Our 4th...

The 4th of July in our house is more special than it probably is in yours because it's also Ryan's birthday! This year he turned 25...old man!
Ryan and I celebrated his b-day the night before by getting a babysitter and going to a movie, then dessert afterward. It's nice to have a special reason to get out! Skylee had lots of fun with the sitter and we took Parker, thankfully he slept the whole time!
Since it's his b-day, he gets to decide what we do every year on the fourth, which I kinda don't like :) We let him sleep in a little while we blew up balloons and made a breakfast of an omelet, bacon and fresh fruit. I spent the morning baking the cake, and other goodies(those hamburgers in the slideshow above. They kida look more like sloppy joes!). Once we were all dressed, we headed to Crooked River State Park, here in nearby St. Mary's GA. We had a nice little picnic, Skylee played on the playground, then we found a little beach. We really wished we would have known about the beach part, we would have come prepared. Skylee dove right in and got filthy in the sand and couldn't resist going in the water. Parker was having a rough day so he and I stayed in the shade and took the pictures. Ryan brought his fishing pole and even caught a little fish (actually his first one!) We tried to use it as bait, but didn't have as much luck with that. It was a really nice day, and we're planning on going back prepared next time, we look forward to having more fun there.
When we finally made it back home, we fired up the BBQ and had ribs, garlic mashed potatoes, and a fruit salad. That's what the birthday boy requested, and it turned out delicious! He also wanted a chocolate birthday cake with chocolate frosting (one of the many reasons I married him), he blew out all 25 candles and then we went in our yard to let off our own fireworks. Ryan's not a big fan of big crowds, especially with two very tired little kids, so we didn't go to the big show. Having them at home was a lot of fun, Skylee loved holding the sparklers. We had such a nice family day, a little late but...HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYAN. And Happy Birthday AMERICA!

Odds and Ends

I thought I'd recap a little, I missed posting a few things.

After we got back from our trip, it was hard adjusting the the time zone here again, so Skylee would take really late naps and not be ready for bed until late, so one evening we decided to have a movie night. Skylee and I went to Blockbuster and she got to pick out a couple movies. Her choice "Charlottes Web" and "My Little Ponies". We laid our blanket out in the family room, made some popcorn and ate candy. It was really fun to do a movie night with her.

We've had a couple tea parties with Skylee, her favorite ones are the times we use real snacks and juice, she asks for tea parties all the time :)

Father's Day:

For Father's Day this year we got Ryan a good ole fashion...GRILL! We had one at our last place, but never have had one of our own, and I thought it was about time! Nothing spectacular, but it does the job.

Hawaiian Luau- Enrichment Night

One of my callings is the Enrichment leader! Fun right? We had our summer enrichment night on Tuesday, a Hawaiian Luau theme. I was super nervous how everything was going to turn out, it was my first time planning something like this for so many ppl. The hardest part was actually knowing just how many ppl were going to show up. BUT, everything went really well. I got a few comments on how fun and great it was. Even a "this was the best Enrichment Night our ward has ever had!". We started the evening off with a speaker, Margie Tinney, who spoke on the "Spirit of Aloha", she did an outstanding job,and it really set the tone for the night, exactly what our ward needed to hear! Then we had dinner, hawaiian haystacks, which I heard turned out yummy! We ended our night by seeing a hula dancing demonstration and then we got to try it ourselves! I was shocked to see how many women participated in the hula dancing, it was great! A sister from another ward in our stake, Maxine Maloney, was our hula instructor, and brought her beautiful daughter Tia along. Thank you to EVERYONE that helped and participated in our lovely evening!

Funny little girl

This is totally classic and VERY much like Skylee to say randomly:

S: Mom, this is a joke

Me: What's a joke?

S: This house is a joke

Whaaaaat? She says funny little things all the time, I don't know where she makes these things up, but they make me laugh :)

California 2009

We had great time in California this last visit. Both Ryan and I got to see all of our siblings, which is a miracle, and even some of our Grandparents! Our two week stay was filled with a lot of fun and running around! Some of our activities included: Parker's baby blessing, Sea World, swimming, Alton and Jared's H.S. graduations, eating out WAY too much, going to the temple, our neice Seybrielle's b-day party, graduation party, and visiting with family to name a few! Skylee caught her first flu while we were there, so it limitted us for the last week. Poor Nana was the lucky recipient of her vomitt! (Sorry about that one Mom!) The Parker came down with a little bug the last few days out there too, even with sick kids, we still had a great time! We spent so much time trying to see and spend as much time with family that it left very little time to visit with friends this trip. Thank you to those friends that came to see us, and we apologize to the ones we didn't meet up with this time around! I'm never ready to come back to Georgia, it's so far away, but we had another fun vacation! A special thank you to our families who housed us, fed us, and put up with all our craziness! We love you!

To the 2 Men I love the MOST...

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

My Dad with Seth, my nephew

For those of you that know my dad, even a little, you know he is an amazing person, father, and basketball player :) I have always looked up to my dad, he is a great example to me and a wonderful Papa to all his grandchildren. He has always been so good about expressing his love for me and I hope to be as good of a parent as he is to me, to my own children. My dad doesn't try to be funny, but he just is. I have never heard anything bad said about my dad, only great things. When people find out I'm his daughter, I can tell they think more of me, just because he's my dad. As someone once told Ryan before he married me "She comes from good stock" (who says that?) lol...but it's true, I have great parents! Growing up my Dad always took time out of his schedule to do things with me. On warm summer nights we would get blankets and go lay out on the trampoline in our backyard, look at the stars, find constellations, and he would sing to Alton and I, and tell us stories.

Thank you Dad for teaching me the gospel, and more importantly, being an example. I have learned so much from you and I couldn't be more proud to say I'm your daughter. I love you with all my heart :)

Ryan and Skylee

When I started dating Ryan I would daydream about how he would be as a father. Now those daydreams have come true. Ryan is a great dad. When Ryan comes home from work, Skylee runs up to him and greets him with lots of energy, hugs and kisses. When he leaves, she'll ask me "Where'd my best friend Daddy go?" I think it's so sweet and an example of just how much his kids love him. He is the BEST story teller and book-reader at bedtime! He is so funny, a great helper, and wants the very best for his babies. These past few months with Parker in our lives, he is such a proud Daddy, he loves that little boy so much! I can see it now, Ryan taking Parker outside teaching him sports and being rough with him! A father's dream! He is so good with Parker and always so willing to help me with both kids.

Ryan, you are a such a great dad. Our kids are so blessed to have you as their father and I'm so blessed to have you as my companion in raising them! I love seeing you play and bond with our kids! I look forward to the many years ahead seeing you grow as a father! I love you!

Okay, so it's been like a month (maybe not that long...) since my last post. Life is crazy, we went on vacation, back home now so I'll update this blog soon! I've been so out of the loop lately, so I'm trying to get caught up with everything! Just had a real good laugh though and thought I'd share it with you. Go here: http://jergs.blogspot.com/2009/06/slap-happy.html This is my friend Aarean and her husband Josh, I couldn't stop laughing so check it out! Thanks you crazy kids :) Allen famliy updates coming soon.