My handsome prince

The above pictures tell the story. Dont take away my comb or I'll freak out!

Ryder just being his cool self. He really is a good boy, I think he is pretty mellow. I am greatful for babies and for the opportunity I have to raise these little guys. Being a mom is the most wonderful blessing. I am thankful for our sweet little family and for a most perfect Husband. Did I telly you I have the best Husband in the world? Yep, I do. I love our little family and am truly blessed.

Just some updates....

Ryder is getting more into eating, yeah!! He does this funny thing with his mouth. I cant believe he is already over 9 mons.

Oh Christmas tree.....

Noah, Griffin, Uncle Bloob and Daddy went up to Mt.Emily and got us a lovely Christmas tree. As you can see there was a little snow and the boys just loved it! Griffin and Noah both wanted to sleep in their snow suits the night before, but we told them they would sweat too much!! Thanks for all your hard work boys.

Here is our cute little charlie brown, child friendly, decorated tree. The boys helped and it seems to have a red and silver theme going on. The tree topper is still yet to be hung.

Three little guys

So this is our newest "professional" photo of the boys. It was a MOPS fundraiser, we only bought this one, you know they charge an arm and a leg for their photo packages. It is not my favorite but its allright.

The boys and boring days

Our house

So this is for my sister-n-law Rose. She wont come visit so I have to show her our home from when we updated last summer. Richard made this lovely mantle for our fireplace.

Halloween

So this was a family night carving activity we did with Joel and Devon and their kids. The little pumpkin is Ryder's, middle one is Noah's and far right is Griffin's. It was fun but now the cows will get the best of them, chomp chomp.

For Halloween we did dress up, the kids and I atleast. Then we went to our ward trunk or treat and a family Halloween party. I was a bee again, (three years ago I was a bee and Noah was in the costume Griffin is in) It was fun the kids love candy and sugar! Wonder where they get that??

Pumpkin Patch

Sorry this is a little late, I am at Rich's school right now blogging because our computer at home will not let me post anymore. But we did take the kids to the hay maze/pumpkin patch this year and they of course loved it. Rich actually set the camera on a hay bail to take a picture of us as a family, not bad huh?

The Great Hunt

October brought some luck for Daddy and uncle Chris. One Saturday morning these poor guys saw their last light of day. Now the remains are in our cupboard shriveled up, smelling of smoke and strong marinade(every time I get the toaster out the aroma swarms our kitchen, lovely) and some of it lays frozen, wrapped in white blood stained paper waiting to be thawed for dinner! Anyway I cant wait till our future hunters go out and bring home some more meat!!

Updates of Ryder

So since Ryder changes the most, he is going to have more pictures posted. But I will get some up of Noah and Griffin too. Just bare with me , I only have dial up!
Ryder loves to sit in the yard and pick at the blades of grass. This is funny because Noah hated sitting in the grass as a baby. He loves to watch his brothers ride bikes and drive the car (powerwheels car, calm down Grandma Keri) He cant wait to play with them someday soon.

I got a funny face shot, I think he is sending Mommy a kiss!

Future Photographer?

So Noah loves taking pictures of everyone and everything. One day he snuck our camera and had taken like over 100 pictures of just random things. Good thing its easy to erase pictures on digital cameras. Anyways, he had fun taking pics of Ryder and I one day and he did a pretty good job huh?
Maybe Noah has a future that his father should be doing! Like father like son?

Summer Fun

We just visited the Portland, Oregon Zoo. We went with Rich's Mom, Brother Steve & wife Tara and Baby Taryn. The boys had a lot of fun and saw a lot of cool animals. Noah said his favorite animals were the monkeys, Griffin liked the Giraffe. Sorry we kinda forgot to get pictures of the animals-oops! This waterfall the boys are in front of was on the side of a walking path.
Noah and Griffin just had to sit up on this big tractor. They actually threw a fit when we took them off. It was located right by this cute petting farm barn inside the zoo. So on the way home from the zoo, everyone was tuckered out and hungry. We were driving to meet aunt Karen for dinner and Griffin wanted a snack. I gave him some crackers and as he started eating he was fighting so hard to stay awake, but.....
he managed to finish a couple crackers, with his eyes closed, then he went out. We were laughing at him, poor kid.

June 2008

Koby (my older brother) and Kaden (his oldest son, in the car with Griffin) surprised us and came to visit on my Mom's birthday. They live in Minnesota and we don't get to see them very often. It was a lot of fun and we were sure happy to see them and spend time together. Griffin and Noah loved plaing with their cousin and were really sad that he could not stay longer. We love and miss you all Koby, Anna, Kaden, and Malachi!!!
This was a family reunion up at Camp Elkanah with my Mom's family. It was a blast and fun to see all our relatives that came from far away to camp with us. Camp Elkanah is located about 30 minutes from La Grande in the Blue Mountains. It has many cabins that house anywhere from 4 people, to about 15. Rich, the kids and I got our own little cabin with four beds. The boys did really good camping and we had a very fun experience there. There were many fun things to chose from while we camped. Volleyball, basketball, tiny tee, a rec. room with foosball, ping pong, air hockey, pool, a movie room with a big screen t.v., a huge slip-n-slide that came down a hill, and a swim hole in the river were the main activities we participated in while we were there. I hope we can make this a regular thing, it sure was fun.

Noah's 4th Birthday

July 6, 2008

Noah had a Spiderman b-day party. He had a lot of fun with all his friends. They all did the spidey-man slip-n-slide and had a squirt gun fight. It sure is fun to have a party outside in the warm summer weather. He said he loved his party and wants another Spiderman birthday next year. His cake by the way, I made, and yeah it pretty much took me 2 days to decorate. It was all for my Noah, well worth it!

Ryder is growing like a weed. He has definantly changed since the last post. He is about 5-1/2 months old now and his personality is very sweet. Most of the time he is mellow, but occasionally he will have tummy issues and cry a lot throughout the day. The older he gets the better his days get. He is a very strong boy, he likes to stand on his legs (with help) and he loves watching his older brothers play. We love him very much and I try to cherish this time while he is an infant, I love this stage!

Noah and his cousin Alexis hit heads and he got his very first black eye
Noah jumpng on the trampoline at the cows
Griffin playing on the four-wheeler at the cows, they love helping Daddy.
Two crazy and fun boys sitting on the top bunk.

Blessing Day

Sunday April, 13 was a special day for our family. Ryder received his Father's blessing from his Daddy. It was a very sweet blessing. We had a lot of family there to support us. Ryder got to see his Grandpa and Grandma McIlmoil for the first time, it was a lot of fun.
Ryder in his blessing outfit, what a cutie!

Sharing the day with his big brothers. (Noah wouldn't look at the camera)