Trip to CA

AJ meeting his Godparents - my best friend Cindy and her husband Mark, who live in Houston - for the first time. In their honor, he's showing them his TX horns....oh, wait a minute, he always does that! It was SO great to see them. I finally got to see little Matt, who is almost 2 yrs old, which means it's been WAY TOO LONG since Cindy and I have had a chance to visit.

Ryan with his cousin, Charlotte. We're getting pretty good at timing our visits to coincide. We have been able to see them twice this year.....never enough time for me, but I'll take whatever I can get. They pack a LOT of playing into a few days.

An 'on the fly' 3rd birthday party for Will. He was so excited to wear his Birthday Boy shirt again and even sang, "....happy birthday to ME-EEEE"

Me with my newly athletic sister, who actually went running while we were there. WTF? I had to wait, like 45 minutes, for her to get back (with a donut).

The inner tube was useless in the pool....but in the backyard it entertained them all for hours!

This broken arm did not slow my nephew, Braedon, down for a second!

AJ loves his Mimi.

Oops! Dropped his passenger, Mickey! aka "Muhh"

Refused to take a nap, and fell asleep either in this chair or at the dinner table every evening.

Loving being able to go outside in Pismo. It was actually a little bit cold!

The Call of Duty

(Uzbekistan 2005)

For the third time now, we hugged Heath good-bye as he left for a 4 month deployment. Neither AJ nor Will can comprehend the time of this separation, thankfully, but Ryan is taking it pretty hard. I am so thankful that he will just be in South Carolina for some of his time away...and that truly, we are blessed and lucky - among our peers - to only be separated for 4 months. The countdown is on 119 days left!

Fun in the Sun!

mmmm cake!

Ryan helped to put this cake together - one candle for each of my babies, since "there's no way we can fit 34 candles on this cake!"

It's actually about 10-15 degrees cooler here this week than it was at the same time last year...let's hope that trend continues! Funny, how your perspective changes to think that 95 degrees is cool weather!

Kindergarten Graduate

Another year come and gone...another reminder that our kids are getting older, that we're getting older. Kindergarten was a great experience for all of us. We LOVE Ryan's teachers, principal, and school. It almost makes me want to stay in Phoenix...almost.

Fun with Friends

Obama Drama

So I didn't vote for the guy, and I can't say I'm a fan of his....but hey...he's got one sweeeeet ride! Heath hooked us up with a tour of AF1, which was so incredible! It was really neat and rare opportunity to tour the Presidents' (Obama, Bush, Clinton, and Bush) personal airplane. We saw everything from his bedroom and shower and office down to the inside of the refrigerator. The staff on board was amazing cool and gracious; they answered all of Ryan's questions and even let him call my sister from the 'Presidential Switchboard'! To see the names on the president's speed dial was surreal! And, NO, Oprah was not on it...at least not the top 10.  

I was so impressed by the courtesy and professionalism of the entire white house staff, AF1 crew, and all other 'presidential assistants'.  It was such a neat experience for both Ryan and I!

Ryan the troll

Ryan's class put on a production of "The 3 Nanny Goats Gruff". He was a troll. It was SO CUTE!!