Summer is Here!

Zech is finally finished with summer school which means we can start to enjoy our summer. We have tons planned. Next week is camping in Yellowstone, followed by a baby blessing. After that on to Montana to visit our families. I love that they live in the same town, it makes it easier. Even though Zech has been going to school this summer, we have made the most out of our rainy summer. We have taken advantage of they park that is only half a block a way and had a great 4th with our family and friends here. It's even okay that we got rained out. Another exciting thing is that Elai has started to eat baby food! Just cerial and peas so far. I was so worried he wouldn't like peas because they are my favorite but he loves them just as much as I do. Here are some random pictures I was able to catch seeing that I always seem to forget my camera!

It's offical...

I'm a mom. I know all of you already know that because you have seem pictures of our little guy. But yesterday Zech bought me a mini-van. Before we got married I told him I would never drive one, but our Escape has been giving us nothing but problems. So we were on the look for a new car. After looking at a few different vehicles I decided I needed a van. Elai just has too many things to pack around. It's amazing how your view on things change as you get older and start your own family; I'm not just thinking about the van but many things. Like when I see someone smoking on the sidewalk or cursing up a storm. I know I am far from perfect but it helps remind me of how good I need to be so I can set a good example for Elai.

Our Favorite Dad

I know that everyone thinks they have the World's Greatest Dad and that is a matter of opinion. With that being said I wont place that title, however I can say Zech is Elai's and my favorite dad. He works so hard to make it possible for me to stay home with Elai. I feel like Zech is everything I was missing in a father growing up and I'm so thankful that after a log day he just wants to come home and play with us. We had a great day yesterday celebrating it started out with sleeping in late and just going to sacrament meeting since Elai is so sick. Then we came home and has some of Zech's Favorites! It started with sweet and sour chicken, which is so easy to make I might add. Then we proceeded to having pineapple upside down cake. I have to admit that I didn't think I would like pineapple on my cake, but it was amazing.

Then we did our favorite Sunday activity, family nap time! And when we woke up it was time for me to finish making Zech's favorite dinner, BBQ Ribs. Then we ate more cake.

We spent the rest of the evening watching "My Best Two Years" and once again eating, this time ice cream.

I had a shirt for Elai made that said World's Greatest Dad! Zechary really like it.


Then I surprised him with one that was in my size too.

Overall we had a great day. And I'm so glad that we were able to celebrate Zech's first Father's Day!

Elai's First Bike Ride

This year we bought me a new bike complete with a basket and a bell. I love it so very much. It is the funnest exercise I have ever gotten. We love to go on family bike rides but because Elai is to small for a bike trailer we have to put him in his backpack. All my life I have wanted a bike like this, I couldn't believe Zech agreed to let me buy one.

We had to stop and get Zech's tire fixed.

Elai loves bike rides, he usually falls asleep.

Dinner with the Rankins!

Tonight we were able to have dinner with our very good friends Mike, Bryton and Maeli Rankin. We had a great time and enjoyed seeing how big Maeli has now gotten. Here are a few pictures from tonight.

We feel so blessed to be here in Pocatello and to have established such wonderful friendships.

What a talker!

Elai is getting so big! He now weighs 12lbs and doing many fun things. My favorite of all is that he talks so much along with rolling over. He has discovered he has a voice and puts it to use very often.

Our Weekend...

First of all I have to say how proud of Zechary I am. He is such an amazing person. With that being send, on to our weekend. It started three weeks ago when Zech got a call from a family that he baptized in Vegas who now live in Ogden. They called to tell us that they were going to the temple for their endowments and then a week later to be sealed. So of course we had to go but we ran into a little problem, Zech had to work this past weekend (the day of their sealing)! He tried to get someone to cover for him, but couldn't find anyone, so he decided that the sealing was important enough he was going to call in. Except when he went to work on Friday there was a big note on the time clock that said "Anyone who calls in this weekend will not be returning." Zech decided to call his boss, the entire time thinking if this doesn't work, I won't be returning. However his boss was nice enough to let me switch his schedule and work today instead.

So on to Ogden we went. We had a great time with the Casada family at the temple. It was so awesome to be there and to know it was because of my husband they made it there. Once again he made me proud to be his wife.

After the temple we went to a bbq where Zech fell in love with the trampoline. He was worse then the little kids. It was a great time.

After the bbq, we drove to Springville and stayed with Aunt Margi! We had such a great time with Margi and Mandy who stayed home from the family camping trip so they could watch Elai while we went to the temple. So our weekend consisted of great food and fantastic company.

Save the Date!

Elai is going to be blessed July 5th here in Pocatello. We would love for all of you to come!

Getting Bigger~!~

It seems like just yesterday that we brought our little boy home. He weighted a tiny 5lbs 14oz. Now he just keeps growing and growing. Everyone always tells you how fast babies grow up but you can never really put it in perspective until you have one of your own. It almost brings me to tears to have Elai grow up so fast however we are enjoying every minute of it! Here are some pictures to show you how much he has grown.

Here are a couple of pictures of him as we are leaving the hospital.

I remember when we first got home, Elai did not like taking a bath at all. Now he really likes it, in fact he gets mad when I take him out of the water.

It has been really fun to see Elai's personality grow. He is now full of smiles most of the time and even laughs. He especially loves his mama's kisses.

And finally here are a few pictures in the outfit we brought him home in. He is now so big that I have to leave the first snap on his jacket undone.

I feel so blessed to be Elai's mama. I love it when he looks into my eyes and smiles. I love it when he coos at me and when he just wants me to hold him. My favorite mother's day gift came to me early on March 13, 2009 at 11:06 am. It weighted 5lbs 14oz and was 19 in long.

Happy Birthday Maeli Rae Rankin!!!

After a long awaiting, Maelie Rae Rankin is finally here. After being in labor for 33 hours my good friend Bryton finally had her baby girl. We are so excited to welcome little Maelie to the world. She is only a tiny 5lbs 5oz. Since we don't have any pictures of Maelie yet, here are a few of Elai waiting to go see her. Congrats Bryton and Mike, we love you! And I'm looking forward to our walks Bryton!

Full of Smiles

Our little guy is getting so big! He now weights 9lbs 7oz and is 21 1/2 inches long. It is amazing how fast he is growing. Everyday he seems to be doing something new and exciting. Lately he has been full of smiles. All day long he just smiles and coos at me. Of course it just makes my heart melt. However every time I try to take a picture, he stops. Elai is also trying to hold up his head. He doesn't have it all the way down yet, but he tries. He can do it for about 10 seconds. And he can now focus on things. My favorite thing is when he stares at me with his big blue eyes and a huge smile on his face. All of these things are what makes being a mom so great.

Good Bye Pump!!!

You know you live a boring life when the only thing you have to blog about is your breast pump. Well most of you don't know about the horrible experience I had with nursing when Elai was born. He would not breast feed at all. The doctor told me that it was because he was early and sucking was just too hard for him. It broke my heart, I thought it was all my fault and that I was doing something wrong. But I was determined to have him drink breast milk so the hospital got us a pump. For the last six and a half weeks I have been pumping 8-12 times a day. But then our luck changed. On Saturday I decided I would try to nurse Elai and to my surprise he did it! I didn't think he would ever nurse because he had been taking a bottle for so long but he did and I am super excited! Oh and on another note, I have seemed to misplace my camera somewhere right after taking tons of new pictures of our little guy.

Elai Pictures

It has been crazy around our house over the past few weeks, hence the no blogging. We had a great conference weekend with a visit from the Rios'. Followed by Elai and I taking a visit to see Auntie Staci, Devin and Grandma and Grandpa Carbery. Then the long drive back from Montana. Other than that not much has been happening. Zech is as busy as ever with school and homework and Elai and I get to hang out together all day. Here are a few pictures that we have taken over the last few days.

There is a story behind this one. Every time Elai sits in this chair he tilts his head to the side. Grandpa Rios found that if you put a few diapers behind his head, it stays straight!

Elai's Day

Here is a day in the life of Elai Carter Rios.

7am- Wake up, get diaper changed, eat, then back to bed

11am- same as above

2pm-same as above except takes a nap with mom

5pm- wake up, get diaper changed, eat, then help dad with his homework

8pm- eat again, get diaper changed go to bed

wake up at midnight, and 3am to guess what...get diaper changed and eat.

So I thought now that Elai is here I would have more to blog about but for right now we live a pretty boring life!

Elai's First Pictures

Yesterday we had Elai's pictures done. Here are a few that were taken.

I have conquered...

NAIL BITING! I know how sick it is but all my life I have had the nasty habit of biting my nails. When I'm nervous or just bored I would chew away at my nails. The worst part of the whole ordeal is that I took a biology class in college where we looked under a microscope of the stuff we gathered from under our finger nails. I saw all those little creatures that live under there but that didn't stop me. I am happy to say however that ever since Elai was born, I have not bit my nails! They are the longest they have ever been. Two days ago I even had to trim them with nail clippers. While trimming my nails I had realized that was the first time I had ever had to clip my nails with clippers or had to use a nail file. So I'm pulling out the nail polish today and having a pretty day.

Happy Birthday Elai (one week)

Elai is officially one week old. It has been a week full of fun and exciting new experiences for all of us. Here are a few pictures that we had snapped this week.

I know what you are thinking, his neck must be hurting, but every time I try to straighten his head out he just puts it back.

Bath time!

Our first walk together.

We're Home!

We got to come home yesterday and boy are we excited. Zechary and I love having Elai at home in our own environment without nurses and doctors bugging us. Well except for our favorite nurse, Grandma Carbery aka Grammy Cow. We will miss her. It has been a long couple of days of nothing but nurses poking and prodding at our little man. They doctor let us come home yesterday afternoon but we don't have all of Elai's labs back yet and we have to take him back to the hospital on Wednesday for more poking and prodding. Overall everything seems to be going good so far though. We won't know about his heart until he sees the specialist in a few weeks. So right now, we are just loving spending time with our little guy at home.

He's Here!

Elia is officially here and we couldn't be more excited. I have a few minutes to post a quick blog since my mom has wireless Internet on her laptop and the nurses are drawing Elai's blood. Not everything went as perfect as plan, but Elai sure seems perfect. After delivery the doctors said that he is actually 4 weeks early therefore he is having a few respiratory issues. Nothing major, but they are going to keep us here for a few days to monitor him and they have to poke him a bunch. Overall he is really healthy though. We will post more pictures later! Keep us in your prayers~!~

Just Waiting...

Zechary and I got all of our Spring Cleaning/de-cluttering done yesterday. It feels so nice to have thrown away all the stuff that we don't need just lying around the house. We actually weren't planning to do our spring cleaning, we were just going to tidy up the house. But Zech got really into it and I thought since he didn't have class yesterday we better take advantage of our time before our little man gets here. I also packed my bag for the hospital so now we just have to wait for when it is time to go. I never would have believed I would still be pregnant at 37.5 weeks, after all I was in labor at 27 weeks. The doctor told me over two weeks ago I would have Elai within two weeks, but I guessed he showed her who is boss. I know he will come when he is ready, I just hope it's soon! Zech thinks it's funny to tease me that Elai will be three weeks late. I guess only time will tell. I do have to say that the last few days have been really easy for me. Lately I haven't felt good but these last few days I have felt pretty good however I have been sleeping alot!!! I even told Zechary if everyday was like today I wouldn't mind being pregnant again.

Baby Shower #2

Baby shower #2 is officially over! Zech says now I can have Elai. It was so much fun. I really love all the ladies in our ward. They are all such kind women and they all give such great advice. The shower ended at about 7:30 but Zech and I just got home. Some of the ladies and their husbands decided to go to Applebee's after the shower so of course we had to go. I swear it was the Alameda 2nd Ward's Night to go to Applebees. There were church members everywhere. It was great. I'm so thankful for my dear friends I have met at this ward, and of course also Anjillee and Bryton. Oh and there will be no pictures due to me forgetting my camera!

My Breakfast

I woke up this morning to one of my favorite things to eat for breakfast. Zechary made me eggs in a basket! Other then that it has been a pretty lazy morning for me. Zech is doing homework and has been since 7am with the exception of making breakfast and driving the missionaries somewhere. It is now 10:30 and I am still in my pjs unshowered, laying on the couch. What a beautiful Saturday morning!