365 Days

From day 1...

To day 365...

It has been such an incredible journey this year. The things we have learned, the love we have given to you and received from you, the messes you've made, the words you have spoken, the smiles and giggles you have shared with us, the playtime we have enjoyed with you... 

It has all been such a wondrous adventure. And we have loved every second of it.  Your smiles, hugs, kisses, love has kept us going. You have kept us working hard for every minute of happiness. We have loved this first year and we are looking forward to the many years to come that we get to watch you grow and learn for yourself. 

The little man is now a big man. Everyday he melts my stony heart. He keeps me on my feet. He is so smart and is always showing us how much he watches us, which helps us be better all the time.

At 1 year:

27 inches tall.

23 pounds.

has 4 teeth TRYING to come in... they are so stubborn!

Walks everywhere! 

can sign: please, thank you, more, eat, drink, milk.

blows kisses! (he just started this when we video chatted with Nana and Papa Wilson on his birthday!)

waves bye bye.

kisses mom, dad, nana, papa, good night.

favorite foods: avocados, peaches, sweet potato, cheese, milk, but he will eat anything we put in front of him.

sleeps at least 12 hours at night and take 2 naps a day for 1-1.5 hours each.

he copies his dad all the time.

loves bath time and swimming!!!

loves to read!

loves dogs.

Alden is such a fun boy, and I love him more than anything. He makes me want to be the best person I can be. I'm blessed. Truly.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG AL! We love you and are so happy to be your parents!

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In other news! We found an apartment!! YAY! We don't move in until the middle of October, but that's okay because we can't move our stuff from Utah until the END of October... It will be fun... HA! Things are going good. Jared and I are both enjoying our jobs, and Alden loves to stay home and play with Grandma Snyder and Candy dog all day! Things are good, and we are thankful for all the blessing we have received in the last month... The Lord is good. We are reminded everyday. 

Looking forward to all that we have coming our way!

Much love,

Rachel Lynn

The Road to Oregon!

(THIS POST IS LONG!!! Sorry...)

Because we were looking at a 14 hour drive to get to Newport, Oregon, we left right after church on Sunday(June 2).

We decided that we wanted to take the long route up the 101 and neither of us regret that. It was 5 hours longer, but it was the most beautiful drive I've ever been on. We ended up skipping San Francisco this time because we didn't want to do the traffic again after being there the day before. So we went up through Napa, and famous Napa Valley. Wine Country!!!  I have to say that it was actually really cool. For miles, and miles all you can see are rows of grapes! It was incredible. (I was driving so I didn't get any pictures... sorry!) The 101 is a national scenic byway and part of it was 'The Avenue of the Giants' which are the Redwoods! Although we didn't have time to stop and explore we really loved driving through and seeing how huge these 'Giants' are.

Jared was gawking at the view the whole time

I ended up driving the full 14 hours, but it was a really great drive. So beautiful the whole way. I keep dreaming about it, that's how amazing it was. We stayed at Beverly Beach State Park, which was a ton of fun! Probably the best part of the trip. It is only 10 minutes outside of town and it's literally steps from the beach. My favorite part was being put to sleep by the sound of the ocean. It was incredible. We didn't get into our campsite until close to 2am so we ended up just sleeping in the car that night. Jared fell asleep around 8pm and was asleep the rest of the drive... so he got plenty of rest. That is what I wanted though because his interview was at 8:30 the next day.

I ended up not sleeping at all because I had a steering wheel in my way... so when Alden woke up to nurse at 5:30 I just got up. I got our tents set up and set up the pack-n-play, and our bed so that we could just come back to camp and relax that evening. While I was doing that Jared got ready for his interview. The campground actually had showers which was nice, and they we pretty clean too.

Yaquina Head Lighthouse

We headed back into town after Jared was ready and got him to his interview a little early. Alden and I drove around town while we waited. When Jared got done we went and had breakfast at a local diner. It was really good. We decided to spend some time in town, and went to see the two lighthouses. Yaquina Head, and Yaquina Bay. They are both really cool, and Alden loved going down to the tide pools. He loves the beach. :)

Newport Bay Bridge

We stayed a couple days, explored the beach and spent time relaxing at camp. We spent a day up in Lincoln City looking around there. We took the short way back to Carson... it is only 9 hours (better than 14). We split it up to make it easier on Alden. We left in the evening and went almost half way, stopped at a rest stop and slept. Then went the rest the next morning. Taking the I-5 was cool too, we got to see Mt. Shasta! And some other great scenery.


All in all it was a great trip... And even though the job didn't pull through, we were glad we got to go and spend some good time as a family. Alden loved playing at the beach and camping! He was such a trooper with the long drives.

Stay tuned for more updates coming soon... :)

Much love,
Rachel Lynn

We love Summer!!

Now that I have some time to organize my life, I can put some time here to update everyone. :)

Anyhow, the last 2 weeks have been amazingly wonderful. I finished work on the 24th, and after a crazy last week it was much anticipated. I have to admit though, I've been missing picking up my kids every morning. I miss driving the bus. It was such a blessing to us for me to be able to work and especially for me to have a job that I loved so much. I am hoping to get the same kind of job, once we pin down where we will be moving. 

Jared is looking for work. Has been for 2 months now with only one interview. We are still waiting to hear from them...  But we are hanging in there. I'm no good when it comes to waiting. 

We left as soon as I got off work and made the 10 hour drive to Carson City. 

Somewhere in the Nevada desert we found this Windmill farm. :) 

We bunked up at Grandma Snyder's that night. The next morning we headed out to Sacramento to join the Snyder clan for Bug-O-Rama! That afternoon we spent at the Sacramento County Fair. It was a lot of fun, and a lot of sun!! It was nice to get some good sun. 

It was a fun and HOT afternoon, walking around put Alden right to sleep.

Love the Ferris Wheel! 

The following day we went to the famous Bug-O-Rama! Jared was like a little kid on Christmas morning. :) Basically it's a huge car show, races, and pick-n-pull for Volkswagen lovers. I've never really been a fan of VW's, but it was one on the coolest things I've seen. To see a little old Bug go 100 mph down a race track was pretty dang awesome. Not to mention all the cool cars they had in the car show... It was pretty rad. Anyway we spent the day there out it the heat and the sun, but it was a blast! We got to cool off in the pool at the KOA when we got back too, that helped. 

I want this Bus!!

The pick'n'pull. Basically a yard sale of everything VW. CRAZY!

Alden loved watching the cars race down the track! He didn't want to take his eyes off them!

Eventually fell asleep though. 

Watching the races!

searching his cubby for snacks. :)

Memorial day morning we headed back to Carson City. We spent the day relaxing and planning our trip to Oregon! It is nice to spend some good, uninterrupted time with both my boys! We've been going on walks, and playing outside. We have been playing inside with Grandma Snyder's bulldogs. Alden loves the chase them around the house!!  

Friday the 31st we headed back to Sacramento/Fairfield. We stayed at Emily's mom's house. (Emily is my sister-in-law). We got to hang out with Jim, Em and the kiddos as well as the Dahlin's! On Saturday we went to a ranch out in the 'boonies' and did some exploring! 

That afternoon Jared, Alden and I took off and went to the beach!! It was so fun to go as just us. Just our little family. And it was Alden's first time!!!! Ahhhh! He LOVED it! The water was a bit cold, and he wasn't too keen on it, but he had a blast playing in the sand!!! He was throwing it around and crawling everywhere exploring! He didn't even try to eat it! I was so surprised. We had a blast. We even got to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge! This was our second time, but last time it was dark... It is so much better in daylight!!!

of course we had to drive through San Francisco... and traffic was actually a lot better than the last time we were there.

My favorite wall art!!

And the BEACH!!! :) I'm a happy girl when I can see the ocean.

It was a beautiful day!

Alden had so much fun once he figured out what to do with the sand!!! I mean look at that face!

Love it!!! I love this boy!

He copied me. He figured out how to dig in the sand! He is so smart.

and then the Bridge!!!

So cool!

I have always loved architecture design so I love bridges!!! Every single one we go on I take pictures!

This time we went up to the headlands over look and I took some good pictures!

He didn't like the cold water much.

It was a perfect day!!!

Thank you Valorie and Doug for letting us stay and enjoy the chaos with you!! Little Brayden was blessed on Sunday! He is such a cutie! So happy that Jim and Em could add to their family!


Stay tuned for Part 2! The Road to Oregon!!! :)

Much love,
Rachel Lynn