Surprise Surprise

This year Ryan is turning 31 and since I was overdue with Emry on his 30th birthday and we didn't do anything really special, I thought it would be fun to do something big this year! Thanks to the help from family and friends we were able to pull off an awesome surprise party for Ryan. He totally had no clue and it turned out to be a great party!

Nathan helped out by taking Ryan golfing that morning (I know, it was a huge sacrifice). Since all his family decided to come to the party, all the boys ended up going golfing (Nate, Ryan, Scott, Ben, and Jason). I was scared Ryan was gonna get suspicious but I just played it down and acted just as surprised as he was that all his family just decided to show up without telling anyone. I figured he wouldn't catch on because his family does visit a lot now that they are so close in St. George and thankfully, he didn't even question it! Phew!!

That morning I just got everything ready for the party (cutting up fruit, setting up the fun twister game and the mini tramp, getting the hot dog  toppings ready, etc.) and just prepared for everyone to get here. Everyone started arriving at 1:30 PM and then it was just a waiting game until we got the call that Ryan was on his way! We all gathered in the front room and when he walked in, we all yelled "Surprise!!" He was slightly confused I think but then he got it and said, "You lied!!" haha!! It was pretty fun!! 

Ryan walking in (having no idea what's going on!!)

Ok, now he gets it!! :D

We had a delicious BBQ fashioned after J Dawgs (a famous hot dog stand right off BYU campus). We even got the J Dawgs sauce so it was really authentic! We had all the toppings they offer and it turned out really yummy. We had a fruit platter, a veggie platter with dip, chips, and homemade Root Beer!! Ryan has been talking about making home made Root Beer for awhile so I decided it would be fun to have it at his party. He loved it! 

Eating outside. It was SO windy but we managed to survive. 

Getting some yummy J DAWGS from the food table!! (You can also see the really fun fruit skewers that we had. Yummy and cute!)

More eating!

Emry liked the food too!!

Ryan trying really hard to blow all the candles out with one breath. He just barely was able to do it!

I love this picture because it looks like Emry is saying, "What just happened!!" She is too precious!!

Ryan and me!

Emry enjoying her bottle in her high chair!

Mostly at the party we just ate and talked. It was really fun to just visit with friends we don't get to see very often and family. We had cake and ice cream and then people started trickling out. Ryan was exhausted from getting up early to golf and from working late earlier that week so he took a little nap while his family and I played games. (It was supposed to be a game themed party, but we didn't play any games until it was only his family left. Oh well!) We played twister and Kubb outside and then we came in to do some "Minute-to-Win-it" games. We had a blast and it was really funny to watch everyone try to do the activity. Comical. 

It turned out to be a way fun party and I'm glad Ryan was genuinely surprised! (It's so much better that way!) Happy Birthday Ryan! Emry and I love you so much! Hope you had a way fun Birthday party!!! 

Jenna, me, Jason, and Jeff playing twister. Instead of using the actual mat, you just paint colored circles on the grass. It was really cute and really fun too!!

More twister fun! Jeff, Jason, Jenna (this was after I got out!)

Grandma Vivian with Jackson and Gavin jumping on the mini tramp!

Playing Minute-to-Win-it games. This one you had to stack 6 dice on the end of Popsicle stick within 1 minute. I think we all did this one pretty easily. The next one you had to start with an Oreo on your forehead and then just wiggle your face until it moved down into your mouth. This game was hilarious to watch and made for some awesome pictures!!

This girl is just too cute for words!! Seriously, she is darling!! She had a fun time laughing at all our funny faces!!!  Happy Birthday to Ryan!!

11 Months!!

I think this is my very favorite age. Emry is learning so many new things and is starting to really understand a lot more too. She is happy and loves her mommy and daddy. It's too adorable! Here are some new things she is doing these days:

*Lately she has wanted to start her days early. She is up at 6:30 AM every day and it makes her parents really really tired!!

*Loves to talk on the phone. She holds it up to her ear and she just loves it. She also does it with remotes. It's adorable. 

*She can stand on her own for a few seconds at a time, But she hates when you try to make her walk on her own. She does cruise everywhere and walks using hte furniture all the time. 

*She has her own rocking chair and she absolutely loves it! She climbs up there and reads her books. If you sing "Rock-a-by" to her then she rocks in the chair. It's so adorable!! 

*Loves being outside

*Nurses 3 times a day and will eat anything you give her. She seriously loves eating. I'm glad I don't have to worry about her that way. It's nice.

*She knows what an elephant says. it's the cutest thing in the whole world. You ask, "What does an elephant say?" and she does the elephant sound. So cute!!

*Loves to play peek-a-boo. She hides behind the couch and then pops up with the biggest smile on her face. 

*Loves to go up and down the stairs. Loves to play on the stairs, which makes me really nervous but she is pretty good at balancing. I love that she is learning things I have taught her. She goes over to the stairs and turns around and goes down backwards like she is supposed to. She is the smartest!!
*Started to dance when music comes on. It's adorable!! She shakes her hands up and down and bobs her head. Too cute!!
*Knows how to tell us she is "all done" by signing it. She puts both her hands up and kinda shakes them or waves them. I have never been very good at teaching her signs but this one she caught on to I suppose and it's nice to know when she is done eating. Also, it's adorable.

Hanging out in the sun at Grandma's house!

Loves talking on the phone!

Hanging out at temple square

Happy girl at City Creek. I can't wait till she is walking because I feel like it will be easier to play outside when she can run around. 

St George Vacation

We had such a fun time in St George with all the Gardners. We are so happy Ryan's parents and Ben and Shalon moved so much closer! We had such a fun time thawing out from the freezing that is SLC! I think we'll be visiting often. We had so much fun hiking, swimming, eating, shopping, exploring, more eating, etc. Thanks for all the fun!!

Scott with Emry on our mini hike 

 Jason, Jenna, and Scott at the dinosaur tracks. We took the long way there which was really long (like 1.5 hours on dirt roads) and then took the short way home (like 20 minutes on paved roads). Needless to say, I won't ever be taking hte long way there ever again. :D

 Emry and me at the dinosaur tracks

Cael and Gavin on the hike to see the tracks

Playing with cousins at the park. Jackson and Emry love each other!

Someone was having a birthday party at the park when we went to go play and they had horses for the kids to ride. They were nice enough to let us take a couple of rides. Emry actually loved it. It was pretty cute to see her riding with her daddy!

Daddy and Emry on the horse

Shrimp boil. This is one of my favorite things to do with the Gardners. Shrimp, corn, sausage, potatoes, and lots of butter all spread out on the table for you to dig into. YUM! 

Emry loves it too :D

Another hike up snow canyon. Fun playing in the sand dunes

The boys having a contest to see who could jump the farthest. 

Action shot: Ryan jumped a little late :D

Fun hike to go see the lava caves (Jason, holding Jackson, Ryan, holding Emry, Jenna, and Scott)

Emry was really tired but was a good sport! 

Swimming in the 92 degree water. The pool was super warm, which was nice because that means Emry LOVED it! Seriously, after this trip I considered moving to St George! It is so warm when it is still SO cold in SLC!

Emry and mommy swimming

She loved wearing her floaties! 

What Does an Elephant Say?

Emry is learning so much! It is so much fun to see her grow and learn! Such a smart smart girl!!

10 Months

My little baby is turning into a toddler and I'm not sure how I feel about it! She is getting so big and she is SO smart!! She totally knows things. For example, in her room her books are on her little dresser and if I ask her to go get the books, she crawls over to them and pulls herself up, trying to get the books down. I can tell she is understanding so much lately, it's amazing to see her learn every day! Happy 10 month to my baby/toddler!!

*Started to give kisses. It's pretty adorable even if it is an open mouth slobber!! She loves to give kisses to Mom and Dad!
*LOVES to clap! You say, "Yay, Emry!" and she stops whatever she was doing and claps for you!
*Gives high fives
*Her fifth tooth has started to come in

*Says "Mamma," "Dada," and "Lila!" Lila sounds more like "yiya" but it's pretty cute that she already knows how to say her best friend's name

*Still stands up on everything

*Walks using her toy walker. The other day she even did it one handed! Yikes!!!

*Waves Hi and Bye all the time

*Tries to climb up everything!!

*Opens all the cupboards by herself. Her favorite is to open the Tupperware cupboard and take all the Tupperware out. 

*Snuggles all the time now. She just recently got shy with strangers and will just cuddle us. She loves her Mom and sometimes that is all that makes her happy (snuggling mom!)

*Sleeps through the night when she is healthy (which is rare these days!!) Goes to sleep at 8:30 pm and is up at about 7:15 am (give or take). She takes 2 naps--one at 10am and one at 3pm. Each one is an hour or an hour and a half. 

*Puts herself to sleep now. No more rocking her to sleep. A part of me misses this but another part just likes a little snuggle and then down she goes without a fuss! It's great!

*Wears size 3 diapers and size 12 month clothes

*Loves to be outside

*Still loves other kids!! She will be so happy if there are other kids around!

*Eats so much! She loves to feed herself and will pretty much eat anything except she doesn't each veggies very well. We still do purees with those to get them in her! 

*Nurses 4 times a day

*Loves to read books

 She loves to look outside and wave "hi!"

  Cuddle-bug! Love this!

Happy 4th Anniversary

Ok, I know our anniversary is in February, but we actually celebrated it today. Ryan and I bought tickets to go skiing on our anniversary. We were all set up to go and then Emry got sick and we didn't want to leave her, so we decided we could just go another day. Well, here we are almost 2 months later, and we finally went!! It was totally worth the wait because it was a blast!! We went skiing at Canyons Resort in Park City. I've never been to a big resort so it was fun to see how many lifts and runs they had. I was scared of getting lost. Thankfully, I had Ryan to navigate us, so we did just fine.
Neither of us had been skiing since our second date 5 years ago, so we were both pretty rusty but after a while we got the hang of it again. Ryan skied and I snow boarded but we stayed together the whole time and just had fun! By then end, I was totally getting the hang of it again and remembered why I loved it. So much fun!
It was such a fun way to celebrate our anniversary: just going out and doing something together just the two of us. It's rare that we get to do that lately, so it was a blast! Here are some pictures of our fun day!

Me in front of a beautiful lake

They were having a celebrity ski race charity event  while we were there.  Here I am with Kate Walsh (aka Addison Shepherd from Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice!) Kinda fun!

Mark Eaton was there too. He used to play for the Jazz and he was HUGE! This girl was probably 5'2" or so so he seriously, was gigantic! Funny seeing a giant coming down the hill! haha

Ryan at the base with Mark Eaton in the background

 Ryan with a black diamond in the background (no, we didn't do anything that crazy!!) It was so pretty while we were there. Totally sunny and the clouds were beautiful. 

 We went down "flume" a lot and it was my favorite! Here I am with the ski sign. It was pretty warm up there so we didn't even need heavy jackets and at one point I got so hot, I took off my beanie because I was sweating! So much better than freezing!

 Us on the ski lift

 Ryan and a shot of the beautiful Canyons

Here we are on the ski lift. This one was called the Orange Bubble or something like that. It was so cool. After you got on, you could pull down this cover so it wasn't too windy or cold riding the lift. It was our favorite lift, even though it made us look all yellow!

 Me on the Orange Bubble

 Ryan in front of the pretty lakes

 The pretty lakes we passed over while on the Orange Bubble ski lift. You can see more of what I'm talking about with the covers in this picture. It was really nice!

 This is us right when we got there! Excited to get skiing!

Action shot of me going down