Garret turned 3! This picture pretty much sums it up.
Love this little guy.
Fall Family Photos
Happy Holidays!
My heart is full of such gratitude for the wonderful thing that is MY life!
I couldn't have dreamed that my life would have turned out this sweet.
It is full of love and laughter and wonderful family both on the Beck and the Stryker side....how many people can honestly say that.
We have had another full year and have added another person to our family. Reid gives our family a lot of adorableness and spunk and volume...noisy boy.]
Ace and I still manage to be super into each other.
We have a very full life, but it starts with the two of us and so we really try to keep the flame alive.
Ace is definitely my better half. He makes every day of my life so rich and full.
So thankful for him and for the wonderful man he is.
(we sometimes just have to put the little people second so we can take some time to snuggle:))
Jeremy, our photographer for the past three years, moved:-(.
But we are so blessed to know and call a friend the talented Jessica Wood.
She has a crazy busy schedule with so many unique demands on her time but we are so grateful she made time for us during a particularly crazy time in her life to capture our special family moments.
Thank you, thank you Jessica for being talented and for sharing your talent with us.
But most importantly, thank you for many years of beautiful friendship, love ya!
Poor Garret was totally Hot and Cold!
I think he was generally in a happy mood because he was outside, but then we would snag him for a picture and destroy all the joy in his little heart. He just kept telling us "I'm feeling sad."
(Doing his thing)
(fake smile...but beautiful little face. Melts my heart)
Another sad moment that obviously lead to an explosion of emotion depicted by the below picture.
Reid is probably wondering why we think he is the loud one:-)
Some how we managed to get this picture before the melt down. Well done Jess!
Happy Holidays
Love,
The very blessed Colorado Stryker Family
October happened in a big way
October came and went, but not without leaving us with a month JAM PACKED with awesome adventures. We kicked off this month with General Conference. Listening to the words of our Prophet and leaders is definitely one of the best ways to begin a month. From that point on we were just rolling into one activity after another. At the first of the month I was able to participate in another Red Rock Relay. This one was in Park City, UT and fall was alive and well in those beautiful mountains. It was a gorgeous race! My team was so much fun and we had a blast but it wouldn't have been possible without awesome dads like these two. Most of the dads were able to stay home and watch their kiddos. But these two fellas got suckered into following their wives around Utah valley with two kids attached to them at all times. Pretty exhausting Im sure, but it made for a great picture. So thankful for Ace for always letting me join whatever crazy activity I find I have time to do. He is so supportive of me and my hobbies and is willing to work hard at work and at home so that I can still pursue my own interests. Love him!
The above picture is the cake walk that we did 4 times in order to get Garret the cupcakes he wanted.
Reid didn't get to swim, but to make up for it we let him crawl around with all the pumpkins.
And last but not least, this year we got to ride the train to the Pumpkin Patch. Garret loves trains so this was a really special treat.
"I've got a golden ticket"
Going through the Hay Maze
Turns out Garret REALLY loves Bounce Houses
Taking a tractor ride. Have I mentioned how beautiful fall is. Such a great time of year.
Garret says the Darnedest things Part 2/ What is Mr. Reid up to?
Ace and I were just saying the other day how fun our boys are right now. Yes, Garret's large vocabulary can sometimes lead to very sassy comments and yes, sweet Mr. Reid still can have hulk like episodes where he loses his mind....but really those things don't even compare to all the incredibly AMAZING things they are doing right now. Gosh I love my boys
GARRET
*Today Garret found a penny in his car seat and excitedly exclaimed, "My lucky day!" Then he holds the penny out to me and says, "Mama, please you hold my lucky day."
*Garret has discovered that his favorite color is Red and goes around asking everyone their favorite color. He is finally getting to the point where we all don't have to have Red be our favorite color; but now he will not allow anyone to like the same color. Sorry Dad, Mom's favorite color was blue first.
*Yesterday I was tickling Garret while he was trying to hide from me under a blanket. He popped his head out and shouted "What's the big idea?" I laughed, repeated what he said and went on tickling him. He got very concerned and said "NO! Please you tell me what's the big idea?"
*The other day I was driving to a friends house who lives on a dirt road. When I hit the loose gravel we bumped around a bit and Garret said to me, "Easy fella."
*Right now if I saw I like anything or that something is beautiful Garret says, "It's for you Mama." So the trees outside, the falling leaves, any picture he draws, any tent he makes and my mom's newly finished quilt are all for me....or at least that's what Garret says. Love this!
*One Saturday morning Ace asked Garret if he could hold him. Garret said No and then Ace made a sad face. Garret said "I gotta idea. Be right back." Then he came and found me upstairs and said "Mama! Daddy wants to hold you." I thought this was a great idea:-)
*Anything Cold Garret calls Penguin (whatever). For example, the other day he played in the bath for a long time and finally said "Mama, I want out. This is Penguin water." Sure enough the water had turned cold. If I wipe his face with a wet wipe that has been siting in our diaper bag in the cold car he tells me "I no like Penguin wipes."
*When he makes a mess he tells me "Mama, I a mess-maker."
*We drove to Utah a few weeks back and Garret decided he wanted to be an Astronaut. Dad thought that would be cool and said he would go to space with Garret. Garret then asked if I wanted to come. I told him no and that I just wanted to stay on earth. His rebuttal went something like this. "Going to space is fun. We find planets and (pause) Blues Clues." His genius moment was short lived but it was there. :-)
*Before he does something (run, eat lunch, build a tower), he says "Wish me luck"
*If Garret doesn't want to do something and you ask him why he always give the same answer..."it's pretty frustrating." Mama: Garret, eat your lunch." Garret: "No thanks. It's pretty frustrating." It was cute for awhile but it too can get "pretty frustrating."
Love my sweet Gar Bear.
REID
The week before Reid turned 9 months (last week), he got very busy. He started clapping last week. I absolutely love when they start clapping. Melts my heart. Tuesday the 17th he got his first tooth. The bottom right one. The next day he scooted himself into the bathroom and pulled himself up on edge of the tub so he could check out Garret. He pulled himself up in his crib Monday night and when I went in to feed him at 6am I was very startled to see him there. Ace said he did that same thing Tuesday morning but he was facing the side of the crib that is next to the wall and was just banging on the wall with one hand. He still mainly scoots but occasionally, and if the target is close, he will crawl.
He loves everything Garret does and laughs hysterically when Garret is around. He also really really likes Mama right now, which would be a little more bearable if he weighed a pound or two less. He still LOVES being held, preferably by mom but if she is not near, anyone else will do. He loves dogs and gets so excited when we go visit Sully at my parents house. He puts everything into his mouth, which is new for me because Garret never really did that. He is still the loudest baby I know. He is a loud happy baby, a loud sad baby and a loud angry baby. He just has his volume constantly turned up. He makes everyone feel loved because he loves people and if they look at him or talk to him he smiles and gets very excited. We can't get enough of this blond baby.
Love my Mr. Reid
Outrageously Giddy
Ace and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary this month!
Ace was great and planned a little 24 hr getaway to Pagosa Springs. We stayed in this rustic little cabin and sat around a campfire. Simple, but so fun. Actually I think it may have been my favorite anniversary celebration yet.
The above picture was one of the very first pictures Ace and I took together back in June of 2005. I was just so happy to be near this boy let alone have him wrap his arm around me. I had never been so outrageously giddy about a boy in my life (and lucky for me I never was again).
I remember my problem during the dating years is that I would always imagine up all these really great, really romantic scenarios. But when it came to real life dating I got way more butterflies sitting at home in my pajamas watching a chick flick then I ever did on any real date. But wonderful Ace changed all that. I called my mom back in March 2005, when Ace and I first started hanging out, and I just gushed. She told me she had never heard me talk like this about a boy before and she was happy for me because I was finally REALLY excited about a boy. I remember hanging out ALL day and then being so sad when we had to go our separate ways for a few hours at night. I just loved being with him and that feeling has never changed.
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When I flew down to Florida to see Ace in June after only having known each other for a few months I thought I was crazy. I had always played very uninterested and hard to get during my dating years but now I was flying across the country. I was crazy! Plus we hadn't even kissed yet. Everyone kept telling me if he didn't kiss me after flying all that way then he wasn't interested. But lucky for me he did kiss me. However, it was very unlucky for him.
I hadn't kissed a boy in YEARS so I was crazy nervous. Im pretty sure I bit his tongue....but honestly that's his bad because who goes in for that kind of kiss on the very first kiss. Anyway, I remember calling my mom almost in tears the next day because I liked him so much but I was sure he wouldn't want to see me again after this trip because I was an AWFUL kisser. My mom just told me to relax and enjoy it and she was sure I would get better quickly.
I don't know if I really got better but I stopped caring and forced my kisses on that boy from sun-up to sun-down.
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It really was just a crazy, exciting, unpredictable romance and I feel so lucky to be able to look back and say, "This is our story."
It is not a story with only ups. We definitely had our hard times. But most the time our struggles came from always having to say good-bye. We spent from June 2005-January 2008 working through a long distance relationship. No fun! But again when we were together it was the greatest minutes, hours, days and weeks of my life, so I was full of happy memories to get me to our next visit.
We tried to make the long distance thing as bearable as possible by dating other people when we were apart. But every date, every kiss, every other boy just left me aching for a certain someone in Florida. We tried being exclusive as well to see if that would ease the pain while we were apart, but this too was difficult and led to a few break ups. They only lasted for a 24 hour period before I would call Ace and tell him to ask me to be his girlfriend again.
This time of separation was an insanely confusing time for both of us. But when we managed to fly to the other person and spend a week or so together everything felt so right and just the way it should be.
(The above picture is our first and so far only Jags game together. I love the picture bomber in this one)
May 7, 2007 Ace told me he loved me, OUT LOUD! He had skirted around the idea a few times. He had even said it in a letter, but he was pretty nervous to tell me this because I had never told any other boy "I Love You" and I had told him on several different occasions that I only wanted to say it to one boy. That would be the boy I married.
I was visiting him in Florida and one Monday evening after FHE he told me he wanted to talk to me about something so he wanted to take me for a ride. I excused myself to the bathroom before leaving and said a little prayer. I felt like he might say those three little words and I was nervous. I cared so deeply about him and this was something I had never felt before but was it love? I prayed that if he did say it I wouldn't freak-out. I prayed that I would be able to better understand my feelings and that I would be able to express them honestly without hurting Ace in anyway.
Ace took me to a beautiful dock next to his friend Andrea's Catholic Church. He was really quiet for a long time and then he finally said "I don't know where things are going and I don't know what our plans should be but, I love you."
Instead of being freaked out I was so happy and so excited and everything about him and this moment felt so right.
I whispered in his ear, "I think I might be falling in love with you."
I think he was pretty shocked to have me actually say those words.....and maybe a little worried since I had some pretty big plans for whomever I said I love you to.
But like Ace had said we didn't know what our plans were or what they should be. So we still had some moments of heartache, BUT we both knew we wanted to end up eternally together.
In January 2008, Ace moved out to Utah and we were FINALLY living in the same city! I was nervous about getting too ahead of ourselves. We were great at having a fling a few times a year, but when it came to day-to-day stuff would we struggle, find each other boring, fight?
We were even better than ever! All the stress and pain that came from a long distance relationship was gone and we were AMAZING together. However, I still told Ace that we had plenty of time to just be and let things sink in.There was no reason to take the next BIG step in our relationship until we really needed it and wanted it to happen.
Ace agreed and said "Ok. But I really just need you to be the one to have my babies."
Well, I think that little comment made us both `needing and wanting it sooner than we had planned because the very next month Ace asked my dad if he could marry me.
August 2, 2008 was a completely perfect day. I wouldn't have changed anything about that day. Not one thing.
Sometimes I try to write a list of the reasons why I love Ace so much but it is just too hard. I love so much about him that it would be much easier to make a list of things I didn't love about him.
I don't love how he sits on his side of the bed and puts his socks on when I am still in bed trying to sleep. We have a window seat and a chair in our room, my dear. Use either! Well that takes care of that list.
See, if you don't know Ace then you are truly missing out. He is such a optimistic, smart, loving, funny, spiritual guy. He makes every day of my life exciting and new. I find I don't spend a lot of time with just girlfriends because you can bet that if they have something planned for the weekend I won't be there. I'll be with my honey, sometimes doing absolutely nothing, but that is where I'm happiest. He's my very best friend.
5 years and two little boys later, Ace is still my everything and still makes me OUTRAGEOUSLY giddy.
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