Ryan's surprise 30th birthday party

I mentioned in my last post that we had a fun filled 3 days, the wedding being the first day. Well the next day after the wedding, I held a triple birthday party for Blake who turned 7; Ryan, who turned 30; and my sister Sue, who turned 42. The party was awesome! I mainly threw it for Ryan, because 30 was a big number, and he had NO idea I was doing that! It was incredibly hard to keep it from him. I did the party in a 60's and 70's theme, because those were the decades Sue and Ryan were born in. We all went to church, and after church, Ryan went up to his family's house for lunch while I "spent time alone with my sister", which I did, just getting ready for the party. Then Ryan decided to come home and go swimming in the pool. His family tried their hardest to keep him there, but he insisted on going home. I was working at the church to get this all together, I told him that me and Peggy were still spending time together, and he was starting to get mad at me for ignoring him all day, LOL. He was getting more and more angry with me, but I knew he would forgive me ;) We finally got everything ready right when it started, and I told Ryan that there was an ice cream get-together at the church at 6:30 (which there was) I wanted him to show up at 6:15 so we could all yell "SURPRISE!!" So we had a nice crowd, and sure enough, at 6:15, he walked in and we yelled. There was a smile from EAR TO EAR on his face. I honestly thought he would figure things out, but somehow I pulled it off!!! It was so fun seeing all my efforts worked! Then as soon as he walked in and we yelled at him, I made him put on this hilarious purple velvet outfit with zebra print trim and a HUGE zebra hat! It was totally 70's and looked so funny! He did put it on, but only for a few minutes to take some pictures, because it was so hot. Gabriel was very entertaining! Lee kept getting a drink of tea, and Gabriel kept trying to steal it from Lee by giving him a kiss, so I had to snap a picture of it! Gabriel is so cute!And here is little Madison, she is getting so big, and she is so sweet! My sister peggy fell in love with Madison and Gabriel!

I served some finger foods, cake and homemade ice cream. Then Ryan, Sue, and Blake opened cards and presents, and everyone eventually went home. It was so much fun! I couldn't have done it without everyone's help (being sneaky). THANK YOU EVERYONE (You know who you are ;) It was a big success, and yes Ryan DID forgive me for ignoring him!

My Dad's 70th birthday

Today would have been my Dad's 70th birthday. I find it hard to believe. Here I am, in my 20's and if my dad would have made it, he would have been 70. He and my mom were definitely old enough to be my grandparents. But, they got married at 23 and 26. Then had a couple daughters, and life was great for them, and SURPRISE, over a decade later here comes another one on the way ;) Dad was 43, Mom was 40, Sue was 14 and Peggy was almost 11. HEHE, but I'm glad that I did have a chance to be alive. It is still hard to not be able to call him and tell him Happy Birthday in person, but that's just life I guess.

I also wanted to let everyone know that we have lost another WONDERFUL person. Brother Bob C. (elder from Montrose) passed away this morning. I believe he had bone (?) cancer. I did have the honor of going to see him about 3 weeks ago. He was a GREAT example to me. He will be missed GREATLY. Him and my dad were great friends, I thought it was a little ironic that he passed on my dad's birthday. But please remember to pray for his family. :(

I also wanted to apologize for not being the blogger that I normally am. My mom's computer is SO SLOW and I have TRIED to leave comments on some of my friends' blogs and the computer takes so long, and half (or more) of the times I try, it gives me an error notice. Neena: I've tried like 10 times to leave you a comment, and it just won't let me. Anyway, I hope everyone can forgive me, I will be home in about 2 1/2 weeks or maybe 3 weeks and I'll be back to my normal blogging self :D

P.S. - I'M HOMESICK and REALLY MISS MY HUSBAND!!!

My sweet little girl is 8!

I know that I'm a little late posting this but, my daughter turned 8 on July 15th. She had a nice birthday party at my sisters house, which she shared with two others who had a birthday the same week. And then we had a sisters luncheon on her actual birthday and she got to play with several little girls, and I supplied some crafts, so they all made a craft project, which they all loved. Then afterwards, we went to Joann's house and she played with Emily in her pool and had so much fun! I love my little sweetie, I can't believe she is 8 years old. She is growing up to be a BEAUTIFUL and SWEET girl!

27

Today is my 27th birthday. Only 3 years left of my 20's :( HEHE. It's crazy, I can VIVIDLY remember my 7th birthday, which was 20 years ago today. My sister, Sue and her family lived down in the bottom of the Black Canyon in Colorado. By the way, there is only ONE house in the bottom of the canyon. Anyway, my birthday party was down there. It was one of my most favorite birthdays, because of where it was. Also, my parents put together a scavenger hunt for my last birthday present, a new bike. That was fun! There are SO many fun memories down in the canyon. My brother-in-law worked for the water users, so that is how they were able to live there. My nephew, Shane was actually born down there (probably the only person to be born there). From my home in Olathe, if you could go straight to the canyon, it would only be about 15 miles. But... You actually had to drive about 40 minutes to get to the bottom of it, and we went almost every day for 2 years. It was so beautiful down there. In the summer, we had a bonfire almost every night. I could go on and on about it, but I'm not going to ;) But, on my 7th birthday, we had the party down there, then we came home. Sue called us almost exactly when we got home and told us that Stephanie (2), my niece, had fallen into their well and was bleeding and hurt. So we went back down there. She ended up being just fine, but it was scary. It's hard to believe that was 20 years ago. Thanks for taking a stroll with me down memory lane :) Have a good day.

Happy birthday to my hubby and my sister!

Today is my sister, Sue's 41st birthday. And also my husband's 29th. I love them both very very much! I think that when Ryan gets home from work, we'll probably go out to eat at his favorite restaurant, Red Lobster. I hope they both have a great day!!!

Ryan and the kids riding the Goldola in Telluride, Colorado. He's such a great dad!!!
Sue and her husband, Steve at their daughter's wedding last year. By the way, Sue MADE that arch right behind her. She makes cabinets on the side, and she is very talented.

Events on Blake's birthday

Yesterday was a CRAZY day. We woke up to a lightning and thunder storm. For all of you who haven't been in an Oklahoma storm, you have NO idea just how POWERFUL and scary they can be. Then right as it was almost time to go to church, we had a hail storm. We had between pea and quarter sized hail. Melissa had golf ball sized hail at her house. It was crazy. Then a few minutes after that, we had a flash flood. The roads looked like rivers. There's one dip on our road that has a water drain and I was driving towards that dip, but when I got to it, I noticed a fire hydrant down in that area, and I could only see the top 6 inches of it. It was like a little pond, so needless to say, I turned around, LOL. It was kind of fun to watch the storm, but it was definitely an intense one!

The flash flood hadn't come quite yet in this picture Proof that we had hail
It is hard to tell in this picture, but the road really did look like a river. You can see in the neighbor's yard, that they had a little mudslide going on.

Then we had Blake's birthday party. We had a nice turnout this year. For the last 2 years in a row, we only had 1 child show up, so the last 2 years had been a BIG let down. So it was really nice to have a good turnout for a change. I made a homemade chocolate cake and homemade ice cream. Everyone seemed to like it and I haven't heard of anyone getting sick, so I think it was okay ;) Blake loved everything that he got, and the kids all had a LOT of fun playing in the kids' bedrooms. And the adults had a nice time visiting. It turned out to be a great day!!!

Blake loves Indiana Jones

I made an Indiana Jones whip. It turned out really cute, but it is already falling apart. So I guess I'll have to go ahead and buy him a better one. But at least I tried to save money, LOL.

Today is Blake's 6th birthday!

I seriously can't believe what I am typing... My baby can't be 6 already! But he is. Blake turned 6 at exactly 12:22 am (Mountain time) hehe. He was due May 20, 2002. But he decided to wait, and wait, and wait until June. Then 22 minutes into June, he finally made his cute little presence into this world. And wow, he was a SCREAMER, LOL. We didn't have to do much, he got all the liquid out of his lungs on his own. He is definitely a Mommy's boy, and I have really enjoyed that, because I know it only lasts a little while. He is growing up to be such a sweet and handsome boy. I couldn't ask for a better son. I love you Blake, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!