New pictures of Ryder

Ryder James:



With mom Kiesha:



With dad Kelley:



With Papa Ed:



With big sister Elle:

Summer fun in the lake

We've had an extraordinary run of sunny warm weather this month and the grands came down for a swim in the lake. They had such a blast! They ran and jumped and splashed and then ran and jumped and splashed some more until they were completely worn out.



Savannah started jumping off the dock and decided it was fun!



The lake has a ton of small fish in it and even with all the people splashing and swimming around there were still little fish hanging out near the shore. Greg even found a big snail, which Nick found fascinating.

Baby Ryder arrives early

Kiesha's new little son Ryder gave us all a big surprise, arriving about six weeks early. He needed special care for a few days (breathing assistance, IV, feeding tube) but he's proven to be a tough little guy and was able to go home within a week and both mom and baby are doing fine.

Here's a couple of pics from Grandma Cyndy:

Ryder James



Grandma Cyndy with baby Ryder (that's Great Grandma Donna peeking on the right)



We thank God for Ryder!!

New pictures of Evan

Billie recently sent us some of Evan's first birthday portraits and we think he's looking particularly adorable in these!!

My personal favorite:



Cute little man!





Adorable tub time photos!









What a sweet guy.

Greg turns 34 & Nick gets the training wheels off!

Being born on the fourth of July means that every birthday for Greg is a big celebration, at least somewhere!! He's gone through phases of having big parties and has now moved into a quieter mode. This year it was a camping weekend with family and friends.

Since we aren't big campers anymore we just joined them for the day rather than the whole weekend. It was a lot of fun with Greg's friend Eric BBQing ribs, brisket and chicken for the birthday meal. Really fine job of it too, pretty yummy!



Lucy also prepared lumpias for Greg's birthday and he even shared!!



And Greg conducting the happy birthday singers:



It was a big deal for Nick too as he decided he needed to have the training wheels off of his bike. He got the bike from Santa for Christmas in 2006 just after he turned three. Check out his technique:




And here's cousin Mike with his summer Mohawk:



And Savannah in her best 4th of July form:

At long last!! SUMMER!!

FINALLY! We have had lovely warm and sunny weather for several days in a row now including a 91 degree day on Saturday and a 94 degree day on Sunday. Now it's settled into a marine layer of clouds in the morning that burn off fairly early and temps in the 70s and 80s. Can you say "perfect"? So nice to have good weather and the temps will stay in that range for about the next ten days at least with a few "maybe" showers here and there and some thunderstorms in the Cascades. But I'm a happy girl! We even got to take the flannels off the bed! The furnace hasn't run since last Wednesday. Our bill may finally dip below $120 this month! So much to be happy about. See what a little sun and warm does for my disposition?