Happy 29th Birthday Ryan!

Friday was Ryan's 29th Birthday... goodness we love this guy! Ryan had to work so after he got some things done, we took a little present break in the morning:

And a little bit of time for tickles:

And some time for snuggles too:

We're such a happy family! (and while the presents were great, I personally think Ryan liked the tickles and snuggles just as much.) Darn... coulda saved some cash! ;)

After presents, we took a little road trip. An hour each direction for a very special lunch of Ryan's choosing:

Yes. I said an HOUR in each direction. For. Fast. Food. (not so fast...) ;) I love you Ryan!

After lunch we went go cart racing- Jillian loves this, and Ryan does too:

And finally, we put the kids to bed and played Bunco with some friends:

Funny story that goes with this... When you play Bunco, you get a point every time you win and every time you get a 'bunco' (which is rolling three of the same target number). When we started the last round, the target number was 6. Before we started the round we realized Ryan would likely win 2nd place ($30) since he was 2 points behind the 1st place guy. However unlikely, he ended up rolling a bunco during that round. Then on the very next roll, he got ANOTHER bunco! Combine that with the fact that his team won the round, and Ryan took over the lead. $80 Bucks he won! Woo Hoo! Happy Birthday Ryan!

CLICK HERE to see the rest of the photos from Ryan's special day!

Oh, Jilli....

Me: "Jilli, show me a pretty smile!"

Jillian: "Is it pretty when I do this with my nose-strils?"

Yes Jilli, flared nostrils are all the rage... ;)

That's better:

6 Years...

It all started, just two kids meeting at Costco in April 2001, and going out on a date... 

Camping, hiking, spending all our free time together...

Eventually, getting engaged in Sept. of '04!

Postponing our "big wedding" and getting married April 16th, 2004

Getting to know our friends at Ft. Riley as Mr. & Mrs. Kules ;)

Saying goodbye as Ryan headed to Iraq for a year...

A week long visit half way through his tour.

A lovely renewal of our vows on November 5th, 2006...

Happy pair:

Recently...

Last night as we headed out for an amazing dinner:

Happy Anniversary Ryan- I love you and I'm so glad we're on this journey together! ;)

Tulip Garden

Today we went out to a Tulip Garden and had a wonderful time.  The big girls (Jillian and her friend Tessa) got to run around and pose for photos, and Liv (& her baby friend Laney) got to hang out in their strollers and have some photos taken too.  The tulips were in full bloom, and the weather today was beautiful in the low 70's!  Ahh... a perfect spring day!  

(And, just to note...  I'm choosing to remember the perfection of the day vs. the hour drive & traffic to get there, the complete melt down Liv had mid tulip photo session, the entire cup of ICE cold water spilled on my lap at lunch, and the whiney child in my backseat on the way home... ode to be a Mom!)

Click HERE to check out all the pictures of Jillian and the Tulip Garden scenery and HERE to see Liv's baby blog for this week and all the photos of her with the tulips! :)

Happy Easter!

More of Liv in her Easter dress to come... she was asleep during Jillian's Easter 'Photo Shoot!'

Hope everyone had a great day!!!

More photos, anyone?

PHOTOS (LINK)

I try to put all of our photos on our Shutterfly account (link above or there is a button on the sidebar of our blog), and sometimes don't get around to making a blog entry about each of them.  Just wanted to let you know in case you're interested in more pics of our family, they're there!

Each of these photos has a whole series that goes with them (that are on the shutterfly page) but just to share some albums of note:

Back when Liv was a newborn, we had some photos taken at Walter Reed for them to use for posters or other materials...  This one has been used so far, and there are lots more...

Silly Jillian getting herself dressed... oops!

And, my Dad and Jillian building a sandbox together while we were in Vegas.  This is a cute group of photos- so much love: