Tristan turns 1 (Mom & Dad & Tristan party)

We wanted to have a small Mom/Dad/Son birthday party to celebrate Tristan (and us!) surviving the first year!  It's been a lot of fun and we had fun celebrating with Tristan as well!  Here are the pics:

All smiles

Oh, I can't throw the frosting off my tray as easily as I can my food

Hmm... I don't know if I like this sugary stuff or not.

Definitely more fun to destroy my cupcake!

 Maybe if I shove a bunch in my mouth it will taste better!

Getting clean wasn't very fun, but I think I may get to eat paper here soon!



Way better than the cupcake, I'll chew it open with my teeth!

I love books!!

I'm ready to chew on the paper, Mom & Dad.

Here I go!

This tearing paper off stuff is pretty fun! 

Oh, there's a toy there!

Hmm... I still like the paper.

Yep.  Yummy paper.

Oh, I can climb on the box too, now that the paper went away.

This looks fun!

I love pushing things, this is great!

Okay, Dad, I am sitting on it, now what?

Oh, I move it and ride it.  Nice choice, Mom & Dad!

p.s. Tristan did get very upset, practically hysterical, when his toy (and Dad) disappeared into the other room to put it together.  Luckily, Dad had it put together in a snap!

We had such fun time celebrating our baby, I mean, practically toddler's 1 year birthday.  This celebration was all prior to super bloody mouth number two :( ... which was a result of Tristan having a water bottle in his mouth, tripping and falling flat on his face.  This led to motrin, ice, sucking on a wash cloth and then a much needed trip to Frys, where Tristan got to walk up and down all of the freezer aisles with Dad.  And they both had a blast doing that while Mom had a blast getting the groceries (it's true, I do love grocery shopping, really!)  Travis leaves Monday morning at 8am and won't be back until Thursday afternoon, so Holly is very glad that Grandma B is going to be in town!  Then Nana and Papa get in on Wednesday morning and Aunt Lindz and Uncle Coop arrive Wednesday evening.  Lots of company for Tristan's 1 year birthday party this Saturday, the 12th!  We're going to have an awesome week!!

Playgroup fun!

We have a ton of fun at playgroup on Fridays!  This morning we met at Jeanine's house and last week we went to Dewitt Stables in Mesa to a pumpkin patch and a hay maze!  Here are some pics!  Tristan is walking almost like a pro now!  Just crazy - our little baby boy is almost one and not so much of a baby anymore...

Tristan walking videos!

Go baby Tristan, go!!  The first video is sideways because I thought if I turned the videocamera sideways it would self adjust like a camera :)  Such a cutie pie!  Soon he'll be a toddler, but I'll still call him our baby for a while!


Tristan Walking 1 from Holly Riley on Vimeo.

Nana and Papa visit... and Tristan's first 2 solo steps!

We had some visitors these last few days and they're one of our favorite visitors!  Nana and Papa came down all the way from Iowa for a few days to see all of us!

We went to the pool one afternoon and Tristan had a blast.  It was nice and overcast and even though it was in the 90s, it was COLD when you were outside of the pool.  Gotta love the dry desert area! 

Nana and Papa played with Tristan all day long on Thursday while Mom & Dad were at work all day.  Tristan loved hearing Papa sing to him and give him "bear rides" while Nana held onto his feet!  It was so cute, he just loved it.  They also watched him Friday night, so that we could go on a date night.  We saw the movie, "Courageous".  Very good and inspiring movie!

Tristan also decided to try and walk quite a few times!  He pushes himself up to stand now all the time and balances very well now (something that only we and Nana and Papa got to see all weekend long, I guess he was just waiting to have more of an audience)!!  He took his first 2 real steps on Saturday, October 1st!  The pics I tried to get then didn't really work out because we weren't expecting it, but here are some from Sunday night:

We also got to go and see Trav race the 70.3 tour de Scottsdale.  He placed very well and came in at 2:52.  His goal was to do this super hilly course in under 3 hours and he did SOOOOO well!  We are very proud of him and it was fun to see him cross the finish line!

All in all, it was a GREAT weekend with lots of GREAT experiences and fun!  We ate in everynight, it was really nice to cook for more than just 2 people and we had lots of fun around the house and around the area!  Nana and Papa will be back in a little over a month for Tristan's 1st birthday!!  We can't wait to see everyone!  And Grandma B will be coming down too, so I'm very excited for some time with my mom!!  I'll update again in a few weeks!!

Tristan/Travis/Holly News!

Here are some Tristan updates -

• He's been to three 1 year old birthday parties so far
• He loves water, the bath and to swim.  He loves to blow bubbles in the bathtub/pool and thinks it's just hysterical

• He definitely has his activities he enjoys with mom (like playing/flying on her knees, which is a good ab workout for mom, getting chased down the hallway, listening to mom play piano ) and activities he enjoys with dad (rolling around on the ground, getting thrown up in the air, and getting swung around and around)
• He loves the dishwasher and the fridge and pulling things out of drawers/bags, etc.

• He loves to stand up and pull himself up onto things, he even tries to throw himself into the tub
• He loves to walk along the walls and push the chairs around in the kitchen, he loves to look at photos and pictures now

• He'll walk if you hold just one little finger of his but if you let go, he'll just stand there and then sit down

• He does NOT like when people are on the computer or on the phone in front of him, especially mom and dad
• He does NOT like the vaccuum.  Trav even held him when I was vaccuuming the other week and he still wasn't a big fan
• He does NOT like to be fed as much anymore.  He would much rather pick up anything and shove it in his mouth, I still think he's one of a kind bc I swear he puts anything and everything in his mouth and I swear I don't see other babies do that as much when we're around them

• He loves being around people after he warms up to them.  He's got the best smile in the entire world and the most beautiful blue eyes... we're biased, we know.

Updates on Travis -

• He's still biking on Tues, Thurs and Saturday.  He's got a race on Oct 2nd and is planning on doing a couple more races in the fall, hopefully including Tour de Tucson
• He suggested that we start doing couples devotionals together every evening and it helps us to unwind and praying together is such an intimate thing to do
• He's still loving his job at honeywell, he even was chosen out of all the people in pricing to be part of the implementation team in Georgia in early November because he does such a great job there (we're really proud of him, even though we'll miss him for a few days!!)
• He's honestly such a great dad, I can't say that enough!!

Here are some Holly updates -

• I'm still in school taking classes and teaching 2 classes this semester, but planning on being done teaching mid December, then I'll finish up my thesis in the spring
• I'm still working Cornerstone Christian in accounting and loving it more and more everyday
• I've started the INSANITY workout and boy oh boy is it tough, but I'm loving it!  Travis does it with me as often as he is able to - don't want to workout his legs too much before a race!  I'll definitely be toned like none other after this thing!
• I've actually become more clean and organized.  I didn't say anally clean/organized, but I am becoming more organized at home
• I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being a mom.  Tristan is such a happy baby and it's just been one big trip with us.

Travis and I are taking this awesome class called "Love and Respect" by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs and it is absolutely amazing.  It was a huge eye opener to me how different Travis and I communicate/think and it has initiated some great discussion and Q & A sessions between us!  We really recommend it because everyone would benefit from reading it.  Plus, we really want to model a great relationship to Tristan.

We'll  try to keep you all more posted!

Love,

Travis, Holly & Tristan

Catching up!

Oh my!  I just noticed our last post was April 17th!  I don't even know what to say!  Yikes!

Lots has happened these last 3 1/2 months!  Tristan will be turning 9 months next week, we took our first family vacation in Seattle where I (Holly) ran my first marathon post baby, I got a new job, Travis was recognized at work for doing an outstanding job, we went back to Iowa and finally saw friends/family, including an awesome not even 24 hour trip to Minneapolis to visit our MN friends AND we moved!!  So we've been busy, busy, busy to say the least! 

Here are some cute pics from the Seattle trip, the last week in June, when Tristan was 7 1/2 months (and was already an expert crawler - he finally got "good" at crawling right after he turned 7 months):

Holly before the race (not very spectator friendly, so Travis couldn't get a very good picture of me running, I finished in 4:00:52, which I was proud of for it being such a hilly course).

On top of the space needle!

Happy baby!

At the fish market (Holly says ewwww!)

In front of the Clipper when we went to the San Juan Islands and saw 2 pods of Orca whales, soooo cool!

At Ivar's for a nice dinner out! 

Here are some pics from our trip to Iowa/Minnesota:

Eating in the same high chair my daddy ate in!! (8 months)

At the DM zoo!

The Prendergast side

Grandma Vernie & me

Driving my first car!

In Minneapolis

Me & my "uncle" Mitch

Abby & me

Hanging out at the meet the Tristan party!

With my favorite aunt & uncle!

Last day in Iowa!

Anyway, I am going to be better about updating.  In Holly & Travis news, I (still Holly) started a new job in accounting for Cornerstone Christian (the church we go to) and will be going full time at the end of October or beginning of November.  I'll still be teaching 2 courses this fall, taking 1 course as a student and collecting data for my thesis, so I have a lot on my plate to say the least.  Travis was recognized at work for doing such an awesome job on his projects!!  He really enjoys his job and he can get home from work in 7 minutes, which is a HUGE bonus as well.  He is training for a half ironman triathlon and doing trx, while Holly is running every other day or every couple of days.  But we ALWAYS make time for our favorite little guy in the whole wide world!

Tristan (7 1/2 months) and dad at the pool at our new place.