It makes me sick....

While in the hospital having Ryker our SD card was full so we put the pictures on my office computer. Since today is my last day as a Deputy I had to turn in all my equipment. We thought we had the pictures downloaded onto a disc and deleted them off the computer. Unfortunately they didn't copy onto the disc and we lost hundreds of pictures. Luckily none were of Ryker.
All of our pictures from December of last year until mid June of this year were lost. This includes the pictures from the Whetstone baby shower, so I'm not able to post them like I said I would. :( Hopefully I will be able to post some of the pictures my mom took.

The deer hunt

It is tradition with some of Jacob's friends to have a "family weekend" during the deer hunt. Ryker and I went up and hung out around camp while Jacob went out hunting a few times. Here are a few pictures of our weekend.

For those of you who are wondering, no, Jacob didn't get a deer. Maybe next year. :)

What is under my cute jacket you ask...

!!!!!!!!!

Dad feeding me my first hamburger

and salt and vinegar chips...yum

Hanging out with Dad

Look Dad, I found a deer!!!

Tater and Roxy have to be by their dad at all times!

Tater and Roxy whined and howled while staring down the road waiting for Jacob to return to camp.

Ryker's first (Scout) camping trip

We are the 11 year old Scout leaders in our ward which means we get to go camping. We had a stake over night camping trip at Camp Tracy and were able to take Ryker. It was cold so we kept him bundled up and since he was so warm and comfortable he slept almost the entire time.

Our boys were in charge of the flag raising ceremony on Saturday morning and did a GREAT job!! Jacob and I were so proud of them and they were even more proud of themselves.

I did take some good pictures of the boys during the flag raising ceremony, but I don't know if the parents want their kids pictures on our blog. I will post some of my adorable little boy though.

Ryker showing off his "Let's hike" camping outfit and his funny face (crossed eyed w/tongue sticking out). They don't get much cuter than that!!

Since I forgot to take a picture of all of us while we were up camping I thought I would at least get one of the boys when we got home.

Blessings in our lives

On June 21st Jacob was ordained an Elder. It was a great accomplishment and I am so proud of him for it!
Because he is an Elder now he was able to bless Ryker on August 2nd. The blessing was so sweet and given with so much love. Jacob did a wonderful job and it was such a spiritual experience.
Thank you to all our family members who were able to be with us for the blessing. For those of you who weren't able to be there, we missed you very much!!
Here are a few pictures of the family after Jacob's ordination and Ryker's blessing. Doesn't Ryker look so handsome in his white suit.?! I wasn't planning on taking pictures at church, but then I realized I didn't take any of Ryker in his suit and needed to do that before we changed him. Unfortunately Justin, Michelle and Adyson and Will, Debbie and girls left before I decided to take pictures.

Most of the family at Jacob's ordination

Ryker's Blessing Day

What a handsome little boy!!

Proud parents

Grammy and Poppy Whetstone

Grammy and Uncle Theron

Grandpa and Grandma Orton

Aunt Trisha

Grandma Roothoff

Uncle Tony, Aunt Angie and cousins Lydia, Kayla and Elyse

Cousins (from left to right) Ellie, Zane, Drew and Abby
(Uncle Jeromy and Aunt Holly were out of town)

Chickens

Here is a look at our chickens (aka Jacob's pride and joy). I wish we would have taken pictures of them when we first brought them home, but we didn't. They have tripled in size and would have been pretty squished if we had left them in the dog kennel like Jacob had originally planned.
Thank you Fenton, Theron and Ken for your help building the chicken coop (or napping with Ryker). You all did a great job and the chickens love it!!
We've always heard you should never name your future dinner, but we couldn't resist. The names we gave them are Finger, Lickin' and Good. For now we just want the eggs, but we plan on making their names a reality.

Baby showers

We are so fortunate to have such wonderful families!! We had the Whetstone family shower before Ryker was born since Kaybi was in town. My family was also planning on having a shower so I thought it would be fun to have one before Ryker was born and one after so we could have one gender specific shower. Both were so wonderful and we had such a great time. It is so much fun to be able to visit with family and friends we don't see very often. Thank you to all of you who came and were so generous with the gifts you gave us. Thank you also to my Moms (Debbie and Beverly), sister (Trisha), sisters-in-law (Angie, Holly, Michelle, Brandi, Debbie and Kaybi) and nieces (Lydia, Kayla, Elyse, Abby, Ellie, Adyson, Alyssa, Jocelyn, Kennedy and Addison) for such great showers!! I don't know what I would do without you!!

For some reason I can't find the pictures of the Whetstone shower. When I do I will be sure to post them!!

The greatest husband and Ryker's bestest buddy

In watching him interact with kids I always knew Jacob would be a good dad, but I had not seen him around babies so I didn't know the calming effect he had on them. It didn't take long to see what a GREAT Dad he is to Ryker. They have such a close bond and seem to have it right from the start. I admire the way Jacob can take Ryker when he is extremely fussy or very upset and hungry and calm him in seconds. As we found out the other day, he doesn't even have to be in the same room as Ryker. I was at my Mom and Dad's house and Ryker was starting to get really fussy. Jacob happened to call and I put the phone up to Ryker's ear and the second Jacob said his name, Ryker calmed down and turned his head towards the phone to find his dad. I know it was in no way coincidental, but was Jacob's ability to calm Ryker just by talking to him.

Jacob loves to show off his baby boy and is beginning to teach him everything he knows starting with his ABC's and 123's. They have a great time together as they get the mail, feed the dogs and clean out the chicken coop. Yes, you read it right we have chickens. They are Jacob's second pride and joy (Ryker being the first), but we'll save that story for another time.

Jacob is the best Dad and husband any two people could ask for. He has been so great with Ryker and I as we all learn to adjust to our new life together.

Thanks for all you do. We love you more than you know!!!!