one
he tells me he loves me at least once a day
two
he reminds me of his daddy in so many ways
three
he orders his cheeseburgers "with meat"
four
he investigates everything
five
he says the funniest things
six
he makes my heart sing
Happy Birthday, Baby!
Almost everything about our trip to California was awesome (we could have done without the tire slashing). Again, I loved La Jolla most. There is nothing like playing on a little beach, no more than 100 yards in length and accessible only by steps cut into the cliff wall, and having a family of seals meander up to sunbathe along side you. Em and I spent a long time observing the seals.
Ryker most enjoyed the stunt/comedy show at Knott's Berry Farm. In fact, his attempt to repeat the one-liners nearly drove us insane. I didn't get a chance to ask him, but I bet Jaden's favorite was the log ride at Knott's Berry. He talked Case and Ryker into it 7 times total. Cousin Jaden made our trip extra special! I love the over-the-shoulder pic I snapped of Case and Ryker during the last drop. 
Em loved everything about Sea World, even though she was too short for the Raging River. Shamu's show was strangely anticlimactic. For some reason they cut all the best parts - like trainers swimming with killer whales!?!
Everybody loved swimming in the resort pools. 
Thursday nights in Palm Springs are a big deal! Grandpa and Grandma make early reservations at the Pizza Kitchen in order to dine on the patio while watching a street fair take shape. The street fair in Palm Springs is not to be described. You just have to experience it. 
Ryan especially liked helping the kiddos into their pjs in the early evening before taking me out to dinner and having Fred and Carol's lovely condo all to ourselves. No pictures of that! ;) Thanks a bunch you two. Big hugs!!!
No matter how hard I train and how hardly Ryan trains, he will never let me beat him. I'm convinced he has some kind of homing device planted in my shoe that signals when I'm getting near. Just when I'm sure I'll catch him, he takes off (fueled by stubborn pride, I assume). We both finished this weekend's 10K race under 60 minutes, which was our goal. But barely, as evident in the pictures. I was happy to have ran the whole way but need to shave a half minute off my current pace of 9.5 min/mi in order to finish Seattle's Rock-n-Roll 1/2 marathon in under 2 hours.
We are especially proud of Ryker, who entered his first race and ran his first mile. The United Way Leprechaun Dash is for ages 5-15 and so Ryker was not expecting to win. He ran most of the way, however, and was proud to have finished. Ryker thinks "smoking" Uncle Case was better than taking first place anyway. :) Ungrateful little bugger, I'd say, considering Uncle Case volunteered to coach him the whole way. 
a couple of years ago, around the time i started this blog, i ran across ree drummond of the pioneer woman's blog. you know, it was on a friend of a friend of a friends blog roll. i've been reading her ever since and aspire to keep the hubs and kids deliriously happy with good home cooking as ree does. i aspire to take beautiful pictures as ree does. however, i do not aspire to sing as ree does. i especially enjoyed ree's "confession" today. i love her particular brand of narcissism, she makes me laugh and well, i love cowboy colloquialisms. farmers use them too. dairy farmers especially. in fact, by the time i was 16, i'd been told i was useless as tits on a boar hog so many times that on my birthday, i drove myself down to the local ranch store and applied for a job, never to work on the farm again. i showed 'em a thing or two! (translation: they were glad to be rid of me.)
check her out, if you haven't already (she only has some several million viewers). who knows, you might find yourself making this for dinner tonight. take it from someone who would NEVER order a burger - they're divine!
We like Silver Mountain. We also like that it is only a one hour drive from my Dad's home in Spokane. The three kiddos insisted that they sleep on the "bridge" to the billiard's loft. When we took a quick break from Pinochle to dish up some ice cream, I noticed three pairs of eyes glaring at us.
"That's not fair!" Ryker complained.
"Yah. You have ice cream and we don't." Em agreed.
And so we promised them ice cream with their breakfast cereal. So sorry, Gabriel! It'd have been way more fun if you liked ice cream!
The gondola ride from the village to the mountain was fun. From the window, Ryan and I spotted a bobcat just strolling down a dirt road.
The best feature of this hill is the magic carpet. And because the bunny hill is on one side and the tubing chutes on the other, we were able to spend the day together. Em had a ball tubing, building snowman families and catching an occasional board down the hill from Uncle Case. Admittedly, the boys had more fun tubing than boarding but we were really proud of them both. Learning to board is hard work! And they didn't whine nearly as much as the teenage girl working with a private coach. Nor did they shed as many tears. By the last couple of runs, they were even using their edges and carving a bit. Ryker and Gabriel are going to be tearing it up by this time next season! 
Ryker shared his theories as to why Daddy is bald:
1) He shaved his head so much that his hair just gave up.
2) He didn't get in the shower often enough for his hair to have the water it needed
to grow.
3) He didn't get in the shower often enough and the awful smell made the hair weak.
Eventually it just died.
About this time, Daddy told Ryker to stop thinking so hard and use his mouth for eating. :) I thought they were all good theories.
Eventually the conversation picked up again and somehow, Ryker thought it appropriate to use the word penis. And it was perfectly appropriate to use the word penis but because it isn't the word we use around here, I was curious as to where he'd picked it up. It went something like this...
Where did you learn to use that word, Ryker?
At school.
Really? I asked, assuming it was on the playground.
Yeah. He replied. The teacher said, "Hey Class!" We were studying the letter P.
Really?
Yeah. We were circling all the things in the picture that started with the letter P.
Really.
No. Grandma was talking on the phone to Nurse Christy and I learned it.
Ah.
Yeah. A man stuck a Q-tip in his penis and it was the size of a "trofical" fruit.
One of the hazards of having a grandmother who works for a urologist, I guess. As soon as I stopped laughing, I called Grandma.
Ryker noticed that Alvin's "Squeakquel" is no longer in the theater and is convinced that he can rent it at Blockbuster by now. After all, the two are less than 100 yards apart and it can't take very long to run the movie over. :)
Em talks non-stop about traveling to Palm Springs in March. It is in Mexico. And Mexico has a beach and "picy" Cheetos. California is also in Mexico, in case you were wondering. She is sad that Caroline won't be there and is only somewhat consoled because Jaden will be. As far as Em is concerned, Caroline is all that and a bag of "picy" Cheetos! Ryker is planning all sorts of activities that include Jaden and exclude Em. I think he is grossly underestimating his lil'sis.
Ryan has been five days gone and two days home since Jan. It stinks. He is missed. Even on the road, Ryan is working to maintain a running schedule and is still totally game to go for our early morning Saturday runs with the TEAM, which is consistently running five miles now. He can't wait to meet up with his family in Palm Springs for a little fun in the sun and a couple of date nights at Blue Coyote. It can't come soon enough!
Kristi is keeping crazy busy so as to miss her man less. It works. A little. :( I log a lot of miles, on foot and behind the wheel. I'm still teaching Skylar every morning and after 5 years together, often feel like I have a teenage daughter. Love her! I especially love volunteer teaching at Ryker's school. Wish I could teach more and am thinking about ways to make that happen without "stepping on toes". Wanting to plug The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and their great cause again. CANCER RESEARCH, friends. Think about it!!! Just click on the TEAM logo to the right of this post and it will take you to my fund raising page. It is a piece of cake to make a donation there. Please do. A *BIG* thanks to Grandma Marilyn, Grandpa and Grandma Tim and Amanda for supporting the cause by babysitting our kiddos while we run. Love you lots!
Which color clips would you like to wear in your hair today, Em?
Ummmm...yellow.
Yellow doesn't match very well.
Ya it does. Yellow matches orange.
No. It doesn't really.
Ya it does. Yellow matches orange like pink matches purple.
