Baby Boot Camp . . .

As of today Riley is 6 weeks old. We have officially made it through baby boot camp! Hooray!

Boot camp definitely had it's moments, most memorable for me was the day I dropped my mom off at the airport. She had been visiting us for three weeks and the day I dropped her off was going to be my first day alone with the baby. I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do it on my own. Riley and I would have a week alone together (during the days, at least) before Sunnie would be coming to visit, and up until that point I had never had to soothe his crying without someone there to help me out and give me pointers. Mom would reassure me that the crying wouldn't last forever, a mantra that I repeat for myself almost daily. She would take the baby while I took a nap or a shower, and help me put the grocery cart away at the store, and just be someone to help me sort through this life change. These things might not seem like a big deal, but they helped everday and I wasn't sure I could manage without her. Happily though we made it, and I really enjoyed it too. Riley is such a good baby! He has his moments battling tiredness and gas pains, but he sleeps great at night (usually only waking up twice, and easily going back down to sleep) and in between his long daytime naps he will sit and look around and make those cute baby cooing sounds! I am falling more in love with him each day!

Gary is an excellent dad! He always helps out where he can and he loves to hang out with his little guy. He gives Riley his baths and he also insists on taking him for an hour during church! What a guy!

Jack is sweet with the baby too. Whenever we get home Jack has to peek into the baby carrier to see Riley. I love it!

Well here are a bunch of pictures from the last six weeks. It is amazing to see how much bigger he gets in just a few short weeks. Enjoy!

Taking our first look at our little boy

First baby cry

It was all worth it!

Baby foot prints

First bath




Everyone was worn out from the labor!

New little family

First trip out in the carrier to the doctor

I love this picture!

Checking out dad

At the library with a bunch of baby name books

Cute baby toes!

Little baby smiles! Don't they just melt your heart?

Bath time!

Kisses from cousin Anya

Tiny baby asleep on a big bed

Weekend in Vegas . . .

I know it has been a few weeks since we went to Vegas, but I finally have a second to write a quick post about it.

We headed out on Friday afternoon with the LaLanne's. We dropped Jack off at Gary's cousin Ryan's house (Thanks again, Ryan and Erica!) and checked into the Grandview at Las Vegas, which is located just south of South Point on the far south end of Las Vegas Blvd. Christy has found an excellent deal there. It was about $50 a night for this huge timeshare suite! It was awesome. It had a full kitchen, a living room, bedroom, and an enormous jetted tub. I have to say that the huge tub was my favorite feature. I could fill it all the way up and it would cover my entire prego belly, which is something out little apartment tub at home could never achieve. I LOVED it! I think our only complaint was that they didn't have "black-out" curtains in the bedroom, so sleeping in was a bit difficult.

After we checked in we drove up the strip and parked the car in search of some dinner. We didn't have a lot of time so we just ate at one of the "food court" type areas at one of the casinos. About as expensive as airport food, but my panini was pretty good. Then we went to see the "Blue Man Group"! Gary and I have wanted to see them for a long time and we were not disappointed! The show was really funny and our friend James actually got to be a part of it. Near the end James was picked from the crowd (actually, they had picked him before the show started, but we all pretended that it had been spontaneous) and took him on stage, dressed him in a Tyvek suit and followed him backstage where he was painted from head to toe in "Blue Man blue" paint and swung upside down into a painting canvas, thereby creating a full size "James Painted in Blue" work of art. No, we didn't get to keep it, but we got some fun pictures! Afterwards a black cart with a bucket-sized piece of jello on top was rolled out onto the stage and was revealed to contain James with his head inside the Jello. Pretty crazy!

The next day we slept in late (well, tried to anyway) and had breakfast at South Point (there are not restaurants at GrandView, but it is right next to South Point and they have about 8 there). After breakfast we drove to the strip and parked the car. We headed to the Paris casino and went to the top of the Eiffel tower. Did you know that it is half the size of the actual Eiffel Tower, and that they originally wanted to build it to actual specs, but they are located too close to the airport and couldn't get permission? Anyway, we watched the Bellagio fountains from the top of the tower. Gary and I had always wanted to watch the fountains, but we don't come to Vegas a lot a the few times we have been here the people we were with weren't too interested in watching the whole show. This time we saw the whole show and had a fantastic view of the entire thing too, since we were 500+ feet above it. Gary took some great pictures:

After our Eiffel Tower excursion we went to La Creperie and had a delicious, giant crepe! Christy and James love these things and we can totally appreciate why. They are delicious!

We saw another show later than afternoon called "Defending the Caveman". It is a comedian who talks about the differences between men and women and how those go back to caveman days. It was SO funny and totally true. If you go to Vegas look it up, you will love it!

That night we went to the Cheesecake Factory and I think we all had the best food that we have ever eaten there! I don't know why it was, but the food was amazing!

That day was "National Frozen Yogurt Day", so we celebrated by having some Gelato instead.

It was super expensive (I'm not even going to tell you how much I spent) but super tasty too, and we sat outside of a dance club and had a great time "people watching". It is crazy how crazy people dress for clubbing in Vegas! Wow! I am amazed at what some girls interpret to be a "dress"! I have hand towels made with more fabric! Unfortunately I am too much of a chicken to blatantly take pictures of outrageously dressed people when they can totally see me, so I don't have any photos, but I'm sure you can imagine. It is also interesting to us how the girls will go all out (dress way up in some party dress that you know they shopped for a whole week to find, spend two hours doing their hair and make-up and wear amazing 6" heels) and they guys show up in T-shirts and jeans? Why do the girls go through so much trouble, and why don't the guys try just a little bit more? I don't understand it!

After a satisfying time of people watching we messed around in and around the stores at Caesar's. (Isn't that picture of Gary with the goldfish awesome!?!)

Our final day in Vegas we went to a Brunch Buffet at the Golden Nugget. It was really good! They had this guy that would make custom omelets for you with whatever you wanted in them! Yum! We didn't get a chance to see the lights on Freemont Street (since it was day time) but they were having this HUGE car show and Gary and I spent the rest of our time checking out all the awesome old cars. He even found his dream car:

Christy and James aren't big car show lovers, but they indulged us and let us wander around. Thanks guys!

All in all it was an excellent weekend! Thanks James and Christy! We are looking forward to our next trip!

Vegas, baby . . .

Gary and I are headed out to Vegas this afternoon! Woo-hoo! It is sort of an anniversary/last kid-less weekend type trip with our friends the LaLanne's (who also celebrated their anniversary in May). We are pretty excited!

I am looking forward to:
getting off of work early today (only 2-1/2 hours to go!)
sleeping in late in the dark hotel room (our blinds at home let the sun in around 7:00 am, blah!)not walking the dog for a couple of days (he is staying with Gary's very kind cousin Ryan)relaxing in the pool
and enjoying some Vegas shows

We have tickets to see the Blue Man Group, and a comedy show called Defending the Caveman. We also plan on enjoying some crepes, watching the fountains at the Bellagio, and seeing what other fun things Vegas has to offer. I will post some pictures next week.
Love you all and have a great weekend!

Ultrasound . . .

We went in for our ultrasound yesterday.  It was amazing.  And no, we didn't find out if it was a boy or girl.  But we did find out that it is healthy, and everything looks wonderful.  Textbook pregnancy!  Who could ask for anything more?

Here are some 3D pictures for you to enjoy . . .

Bliss + Gary . . .

Today is Gary's and my 5th wedding anniversary! Woo hoo!



And you know how people say that the first year of marriage is the hardest . . .

Well, we are still wondering what they were talking about.



Yes, we have gone through some hard times, but they have only made us love each other more. I sometimes wonder, if I have grown to love Gary this much more in only 5 years, how much will I love him in 20 years? in 50 years? I look forward to those days, and to seeing us grow old together.


I am so grateful to have found my perfect other half. Someone who seems to completely get me and understand what I need and what I mean and is patient enough to find out when it isn't completely clear.


Yes, we still have disagreements, but we have learned to talk about them and sometimes we even find that we are both taking our point of view too seriously, which makes us laugh and helps us talk about it more easily. We've also discovered that the old adage about "Not going to bed angry" is completely false. Sometime you are upset just because you are too tired to be rational. Go to bed already! You will probably laugh about how absurd it was in the morning.


I love . . .



-the weekends, when I get to spend all my time with him for an entire two and a half days.



-that he is still a kid at heart



-kissing him on that soft spot on his cheek and smelling "his smell" and knowing that I will be able to enjoy that forever



-that he agrees that I have fantastic ideas (even when other people might think they are silly)



-that he is open-minded and adventurous and willing to take a look at and try interesting/new/unusual things







Here's to you baby, and to our next 5 years!

Gary's new girlfriend, Xena 360 . . .

As a reward for all the time that Gary put into fixing up our Midvale house he has decided that he deserves to buy a new XBox 360. Normally I am kind of a hater when it comes to video games. Every time a new game is brought into the house I feel like I have lost my husband completely for the next two or three weeks while he works on beating the game to a bloody pulp. I had nicknamed his old XBox "Xena" (hence the title to this post), and referred to it as his other girlfriend. Usually I would NOT be excited about the idea of a new gaming system, but we talked about how he should let loose for a couple of months and then be more available when our new baby comes. We'll see how it goes. Besides who can deny that face? He has been looking forward to this for months now, and now that the house is officially SOLD (I love writing that!), the day of the XBox purchase has finally arrived! He has spent the last few weeks researching different XBox packages and prices and has settled on Costco as the best bang for the buck. We headed out for Costco last night right after work and picked it up. It was so fun, Gary was just like a 5 year old kid on Christmas morning!

Look at that excited face, I love it!

I drove home so he could tear into the box and start examining his purchase in the car. The rest of the night was spent in plugging everything in and playing some games.

Big mess, Happy boy! I think the two go hand in hand

This last Monday he had bought Guitar Hero Aerosmith from Game Stop for $10 (Normally $30) and it came with a free guitar (normally $40), all in all an amazing deal. That was one of the first games played. I will have to play during my lunch hour everyday to build up my skills and be good competition for him.

Getting in on some Guitar Hero action

Going once . . . going twice . . . SOLD!! . . .

That's right people, our Midvale house is officially SOLD! Everything went through yesterday and Gary and I are now "house-less" and looking for our next home, this time in sunny SoCal. Please keep the positive house-buying vibes going out for us. We are heading up to Fallbrook this weekend to check out the selection and see what we can see. Fallbrook is about 15 minutes north of Escondido on the freeway. Everyone says it is a great place to have kids because there is a lot of open space (read as "real backyards") and better schools. We will keep you updated and let you know if we finally make an offer.