Memorial Day 2012

What a fun weekend! For the first time in years, we spent Memorial Day with the Smith girls! It wasn't at the lake but it still had all the same necessities... with a few kids thrown in!! This time around we got to have a Friday night Party Night that actually lasted longer than four hours... it was amazing! We had Cort, Jon and Connor as well as Colette and Toni at the house all weekend. We tried to Facetime with our fellow Friday Night Partyers down in AZ and it was mostly a bunch of us laughing and saying 'Hi' and 'Cheers'! The kids were pretty into the Ipad so I think the adults on the other end just saw their faces.

On Saturday, we went to the market, had some awesome polish food (which was recreated for us Monday night by Jon and Ryan), and hung out at Multnomah Falls. We didn't take the scenic route so they only saw the big waterfall but it was worth it. On Sunday we went to the local farmer market and had the kids run around like crazy at the playground. We tried to play some Wii Dance one night, it turns out Jon is surprisingly good Tonto, Jump on it. Laughing about his mad skills led us to do some Youtube searching for the original superstars of Jump On It... Carlton and the Fresh Prince. Yeah, we had a good time.

Monday was spent getting pedis and making pierogi... this really good potato and cheese thing from Poland. I am salivating just thinking about them.

Enjoy the pictures!

~Ahna

Read More 0 comments |

HAWAII

The next thing we did was fly to Hawaii! We stayed on the Big Island in Kona. Ryan's grandmother had been a couple years ago and wanted to go back with us. We were more than happy to oblige. It was such a different world there. When you leave the airport, you see mostly black rocks, lava, everywhere. It doesn't look like what one would normally think of when they think of Hawaii. But it was beautiful. There were tons of sandy, amazing beaches with really blue, clear water. Then we drove to the other side of the island which was filled with waterfalls and botanical gardens and rocky cliffs. It really was amazing.

Neither of the kids had spent much time at the beach so it was really fun to watch them get so into the water and the waves. Cooper was jumping all over them and by the end of the trip, as predicted, Olivia would just walk RIGHT into the water. Swimming was not high on her list of priorities however and it escaped her mind that she doesn't actually know how to do that yet!

We will definitely go back there someday. I could write more, but the pictures say it so much better!

~Ahna

Read More 0 comments |

Cooper.Is.Four. And other fun things.

It's hard to believe it's already been four years... I know every parent says that... probably with each and every year that goes by. Cooper celebrated his fourth birthday in May. Mom and Dad were here to watch the kids while Ryan and I jetted off to Aruba for four days. There was a work trip I was invited to go on. I know, I know... it's a tough job. We got back to Portland and the next day was Cooper's birthday. I stayed home from work until he was awake. We had pancakes and a cupcake for his birthday breakfast. That night we had a little celebration and then we had another one later in the week where some friends came over. Dad also celebrated his birthday that week AND we had Mother's Day. May is a busy time for this family!

Cooper just finished his last day at Kinder Care. They had a spring program where all the kids got on stage. There were 12 kids in his class and 12 kids in the preschool class which is a year older. Cooper was the first one up to the microphone!! He said 'Hi, my name is Cooper and we're going to sing the A,B,C's!' Then... he BOWED... he's a stage genius. I had tears. He is scheduled to attend the same place next year with the same teacher but he may be able to get into the preschool program at his elementary school. We won't know until closer to the beginning of the year.

It's his summer now so hopefully we come up with all kinds of fun things to do for him!

~ Ahna

Read More 0 comments |

BryManda's Wedding

I was going to do one HUGE blog but decided against it. Bryce and Amanda deserve their own story after all! My brother in law Bryce met Amanda about 9 years ago when he was an angst ridden teenager. They say you marry a person who makes you a better person or you marry someone who makes you whole or you marry your soul mate. Bryce and Amanda are all those things to each other. She really did help him grow into an amazing man, someone that will always be there for her and take care of her. It has been so enjoyable to watch the two of them grow together as a couple.

Their wedding was amazing... our second one in two Saturdays down in Tucson! The first was our lovely friends Jasmine and Eric and that was a date night for us... but we didn't take the camera! Bryce and Amanda got married in this awesome place out in the middle of nowhere in Tucson... it was beautiful... although the owners of the house were less than hospitable as the night wore on. If I could comment card the place I would. They had the most delightful dessert table I've ever seen. Tons of large champagne glasses (I'm talking nine times the size of a normal glass) were filled with M&M's and Skittles and Jelly Bellies. My inner fat kid was in heaven, it was like a jubilee of candy. Then they had cake, and some crazy sugar bacon thing and just a bunch of different desserts all on the table. The food was delicious, of course, when you are attending a wedding where everyone involved is part of the cooking world somehow, you know it's going to be phenom.

Months prior to the ceremony, Bryce and Amanda asked Ryan if he would officiate for them. He was very nervous and he didn't want it to be the same old 'boring' ceremony. We threw a bunch of different things together from other ceremonies and then wrote our own stuff in and in my completely unbiased opinion, he did an amazing job. I hope somebody videotaped it because I'd like to see it someday.

Speaking of videotapes... I've been MIA because our computer went down. Well, that and we haven't really been home for the majority of the last 7 weeks. But we lost a good portion of the photos we took from February up until the wedding. Technology... sheesh. Losing the pictures did make me commit to doing an actual photo book, one that I've been meaning to make for years; something where the very best photos will be on paper.

One of the nights I lost was our Friday Night Party Night before we went down to Tucson for the wedding. It was such a fun night and it seemed like we had more time together that night. I don't have any pictures of it... just memories...

More blogs to follow!

~Ahna

Read More 0 comments |

The Four Of Us

About Us...

We are Ahna, Ryan, Cooper, and Olivia. We try to always be looking for the next adventure, and when we find one, we share the stories here. Our family is spread all over the place, so this is how we keep everyone updated.

Memorial Day 2012

HAWAII

Cooper.Is.Four. And other fun things.

BryManda's Wedding

The Four Of Us

About Us...

Blog Archive