What's the facination?

What is the facination with an empty (or better yet, full) dishwasher? Ryker could play in it for hours. Pulling out the rack, pushing it back in, opening and closing the flap doors. Now, if I could just get him to load and unload, we'd be set.

We're getting ready for Ryker's second surgery on Thursday. This procedure involves the soft palate repair, removing and replacing his hard palate prosthesis as well as replacing the tubes in his hears. We're hoping we'll be home in time for fireworks on Saturday.

Happy Fourth of July!!

I'm so lucky...

This week i'm spending 4 and a half days in Southern and Central Oregon. I flew into Medford on Monday, spent last night in Klamath Falls and today we drove to Bend, OR. Klamath Falls isn't the lucky part, the lucky part is that we got to drive by Crater Lake, we had enough time before our second observation session in Bend that we were able to take the scenic route right through Crater Lake National Park. I can't even explain the breath-taking beauty so here are a few pictures: Crater Lake was formed nearly 8000 years ago when a volcano called Mt. Mazama erupted, after the eruption, the top of the volcano collapsed in forming a huge caldera.

(Look at my impressive vocabulary!!)Can you believe it is 6 miles wide??

This one is hard to see but at the top of the little snow hill is the cutest little rock and log cabin.

The peak in the very middle of this picture is called Scott's Peak :O)

Flag Day

Ryker was all ready for Flag Day...

Here he is waving his very oversized flag:

Hey... Where's the parade??

Happy 5 Years!!

Scott and I have been married for 5 years today... The day we wed was identical to today... cold and rainy! We had to move our reception inside, we didn't get as many pictures as we wanted, everthing was wet, but it was wonderful!

5 years later, it's still wonderful! Our lives have changed so much from where we were 5 years ago but I absolutely love the path we walk and the fact we walk it together is even better. Scott is my best friend and i'm glad I get to share everyday with him.

Look at these beautiful flowers he sent me today... Gerbera Daisies are my absolute favorite!! What a sweet guy!!

Ryker's First Birthday!!

Yesterday was Ryker's first birthday!! I can't believe it's been a year. Time sure flies. It seems that all of a sudden he's eating big people food, wanting to do more things himself, trying hard to walk on his own, he's learning more about his emotions and how to express himself (lately that entails a ton of screaming with clenched fists) but he's also taking just a second or two more to snuggle, i've waited a year for this. He's such a big boy. I never imagined I could love someone so much. It's amazing. We had such a good day together. I made him french toast and jam for breakfast, we went to the Treehouse museum, had lunch with Lucy and had the grandparents over for ice cream and cupcakes. Ryker is such a blessing to us. He is such a sweet boy. My life, perspective and priorities have all surely changed over the last 12 months. I am so lucky to be Ryker's mom. I look forward to the year ahead and hope it's even half as wonderful as the year we just finished.

Ryker, we love you so much!!

Ryker and I got to spend the whole day together!

I love to look at this picture of the day we finally brought him home... look how much he's grown.

Mom and Ryker peeking through the hole in the tree at the Treehouse.Climbing through the stump.With Obama in the Oval Office.

Ryker and mom pounding on the drums.My sweet little birthday boy. (He banged his head on Sunday -oops)

Birthday Cake, Birthday Presents and Family....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RYKER!!

Birthdays at Bear Lake

We spent last weekend in Bear Lake. We had so much fun!! Our next door neighbors and good friends Clint and Kylie came with and we celebrated their birthdays there. Cazley came too and we brought her friend Kassidy Bailey (her mom babysits Ryker during the week). We had a houseful! We spent Saturday morning on the beach and when the clouds rolled in we played horse-shoes in the yard. Saturday night was great because all Kylie wanted for her '24th' birthday was a campfire and smores, luckilly the rain stopped just in time.

Here are some pictures:

(From left: Scott, Daisy our dog, Kassidy, me, Ryker, Dave, Cazley, Kylie and Clint)

Rykers first four wheel ride with Papa Dave.

How Did I Get Here?

This morning, I woke up in the most beautiful hotel in America (in my opinion). At 5:30 a.m. I began my day in Nashville, TN, in the Opryland Hotel. Things started off so smoothly, we attended our convention until around 11, tore everything down, got it ready to be shipped back to California and headed to the airport for a 5 p.m. flight to Indianapolis. When we checked in, there was an earlier flight to IN that flew through Atlanta but arrived at the final destination around the same time as our original flight, so we decided to stick with our initial plans. Little did we know we should of followed our gut instinct to fly through Atlanta. We finally boarded our flight to Indianapolis via Cincinatti. After a longer flight than I thought it should be, the pilot announced there was a storm in Cincinatti and we had circled for so long we needed to stop for fuel, in Louisville, Kentucky. We were worried we would miss our connection as it left at 8:00 p.m. and we were still in Kentucky at about five to. When we finally got to Cincinatti, to make a long story short: we missed our connection, there were NO MORE connections until 8:00 a.m. the next morning (our training session was to begin at 7:30 a.m.); our luggage was waiting for us in Indiana because it had been placed on the earlier flight because we checked in so early; because of the storm and all the delayed flights there were no rental cars; needless to say as I FINALLY go to bed tonight, it's 11:30 p.m. in Erlanger, Kentucky, i'm sitting in an old, run down Holiday Inn with no pajamas, no food, nothing except a t shirt given to me by "Sky Team" and a little overnight package with one serving of toothpaste (which I will save for tomorrow morning) and a funny little tube of deodorant. Good thing is we decided to reschedule our training session and I will board a flight to Salt Lake City at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow. Another good thing is I wasn't travelling alone today. I had a very good colleague traveling with me from the Nashville convention and she'll head home to Green Bay ,WI tomorrow as well. Sleep tight everyone...