Picture Time!!

Birthday Boy! The melting cake i made cause it was so daggone hot!!
opening presents from Gina!

CAKE!! Sharing the cake!
Feeding his girlfriend Gina!His zebra from gee gee and papaw!

Pretending to be daddy!

Presents from oma and opa!! thanks for the clothes!!!
the twins caitlyn and elizabeth riley. i just adore this picture! what models they're going to be!
yes, he's weird. but he's my son. :)
zander and his "china clothes"! these are actually mine from when i was a little girl!

Happy Birthday Ronan!!!

I can't believe my dear little chubbo is one already! Sunday was his big bday! unfortunately friday he came down with his fifth ear infection in four months! saturday night his fever spiked to 104 and we were so worried about the little guy! i couldn't get his fever down for the life of me! fortunately it lowered by the morning but ben stayed home from church with him anyways. that night my parents came over and my friend gina who ronan is in love with! we had cake and ice cream and it was a laid back fun time. i'm so not into parties for little kids anymore. they definitely do not remember all the work i put into it!!!
ronan was cute trying to learn to open presents although zander did most of the work for him. it was terribly hard for zander to not be the center of attention and to not get to open the presents himself. but he was a trooper and my parents got him a little sword and a new book so that helped.
i adore my boys and it's so hard to see them sick. little ronan was so lathargic that it was scary. he was falling alseep in my arms every five minutes. but there is something about that feeling of knowing you are the only person in the world that he wants at that exact moment. i love when he wraps his little chubby arms around me and holds on for dear life. what a special gift we are given as mothers.
the shower we gave for melissa on saturday went really well. we had an outdoor tea minus the tea since it was 100 degrees! things were sweating that shouldn't have been sweating! it was brutally hot! but a good time was had by all and i got to know some of the ladies from my new church more which was nice. but man did it make me want a girl even more!!!! there was soooo much pink! ahhh!
well, i'm off to bed since i have to take my parents to the airport early tomorrow. joy bliss.

Lillis Pics finally!

Here are the pics of the Lillis fam!

Retreat

Ben and i decided last minute to use up our free nights in a resort in ramona during his days off this week. sunday night we drove up there (about an hour) and stayed through wednesday morning. it was such a wonderful, needed, restful time. it's in the middle of no where and there are horse ranches everywhere. we pretty much stayed by the pool every day and the boys loved that. they are truly water babies. and would you believe i didn't take a single picture? i'm so dumb. it was a two bedroom suit so once the boys went to sleep we had some time to ourselves. we rented the season two of "bones" which was fun to watch. but we got back wednesday and started running! my dear friend's mother's funeral was today, thursday, and we are trying to put together the baby shower for the same girl for next weekend. we want to have it before the babies born so there's lots of planning to do in a short time. what a mix of death and life. i wanted so badly to celebrate dawn's homecoming to her Savior, but at the same time you feel such loss. i mourn for the emptiness my friend now feels in losing her mother. i just don't think you ever get over that. i constantly am thinking about what life would be like if i lost my mother and my heart goes through my throat. i just can't bear to think about it.
but don't be mistaken, God is good, all the time. as was said in the funeral, "the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, but Blessed be the Name of the Lord." ok, crying again, i gotta stop this!!!!
so tomorrow i have another research study for Taylor research on digital video storing. i'm excited cause it's two hours and $100 bucks. doing one of these a month is making up the money i would have gotten working at the salon for two weeks. so that makes me feel better.
also, graduation at the seminary is this weekend. all my friends that i started seminary with are graduating so i will enjoy going to it this year. i'm even makign a sweet sign for my friend Gina. she's going to be so embarressed. but that's half the fun!

A sad day

Last night the world lost a great spiritual pillar. Dawn Shevland went home to be with her savior after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. There was a party of tremendous proportions in heaven last night, but a lot of mourning here on earth. her daughter is one of my dear friends and is due with her third child at the end of this month. she was also good friends with my mother. please, please, please pray for this wonderful family during this hard time (and for my mother). we will miss you dawn!

on a side note, today is our five year anniversary! i can't believe we've been married for that long. i'm truly blessed to be married to such an amazing man and father. i love him more today than ever!

Happy birthday to me!!!

Sunday was my 27th birthday! woo hooo for me! it was a good, but terribly sad and emotional day. i got sirius radio from my dear hubby for my car and that is a wonderful gift! that morning i got a call from my dear friend who's mother is dying from pancreatic cancer. apparently her mother had taken a horrible turn for the worst. my mother is very good friends with this lady so it hit us both close to home. that afternoon after a fabulous lunch with my family at a huge buffet filled with sushi, we went to the hospice facility here in san diego. my mom spent some time with her friend while our small group women rallied around the daughter. the husband was trying desperately hard to get home as he was up in seattle for an overnight. i swear i cried a lot that day.
that night my parents and the boys and ben all got together at my parents house for cake and ice cream. red velvet cake of course! it was sooooo good! they got me some wonderful goodies too! especially the fabulous flash for my camera! wooo hooooo! and i get my hair cut tomorrow! yeah!!!! i've no idea what i'm going to do though.
also, ronan has started walking on his own now! about time i tell you! zander was 9 months when he started walking and ronan is over 11! he's still timid but he can do it. he's such a goof ball too and is constantly making me laugh.
we also got a swingset that the boys absolutely love playing on! it keeps us very entertained.
lastly, i've started exercising finally. baby steps of course. i've been speed walking every morning with my dad for about 1/2 hour. not much, but hey, it's a start. it's been a very blessed time to get to walk alone with my dad and just talk. no little boys around!
oh, there's more i guess. today my mom and i went for a peaceful lunch at p.f. changs and it was sooo good. i ate slow and had a hot meal for once! yeah for ben being home from work to watch the boys! then we cruised the mall and did some shopping. it was a great time together and something we both needed.
then tonight my small group celebrated my bday! they are such a good group and i love them dearly! thanks guys for my great gifts! i got to wear a tiara for the night too! ann, you know me so well!