Blake's Shoes

So I have to confess that I love baby shoes. Every time I walk into a store I have to look at them and Ryan has to pull me away from them. Luckily for my baby shower I recieved a lot of shoes for Blake which was so fun for me. I decided to take a picture of all of the shoes that he has. I had to take some close-ups so you could see them better. Oh and if you are wondering why he has a pair of ballet shoes it is because when I first got pregnant, my mom went and got a boys outfit with shoes and a girls outfit with shoes. Those are the pink ballet shoes that she got so technically they are still his shoes. Don't worry though. As you can see they are still on the package and have never been used. So here are the close-ups.

So in conclusion, Blake has more shoes than Ryan and I combined. What can you say? They are so much cuter when they are smaller. It's the same thing with clothes. Don't you ever see an outfit for a baby and wish they made it in your size? They are so cute. Anyway Blake definately is not going to be without shoes EVER!!!!

Diver Forever!!

When I was 11 years old I started my diving career. I took lessons from the city, then moved onto the club team, then went to dive four years for my high school which I made the state team three of the four years. After high school I went to UNLV and dove on the college team for 3 years which is when I had an accident and tore my shoulder so bad on a dive that I had to have major shoulder surgery and end my diving careeer. It was the hardest time in my life because diving pretty much was my life and I didn't know how I was going to live without it. The first two pictures are of me at a meet in California and the picure is of my first dive since I had had my shoulder surgery.

So diving is still my life and I love to coach and watch anything to do with diving. I coach a club diving team that we take to meets and different events and it is really fun. Most of the divers on the team dive for high school and they are very good. We have been trying to do fundraisers with them to earn some money that we could use to buy new suits, warm-ups, bags and shirts. Today we held a divathon at UNLV for the kids.

The kids had to ask for donation or have someone set a amount they would pay for each dive. Example is 25 cents per dive and if the did 200 dives in the one hour they would earn 50 dollars. Anyway, we did this last year also and we raised a lot of money which was awesome for the kids. This year went pretty well also. The kids were wore out after 10 minutes of diving which was funny for Julie and I to watch. Julie is the other coach for the team. She is the one that started this club and she works really hard to keep it going.

So the divathon went really well and I thought I would post a picture of the team that we coach. This is only about half of our divers. We have about 15 total. I enjoy coaching this team so much. They are good kids and I want them to have a good experience like I had when I was their age.

These next pictures are of Blake and Karson. Karson is Julies little baby that is almost exactly one month younger than Blake. Even with the age difference they are the same size. They are really cute together.

If anyone's kids want to get into diving let me know. It is so much fun to coach these kids and see what they do in the future.

Oh!! the last thing that I wanted to say totally off the subject of diving is that I didn't think it was possible for a baby to have bedhead but Blake proves me wrong every morning. For your viewing pleasure, this is Blake this morning with bedhead. The picture doesn't do his hair justice though. If you click on the picture you can see it much better.

I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!!!!

Happiest Birthday Ever!!

Okay so I know that this is kind of late but I wanted to thank my husband for everything he did for me on my birthday. I had a great day with Ryan and Blake. In the morning, Ryan woke me up with breakfast which was awesome. He bought a banner and balloons that hung over our table. It was so fun to wake up to that. I felt like a little kid again. After breakfast I had to leave to go coach diving for a few hours. When I got home Ryan gave me my present and it was exactly what I asked for. A hair straightener. YAY. After that Blake went down for a nap. YAY NAP!! When he went down, Ryan and I laid on the couch and watched the Olympics and I fell asleep. The sun here takes everything out of me. Oh and Blake might help with wearing me out. Anyway, I woke up and Ryan made us a little picnic for lunch that we had in our front room because it was way to hot outside.

After the picnic I started to get ready for the night. We had planned to go over to one of our friends house for dinner and Ryan and his friend would make dinner for me. So on the way over to his house Ryan without telling me decided to take a little detour. I was so confused but he took me to someone's house I didn't know. He knocked on the door and a little Chinese women answered and told me to come in. UM WHAT! I looked at Ryan like he was crazy. Ryan looked back at me and said he would be back in a hour. OK REALLY FREAKED OUT NOW! SO the little lady told me to follow her and went up stairs. Ok. I followed her and she took me into a room with a couple of tables. The lady looked at me and in very broken English said "Take your clothes off and lay down." WHAT!!. I love my husband. He arranged for me to get a massage. Exactly what I have been needing. The next hour of my life was so wonderfully Painful. That little lady was brutal. She was popping things in my body I didn't know could be popped. Some things hurt so bad but when she was done I felt like jello. It was amazing. That was the quickest hour of my life. It was wonderful.

So when I was done with the massage Ryan came and picked me up and really took me over to our friends house. The were finishing up dinner and so I read my book ( the twighlight series) Holy cow. such a good book. I am hooked on it. For dinner Ryan made chicken, twice baked potatoes, corn, salad, shirley temples and a cake for dessert. It was sooooo good. After dinner we hung out for a while and then went home. We watched the Olympics until midnight and then went to bed. It was a wonderful day. Ryan didn't let me change one diaper all day and if Blake ever got fussy Ryan would take him from me unless I had to feed him. I love my husband so much and he is so amazing. He is the sweetest man and treats me like a princess. He is such a good father and I love watching him with Blake. Thank you all again for the birthday wishes. I love you all.

Happy Birthday Heather!!!

So this is Ryan and I've never done this before. I didn't even know how to sign on to the blog and it took me a minute to figure out how to make a post. But, I feel the need to post something about my wifey poo.

It's her birthday today and I wanted to show her how much I love her. I know that I'm not always the best at showing her on special occasions like birthdays, mother's day, christmas, etc. So, I'm really trying to go all out today. I hope that I can make this a special day for her.

She really is an excellent wife. She takes very good care of me and is always striving to improve. She really pushes herself to be the best that she can be. This is also true of her mothering skills. I just love watching her with Blake. She has that motherly instinct and always knows what is best for him. Sometimes she asks me what we should do with him and I just look at her and tell her that she knows best, because she really does. I would be so lost in life without her not just in raising Blake, but with everything that I do.

I have a hard time making decisions sometimes especially the big ones. I stress over them for a long time and sometimes let it consume all of my thoughts. She is so patient with me and she always knows the right answer from the very beginning. She thinks about it, prays, and then just knows what to do. By the time I figure it out she's already known for days and has moved on to something else. It's good to have someone like that around.

She is the love of my life and hope that she knows that. Not just because I'm trying so hard today, but I hope that she feels it every day of her life. She deserves to be treated that way because that is how she treats me. I love her so much!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEATHER! I LOVE YOU!!

6 Months Old!!!

Our little boy is six months old today. It is amazing how time flies and how quick they grow up. I love Blake so much and can't believe how big he is getting. I remember back six months and remember thinking that my life was never going to be the same. I was completely right. My life has completely turned upside down. I LOVE IT!! Blake is such a blessing in mine and Ryan's lives. He has brought us so much joy and happiness. He is growing and learning so much everyday. Blake has this new sleeping position that he always is in when he sleeps. He brings his knees up under his stomach and sticks his butt way up into the air. It is so funny to see and I love just watching him sleep. He is loving eating his new food and drinking from his little sippy cup. Blake is also teething and I feel so bad for him when he hurts and I can't wait for his first little tooth to show. It's amazing how life changes when you have a little baby. I never thought that I would be so happy only getting a few hours of sleep a night and having to wake up at the smallest little noise made. That is true LOVE and happiness. I love my little family so much and can't wait for the next little thing that Blake learns to do.

I wanted to take a sec to say happy birthday to my little brother Matthew. He is such an awesome kid and I can't believe that he is 16. AAAAHHHHH CRAZY!!! Watch out girls, here comes Matthew. It's more like watch out Matthew, here comes the girls. HE HE. Anyway, I love you and hope you have a great birthday.

Apple juice and Carrots

The day has come. I have been so frustrated lately because Blake refuses to take a bottle. Ryan and I have tried to get him to take a bottle so that we could maybe go out on a date together. It has been a while and we thought no problem, just give him a bottle and we are good to go. Well as we have found out, just the sight of a bottle makes Blake scream his head off and oh yeah trying to give one to him FORGET IT. He rufuses to take it. So being the only source of food for our precious baby boy means that I cannot be away for more than two hours. I have been talking to friends and researching all day and realized that since he will be six months old on Sunday (Holy Cow how time flies) it is times to start giving him more than just milk and the rice cereal that he has been eating. I was reading on some baby site this afternoon that it is not that uncommon for babies to refuse bottles if they have only been nursed. I was surprised to see how many people said that their babies totally skipped the bottle stage and went to the sippy cup phase. So I decided to give it a try. Also Blake has not been sleeping well because he is getting so hungry at night so I decided to try the baby food thing too.

When Ryan got home from shadowing today I told him my plan and he hopped on board. I ran to our wonderful Smiths and bought sippy cups and babyfood. I bought Carrots, green beans, sweet potatos, peaches, pears and bananas. A lot of people have told me to give veggies first so we decided to go with the carrots tonight. To our surprise he kind of liked them. Like any baby though he made a mess and probably ended up with more carrots on him than inside him but hey at least he didn't scream. So one thing down, one to go.

I then grabbed a sippy cup and put Apple juice mixed with water in it. I have to admit that I was kind of nervous and thinking that this wouldn't go over so well with him. I handed him the cup that had little handles on each side so that he could hold it for himself. To my complete AMAZEMENT he took the cup from me and went to town. He started gulping that stuff down like he had done it for years. He was so happy and when I tried to take the cup away he wouldn't let go. YAY for sippy cups. He actually drank out of it.

So the test before bed was to put some formula in the cup and see if it would have the same effect as the juice. SURPRISE!! He still drank the milk. He was a little slower and made gross faces but he got more down than he ever has with the bottle. Apparantly our little boy thought he was too good for the bottle. Yay! Now I won't have to ween him off one. I am so grateful for my little boy and love him so much. I love life and what it brings. For me, Ryan and Blake make my life worth living. It is so fun to watch our little baby grow and learn new things. He is amazing and I couldn't have asked for a better baby. Anyway, I was so happy for him and we got it all on tape.

Where's Blake?

So today I was kind of bored and was playing with Blake and his stuffed animals and got a brilliant idea. Blake probably wasn't too happy about it but I thought it was hilarious. I have always loved stuffed animals and thought I would take a few pictures of some of my collection with Blake in the middle. Anyway, here they are. (WARNING- PICTURE OVERLOAD)
Hope you enjoyed the game of finding Blake:)

Most Used Words!!

So I saw this on one of my friends blogs and thought I would try it out on mine. This shows what words I use most often when I write my blogs. The bigger the word the more I use it. Here is what came up. It's kind of hard to read but if you click on it it will get larger.





Apparently we see that I talk about Ryan and Blake a lot which is how it should be. Well have a great day. If you want to do this yourself click here and see what you talk about the most. Wordle Have a great day!!

Summer Vacation

So it has been a while since I have been on here but we have been visiting family for the past couple weeks. It is so nice to see our families and get away from Vegas.

We started out going to Hawthorne on Thursday Night to be with Ryan's Family. It was so good to be able to stay more than just a day or two. We were able to stay there until Tuesday. This was Blakes first trip to Hawthorne and he loved seeing his Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Nicole and Uncle Brandon. I don't think he was ever not being played with. On Friday we went and watched Brandon's swim lesson. He swims the butterfly better than me for sure. On Saturday Ryan took his sister Nicole to Reno to watch a baseball game and didn't get home until about midnight. I was able to play games with his mom and Brandon all night. It was so much fun. On Sunday we went to church and just got to relax with the family. On Monday we took Blake swimming and the community pool. It was a little colder than he was used to but he did really well. We had such a great weekend there and loved being with the family.

So after our trip to Hawthorne we traveled down to Southern California to my grandma's house to meet my mom and dad. They were down there to help my grandma clean out her house because she is going to be moving to Logan. It was nice for my Grandma to be able to see Blake. And of course my Mom and Dad loved seeing him too. It was a long week but it was fun finding cool little things in the house from past generations.

I am so grateful for our families and how much they love and support the three of us. We could not do it without every single one of them. They are such an amazing support to us and we could not ask for two better families. Thank you!!. We love all of you!!

Happy Birthday Mom!!!!

I just publicly wanted to wish my mom a happy birthday. She is such a important person in my life and I am so grateful for her. My mom and dad have always been there for me whenever I needed them and I am so grateful for that. I am so lucky to have such wonderful parents who love and care about me. My mom has been my angel. She has lifted me up and taught me so many things over the years. She has been a constant source of strength for me and I don't know what I would do without her.

My mom is one of my best friends and I am so grateful for her in my life.

She has become such a wonderful grandma and loves little Blake so much. I was so grateful that she was able to come when I had him and help for the first couple of weeks. I couldn't have done it without her.

She has been my lifesaver so many times when I have been sick and she watched and cared for Blake. We could not thank you enough mom. We love you so much and wanted you to know that you are so amazing. We are so excited to see in next week. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Happy Fourth of July- two days late

So this Fourth of July was very special because it was Blakes first. Ryan had to study all day so we just kind of hung around the house. At six o'clock we went and got Subway sandwiches and some sparklers to do later that night. We drove up to a little mountain that Ryan and I used to hike up when we were dating. The mountain had a great view of the strip. Since Ryan and I hadn't been up there since we had been married we decided to go with Blake and watch fireworks. We got up to the mountain and ate our sandwiches and played with Blake. We had actually gotten up there to early so by the time they were starting Blake was getting a little fussy. We decided to hike down before it got to late and drive around to watch the fireworks. We drove to a little spot that overlooked the strip and watched the pretty fireworks. We then decided to do our sparklers with Blake. It was so much fun to watch his reaction. He stared at the sparklers and didn't take his eyes off of them. It was so fun to watch Ryan and Blake play together. Later that night we came home and Blake had fallen asleep in the car. We thought that he would wake up not to long after we put him in his bed because he had not eaten in a long time. Well he kept sleeping and sleeping and didn't wake up until 5:30 the next morning which is I believe the longest he has ever slept through the night. It was amazing. He had a very long day though. The night was so much fun being all together as a family. I am so grateful for this country and for the freedoms that we have. I am grateful for both of my grandpas that fought for our country. I am grateful for my family both the Ormes and the Wests. And I am so very grateful for my husband and my precious little boy who is the light of my life.

Here are a few more pictures from that night. HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!!

Have a great Day!!!!!!!!!!!

Just a little survey!

Ryan and I on my 21st birthday a week after we
started dating. We are at the Tropicana.

1. What is your husband's name? Ryan Marshall West

2. How long have you been together? In 2 days we will have been married for a year and a half. On August 6th we will have been together for 2 years.

3. How long did you date? Well, we started dating August 6th 2006, got engaged on November 10th 2006 and married on January 5th 2007. So like 5 months. Kinda fast but hey when your in love why wait?

4. How old is he? 23.

5. Who eats more? Ryan for sure!

6. Who said I love you first? Ryan. Then me right afterwards.

7. Who is taller? I'm thinking Ryan by a good 10 inches.

8. Who sings better? Neither one of us really sings. I try. It melts my heart though when Ryan sings to Blake before putting him down for bed.

9. Who is smarter? Definately Ryan

10. Whose temper is worse? Mine, Ryan is good to calm me down when people cut me off when driving.

11. Who does the laundry? Me

12. Who does the dishes? We both do. Ryan is so good to help me when I don't feel well.

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? I do. Ryan used to until we had to put Blake's crib on that side and after the first night of me having to walk around the bed to get him I had Ryan switch me sides.

14. Who pays the bills? Ryan. Most of our bills are paid by automatic bill pay on the computer which is a lifesaver because we would probably forget.

15. Who mows the lawn? Yeah right! I wish we had a lawn to mow.

16. Who cooks dinner? Me some nights, Ryan some nights and Panda Express some nights.:)

17. Who drives when you are together? Mostly Ryan so I can take care of Blake when he starts to scream in the back.

18. Who is more stubborn? Most definately me. I don't know why but sometimes I just don't want to do somthing I know I have to do. (Ryan is so patient with me.) I love him so much.

19. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? If we refer to the question above I am usually to stubborn to admit it. Ryan always says, "I'd rather be happy than right". It makes me so mad.

20. Whose parents do you see the most? Probably mine but just by a few times. They both libe pretty far away. I wish both sets could be closer.

21. Who proposed? Ryan

22. Who is more sensitive? Ryan is very sensitive to me and my feelings. I'm just sensitive about random things everyday.

23. Who has more friends? Probably Ryan but thats okay because I live with my best friend.

24. Who has more siblings? Ryan has 5. I have 3.

25. Who wears the pants in the family? Nowadays it's definately Blake. What he wants goes.

26. Where did you meet? At his old apartment. I kinda liked one of his other roommates at the time.

27. What was the first thing you said to your husband? Can have this picture of you. (Inside Joke). He thought I was really wierd.

28. Where was your first date? Sheridans Ice Cream and Sunset park. His brother Jared was also there.

29. Where was your first kiss? On my doorstep :)

30. Where did you get engaged? In my apartment. Long story but he tricked me and surprised me when I came home one night after going on a date with him.

31. Where were you married? The Las Vegas Temple

32. Where was the honeymoon? On a cruise ship that went to Catalina Island, and to Mexico. It was so amazing.

33. If you could have changed anything about it what would it have been? Nothing. I had him and that's all I wanted.