Mr. D and Mrs. M

We took a two-week trip to Las Vegas to visit David's family for the Christmas holiday! We spent the majority of the trip staying at my sister-in-law's home, taking little trips each day to visit different family members and friends (grandparents, parents, siblings, cousins, high school buddies, etc.). For New Years we drove the two hours to St. George where we met up with my family (my parents, grandma, brother, and a few aunts/uncles). On our vacation we ate Christmas morning omelettes, hiked around Red Rock, went sledding in the snow, rung in the New Year, and visited the gardens at the Bellagio.  Overall Neil did really well on the trip! He started the trip with only a couple words, but now he can boast almost 20. He continues to be very expressive in communicating his wants and needs, and we are proud of all the growth we saw during the trip. While there were a few missed naps and adjustments for Neil, overall he did great and there was a lot of opportunity to catch...

This year we got together with Mr. D's family for their special yearly holiday, Crawford Doughnut Day. We started celebrating the holiday a few years ago after hearing about Mr. D's great grandma who lived on a farm and would use extra lard to make doughnuts each year in October. On our first year celebrating together we made doughnuts with lard, but this year we decided to go to a pumpkin patch and brought a bunch of store-bought doughnuts to share. Together we completed a corn maze and looked at pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. For Halloween, Mr. Neil dressed up as Jack-Jack from The Incredibles.

Pictures of our family from our Fall 2018 mini photo shoot: -Mr. D and Mrs. M

This past weekend was full of fun activities. Saturday morning we took family photos ( link ), Saturday evening we went to the BYU v. Huskies football game for Mr. D's birthday (which with a 35-7 end score, we were just grateful to have had points on the board), and Sunday we celebrated two of our very close friends getting married! The wedding celebration was simply fantastic and I loved every moment of it. I loved catching up with old-time friends and colleagues, trying to sing along to a couple Christian hymns, and hearing Matthew and Camille make their wedding vows. I'm excited for them and looking forward to watching them grow together as a married couple. We met Camille at a party maybe a week after her and Matthew officially started dating. I loved Camille from the moment I met her-- her warmth, personality, and overall feeling of put togetherness gave me a great feeling about her. I had told her how much I liked Matthew and I'm glad they chose to keep dating...

This past weekend our family went across the water over to Port Ludlow area to celebrate the 2nd birthday of my high school friend's daughter. We enjoyed seeing our old friends, their new place, and celebrating this milestone with their family. On our journey there, we tried out a new to us breakfast place with Mr. Neil off the Edmonds ferry in Kingston and enjoyed some smiles off the ferry ride. One of our friends has fruit trees in her yard with more fruit than her family can eat, so my mom and I took an afternoon to pick some to take home. Mr. Neil loved the small "Neil size" apples. Mr. Neil loves to ride on dad's shoulders. We love hiking as a family. Mr. Neil enjoys climbing and exploring all places, especially our car. He also loves turning the light switches on and off. Thanks, -Mr. D, Mrs. M, and Mr. Neil

Summer is here! We've already taken Neil out on a couple bike rides and hope to do lots more. Neil loves being outside and was so comfortable on this bike ride that he fell right asleep. We love summertime weather here in the PNW. We recently purchased a hiking backpack and are looking forward to seeing what hiking with Neil is like with it.  Neil switched daycare classes and as part of the transition moved to one nap. As he was adjusting to the new schedule, we were able to capture a time when he started falling asleep during lunch before his nap. Recently Neil had surgery to get ear tubes for his ear infections. We were excited about it since he's had 12 in the last six months and we are looking forward to not going to the doctor every other week for antibiotics now. This past year Mr. D has been a big ice hockey Las Vegas Golden Knights fan, and our Uncle Ryan (a long-time Caps fan) decided to nurture a future Caps fan in little Neil Ryan by sending him ...

We celebrated Neil's upcoming first birthday this past weekend with a Cinco de Mayo birthday party– a party complete with pinata, festive balloons, and David's copycat Cafe Rio. We learned a party with kids is more chaotic than the all-adult parties we've been used to, but as I watched the babies crawl over each other on the floor and slightly older kids taking turns whacking the pinata while blindfolded, I felt gratitude for family and the deepening friendships we have formed over the past few years. We look forward to the promise of more days full of this happy choas. For the first-birthday smash cake, David made strawberry shortcake and we were excited to see what Neil would think of his first experience with whipped cream: It is intense to realize that our little one is turning 1 –to watch him start to look and act more like a toddler and less like a newborn– but overall we are enjoying getting to know him and watching him grow up. -Mr. D and Mrs. M ...