Why?...OH WHY?

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...

Taylor's Baptism

Taylor was Baptized yesterday!

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

Jalen and Allie

Courtney and Jalen with their sister Kami

Taylor and his girlfriend Larissa

Kaela, Matthew, Courtney, Taylor, Kami, Jalen & Allie

Taylor and Grandma Smith

Jalen & Mommy!

Bill and Angie

New Changes, New House, New Outlook

New, New, New!

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.

Now for the packing.... Ugh!

Chill out fishy!

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

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.

Here are my beautiful girls....

Jalen

Courtney

Allie

Kaela

The fair is in town!

Washington County Fair 2009

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?

We survived!

Jalen got a really cute "Henna" Tatoo.

Jalen & Allie

HOLY MOLY...IT'S HOT!

Summer is in full effect!

During this heat wave, we are thankful for:

• Central Air Conditioning
• A nice pool in our neighborhood
• Popcicles
• Family to make memories with

July Birthdays 2009

Happy Birthday to Taylor, Alana, Jalen & Courtney!

What a fun weekend! Bill, Allie and I took off Friday and headed down to Ashland to register Allie for college at Southern Oregon University.
We had a fun time...minus the 100 degree weather! Allie will start school in late September, so she still has some time to enjoy her summer and get things purchased for her dorm room.

*******

We planned a birthday party on Sunday for Taylor, Alana, Jalen & Courtney. Since the weather has been so great lately, we decided to have their party down the street from our house. We have a great covered area with picnic tables and a big lawn area. Bill grilled up some hot dogs and I made a really good pasta salad. And of course the famous Costco cake with cheese cake filling.

Happy Birthday Jalen & Courtney


Jalen, Bill, Brandon, Kelle & Allie...Enjoying Kelle's home made Salsa! Thanks Kell ~


Bill grilling up some great dogs!!


My Sweet Jalen


Stacy and Tyler


Alana, Tyler, Stacy, Kelle, Brandon & Taylor


Jalen, Allie & Courtney


We started a really fun game of Frisbee Golf after lunch.
It was great to watch the game and everyone had fun playing!

Happy Sweet 16 to my twin girls!

Happy Birthday Jalen & Courtney

Jalen and Courtney are 16 years old today.

"I love you girls so much and my prayer is that you will
have a wonderful year full of family, love and happiness!"

Jalen Marie
July 17, 2993
7lbs 8oz
9:31am

Courtney Jo
July 17, 1993
7lbs 9oz
9:32am

I just love this picture of the girls with my Mom...(Nana)
You can never have too much lovin' ~

Happy Birthday Taylor Christian!

My baby is 20 years old today!

Taylor Christian

July 12, 1989
8 lbs 13 oz
20 1/2" long
10:04pm



You are the joy of our lives
We love you very much Tay!

Golfing Fools!

4th of July Golfing Extravaganza!



Over the long 4th of July holiday, it was golf, golf, and more golf around here! On Friday, Bill took Allie golfing at Wildwood. She LOVED it and found out something very interesting....SHE WAS REALLY GOOD! Bill said that she was "a natural". Now that she was bit with the golf bug, they went back again on Saturday to McCay Creek. After golfing, we had a nice BBQ with some amazing burgers that Bill grilled up. The kids headed off to Oak Hills to watch the fireworks with their friends and Bill and I tucked into bed with a movie. I am NOT a big fan of fireworks, so it was a perfect night for me. I think fireworks are pretty on the TV, but other than that, they pretty much scare the bajeebers out of me!

We have been missing Matthew and Kaela! They went to visit their Mom down in San Diego on June 22. They are coming home in a couple of weeks! We are so excited to see them...but only for a couple of days. 2 days after they come home, Matthew leaves for Cross Country Camp and Kaela leaves for Camp Crestview with her church youth group.

Here are some pictures of Father's Day when Bill went out with Matthew & Taylor.
Golfing Fools, I tell ya!

We hope that everyone is having a nice summer!

Graduation Whirlwind Weekend

Allie graduated from High School ~

Last weekend was a great graduation weekend! It started on Thursday when Dad and Linda came into town from Southern California. We went to Tyler's baseball game and then went to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. Dad and Linda had never been there, so it was fun to eat tons of wings and watch the Lakers win the NBA finals!

Friday we went to breakfast at the Marriott City Center in Downtown Portland. We had a great breakfast with the kids. After some rest, we had an early dinner and then we all headed down the Chiles Center at the University of Portland for the ceremony. It was AWESOME watching Allie walk out and accept her diploma! There are not enough words to express the pride that we felt. After the graduation, Allie went off to her all night graduation party!
She was at the party until 5am and said that she had a wonderful time!

Alex and Alex

Alex and Joey
Courtney, Allie and Jalen...Proud of their big sister!
Dad and Linda with Allie
Grammy & Bumpa with Allie
Aunt Stacy and Tyler with Allie

Saturday we had a great time at Tyler's championship game at Alpenrose Dairy! He played a double header and won both games and the championship! It was so exciting! Not only did they win...IT WAS A BLOWOUT!

20-0 Woo Hoo!!!

Me and Jalen enjoying the game

Tyler and his 1st place metal - Congratulations Tyler!

Dad and Linda with Tyler

Sunday was the graduation brunch. We had such a wonderful time! We had a catered brunch with a coffee cart (and the most AMAZING peach smoothies), and a quesadilla cart. The food was really good and we received tons of compliements on the party! We had our true family there as well as close friends with us to celebrate.

Thanks for the glasses Kelle Poo Poo! Allie LOVES them! Ha ha...

Our yard sign!

Here is our sign in table with our graduation fortune cookies! Thanks to Mom and Scott for helping me put all of the favors together! And thanks to Dad and Linda for taking the kids to a movie to get them out of the house! :o)

Instead of a guest book, we had everyone sign the photo.
Allie said that she is going to hang it in her dorm room.

Coffee Cart....It was perfect!

Kelle, Kelli and Kacey fixing up their quesadilla! Kacey Lee...What a sweet smile!

Alex and Alex
Mom and Scott enjoying the party!

Allie is off to Southern Oregon University in August. I need to rest up for 3 back to back graduations! Matthew will graduate next year, and the twins will graduate the year after that. We will get only one year off and then Kaela will graduate in 2013. Yep....I'm exhausted!


So, now that you are on complete picture overload, I will leave you with just 1 more. I wanted to share a picture of my family that I just love. My parents are divorced and both have been remarried for many years now. I just love that my parents and step parents are able to all get together and have a good time. We had a hilarious time looking at old pictures with everyone! Not alot of families are lucky enough to have their divorced parents get along so well.
I feel very lucky!
In more ways than one.