THE PAST YEAR AND A HALF IN RYTTINGLAND

 

Trying to update this poor blog on all our family’s happenings since September (2012!) is quite a daunting task; especially considering how much life has changed for us over the last year. To tell the truth I don’t know where to start. I should just jump ahead to what we’re up to in 2014 but for the sake of trying to keep a complete family journal, I feel I need to try and at least do a quick (and hopefully brief) update of some of the major highlights.

                                                  SEPTEMBER 2012

We left off in September having just come back from a truly perfect family vacation. We made the most of the end of Summer by taking a trip to our beloved Lerfa Lodge. We always love the time we spend up there with family, relaxing, talking, eating, playing games and going on drives and hikes. It’s especially fun for Henry to roam around and explore. The leaves were just barely starting to change and it was so beautiful.

                                               OCTOBER 2012

In October we found out I was pregnant (HOORAY)! We were a little surprised and so so excited! We also took two fun family vacations. First was to Idaho Falls to visit Chris, JJ and Marty. We always have fun visiting them, and seriously family is the only thing that would get us to go to Idaho! Really it’s not that bad. And we surprised our families with our exciting news so that was fun.

                 

 

This was our second time visiting Yosemite. Since it was October the park was relatively empty of crowds. It was also fun to see the park at a different time of year! We missed the waterfalls but the changing leaves were beautiful. Yosemite holds a special place in our hearts, we have so many great memories there.

                                      DECEMBER 2012-CHRISTMAS TIME

Christmas in Utah is always fun. Nutcracker, Christmas Concert, Fondue with friends and this year we rode a horse drawn carriage through the Christmas lights at Thanksgiving Point.  We had our favorite Jacobs Christmas weekend in Salt Lake but major pregnancy sickness sort of put a damper on the weekend for us. Christmas itself however, was magical. Our Henry makes everything so special and fun.

                                            

                                                             JANUARY 2013

             

                                                  FEBRUARY 2013

With February comes Henry’s 2nd Birthday! At the time he was really into ocean animals, specifically sharks and whales. One of our earlier nicknames for Henry had been “baby shark” so we thought an Ocean themed party would be an appropriate way to celebrate. We had lots of family show up, which we were so grateful for. And Henry was completely spoiled, no surprise there. I had a lot of fun cooking and crafting for this party but it did burn me out a little and I fear his 3rd birthday might be a far more simple affair.

 

The next big event that took place in our family was the birth of our sweet baby girl three months later in May. An even that special deserves its own post entirely so we’ll save that for next time.

Life after Hawaii

We loved Hawaii, obviously. and the second we got off that plane in Salt Lake real life came and slapped us in the face. hard. We were totally jet lagged on top of just not feeling good. Henry was so excited to see us (love) he decided he didn’t ever want us to leave, the room. Whenever one of us would leave he would become hysterical. It was wonderful feeling so loved, but kind of hard to do things like pee with a screaming baby pounding on the door. He also had a hard time sleeping. Mckay got sick but by the end of our first week home we decided to meet up with his parents and the Skousons for a weekend in Brian Head. The drive was pretty, it was so nice to be in the mountains and spend time with friends. But turns out I got sick too, and then Henry. So we had a super clingy, sick baby who couldn’t really sleep and who also just so happened to be getting in 8 new teeth at the same time. 8. It was rough but thing eventually calmed down. and somehow we lost the pictures from Brian Head.

Mckay and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on August 21! We spent the day together as a family. We shopped around Ikea and bought Hen a few things for his room. We ate at Pei Wei/Chipotle and then went and visited the Living Planet Aquarium for the first time. I am obsessed! I loved it so much I got a membership and can’t wait to go back. It was so fun to see Henry so into it.

 

 

 

 

That weekend Mckay and I celebrated our anniversary by taking a little weekend trip up to Salt Lake. We stayed at the Little America (family favorite) we ate at all our favorite restaurants, went to 2 movies               (Premium Rush, Paranorman) and slept in. Saturday we stopped by the farmers market for a pastry and some local fruit. Then we headed down to the farmers market at Gardner Village and browsed the cute booths and ate some of the best roasted corn on the cob we’ve ever had. We shopped a little and then headed up to the outlets in Park City. So much fun.

We’ve been filling our days with walks to the Library. After living in Provo for 8 years…I finally got a Provo City Library card and we have loved walking down there and letting Henry roam around the kids area. Oh how I love getting books from the library. I’ve been cooking a lot and we’ve been really enjoying football season and I’ve been putting up fall decorations here and there.

We took our annual fall trip up to the Rytting cabin a couple weekends ago and had a blast. We decided to stay Friday through Monday and really enjoy the weekend. We love it up there, it’s so relaxing and calm. Henry loves to be outside and the leaves were beautiful.

(he stole that pink barbie jeep from the Greenwoods and he literally takes it everywhere)

 

          

          

This last weekend was a lot of fun too. Mckay and I had a little date, we went to dinner and then to Abravanel Hall to the Utah Symphony’s performance of Pictures at an Exhibition. Mckay’s mom played harp. It was amazing! Afterwards we went to our favorite little downtown bakery La Gourmandise for some desserts. Saturday we drove up to Soldier Hollow in Midway for Mckay to run in the Dirty Dash with some mission friends. They ended up running the 10k and had so much fun. They were completely covered in mud and scratches. Henry and I hung out while they were running and shared a sno cone and cheeseburger. After the race we had a late lunch at Tarahumara. We were so pooped by the time we got home but we decided we had to go check out Chalk the Block. We’re so glad we went, it was incredible! We walked around the farmers market booths and then walked around to see the chalk drawings. Those artists are seriously so talented. The pictures don’t capture the sharpness and amazing detail these pictures had. And to top off the night we spotted the Waffle Love truck! What a pleasant surprise! and one that definitely did not disappoint.

 

 

 

 

 

                            

It’s been such a fun and busy August and September! I don’t think we’ve ever had this much going on ever. We’ve been gone almost every weekend for the last two months so I’m looking forward to a calm and lazy week and weekend ahead of us.