{good bye lucy}

Last week was a hard one for me. I had to say good bye to one of my best friends here in Atlanta. Lucy's husband just graduated from Emory Law and got a job in SLC. 

 We went downtown for a girls night out/ going away party for Lu. It was so fun to eat yummy food, listen to great music at the Hard Rock Cafe, and just talk and talk. We need to do this more often {the dinner not dear friends moving away part}. Lucy has shown me/ taught me so much of the city it was so fun.

 Our boys are only 3 weeks apart so we became instant besties. Ryker and Victor are best friends also and we are so excited to see them in Utah this summer. I am learning that this stage of life {grad school} is a tough one because you make such good friends since you are all in the same boat but it is only for a short period of time and then you graduate and move away. It is hard and very sad. I really hope some amazing new families move into our ward that will make up for me missing Lucy. 

Lucy thank you for passing along all of your work to me and giving us so many different opportunities here in Atlanta. It has been AMAZING!! We miss you like crazy already. 

{playing in the sand}

To celebrate Brady's completion of his first year of PT school we packed the car and drove on down to Destin, Florida to spend a few days just relaxing on the beach basking in the sun. 

Ryker LOVED the sand from the get go. He was very determined to eat as much of it as he could. I guess he liked the crunch in between his teeth. 

Ryker's Island!!!
Ben Brady made this just for you!!

 We stayed at this amazing resort that was just a short walk to the baytowne wharf that was full of fun shops, great restaurants, activities for the kids, and live music every night. We enjoyed eating gelato while listening to the music.

 This was by far the best beach we have ever been to. The name the "emerald coast" is so true. Just look at the color of this water and the white sand. LOVE and even better there were no rock/ shells that hurt your feet.  The water was the perfect temperature and it was nice that it was not too hot yet.

 We have never had a vacation where all we did was swim, layout, nap, eat, swim, read books, play in the sand all day before. Truthfully I never thought it would be fun {I thought it might be boring} but it was one of our favorite vacations. I get it now.

 We tried to build a sand castle.... it is harder than it looks.

 The love of my life.

 Ryker was NOT a fan of the waves. It was a huge surprise to us because he LOVES the pool and the tub but I guess they can be scary for such a tiny guy.

Oh and we cant forget the beach ball. This is Ryker's new favorite toy. It kept him entertained on the dive there and back. Its perfect for the car because he could hit it at the seat and it would come back to him. While we were trying to pack Ryker kept hitting the ball off the bed so Brady created this cage to try and keep the ball close to Tiny.... hahaha that didn't really work but it did turn into a fun game for Ryker. 

{Grammy and Grandpa came to town}

Brady had 10 days off of school before his next semester started and Grammy and Grandpa decided to come to town for a visit.

We got to take Grammy and Grandpa to their very first MLB game. We all had a great time cheering on our Braves and we were even more excited that they won! 

We love Ryker but it was super fun to go out on a date without him and be able to enjoy ourselves without having to entertain him. 

We had the best picnic at Piedmont Park in Midtown Atlanta.  The weather was perfect and we discovered on Saturday's they have a farmers market. It was fun to walk around and see all of the booths but the BEST part was the band playing. We sat on the grass and listened to them play and ate lunch and played bocce ball and latter ball. I love just chilling at the park and this park is HUGE its about 35 acres of trees, play grounds, sports courts, and people. 

Ryker LOVES going to the zoo and wanted to take daddy, grammy, and grandpa. We had fun laughing at all of the silly animals and the weather was perfect. 

There were lots of babies also. This baby panda bear was SO cute and was just wrestling around with her mama and it was fun to watch. Did you know that when a panda is born it is about the size of a stick of butter. 

This cute baby was born the night before. I cant believe how different animal babies are from human babies. This little guy was playing and wrestling only 24 hours after he was born. 

Ryker loved  being so close to all of the giraffes while they were eating some lunch. Man they have some super long tongues!!

This is Ryker's new favorite pass time. Pulling his books off his shelf and reading/eating all of them. It keeps him very entertained for a long time which mommy REALLY loves!

Ryker has learned how to clap his hands and its super cute when he does it. 

Oh and he is saying quite a few words now. Ball {his first and favorite}, cheese, WOW, ya, mama, puff and he is working on thank you. He is really good at mimicking the sounds that you say. We think he will be speaking sentences before he walks. 

Ryker LOVES attacking balloons. Its a good laugh.

Thank you for coming and visiting us Grammy and Grandpa. We had a wonderful time with you! Please come visit us again!! 

{Ouch}

One should always ask for help when applying sunscreen on their back. 

This is what your back look will look like if you don't. 

Lesson learned.