1 month old!

It's hard to believe Ryder is already 1 month old. Time flies so fast...isn't he so cute!

Party and Bowling...

Kendyl had a very nice birthday all day long. She came in our room this morning with a complete agenda of all the fun things she wanted to do today. She also got some cool presents...thank you Tutu and Papa Jack for the Heelys! She played and sang on her guitar all afternoon and loved playing the High School Musical game (she knew all the answers!).

Our birthday princess and little sister princess.

Yes, my attempts at a birthday cake again...this reminds me why I have sworn to buy birthday cakes, but this is what Kendyl wanted, and I must have had a moment of memory loss or delusion!

Kendyl with all her presents.

Brityn playing with the Hannah Montana guitar.

The longed-for, wished-for, begged-for, prayed-for Heelys...we hope she doesn't break any bones!

We had fun bowling, even though it was a lot harder than bowling on the Wii!

Happy Birthday Kendyl!

Kendyl was a beautiful baby and we waited so long to have her we could not put her down. She was perfect and we were so happy! She was a very good baby and traveled well. We took her to Hawaii several times and on our cruise to Mexico. Kendyl is a sweetheart, always willing to help, always cheerful, always loving. She is eager to learn and understand how things work, she'll ask a million questions and be underfoot until you let her help. She is a kind friend and will do nice things for others or share without being prompted. Kendyl is a daddy's girl and will hang out with him any chance she has! She's not afraid to get dirty in the yard and Steve loves having someone to work with him. She already has a love for the gospel--her prayers are sincere, she wants to read the scriptures, she loves primary and the prophet and reading stories in the Friend. We are so proud of Kendyl and the good choices she makes every day. We love you so much sweetie! Happy Birthday!

Successful week...

I just wanted to say, we made it through the week! The girls have been great helpers in getting ready in the morning so we have easily made it out the door to and from school. Ryder has also cooperated by sleeping while we get ready and during the drop off! Hurray!

We have seed...

On Saturday, we finally put the grass seed in our backyard. Woohoo! As long as it actually grows, then we are finally finished with our backyard renovation. Next step--buy new lawn mower. Yes, in our anxious anticipation last year of putting in synthetic grass, we D.I.'d the old lawn mower. Prematurely it would seem, cause the bid on the synthetic lawn was astronomical, thus we are seeding this summer and will now have to buy another lawn mower. Happy Father's Day?

On our own...

Today marks the first day that we are officially on our own. No grandmas or tutus here to distract and play with, no daddy to change diapers or run Kendyl to school. We all had to get up and get dressed and out the door to take Kendyl to kindergarten. And...hurray! We made it on time! Thankfully Ryder ate and then slept most of the morning so I could get ready and get the girls ready and out the door. (And time to update the blog!) If you are thinking, what happened to Monday, well, Kendyl had no school for Staff Development. Wish us luck for the rest of the week!

Say, "Cheese!"

I didn't want Kendyl and Brityn to feel too left out so I am posting these cute pictures of my girls!

What a cute boy!

Our little star had his 2 week check-up on Friday and has hit 9 lbs. already! We may actually be able to turn his car seat around at 12 months...unlike Kendyl who didn't hit 20 lbs. until she was 18 months and Brityn who was 15 months! He is doing great and taking some solid naps. We just can't wait till he sleeps a good stretch at night! His sisters adore him and can't get enough hugs and kisses and they constantly want to hold him. He only tolerates so much and then has had enough! He does like to be held, mostly by mom, but he'll take dad as a close second. Sunday, he was catnapping and every time I tried to lay him down he woke up. As soon as I picked him up he stopped crying and immediately went back to sleep. Steve and I were laughing and wondering if it is possible for parent manipulation to begin so early!


He has this cute furrowed eyebrows look...like, "What are you doing Mom? Why are you trying to blind me with this flash?"

Backyard renovations part 2...

Steve and his helpers have been diligently working on the backyard. We have all the play areas done and the pictures are them spreading the top soil. We plan to seed, but Steve spent last weekend trying to fix some leaky sprinkler pipes and didn't get the seeding done...hopefully this weekend!

Thank you...

We just wanted to say "Thank You" to Grandma Hardy for coming and spending a week with us to help out with the girls and Ryder. She was a trooper playing with the girls and pushing Brityn on the swing for what seemed like hours! It was especially helpful to have her here when Steve went back to work. Thanks Grandma!!


After Grandma left, Tutu and Papa Jack came to spend some time with the newest mo'opuna and to help out with Kendyl's first week back at school. It was so nice to have her do the school pick up/drop off or just watch the little ones while I went with Kendyl.


A big heartfelt thank you to everyone who helped us, and cooked for us, and cleaned for us, and did our laundry, and watched our girls, and sent gifts for Ryder, and let me rest! We love our family and friends!

Prayers...

Brityn is our official "prayer coordinator" which means she picks herself to say the prayer every time. Her prayer at dinner tonight went something like this..."Heavenly Father, thank you for all our stuff, for Kendyl's plate, Mommy's plate, Daddy's plate, Brityn's plate, my fork, Kendyl's fork, Mommy's fork, Daddy's fork, my beeto (burrito), my salad, my milk, the chips, the yellow cup, the yellow plate, the blue plate, the green plate, bless Mommy, and Daddy, and Kendyl, and Brityn, and Ryder, and Grandma, and Uncle Dono. Jesus Christ, Amen.

Enchanted with musicals

The easter bunny left the movie "Enchanted" in Kendyl's basket and she has told me that she only likes movies with music in them, so this was right up her alley. Somehow, my girls get stuck on songs/movies and can just watch them over and over, so here's a clip from the movie of their favorite song. The movie is really cute!

Backyard renovations...

We've been talking about changing our backyard for a couple of years now, and had made a start last spring, but it seemed too large a task for a do-it-yourself project and we weren't sure we wanted to invest a lot of money in this yard by hiring a pro, thus we did nothing...until an innocent offer was made to haul away our pitiful pile of weed-infested, half-dead, uneven, circle of grass and concrete edging.

As you can see, the girls found digging and hauling rocks great fun and Uncle Glenn dug out and installed the new sprinkler lines.


The girls were most excited about their new playhouse climber which they have played in everyday since it was put together! We still have topsoil and grass to do, but we'll post more pictures when we have a prettier yard to show!

A big MAHALO!!!!

 

Auntie Cheryl Lou and Uncle Glenn came and spent their spring break with us to help out with Ryder's birth. We are so thankful that they were able and willing to come and take care of our girls while we were in the hospital. We appreciate their love and support and give them a huge MAHALO for all their help...not only did they take care of us, but worked hard on our backyard! Yes, we started a backyard renovation days before Ryder was born, poor timing, I know, but the extra helping hands were a huge blessing!