He no longer takes a bottle and hasn't for almost a month!!
-He loves it when Jesse or I sing songs with him. He likes to do the actions to "Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, Bringing Home My Baby Bumble Bee, Popcorn Popping, and Zoom Zoom Zoom!"

I am sure there are more things that Riley likes or how he has changed but for now that is enough. We love Riley and are having so much fun with him.

Warm September

2009-10-16T21:19:00.000-07:00

Jesse and Daddy at West Edmonton Mall

Well this post is a bit late but oh well, better late than never right? We had an amazing September here in the Edmonton/Sherwood Park area. It was so warm almost everyday of the month with temperatures reaching as high as 34 degrees celcius. It got that hot the first day of fall and a few days after, which is amazing. The warm temperatures even broke some records for this time of year. This month definately wins the prize for nicest month of the year, too bad it took so long and couldn't be like this for the whole summer. Riley and I did some fun things during the day. Who would have ever thought of going to a Spray Park in the middle of September? (I forgot my camera though so I didn't get any pictures).

Jesse and I also took Riley to the Waterpark at West Edmonton Mall. There is a new splash/spray park that was built for kids. The water was a little cold though. Riley loved going doing the waterslides in that area though with either Jesse or me. He also really likes the kiddie pool and the wave pool.

Jesse also started school again in September. He has been extremely busy. He did more work the first 2 weeks of school than he did all last Semester. He has been busy with group projects and such. Riley and I hardly see him. Many times he comes home visits with us until after supper and then down to the basement to get his homework done. We can't wait until April when he will be done. Then the great decision of where he is going to work and where we are going to live.

Here are some pictures of our lovely almost 18 month old. He will be 18 months old tomorrow. All of these pictures are him when he was 17 months old.

Fell asleep while I was preparing his lunch.

We thought he could be a big boy and not use his tray anymore. Well we were wrong. When we let him sit up to the table with us he did this!! He thinks his feet need to be on the table. He then pushes off and almost knocks himself over backward in the chair. So I guess he will use his tray a bit longer for safety reasons lol!!

Playing in the sand, he does this for a few minutes after each time he goes down the slide.

Loves to swing

Close up shot of my handsome boy and his gorgeous brown eyes. How can you say no to a face that that eh?

Fell asleep on the floor after playing with the peanut butter lol!

The pictures before actually happened after this, they are in the wrong order oops! He loves to throw the peanut butter. Not sure why! He winds up like this lol!

Watersliding with Daddy

Watersliding with Mommy

End of Summer Fun!!

2009-09-23T13:20:00.000-07:00

We did a few fun things the end of August before Jesse had to go back to school. We took Riley to the Edmonton Zoo. We were watching a bird show and Riley wasn't too interested. He kept trying to get down and walked so we walked away from the birds. For some reason Riley wasn't too happy about that and he started screaming and crying. We walked for a bit and saw some cute little ponies. We walked over to them, Riley was still crying. The lady said he was big enough to ride one as long as one of us walked beside him. As we walked into where the ponies were Riley was instantly happy. I don't think I have ever seen his face light us and a smile so big as I had when I put him on that pony. He loved it. He loved it so much that when it was time to get off he wasn't too happy again. He got over in a few seconds later when he saw the elephant so it was all good.

We also went to the ledge one hot evening. For those of you that don't know what the ledge is, it is some pools, fountains and sprinkler like things. There is a place to swim, there are places to wade in. It is lots of fun. It is by the Legislature building. Riley had a blast and again didn't want to leave when it was time. We would have stayed longer but it gets dark earlier now.

Riley riding a pony at the Edmonton Zoo. He loved it!!!

Playing at the Ledge in Edmonton

Camping at Aspen Beach

2009-09-08T21:45:00.000-07:00

We decided to go camping somewhere that we hadn't been to before because there are many different campgrounds and lakes all within an hour drive of Sherwood Park. We went to Aspen Beach which is on Gull Lake. It is close to Lacombe and Sylvan Lake. We camped at Brewers Campground. We went with Mark and Lindsey Still and there girls Abby and Sariah. We got there on Friday August 21. We set up camp and spent the rest of the day at the beach. There is a playground right on the beach. The Lake is shallow and warm and there is a lovely beach. We spent a lot of time at the beach the first 2 days. We had a good time. Riley loved playing with his beach toys and going in the water. He was a really good camper. He slept good however the first night we had a wicked Thunderstorm and he didn't fall asleep until after it stopped which was 11pm. Oh well he slept good and even slept in. We were kinda bummed because we were supposed to stay until Monday but ended up leaving Sunday. It was cloudy and overcast and was supposed to get down to 4 degrees that night. We decided we didn't want to be cold or wet. Riley was ready to go home, he played too hard at the beach. We had a good time and kind of wish we would have waited to go for another week because of course it was hot the next 2 weekends after. What are the chances of that in late August and September??

A cute close-up of Riley with the beach in the background. I tried many of these and he would not look so this is the best one I got.

This pictures is out of order, it is supposed to be at the end. It just wouldn't let me put it there for some reason. This is how Riley was after playing on the beach all afternoon, passed right out.

He lets Mommy play with him

He didn't want Jesse to play with him, he wanted to do everything by himself! I am glad I got this picture on camera cuz he does this quite often. He thinks he is Mr. Independent all of a sudden! He does this to me too not just Jesse. He just decided that day that I could play with him and Daddy could not lol!

Riley playing with Abby and Sariah's boogie board.

This is how shallow the water was for quite a ways out on the lake. It was fairly warm and perfect for little ones to play in. This is Riley walking in the water all by himself, don't worry I am very close by that I could grab him if I needed to. I just wanted a picture of him walking in the water. This is Riley being brave, he rarely would let me leave his side!

He tripped because he was walking too fast. At least the water isn't deep. It kind of shocked him at first but then he realized he liked it and sat there for awhile!

Riley and Mommy

Walking in the Lake with Mommy

Walking in the Lake with Daddy

He enjoyed his walk with Daddy!

Riley loved sitting in the water playing with his sand toys. He was very determined to get that purple thing on top. He has another one at home where there is a little bucket that goes on top and then the water goes through the little hole in the bucket and makes the wheel spin. He was sure that this one did the same thing but it didn't. It's funny the little things kids pick up on.

He finally got the purple thing to stay on top and he is proud of himself, notice him clapping his hands. He always claps for himself after he does something that required effort. LoL he is so funny!

I finally got a picture of Riley smiling. He hardly ever will look at the camera anymore which kind of makes me sad :( He is too busy for mommy and is growing up!

He loves it when Daddy swings him back and forth in the Hammock

He absolutely loved laying in it. He always wanted to get in it whenever we were over there and he could see it!

He looks like he is sleeping here but he is just chillin!

Some cute pictures of Riley!!

2009-09-08T21:21:00.000-07:00

Riley playing Patty cakes. He does the actions now when I sing the song, it's really cute!

He loves watching his movies while standing infront on the TV. He won't sit on the floor or on the couch with us anymore. He likes to be right up there close.

We bought Riley his own little chair so that he had something to sit in when he watches his Baby Einstein shows. When he first saw the chair this is how he would sit in it lol!! He would just push down on one side and half sit down and stand up.

Riley finally sitting the right way in his chair.

A Week in Cardston

2009-08-18T13:44:00.000-07:00

Riley and I went to Cardston to spend the week August 2-9. Jesse had to work so he stayed home and came on the Friday evening. We had a good time visiting with family and friends. We did a lot of indoor visiting. It rained and was cold almost everyday we were there except for Friday and Saturday. I did get to see some friends that I have not seen in a very long time such as Jill Williams and Leslie Redford Anderson. Riley had fun playing with his Papa and going for walks when it wasn't raining in the wagon.

I had a good visit with my grandparents and aunts and uncles. We didn't take many pictures due to the rain. Riley fell asleep during the whole parade on Saturday so I am sad we didn't get any pictures of that cuz it was a good parade. Oh well next year I am sure he will enjoy it more.

Riding in the wagon that was given to Julie for her 1st birthday. I know, it is old and still working great!!

Riley playing by the creek with Papa!

Playing basketball

When Nana first showed him the basketball hoop and threw the ball through the hoop it kind of scared him and he started crying. We had no idea why he was crying and he kept crying everytime one of us would shoot the ball through the hoop. By Saturday (our last day there) he deicided he liked it and always wanted to play with it. That cry eventually turned to a laugh and big smile. He thought he was pretty clever for putting the ball through the hoop again and again. What a funny kid!!!!!

The McMurray family

Back L-R: Don, Jack, Mike, Robbie Olsen, Jon, Brady Olsen, Grandpa, Jared, My Dad

Top Middle L-R: Karma, Catch, Grandma, Carol, My Mom, Riley, Jesse, Me

Bottom Middle L-R: Jaunita, Lynda Olsen, Mandy Secretan, Scott Secretan, Reggie Olsen, Shawn Olsen

Bottom L-R: Logan, Alisha Woolf, Melissa Olsen, Josh, Mitch Olsen, Emily Olsen, Mike Olsen, Easton Secretan, and Seth Secretan

As long as I can remember, back when I was a kid and even now my family has always played in the family softball tournament in Cardston on Parade weekend. My uncles were always the main ones playing when I was younger but now they are getting old so some of the grandkids play now as well as some of the uncles. We have to have at least 2 over 40 playing, 2 girls and 1 kid 15 years old or under but at least 12 years old. We always have such a good time. This picture is all of the family that were there to play and to cheer on the team this year. We made it to the final game winning all of our other games but lost in the final by 1 run. Too bad!! We had fun though and the weather was really nice considering it rained all week.

Riley was so tired after spending all day outide at the park, parade, and softball games. He had a nice much needed evening nap.

Riley with Papa! He had so much fun with Papa this weekend. Riley has this barn with all the aminals and inside the barn there is this little button that you can press and it plays 2 different songs one at a time and then you have to press it again to hear the next one. Anyways, the songs are Old MacDonald Had A Farm and The Farmer in the Dell. Riley would press it Papa would start singing the song. It got to the point that Riley would press the button and then turn and look at Papa expecting him to sing. It was so cute. Riley actually started doing this when they came to visit us in Sherwood Park. Then if Riley and I were reading a story and Papa walked in the room, Riley would immediately want down off my lap and he would run over to his barn press the button to play the song so Papa would start singing. It is way too cute and funny. I am wishing I would have had my video camera. I guess I will next time if he still does that next times we see Papa.

Riley with Nana and Papa McMurray

We were just getting ready to head back to Sherwood Park and we thought we better capture some pictures before it started raining again (it had been all week). Anyways that was our week in Cardston thanks for stopping by!!

Swimming Pool

2009-08-15T22:44:00.000-07:00

These pictures are actually from July about 3 weeks ago when it was hot out. He hasn't gone in his pool since because it has been so cold. Like seriously WHAT HAPPENED TO SUMMER???? It didn't stop snowing until the end or May and then it rained the first half of July, then was really really hot for almost 2 weeks and now it has rained for half of August and to top that all off we got frost here this morning. I was talking to a friend today and she told me it seems like we have had only 2 seasons this year, WINTER, JULY (for 2 weeks) and now we are starting on the third which feels like fall. We skipped spring and most of summer this year. Thanks for reading my venting about this cold summer. I just had to get it out. At least it ends with pictures of a cute cute kid and you too Jesse.

Cute little Riley

Riley in his pool

Riley and Daddy

Capital EX 2009

2009-07-23T13:24:00.000-07:00

Jesse and I used to always go to Capital Ex every year we have lived here but we didn't go last year because we had Riley and he was too little. We decided to go this year to see how Riley enjoyed some of the rides! He loved them. It was a super hot day about 32 degrees celcius. We were grateful for the air conditioned Northlands Agricom that we were able to go to when we got too hot. When we went into the Agricom there were some performers there from China that we watched that could do lots of tricks, lifting (one guy stood on a ladder, it was not against anything and he lifted 2 girls on his shoulders and stood at the top of the ladder and then 2 girls stood on his knees and pointed outward, I was a little nervous they would all fall), flipping, and moving in cool ways. Riley actually liked watching it. It was called Cirque de Soleil for those of you that may have seen it before.

We took Riley on a few rides. He went on the Merry Go Round which was he most favorite ride, the Bees, and the Ferris Wheel. It was too hot to stand in line for long so we didn't take him on too many. Plus it was so expensive to ride the rides. Ya wanna know something ridiculous?? Well, they tell you a child 6 years old and under gets into the park free with no admission. For adults it is $10. A ride ticket is $1 each and some rides are like 4-6 tickets to on. If you buy the $35 ride all day pass that includes riding as many rides all day as you want as well as admission. Well we thought because it said kids under 6 were free that it wouldn't cost much to ride the ride especially for a child under 2 which is Riley. We thought he would be free because he is under 2. At the ticket booths if we wanted to get him a pass to ride as many rides as he wanted all day it would cost $43. That is more than we paid for ours!!!! Isn't that insane?? A baby costs more than us?? Oh well we just bought some tickets and he had fun, he wouldn't have lasted all day anyways.

Jesse and I took Riley home around 6pm and got a babysitter so Riley could relax and play with his toys. We went back to Capital Ex. We were there almost an hour and these massive dark clouds start forming and it started pouring. We were on the flying ride when it started so we were soaked when it was done. We thought maybe it would pass so we went in and looked at some of the exhibits and shopping booths in the Agricom. In an hour it stopped so we went back out and rode on the rides again. We went on like 2 rides and were just about to get on another one when they closed the rides because there was lightening and because there were 3 funnel clouds and the wind started blowing hard. We though we should run for it but if any of you know where the Concordia College is, that is where we were parked so it is quite far when ya got Golf ball sized hail falling hard. We made it to our van and home to our frightened babysitter who had no power for over an hour. I felt bad because we didn't even think to tell her where our flashlights were. We were a little bummed that we had to come home an hour early and that for over an hour and a bit that we were there we couldn't do anything we wanted because of the rain.

We did have fun earlier though but we are sad because this is what it did to our yard and our beautiful canopy that shaded our yard really good. We only put it up 2 weeks ago and now it is completely ruined :(

Here are some pictures of the fun before the storm!!

Riding the Ferris Wheel with Mommy!

Riding the Bees with Daddy!

The new Classic Riley face! He always does this when we tell him to smile or look at the camera!

Riley riding the Merry Go Round at Capital Ex with Daddy! It was his very favorite ride of the day! Before the ride would start he kept rocking back and forth on it and saying "Go, Go!" So cute!

Ward Campout

2009-07-22T22:32:00.000-07:00

This blog entry is totally late but oh well, we have been busy, I mean I have been busy chasing a 15 month old and making sure he doesn't eat things or put things in the garbage, vents, or toilets lately. So I haven't found a spare minute for awhile. We went on a ward campout in June 26-27. It was fun meeting new people in our ward since we just moved into the ward the beginning of June. It was also Riley's first time ever camping. We didn't go last year since he was very little. We had fun meeting people but it was super cold. It was a very windy when we left to go there Friday and Jesse and I were trying to decide if we should go or not. We just thought the wind would stop by the time we got there or at least for the next day. When we set up camp it was very windy. We almost decided to leave before we were all set up but people had already seen us and some of our friends decided to camp next to us so we decided to stay.

It was such a long night. Around 8-10pm it got cold and we tried to put Riley to sleep. He did sleep for about an hour and then he was shivering and so cold so he ended up snuggling with Jesse and I for most of the night in our airbed. He slept for about 5 hours the whole night and was awake at 5am because of the bright sunlight shining in our tent. It was rainy and cold in the morning as well so we ate breakfast and went home and had a good nap. I was kind of upset because they had activities going on all day and we left because we were tired and cold. As soon as we left our friends told us that the sun came out. Go figure!! Oh well we were tired!! I really really hope someday while we have small kids we can get a trailer cuz then we could at least be warm and get a good nights sleep.

Riley didn't want to stay in the tent. He kept opening the doors and trying to get out. We thought it was kind of funny so we just had to take a picture.

Trying to keep warm, it was very cold.

A week of Changes!!

2009-06-23T14:08:00.001-07:00

So this has been an interesting week. Last Wednesday Riley finally let go and started walking all on his own without Jesse and I being there and holding our hands out for him. He just let go and so since Wednesday my life has really really changed. I used to be able to just sit back and watch him play or put a movie on for him. Now he is officially on the go always wanting to get down and go exploring around the house for things that he can get to now that he has learned his new skill of walking. Since Sunday he has hardly fallen at all so he is doing very well with the walking. He still has a hard time standing up on his own. He always crawls over to the wall or the couch or a chair and pulls himself up against it and then lets go and starts walking. If nothing is there to support him then he just crawls around until he finds something to help him stand.He has also discovered the garbage and the toilet since we moved into the new house. Before those were blocked off with a gate but because there is no doorway or hallway short enough for the gate he has full range now. He also likes to find things off of the floor to put into the toilet and he likes to empty some of the things out of the garbage. GRRRRRR!!! We still really love him though. He also really has developed a love for doors. He will go to cupboard doors, the doors that close on his change table or any one or two doors he can find and open and close them and then open and close them. He can't open the big doors such as bedroom doors, the door to outside etc but he can shut them and then you hear him squawking for one of us to come open it for him so he can get in or out.

We also had a change in our Ward on Sunday. We have only been in the ward for 3 Sunday's and we got a new Bishop, Bishop Gibb. For those of you that know the Clarkdale Ward in Sherwood Park his name is Eldon Gibb, his councillors are Clint Heath and Brad Ackroyd. Our old Bishop was Bishop Simpson. I also got a new calling. I am a Sunday school to the 12-13 year old. My brother inlaw Lloyd Atwood also got a new calling. He was made a High Priest on Sunday because his new calling is an Alternate High Councilman and the Second councillor in the Stake Young Mens. Jesse's parents came up for that. There is also a change with them as well. They got their mission call to the Vancouver Canada Mission. They leave for the MTC this Saturday and have to be there on Monday. They will be gone for a year and a half. We will miss them but are happy for them that they are able to serve a mission. Riley will be 2 1/2 when they come home, that is crazy. I hope he remembers them. So those are the big changes of the week and I know it's late but I wanted to wish all the Father's a Happy Father's Day!!Here are some pictures of Riley!!!!

Riley when he took his first steps. He was a like a week away from turning 14 months when he started walking.

He loves books!! He emptys all his books onto the floor everyday from off his shelf but he looks at one then puts it down gets another one looks at it and so on.

He loves the stairs!

Playing with the vacuum

He loves to open and close the garbage can!

Playing at the toilet his new found toy!

Riley is walking!!

2009-06-14T21:32:00.000-07:00

So this last week I have been trying very hard to teach Riley to walk because he is getting very heavy and it is very hard carrying him around all the time. Also with the crawling his hands are always so dirty and he has bruises on his knees. So just this last Tuesday he took about 3 steps at first and then Jesse and I eventually got him to walk across his room. Jesse would sit on one end of the room and me on the other. We held our hands out to him and he would walk to us. At first he wouldn't he would just start crawling. Then I would hold a toy out to him but his hand and he would reach for it and each time he would I would move back.
Today at church Jesse walked around the halls with him towards the end of sacrament meeting because he just would not sit still. Then during Sunday school I was giving him a snack then he wanted to get down so I let him down. He just took off taking many steps. More than he ever has before. He did that for the rest of the day. He is pretty half and half now. He is getting brave and tries to walk but when he sees something he wants right away he will fall down and crawl because he can get to it faster that way. Anyways too bad I couldn't get any pictures of videos of him walking at church because he did sooooooo good. We are planning to video tape him tomorrow night and get some good picture now that we finally found our camera again. So some pictures will follow soon. Just thought we would let you all know that Riley is finally walking, he sure took his time but that is fine with me. He will be 14 months this Wednesday, he is growing up way to fast.

Moving

2009-06-03T13:34:00.000-07:00

Well for those of you that don't know we moved to Sherwood Park on Monday. it was a long weekend getting everything loaded in the truck. I can't believe we filled a 17 foot truck full of stuff. .I told Jesse that would be too big of a truck and that we did'n't have that much stuff. Well we most definately did, we even filled the car and van and some things in Jesse's brother Lloyd's truck.

We applied last year to a few housing C0-ops in Sherwood Park and a year later here we are moving into one. We got into the Brittany Lane Housing Co-op. For those of you that are not familiar with what a Co-op is, it is a bunch of townhouses in duplexs, triplexes and four plexes. A housing cooperative is formed when people join with each other to own or control the buildings in where they live. To be able to live in the Co-op there are several commitee's and every member has to be on a commitee and do some of the work around the co-op. There is nobody paid to do the work we all help out. That is why the rent is cheap because we have to work to have low rent. If you don't then you will get asked to leave. To put it in easier terms it is like the church, everyone has a calling and you have to do that calling to live in the Co-op. You can either magify your calling or do the bare minimum but you have to do something. The only difference is if you don't do your calling in the church you are not kicked out. Jesse will be on the maintenance commitee and I will be in the Social commitee planning parties and events and stuff.

It is fun so far, all the neighbours seem to have kids are are friendly. Riley seems to be having a hard time with it so far. Every since we moved out of our other place we are back at square one needing to get him back on a schedule. He used to go to bed at night and for his naps really good. He never ever cried. Since we moved here everytime I put him down for a nap or to bed he screams for a good half hour at least the longest one was an hour and a half. He even crys when I leave the room. I am hoping he will grow out of this soon because it is making me tired. I still trying to organize everything and unpack and then hopefully it will look like home for him. I don't know where my camera is right now otherwise I would have posted some pictures. I will next time. I hope you are all having a good month so far.

Julie's Wedding

2009-05-21T12:15:00.000-07:00

Julie got married on May 16 at the Mount Timpanogos Temple in American Fork Utah. We had such a good week. Jesse and I were a little worried about how Riley would be on this long trip with such a long drive but he was so good and even we were getting cranky with all the driving so we couldn't really blame him. For those of you that don't know we live in Edmonton and it is an 18 hour drive from Edmonton to Utah. We took 2 days on the way there to get there. We drove the 5 hours to Edmonton and then woke up early and drove 12 hours the next day. We got a portable DVD player especially for this trip and for other long drives we may take in the future. It is a good thing Riley loves to watch Baby Einstein even though I am so sick of those DVD's after watching and hearing them all the way there and back. He watched those most of the time and when he was not watching those he was sleeping, eating or playing with toys.

We stayed in Kaysville the first 2 nights we were there. Jesse's cousin Sarah Parkin lives there. We stayed with her and her husband Troy and their two beautiful girls Kailey and McCall. We were able to visit with them and see some of Jesse's other cousins as well.

On the day before the wedding we headed to Salt Lake City where we went and visited Temple Square and had a tour of the Conference Center. Riley fell asleep in his stroller for most of our time there and was awoken when we went into the Tabernacle and someone started playing the organ. That was really loud and it he woke up looking a little scared by that loud sound. We later went to Provo where my parents were staying and visited with them for awhile.

That Saturday was the wedding. It was so hot that day. We all got sunburnt in some way, yeah even Riley did. I put sunscreen all over his arms and face but I guess I missed one little spot which is where his hair kind of peaks and gets thinner. He had a nice red spot there.

There were at least 5 or 6 other wedding besides Julie's going on at the temple. There were people everywhere and I think I was even in some photos that were being taken. I would just be walking by and then there would be a flash of someone's camera. Julie looked very beautiful. We could all tell that she was very happy. We had the reception outside and there was a wonderful turnout. It was a very long day we were all do burnt and tired afterwards. We decided to break up the trip a little more and stay an extra day. We drove to Idaho Falls on Sunday and stayed with Kashina and Todd Wilson. We had a good time. The drive home after that was long and we had to wait almost 2 hours at the border, there was such a long line. I hope we don't have to drive that long again for a long long time.

That is a short description of our trip and we are happy to be at home so we don't have to eat gross fast food and live out of a suitcase. It will be nice for Riley to be back in a routine again.

We love you Andy and Julie and are glad that you made the right choice to get married in the temple. We are so proud of you and hope to be able to visit with you again soon. The rest of you thanks for stopping by.

Here are some pictures of the wedding

Julie and Andy coming out of the temple!! It was a crazy day. There were like 5 other weddings going on at the same time and that is the only door they come out of. We all had our camera's out waiting to catch that perfect moment when they would come out and sometimes we would be ready and another bride and her groom would come out. So I am lucky and glad that I caught this picture. I was probably in like 10 different wedding photos in the background because everywhere I walked there were camera flashes and I happened to be there.

Julie's Nike shoes she wore

Riley just chilling with Jesse

All the McMuray and Nelson family that were able to come to Utah for the wedding

McMurray Family

Siblings and Dads carrying Julie

Julie and Andy with my parents

Riley kissing Aunt Julie, he was in such a kissy mood for some reason that day and he kept wanting to kiss her.

Jesse, Riley and I with Julie and Andy

My dad singing "I Loved Her First" by Heartland while Julie and Andy dance

So we decided that on the way back from Utah we needed to split the trip up a bit more for Riley because the drive down was way way too long. So we stayed in Idaho Falls with Kashina, Todd and Corbyn Wilson (Thanks guys). We arrived there on Sunday the 17th and had a nice dinner with them. We later went on a walk around the Idaho Falls where Riley was asleep most of the time. It was really warm outside and was nice to see the falls, I have never seen them before. We had a good time visiting with the Wilson's and hope we can hang out with them again sometime. Too bad I didn't get a picture with them in it. Kashina was snapping pictures left and right of us ha ha!!

Jesse and I standing by the Idaho Falls. The Idaho Temple is in the background.

Here is Riley who is just worn out from our long trip.

Riley's 1st Birthday Party!!!

2009-04-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Riley's 1st birthday on Saturday April 18. Riley had both sets of grandparents (Atwood and McMurray) come up for his party. We also invited Mark and Lindsey Still and thier girls Abby and Sariah. His uncle Lloyd, cousins Lili and Macy came swimming with us.

For his party we went swimming at Kinsmen Leisure Centre in Sherwood Park. It was so much fun. We put a lifejacket on Riley for the first time and he loved it. It helped him float and also didn't make me worry that we would drop him as he is always trying to get away from either Jesse or I in the water now. After swimming we went to our house for some Pizza and cake. Jesse and I made the Pizzas (Aunt Rachels recipe) and they turned out so good. We actually cooked it's a miracle. I was just so proud of myself and Jesse for making the pizza crust which we were very worried wouldn't turn out good enough. We also had a cake that we attempted the night before made out of cupcakes which actually turned out pretty cute and Riley sure did love those cupcakes. He opened his gifts and by that time he was certainly tired and not very happy. We were so happy to have Abby and Sariah there to help him open his gifts and to make it more exciting for him. It was a very long day and we figured after the whole thing was over that we should have just given him some cake at the beginning and then he would have been happy for the whole thing. I think he just wasn't used to having so many people in our house at once and all the noise. Also he kind of choked on his pizza so that made him mad for a while and I felt so bad for him because it seemed like he wasn't enjoying his party because all you heard was him screaming and crying for about 20 minutes. I finally took him in his room away from everyone and he played in there for about 20 minutes. Then he was happier when I brought him out again. It was a very fun day and I hope Riley had a Happy First Birthday!!! We love you Riley!!!

Swimming with Mommy

Swimming with Daddy

Riley opening his presents there are many many pictures of this so I just picked a few.

By this point he was very tired and not wanting to open anything else!

Riley cake made out of cupcakes. My first time baking a cake ever and first time ever decorating one. Not bad for a first attempt!!

Riley and his cake before we lit the candle. The cupcakes at the top (blue, yellow, and green) are supposed to be balloons you can't see the string attatched to them that looks like the bear is holding them.

Stuffing his face with cake!!

He had cake everywhere including in his ears, hair, and up his nose. So he needed a bath. I love his pose in this picture lol!

Here was our attempt at trying to get a picture with Riley and all his birthday loot! As you can see Jesse is in the background because Riley wouldn't hold still (typical one year old) and he was trying to get him to stand still with his car. Well no he starts walking behind it as I quickly snapped the picture. He ended up driving it over all his stuff! At least he likes his presents and he had a very fun first birthday!!

Happy Birthday Riley!!

2009-04-17T23:30:00.000-07:00

Today is Riley's birthday!! I can't believe he is already a year old. Time goes by so fast it is so hard to remember every little thing that has happened over the last year but we do have some good memories of the pregnancy and of Riley so far.

The day before Riley was born

Minutes after he was born

Riley on his birthday!!

Here is what happened the day he was born:

So on April 17, 2008 it was kind of a stessful day. Jesse had a final exam that morning and I was 3 days overdue. I was measuring bigger than normal and because of having to deal with Gestational Diabetes the doctors were concerned about the size of the baby and that if we waited much longer I would have problems during delivery. So I was induced that day at around noon. I was given a cervidil insert and had to stay at the hospital for 2 hours after. I hadn't dilated at all before the doctor had given it to me. So I stayed at the hospital with a monitor on waiting until they would let me go home. My back started to hurt a bit while I was sitting there and I didn't think anything of it. I was sore off and on the last month so that is all I thought it was. I kept worrying that I wouldn't know when I was having a contraction and the nurse told me she was postitive that I WOULD KNOW when I was having a contraction bad enough to need to come back to the hospital. So sometime around 2pm they let me go home. My back was still hurting. When I got home I didn't feel like doing much so I layed down on the couch and watched a movie with my mom. I had a heating pad on my back because it was really hurting. Jesse left to go and get some groceries. My back started hurting worse and worse and finally I asked my mom what it might be. She told me to time when I was having pain and for how long and how far between when it started again. Then immediately I felt severe pain in my stomach and sides and I timed them and it was every 3 minutes. I was so worried Jesse wouldn't get home in time so we called him and he came home quickly. We went to the hospital and I was dilated to a 5. I was having very bad back labor as they call if when the baby is face up. I remember being scared before about getting an epidural but I was in so much pain that I didn't care. It was such a blessed invention. I was able to relax. About 6-8 hours after I got to the hospital and after the doctor had to turn him (so I wouldn't have to have a C-section) little Riley was born. He was 8 pounds 11 3/4 ounces and 20.5 inches. I remember just staring at him. I couldn't believe he was mine. We had decided before he was born that if he had dark hair his name would be Riley and if he had light hair or no hair at all his name would be Aiden. I really did like that name so much but wer looked at him and he just didn't look like an Aiden at all. Even the nurse said he looked like a Riley. He had lots of hair so I guess the way be decided to name him worked out. It has been a fun year, we have enjoyed being parents and watching him grow and do things. He has learned and changed so much in a year and we love him.

Here are some fun facts about Riley:

-He can walk around furniture and while he is pushing toys but can't quite get the balance to stand all on his own yet.

-He doesn't quite walk yet but almost which is ok with me

-He can crawl very fast

-He loves to watch Baby Einstein movies especially the ones with animals

-He loves toys that have lots of buttons and that sing or make noise

-He loves it when Daddy chases him around the livingroom, he always laughs so hard!

-He loves playing Pattycakes and Peekabo and doing other actions to songs

-He gives hugs and kisses

-He never ever did take a soother but really loves his bottle

-He has such a cute smile and giggle

-He sleeps sooooo well through the night since he was 3 months old! I can only remember 2 or 3 times since that I have had to get up with him in the night and they were all cuz he was sick or teething!

-He loves pulling on cords and when pulling something apart he likes to try and figure out how to put it back together.

-Oh and I can't forget that he likes to rip and eat paper!!

-He hates vegetables-not sure what to do there but we try

We didn't do anything to exciting today other than sing to him and I took him to an indoor playground today with slides and many fun things to crawl on and into. There were also many toys to play with. He had a blast. We are celebrating his birthday tomorrow. His Grandma and Grandpa McMurray will be coming up from Cardston and his Grandma and Grandpa Atwood from Bow Island. They were actually here tonight to have dinner with us. Tomorrow we are going swimming and then having pizza (Riley's favorite food) and then cake. So happy 1st birthday to my sweet little boy.

Riley's first Easter

2009-04-14T23:22:00.000-07:00

We had a very good Easter weekend. Jesse's brother Leon, his wife Jodi and their kids came up for the weekend. It happened to be Rylan's (their son) birthday. He turned 4. We went swimming at the Kinsmen Leisure Centre in Sherwood Park. We had never been there before and we really enjoyed going there. Riley lasted for 2 hours swimming which he never does. He was having so much fun playing with all the pool toys and going down the slide in the baby pool. I think we will go there again for Riley's 1st birthday. We also went out to Lloyd (Jesse's brother) and Rachel's house for Pizza and birthday cake.

On Easter Sunday we decided that after a long day on Saturday we were too tired to go to our own ward that starts at 9:00am so we went to Clarkdale Ward out in Sherwood Park which is also Lloyd and Rachel's Ward and the ward that we will be moving into this summer. We got to meet lots of people and their ward is really friendly. I have never had people in a ward be that friendly before. Rachel also gave a talk so we went to listen to her speak (we can use that excuse for skipping our ward). Their ward starts at 1:00pm. We also had set up a nice little Easter Egg hunt for Riley around our house before church. We put all the Easter eggs in obvious places that he always goes everyday no matter what places that he shouldn't go as well (we put some by the computer that he always tries to get to and he saw the egg and was excited to take that instead for a change). He found every egg all by himself in about 15 minutes, there were about 15 eggs. He always found two at a time and always had to be holding two at a time. If we took one away he would just go find another one. He liked shaking them to hear the sound of the candies inside. He got to taste his first chocolate egg and some gummy bunnies which he loved so much.We had a nice Easter dinner at Lloyd's house and had a very good time. We are sad too see this long weekend come to an end. At least Jesse is almost done school for the semester and we can have some fun as a family for a few days before he goes back to work.

Here is the Easter egg hunt pictures

You can't really see it but there is an egg in his barn and he is trying to get it.

All of the Easter eggs Riley found after our Easter egg hunt around the living room!

Looking in his Easter basket

He had his first chocolate and really enjoyed it as you can tell by his face!!

He always had to have 2 eggs, one in each hand if we took one away he would grab another one.

Here we have a sequence of pictures showing how Riley figured out how to open the egg himself and eat his candy (I had to open his eggs for him before). He didn't understand that once he opened the egg he could dump the candy in his hand and then eat it. He thought he could eat the egg too. He did figure it out eventually. He is too funny!!

He figured out how to open the egg and get the candy

He loved his candy so much that he looks kind of cross eyed in this picture.

What a face!

That's it folks, we hope you all had a Happy Easter!!!!

Riley at the Park

2009-04-14T22:52:00.000-07:00

So we decided this last week that it was nice enough outside to go to the park. So we took Riley on the swings, slide, and springy horse for the first time. He had a good time. He was a little bit scared of the swing even though we didn't push him that much. I almost wonder if it made him feel sick. He kind of screamed so we stopped right away. We took this picture before we pushed him a bit so he looks happy. I think he just liked sitting in it. We will try it again soon and see if he likes it any better. We have the rest of the spring and all summer to try. He really loves going on the other things though. On the slide he kept looking down at the bottom and smiling. I helped him down and he kind of giggled.

Riley's first time in a swing.

He loves to rock back and forth all the time so he really liked riding on this thing. He was so excited that it could go back and forth. We had a hard time getting him off of it, he liked it so much.

He loved the slide. I helped him slide down it but as you can see Jesse's shadow was in the way taking the picture so we couldn't get one of him at the bottom.

Funny boy

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Riley loves to play with this toy that goes on his crib. It has a mirror and he often looks in the mirror and when he sees himself he leans over and gives himself kisses (we have been teaching him to give kisses and he is starting to do it more and more). He does this all the time and I think it is funny and sooo cute!

He looks like he is doing a push up

Yes he is a funny boy sometimes but we still love him. He makes me laugh everyday at some of the things he does but at least I am entertained and will have some fun stories to tell him when he is older. So there you have it our Easter and fun life in the last few weeks. Thanks for stopping by.

Busy Boy!!!

2009-04-02T12:40:00.000-07:00

Okay so a few days before my last post Riley started pulling himself up to a standing position. I have just been slacking and haven't put any pictures up yet. He has been crawling for a few months now and one day when I had my back turned he pulled himself to a standing position and tried to get the printer. He had a big smile and thought he was so clever. Now he stands against everything and walks around furniture. Before we know it he will be walking. He is now 11 1/2 months old and is growing so fast and into everything!!! He now likes to do things himself and sometimes gets mad if I try and help him with his food or his toys. I used to break off little peices when feeding him and now he would rather me give him the whole thing and he will pick off his own peices or shove the whole thing in his mouth which he sometimes does if he really likes what I am giving him. He also likes to push his car around and walk or crawl on up on his knees behind it. He loves having baths and watching Baby Einstein movies. He loves watching animals and hearing the sounds they make and he loves music. I can't wait to take him to the Zoo this summer.
He is very sweet and fun. He gives hugs and kisses all the time. He is not a cuddler though but that probably has something to do with the busy stage. He giggles and likes someone to play with him. We love him and cannot believe how fast he has grown.

Riley loves taking a bath. Too bad we don't have a bath tub at our house. We are looking to move soon so we will make sure our new place has a bathtub. He loves the green toy he is holding. It is supposed to be a crab. All the toys squirt water if you squeeze them. He only likes that green one and will always grab that one even if we mix up all the toys he still grabs that one. One day I didn't put it in the bathtub and he kept moving the toys around over and over trying to find that toy. He just looked so frustrated LOL! I found it and snuck it in there and he was so happy when he found it which shows in this picture!

Walking behind his car

Riley playing with his barn. He loves it and plays with it almost everyday. It makes animal noises when you open the gates or doors and there is a button that plays 3 different songs. He will sit there and dance during them which is pretty funny.

Playing with his kitchen

Atwood Update!

2009-03-14T23:31:00.000-07:00

Well I have always wanted to start a blog as a journal of our family and everything that is going on so that when family and friends wonder how we are doing they can just check out our blog. I wanted to do this quite awhile ago when Riley was born but that didn't happen.I want to start by giving you an update of our last year since I didn't have time to at Christmas.

This last year was quite busy. We had a baby April 17, 2008 and we named him Riley Jesse Atwood. Jesse worked all summer for Classic Landscaping at a Tree Farm 10 hours a day, 6 days a week and he also started school in September in the Landscape Architecture program at Nait. He is really enjoying this and can't wait to be finished. He also recently had surgery on a hernia in February and is finally getting better.I am now a stay at home mom and loving it. Riley really keeps me on my toes now that he can crawl and stand up against things.

I went back to school in October -December 2008 to finish my practicum for teaching so that I can graduate this June. Riley and I moved to Cardston for 2 months to live with my parents. He enjoyed being around his grandparents, great grandparents, aunts and uncles for awhile. We also had a flood in our basement 2 days before Christmas and we had to clean up the mess and move to a different place all in about 5 days. That was crazy but we are good and settled now hoping to move into a bigger house in the summer.

Riley is almost 11 months old. It is so crazy how fast he has grown up. He has learned how to sit, eat solid foods, finally take a bottle, say "mama, dada, bobba, and bye bye" and he waves. He is now crawling all over the place and standing up against things and is into everything, his favorite things are: unplugging the computer and TV cords, tearing and eating paper, playing with the phone and holding it up to his ear making noises as he does pretending to talk on it, playing with any toy that makes noise and sings especially his train, kitchen and basketball hoop, and watching "Baby Einstein" movies.

Here are some pictures showing how much Riley has grown in the last 11 months!

2009-03-14T11:19:00.000-07:00

This is our cute little boy Riley Jesse Atwood the day after he was born.
He was born April 17, 2008 at 10:52pm in Edmonton. He weighed 8lbs 11 3/4 oz.

2 weeks old

1 month old

2 months old

3 months old

4 months old

5 months old

6 months old

7 months old

8 months old

9 months old

10 months old

Well there you have it folks. This was an update of what we have been up to and how much Riley has changed in the last 11 months. Now that I know what I am doing I will make sure and update my blog as much as possible so that you will all know how we are doing. Thanks for stopping by.