Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Dad's Day

Ryland said to me the other day: "We are having Father's Day. It is just like Mother's day. But for Dad's." I love the circular reasoning of this explanation. :)

For Father's day this year, we went to lunch with my mom and dad, and the Weichel's at Sylvina's Basket for a Mexican lunch buffet. It was SOOO yummy and really nice to visit with everyone. Then, the guys went golfing - this was Ryland's first real golf experience...Brad said he did great and was really able to keep up. Watch out Tiger! :)








I think he may have his sports mixed up!

Graduation Day...


Today is a strange day for emotions. Today is my dad's last day at the Woodland Police Department. Today is the last day of preschool for Ryland. For both of them, it is Graduation Day. My dad, graduates to a new stage, retirement, a little bit uncertain, a little bit anxious, but excited and eager for the next thing. His impact in our community was evident on Saturday night at a party we threw for him ( I will post more on that later). I know he will continue to work and touch the lives of those around him - he just can't help it - but it is still so weird the the chapter of the Department is now closed. I love you, Dad - you are great at what you do, all of it, and I look forward to seeing what you do next!

As for Ry, I know, it is "just preschool" and there are many more graduations to come, but I can't help but be a little nostalgic for my baby...my Ry-Guy who is such a big boy! Kindergarten starts August 10th and he turns five on the 12th. It is hard to express my feelings about this, as they are all cliche... It is so great to watch him grow and become the man I know he will be...

Brad and I also just celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary...what a difference 6 years makes! :) We've come a long, long way, Baby! I love you, always and forever.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Palm Springs

So, this post doesn't have any kids in it...that's because we were able to go away for the weekend without them (Thanks mom and dad!)...Don't get me wrong, of course we love spending time with the kiddos, but when we spend time just for ourselves it makes us better parents, better people.

The trip was actually a "reward" trip... Brad was one of a group of people from his work who reached a certain amount of revenue in a certain amount of time and this trip to Palm Springs was the goal! He is so good at his job and I get to enjoy the perks sometimes! So he went ahead a few days for conferencing (yeah, right) and I flew down on Friday. We came home Sunday, refreshed, rested, relaxed...


The view from our balcony


The view from our front door.


Lazy river...




a GREAT day!

I haven't been so great at keeping this up in the last few weeks (listen as I chant our mantra: "we've been so busy!" ... or lazy?:) ), so this day happened several weekends. But it was a really great day...It was a Sunday and we didn't have any commitments at church so we decided to take a family day. Not much planning, just some general ideas of what we wanted: lots of fun, a bit of driving, and good food!! Turns out, being spontaneous can make the best day trips!
We started out heading up to Folsom and ate at Dos Coyotes (YUM!) then off to Folsom Community Park to ride the train and check out the area.


Our lovely girl.


Our sweet boy...

Believe it or not, this is one of a very few candid family shots we have! Funny how that works out!


After a visit at the park, we decided to head up to The Fountains in Roseville. It is this fantastic new shopping center that is a great place to look around (window shopping only, as it is pretty high end - but we can dream!). We had a great time looking around Smith &Hawken, a fancy-smancy garden shop. Ryland also really enjoyed this!

We had told Ry what the place was called so he was so excited to walk around and check out all the fountains. The coolest part is that they have these fountains that shoot up out of the ground for the kids to play in. He had a great time! It was so much fun...





Selah was so pleasant, even though she only had a 20 minute snoozer in the car the whole day. She is constantly impressing us with her easy-going attitude.

After playing, we went and checked at the larger fountains and Ryland loved watching it put on a show - he also enjoyed hamming it up for the camera, as you can see below.

On the way back to the car, the boys relaxed on the lounge chairs for sale.
It was such a beautiful day, too....sunny and 78 degrees. Ry has become quite the little weather man :)

We capped off the day with *bucks frappucinos and dinner at a hole-in-the-wall Chinese food restaurant. Does it get any better?

This day was awesome. Ryland has really become a great conversationalist, monologueist (is that a word?) - I wish I could share all the crazy, funny, and and truly intelligent things he has to say. He said a lot of things on this day! He has an uncanny ability to remember names, facts, and events. He is really an amazing big brother too....he is so endearing to his sister and it is such a treat to watch them together. She adores him and he, her. Okay, enough gushing.