Kai's 1st BiRtHdAy! (lots and lots of pictures!)

The Venue: Hermiston Aquatic Center

(a.k.a. Oasis in the desert)

Some of the company...

Great Grandma & Grandpa Royer

Kai & his best buddy, Micah

The CAKE!

mommy showing Kai how it's done ;)

aww. sharing!

meet the Galstad's. this is how we roll.



what a {fun} daddy i have!

the drive home:

it was a good day.
(ya can't beat sugar & swimming)

The GOODS!

 one of the BEST cards ever...from uncle mitch & auntie kelly:

(front)

(inside)

(back)

 and another AWESOME card complete with Birthday poem from auntie BeckyJO!!!:

what a perfect afternoon.

it was a beautiful day. we had a wonderful gathering of family an friends. good food. great cake. cold water. happy, happy baby.

thank you to all of our friends and family who shared this fun day with us and helped us celebrate the first year of our sweet baby boy!

(and thanks to those of you who couldn't make it but sent those killer cards shown above....

along with some pretty cool apparel!)

thank you, thank you,

WE LOVE YOU

 and are very blessed by your presence in our lives and the life of our Kai!

catching up with Kai!

It's been awhile!

here's life according to my blackberry...

 fact 1: you can NEVER have enough fresh flowers in your house.

fact 2: flowers really do brighten moods, spirits and rooms.

the yellow roses (my favorite!) came from G and the sunflowers (my OTHER favorite!) came from Tiff. it was a rough week last week and Tiff and G were my saving graces. love you both to pieces.

this little guy came from my sunflower patch.

i love the look of a big sunflower bloom in a cute wine bottle--so much you can find them all over my home!

 ..........

 the other day Kai was playing with this noise-maker toy that makes a "vroom-vroom" noise.

he kept hitting the "vroom-vroom" button and then took off on his super crawl and started banging on the doorand begging to get into the garage, which was weird because he doesn't typically do that. well, turns out he wanted on Daddy's toys that go "vroom-vroom." i think he sat on there for almost 20 minutes (saying in his sweet little squeaky voice "vwoom-vwoom." (and of course cried when i pulled him off!)

..........

 iiiiiiiiitttttt's birthday week!

(for Kai AND Mommy!)

Kai received his first birthday package and couple of cards yesterday. it's so fun to see him get excited when we get the mail and there is stuff for him. my Grandma Roberts (Kai's Great-Grandma) is a super-star of a card sender. she never misses a birthday, anniversary or holiday and often sends cards just "to say hi," which i adore. anyway, she sent a bright yellow-smiley faced box and as i opened it for Kai his eyes lit up and he reached out for the soft fleece sweat suit that he will be SO warm and snuggly in this fall....but he freaked out (with joy!) when a little tonka firetruck came tumbling out...and then munched on the card, of course.

 mhmmmmm...."one" tastes good!

 how cute is Great-Grandma?

{blessed!}

..........

 little red's startin' to sport some curl!!!!!

(LOVE this!)

..........

 Kai: that's Honey. she's my friend.

today the boys played outside for a LONG time!

i got all of my weeding and watering done while Kai played with the hose (i let it run at a trickle) and, well, Micah played with a dagger (plastic, of course). he sure loved that thing--watch out Tricia, he may have a heightened desire to reach for knives now...sorry ;)

 the view from above. they are playing a part, but talking the whole time--back and forth little baby babble language.

i like to imagine that they know what they are saying but then i get a weird feeling that they are talking about me...

 and this is two 11 month olds keeping busy while i put away lunch...

and that clears out my blackberry pics.

there will surely be birthday-related posts in the near future...

xx 

weekend in 5.

1.
 i do believe our air conditioner (original with the house, built in 1985 might i add...) picked the most PERFECT summer to croak. it's been quite the mild summer thus far (i'm probably going to jinx it!)--i've only gotten like three ripe tomatoes and by this time last year i was picking them by the bucketfulls! i've honestly hardly missed the a/c. but the few moments that i do, i REEEEAAAALLLLY do. we're being sticklers about adding to credit debt right now and are gonna try and stick it out...at least tough it out until we can buy one with cash (Dave Ramsey would be so proud!). thank goodness for pools, fans and fam and friends with a/c!

2.
G came home friday night just in time to fill in for the Simmons Financial Softball team (he had a BLAST--and got all scuffed up from multiple infield dives). Kai and I watched (i play/fill in too...but someone had to watch the small fry...). Kai had SO much fun watching/playing/crawling and getting really dirty:

watching his interest in the game got me slightly enthused

about being HIS future #1 fan cheering in the stands.

3.
i got up bright and early saturday morning and jetted over to beautiful Walla Walla to run the annual Sweet Onion 10k with my Mom and sister Kelley. it was really fun! the weather was absolutely ideal for a run, the conversation lively, and scenery ideal:

i LOVE making memories like this with friends & fam--

if you get a chance to do a fun run, do it!

4.

after our run we participated in something called the "Sweet Skip" which was quite what it says: skipping around from restaurant to restaurant sampling their signature sweet onion dishes (and wine, of course). i've never eaten so much onion in one day! i'm a big onion fan so that is really quite a statement...

here is us at Jacobi's, one of Walla Walla's most well known restaurants. they had a great patio set-up, the perfect soundtrack playing, and a killer drink menu.

i would have been happy to camp out there all afternoon!:

5.

and i even managed to have a fantastic night/day with G too, who wasn't too worn out from his busy "guys day" with Kai (they had a blast all day at the 3-on-3 tourney just a few blocks away from us on main street). we went to Saturday night church and then had one of our favorite couples (Tiff & Jacob!) over for dinner and then spent Saturday hanging out and working in the yard (we even got to go on a lunch date while Kai took an extra long nap @ Nana's house--Ixtapa, the new restaurant by Burger King is legit!). after G headed back to Vancouver i went on an EXTRA long walk with Honey & Kai, one of my favorite daily activites for sure.

i'm starting to wince at the rate that the old "back to work" date is approaching on my calendar and am bound and determined to squeeze every last drop of sun, snuggles, naps and adventures from the days that remain...

...heading to bed feeling happy & blessed.



5 randoms...

1.

This is my handsome husband at the ripe age of 18.

I think he is the epitomy of a "late bloomer." He was 5'8" here and is now 210 lbs and 6'2".

Crazy how much 10 years can change a person...but mostly,

Hilarious. 

2.

notice the bags.

no wasteful plastic in my shoppin' cart!!

i have found that i am MUCH more likely to remember to use my "forever bags" when they are already IN my car...

 3.

 i used to have cute decor where the toys have taken over...

G hates this as a toy storage area but until i find that "perfect" piece of furniture (with drawers/bins for toys) this will just have to do!

just one of the many changes that came with the arrival of little Red...

4.

i heart yardsales!!

there was a GEM of a yardsale down the street today. TONS of great kiddo books an toys...and some awesome furniture. i came away with Kai's first tee-ball mitt, a handful of books (i buy children's books like they are going out of style...for Kai and my students!) and a beat-up mini-basketball he would NOT put down.

all for $1.25, thank you.

5.

my little quarterback.

he rolled his football to the couch, pulled himself up and literally threw it right in my face.

we play lots of "catch."

worry much?

worry. something that unfortunately, i'm way too good at.

i was having a moment morning preoccupied with worry earlier this week. i'd gotten Kai down for his nap and found myself kind of wandering around the house, restless, anxious and miserable.

i wound up on my bedroom floor, with the best intentions of folding the basket of laundry that Kai had toppled over, but became preocccupied with a little blue book in my enourmous stack of "bedtime reading" beneath my nightstand (because it's too tall to be on top!).

via

within minutes of turning a handful of pages, i became enveloped in peace, and felt a refreshing calm wash over my ever anxious soul.

i allowed myself to become quiet and humbled before a God who is greater than any fear, and felt the weight of my worry-filled burden lifted off of my shoulders.

why do i do this to myself? i wondered.

worry is such a waste. sure, it's human nature and really can't be avoided....but i'll tell you one thing, it can be relieved. God wants to relieve it. and i need to do a better job of letting him.

here's a few of the passages that really hit home:

We expect Jesus to come in the form of peaceful hymns or Easter Sundays or quiet retreats.We expect to find him in morning devotionals, church suppers, and meditation. We never expect to see him in a bear market, pink slip, lawsuit, foreclosure, or war. We never expect to see him in a storm.

But it is in storms that he does his finest work, for it is in storms that he has our keenest attention. We cannot go where God is not. Look over your shoulder; that's God following you. Look into the storm; that's Christ coming toward you.
(Fearless)

We need to hear that God is still in control. We need to hear that it's not over until he says so. We need to hear that life's mishaps and tragedies are not a reason to bail out. They are simply a reason to sit tight.

Corrie ten Boom used to say, "When the train goes through a tunnel and the world gets dark, do you jump out? Of course not. You sit still and trust the engineer to get you through."

Next time your disappointed, don't panic. Don't jump out. Don't give up. Just be patient and let God remind you he's still in control. It ain't over till it's over.
(He Still Moves Stones)

It's not the absence of storms that sets Christ-followers apart. It's whom we discover in the strom: an unstirred Christ.
(Fearless)

And last but not least, my very favorite....

Eternal instants.You've had them. We all have.

Sharing a porch swing on a summer evening with your grandchild.

Putting your arm into your husband's as you stroll through the golden leaves and breathe the brisk autumn air.

Listening to your six-year-old thank God for everything grom goldfish to Grandma.

Such moments are neccessary because they remind us that everything is okay. The King is still on the throne and life is still worth living. Eternal instants remind us that love is still the greatest possession and the future is nothing to fear.
(God Came Near)

.......................

so the next time i find myself wrapped up and suffocating in my own worry i'm going to make an effort to pull myself out of panic, quiet the storm and in faith, prayerfully give it to God...

and rest easy knowing that HE is in control and my pitiful worry accomplishes absolutely nothing.

Let us come boldy to the throne of our gracious God.

There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.

Hebrews 4:16 NLT

Kai: 11 months.

yeah, thats right. i know how to ride my bike!

don't believe me?

watch this:

i'm almost ONE WHOLE YEAR OLD!!! (7/30!)

that sure went by fast. i guess it's true what they say:

time flies when your havin' fun!

(i look a lot like my Papa here, don't ya think?!!)