Good News Should Be Shared!

Good news should be shared and for me this news is better than just good! Little Man Emmett is officially Potty Trained! I had been debating on whether or not he was ready, or more so whether or not I was ready to confront the potty training! I have said it before and still stand by the fact that up to this point in my experience with child raising, potty training has been the hardest part of parenting! We briefly attempted to train Emmett when he turned two. For some crazy reason I had decided that since Lydia was potty trained before she was two it was now time for Emmett to be. It lasted 2 1/2 days before I realized that he was not yet ready and I was about to go crazy! Only after that did I then hear everyone say that boys usually potty train later than girls and most aren't ready until age 3.

Thus as I entertained the idea to potty train again I wondered if he was still too young. I know he won't be three until June but he has been showing incredible interest in using the potty and wearing big boy underwear (he actually used to call them panties because that is what we refer to sister's as but Dan put a quick stop to that insisting that we refer to them as "big boy underwear!"). He'd asked to sit on the potty a few times and even been successful so I had some hope to go on here. Alas I decided that Monday was the day. Monday morning we woke up and went to the store to buy a bunch of fun drinks and potty prizes. That afternoon after his nap the training officially began. Here's more or less how it has gone:

Monday: 3 successes, 1 accident (Mommy super excited and motivated)!
Tuesday: 3 successes, 2 accidents (Mommy staying opptimistic, Emmett loving his potty prizes)!
Wednesday: 3 successes, 3 accidents (Mommy feeling rather worn out but remembering that accidents are part of learning)!
Thursday: 1 success, 3 accidents (Daddy comes home and worries about Mama's sanity. Mom considers aborting project potty train, are these prizes not cool anymore?)
Friday: 5 successes, 0 accidents (Mommy elated and Emmett is getting it)!
Saturday:5 successes, 1 tiny accident (He even woke up dry! Mom & Dad were both super excited)!
Sunday: POTTY TRAINED!!!

So this morning I awoke to Emmett's darling little face at the side of my bed saying, "Mommy I need to go Potty!" He was once again dry and after I helped him onto the potty he went like a little champ! He has reached the joyous milestone of now telling us when he has to go rather than me having to ask him. He went #2 successfully a couple times before church but the real question/concern lay in whether or not he could make it through nursery with out either of us. Naturally I was paranoid and tried to get him to go before church started. Then I came back after Young Women's to check on him but he wasn't interested. His teacher said he'd told her that he needed to go but when he sat on the potty it was just gas to which he bust up laughing about and then said he was done! Later when we picked him up from nursery his teacher was excited and said that he had been fantastic! He simply told her when he needed to go and then did it! Three Cheers for Emmett!!! I know this may seem like such a silly thing to write about but it has honestly made me such a happy mother today! All day long when he'd come tell me he needed to go and then do it I felt like jumping for joy. What a milestone we've reached! My sanity is back and I am so grateful that he is out of diapers before baby sister comes along. Way to go Emmett! Thanks for making your mother smile!

 

Miracles Do Happen!

We had a most splendid Christmas Holiday in Logan complete with the Bush Bunch Nativity, family talking stick, skiing, music, games galore, and sledding with the kiddos. We headed back to St.George after a fabulous five day visit and the kids started crying on the way home because Emmett wanted to stay at "Gamas house" and Lydia was devastated that she never got to build a snowman!

Last week when she was saying her prayers she asked two or three times, "Heavenly Father please bless it to snow so that I can build a snowman." I smiled tenderly at her request and almost felt bad for her because the reality is we live in St.George and it rarely ever snows here! Here is a picture of the last time Lydia built a snowman in St.George (December 2008).

 

Thus you can imagine my surprise when we woke up Monday morning to two inches of fresh snow! The kids were thrilled and Lydia knew her prayers had been answered. Unfortunately we couldn't run right out and build a snowman because we had an early doctor appointment. When we opened our garage a group of neighborhood kids were in the culdesac having a major snowball fight. They started running for us so I threw the kids in the car and they bombed us from every side as we drove away! The kids loved watching the windows smeared with snowballs and I explained that they had to get as much snow play in before it all melted away. Wrong thing to say! Lydia was nervous the entire time we were gone that we wouldn't be able to build her snowman. She sang at the top of her lungs her own rendition to "Rain, Rain, Go Away," it went like this, "Snow, snow come and stay, melt away another day!"

 

Luckily we made it home before it was too late. Lydia froze her little nose but loved every minute of it!

 

She even recruited Emmett to help with the carrot nose, stick arms, and rock buttons.

 

Their finishing touch was putting snowballs in bowls to feed their snowman "snowball soup!"

 

By the time they came in the house they were officially frozen (we don't own snow pants or boots for obvious reasons)! After soaking their toes in a warm sink they cheered up again with some delicious mugs of hot cocoa!

 

Our prayers that night consisted of a very special Thank You for letting it snow in St.George so Lydia could build her snowman. Today she prayed that her snowman wouldn't melt. While everything around it has, it is still standing! We're thankful for little miracles that build faith in children and make us smile!

Riding Family Christmas Card 2010!

2010 Christmas Card Cover!

 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! On behalf of the staff of Riding Magazine we wish you a wonderful holiday season. We’re proud to announce a new addition to our family – a baby girl in April. Mom and baby are perfectly healthy and both are excited for the baby to be out of Cassie’s belly! We have had a fantastic year and are so grateful for being surrounded by loving family and friends. May we all remember the true reason for celebration this time of year; the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

 

Chelsea D’Gol
Fine Arts/Sports Writer
As heard in recent conversation at the dinner table. Dan prodding Lydia to eat her dinner.
Dan: “Lydia, do not eat your dinner. If you do you’ll grow up and I don’t want to see that happen.”
Lydia, matter-of-factly while taking a bite: “That’s just the way it is, Dad. We have pictures and you can look at those.”
Despite our attempts at thwarting her growth Lydia keeps on growing and will soon celebrate her fifth birthday. Lydia is a Joy with a capital J and can even spell and read the word JOY to you! She loves learning and is counting the days until kindergarten starts. She soaks up morals while she attends joy school and learns much more than letters and numbers as she spends a few minutes each day with her computer-based preschool. So, what’s this four year old going to be when she grows up? None other than, and we quote, “a princess-ballerina-soccer player- superhero!”
Our little princess continues to dance on the stage and around the house and has even pulled some sweet moves on the soccer field. She was a member of the Green Dragons soccer team (fierce enough for 4 year olds?) and managed to score a couple of goals this season. We’ve come to accept that Lydia will keep growing and we will enjoy every move she gives us as she dances through life and is our little superhero princess.

 

Bernie Holmes
Home Safety
Ask him what his name is and every time you’ll get the response “I’m Emmett Daniel Riding.” Since January Emmett has learned to speak in complete sentences and has learned letters and numbers as taught by Lydia. As far as his parents are concerned these are major milestones for his 2 ½ year old brain. But, if you were to ask him what the best part of his year was it would hands down be the fact that he got to ride in a fire truck! How would we know this? Because EVERY DAY since he rode in the jumper seat of engine #1 of the Ivins Fire Dept. he has announced it to everyone. On more than one occasion someone has knocked on the door and he runs to announce to our guest that “Guess what? I rode in a fire truck!”
Don’t forget that Emmett is two and sometimes is sad, but even then mom insists that he use good manners. Often in a tantrum he’ll scream “NO THANK YOU!” Perhaps the most entertaining line coming from Emmett was when we were all looking at the ultrasound of the baby and after the doctor announced we were having a girl he closely studied the monitor and made his own diagnosis “I see boy.”

 

Imana Cruise
Travel Editor
The travel section belongs to none other than Cassie. Her travels took her to the coast of northern Mexico as she and Dan celebrated their ninth anniversary in style by going on a cruise. Warm Springs, Nevada was the next stop as she accompanied the youth as the Young Women’s president for their annual conference. After leaving the oasis in the desert it was off to the sunny coast of California with the Riding girls for a much-deserved break. She greeted Logan, UT as she ran with her sisters in the Top of Utah Half Marathon.
Cassie was spotted in Salt Lake City as she met Dieter Uchtdorf of the first presidency in the LDS Church in honor of earning her Young Women’s Recognition Award then it was to Arizona for our niece’s wedding. Despite all of these travels she managed to accomplish her goal of taking the national interpreting certification test. Although the trips have been fun, her best trips are the ones that take her home to her loving husband and beautiful children.

 

Forrest Pharmer
Outdoors
Gardening. Backyard chickens. Homemade bread. Deer hunting. Hand crafted furniture. Apparently Dan is trying to find his pioneer roots. The day the city ordinance allowed for chickens in residential areas Dan started building the coop and is now the proud owner of 11 healthy hens that lay an abundance of eggs. Once the coop was done it was time for the third annual garden to be planted. If that wasn’t enough he “rose” to the occasion and perfected his bread making skills. The family hasn’t purchased a loaf of bread since.
Later this fall Dan went with his brothers on Pine Valley Mountain and has since enjoyed plenty of venison dinners. After providing the family with food he moved his operation into his “man cave” and for the last 3 months of the year spent countless hours building a mission style bed for Emmett. Now Dan’s daily routine includes bedtime stories for the hens, lullabies to the vegetables, one final sanding on the hardwood, tucking his kids in bed and enjoying a few minutes of peace with Cassie. So, Dan, was it worth it? Have you saved anything finding your roots? He just grins and says the satisfaction is “priceless.”