Miss Rylee

Rylee has changed so much in the last month. She is growing up! I feel like I need to document her acheivements so far. So if you don't love her enough to read them then just skip to the pictures.

She is officially all over the place. She never really scooted but when she finally figured out crawling (when we were gone on trek) she fully mastered it. She has also started pulling herself up to standing. She can say 3 words and understand them; Dada, Nana (banana) and sisis (Jesus). On her own she would reach toward Jesus pictures and get all excited. I told her He was Jesus and that is all it took. Even other Jesus pictures that she is not familiar with she will point and say Jesus. She is working on her signing. She can do milk, more, bath, hat, all done, sleepy time, and eat. She is really understanding a lot when we talk to her. She loves books, baby dolls, stuffed and real animals, baths and food. She is a great eater. Will eat almost anything we offer her. She has two teeth on the bottom and she may be just barely working on some top ones. She sleeps great through the night and still takes 2 good naps. She has a blanket that she is more than attached too. She only gets it when she is going to sleep or on long road trips. When she goes down for a nap she giggles with excitement because she knows she gets her blanket (thanks Melissa!!). She is a really happy baby. She is very sweet and cuddly. Now that she is mobile it is pretty cute to see her and Cade interact. Cade is sometimes not sure how to handle Rylee now that she can get his toys. But they both love each other tons. I can't wait to watch them grow up together.

A Fabulous Fourth

I am a few days late but I still wanted to document our fourth festivities. We live near a military base so we have lots of military families in our ward at church. It was really neat to hear some of their testimonies on Sunday. Very powerful. Then for Monday, we had such a fun day. In the morning I ran a race with my friend Jenny. We did a 5K and finished in 26' 13''. We ended up getting 2nd and 3rd for our age division and both got medals. We were pretty pumped!

Then Cole went to play softball with some church friends while I played with the kids at the park next door. When we got home we made a Independence day treat. They didn't turn out as well as the picture but Cade had fun helping.

Then we went to a festival type event. There were inflatables, a little train ride, rides on an old fire engine, cotton candy-all things Cade loves. It was perfect. It is amazing how easy it is to have fun when you see your kids having fun.

 I know Cade looks like he is hating life in this next picture but he loved it. He was squirming with excitement the whole time. I thought for sure once he got on he would realize it was no big deal. But just as a 3 year old should, he thought it was pretty fantastic.

At the end of the day we attended a BBQ with some friends. Cade and Rylee were acting cute.

So all in all a fabulous fourth!

Primary and 'In my tummy!'

Today Cade had his first responsibility in Primary (Sunday School for kids). He gave the scripture in opening exercises. All week we have been preparing for it. We picked the scripture from the given topic and then every night we went over it. I tried to explain how everything would happen: They would announce his name for giving the scripture, he would go to the microphone, I would be there to help him, he would talk into the microphone, and then he would go back to his seat. During sacrament meeting (where the entire congregation meets together) it was testimony meeting (one Sunday a month members of the congregation are invited to "share their testimony," or their beliefs about God, with the rest of the congregation) so he was seeing lots of different people go up to the microphone, talk, and then sit back down. Near the end of the meeting he turns to me and says, "Nevermind. I don't want to do my scripture in the microphone anymore." I reassured him that he would be at the microphone in Primary (with 30-40 kids rather than in front of the whole congregation). He felt better after that. I almost wish I had a funny story about how he did something funny or embarrassing up in front of everybody. But he didn't. He did perfect. He was so cute and did everything just as he should have. After they called his name he started up to the microphone all by himself without waiting to see where I was. While I was turning to the scripture I could tell he was pretty excited. He talked loud and clear and amazingly did nothing goofy. Later we talked about it and I told him I was so proud of him. He asked if Heavenly Father and Jesus were proud of him too. I told him definitely.

Now for something goofy.

The other morning Cade and I went on a walk. He found a rolly polly and made a 'rolly polly' house with his hands and carried it all the way home. He wanted to play with it in the house for a little bit. The next thing I know he is saying, "Mommy, the rolly polly is in my tummy!" I'm thinking great, he ate it. What gave him motivation for that? But then I looked and this is what I saw.

Nope, he was exactly right! It was in his tummy. He is already obsessed with tummies so why not put his beloved bug there? We just cracked up. It is better then 'deading' them which is what he usually does. Boys will be boys I guess.