Fourth of July

We had a wonderful Fourth of July weekend. It was nice to have time to sit and not do anything. On the Fourth we went to the Shields for a BBQ and fireworks. Before we arrived I sliced off the end of my finger with a mandoline, I was prepping some onions for the burgers, which by the way were some of the best onions I have ever had. Anyway, when I think about the incident I still cringe because it was gross and I couldn't get my finger to stop bleeding, luckily the Hamilton's were coming to the BBQ and Dr. Hamilton was able to come to my rescue!

Ryan enjoyed the fireworks way more than we thought he would. He was entertainment for everyone else as he kept yelling out at the fireworks as though he was trying to boss them around. It was really funny and entertaining for all of us.

On Saturday we took Ryan to his first Braves game. Matt has been wanting to take him for a long while. The last game we went to was when Spencer was here and we had the MOST amazing seats like 5 rows behind the dugout. This time we sat way higher but we were on the air conditioned concourse. This was my decision and probably one of the best ones that I made. Whenever Ryan was getting fussy, I could just take him inside and we would enjoy the air conditioning and watch the game on one of the big screens. The following sequence of pictures is exactly what it looks like....Matt trying to interupt Ryan from watching the game so the he could take his picture.

Yes!

Yes!!!

What do you want Dad? Don't you know you're interupting the game?

All in all we had a fun weekend and we were sad when we had to return to our regular routine!

For Suzy

A little late but not too bad. Over Memorial Day weekend, Nathan graduated. We went to the new amphitheatre to see the ceremony and it was really fun. The amphitheatre was a really cool place to have a graduation, it was a little hot but Ryan finally fell asleep towards the end. For pictures see Sara's blog as I forgot to bring my camera. We also went to PF Changs that night and Ryan spilt an entire glass of ice water all over Sara...oops! Sorry Sara!

On Memorial Day we did some shopping and then we went to the pool. Ryan seemed to enjoy the pool but the water was pretty cold so it took a little getting used to.

Yikes, I started this post a really long time ago...namely a few days after Memorial day. So to summarize. Summer has been busy, fun and hot!! We have been having a great time going to the pool, the Botanical Gardens and spending time with our friends!

I have all of these funny stories, but alas, no time to post. Ryan is not being the best sleeper and has been sick this week. We ended up at the hospital in the ER which I can say was one of those moments when you think, oh I am really in charge of this little person, because I had to be the grown up, (on a side note, when we arrived this guy tells us that we can't park there because we HAVE to use the hospital valet...ummmm....hello, this is the emergency room, if I am already parked you are actually going to tell me to repark because I HAVE to use the hospital valet...right???? Then he reparks our car in the same spot.)

Okay so enjoy some pics. I will post more soon.

Graduation and Mother's Day

Long time no post. I have been meaning to put something up but I just haven't. Hmmm...We have been having a lot of fun around here. Matt graduated the same weekend as Mother's Day. We went down to the Georgia Dome for the graduation which was totally different than BYU's. As in they had concession stands, Dippin' Dots, Hot Dogs, Popcorn you know regular concession food. They also had confetti and firework type things. It was really fun, but not like the very serious graduation that I experienced!

That night we went out to Fogo de Chao. Best restaurant ever! We can't wait to go back. It is one of those Brazilian places but it is really good. They have a few other ones around, I know there is one in Dallas, but if you are eve given the chance to try it out, DO! Yum.

Then Sunday was Mother's Day. Matt was so great and got me a great gift and a card from him and a card from Ryan. It was really cute and fun to celebrate. You only get one first Mother's Day, right?!

Ryan has been crawling everywhere and has really perfected the fastest way to crawl. He is getting into and up on everything. He seems more interested in walking. I hope he doesn't master that for awhile as he already seems to be getting into everything!! This pic is from when we went to the park with Grandpa!

A long time ago we went to the park with John and Lindy and Sue Ann (for those keeping track I think Sue Ann was here more than a month ago) and we played this awesome game called Kubb. It is totally something Grandpa Salmon would be into. You throw sticks to knock down other sticks!! Sound ridiculous but it was actually quite challenging and really fun!

I am going to post something about whatever we do for the long weekend so stay tuned!!

The Ultimate Question

Since my cousin was here I have been thinking a lot about the ultimate question...I would like to state for the record that I love my cousin, and my Aunt Diane(who I do believe is the ultimate authority on baking) BUT I am not sure that I am completely sold...so...which is the better mixer, the KitchenAid or the Bosch?


I kind of feel as though people feel about their mixer the same way they feel about their computer. Some people love Mac's and would never consider going the other way, and some people love PC's, I will leave my opinion about that out of this post so as to focus on the question at hand.


So, which mixer is better? On the food network EVERYONE uses a KitchenAid, now this isn't to say that KitchenAid doesn't have some kind of contract with the Food Network and they pay a whole lot of money to be featured in EVERY SINGLE show. But think about it, on Food network Challenge, the competitors bring tools from home and all of those people are using a KitchenAid....


AND, the sheer number of KitchenAid's sold vs. Bosch, I mean, there is something to be said for mass marketing and KitchenAid's are sold eveywhere, but really, if it was a hugely inferior product could it be just that popular. The mixer has to have some kind of substance.


So, I need opionions from the people. What do you love about your mixer? Why did you choose the mixer that you did?

Happy Easter

I am so excited because I am leaving in an hour to go and pick up my cousin who is coming to hang out for a whole week. BOOYA. So I only have time for a quick easter post. Mostly I just have a bunch of pictures. We had a very yummy dinner and a small easter egg hunt...which was uneventful as Nathan hid the eggs and Ryan hunted for them. HA! We are really excited for Tara to be here and we can't wait till her plane lands!! YEAH!

Ryan in his wearing his little tie and cute sweater.

On the hunt for eggs

Enjoying the plastic on his easter basket. This was much more fun than anything in the basket!

Funnies

I am having major issues with my computer...as in it only works when it feels like it. SO we have taken all of the good stuff off and plan to wipe it clean and reinstall the OS this weekend. So because of that I have a total lack of pictures. Since I only post pictures of Ryan and you already know what he looks like, we should be okay.

I am mainly motivated to blog because I noticed I had been demoted on John's blog. I really feel like I just blogged and then next thing I know a month has gone by.

Things have been slow here. Ryan is growing like a weed and is learning new "tricks" everyday. (I guess other parents don't talk about their child like a dog and call these new abilities "milestones")

The funniest stories I have right now has to do with the continuing education class that I am taking. I guess I really liked school even more than I thought and I have been looking around for some classes to take. I was going to enroll in a painting class and then I found out I was pregnant, my doctor advised me not to take the class....so a year later....

I now am enrolled in a photography class and it is pretty fun. I take it at my old high school which is a little odd since it is like being back in my high school classes except that everyone in the class is about 25 years older than me. BUT the best story from this experience (there are many but I only have time for one) is from the very first day.

We are talking about exposure controls, f-stop, shutter speed etc. The woman in the story is probably about 55-60.

And the teacher says, "so if you increase the shutter speed from 1/125th of a second to 1/2000th of a second you will get a sharper picture but you will let in a lot less light"

And this woman says, "but you increased the number from 125 to 2000"

Teacher replies, "no because it's a fraction so the shutter speed is actually being decreased."

Woman "but the number is getting bigger"

Teacher "but it's a fraction, so its smaller. You know...fractions"

Woman "This class is way over my head, but it's cool, I'll hang out" (these were her exact words)

I hope the tone is being conveyed because I am laughing just thinking about this story. Ahhh...so funny. Well its off to bed. I have more stories and things to post so hopefully I will get back around to it soon.

Addiction

I have a major addiction to truffles. No, not the weird cooking truffles in French food, CHOCOLATE truffles. Here's the thing I'm not like super into chocolate, I mean, I'll eat it, but I don't crave it. EXCEPT for truffles. I love them. Really love them. It's the smooth center that I crave. I also enjoy good chocolate mousse. The problem is this, I eat so many that I make myself sick. So I don't buy them. EVER. I see them calling to me at the end of the grocery isle, Lindor Lindt is my favorite, milk chocolate, but I also enjoy dark (these are the blue and red wrappers). At Christmas, my friend was trying to be nice so she gave me a whole bag...thanks. Then some one else gave me a HUGE box of Godiva Christmas blend truffles...thanks. If your wondering I did get sick on Christmas Eve. (I totally sound like some freak with no self control). The reason I bring up this story is because I was at my parents and my mom stuck a whole bag of truffles in my diaper bag...and I ate them all. I suppose admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery...but I don't know if I want to recover. Hmmm....moving on.

Well, we did get a new vacuum. We got a Dyson thanks to Aaron's hot tip we got a smoking deal and now our carpet is clean, clean, clean. No hair to be found. However, since the shedding is so bad, I have to vacuum EVERYDAY (maybe other people vacuum everyday but I'm more like a twice a week kind of gal) in order to keep the hair under control. Evidently this lasts until nine months, so we have a while to go.

We don't have much to post about. Ryan went to his four month check up. He is in the 95% for height, so he is about to hit the height limit on his car seat and some of his toys, so I guess he really is growing. He is certainly learning a lot of new things. He now gives kisses when you say "Ryan give me a kiss" and pucker your lips. But his kiss is open mouth slobbering all over your face. We still think it's cute. He is really working on sitting up on his own and can sit for longer now but he still ends up in the carpet at some point. He hasn's yet perfected rolling from front to back WHICH IS A HUGE PROBLEM. As we put him in his bed at night and he rolls to his tummy and then cries for help because he can't flip back. He is working on it, and hopefully in the next week or two will be able to do it.

We can tell that he wants so badly to crawl as he flips on to his front and them moves his legs like he is crawling, problem is that he doesn't have the arm action down. But it must be working somewhat because he moves around the floor a little bit so he is actually getting somewhere! We are enjoying him immensely because he now has so much more of a reaction to whatever we do. He gets so excited when one of us comes home and he laughs so hard when we play with him.


I feel like I have funny stories, but then they get so old because I don't post that they really don't seem funny anymore.

I have been working on this post for too long as Aaron gave me the tip on the vacuum the day I last posted, and Ryan is now 5 months. Instead of updating everything....here is a nice stale post.