Being a mommy

So I know it is a really late post but I wanted to just say that I am so HAPPY to be a mommy! This time last year I just couldn't wait to be able to see my little guy. And now I get to see his happy, smiley, adorable, chubby cheeked face every day. I couldn't ask for more. He truly is a gift to me. I know that there are times when it all seems way to hard to handle for myself. But then Ryken just looks at me and gives me one of his cheesy smiles and melts my heart all over again. :) I am so happy to be his mom! And being a mom is really all I have ever wanted to be. If I was asked when I was younger what I wanted to be the top answer for sure was to be a mom. I never really knew how hard it could be at times and that it truly is a 24/7 job when you are a stay at home mom. So I am so thankful for my mom and all the things she has done for me and continues to do for me. I couldn't have asked for a better mom and I am sure we all feel that way about our moms. But she is in my eyes the best example of what a mother should be. I could only hope to be half the woman she is and half the mom that she is too.

Thanks again mom for being YOU, and the best mom ever! And the best Grandma too! We love you!

1st Baseball game

On Tuesday we had the chance to go see the Diamondbacks play. And it was Ryken's first baseball game. We also invited my brothers that live here in Arizona to join us with their families. And Justin's sister Jessica was in town from Cali with her little guy Tristan so they came too and it was his first game also. It was also a game that they were honoring the fallen officers that have passed away this past year here in Arizona. So alot of Justin's squad mates were there too.

We were a little worried about how Ryken and Tristan were going to do. And they both surpised us. I know that Ryken really doesn't like alot of noise and chaos. But for some reason I really didn't think about it and going to the game. Well needless to say as soon as we got there and everyone started cheering and screaming it set Ryken off too. And thats when I started dreading the fact that we decided to take our 10 month old to a game where everyone around us was going to be screaming and yelling during the whole game. Cause duh thats what people to at baseball games. So thru out the game I had to try to find ways to distract him so that he wouldn't freak out as much when all the cheering happened. So needless to say there were a few Ryken meltdowns thru out the game but it was not bad at all. He even got to a point where he was pretty happy and seemed to be trying to dance when all the music was playing in the stadium. So we may just have to try out another game this season to see how he does later too. Cause if any of you know my family it would be a big shame if Ryken didn't like baseball like all the other boys in my family do. :) We had lots of fun and Thanks again everyone that came it was fun I just wish we had more of a chance to chat. Even if thats not really what baseball games are for. :)

Here we all our in our D-backs gear supporting the Diamondbacks. And yeah they won that night!

And here is Ryken and Tristan in their matching gear. Grandma Buchberger was nice enough to get these for them to wear to their first baseball game. And they both look so adorable in it. And my other nephew Cordd had the same outfit on and I am so upset we didn't get a picture with him too. Darnit! But of course he looked just as cute.

Ryken looks like who?....

Okay so I really don't have much to blog about plus I was kinda bored. Justin has already left for work. Ryken is in bed sleeping like the angel he is. :) (HA HA) And there isn't much on tv... except for Grey's Anatomy but I have to record it so that Justin can watch it with me later. So since all this is going on I decide to find something to blog about. I was thinking bout it the other day and wondered who Ryken really looks more like. Justin or Me? I always remember everyone asking me when Ryken was a few months old who he looked like. I never really knew. Everyone always said differently. My parents thought he looked like Justin. And Justin's parents thought he looked like me. Well as he started to get a little older I started to see how much I thought he looked more like one of us then the other. Can you guess who? Who do you think he looks more like. His mommy or his daddy?

Here is a picture of me at 6 months old. (sorry its not the best i had to take a picture of a picture)

And a picture of Justin at 6 months old. (Sorry another picture of a picture.)

And finally a picture of Ryken when he was 6 months old. So whats the answer? I have now started to think that he looks alot more like me. I know sad huh? Don't worry I feel bad for him. But I guess I kinda know what he would look like if he was a girl. :) He for sure has alot of Baker in him. Even looking at pictures of some of my brothers when they were this age.

10 months old!

I can't believe it but it is true, Ryken is 10 months old. Only 2 more months till the big ONE YEAR OLD mark. Well he has now learned how to somewhat crawl... I guess. But its not really much of a crawl or even the army crawl. It's more of the worm. But it gets him where he wants to go. I know this sounds kinda weird but I just wish he would really learn how to crawl. Because of the way he gets around he bangs his belly on the floor. Which in turn gets him to spit up. And then he proceeds to drag himself thru it. And it is not fun for mommy or daddy. I don't know if he will ever get past this spitting up that he does. I was hoping it would be gone by now but with my luck it is still happening. Oh well his smiles and laughter make up for it. :) He is our little cheese ball that's for sure. It seems like whenever he sees a camera he has to smile for it. Which I guess isn't a bad thing. But I wish I could just capture a picture right in the moment. But as soon as he hears the camera turn on he has to look to find it. So we get some pretty cute pics. He now has 2 teeth. He got one of his bottom ones first. I figured that the second one would be his other bottom one but nope, he got the top one right above the bottom one. I am thinking the other top one will be coming thru soon. All I can say is that he keeps me on my toes now that he is more mobile. Which maybe that is a good thing. I need to stay busy sometimes. :)

Here is a little video of Ryken crawling... well the way he crawls I guess. :) And hey at least there wasn't any spit up this time.

See what I mean by being so cheesy when the camera is on him. :) Oh well he makes me smile.
This is the cutest little chair he got for Christmas from his grandma and grandpa Buchberger. It has his name on the chair but he is covering it up. Oh well he makes it cute still.

Here he is on our way to Utah. We got bored and I decided to stick some of his puffs on him.

Playing in the sand for the first time at his friend Porter's one year birthday party. I was surprised that he actually liked it. He hated the grass.

And here he is trying out Porter's swing too. I was hoping we could get one of these but Justin doesn't think we can hang one on our patio. :(

Our trip to Utah!

This past week we were able to make a little trip up to Utah with my parents. And we are glad that we were able to do it. Justin has never been to Utah and so he was looking forward to seeing all the sites at Temple Square in Salt Lake City. And I was also looking forward to seeing it all since it had been awhile since I had been there. I think my dad was happy for us to go so that he could talk all about the church history that he knows to someone who hasn't heard it all. That person being Justin of course. :) Our first stop on the way there was in Manti. We got to see the Temple there and it sure is a pretty one. We were just hoping we could do a session there but weren't able to since it was a Monday. Oh well just seeing it was great! Hopefully we will get back up there to see the Manti pageant soon too. My parents were a little worried about how Ryken would do on such a long trip in the car. But he did really good much to all of our surprise. He even got to have his first real tastes of an ice cream cone. And boy did he like it. We of course had lots of books and toys to entertain him but I think he just really enjoyed getting to spend some time with his Grandma and Grandpa Baker.

Our next stop was to meet up with some of my cousins that live in Provo. Stephanie and Darbie were nice enough to make us all dinner that night. On short notice even. ( Thanks again gals it was delicious.) So while we were there we got to see them and their hubbies and even better their adorable little kids. We had lots of fun catching up on stuff and just getting to visit since we don't get to see them all that much. Darbie's little guy Jay was lots of fun to talk to since he had learned all of our names. He is one smart little cookie! I wish he could rub off on Ryken. He was trying to teach Ryken the correct way to crawl but it didn't really work, he is still worming it around.

Here is Jay trying to show Ryken how to work the bubble gum machine. They sure played nice together. :) To bad we didn't all live closer so they could play more often.

On Tuesday we decided to make the short trip to Bountiful to see the Temple there. Of course the day before was such a nice day and then the rest of the days that we were there the days were COLD! On the way up to the Temple it started to snow on us.

We were really only able to get a picture of the Temple and my dad was the only one that wanted to get out in the snow. When we left the Temple the tempeture on my dads truck said 33 degrees. So it was cold and windy.

Later that day we went to the church history muesuem. It was really fun and educational to go thru there. Its always fun to get to learn more about the church and find out things that you never really knew about the church, the pioneers and the late Prophets.

Ryken even got to sit in the replica of the bunk beds that the saints slept in on the ships. He sure thought it was lots of fun. :)

We also were able to meet up with my Aunt Wendy and her daughters to do dinner. It was fun to catch up with all of them too. Since again we don't get to see them much either. Thanks again aunt Wendy for dinner. :)

Wednesday my cousins Stephanie and Darbie were nice enough to come in to Salt Lake City and watch Ryken for us so that we could go to the Salt Lake City Temple and do a session. It was such a great experience to attend that Temple. We hope to get back to do it again. Thanks for helping us out again Steph and Darbie. We owe you. :) We also got to go see the Brigham Young's house that is now called the Beehive house. We really enjoyed getting to be in there and see all the thing in the house that were Brigham Young's and to learn new things about him and his family. It was once again really cold that night but Ryken was such a trooper and stuck it out with us.

See his little red nose? Oh and I swear he has pants on they are not shorts, they just look it with the way he is sitting. :) But hey he is still smiling.

Finally on Thursday we got to go to the Confrence Center and get a tour of it. WOW is is so much bigger in person. I had been there to tour it before but still you forget how big it is. And we got to see the great view of Temple Square there on the roof.

We were also able to see the new movie about Joseph Smith while we were there on Temple Square . It sure was a tear jerker. It is so hard to watch it and see all the persecussion and hard times that the early saints went thru for the Gospel. But especially Joseph. It makes my testiomony of him grow when I remember all that he went thru to restore the gospel for all of us. We were SO glad that we were able to watch that movie while we were there.

We always like to just get away for a little while from all the stuff we have going on here at home. And this was one of the best ways to do it. We got to learn lots of new and interesting facts about the church and its history. So thanks again MOM and DAD for inviting us to take this little trip with you. We just wish mom could have been there with us for most of this stuff. Sorry you had to work and we got to play. :)

Our little family.

Growing up I remember my family getting family pictures. I always loved getting them for some reason. I don't really know why but I did. And looking back at them makes me smile. My mom was also good about getting professional pictures taken of us when we were younger too. And I think I had mentioned it in an earlier blog but I wish I had been better about getting Ryken's pictures taken professionaly every few months. I know I have pleanty of snap shots that I have taken myself. But its nice to look back and see the others too. SO I hope that one day Ryken and even the children that we may have later on can look back and see these family pictures that we have taken and the pictures of themselves and they can just smile too. And yep its still fun for me to go get the pictures taken. Even if I look incredibly hideous in them. :)

Father and son. Two of the guys in my life that I can't live without.

Mother and Son. Being his mom is all I have ever wanted. And I enjoy it so much. :)

My little big boy. I just can't get enough of him. And he makes me smile like no other.

My hubby must love his job!

So there may be a few husbands out there that don't really like their job. But I can say that my husband is not one of them. Me on the other hand.... I don't really like his job much but that's another story. :) This past Friday he volunteered himself to help his SWAT team with some scenario training. He basically was a human target for the SWAT guys. They were doing building searches and he was one of the bad guys in the building. He would hide out in the building and be put in different situations for the guys to practice on. He got shot a few times with what was basically paint balls from the other guys. The only thing was that he didn't really get to fire anything back at them. This is what the out come of his day of being target practice was.

I think you can kind of see the paint on his shirt from the shots that hit him. Its all that red stuff.....

And this is the aftermath of the shots that he took. Yes he could have worn his vest but he decided he wanted to be mister strong man so he didn't needless to say he seemed to enjoy all of it. Can't you tell by the smile on his face. I have one crazy husband. But I still love him. :) And he still loves his job even after all of that.