This is what it's doing in Phoenix right now. Coincidentally, it rained almost 3 inches in two days in Portland while we were gone. It's gorgeous in both places right now (although people who have lived here for many years would say we are crazy and more than one person from work emailed while I was gone to tell me they were jealous, weird).

We started out our Thanksgiving week in Tucson with a lovely family get together on Sunday, but not before Cooper gave himself a bath in my Mom and Dad's pond. He was feeding the fish and thought maybe he could test out his new swim skills?? Luckily, my Dad seems to have brushed up on his cat like reflexes and he grabbed Cooper by the foot before he was in the cold water for too long. He was perfectly fine and wanted to go back out to the pond later in the week when we got there.

We had great food and good times down in Tucson. We love being able to see as many people as possible when we visit but it is so hard to get it all in. When we can get the family together in one place, it gives us a chance to see everybody. I was in awe of Ryan's younger cousins who have grown into beautiful teenagers (or preteens) and I was just staring at them for many moments thinking about how they were about two, three and five when I first met them. I used to swing them around by the arms and give them piggy backs and now they are doing those very same things to our kids. The next night was our annual Brothers Extravaganza where just the brothers and their wives get together for some quality time. We had the kiddos with us so Cooper and Olivia got some good time in with their little cousins, Jalyn and Emree. This dinner is so special to me because I get time with some amazing women and with the boys that Ryan grew up with. He has wonderful brothers and I am so happy to be a part of the family. We missed out on some loved ones but hope to see everyone again soon.

We made our way back to Phoenix for the rest of the week where Coop and O spent countless hours out in the backyard running around. Just when I thought they would collapse from exhaustion... Brody showed up and they did it all over again! Phoenix is beautiful in November and we enjoyed every minute of it. We had Thanksgiving up at Auntie and Unc's place this year. We were there all day and made sure to pack it in. We had some Christmas cookies to eat decorate, some Wii Boxing to play, some water to swim in, and oh yeah, some turkey to eat.

The boys LOVED getting in the spool but I was most surprised by Olivia. She has always loved the water, she usually tries to get in her baths fully clothed because she is so excited. She'll throw one leg up on the tub and just look at us like, 'let's do this, I've been waiting forever for a bath.' I digress... We put her in their spool (spa and a pool), and she was actually KICKING her legs around and using her arms! She kept trying to just fall into the water. Hopefully I can get her started on swim lessons soon as well, I can tell she wants it.

It was another wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I am so lucky to have the husband and children I have and we are lucky that we have wonderful family and friends to celebrate our holidays with. We couldn't have asked for a better week.  I can't BELIEVE the holidays are here again!!

~Ahna

Our Halloween weekend started out with some cookie baking and some craft making. Cooper thought it was necessary to do all our Halloween fun in his costume and Baby Sister needed to do the same. So they dressed up while they made cookies and glued ghost eyes on paper plates and ate cookies. It was great. Mama did most of the craft making and the cookie baking... but the kids were really good at cookie eating!

Our weekend continued Saturday night with this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p1Ty-8xNxo. Apparently every year there is something called Thrill Portland in which a bunch of people dress up like zombies, show up at the same time, in the same spot, and dance to Thriller. Could there be a better way to start out Halloween? I think not. It was epic. I think I'm going to try and do it next year!

We had some friends over Sunday for dinner and fun and then Halloween was here! Cooper had a halloween carnival at preschool and then both the kids came to my office for some office trick or treating. A bunch of people I work with have little kids (or grandkids) and I thought it would be so cute to have them come in and trick or treat at people's desks. It was adorable. We took pictures of all the kids and a lot of people really had a great time getting to meet families and give out candy. We had lots of smiles that day.

Ryan and the kids (and by that I mean Ryan) carved pumpkins later that day and they turned out awesome. Then it was time to trick or treat and I was stuck at work. Ryan ended up taking the kids out to a bunch of houses in our neighborhood and I didn't make it home until it was too late for Olivia. I did get to take Cooper out to a few houses so that was fun but I couldn't believe I missed trick or treating with them. That is not something that will happen again next year. We didn't have very many trick or treaters and when we were walking in the neighborhood we could see lots of houses with the lights off. It's not like it used to be. A lady I work with said she took her daughter to the mall and there were people STANDING IN LINE at the stores that were handing out candy! Why don't people trick-or-treat at houses anymore?

Hope everybody had a Happy Halloween!

~Ahna

So, it's been a year.  Well, it's been longer than that. But it's been a year since my Dad got some incredible new cells growing inside his bones.  What more could you need for a celebration???  My parents have been going non stop since the beginning of summer. They have been jet setting all over the states.  They wanted to do something to celebrate this momentous occasion so they decided to throw a party.  I didn't think I could make it. We had a lot of traveling coming up and it was a very expensive flight.

Friday night before the party Ryan and I got to go out on a date here at home. We went to see a comedian, he was hilarious. The whole night, I had this nagging feeling. I was missing this party and I really shouldn't be missing it. It was a big deal, even though Mom tried to make it okay that I was missing it. I couldn't handle it. I asked Ryan if I was being ridiculous, he said it was important that I go if I felt that strongly about it. Saturday morning I woke up at an insane hour and couldn't go back to sleep. I checked airline flights for that day, I called Uncs, I texted my cousin Steven, I tried to go back to sleep. I went back to the computer and I booked a ticket. I was going to leave in a few hours for a less than 24 hour trip to Arizona. I couldn't have been more excited.

Uncs was coming to pick me up. Uncs and Auntie don't like surprises, so I knew it would be tough!  I threw Olivia in the mix because it's important not to show up empty handed when visiting the grand parents. So we hopped on the plane and landed in Arizona about two hours before the party started.

When I walked in the door, Mom's back was to me and I yelled out 'I hear there's a party here tonight!'.  The look on her face and my Dad's face when he woke up was worth every penny. I was so happy I could make it and be there to celebrate with everybody. Some people had never met Olivia and she of course delighted the crowd. She and her cousin Brody got the dancing gene and spent most of their time on the dance floor (yeah, I was there too!). It was a great night and wonderful morning with Mom and Dad and the rest of the family. I had been homesick for Phoenix so it was perfect timing.

We all know how rough the last 18 months have been for my parents. I always loved a good hug from my Dad and it's even more special when I get one now. It's hard to think he spent any time sick from this leukemia shenanigans because looking at him now, he seems relatively unscathed.  I'm so happy we are celebrating the one year anniversary of something so amazing and can't wait to spend the next twenty years doing the same.  Dad, you know I love you more than anything.

Enjoy the pictures my Mom took... I didn't have a camera!

~Ahna

What?!?! Ryan is 30! My aunts and uncles came up for a visit last week (well, like two weeks ago now, I'm a little behind). They took a few days to hang out at the coast... and they took a few days to WATCH OUR KIDS! 


I took Ryan on a surprise birthday trip up to the Olympic National Park in Washington. There are a few rain forests there and a hot springs and the ocean... but more importantly... it's the birthplace of a little known book called TWILIGHT. I thought the website for the hotel we were staying in was cute because it discussed Forks, WA being the setting for the books and how this particular bed and breakfast 'slightly resembled' the Cullen House but it was definitely not affiliated in any way with Twilight, yada yada yada. We pull up to the house and this is the conversation that ensues.


Ryan: Um, the guy is in the window.
Me: What guy?
Ryan: The guy from the movie.
Me: What? That's impossible, they just said it kind of resembled the house.
Ryan: Yeah, it's him, you'll see.
Me (after getting out of the car and seeing 'the guy'): AYKM? Is that a life size cutout of Robert Pattinson??? That's...phenomenal.


So, it turns out, the bed and breakfast actually vomited Twilight paraphernalia. Every room had the books and the DVDs (even the 'Making of' DVDs that nobody ever watches). Each room also gave you the chance to pick a particular character and put that on the door of your room. The rooms were even named for certain characters (only some of them, which threw me off a bit when booking... like maybe they weren't TOTALLY obsessed with Twilight).  At any rate, I'm sure Forks, WA did exist prior to Twilight, but it wasn't nearly as cool.  There are stores that carry just Twilight related things (and I'm sure plenty of non-Twilight things that they just made up for tourism purposes). We got over all this very quickly and then it became hilarious.  Funny enough for me to get out of the car and stand in front of a huge Twilight sign for a picture! 


We quickly started our exploring on Saturday morning. The sun was out for most of the day on our 8-ish mile hike to Deer Lake.  So much green and so much water, the sound of it followed us the entire way.  When we sat down to breakfast the next morning (where the eggs were named after Edward or some Twilight character), the hotel inn keeper asked us how our hiking was the day before so we told him it was beautiful and we went to Deer Lake. He seemed impressed, as was I. I thought I would be a lot more sore after that hike, but it worked in my favor.  These trees are amazing.  They are huge, hundreds of feet in the air.  On our drive, there were signs everywhere that talked about cutting the trees and replanting. They use that whole area to grow trees for the rest of the country. It was kind of cool to see where one huge area was cut down back in 2000 and then replanted in 04.  You could see how they had already started growing tall again.  We definitely want to go back to spend more time in the rain forest and hope we get to do the trip soon.  A lot of what we saw was like a different world and we didn't get enough discovering done!


The Aunties and Uncles got a lot of time with the kids and the kids were wonderful for them. They hopefully enjoyed their week up here... even though they spent much of it babysitting!! In other news, Cooper started preschool!! I still remember the day he was born, I can't believe he's in school! He seems to be doing really well with it so far. Olivia is walking all over the place even though she continues to resemble a drunken sailor more than a tiny dancer.  


~Ahna & Ryan

So, every year we go back to Arizona for a very special reason. It's to visit Ryan's grandma in Pinetop. Pinetop is special to us in many ways; it is always so relaxing and peaceful... or it was until a little thing called kids came along. Take this picture for instance, it looks like a great walk around a fun lake in Pinetop right? If you were there though, very shortly after this picture was taken Cooper had a meltdown where he decided to just stand in one place not moving for what felt like hours but was probably five minutes. He didn't care that we all kept going or that he almost couldn't see us anymore, he just didn't want to come with us. Then, Olivia decided she was done being carried and wanted to walk, only she can't; minor details.  It was as if she was yelling at us that of course she knew how to walk and all we had to do was put her on the ground so she could show us just how good she was at it.


It's okay. We decided to cook in more than we ate out, because Olivia likes to crawl OUT of her high chair.  And we walked around the golf course by the house instead of going on hikes because Olivia likes to put EVERYTHING in her mouth; duck feathers? Sure, bird droppings? Most likely.  


Here's something else; I'm writing the blog and thinking about what to say next when Ryan walks in behind me, looks at the picture and says, 'oh yeah, the disaster walk'... but I digress.  


They're kids, babies really, they're bound to have off days... or four in a row, not that anybody was counting. It wasn't all bad. Cooper LOVED getting in GG's hot tub. He asked every day to go in the 'hot pool' and he learned how to blow bubbles! This is huge progress and it will be great for him when he starts swim lessons in October (with his preschool class!). Ryan made it to a hike in Greer one morning where he took pictures of what the fire left behind earlier this summer. We took Cooper to the go karts in town and he LOVED them! Our sweet Olivia took some steps! On the last night, we were sitting on the floor and she saw me, took about four steps and gave me a hug. I looked at Ryan to see if he saw it but he didn't. Then only a few minutes later, she took about 6 steps toward me and everybody saw it! It was as if she won an oscar. We all got huge smiles on our faces and started yelling and screaming and clapping our hands. Well she turned around to face us and had the HUGEST open mouth smile I have ever seen. She knew exactly what had happened and she stood there clapping right along with us. It was an amazing moment. I don't know that I'll ever forget the look on her face. She was so proud. 


We made it back to Phoenix for our last day so we could spend some time with my family and with our best friends the Smiths/Pickards/Kolsons. Yeah, it used to just be the Smiths but we all grew up, got married, got rid of our maiden names (tears), and had babies. For whatever reason I didn't get the camera out so all the pictures of that night are logged away in my memory (or on a future email from somebody that did take pictures). I loved this night. I felt like I got a chance to talk to most everybody for a little bit and I got to watch the kids play. We got to see Olivia and Toni and even Connor take a few steps. The boys played together (the little boys AND the big boys).  At one point, we were eating dinner and a hush came over the crowd. Colette looked at Courtney and me and said, 'hey, look who's at the adult table' and we realized that all us kids had taken over the adult table at my house and our parents (and the other actual adults) were at the 'kid' table. We get it; we're adults now, but I don't think we always GET IT. I still sometimes look at both babies and can't believe they're mine and that I have kids of my own. It was just yesterday I was sitting at that kid table with Colette and Courtney and my brother while we plotted out our next move for the night. Would it be 'Ditch Em' in the back yard, or Atari... oh wait, my house didn't have video games until Nintendo. I'll always look forward to our 'Friday Night Party Nights' no matter how few and far between they are. It will be so great watching our kids grow together.


It was a great vacation away and it was also nice to be back home.  This weekend, Ryan and I are celebrating something special. 10 years ago on Labor Day weekend, we went camping with a bunch of friends. This curly haired sophomore sat down in front of me that night and with a little bit of liquid courage asked me what he should do about a girl he liked. I still remember every detail about that moment. So, we're celebrating 10 years of dating the same way it all started... camping.


~Ahna 

This post will be mostly pictures... I know, it's devastating. We had more visitors over the last few weeks and did tons of things, including celebrate Olivia's first birthday!! She is almost walking and eats whatever we eat. She's actually turned out to be a really good garbage disposal for any food that's lying around.  We took our first overnight trip to the beach the weekend after her birthday. It was a great last weekend with my parents.

We have about a week to rest before we leave on our annual trip to Pinetop!

Enjoy!

~Ahna & Ryan

I can't believe that the entire month of July is already gone. It started out lovely with a long visit from Uncle Bryce-y Bryce and Aunt Manda.  They came right after the fourth which we celebrated here at the house; just the four of us. I got some sparklers for the kids (they won't be awake for real fireworks for years to come because they don't start until very late here).  It was the first time they'd seen anything like it and they were both in awe. It was great. 


Our visit with Bryce and Amanda was great. They did tons of exploring the city via bicycle and I had a workout partner for a couple weeks! The boys went hiking and did some brewing, you know, pretty normal weekends for the Wards. Oh yes, I also got some MUCH needed shopping in at a huge outlet mall south of Portland. It turns out, Bryce is also quite handy with landscaping so we got some cheap labor and a lovely looking front yard! We got to go out to a few new places with them and even got a date night with them while the kids were looked after. 


I attached a bunch of pictures that were taken at random and are mostly a collection of us just hanging out over the last month. We are closing out our month with Uncle Dylan at the house (that's the third brother in 6 weeks!).  Today we went on a walk out by a waterfall and we found what I think might be a new favorite place for me. It's a picnic area by the water.  It kept reminding me of a place I went to as a kid. There is a picture of me with my brother eating something on a blanket. I don't remember where it is, but this place today reminded me of it.  It made me think of how much fun it will be in a few years when the kids are a bit older and can run around and play in the water.  I wonder what they'll talk about??


There are all these perfect places here, I don't know if we'll ever find them all.


Stay tuned for Olivia's 1st birthday!! 


~Ahna

Summer has sprung and the Ward house has been bustling.  A few weeks ago (yes, I'm that behind), Gran came to visit with Kyle (the brother closest in age to Ryan). They DROVE up from Arizona! The drive was good and not too long (about 24 hours from Phoenix, in case you were wondering). The great news about them driving was we got to fit EVERYBODY into one car while they were here because she brought her new minivan! We didn't plan a lot of things to do but we definitely got a lot in. I was working so Ryan took them out to Vista House and to many different parks around town. We walked to dinner almost every night and I loved it.  We went to pick strawberries which was only marginally successful because the strawberries still weren't in season.  We also got to go to Washington Park (where all the roses are)... but THOSE were in hiding as well!  All the things that usually come out in early June were behind because of our rainy spring.  They made their appearances about a week ago. 


They left and a few days later, my Mom and Dad came to town! It was my Dad's first visit since we moved here and it was over Father's Day so it was quite special.  We too did lots of walking around our neighborhood. We also got to take Cooper on a surprise visit to see a LIFE SIZE Thomas the Train. He was in complete awe. We got to take a ride on the train and take pictures with Thomas and play with mini trains. He was overwhelmed the WHOLE time!! The place where Thomas was visiting happened to be the home of an Oregon winery. So, of course, we took some time to taste (and buy) some delicious Oregon wines.  Our cousin Merle and his wife Sarah and their daughter Tea were passing through Portland on their way back to Seattle so they hung out with us for a day too! Cooper loves having other kids around and having Tea was no exception.


While Mom and Dad were in town, Olivia learned how to walk around with a little walker! I can't believe she's already doing that. It gets more fun everyday to watch Cooper and Olivia together. 


We are spending a quiet weekend together just us because on Tuesday Bryce and Amanda get here for another visit! The weather will be much nicer than when they came to visit in January AND we'll have quite a bit more room in this house for them! 


~Ahna

Ryan and I have been together for awhile and have lived in a few different humble abodes. We have never had the pleasure of a community or neighborhood to enjoy.  In our 'neighborhood' in Vegas, we lived in the same house for almost seven years and I waved at the same people almost daily for seven years and I typically got a blank stare in return. We have lived here for two days and the people around us have gone out of their way to introduce themselves. Earlier today, we were sitting on the porch and the next door neighbor was out talking on her phone. After about 15 minutes, she turned our way, stopped her conversation, waved and said, 'I'm sorry, I didn't see you guys. I'm just out here acting like I'm ignoring you!' 


We had some nice neighbors at our rental too, but I think we feel better about our new home because we want this to be our forever house.  On Saturday, our movers/friends helped us move for a little over six hours.  On Sunday, we had to get the kids out to explore the neighborhood so we walked to a farmers' market a few blocks away. We almost went broke. There were flowers that we just had to have, a muffin/cookie/brownie that were calling our names, a breakfast burrito that literally stole money out of our pockets (with good but not Ryan fantastic salsa).  Then, oh yes, then there were the plants we had to buy; tomatoes, african blue basil, another kind of tomato plant. It was phenomenal. After that, Cooper ran around on the playground that was close by. Should we decide to frequent that market, we will be sure to leave our wallets and purses at home. 


Ryan has already spent a few hours outside taking care of the front and back yards. The front yard is gorgeous with lots of flowers, plants, and these AWESOME little teeny tiny flowers that fall literally everywhere from the big tree.  You could sweep the porch all day long and those little things would just keep showing up! Fun times I tell you.


Today was perfect so we took a walk around the neighborhood after eating some delicious burgers. I threw the kids in the bathtub after that. I had to take a picture because this was the first bath in over a year where Cooper got to have ALL his bath toys out. It was pretty crowded now that he's got Olivia tagging along in the tub!


Happy Memorial Day!


~Ahna & Ryan

Olivia isn't much for just sitting on my lap and enjoying the scenery so soon enough we were at the back of the group standing and swaying while the ceremony went on.  The ceremony was beautiful and very well put together. Then we headed inside for dinner and dancing. My Mom and Dad decided to make a road trip up to Colorado to 'babysit' which helped them get in some much needed grandkid time and helped us really enjoy our friends and their day.  Shortly after the ceremony they drove out and picked up the kids.  Another couple there, some very close friends had just had a baby and he hung out with us almost all night, just kind of napping and eating.  He is adorable and I got to dance with him, so that's always fun!


On Sunday, we got to go see some family friends that we hadn't seen in years. The men went on a brewery tour and we hung out at the Brewery restaurant. It was the coolest place, it had a pond and a sandbox out back. I was worried about Cooper hanging out for over an hour before we even would get to eat, but he was in heaven! He kept throwing rocks in the pond (no worries, there were tons of rocks already in there) and playing with some other little kids that were there. It was touch and go for a minute because he hadn't napped that day and was a bit 'yucky pucky' on our drive there. But in true Cooper fashion, he performed for the crowd with his utterly charming personality. 


To be continued...

And upon our return... we picked up the keys to OUR NEW HOUSE!!! We are in love with our house. We found it on a whim back in March when we just went to see some open houses. It's in a neighborhood we love, where we can walk to a coffee shop, or a bar that has live music every night, or a kids bookstore.  There are some great parks only a few blocks away and an indoor pool (cross your fingers for swim lessons this summer!). 


We will be moving in over the course of this week and hopefully be enjoying our Memorial Day BBQ in the backyard.


Here are some pictures!


~Ahna & Ryan

For a few months, we'd been saying that it was probably time to cut Cooper's hair. It was getting mullet-ish in the back, not a style we wanted to bring back with our son. So, Thursday before his 3rd birthday, we took him to a place. He did great! The lady said he was her 'best first hair cut ever' (she probably says that about ALL the kids!). He didn't move or squirm or make noise. I think he was either really scared or really relaxed! It was adorable and she did a nice job. His curls are really knocking them dead now!


On Saturday we had a few people over to celebrate his birthday. We let Cooper open gifts throughout the day. He would just come tell us that he wanted to open another present and we would all watch. He was a little overwhelmed but seemed to enjoy the company. He loved all his gifts and has been playing with them (or reading them!) ever since! He sang Happy Birthday along with the rest of us... Video Here!


I can't believe he's been around for 3 years now. Babies are a real pain, but sometimes all it takes is a look from Cooper to make me remember how wonderful it is too!


Mother's Day was great! Ryan made a special french toast breakfast for me and we enjoyed some Peeps (champagne and cranberry juice).  I got to have a pedicure with a friend and then got to hang out with my babies. It was fantastic!

~Ahna

Last weekend after a successful egg hunt, we headed down to the Tulip Fest. It was one of the first things we did last year when we moved here and it's very special for me. It was perfect to do it on Easter. It was cloudy and rainy on our way down there.  But the moment we started our walk to the tulips, the rain stopped. Then the sun peeked out and we frolicked amongst the flowers (and then with impeccable timing, the rain started again once we got back in the car).  Cooper was much more interested in the toys they had up by the gift shop so we headed back up there for him to play for a bit. He also enjoyed his first taste of McDonald's that day, chicken Mcnuggets. I poison tested one and oddly they don't taste as good as they did when I was a kid! We ordered our bulbs for next season, which should go quite well in the front yard of our NEW HOUSE! We move in at the end of this month and we couldn't be more excited. We found a house that will be a great fit for us and it's in a neighborhood we have loved since we moved here.  


Later on in the week, we had some family friends in town for a visit. They were checking out all of Oregon and ended their trip with us.  They had lots of fun playing with the kids and we took them to the Saturday Market yesterday before they left.  Then we spent most of the rest of the day outside because it was gorgeous.  Olivia modeled the new hat she got for Easter and spent some time eating grass.  She's still like a puppy in many respects.  She got some grass in her mouth (we took it out), then she tried to eat some that was still connected to the ground, like a baby cow.  She is crawling all over now which makes being outside more difficult because she wants to put EVERYTHING in her mouth. The fun part about her crawling is that Cooper is so much more interested in actually playing with her now. He crawls away from her really fast and then goes around a corner, waits for her to catch up, and then peeks around the corner and surprises her. She thinks it's hilarious. 


Next week, Cooper will be THREE! I can't believe how quickly time has gone by. 


Enjoy the pictures!


~Ahna

We've been spending quite a bit of time at the park the last couple of weekends. This park is right on the river. Cooper has quite a penchant for throwing rocks and sticks into the water. It's one of his new favorite things to do.  Something else we've been doing?!?! Watching Olivia pull herself up! She knows how to crawl and goes at least half the distance of the goal before realizing she would MUCH rather scoot around on her belly army style. This morning, she was on the ground just hanging out and next thing I knew, she was standing up next to my leg, drooling away. Unbelievable!

We have tons of fun with them!  Here are some pictures.

~Ahna

Seven years ago today, Arizona was getting over the worst flood it had ever had.  Okay, I MIGHT be exaggerating.  All I know is that it was enough rain to make me change the venue of my wedding the DAY BEFORE MY WEDDING. I'm a pretty laid back lady... it takes a lot to unnerve me... but this was totally unacceptable.  In the end, of course, the place of the ceremony doesn't matter as much as what it's all about.  Do I still get kinda mad when it rains on or around my anniversary? Yes. Don't get me wrong, I love it when it rains just not right around now.


We have enjoyed many years of laughter and love together.  We've been to lots of new places together. We've brought two beautiful children into this world together.  I get to hang out with Ryan all the time and I wouldn't ask for it any other way.  To this day, he makes me laugh until I tear up and it is my mission in life to do the same to him.  I am happier than I ever thought I could be. 


So, three years from now when we are celebrating our 10th anniversary... I expect you all to be in my parents' backyard with bells on... that's right, we're doing it again. If it rains, then we will all be dancing in bare feet and getting wet. It'll be epic. It will mostly just be a HUGE party, but I'm definitely wearing my wedding dress. I'll even get it cleaned for the occasion. PS, let's hope Mom and Dad are copacetic with these plans!

I cannot believe that it has already been a year since we moved to Portland.  We love it here and still speak often about how happy we are that we made the decision to move.  It does make our time in Arizona extra special as we don't get there nearly as often as we'd like to.  We were able to make a quick trip down over St. Patrick's Day.  We hadn't seen the family since Thanksgiving. Some of Ryan's family made a trip up to visit which made it even better.

St. Patrick's Day was a blast, as always.  My Dad was playing this year so after the first part of the day at the Dubliner, we headed down to a bar in North Phoenix.  It is so cool to watch him do something he really loves.  He and the band played mostly Irish music (obviously, it WAS St. Patrick's Day!).  I got to 'win' some free St. Patrick's Day flair and the day is never complete until I do so.  I have a hat... I don't know if you all know this, it's a green hat. I won it MANY years ago at a bar in Vegas.  I wear the hat every year and every year, I get compliments.  I will never part with this hat... unless I find an exact replica. Two years ago, a girl offered me $100 to buy the hat, I said 'thanks but no thanks', she said, 'it's your loss' and I said, 'nay, I believe the loss is yours'.  The year before that, the hat came in handy when I 'borrowed' some St. Patty's Day decorations from an Irish bar in Vegas that could neither be called A) Irish or B) a bar.  They were serving NO Irish beer and were playing NO Irish music; the only thing they had were some sad looking decorations.  My hat happens to have a hole in the top, it's the perfect place to put things if you don't have a purse... it was also the perfect location for some decorations that I use in my home to this day.  St. Patrick's Day is a fantastic holiday.

We had a great time with Auntie and Uncs and got some quality time in with Josh and Brody. Brody and Cooper do SUCH a good job of tiring each other out. I can't wait to see them together again.

We also got to have Friday Night Party Night.  The clan is ALOT bigger now with 6 kids running around. It's also a lot more work for the big kids who now call themselves parents to the little ones, have I lost you yet?  Joshua, Dad to Brody; Colette and Jake, parents to Waylon and Toni; Courtney and Jon, parents to Connor; and us, parents to Cooper and Olivia.  Back in the day when it was just Josh and me and Courtney and Colette, it was so much easier!!! Now, when we try to take pictures of the group... we get something like this.  I don't know why we can't get 6 kids under the age of 5 to sit still for us to take 100 pictures of them... weird.  Our time together is never long enough!

It was so great to visit everybody and it was also great to be home, back in Portland.

Here are some pictures from the trip!

~Ahna

Some of you may have heard about a little movie called... GOONIES. Yeah, it was a little known production out of Astoria, OR back in the 80's.  A couple small stars that were in it, Mikey (Sean Astin), Brandon (Josh Brolin), and also, Sloth.  When my cousin Steven was in town last weekend we drove out to the coast.  We started at Canon Beach, it was REALLY windy there though so it didn't last long.  We did stop at a toy store where Cooper got to play with this; a track not unlike the one he has at home, but that's beside the point.  On our way to Astoria, Cooper looked like this.  He was not happy that we took him away from the toy store!  We got to Astoria in time for lunch, which was at a Brewery.  On our way out of town, we were discussing the fact that Goonies was filmed in Astoria. At first I thought this maybe wasn't a big deal, but then I decided how it would be AWESOME to see the house that Goonies built.  We pondered the best way to find the house when I gave the boys this nugget of information, 'Google it.'  Sure enough, Google had the answer; it had the exact address actually.  So away we went! About 5 minutes later we pulled up to this.  Right when I got out of the car to run up the hill and take pictures the mailman was delivering mail.  He said 'hello' as all strangers seem to do in this area and I said, 'How exciting, the Goonies house, huh!!!!?!?!'  Ryan told me later that as he walked away from me, he was shaking his head in that 'what a crazy lady' way.  On our way out of town, we also stopped by the jail (in the beginning of the movie, one of the bad guys gets broken out of the slammer), and the museum where Mikey's Dad worked.  


It was certainly the highlight of my weekend (besides just my cousin being there with us!!).  I made sure we completed the day by renting the movie and reminiscing.  I proceeded to tell everyone I saw on Monday about it and how exciting it was.  The town of Astoria is pretty cool too with a huge bridge and fun roads.  


It turns out one of my favorite phrases comes from Sloth in that movie, 'HEY YOU GUYS!!!!!!' It was epic.  


Cooper got into the 'holiday' spirit by making Valentine's Day cards,  heart cookies, and chocolate covered strawberries or 'strawber-erries' as Cooper now calls them.  We finished up our weekend in a neighborhood nearby with a lunch at a place called 'The Grilled Cheese Grill'.  Delicious food, although, what grilled cheese sandwich isn't??  


Pictures!


~Ahna

It's funny, people keep telling us we won't see the sun for months now which is what makes Oregon winters so hard.  But that sun keeps rearing its ugly face!  We definitely take more advantage of it when it comes out and make sure to get the kids outside for walks and the park, etc.  A few weeks ago, we found out that the Chinese Gardens had free admission for the day!  We packed up the kids and headed out... to downtown Portland.  The gardens are literally in the middle of downtown.  We were trying to find a place to park and I was staring at all these tall skyscrapers and hotels and even said to Ryan, 'well, I don't get it... is it on top of one of the buildings?'  We found it though and not on top of a building.  It's surrounded by solid white walls but inside it's gorgeous!  I want to go back in the spring because I can imagine the colors are beautiful.  It was a small enough area that we could kind of let Cooper run around without losing him and we even sat down and had some lunch there!


The weekend after that, Bryce and Amanda (brother in law and girlfriend) came to visit.  Bryce-y Bryce's birthday is right after Christmas, so Amanda got him tickets to come visit as a surprise!  They love Portland and have talked about moving here.  We would, of course, be elated if that happened!  We spent the weekend walking around downtown and checking out the sites.  We even got a chance to go out to dinner with them, without the kiddos!


Cooper is more and more of a little boy and less of a baby.  Sometimes when I get home from work, it's like he's actually become more of a boy in just a day.  He keeps us on our toes and laughing all the time.  He can repeat lines from books to us and does so out of the blue.  Last night, we were getting dinner ready and Ryan said, 'noses are good for making holes', and Cooper finished, 'in trees, and roofs, and barber poles'!  He typically does it unprompted, and it's hilarious.


Olivia is crazy!  She is really cute and quite smiley.  She LOVES watching everything Cooper and every night when we put her to bed, we have him give her a kiss and hug and she actually reaches for him and nuzzles into his face.  Someday they'll fight, but right now, it is beautiful to watch.  


Here are some pictures!


~Ahna

Cooper was REALLY into it this year.  He helped Ryan put out the cookies and milk for Santa (and carrots for the reindeer) and he got really excited for Christmas morning.  Usually he just knocks on his door for us to come get him, but on Christmas morning he started opening the door!  But we weren't ready!  This was our first Christmas waking up in our own house and the first Christmas that Cooper had somewhat of an idea of what was going on.  We couldn't miss his face on Christmas morning, seeing all the presents that the Big Guy had left for him and Baby Sister!  I successfully held him hostage in his room for about 1.2 minutes until I heard Ryan tell me he was ready and then I let him go out.  The video is kind of dark so I won't post it, but he just had this big, confused smile on his face!  The first thing he did after staring in awe at the presents was walk right over to his Dad and give him a big hug.  Then we were off!! Cooper got to help open all of Olivia's presents this year so he had a lot of work to do!  He seemed so grateful for every present, taking time to play with each one after it was opened.  We were so excited watching him that it took us a really long time to open our presents too!


I made pull apart (monkey bread, sticky buns, whatever you might call it) the night before, so we snacked on that while opening presents and we had a fire going by the time we started our stockings!   Santa was good to ALL of us this year and we had lots of family send boxes to us for the kids.  After we put the kids down, we sat on the couch with some wine and a fire. It was a wonderful weekend and great holiday.  Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and New Year!   


~Ahna