Happy Birthday Nana

Today is a special day - Happy Birthday Lynne! We celebrate your day and send you lots of hugs and kisses. We have so many things to be grateful for and your love and kindness is at the top of that list.
You have given me the joy of knowing my mother through sharing your personal experiences which is priceless but equally you have filled a void as Nana that will be cherished forever. You recently mentioned a poem that you heard and enjoyed called "The Dash". You are such an amazing person and your example alone makes me want to be a better person and be proud of how I spend my dash. Thank you for the blessing of your love - Happy Birthday :)

Another beautiful weekend! We cherish the summer and being able to spend time outside with our family. We worked outside for most the day on projects to get ready for Ryan's birthday party. 26 days and counting. We've had a long stretch of warm weather which hasn't helped the grass grow where the pool was last year. We have this massive patch of brown grass in the center of our yard which leaves a lot to be desired. Luckily this weekend we had a few short downpours and this week looks like another 4 to 5 days of occasional showers. We are planning a barbecue and backyard games for his birthday and it would be nice to have a well groomed lawn. I'm keeping my fingers crossed :)

Super baby!

Ryan loves his baby pool. He stands on the top step and at the count of 3 jumps in the center whether we are there or not. Of course we don't heat the jacuzzi over 95 for the sake of the little man - no worries!

How NOT to start your week...

You may notice that my last few posts have been brief however I have a perfect excuse. Yesterday I and a coworker went off site to plan the logistics of an upcoming event called "Mandatory Fun". 4 times a year our marketing team goes off site and participates in some kind of team building exercise. This event Paula, Jason and I are responsible for planning. We decided to go with the "survivor" theme and are planning several activities around this theme. Paula and I went to her house, which is where the party will be to work out the details of the day. Before adding this particular basketball event we decided to try it out. Rule #1 get someone else to try out new activities. Part of the game is to try and knock another person's ball out by throwing your ball at their ball. Rule #2 never throw your ball at any one's ball. So I didn't know this was happening and as I was rebounding my own ball here came another ball flying at me top speed. Rule #3 always wear protective gloves when you are using your hands for any activity especially if you have a finger history such as mine. So, I was reaching, the balls were flying and POP, a combination of a jam and crush - and that's all she wrote. A trip to the Doc, an x-ray, one bottle of pain meds and a trip to the Orthopedic equals a corkscrew fracture to the third bone in my pinkie finger. That's right my right hand pinkie finger. Nothing compared to cutting off a finger mind you but not real comfortable... I pray for a speedy recovery or at least for Ryan to stop grabbing it in curiosity.

Drive In Movies

Saturday night we went to the drive in movies. It's super clean, relatively new and a great family activity. Lots of fun things to do from wagon rides, mini golf, arcade games, swings, slides, volleyball and yummy food. Oh and you can bring your dogs! Ryan was a champ. He followed is regular routine and fell asleep around 9:30 once the movie started. I seriously could not have asked for a more "go with the flow" child. Very little upsets our little man. It's funny, looking at the pictures I took it appears that we have the whole joint to ourselves. Actually it was sold out and they closed their gates before the sun went down. Speaking of pictures, my camera is just crap. Not even two years old and it's producing fuzzy pictures. I want to make sure and capture every moment of Ryan's life and I'm not sure what to do about the blur. I cleaned the lens but still blurrrrrr. If anyone has any suggestions please help!

King of the swing set. I count to 3 and Ryan jumps into my arms. This little man has no fear...

I've found that an empty inflatable pool filled with toys works as a great play pen and buys me lots of time to get outdoor projects completed. Watering, planting, weed pulling, relaxing in the sun - you take your pick...

The swing set is in place :)

This weekend was very productive. Not only did I get flowers planted but we were able to get some help in moving the swing set to it's new home in our yard. It was absolutely beautiful all weekend and getting our yard in order helped us relax the rest of the time.

Helping plant flowers.

Ryan loves to swing. I think he would be happy to swing 27/7.

Happy 4th of July

Ryan and Gracee

Little Miss 4th of July

What a great weekend :) Busy but full of fun, friends and food - what more could we ask for - well family of course! Maybe next year :)

Thursday evening I finally went for my massage at the Day Spa. This was one of my Mother's Day gifts and not until I could barely walk did I decide to schedule an appointment. Why do women wait until something is falling off or in shooting pain to seek help? Anyway, pure Heaven is the best way to describe my experience. The therapist worked the knots in my back so hard in my back with her elbows I started to see stars. I'm not kidding when I tell you that she used all her weight and strength - at one point I actually saw her feet lift off the ground. After, I took a long hot steam shower I slipped into my cozy sweats and headed straight home to bed. Since before being pregnant this was the best night sleep ever :)

Friday was a day filled with chores, errands and grocery shopping. Working outside the home leaves very little time for errands during the week so to enjoy the three day weekend Tom and I worked hard to get caught up.

Saturday after Ryan's morning nap and a quick bite to eat we packed up the car and headed to the Boettcher's. We had such a great time catching up with everyone and watching the kids play and swim in the pool throughout the day. Linner (this is sometime between lunch and dinner) was fantastic. Dwight grilled out and of course all they yummy sides were readily available throughout the day. Deborah took me for an off road adventure on the 4 wheeler which was a blast. On our ride through the above head grass, out popped a coyote - OK I thought it was a coyote but it was only the neighbors dog - it seriously looked like a coyote. We stayed for an amazing bond fire which really topped off the evening. Thanks Deborah and Dwight for a great day!

Sunday was another beautiful day! We started our day off with a morning nap in the sun - nice :) The afternoon was shared at Chuck's for a build your own kabob BBQ with a small army of new friends of his and Nick's. We had such a great day - oh and let's not forget Chuck and Nick's help moving Ryan's swing set. With the pool gone and the grass planted we wanted to move the swing set to a better location in the yard. Unfortunately my request to Tom was not clear and it found its new home in the dead center of the yard. I was giving Ryan a bath at the time and didn't know the crew was over to help move the beast so when I came down they were on their way out. The crew will be back tomorrow to move it to the correct location :) Thanks guys!