2 BIG Accomplishments

Ben is completely done with his year of PA classes, and ready for a year of clinical rotations!! Friday was his White Coat Ceremony. They give them their white coats to wear, and it means they are ready to treat patients!

Isn't he handsome?

Ben all ready for his first day of clinical rotations! The first one is Pediatrics in Tampa. Sounds kinda fun, except the patients are 80% spanish speaking! (Ben no habla espanol!!) He's gonna do great though!

And the other BIG accomplishment of the day?

Ryker went poop in the potty today! Yay! I think he's starting to understand! He actually told me "stinky" and ran in there. I was so proud of him, and he was pretty happy with himself too. Then he flushed the toilet and said "Bye bye pooey!" These pictures are not from today (unfortunately I missed his moment of triumph with the camara), but you get the idea!

August Happenings

It has been so long since our last post that all of the things a planned on posting seem like old news! Oh well... here's some pics of the things we have been doing in August! Things that are going on that we don't have pictures of? Well, Ben finished his year of classes, and will begin his year of clinical rotations next week. Yay!! Ryker and I have just been hangin' out, playing with his friends and keeping cool at the pool. Ryker starts swimming lessons tomorrow, so we will see how that goes! And now for the pictures...

HOME AGAIN!!

We have been very lucky to be able to go home to Idaho as often as we have. We just passed the 1 year mark since we moved to Florida, and we have been back 3 times. Our last trip was the first week of August

MUD LAKE

Pickin' raspberries with Grandma

Yum! Yum!

Ryker playing with his cousins

Ryker just loves playing with his cousins! We wish he could be around them more. They have so much fun together.

Ice cream cones! Thanks Grandma!

Aunt Aubrey giving Ryker a haircut. Isn't he handsome? Thanks Aubrey!

Giving the 4-H pigs a bath before the fair!

Checkin' out the horses

TWIN FALLS

Boating at Shoshone Falls

Look whose driving!!

I remember riding this horse when I was little! Luckily Grandpa and Grandma kept it around!

CAMPING IN SUN VALLEY

Ryker looking at the stars and singing "Twinkle Twinkle"

We rode the Sun Valley ski lift to the top and rode mountain bikes down. At the top it was hailing, so we went in the lodge for a minute. The janitor gave us garbage bags to put over ourselves to stay dryer. Don't we look stupid!

The view from the mountain.

Luckily the sun came back out, and we got to lose the garbage bags, but we still look kinda stupid!

BACK IN FLORIDA

Ryker trying to be just like Daddy

Fun at the pool!

We still love the beach!

Ryker's first time bowling.

We let Ryker push the ball down the alley! The guy had to come get his ball for us like 5 times because it got stuck half way. I think they were happy to see us leave, but we had fun!

Ryker's new pool trick is going under the water. This made me decide maybe we should try swimming lessons!

Congratulations!

You made it to the end of this post! If you actually looked at the whole thing I'm impressed! Sorry it was so long.

Yum Yum!

I love watermelon!! As you can see, Ryker likes it too (Ben also eats his fair share). It is so weird because I used to hate watermelon, and now it is so yummy! I think I decided I like it when I ate it while pregnant. We've been keeping our fridge stocked with watermelon lately, and if your looking for the perfect snack, you should try it! Mmmmm......

4th of July!

The 4th of July is a little different here in Florida! You definately do not go camping, which is what we usually like to do. It's way too hot for that! So we went to the beach instead! We spent a few hours at the beach, then went home and took showers and came back to the beach for fireworks. (We grabbed a pizza since we ran out of time to go eat.)We should have just skipped the showers, because we all came home covered with sand again! Poor Ryker was so tired by the time we got home and he took another bath, but we had lots of fun!
Happy 4th Everbody!

Puddle Jumpin'

It's been raining a lot here the last few days! Everytime it rains here it seems more like a flash flood to me! Apparently Florida has been in a drout for 3 years! If this is a drout, I don't want to be here when the drout is over!

Here's Ryker having lots of fun in the rain! Even when it rains here its not really cold!

This is just an example of the "flash floods" I was talking about!

Random Sampling

It's been a while! Sorry! Here's a random sampling of what we've been up to lately!

We were able to make a quick trip home to Idaho in May. It was too short, but a nice little break. We finally got to see Grandma Shelli, who we hadn't seen since last June!! Hope to see you all again soon!!

Ryker is developing quite a bedtime routine! It is becoming quite a process! If he doesn't get a bath by 7:00, no way he's going to bed by 8:30. (He rarely manages to get to bed on time!)

Bed Time Routine: After dinner...

1. Bath

2. Play with toys (naked if he can get away with it)

3. Brush teeth (requires lots of clapping and cheering, and the best part is showing off his "shiny" teeth when they are done.
4. Prayer

5. Bed time story

6. Sing "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" (aka "beam" and "gwinko gwinko")

7. Finally time to go to sleep!

Making Cookies! Yum! Yum!

Here are some of Rykers latest dance moves! Apparently it is more fun to dance with your eyes closed. Notice the big kiss I got at the end!

No-no-no-no-ni

This week Ryker's been cra-a-a-ving macaroni and cheese! He asks for it by name!

"No-no-no-no-ni!"

I can't believe how fast Ryker learns new words now! He can repeat just about anything to say, and he surprises us everyday with how much he remembers and repeats later. Of course, sometimes it takes a well-trained ear to understand him, but we know what he is saying!!

R-r-r-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-r-r-r-r-r-r-r!!!

I have been taking more videos than still pictures lately! This makes it harder to scrapbook, but some things just can't be captured with a still pictures. Here is one of Ryker's new favorite things to do. SCARY, huh!? (If he hears the word "scary", he starts doing this!)

I show this video to Ryker and he goes crazy laughing.

Einstein on the Mind

Ryker is suddenly obsessed with The Little Einsteins! Once he starts watching it, its hard to get him to stop! Then he wanders around trying to sing the theme song! It is sooooo funny!! The show is supposed to be educational, but I'm afraid he's becoming a TV bug! It is so much easier to get things done when I let him watch it, but how much is too much? Comments, please!!

Here's my best video of him singing the theme song! He just sings "Einsteins" over and over again. Funny, huh? He also pats his legs and puts his arms up for the big "blastoff!" (If you've seen the show, you know what I'm talking about!)

Easter!!

Easter Morning!!

Egg Hunt at the park

Coloring Easter Eggs

Hop! Hop! Hop!

My Sweet Husband

Last night Ben came home from a long day of school and studying at the library and gave me these flowers! With all that he has going on, he took time to make me feel special for no reason at all! I didn't even make him dinner last night. I married the best husband in the world! I love you Benny!