Ace n' Lace

Our Summer

First of all, HAPPY SEPTEMBER! Fall isn't quite in the air but Im bringing out some fall decor and Im loving the idea of fall. Ace LOVES fall so his excitement is contagious. He loves the color changes, his birthday, and most of all FOOTBALL. So needless to say, the Stryker home is sad to leave behind a memorable summer, but we are ready to fall into autumn.

Obviously I did a really terrible job blogging this summer. SO, I decided that I would try and wrap up our summer with a picture post and a list of things we did, things we discovered and people we saw.

Things we did this summer:

We did races this summer. I did four different races and Ace did two. He doubled his number of races all in one summer. What a stud:-)!

(tough mudder race in Dallas TX)

(Bayfield CO 5k)

(redrock relay in Moab UT)

(10k mud race in Durango CO)

We did lots of traveling this summer. We traveled by BIKE,

by CAR,

and by PLANE!

Here is a list of all the places we went this summer: we went to TX for the Tough Mudder race, UT three different times and WA where we went to Seattle for Ace's high school friend's wedding. We still have one more trip to Utah planned later this month and a Caribbean cruise in October! Lots of traveling for this little Stryker family. Here are a few pictures from our Seattle trip.

(this tire was the coolest natural aquarium ever! it was the home to hermit crabs, small fish and one large red crab. it seriously was the coolest thing ever. i just love marine life)

(Pike Place Market)

We attended Shay's wedding. That's right I said Shay. And people say we live in a world without miracles:-). Just teasing Shay! But really Shay and Aleah's wedding was beautiful and we felt so grateful to be able to be apart of their special day. Here are a few wedding pics.

(Christine came out for the wedding and to visit us of course....ok Garret)

(we couldn't get Garret to hold still unless we let him hold this stick)

(COUSINS!)

We did lots of swimming this summer, in lots of different places and sometimes Garret was clothed but most the time he went all natural.

(even the dogs water bucket worked)

Things we (by we I mean Garret) discovered this summer:

Watermelon. And loved it!

Chapstick. This is what it looks like when you leave Aleah on baby duty:-).

Sleeping in mom and dad's bed. Not my favorite discovery.

People we saw this summer:

Andrea and Alec

Thanks to Shay and Aleah we saw the entire Beck side of the family for the wedding.

We were lucky enough to see the entire Stryker family, but just not all at once. We saw Asia in Utah once, Christine in Utah once and in Colorado once, Zac and his friend Shaun came for the month of July and then we got to see the other little Stryker family in Utah as well.

Kissing cousins! (Garret and Benton)

And our biggest summer news of all is this little bundle of joy.

We will be meeting the newest member of our family in February. We are excited and nervous to become a family of four. Garret has been so sweet about the baby thing. He tickles my stomach, kisses it and tries to give it his paci (if that isn't love to a 20 month old then I don't know what is)

Summer of 2012 has really been an amazing summer. I would feel really ungrateful if I hadn't taken a moment to record this amazing summer and to share our wonderful news. Happy Fall everyone!

This is what gardening looks like to Garret.

Garret really is such a great worker but there were really too many distractions for this little boy.

But somehow the rest of us trudged on.

There were 5 adults,

2 kids

1 toddler

1 infant and

one LARGE hat.

Helping hands make light work.

MOAB: Boys VS Girls Weekend!

May 12, 2012 was a busy day for the Stryker family. We all went to Moab for a crazy day of adventure. However, it was a boys and girls kind of weekend. So even though we were in the same city ALL DAY LONG we saw each other not-a-once. So we made sure to take lots of pictures to really see what the other person did during the day. Lets start with the Girls Weekend.

Friday evening I drove down to Moab, Utah with some of my good friends and we met even more friends once we got down there. There was 12 of us total to be exact. What brought us all together? Red Rock Relay! Lots of running and lots of sun! It was a 70 mile race and each person ran at least 10 miles.

I really do LOVE running and so doing a relay with other ladies who love running too just made it all that much sweeter. Enough said. Here are the pictures from the girls weekend.

12 ladies 2 teams

"Chicks with Kicks"

"Sisters with Blisters"

We really tried to stay hydrated and cool

But from the following pictures you can see the heat still got to us

Our ride

Finishing together. This was actually take two because we forgot to get a picture the first time around and I was actually at the car changing my shirt. So technically I missed the actual finish with the team...no big deal.

Lots of fun with some really amazing ladies!

Now onto the boys weekend. Ace and Garret left our home Saturday morning at 6 am. They drove the three hours to Moab and met Ace's college roommate and close friend, Bob. The guys spent the day hiking around Arches National Park. I guess hiking was on the side of chasing Garret around everywhere. Garret is wanting to be so independent these days. He wont let us feed him, he won't let us hold him in the pool (which leads to a lot of face plants in the water) and Ace said he wouldn't let him carry him around very much in the pack. And when Ace took him out he would't hold Ace's hand and instead took off climbing rocks and trails alone. He had lots of scratches when I saw him Sunday morning. Here are some great pictures from the Guys weekend.