I'm Finally Posting about June

We went to Fort Walton beach in Florida for Diane's family reunion. We were so excited for the trip and the chance to relax for a few days. The beach and water was gorgeous. Don't you wish you were there now??

Ryan had fun playing with Aiden in the water.
A game of half rubber played by the cousins. Looked crazy to play but all who did loved it. Still don't really get what the rules were but it was entertaining to watch.
Aiden was scared to touch the water. We finally just carried him with us out into the ocean and then he was okay as long as we held tight to him. (Bottom left pic is Ryan with 2 of his step-brothers and one of their girlfriends.)
We went swimming in the pool, the boys went golfing and we just enjoyed the gorgeous beach. Bradley's girlfriend, Robin, bought a hermit crab with a Superman shell and Aiden was fascinated by it.
The Dales invited us to go to the lake with them one Saturday in June and we didn't hesitate to accept the invitation. Although, really, I should have since my final for school was that coming Tuesday and I had told myself I was going to study all day. Oh well, it was worth the trip and I still got an A in the class so all is well.

4th of July in NC

Over the 4th we headed to Ryan's mom's house to celebrate. We ate lots, went swimming, did lots of fireworks and went to the parade. Aiden loved everything and we all enjoyed being spoiled by Grandma.

Relief Society Lake Retreat

I have the opportunity to help plan the activities for our wards RS activities. This month we were able to take the women on a retreat to a lake house and go boating. We had such a blast!
Tubing was pretty deadly. Our wonderful driver, Ken, had soooo much fun trying to tip everyone off of the tube. All the ladies loved but are all complaining of bruises and aches now! :)
Night time boat ride, games and chatting in our beds.
Food and Ken's birthday cake. We won't tell your age Ken!
Thanks to all the ladies who made it!

Seattle Space Needle

April seemed to be packed with so many activities! Maybe it seemed crazier because of school but it was a busy month! My cousin came out to Atlanta for training with her work and we got to go out for dinner to the Cheesecake Factory. It was so fun to chat all night!
Aiden's cousin, Brody, had his 3rd birthday! I can't believe these boys are getting so big! They had a big pirate jumpy for the kids and Aiden spent most of his playing time in there (along with Ryan to help Aiden climb the slide!)
The Atlanta Temple was finally rededicated! We were able to go on a tour of the temple and see all the new renovations. It is so beautiful! We are so so glad our temple is open again!
Easter morning we wanted Aiden to get some practice in for the big egg hunt later that afternoon at his cousins' house. We hid about 10 eggs filled with candy. It took Aiden finding ONE egg and then he was hooked. He LOVED the game of finding candy...surprise, surprise. He kept on asking for more eggs most of the day so we had to keep hiding them.
The kids loved coloring the eggs. Aiden didn't really get that he was supposed to let the eggs sit in the color for long enough to actually soak up some of the color but it didn't matter because he had a blast dunking the eggs and getting more color on his fingers than on the eggs! He even ventured to taste the vinegar mixture.... yuck! That's his expressions after tasting it in the bottom left picture.
The big Egg Hunt!
Family Time
My sister, Remi, is a Captain in the US Army (so proud of you Remi!) and is a PA over 800 soldiers! She is a busy busy bee! She sees patients all day long and then she has to do a ton of paperwork making sure each soldier is medically ready to be deployed this summer. Yip, that means my big sister is getting deployed as well this summer. :( I wanted to make sure I got in one more trip to visit her before she left. I booked my ticket and then convinced my other sisters and my mom that they should fly out too. It ended up being a super fun girls' trip! We all had such a blast and I am so happy I went!
We had dinner one night at the top of the Seattle Space Needle! It was the neatest dining experience. To get there we had to take a little train that only goes to the Needle. We almost didn't make the last one to take us back to our car after dinner. We had to run to catch it but thankfully we made it so we didn't have to walk the streets of downtown Seattle late at night! Dinner was amazing! The top of the Needle spins as you dine so you get a 360 degree view of Seattle. The food was amazing and we all shared so we could sample a little of everything. Yum!
We drove the Mt. St. Helens to hike around it but only got about halfway and found out it didn't open until May 14th. We were so bummed we missed it by only 2 weeks. So we satisfied the need to see it by reading all about it at the visitors center and taking a picture of it from afar.
We did spend one night with Cami's family and ate Joe's delicious homemade popcorn and watched a really dumb movie (Gulliver's Travels) and then played a game.
In the morning we took Kaelan on a walk so the boys could decorate for his 4th birthday. Hilarious tidbit from the walk.... KK came up to Cami as she was talking to us and handed her a stick. Cami looked down and realized she had grabbed the stick and it was covered in dog poo!!! So disgusting! Of course though, we all start laughing as she is trying to wipe her hand off on moss and then proceeds to the neighborhood fountain to rinse her hands off. I had to take a picture because it was just too funny!
KK was so excited to come back to the house and see all his presents ready for him to open! He got so many awesome toys. I may have to look into the exact same ones for Aiden's 3rd birthday.
Driving back to Seattle, we got a perfect view of Mt. Hood. You normally can't see it because the sky isn't clear enough.
The girls! Thanks for the great memories to hold me over until next time! I am so inspired by each of you. I love you all and we will all miss you Remi!

15 minutes

I feel like I only have 15 minutes to update 2 months worth of blogging (most likely I will spend longer than that even though I shouldn't!) This means you will get a quick rundown version of each activity.

First, blogging time is cutting down drastically since I start school on Monday which will mean in every spare moment now I will be studying instead of blogging, etc (I start homework this week since I already have assignments due the 1st day of class!) I am currently in the pre-nursing program at Gwinnett Technical College and will be applying for the Nursing program this coming January.
Second thing to catch you up on, Ryan's birthday was yesterday. He turned....wait for it... 31! Yip, he is officially over the hill. Haha, he just LOVES it (sarcasm) when I give him a hard time about his age. I love you baby!

We went to dinner to celebrate his birthday with friends a week early so Jonny and Nicole could be there before they returned to Thailand.

Cake and ice cream with friends and family was at our house the night of his birthday.

Third, Nicole came into town. Her father was dying of cancer so she came to be with him. He passed away on February 17th. He was an amazing spiritual giant who was always helping others. We miss you Dirk. Nicole stayed for a month and just barely left last week. We miss her and Jonny already!

Here are some of the things we did while they were in town...

Agricola... don't ask. :)
The cold park.
Weapons of mass destruction. You are jealous, we know.
Fourth, Ryan's brother came to Georgia with his FSU diving team to compete in what I think is regionals. He did great and we had fun watching him. Aiden was soaking wet with sweat because it was so hot in the pool area. He also threw one of his trains at the divers. Luckily, for the divers it didn't hit any of them and luckily for Aiden they were able to throw it back for him.


Baba Angie came for the diving meet and Damian's first tee-ball game and spent one night with us. Aiden loves the new little "baby" trains she brought for him.

Damian did great at his first game and ran after every ball, even the ones that went to first base while he was guarding 3rd. Soooo CUTE!


Fifth, it's warm outside! Yipeee!!! I LOVE spring weather. It is my favorite time of year, minus the allergies. I try to take every opportunity to take Aiden outside and just play or sit in the sunshine. We've gone to the park. He found a tractor parked there and decided the playground was beneath him since he had a REAL tractor to play on.
We've played outside on days when I thought it was going to warm but was just a little chilly. He LOVES his McQueen Car galoshes. He would wear them around the house if I let him.

We've visited Gigi.
Sixth, it was Avery's first birthday. We got her a little pink plastic golf club set so she can learn young. She's got to be able to play with daddy when she's older. :) Sarah made REALLY yummy cake pops. Yum!
Okay, so there is my quick update of the last two months. I will try to squeeze a moment in the next couple of months to update again. Although, I did just get an email from my professor saying I will need 3 hours a day (7 days a week) to study for her class. Yikes. Wish me luck! :)

I want more Bachelor!

Okay, so yes, I admit that I have become a Bachelor addict! I love getting together Monday night with the girls and watching real romance happen! (It's real right??) ;) Anyway, after watching the finale on Monday I was sooo excited that he chose Emily because she was just the sweetest girl but then when the After the Rose show ended I was so unsatisfied! Are they going to end up together or NOT?? They better air a wedding for these two soon because I want to see a happy ending for Brad and Emily!

Cat in the Hat

Today I took Aiden to meet this guy...
He was so excited when he saw the cat. He talked about it non-stop while we were waiting in the line for pictures. Then, I felt it was a repeat of Santa when a few people from the cat Aiden no longer liked it and wanted to leave. I tried to set him down next to the cat so I could take a picture but he kept his legs bent so I couldn't. I ended up having to be in the picture. Blah! I was not planning on any pictures of me being taken today as you can tell!

Merrin and her daughter, Avery, joined us and as you can see in the below pictures the kids enjoyed the picture of the cat much much more than the real thing!
And of course...
THING 1 AND THING 2
I guess that even though they did not like The Cat in the Hat they still loved running around and playing with the other Cat in the Hat stuff so I will still count the trip a success!

Other Aiden happenings...

I have fueled the Thomas the Train obsession by purchasing this... (honestly, this just means that now he carries McQueen in one hand and Thomas in the other!)
We are encouraging Aiden's artistic abilities by allowing this... :)
And I just think Aiden is at the funnest age! I absolutely love playing with him and watching him interact with the world. I am so grateful we have our fun little peanut!