Happy 30th Gary . . .

So Gary turned the big 3-0 on the 15th!! We had a little get together with some friends, had a yummy barbeque, and played Guitar Hero World Tour. He got GH for his birthday and it was fun to have enough people to play all the parts. I created a cute little cake made entirely of homemade oreos (these are sinfully delicious and entirely too easy to make, I have posted the recipe below . . . make sure you ramp up your workout routine after you make your first back because you will be hooked!!). Here are a few pictures, unfortunately the red eye was turned off on the camera, but you can still see that everyone was having a blast!

Happy Birthday sweetheart! I hope that your birthday wishes all come true!

Homemade Oreos

Ingredients:

1 cake mix of any flavor (for Oreo-type cookies, Devil's Food is best)

2 eggs

1/2 c. oil

frosting

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

Mix cake mix, eggs, and oil

drop onto cookie sheet and cook in pre-heated oven for 8-10 minutes

let cookies cool for 10 minutes

take two cookies, load some frosting onto one cookie and place the other cookie on top, making a sandwich

try NOT to eat all of them yourself!!

Bottle Time . . .

Gary just got Riley to take a bottle!

Riley has been resisting the bottle for a few days now and I have been racking my brain for ways to talk him into it, but to no avail. This morning I left Gary home with the sleeping baby so I could go and pick up some things from Target. While I was there Gary called me to let me know that the baby had woken up (which usually means that he is hungry), so I rushed home. When I got there he told me that Riley had finally taken the bottle, like it was no big deal! Gary must just have that "Daddy Magic"!

Here they are bonding together. Isn't this a sweet picture?

This makes me feel so relieved. I am officially starting work tomorrow and was concerned that Gary would have to deal with a hungry, screaming baby until I got home (I am working from 7 am -9 am, Mon - Fri at Waste Management again), but now I don't have to worry. This is going to be so great! Bottle feeding opens up so many possibilities, like not missing Sunday School every week and not being the only one who can quiet the screaming baby. Hallelujah!

2 Months Old

Yesterday was Riley's 2 month birthday! Yeah!

Riley can now . . .

hold his head up on his own

smile, giggle, and flirt with strangers

follow you around the room with his eyes

converse in baby talk

occasionally sleep for a whole 5 hours

intensely study pages of baby books

grasp objects that get close to his hands

(I am going to ask Gary to get our scale from storage so I can report on his height and weight, so look for that to come later.)

All that in just a couple of months! It blows me away! He is getting bigger and coming into his own personality more everyday. I think we have come a long way in learning to be parents, and we are looking forward to Riley reaching more milestones.

My parents came in to town to visit for a few days. Here is a picture of them with their favorite grandson!

This out fit that he is wearing is so cute! It has a monkey on the back of the pants! I love it!

Riley doesn't like to take a pacifier, but he will suck on my finger. Not very comfortable to hold my hand like that, but better than hearing him cry! (I love how he is holding onto my hand with his tiny hand, so cute!)

Bonfires . . .

We went to a bonfire at the beach last night to say goodbye to our friend Brett who is leaving for college tomorrow (Good Luck Brett!!). We saw some seals (or sea lions, I'm not sure which) out in the harbor while we were there. I wasn't fast enough with the camera to catch a picute of them, but I did take these funny picutes of Riley hanging out in a camp chair with his Dad. I think they are hilarious, hope you like 'em!!

P.S. Riley slept for 5 1/2 hours straight last night (normally he sleeps for three to four hours at a time)! His mom is feeling very rested!

Sunday night . . .

Just won the bedtime battle . . .

No he is not in his p.j.'s, and no he isn't even in his own bed, but he is asleep, and what more could you ask for??

Oh, no! I spoke too soon. He is awake again!

Gloria . . .

Gloria left today after spending two fun weeks with us. She will be missed! She was a great help with many things while she was here. I love that she had a chance to get to know Riley and spend some quality time with him. She also spent some quality time with Jack; she was nice enough to walk him everyday. Sometimes she felt like she was the one being taken on the walk! He was in puppy heaven! Thanks Gloria!

It has been so nice to have so much company come in to town and help us with the baby. My mom was here for three weeks, then Sunnie came for a week, followed by Ivy, Anya, and Cozy for a week, and finally Gloria was here for two weeks. It's been a great way to ease ourselves into parenthood. The only bad thing is that it has made us miss home all the more. Luckily we are going to see everyone again soon; we are going to be in Salt Lake the last weekend in September for Riley's blessing! More info to follow . . .

New Look . . .

So you probably noticed that I changed the look of our blog. I was looking for a template that gave me three columns instead of the 2 columns, which is the Blogger standard. I found TONS on http://btemplates.com/blogger-templates/3-columns/ . I kind of like how it turned out, but I might continue to play around with it. My only complaint so far is that it doesn't have a lot of color. I tried to mess with it, but it didn't seem to want to let me. We shall see. There are lots and lots of templates out there!