Apple Of My eye

After a day of shopping and a good nap, I took Rile' outside. I thought she'd like to try out her new walking skills outdoors, and I was right. We went over to our poor little apple tree who has been hung over for quite a while. We have tried so many different ways to get this little guy straight, but he's just growing up crooked. But he makes up for it with his beautiful little red apples! And because of his special stature, Rile' can pick the fruit right from the tree! She had lots of fun, too.

Finally, The Wait Is Over!

 
Andy and Rile' came over last night and when Brittany came out of her room, I set Rile' down in front of me so she could try to walk to Brittany. She took a handful of steps (which she's done before!). But this time seemed different. I got her again and did the same thing. She took eight steps! So Brittany and I said to her, "OK little girl...we know you can do it". We called Andy into the room, I stood her up again in front of me and she took off...right to her daddy! After that, she walked from one end of the house to the other for the next 1 1/2 hours! Yeah!! She was pretty proud of herself. 

Autumn Glory

I love this time of year! It's like God gives us one last burst of color (the finale'!) before the gloomy winter sets in.




And this isn't even a "good year" for fall color!

...the greatest way to finish the day...watching the sun go down over the hill, of course!

Rile' This And Rile' That

Smiley Rile'...This past week, she got her two front teeth, and another one on the bottom. She already had her top "fangs" as we call them and two bottom teeth. Teeth don't come easy for her...or the rest of us! On top of that, she got five immunizations! Poor baby!! It's been a rough week! (This was before!)

One of Rile's favorite things to do is play with her Auntie Boo's hair and giving her kisses and hugs. Brittany doesn't mind it too much either!

Rile' had fun hanging around the garden gate. She liked looking at the Black-Eyed Susan Vine twisting its way up through everything it could find.







Our next door neighbors came by with their twins, Ashley and Dillon, to have some play time with Rile'. She liked having someone around her own size...even if they are a year older!

Happy 50th Lamar!

One of the highlights of Lamar's birthday was getting the present that Andy, Vanessa (and lots of help from Rile'!)...a t-shirt that the three of them made. It has one of Lamar's favorite pictures (in his papa role) and Rile's handprints underneath it. This was her contribution...and you can tell she had a lot of fun doing it too!

Brittany's Sweet Sixteen!

Ahh, my baby is sixteen! We had a little celebration just with family, like Brittany wanted it. Time is going by too fast!

If At First You Don't Succeed...

We decided to head out to Seaside...an early birthday present for Lamar's 50th since he had this weekend off...and not next. We threw in some clothes "just in case" we decided to stay and actually find something overnight.
Seaside ended up being freezing and socked-in with fog. Bummed, we decided to head on home after looking around at the outlets and having lunch. When we got to Astoria, we thought about crossing the bridge to the Washington side, and so we did...and low and behold...blue skies!
So, we drove a little further to Long Beach and found a comfortable room to stay the night! Yeah!!

Lewis and Clark??

Along the boardwalk, we discovered a Sturgeon that had washed up...OK, so it was Lewis and Clark who saw it first! Lamar had a good chat with one of the guys (Lamar wasn't sure if it was Lewis or Clark). Anyway, it was ONE of them! He learned much from that whole experience.

Sunset...the perfect ending to a not-so-perfect day.

We almost missed this...we were driving up and down the streets of town trying to find a place that would satisfy our craving for....we couldn't quite put our finger on it...food. You know how that goes! Ended up at Subway of all places...but we did order something completely different! That's big for me!!
We then ran to the grocery store to supplement our dinner and when we came out, we realized that we may have missed the whole thing! But we didn't! Yeah!! 

Happy 1st Birthday, Rile'!!

Hard to believe it's been a whole year since Rile' was born. It has been a year full of emotions and firsts. We all have a new role and we are trying to do our best. We love being grandparents, but you probably already knew that!! 

This Is All For Me?!

Rile' wasn't too sure about opening her presents. But, that's OK, because the rest of us enjoyed it!! You could tell we really had fun shopping!!

Birthday cake time!

Birthday cake time was the funnest! While Rile' was waiting for the cake to arrive from across the room, she kept busy by catching the bubbles that her grandpas were blowing to her. After her first taste of the yummy birthday cake that her mommy made, she insisted on using a fork so she could really dig in...just like the grownups, of course!

Dreamland

Rile' loves to look out the window and dream and I love the opportunity to catch her still! It's a lot easier to snap a shot when she's not on the go!

In Remembrance

Andy, Vanessa and Rile' went down to Salem on September 11th to visit the Flag Memorial honoring those who died on September 11th, 2001. They said it was pretty powerful. They came back with this gift to us...one of the actual flags flown there. In the stripes, it has all the names of those who died that day. Lamar had been talking about buying one...Andy didn't know that. They also gave one to my mom. Pretty special.

Fun at Seaside

Lamar had one last long-weekend off this summer, so, of course, we wanted to head for the beach. We spent one night. Brittany took along her friend, Amy and we all had a great time. The weather was beautiful! I even took my first-ever nap on the beach! I never can do that!! It felt so good!!

Name The Kitty!

We ended up with a little more than we bargained for during our trip to Walmart. On the way out, "this nice man with a cute little boy" (how can anyone resist that!) were giving away their last kitten. And, we happened to be looking for one, so we said, sure we'll take him! Now, we are trying to figure out what to call him. If you have any ideas...let us know!!

A Busy Day In The Life of Rile'-Afternoon

This grass is prickly...but I like it here anyways!



Pops is home! Look what I can do, pops!




I always have fun with my pops!



Daddy's here to pick me up! Look, daddy...I'm crawling in the pool! Don't worry, there's no water in it. I'm just pretending!




Let's play, daddy!



I love my daddy! He's going to take me home now!