Happy Birthday, Doug!

Doug turned 32 this last week. Poor guy is getting so old! :) I took him out to dinner and a movie(Dark Knight) and then came back to our house and had an ice cream cake with family.

Blowing out a ton of candles. Doug got a camera that he has been wanting really badly for backpacking. It is the new Olympus that is waterproof(up to 33ft.) and can be dropped up to six feet. The crazy part is it looks like a normal camera. He was beyond excited about this gift...thanks to everyone who chipped in on it...it made his day.
A few nights later I invited some of Doug's friends over to have a video game night. Mike and Jake were nice enough to bring over "Rock Band". Ryan got a turn on the drums before going to bed.
Tyler playing the guitar. Looks like a rock star in the making. Dave, Mike, Jake, and Joe rocking out.

Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Boils, and Thunder Storms...Oh My!

We started our trip off with a stop at Las Vegas. We stayed at the Flamingo...which is one of our favorite places because it is very affordable, and the pool is a lot of fun.
The bed we created for Ryan and Tyler. They loved it!
They upgraded our room for free, which is always a bonus. This room was very nice and had a huge plasma tv, and we discovered that it also had a tv in the mirror in the bathroom. I thought that was pretty crazy, but it came in handy the next morning when Ryan got up early. I put him in there and found some cartoons, which bought a little more time for the rest of us to sleep.
Daddy and Tyler enjoying the water slides.
Ryan having a turn.

The second night we were at the Grand Canyon there was a terrible thunderstorm. I have camped in a thunderstorm before, but it paled in comparison to this one. It down poured the entire night and the thunder was so loud that it would jar you awake. We got pretty wet, but luckily we all stayed warm. I am just glad we didn't wash away. One of the men that lived in the area told us it was the worst storm they have had in years. We later heard that a damn broke nearby and that they had to evacuate much of the Grand Canyon. Yikes! As you can see from the picture above the boys thought it was pretty cool.

Jacob, Ryan, Tyler, and Keegan posing at the North Rim sign.
Daddy and Ryan

Wow! It was beautiful.
A little family shot at the North Rim Lodge.
Daddy and Ryan taking it all in.

Ryan playing at the Colorado River.
Ryan and Jacob
Shelby and Jacob
Daddy and Ryan taking a swim in the Colorado River. This was about the time that we noticed that what we thought was a zit on Tyler's leg had gotten much larger and was oozing puss. We had to get in the car and drive 40 minutes to Page, AZ to the doctor. The doctor had to cut it up and drain it. Poor guy, he was in so much pain. I had to leave the room when they did it because I knew I would loose it. Doug was awesome and held him through the whole procedure. I knew there was a reason I married this guy! :)

One of the mornings Ryan got up really early and wanted to come into my sleeping bag. I thought for sure he would be up for the rest of the time but he racked out quickly. He was pretty exhausted.
Tyler, Jacob, Ryan, and Keegan.
We were so happy to get to see our good friends(McCune's), we have missed them so much since they have moved. It was a very fun trip, one that we will always remember.
Ryan and Jacob. Ryan had a blast camping and playing with his best friend.

Go U.S.A. !!!!

I LOVE the Olympics...especially the Summer Olympics. I was surprised though to see how much Ryan would like the Olympics as well. He was mesmerized by the gymnastics and stood up and cheered when Jason Lezak(Doug graduated from high school with Jason) won the 4x100 meter freestyle relay in swimming. I decided to get a cute shot of the boys holding the American flag...well, I tried. Ryan looks like he is about to eat Tyler. :)

Big Boy Beds

I finally decided it was time to move Tyler out of his crib and into a big boy bed. This meant that we needed to get a bigger bed for Ryan as well, this was long overdue as the poor kid was getting close to having to sleep in the fetal position to fit in his toddler bed (well, not exactly that bad, but getting close).

Tyler in Ryan's old bed. Man, did he feel pretty proud of himself.

Doug's dad was nice enough to give us one of his extra twin beds for Ryan. Ryan LOVES having "the biggest boy bed". Both of the boys got up at the same time this morning and I asked Ryan if he woke Tyler up. He told me "No, Tyler woke me up...he has a hole in his bed now so he can get out". Pretty acurate I guess, my days of having Tyler stuck in his bed are over, now hopefully he doesn't get up all hours of the night like Ryan did at that age. :)

Tyler's "Under the Sea" Birthday