Wedding Weekend Part 1

We spent a wonderful, albeit warm weekend in Arizona. Dad was in the hospital celebrating the birth of some new cells inside his body and there was a wedding to attend! When we got off the plane at 10:30 Wednesday night and felt the blast of 93 degree heat that hit us, we were in shock. I mean really people, it's mid-October already, I think even those that LOVE the heat are wondering when it will end!

We got to see Dad for a bit Thursday morning before heading to Tucson for the wedding. Ryan's brother, Kyle was getting married and the whole family was excited. Kyle and Emily are a fantastic match and we couldn't wait for the big event. Friday was the rehearsal and it poured rain for a little bit before we started the practice rounds. While I love the rain, it brought back some not so fond memories of a time about 6 1/2 years ago when we were forced to move to plan B at our wedding. Sadly, we had no plan B and why would we, it just didn't rain enough in Arizona in April to need a plan B for an outdoor wedding. If anything, we had to worry about being too hot. But I digress...

A couple of nights before the wedding, Ryan got to attend the bachelor party and I hung out with the blushing bride. The wedding was at a gorgeous house with lots of outdoor areas for cocktail hour and dinner and dancing, it was just beautiful. Kyle and Emily asked Cooper to be the ring bearer so he walked down the aisle with the flower girl (our niece Jalyn). It was adorable, they were a hit! The ceremony was beautiful and the weather was perfect. We had a great breakfast Sunday morning with Ryan's grandma and then headed back up to Phoenix for the afternoon.

Brody was over so we got some long awaited pictures of the three kids. The boys got to play together and Olivia did what she does best... sleep (oh, and cry too!). We also got to see Dad again for a little bit. That guy is an anomaly. He doesn't look the least bit sick. If anybody saw him walking around the hospital, they would probably think he was a doctor, not a patient. He just looks and acts like a perfectly healthy Papa. The news right now is he will be headed home sooner than expected so we cannot wait for our trip down at Thanksgiving when we will get to see him at HOME where all is right with the world. I know both Mom and Dad are excited to get to the next chapter in their lives together.

Enjoy pictures from the weekend, I know we did!

~Ahna

Happy Fall

Last weekend was our final weekend of "retirement" meaning Ahna's last weekend of maternity leave - we decided (of course!) to try to make the most of it; we spent Friday night with my cousin Billy and his wife Brynne and their four month old baby girl, Claude. We didn't take pictures and realized that while it's great to spend time together, we are still all getting used to babies, so our time together seems rushed and never enough!

On Saturday we headed to one of our favorite parks to attempt some updated Cooper and Olivia photos. We definitely tend to underestimate the amount of energy Cooper likes to expend when he is let out into the open. I had this semi-romantical idea that Cooper would stay put for more than one second and pose lovingly next to his baby sister during which time I would be able to take many adorable, tear-inducing photos. While Cooper DID manage to stay put for a little while, we also got to do a little WRESTLING him into submission, CHASING after him (there are many photos of the back of Cooper's head in our photos, just look around), and even tending to a scene of PUBLIC URINATION. Jeez, I honestly don't understand where the phrase 'terrible two' came from. I guess our disposition allows us to see Cooper more like the best investment ever made -- he gets exponentially cuter with each passing day!

On Sunday, we found a gold mine. Oregon Museum of Science and Industry has really cheap admission on the first Sunday of every month, so we took advantage of the deal!! We all got in for $6 when usually it would cost us close to $30!! We had no idea what to expect but it was fantastic! We hit the kids discovery area first and let Cooper play with cars and water and blocks, and of course, his trademark lining things up in neat rows, oh my... the museum was awesome especially for the deal we got because we couldn't stay too long with the two little ones. We will definitely take advantage of that deal again. I love finding fun things like that to do, ESPECIALLY when they're cheap!

Photos

~ Ryan & Ahna

A Vacation from our Vacation

The title of this blog comes from my days back in Vegas. Upon my return to work after giving birth to Cooper I was in a meeting where a person made a comment about me 'essentially coming back from vacation'. I turned to him and said 'believe me, being home with an infant is no vacation'. So, about a week ago, we got to take a 'vacation' away from home and the 'vacation' I've been on since Olivia was born! We flew to Phoenix (Olivia's first flight) and got to see Nonna and Papa. Olivia and Papa had never met and oh what a magic touch he has. Whenever she was fussy, I gave her to him. Where are Nonna and Papa when we need them at 2:00 am??!? We spent about a day in Phoenix and then drove up to Pinetop to visit with our Gran/Great Gran. We've been going every year now since we were married and it is a week that we look forward to for months ahead of time. We spend time with her at the cabin, we get massages, we go for walks, we take hikes; it is truly a relaxing and wonderful time every year. It is one of our favorite places. We took our annual trip to Greer and went hiking for the day where Cooper decided to get in the creek. He was too little last year but was definitely interested in trying it out this time. However, the first part of it was really muddy and I wasn't sure how deep so I took my socks and shoes off, hiked up my jeans and took him in. I've never been a big fan of wet clothes and I hate wet jeans even worse. Was I nervous about dropping Cooper in the creek and getting completely soaked? No. But I was nervous about getting the bottoms of my jeans wet and the possible icky feeling of that!! The things we do for our kids... he had a great time and ended up getting his shorts soaked (but not because I dropped him, phew).

This picture reminds me of a story. Ahh yes, we were headed home from lunch (it was a short two minute drive in the club where Gran lives) when Ryan pointed out what seemed to be a bee buzzing around her windshield. She started to close the sun roof so he wouldn't get in, when he came up with some sort of super bee speed of light flying and LITERALLY dove and crashed into my chest. I thought he bounced off... but then I felt some tickling inside my shirt. Yes, the bee had flown so dangerously close that he landed inside my shirt. I have zero affinity for bees, I thought for sure after reading The Secret Life of Bees I would be less inclined to detest them as I do. Sadly, that was not the case. I felt as closely as I could to him and PINCHED him between my fingers. You'd think that would kill him but he was apparently a very strong YELLOW JACKET and was still trying to find the best spot to sting me, I just know it. So, by this time, Gran has stopped the car so I could jump out and do a fun dance to get him out of my shirt. I narrowly escaped near death without question. Bees, pshhh...

After about a week in Pinetop, we drove back down to Phoenix where a multitude of people and parties awaited us. Apparently, we're kind of a big deal... or I should say, the kids are! First, we had Friday night Party Night with the Smiths (now the Smiths/Pickards/Kolsons) and some really old family friends from Wisconsin, the Tuttles (which is not to say they are actually really old, just that they've been friends with my parents since college). It was just wonderful to see all of them. Of the group, we had three brand new babies, Toni (born 7/1), Olivia (8/4), and Connor (9/9... awesome day). We took tons of pictures, I'm talking paparazzi amounts of pictures of the three of them and the group of us with all our kids. I thought there would be hundreds of great pictures, but it turns out that it's REALLY hard to get a good group shot when there are three new babies, a two year old, and a three year old. It was just practice for next time!

The next day, we had a little open house so some family and friends could come meet Olivia. It wasn't too big as we were trying to be careful about too many people around Dad and it was just lovely. Everyone was there to see her and hold her and eat good food! On Sunday, we spent time with the Hadleys because they couldn't make it Saturday. It was good to see them as always. I always have a great time with the Hadleys and I laugh A LOT!

Our long week came to an end Monday when we had to head back to Oregon. For the first time ever though it was a bittersweet goodbye. Whenever we lived in Vegas we would get sad for a whole day before leaving family because it was never really a place we wanted to be. This time, leaving just felt different. We were sad, so sad to say goodbye to the family, but we were really excited to get back 'home'. For the first time since leaving our childhood homes, we feel comfortable calling somewhere else home. We are forever indebted to both our families for being so supportive with our move an we only hope that Southwest will keep having phenomenal deals to get us back to Phoenix and Tucson for multiple visits each year!

Enjoy the pictures!

~Ahna

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.

Wedding Weekend Part 1

Happy Fall

A Vacation from our Vacation

The Four Of Us

About Us...

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