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