Let Freedom Ring ......

Happy 4th of July ......

For those of you who don't know, 4th of July is my very Favorite Holiday - I love SUMMER and it is like the quintessential summer holiday. My family always did a pretty good job of celebrating the 4th with a bang- so maybe that is where it stems from.... Neighborhood bike parade, Family BBQ with so much good food, canoe rides, water fights, fireworks - you name it and our 4th of July had it- (Thanks Mom and Dad)

I am hoping Ari will grow up to LOVE the 4th as much as I do- so we got him started on the right track. Last night Ryan and I were up til MIDNIGHT wrapping presents ----- no wrong holiday - we were decorating Ari's bike trailer for the ward 4th of July kids parade.

Here we are in the garage - decorating til midnight-

The flag ceremony was at 8:30 am- that is mighty early for a Saturday. After the flag raising we had a talk on the Declaration of Independence- as you can see, Ari was riveted- it was already HOT outside and the speaker was "long winded" it would have been really interesting (I am still a history nerd, but it was early and hot and I would have enjoyed it more in an air conditioned lecture hall)

"When will it be over Daddy"

"You said we were going to a pancake breakfast!"

Here he is - I should mention that Ari HATES his bike trailer - I don't know why - he just hates it (we are hoping he will get used to it and learn to love it, but its hard to for Ryan and I to get motivated to go for a baby screaming bike ride, when we could go for a happy baby walk instead.... we're going to try and be more diligent for the month of July

We even filled it with balloons (one of Ari's favorite things) hoping it would distract him enough.... it worked a little

I can assure you all that the bike trailer, and the contents inside were in fact Made in the USA.....

The most important part in keeping Ari from having a melt down was to just keep moving .....

this was no where near the organized neighborhood parades that I participated in with my bike when I was little - but it was a start

what we've been up too ...

Once again it seems I have been somewhat horrible at updating our blog on any sort of regular basis... so here goes a quick catch up and catch all...
we went to Wisconsin for a week - it was great to see family (the humidity and bugs I could have done without) While we were there we went with Ari's cousins to their local rec center - this year Ari is taking a little longer to "love" the water - but he is getting there - after about thirty minutes he was jumping in and having a good time.

It was one of those cool pools where you can walk right in (I think they are called Zero depth) so Ari could walk in instead of normal pools that start out at like three feet. He wasn't crazy about it at first but the water was so nice NOT cold at all- so he ended up having a ball




Okay there is no one in this picture that we know (well I am sure the cousins are in there somewhere - but I mostly wanted to show what a cool community pool they have. It has slides for babies (that Ari HATED, and little water fountains (that he LOVED) and diving boards and two big kid water slides. The snack bar had the best pizza for a DOLLAR - it was so much fun.

By the end he was SO SO tired - he had a GREAT nap after that trip

We also went to the Betty Brinn Children's muesum which is one of those cool hands on places where kids can learn all sorts of neat stuff
Ari in the play kitchen,

cooking up a storm



Boys love Cars...




Paging Dr. Williams, Paging Dr. Ari Williams...

From Betty Brinn's you can see the Lake Front - it is so pretty during the summer-

While we were there it just happened to be Summerfest - Ryan and I went to Summerfest the night Kiss was playing- we saw a long time family favorite - Wisconsin's own BoDeans..... (oh come on you know them they play the party of five theme song...."everybody wants to be closer it free......." see I knew you knew who they were)

Ryan, my little brother Brandon and I all got a chance to go to the Brewers game on Monday. As we were walking up to the stadium they were closing the roof - it was so cool (made me proud to say my Daddy helped build it, well I am always proud :) )


Our seats weren't too bad either- and the game was sold out - I know it doesn't look full we got there pretty early

Here is the traditional sausage race- I think the regular Hot Dog won .... we were betting on the polish sausage

Here is Bernie Brewer - I guess Miller Part sold out to corporate marketing, Bernie used to slide down into a Beer stine and balloons would come out of the top of it when the Brewer's hit a home run


Now Kalahari resorts "own" him so he slides down into the Slash Zone and water shoots out- I was a little disappointed - I mean its Miller Park- you need a giant beer stein!!!




We had such a good time at the game - best of all the Brewers played a really good game (until the 9th inning) THANK GOODNESS FOR TREVOR TIME !!!! The outcome was good - BREWERS WIN!!!!!! (Best memory from the game, I mean besides cheese fries- Sheffield hit a home run and the guy in the crowd who caught it threw it back onto the field- take that GARY!!!)

All and all our trip was great - we had such a good time - we miss everyone already

1st year.... 4th year ... whats the difference

Okay, so I know that traditionally you are supposed to freeze the top of your wedding cake and eat it on your 1 year anniversary. I don't even know if people really actually do this. We did save the top of our cake, not intirely for tradition, most likely because it was really good and we had a lot left over (we may have over ordered)
Only problem was that on our first anniversary we were in Utah and our cake top was in California.... fast forward 4 years, dog, college gradutaion, baby and a move to California and what do you know - our cake is still there waiting for us.
So what else is there to do but try it - for curiousity's sake

side bar: Our cake was REALLY REALLY good- I know sometimes wedding cake is really really pretty but lacking in the flavor department - but this cake was good
and the frosting wasn't that really gross sugary kind you get on grocery store cakes - it was butter cream and DELICIOUS and the cake was chocolate with layers of chocolate butter cream ...... HEAVEN

so 4 years later- I gave it a try and it was actually good- the frosting was a little dry but the cake was still moist the chocolate butter cream was as awesome as I remembered and I ate the entire piece ( Ryan refuses to try it .... he is a fool)

Here are some pictures of my wedding cake - the day of our wedding






and here are some pictures of our cake top 4 years later - after I cut myself a
piece ....





not to bad.....

Actually Yours,

Happy Anniversary Ryan- I love you so much. I am so thankful for all of your love and support and all of your patience, ( I know I can be a handful at times)
Thank you for helping me be a better person, but also for laughing along with me when I am not being so good.

I could not have asked for more, I am the luckiest.


actually yours,

Joy

Happy Mother's Day

This was my 2nd Mother's Day and it was PERFECT

Ari,
Thank you for your smiles, your wonderment and your awe. Thank you for your curious nature and your rambunctious ways. Thank you for every kiss and hug. I love you so much. Thank you for helping me figure out this whole "Mom" thing and for being patient with me along the way.
I wanted to be your mommy even before I knew you-
Ari you do not have a special place in my heart, because you see- YOU ARE MY WHOLE HEART.

I love you

Green thumb Ari

Ari absolutely loves playing in the garden - today I decided to just let him have at it - mud and all

He love, love, loves watering the plants and he is so smart - he just watched us do it and then one day started picking up the hose and going from plant to plant - today I let him do it while the water was actually running


Today he worked up a thirst so he decided what was good for Mother Earth was good enough for him

After all that great work in the garden, Ari was rewarded with a fudge- sicle .... which I would have never let him eat had it not been for the fact that he was already covered in mud and all sorts of grossness

so what do you do when your covered in snot, mud and icecream ...... bath time!!!!!!

Spring has SPRUNG

Ok to be honest its been "spring" here for a while - say what you want about Southern California, but the weather can not be beat. We love Spring