We celebrated Ryan's Grandpa's 90th birthday last weekend.  

We call him Peanut.  Isn't that great?

It was quite a celebration.  Family came in from all over the world to honor this amazing man.

We started the party with a lovely lunch at Market Street Grill.

We then took the party over to a huge home that the family rented.  We ate again, had a talent show, played games and chatted until way too late.  It was really fun.

This family is super close.  I love that.  It is so great for my family to be apart of a greater family that truly loves and respects each other.  

Thank you Peanut!

 A little photo session before the birthday lunch.

 Cute Peanut!

 Amazing Adrienne!

She spent HOURS & HOURS putting together 2 videos and an incredible book 

celebrating Peanut's life.  Love that girl!

 Yep, 90 candles.

 Darling Rayne who flew all the way from London! 

Could this weekend get any better?  Nope.  It was pretty perfect.

 Our family. 

A picture of the whole family was taken.  I will have to get a copy to post.  

There are a lot of wonderful people in this family.

  Aunt Debra and cousin Lucy were in town for the birthday and came over to make some pretty cool clay creations.  My girls love stuff like this. I wish I had snapped a pic while they were here.  

We LOVE them!

Ryan turned 34 last Saturday.  I love Saturday birthdays!  We were able to celebrate him all day long.

I took pictures on my iphone all day and they did not turn out so great.  Bummer.  I still wanted to make a post about him so I thought I would include some shots from our day.

He started out his day with soccer. 

Ryan LOVES playing soccer.  He looks forward to it every week.

We went to Cafe Rio for lunch.  

There was NO line which NEVER happens.  

We had to take a pic to prove it.

Then we went to see the new Muppet's movie.  

Ryan "really likes" the Muppets.  It is a childhood memory for him.

At one point during the movie I looked over and saw him grinning ear to ear.  

He also laughed when no one else laughed.  It was more fun to watch him than the movie.

After some serious shopping we went out to eat.  All alone.

It was heaven.

We ended our night by taking the kids out for Iceberg shakes.

A PERFECT day for a PERFECT dad and husband.

Happy Birthday!

We love you!

Dru received her Butler Bobcat Award.  There are 3 times they can earn this award all year.  Dru got hers the first time around.  Way to go Dru!

Dru with her buddy Olivia

Rylie and Owen wanted a turn with Boomer the Bobcat

Dru takes state

Dru was chosen to lead our state legislature in the pledge of allegiance today at the state capital.  This was a big honor and cool opportunity.  I was a nervous wreck and she was so great and confident.  I was so proud of her.  I went to bed the night before repeating over and over what she was asked to say and she went to bed wondering what I put in her lunch. 

 I was grateful I was able to go and watch.  Thanks mom for watching the others so I could. 

Here are the highlights:

We had to park a mile away!  It was packed!!!

 This is Marie Poulson who is a legislator and gave these 6 cute kids a private tour.

Dru getting some last minute instruction.

We of course ran into our good friend Representative Derek Brown.  

He was so nice to take a picture with us.

I had to sit in the gallery during the actual session so I snapped a picture up close before it started.

The rest of the 3rd grade.

Here is the short video.

You can barely hear Dru and you can totally hear me saying" thank you, thank you" to the people next to me as they let me stand in front of them so I could get a better angle.

Dru is growing up and it is driving me bonkers.  When I stop and step back, I see that she is turning into an amazing person.  I am impressed with her kindness, concern and confidence.  Love you Dru.

I heart Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is one of my favorite holidays!

We started out the month by making homemade Valentines.

My kids could have done this all night.  

Dru's Valentine box

 Class Valentines

I saw this idea on Pinterest with Rolos and thought it would be cute with fruit roll ups.

Gma Taunya came over to make a darling craft with the girls.

We love how it turned out.

 Gpa Martin brought the girls Squinkies for Valentines this year.  

They loved them!  This pic is of Rylie playing with hers the second she woke up the next day.

I left an invitation for a special dinner Valentine's night on the front door.

 Heart shaped pancakes for breakfast.

 A fun dinner.  

I tried to fit in a lot of detail and Olivia noticed it all.  She was giggling the whole time.  She made it worth all the work.  We had a fun night eating and talking about who and what we loved most.

Owen in his first tie.  

       

                    

This is the face I get when I tell him to smile.

                                              ....I could eat this kid up.