Colby's 1st Birthday

How can this be?  How can my little baby possibly be 1 already? As it did with Rylan, the first year has flown too fast.  Rylan's first birthday bash was big and it was a lot of work.  More than I would have liked.  So I promised myself that I would never fall victim to the "He'll never turn 1 again" and exhaust myself and our wallet with a big party for a such a tiny tot who isn't even aware that it's his birthday.  Lesson learned.  With that said, we celebrated Colby's birthday with a modest trip to Chic Fil A for lunch and a peppermint shake.  Colby devoured his meal and of course slurped that shake right down without a problem.  Happy birthday to my happy boy!

Halloween 2012

I know I said this last year and I'll probably say it every year for as long as we live in this neighborhood, but the Terraces is like straight out of a Halloween movie during Halloween.  Hundreds of kids of all ages and parents walk the streets trick or treating.  Many neighbors decorate their homes to the max, play scary goblins, and some even serve hotdogs and popcorn from their front yard.  I love that it feels so safe too. This year has been all about the superheros for Rylan.  He had to choose between his Iron Man and Spiderman suits for the big day. He chose Iron Man and played the part well.  I found it only appropriate to choose the lion costume for Cobly's Halloween outfit, seeing as he plays the best lion I've ever seen.  He was by far the cutest lion on the block.

Our Family

Grow Baby Grow!

The boys recently had their well check ups, Rylan's 3 year and Colby's 9 month. Colby seems to be following in his older brother's growth pattern and they are both around 80th% in height and 70% in weight.  Grow baby grow!  I shed a few crocodile tears while looking through these pictures of my babies.  I would freeze time if I could.  Rylan and Colby are so much fun and I thank my Heavenly Father every day and night for the boys in my life.  

 Colby, at birth

Colby, 9 months

 Rylan, 2 yrs and 3 mos

Rylan, 3 years

  

Rylan Turns 3

Rylan's birthday was full of fun this year.  He started the day off by taking a donut run with Dad.  This is how Rylan would start the day everyday if it were up to him.  He sure loves his sugar.  When they came home, he was surprised with a Spiderman bike.  His reaction was awesome!  Next we hosted preschool and the letter of the week just happened to be the letter "B".  We took advantage and enjoyed a Big Birthday Boy party to end the afternoon of learning and playing.  Later that evening, Matt's family came over for some birthday dessert.  I think Rylan felt pretty special on his big day. Mom's mission accomplished!

 

Another 6 Months Goes By

Now that I'm back in the blogging world, allow me to retrace my footsteps one last time just for the sake of catching up.  Here's a timeline just to make it quick and clean.

Colby's first photo shoot 

Aunt Jill meets Colby for the first time
The funniest moment during Jill's visit was when she got peed on.  For some reason she thought it would be a great idea to allow Colby to air out between diapers and actually fan his privates so they could dry off a bit before putting on a fresh diaper.  Bad idea Auntie Jill.  Before she could react, there was a stream of pee heading right for her lap.  Lesson learned. Glad we could all have a good laugh at that one, although Colby didn't seem so thrilled by the experience.

Colby's Blessing

We had several relatives come out for Colby's blessing, including Brad, Randy, Gma and Gpa Jorgensen and my Dad.  We gathered at Carl and Luann's home for a more intimate blessing.  It was a fun celebration of our new baby boy.  

First Stitch
I have friends that love to eat. We decided that a girls' night during Priesthood session was yet another great excuse to get together, eat, and chat.  With all our kids in tow, we headed over to Molly's house this time around.  Just as the ladies were about to dish up some of our yummy dinner, one of the kiddos comes running up the backyard stairs towards the house yelling, "Rylan!  He's bleeding!  Rylan's bleeding!"  I quickly headed out the back door and turned the corner just as Rylan was climbing the stairs, blood dripping in a steady stream down all sides of his head.  My heart started to race and I calmly took him inside unsure of how bad the injury was and a bit hesitant to look for fear that I'd either pass out or throw up, or perhaps all of the above.  I set him up on the counter and started to part the hair where the most blood was pooling.  There it was.  A small hole the size of the ballpoint pen's tip.  I had a slight sense of relief when I saw the size of the puncture, but man oh man did that thing poor blood.  Rylan looked like he was straight out of a bloody horror film.  Rylan was climbing on the outside of the trampoline's security netting (which serve good a good purpose for kid unlike my adventurous little Rylan) and fell down a few feet onto sharp, large rocks.  Thanks to the iPhone we snapped a pic of the wound and sent it off to Molly's husband who is an Anesthesiologist (while in Priesthood Session mind you), at which point he determined that Rylan could use a stitch.  So Jake and Matt came home, stitched Rylan up with one big single stitch, and headed back to enjoy some after Preisthood Session hot wings with the men.  Allow me to point out that Rylan only flinched and did not shed a single tear as Jake placed the stitch, minus any numbing.  He's a champ!  I have a feeling that this is the first of many accidents in my future.

Matt turns the big 3-0!
Matt was feeling pretty terrible about the idea of turning 30.  A celebration trip-tip dinner and dessert with friends made the transition a little easier.  I think he wears 30 well.

California Vacation

We took our annual trip out to California this June.  This was the most efficient (we did a ton of stuff) vacation we've ever taken. The first leg of the trip was spent in Malibu where we stayed 3 nights in a beach house rental with Matt's parents, Austin, and Randy and Jamie and their kids.  There's just something about cramming too many people into one house that makes for lots of fun.  The Malibu weekend was full of wedding fun (Marisa & Ezra's extravaganza) and good times with family.  Next we headed up to SLO to meet my family.  Every one of my siblings was together for the first time in 5 years.  It was so nice to have all of the family in one place again.  We kayaked, sand boarded, BBQ'd, and ate at all of our favorite restaurants.  I also got to meet up with one of my favorite childhood friend's, Devanie, and meet her new baby girl who is only a few weeks younger than Colby.  On the last night of our trip we stopped at my Aunt and Uncle's beach house in Redondo Beach for some good company and authentic, homemade Indonesian food.  Yummy!  I love my dad's family and going to Paul and Vangie's brought back a flood of wonderful childhood memories.  We flew home on the day of our 8 year anniversary.  Little did I know that Matt had planned to have our entire front and backyard "made over" as an anniversary surprise during the entire 9 days of our trip.  Oh what a surprise it was!  I was totally shocked to see beautiful landscaping as we pulled up to the house.  Our yard has always been the dumpy, weed filled eyesore of the neighborhood and I've been wanting to make some improvements from day 1.  Now I have one of the nicest yards on the block!

First family photo at the beach

Who's that creeper?  Funniest photo of the trip

Dazzled up for Marisa and Ezra's wedding

Kayaking tour in Morro Bay

van den Eikhof's together again

My best childhood friend and our babies.

Avila Barn

Pismo car show

Our new yard: Sod, front flowerbed with plants, stone patio, flowerbeds and fountain, and extended rock driveway.

Moments That Matter

The other night I was referring back to old blog posts and remembered why I started a blog in the first place.  Blogging is the perfect way to record moments that you want to keep close, especially for someone like myself who is not a journal writer and has a ridiculously bad memory. I can access memories and relive the moment with the simple touch of a button.  So why haven't I written an entry in nearly 6 months you ask?  Good question.  I ask myself the same.  In fact, I have a terrible amount of guilt about it all.  I was partially committed to blogging after I had Rylan and am so glad that I was.  Since Colby's birth I've only posted a measly 1 time.  Pretty lousy.  So here I am, recommitting myself to blogging.  Here's to remembering the moments that matter.