I had a wonderful birthday. We had my family over for breakfast on Sunday morning. Right before we moved I had my favorite picture of us enlarged. I had the intention of getting it framed after we moved and got settled in. Well, for my birthday present, Bill had that picture framed and it looks beautiful. I can't wait to hang it in our room!
Also, I have to say again how funny our children are! They seriously had me laughing the entire day. It was so wonderful!
My sister used her doughnut maker to make the sweetest little breakfast treats! Thanks Stac!
Here are some more pictures from my birthday breakfast! Thanks for coming everyone!
It's been so long since I have blogged, so grab a cup of coffee and settle in for a big post about what's been going in our lives for the past month.
We have moved into our new house! We love it so much and we feel so blessed to be living in this house! Moving day went so smoothly thanks for wonderful family and friends. It was a really long day, but we managed to work hard and have some good laughs in the meantime! Thanks to Jaylin, Boy Alex, Mom, Papa, Mom McCown, Dad, Tyler & all of our kids who worked so hard to make sure that our move was successful! We love you all very much!
Here are some pictures from moving day!
Our hardworking crew!! Thanks everyone!
Bill is such a hard worker! I love him!!
Thanks for everything Alex!
Matt worked so hard! (When he wasn't texting or on the phone with his girlfriend)! Ha ha....
Mom McCown made a wonderful lunch for our working crew while we were moving! It was so wonderful. Thanks MOM!!
About a week after we moved into our new house, it was time for Allie to unpack and repack her things so that we could take her down to college at Southern Oregon University in Ashland. We had some friends and family over for some ice cream and wish Allie GOOD LUCK at college.
It was a whirlwind trip. Thanks to Dad for letting us use the truck to move her down.
Our college girl.....**SIGH**
Allie's dorm room is really cute! We spent Thursday and Friday putting it all together and organizing her things. Of course, there was a trip to Walmart on Friday.
We went out to dinner with Allie and Alex on Friday night to a great little Italian Restaurant called Pasta Piatti. Seriously....Really great food.
Saturday came along and it was time to say goodbye. I knew that it was going to be hard to leave her, but it was harder than I thought it was. I cried on the way home from Ashland to Eugene. I even had to turn off the radio because all of the stupid songs were making me cry. Bill was wonderful and supportive and even laughed at me a few times, which I really needed! It is really difficult to cry and laugh at the same time. :o)
Here are the pictures from our trip to Ashland.
BEFORE.....
AFTER.....
Bill, Allie & Angie....Sitting on her bed in her dorm!
Bill getting her laptop on-line!
And if that wasn't enough excitement in our lives, we had a wonderful birthday dinner over at Wayne & Jaylin's house on Tuesday night. It was such a nice evening and I wanted to say a big "Thank you!" to Wayne and Jay for hosting a birthday dinner for us. We had such a nice time! We love you both very much!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US!!!
I love this picture! Taylor's face is priceless! Thanks for your help Courtney! Matthew, Kaela and Larissa and just smiling from cheek to cheek!
Matthew & Taylor worked on some worship songs
Thanks for coming Kelli! It was great to see you and it really meant ALOT to us that you were there to help us celebrate!
One of many birthday songs from my children! Too funny!
Well, that about sums up our life over the past month or so. We are getting settled now and we are still unpacking boxes, but it's coming along. We thank God everyday for our family and friends that have helped us and supported us during this transition in our lives. We feel blessed beyond compare!
Adding to the list of things that I don't understand
I'm still trying to figure out why my stairs still look like this after a week? I thought that I would try a little experiment to see how long it would take for the teenagers to walk up the stairs mulitple times a day and see if they would pick it up.
Yeah, right.....That happened! This is a constant battle in our home.
I'm sure that we are not abnormal, but a pet peeve all the same.
Only 5 stairs this time....That's got to be some kind of record. Ha ha...
Yesterday was a GREAT day. We all went to our church, Solid Rock, and watched Taylor be Baptized. We are so thrilled that Taylor made the decision to take the next step of being baptized. It was a great day for our family. MY CUP RUNNETH OVER last night as I watched my son. Truly a life changing evening.
Enjoy the pictures!
OUR FAMILY!
Grandma Smith, Angie, Taylor, Grandma Donna & the kids' stepmom, Christina
So many wonderful changes happening in the Ryan Household!
We will be moving to Tigard in a few weeks. We have been renting a house in Hillsboro for the past 1 1/2 years. However, both Bill and I both work in Tigard and the twins are going to school in Tigard. AND, our church is in Tigard. It only makes sense that we live there too! Kaela will start high school with the twins and she is really excited about it. We found a wonderful house to rent! It is GORGEOUS...and bigger than our house now.
Did I mention that it's GORGEOUS?
Sometimes change can be hard, but this change is so welcomed and embraced by our family. The kids love the house and we are looking forward to the many family memories that we will create in our new home!
I thank my Lord for this wonderful house. I pray that our home will be used to glorify Him and that the people who walk into our home feel the power of God's love and grace.
This is a great video Bill took when we were watching his parents house. As you can see, they love feeding time! You can actually touch the fish. We call the big Koi, Gina
Raising teenagers is like nailing Jell-O to a tree
I really feel for my teenage girls right now. This is a very emotional time in their lives. As I watch the drama unfold on a daily basis with their friends and family, I wish that I could hit the pause button and give them 5 minutes of quiet and peace. Quiet and peace is so much different than peace and quiet. I believe that you have to have some quiet in your life to experience peace.
Peace. Calm. Happiness. Serenity. These are what I wish for my girls right now as they work through their emotional days as a teenager. I tell them all the time, but I want them to remember that I love them very much and I will always be here to cry with them, listen to them, and give gentle advice when needed.
I pray that God will continue to protect my children and show them His love.
We had a great time with Allie and Jalen at the Washington County fair on Sunday. We rode some rides, played some games, and even shared a deep fried Snickers Bar.
(Yeah, I know...Calories Galore)
Here are some pictures from our fun day together!
Bill and Allie actually went on this ride not once...but twice! Allie had this look of fear on her face accompanied with a high pitched scream!
About to take off....I can't believe they even sat in the front row!
Still Smiling!
I went on the Sea Dragon with Allie and Jalen. I have to say that it did go a little higher than I thought it would. My stomach was in my throat. Ugh...
Can you see us? We are sitting in the 2nd row from the back. What were we thinking?
My sister used her doughnut maker to make the sweetest little breakfast treats!
