Ryker's Summer 2012

Ryker has had a great summer! It's been way hot in  Logan but we still were able to play, play, play.

Ryker loves to be outside more than anything. 

We went to the Farmer's Market a couple of times and they had a band there with lots of instruments for the kids to play. We stayed for more than an hour. Ryker loved it.

 

There is a little irrigation stream that runs in our yard. Ryker could and often does spend hours playing in it. He likes to throw things in it too... Hopefully I haven't lost anything unknowingly to the stream.

We've played with the cousins as much as we could. Here we went to Rigby Lake. Ryker has no fear of water - which I don't like.

 Getting all cleaned up after Rigby Lake. Cute cousins!

We went repelling with our great friends Tiffany and Spencer Maughn and her sister Trudy who I went to High school with. It was fun to see her again. Ryker thought it was so cool that we were climbing down the rocks.

 We went camping a few times. Ryker LOVES dirt.

We made homemade pizza with Nate's friend Jarrett and his wife Sydney. Ryker helped a lot.

We got to go to the Hunter Reunion in Rexburg, ID and play at the water park and go on the merry go round. I thought Ryker would be scared... I'm so silly. He's not afraid of anything.

 Ryker has 4 cousins his age. They are all cute as can be! Ali isn't in this picture. She is on a big horse!

4th of July in Menan. It was fun to have a kid to celebrate with. It makes it that much more enjoyable.

We spent some time at Grandma Hunter's farm. She passed away in August but we got to be with her and know that she was the best grandma ever.

 As I said... Ryker is not afraid of anything- including huge horses. 

Last but not least, Ryker got to have hernia surgery! The doctor said it was more progressive than they thought so we were very happy we did the surgery when we did. Ryker was so cute to start out with but did NOT like waking up. Mommy won't forget that part. It didn't keep him down at all. We had to go to the park that day because he was jumping all over the place. So much for a recovering mild child.

Ryker is almost 2 years old and he's starting to show it. He throws some pretty good tantrums but we do our best to ignore it and reinforce his good behavior. He is super active and I'm happy when he can sit down and watch half a disney movie. He can get pretty demanding but can also be so sweet and helpful. When he wakes up in the morning he gets into bed with us and snuggles for about 30 seconds... It's always the greatest 30 seconds of my day. I love this kid with all my heart.

MaRyLaNd

Nate is currently working at a lab on campus where he designs, creates and flies UAVs (Unmanned Arial Vehicles or remote control airplanes).

He LOVES working here. He comes home nearly every day and has some exciting news to share about how airplanes did/did not fly... Usually it's how incredibly bad one of them crashed.

He was lucky enough to be on the team making a "Quadrotor" to take to a competition in Maryland. Here is what a quadrotor looks like for all of those out there who, like me, would normally have no idea what was coming out of my mouth:

 So you can see that it has four propellers and four motors making it a Quad-Rotor. 

Their's was the only quadrotor entered into this competition. Usually USU brings a fixed-wing UAV and gets 1st but they decided that it was time to challenge themselves - and boy, was it a challenge. There is so much that goes into making something fly and it gets way more complicated when you add 4 motors - not only that, but when you take it to another part of the country, you have to re-tune it to the current climate/elevation. The process was pretty frustrating for Nate and his team because it just wasn't working for the first 3 days of the competition. Miraculously, they got it to do some things that they didn't expect they would and ended up doing pretty well in the competition considering they brought such a hard UAV. 

After the competition, we celebrated by eating some awesome sea-food and going to the beach.

We also took a trip to Washington D.C. which was awesome. I have been here once when I was in 2nd grade and it was fun to go back. We started with the Museum of Natural History. I could have stayed for HOURS but they only gave me one.

But they got to spend FOUR HOURS at the Air and Space Museum! 

This was Nate's face as we walked in:

Wow right? That something so nerdy makes my husband so excited... Yikes.

I got to learn a lot of information about certain spaceships and planes there but I've forgotten it all now...

 I had a great time with my hubs and his team. It was really hard not to feel like Penny on The Big Bang Theory... And I did learn just how much of a nerd I married. I knew he was one before but I saw IT ALL on this trip. And guess what, I love him even more for it. :-)

New Bike

So ever since we got married, Nate has been wanting a bike. Now, before you think I'm a horrible wife for not getting him one sooner, I have to tell you that he doesn't want just any bike - he wants a GOOD bike. And as any of you that are bikers know, good bikes aren't cheap. So we haven't gotten him one because we haven't really been able to afford it.

I have recently taken up biking myself. I have a bike that we got when were first married for $100. Nothing fancy, but I love it. I decided that I would start riding my bike to work because it would save on gas and help me get into shape. I have enjoyed it so much that I want to bike everywhere I go but the problem with that is I didn't have any way of taking Ryker with me. 

Thus began the bike trailer shopping.

I had been shopping online for bike trailers for quite a while when I went to Sunrise Cyclery in Logan. It is owned by a friend of ours and I thought I'd go to just look at one in person to compare it to the online ones I found. Needless to say, I fell in love with the bike trailer that they had. It was more expensive than a used one on KSL but I knew that it was a lot nicer. I talked to Nate and we agreed that we would get the bike trailer. 

Ian, the owner of the Sunrise told me that the following weekend they were having their memorial day sale and everything would be a lot cheaper. As I geared up to put down some money for the bike trailer, I felt sad because I would have a bike but nate wouldn't so we wouldn't be able to go riding together. 

Thus began Nathan's bike shopping.

I wanted to surprise him but I also knew that he is NOT a spur of the moment spender so I had to give him a few days to shop around just to make sure he knew what he wanted. So I told him that I had a anniversary, birthday and graduation gift for him. He got SO excited when I told him I was going to get him a bike. True, not as cool as bringing the bike home and having it there but I had NO idea what kind of bike he wanted and like I said earlier, he is picky and wants a GOOD bike. 

 That weekend we went to Sunrise and he pretty much knew exactly what he wanted. I was trying to steer him towards a cheeper one.... But he is a quality that last a lifetime kind of guy. Luckily, Ian was really nice to us and gave us the awesome Memorial sale plus a discount for buying the bike and the trailer together. 

We've been on several rides together and Nate loves his bike and Ryker loves the trailer. 

It stays in our room with us because we have nowhere else to put it and he wants it kept inside and he lovingly, almost annoyingly babies it to make sure it stays perfect - hey, I'm not complaining. Hopefully it will be the only bike we will buy for a long time.

!FoUrTh!

We've been married for FOUR years!!! I can't believe it. It's gone by SO fast.
Here's a sum of us on our Fourth:

Nathan is into his 2nd year of Graduate School at Utah State. He is studying Aerospace/Mechanical Engineering.

These are the kinds of things that he builds... he gets too excited about them.

I work 3 days a week as a hygienist.

We are living in Logan, UT in a townhouse apartment in "the Island" and we love it.

Nate works a lot but we find time to go on dates together which usually entails window shopping, ice cream or going on walks

We have an 18 month old boy named Ryker and he's the greatest accomplishment of our marriage.

For our anniversary, we went to Kneaders for breakfast and to Kabuki Sushi for dinner! We don't eat out very often so yes, this was an awesome anniversary!

Volcano roll... D-lish

Ryker came to breakfast with us. He loves the french toast and the strawberries!

Ryker's Room

 I finished this project a long time ago but I haven't had the chance to take pictures of it yet. Seems like the times I get a chance to take pictures of Ryker's room are when he is asleep in it!

Back when Nathan was 12-14 years old, he made some model airplanes.  His mom was awesome and saved them and gave them to us when we got married. I really had no idea what to do with them. I thought they were super cool but I had no place for them. Then I had the best idea ever... to make a mobile for Ryker's room! After I hung them up, Ryker would point to them every morning and make a plane sound. He loves them.
So then I really wanted to paint his room as well. I was just going to paint it a plain color but then I went to Ikea with my sister Heidi and her kids. They had one model room that had clouds painted on it - I was inspired.

So here is the finished product!

EASTER!

Easter was awesome this year! We had so much fun because Ryker loves doing new things and is very outgoing.

I took him with my good friend and neighbor Ashley Gibby to "Baby Animal Days" here in Logan. It was the first time I'd gone and it was awesome! 

Ryker LOVED all the animals...

Except the Rams that stuck their head into the baby goat pen aand bleated at him REALLY loud. I was lucky to catch the moment on camera:

Ryker and Colson had a moment... They are good buds.

Baby Turtle!

For Easter Ryker and I went to Idaho. We did his first ever hunt at the Lewisville Park. Ryker didn't quite get the point but that made it so much more fun! He was happy to just throw the eggs around.

For lunch, we went to Rigby lake with the family.

Ryker and BroDee playing in the sand together. They were pretty cute. 

I got the eggs!!!

Ugh... Hair

Okay... So I'm writing this to help myself 

remember something.

KaDee, DON'T CUT YOUR HAIR

Every... 3 - 5 years or so I get sick of my long hair and decide to cut it. Both times I cut it, it was completely spur of the moment. Not thought out at all. I just sit in the spinny chair and say, "Let's take it all off." The beutician tries to talk me out of it. "Are you sure?" And I just say, "Yeah, I'm ready for a change. Just do it." 

This was back in 2007:

BEfore

After

This was this year:

BEfore

After 

(This is my niece Hannah. I love her to death. She is on a competitive cheer team in Idaho Falls and comes down to Utah a lot to compete. So I get to go watch!)

Don't get me wrong, it's super cute and everything and I absolutely LOVED my haircuts... for about the first 2 months.

Then I start to notice all the girls around me with long flowing hair and I just want it to all come back.

It would be pretty sweet if there was a way that we could cut our hair and then have it grow out again when we ask it to. 

The other day I had a lady come in to get her teeth cleaned. I knew from the notes that I had seen her before but I really didn't think that this was the same woman. When I saw her before, she had long, curly brown hair that just laid perfectly and didn't get all nasty in the back from laying in the dentist chair. I remember it specifically because I thought it was so pretty. WELL this time she had a super cute short boy hair cut that was blonde with fun highlights. I thought to myself how drastic of a change it was and was amazed that the color was so perfect. Then I noticed something else... She had to adjust her hair when she laid back. 

IT WAS A WIG! 

Man... It made me seriously debate getting some wigs. Her hair was awesome BOTH times.

I decided I just don't have the hair to sport a short haircut. This is what I was going for this last time:

(I love Gwenyth.)

Well DUH! I could never get my hair to look like this. I don't have enough of it... And other reasons.

So KaDee, although you may think it's time for a change and that it has magically become thick enough to style it all cute and that you will ACTUALLY style is all cute everyday.... you won't. So don't!

ASL, adorable laugh, new tile

Ryker is such a personable child. He loves interacting with people and is naturally happy all the time. He loves when people come over. He smiles, jabbers and shows off for them. 

He has gotten pretty good at signing. We started signing with him when he was 9 months old and he picked up on "milk" really quick but didn't do anything else until just the last month or so. But now he does pretty much all of the signs that we do. It makes it a lot easier to communicate with him. He used to just SCREAM when he wanted something - now he yells to get us to look at him and then does a sign. He says "please" pretty much anytime that he wants something. How can you say no when he says please?!
We have a dog that is right across our backyard and when it barks, Ryker says, "Doge" like he has a canadian accent. It cracks me up. This video shows him doing pretty much everything I just talked about:

For some reason, when I make crepes, he laughs hysterically when I flip them. He does it every time. I don't understand why it's so funny but I'm glad that it brings him joy.

They recently put tile in our apartment. We LOVE it. The process, however, was not so great. We basically could not walk in our kitchen for a week... and then they did the BATHROOM. You can imagine how difficult that was. I had to be creative and get out of the house with Ryker. I decided to get a 7 day trial membership at The Sports Academy. I basically spent all my time there. Ryker and I went swimming and i worked out a lot. The few days that they were doing the tile in the bathroom, I would wake up at 5:30 in the morning to go work out because I had to pee and couldn't walk in the bathroom! At least having to pee motivated me to get to the gym early...
Ryker and I spend a lot of time at fun places to eat because we didn't have a kitchen.

Kneaders was a great place to spend a couple of hours. Ryker liked it - and the french toast.

I got to go see little Braden Papke as well. What a cute little baby. Congrats Natasha and Keaton!

Snowboarding Awesomeness

Every year we go to the "Warren Miller Show." It is a ski/snowboard movie premier and they always give out tickets to The Canyons in Park City. I go to it because it ensures that Nate will take me snowboarding at least once a year and it also ensures that he will drop his school work for one day and come with me.

This year, James also got a ticket so we all got to go together.

The snow was awesome.
I am so happy to report that Nate is catching on! He started out the day saying that he only wanted to fall "when he was trying something new." By the end of the day, he was pretty good a carving... and he did fall a few times but had a great time. Actually, Marli was the only one of us who DIDN'T fall. I ended up flat on my back, sliding down the backside of a jump headfirst and James caught an edge and left a nice body print in the snow. All James had to say about it was, "No pain, no gain."

They have some sweet beach chairs to chill out in... Unfortunately, they lack the Beach