merry (and engaging) christmas

my family has great news – my brother is engaged! nichole is such a beautiful, smart, and funny girl. we are so lucky to have her as part of our family. nichole was a speaker at chris’s farewell over two and half years ago. i remember thinking how great of a couple they would make. i am so glad they found each other. they look so great together!


we had an amazing christmas this year. we are so lucky we got to spend time with our wonderful families. ryker made it so much fun – especially when it came to buying gifts. graham only let me buy two gifts for ryker: a little piano and a crawling ball. this turned out to be a good idea because everyone bought ryker so many toys. we are going to buy a toy chest this week for all the toys.




ryker loves to hang out with kids. the ladies who watch ryks at daycare let him look into the toddler room so he can see all the big kids. ryks laughs and can look at them all day. on christmas, my cousin’s son was playing with his iphone. ryker found it hilarious and starting laughing so hard (it was very similar to the youtube laughing baby video). ryks’ big belly was shaking and he had to stop several times to catch his breath. i have never enjoyed a sweeter moment in my life.




graham and i realized we have taken over 4000 photos of ryker. there are just so many moments we want to capture. here are some awesome pictures of ryker and our family. he is the happiest and funniest baby! he still has no interest in crawling but sure loves to stand and "walk" (we hold his hands while he lifts his legs).








ryker and his cousin kellen


ryker kept trying to eat kellen's sweater - like we don't feed ryker enough!














thank you to all of our family and friends. we appreciate all your love and support this year! happy new year everyone!
love,
the weddicks

six months

time is flying by and we are loving every minute of it.
at ryker’s six month appointment, we realized how big he is.
he is in the 97th percentile for height and 91st for weight.
he took his shots like a champ and only cried for a few minutes.

he now has two teeth (which hurt when he bites us)
and he is exploring his voice through shouting and laughing.

he has no interest in rolling over but LOVES to stand up,
making burping him very difficult at times.
he sits up if there is something for him to reach for,
otherwise he just topples over.

he loves baby food and wants to help feed himself.
and watch out because everything goes in his mouth.
he’ll even try to pull kylie’s and nigel’s faces
closer to him so he can get a good mouth full.

ryker adds so much joy and happiness to our lives.
he is such a sweet, beautiful, and funny boy.
we are so thankful to be his parents
(wow – it is still funny to think of us as ‘parents’).

we love you baby ryker!

best week(end) ever!

on thanksgiving, we woke up early to go to the zoo,
where they fed the animals a thanksgiving meal.
my brother, sister, and pseudo-brother, ian, joined us,
as well as graham’s brother, chris.







chris and ian rocked the shapkas, and even got ryker to wear one




while we sported our own weird hats




we loved watching the elephants smash the 700 lb pumpkins,


and ryker seemed to enjoy watching the red panda run around


next, we went to my dad’s family party, where ryker wore his
super cool skulls and camouflage outfit (he looks so big!)


and where ashley and chris fought like true siblings!


we then went to my mom’s family party, where ryker
chilled with his cousin kellen (my cousin’s son)


on friday, i went shopping with my siblings and parents
while ryker and graham slept in.
we had so much fun battling the crowds at target and the mall

later that day, graham completed our exercise room
by purchasing our elliptical machine.
so if you need me,i’ll be up in the gym just working on my fitness

on saturday, ryker wore his utah gear for the rivalry football game
(which didn’t go well for the utes but ryker looked great in his sweatshirt)




after our date on saturday night, graham and I went
to my parents’ house to pick up ryker.
while we were there, my brother talked us into playing a game of risk.
around 1:00 am, we decided to call it a night,
especially after we lost south america, europe, and africa.
graham and i never played risk before but ended up loving it
(does this make us geeks?)
regardless, we are going to play again with my family on
christmas eve, when i will dominate my brother

We spent all day sunday setting up christmas. the house looks amazing!
we also realized ryker’s red cheeks aren’t because he is hot,
it’s because he is getting his first tooth!

we had such a busy and great weekend.
i’m definitely ready for the christmas season!

feeling (and looking) good

ryker is feeling much better this week and
even let me take a bunch of photos of him.
he is such a cute baby!



look at these chunky hands!








and this last one is for uncle mike -
who loves when ryker makes this face
on a seperate note - look at how well
he can stand on his own. what a strong boy!

cabin fever

graham and i purchased property last year
in the grand targhee national forest.
it's beautiful land in a gated community.


there are three rivers that run
through the development
and we are close to mesa falls


our lot boarders land owned
by the bureau of land management
so no one can build next to us.
it has tons of aspen trees and huge fir trees


graham has big plans to build a cabin,
while i've recently thought we should
sell the land and buy a bigger house.

however, after enjoying a weekend of snow
and cuddling as a family, i decided
a cabin would be an awesome retreat.

as time went by

i made it a goal to post a blog entry this last weekend
i’m only a few days late so i’ll consider it a success.

our family has been keeping busy over the last few months!
ryker had his four-month check up in october.
he is in the 90 percentile for weight and 80th for height.
the same night as his check up, we ended up at
the hospital after ryks starting having trouble breathing.
we found out he had croup, which took a couple weeks to clear up.

we went back to the doctor today due to labored breathing
and learned ryker now has bronchiolitis and an ear infection.
a couple steroid medications and antibiotics later,
and we just put a little kid to bed who is breathing much better.

other than that, ryks has been doing great!
he loves to stand up – especially when you try to burp him—
he is constantly doing crunches and wants you to pull him up.
he is almost sitting up on his own
(i think his large belly helps with his center of gravity)

he grabs everything:
my hair, my skin, graham’s arm hair, kylie’s hair, his feet…
basically anything he can get his hands on.

ryker has become a little chatter box.
he smiles and sticks his tongue out when he sees new people
and i’ve noticed he flirts with the girls, giving them a shy smile



when he’s not talking or smiling, he’s making wet-razz noises.


my favorite thing is when i put his binky in his hand,
and he puts it in his mouth and then pulls it out, then repeats.
this game goes on for a while and i laugh the whole time.

we’ve enjoyed going to a couple utah football games,
even though a four-hour game is hard for ryks to endure

ryker with dad before the game


ryks with aunt ashley during the game


our little family (ryker's patience is growing thin)


we went to st. george to see aunt stacey and
ryker did great on his first road trip.

somewhere over the last two months,
ryker’s curly hair disappeared!
so i thought i should post a couple pics
to remember his beautiful, dark hair.

ryker with his great grandpa vincent

ryker and his cousin ellie (cute face ryks! haha)






for halloween, ryker was the cutest monster ever!
we tailgated for a while before we went
trick-or-treating at my parents’ neighborhood

ryks with his uncle chris

ryker flirting with the girls by pulling their hair

(classic boy move)

our little chunk - aren't his cheeks the best!

ryker with his other uncle chris


ryker is sitting in his high chair,
which I love because i can get more things done.
and he seems to like the chair

(apparently if there are a lot of toys around)

and finally kylie and nigel are doing great.
i have let them stay inside while we are at work
and they haven’t destroyed anything (knock on wood).
nigel has figured out how to drink from the kitchen sink
we’ll get a video and post it. it’s hilarious.

love,

the weddicks