Not to be left out

So that Ryanne doesn't get left out in all our craziness I thought I would update you on what shes been up to. She is doing great! I think her arm is healed because she is swining from the kitchen counter again and attempting stunts that give us grey hair. She misses her sister during the day but loves going to run errands with me and her daddy and when we sneak in those little perks like lunch out or a special treat she knows still being home all day with mom is good. Here is she coming to greet me before leaving for school and yes it was a cold morning and yes the hat was HER idea! She already has a fashion sense of her own.

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These are the kind of photos that I have to look back on when I want to scream. Ahhhh so sweet. My husband says she looks like an angel. I think its all a cover up but hey who am I? Ryanne memorized her first 2 bible verses this past week and is so proud! So thats just another day in the life of Ryanne.

Productive September

Ok so I was thinking today about how October is peeking it's head around the corner very quickly and I must say I think I am ready. I mean I had a VERY productive month this past month. We started school, Morgan started the swim team along with continuing guitar, Dan started his racing, and is started to get that itch that says,"get moving, do something fun and creative." So after three years of living in our home I finally decided on a color scheme for our bathroom. Browns and Blue's. Here is a before picture which is not very good but you get the idea; white and boring. I like color, no let me say that again, I LOVE color!!
Here is a picture of the final product. I love candles and decided it was time to make this more "my space"
This amazing part about this shot is that there are no Barbies filling the whirlpool tub. Infact I banned Barbie and her little friend Ken from ever vacationing here again. It was always full of Barbie, hot wheels, monkeys in a barrel, you name it and it lived in my tub! Wait a second what's this? My bathroom almost looks like a romantic spot for me and Dan to hang out. I mean look at all those candles and smelly good things!! Heaven!!
My friend Jessica had her baby shower this morning and this is what I made for her. I bought all vintage looking material and made her baby boy Ethan (due here in Nov.) a quilt. I almost didn't get it done in time as I was bouncing all over the planet this month, painting my bathroom etc. and when I was done you could really tell I had not been sewing much all summer. I made lots of mistakes but it was made with love.
Here it is all wrapped up and ready to go! Hope you like it Jess. I am so excited for you and Matt and know you will be blessed by your son.

Room With A View

I couldn't help but post this picture. This was taken off my back patio the other morning. Morgan gently reminded me that it was God's promise to us. Ahhhh....I love moments like this. Of course the girls ran and got daddy out of the shower dragging him dripping wet to the back bedroom door to view this show God was putting on for us. I hope my kids never grow up so much that they don't stop to take this kind of stuff in. Gods beauty and love for us should really never get old.

Wow what a weekend

We spent the rest of our weekend watching Dan compete down in Long Beach for a triathalon. This was our view VERY early this morning as we stood on the beach waiting for the race to start. Amazing huh? I mean it made being up at 5am all worth the while.
We snuck in one last good luck hug before he ran off.
Ok, so this is his age group going into the water but I have no idea where he ended up, it was madness, but he is in there...........somewhere.
Here is he is coming out of the water. Hes behind the lady in the blue cap. He came out of the water REALLY fast. I was shocked to see him already. I had lost the rest of my cheering section to sand castles on the beach by this point.
Here he is coming across the finish line looking pretty good I might add! My camera died right after this so I didn't get a shot of the clock but he cut 35 minutes off his last time so we were soooo excited. Plus he had lots more color in face this time and didn't feel like he wanted to die. I think he is getting the hang of this race thing. I was on edge for both Dan and Morgan all weekend so I don't know how much more I can take. :) We left here and met up with our cousins who had a soccer game in Long Beach so as you can imagine we are all exhausted. Fun but tired.

The Results Are In

Sorry it took me sooo long, trust me when I tell you I was dying to post about the meet; but we left directly from there to Long Beach for the triathalon Dan was in on Sunday morning. I am just now sitting after two days of watching my sweeties compete. We woke up to find it freezing cold and raining on Saturday and also discovered that when on the swim team you swim.........rain, shine, snow whatever! Here is a picture with Morgan and her mentor Christina (a high school swimmer assigned to guide her through her first meet.) Her heat is coming up so shes getting some pointers.
Morgan is in the water and ready for her first swim of the day, I felt like I was going to throw up at this point. I was scared to death. She was really quiet all morning so I know she was nervous too!
And she's off!! She came in 2nd in both of her swims, although she did get DQ in her first for failing to touch the wall. She did the backstroke and freestyle. One of the timers was so excited for us when she did the swim in 30 seconds he told Dan he had to take a picture of his stop watch! I was screaming my head off!
Ok, just so you know what to compare it to the little girl she was competing against had the best time of 31 seconds that she was trying to beat. When Morgan got timed in practice on Thursday she did a 55 second swim so this 30 second time was huge!!
Here she is treading water and getting instructions from Coach Austin.

It was a very exciting day! I am much calmer now that it is over. Morgan loved all the intensity of the races and is looking to her next away meet in October. She was so composed and I kept telling Dan how I didn't know if I wanted to burst with pride for her or cry because she is only 6 and just taking off...............like the flying fish she is; a little of both I guess.

The count down

We are counting down to Morgan's first swim meet this Saturday and the funny thing is I think I am more nervous than she is. I mean she is nervous because she has never raced before but I am just nervous about everything. If you know me you know that I am not a freaked out mom; I dont jump when my kids fall or hardly blink when they come home bloody. But throw my baby in the water at 8am with all these big kids and tell her to swim as fast as she can the entire length of the olympic size pool and well.........I'm a mess. Wierd I know. I still perch on the edge of my seat every practice just incase she "needs" me to jump in and rescue her. I am sure the other parents are whispering,"rookie" behind my back because trust me when I tell you it's that obvious that I worry about her being one of the smallest, youngest ones out there. She is in heaven though and loves every minute of her coach giving her orders and making her work out till' she drops. Ugh!! This letting go thing is really hard!! If I had my way I would put floaties on her and tell her to take her time on Saturday. he,he...........I guess that wont work huh? Well, here she is at practice and I will post after her meet.

America the beautiful

Well it's been six years since the USA was attacked. I just wanted to take a minute to pay my respects to the men and women who lost their lives on that day. My heart will remain heavy as we continue to loose lives to the evils of men. Please dont e-mail me and tell me how you are anti-war or anti- Bush because frankly I dont care. If you are unhappy in America please feel free to take the next flight out of this country where you have the freedom to say what you wish and worship whenever and wherever you desire and go somewhere where they tell you when to sit and lay down and who you can serve. As for me and my house though we will continue to serve the Lord and back our brave troops who dont get paid nearly enough to be apart from thier families. Take a minute to pray for those families who are still at a loss today because they lost loved ones on Spet. 11th. Especially the kids. Have an amazing day of freedom.

My First started First

Well it finally happened Morgan started first grade yesterday. She LOVED it! And yes if your wondering those are red cowboy boots she has on; only Morgan!!
Dan & Morgan before school.
ok, so here I look all calm and collect right? Just agree with me people. Anyways, so it struck me around 11:30 yesterday that we wouldn't be eating lunch together anymore and I seriously got depressed. Is that wierd? The correct response is no incase your wondering. I was down all day and to make matters worse it was our busiest day of the week so on top of swim meet, guitar, and youth group (not to mention dinner in the car) I freaked about 8:30 last night. I started crying (so not an emotional person) which in turn scared my husband half to death; I realized I hadn't had 10 minutes with my kid that day. She was off and running and loving it. I m ade her crawl in bed with me last night and cuddle till' we fell asleep. I know what your thinking, I need therapy right? Hey I'm good with that........really.
Morgan at her new desk!! Does she look all grown up to you? Ugh!!

Last but not least in the vacation photos

Here we are enjoying the Shasta Damm, Amazing to walk across!
Leave it to our girls to find the mud hole! Dan offered to throw mud on me for free, said it was cheaper than the spa! See how sweet he is? I wasn't buying it though.
I love this photo! Dan is giving Morgan a crash course in snorkeling before they take off.
The girls had allot of first this past week. Morgan caught her first fish! She decided to throw it back instead of eating it for lunch.
Dan, Morgan, me, and my mom enjoying the lake. Good times! Good times!!

Cannon Ball Competition

Morgan had the cannon ball mastered as you can see here!
Dan said at one point he felt like he had ripped his arm off on the water slide! ouch!
I can't remember for sure but I think this left a mark. Almost positive this was Rick's last time down the slide!!
Yup, that's me and yes after doing this all week I was sore. Is there an age limit on this thing?
Ryanne even got into the action and let Dan take her down the slide. She came up with this look on her face that was not pretty..........it was her idea and yet she was so mad at Dan!

Back from our final vacation!!

We are back from our last vacation for the summer. We went House boating up at Shasta Lake. If you have never been I highly encourage you to go. It is really beautiful up there. When I was little we lived not to far so I got to go there often. It was even better as an adult though.

Here is Morgan all ready for our trip, I mean what more could she need right?
We stopped by the Sundial bridge in Redding and watched the sunset and listened to live music where of course the girls got their groove on. I thought it would be fun to take a photo of our shadows as we were walking by. Thats me, Ryanne, Morgan & my mom.
This is how you know life is truly good when you are three years old. This is Ryanne hanging off the back of the house boat. She pretty much kept this position the entire week.
This was my view at 630am during my quiet time.
Kind of a dark picture of us but still fun. We saw so many fun things on our trip. The girls got to see countless bald eagles up close which I think is a treat anymore. Baby deer and their mamas cam within feet and we also saw a bear. Too fun!! I will attach more photos!