Birthday Boy!

Today I want to wish my husband a happy 33rd Birthday! Happy Birthday to an amazing husband and father. We love you tons!

11 Months

In reading my past two posts one would wonder if we still do have a child and what she has been up to. Well the answer is yes and a lot to both questions! Isla has had quite a few changes in the past month or so. The biggest one would be that she finally decided that she wanted to crawl. She is now all over the place and Ryan and I are mourning the days when we could just set her on the floor to play with her toys and know that she wouldn't go anywhere. Now we have both sets of eyes on her at all times as she is finding all kinds of stuff on the floor to put in her mouth. Time to sweep and vacuum a little more frequently than we used to. For the past couple of days she has sat at the bottom of the stairs just looking at them. She hasn't attempted to climb them yet, but I'm sure she will sometime very soon.

Here are some pictures from the past couple of weeks:

Isla was sick for about a week and so cuddly. She was not feeling well at all, but I enjoyed the nice hugs:

We were out in the front yard the other day and Isla decided she wanted to be silly and wear my shades. She thought she was pretty hot stuff:

That same day she decided that she wanted to help us rearrange our bookshelf - so thoughtful:

Thinking about the stairs:

Not quite yet - a little too steep:

Playing around with toys and Dad's toys:

Hot August Nights

Whew! It is now Saturday and I think that I am just now recovering from our fun-filled stay in McCall last weekend. Early last spring our friends, the Hamilton's, invited about twenty of their closest friends to come up to McCall for a "kid free" weekend. Ryan and I quickly found a babysitter (thanks Grandma Connie!) and anxiously awaited the weekend that came to be known as "Hot August Nights". And what a weekend it was! The weather was absolutely gorgeous - there wasn't a cloud in the sky. And since we didn't have any kiddos to watch after we had a lazy day on the beach/boat doing nothing. Okay maybe there was a little bit of drinking involved (what else are you going to do with no kids?). Some of us did partake in that a little bit more than others (me - the Hamilton's blog depicts this quite nicely), but we all had a fabulous time. Thanks Hamilton's for hosting and thanks to the McBrides for offering up a place to stay. Ryan and I are truly blessed to have such wonderful friends!

Now for the pictures:

Friday night we all hung out on the Hamilton's deck drinking beer and eating pizza:

Until Jesse decided that it was time for a dance party:

Molly was not very amused by Jesse's dancing:

Sarah ,on the other hand, loved it:

Not ones to shy away from a dance party, Kirstin and I soon joined in:

Dance party gets going:

Saturday on the boat:

Ryan tried wake surfing:

But the best part on Saturday was the tandem wake surfing by JJ and the "100 lb baby" Ryan Kearney:

Our spectacular view from the beach on Saturday evening:

All of us crazy girls having a good old time:

Mariner Game

This weekend we headed back to Bellingham to visit my parents again and to go to the Mariner/Yankee game. We arrived in Bellingham early on Saturday morning and went out to breakfast with my parents. Then we ventured over to their property to see the progress that was made in only a short week. I'm so excited for this house one would think it was mine. They have the walls up on the main floor and everything looks great:

After the house visit my Mom and I went to the Bellingham farmer's market and bought some fresh vegetables to accompany our seafood dinner. We didn't end up finding any seafood so we went down to a fresh market and bought some yummy salmon. We coupled the food with some fabulous wine, courtesy of my Dad. The meal was fantastic!

On Sunday morning Ryan and I left Miss Isla with the Grandparents and headed down to Seattle. We were a little hesitant on going because Isla had a fever and wasn't her usual jovial self, but my parents insisted that we go to the game. Thank goodness for Grandparents! We stayed at the Silver Cloud Stadium Inn and had a great view of the ballpark:

At 11:30 we left our hotel room to go to the Pyramid Brewing beer garden before the game. Who doesn't need a beer at 11:30 I say? Self portrait of Ryan and I at the beer garden:

We soon met up with the Bordners and headed over to the ballpark to watch the game. We had such a great time drinking beer and hanging out with good friends in great seats (thanks Dad!):

It's good to have Griffey back in Seattle:

Kirstin and I splurged on some Mariner gear:

After the game Kirstin worked her magic and got us into the Diamond Club section:

After the game we headed over to Red Robin to soak up all the beer with some good burgers. It was a beautiful day on the deck. So glad we shared it with our good friends:

Off to Bellingham We Go

Isla and I headed over to Bellingham this past weekend for my Grandpa Lingbloom's funeral and my Grandaddy's 91st birthday. It was great to see both sides of the family since some of them have either not met Isla or hadn't seen her since she was a newborn. We also got to see the progress on my parent's new home on Bellingham Bay:

I can't wait to enjoy this view:

Isla and Grandpa:

On Saturday we celebrated my Grandaddy's 91st birthday with a Hawaiian themed bash. Here is the Birthday Boy with his lovely daughters:

Isla and Grandpa had so much fun at the birthday party they crashed at the end of the night:
All-in-all it was a great weekend visiting with family. My Dad got to spend a lot of time with his granddaughter, which was exactly what he needed after losing both his brother and dad within two weeks of each other. We look forward to going back to Bellingham again this weekend, but this time Ryan is coming with us!

Grandpa Lingbloom

We received the sad news last week that my Grandpa Lingbloom had passed away. His health had been failing in the past weeks we just didn't expect him to leave us so soon. He had a great 89 years and was a wonderful Grandpa. We will all miss him very much. I was so happy that Isla was able to meet him. Here they are at Christmas time: