Ryan's Birthday (And A Busy Summer!)

Ryan had a birthday.  A while ago.  Once upon a time I thought our summer was going to be pretty quiet.  But that changed.  We ended up having lots of family around for most of the month of July.  It was lovely.  It all started when Nicole and Matt came, just before the 4th of July.

The kids were so excited to meet their newest cousin.  And she handled the smothering of love very well.  And so did her Mommy and Daddy.  They were very patient.

Enduring the heat on the 4th of July parade.

While Nicole and Matt were in town we took the chance to go to Idaho.  This was probably one of my favorite days of this summer.  Let me tell you what we did.  We woke up to beautiful weather.  The kids came running in to tell me that the raspberries were on (apparently I talk a lot about my love of Grandpa's raspberries).  We picked them all.  The kids rang the big dinner bell to wake up the entire farm.  Uncle Bert got the dune buggy out and we all took turns driving it around, even the little farmers.  After lunch the old ones flooded the lawns, while us young ones played in the water and had a water fight.  The kids hunted frogs and then tortured, I mean played, with them for hours.  More dune buggy.  Yummy dinner.  Eating raspberry shakes outside.  Oh, what a perfect, perfect summer day.

 Love that dune buggy

 Looking for the frogs

 Caught the frogs.

 Torturing the frogs.

Shucking corn on the farm with Grandpa.

From there we went to Seattle.  My niece, Khalina, got married and we made a super quick weekend trip up to her reception.  She was beautiful and we had a lot of fun, even if we did drive for 28 hours over a 4 day period.  On the way there we stopped at Snoqualmie Falls.  It was beautiful.  We also made a quick trip to downtown Seattle and a ride up to the top of the Space Needle.  We packed in a lot of fun in our short weekend vacation.   

Cute little family.

Awesome nephew Ammon.

And somewhere in there, Ryan had a birthday and turned 7.  Seven on 7/7/14.  Isn't that exciting?!  When he turns 70, his birthday will be 7/7/77.  Just giving you something to look forward to.  

Ryan wanted a soccer ball cake, and we ate pizza with family at the park and then had cake and ice cream there.

 The cake.

 A little help from cousins on those presents.

 So fun to have cousins with us!

 A little game of hide-n-seek at the park after pizza and cake.

Jen and Caden hiding.

Ryan is a hard working boy.  He is awesome at doing his chores and if we are stressed or in a hurry, he is especially helpful.  He is great at remembering to make his bed.  He started piano lessons this year and does a really good job.  He loves all sports, but his current favorite is soccer.  He can work for hours on the homemade dam in our backyard.  He is a great reader and a smart kid and did well in school last year.  He may be going through a growth spurt right now, because he has been known to eat four ham and cheese sandwiches at lunch, and then tell me that he is starving.  I can't imagine him as a teenager!  He is a sweet boy, who leaves notes on our pillows and gives hugs, just when you need them the most.  We love him so much!