2 New Nephews, 1 New Niece = 3 New Cousins!

Yay for nephews, nieces and cousins! We have 3 new ones now!

Our first new cousin is Gordon Bukran Stoddard, son of Adam & Meghan.  Born 3/25 by way of VBAC!  9 lbs. 12 oz., 21 in. 

I love Meghan had to say about his birth.  After five years of infertility and many losses, we are surprised, thrilled, excited and really surprised to have this little guy with us. Steven and Ruby are over the moon with happiness. We prayed for so many years to have a baby. I don't know why Heavenly Father decided to bless us with our baby now, but I am grateful. To my friends who are still struggling to conceive (I know there are many)- you remain in our prayers. I pray you get your miracle soon and I pray that the wait brings you closer to God and that He gives you peace. You are loved and prayed for.

We got to meet Gordon at our family reunion and oh what a sweet baby!  We loved snuggling that boy and it was so cute to see how helpful and protective Steven and Ruby are of him.  

Next up, Zachary ‘Atticus’ Keller, son of Julie & Todd. Born 5/24. 7lbs. 8oz., 19.5 in.  He is a good baby with Todd's scowl (lol!) and we got to meet him in June when he was just little still. What a precious guy.  The kids loved his little toes and fingers!

Our final new cousin this year is Kira Shae Ryerse, son of Jerry & Stacy. Born 6/21/19. 7lbs. 12oz, 22 in.  She is adorable!  We haven't met Kira yet but are looking forward to seeing her in July!  They are now caught up to us with 5 kids now, fun stuff!

The number is now up to 10 grandkids on the Stoddard side and 14 grandkids on the Ryerse side!  We are stoked to have some new playmates and looking forward to more in the future!

Starting summer off right!

The summer break started off with a bang!

The first official day of summer, we went to hang out with the Ames family.  We had a BBQ, played in the pool, went down their slip n' slide, Sydnie had a giant blow out, played on their playground, rode horses and got to meet their new baby Aiden.  It was a fun night and we are happy to have such nice friends!

We went to the Marshall's house to play with their new goats and chase the chickens, and ride bikes, and play ball with Ollie and Jax.  It was Lucy's dream come true!  She loves the country life and it was fun to get glimpse of it.  "Life is better with chickens!" she said. And I'd add to that friends, too.

The first week of summer went so well, though moans of "why do we have to do workbooks/practicing/chores?" rang through the air.  The reading they're good on, they could read all day if I let them.  I get kind of grumpy, I'll admit during the summer because I feel like it's always a mess around here and I'm always nagging them to hurry and get their stuff done.  But when we stay busy, we are good!

We were able to piggy back onto one of Dave's work conferences to Missoula for a few days. Wednesday, we drove down.  We dropped Dave off, headed to Costco for a bit.  Then we went to the Carousel for Missoula.  It was a fun place, and we were a little sad the playground is undergoing construction, but the carousel made up for it.  It was awesome!  The kids loved grabbing for the rings and I even got the brass ring once!  We walked along the river and watched a concert. Then we went shopping and to Barnes and Nobles.  Our kids had never been there and they were in heaven!  They asked to go back the next day, haha!  I'm glad they all love reading so much!  Then we met up with our friends the Anderbergs who used to live in Scobey with us and now live there.  It was so fun!  We had pizza and played and caught up.  They're a great family and seems they are really liking it there!  Emma named Missoula hippy town because we saw peace signs and hippy clothes and cars all over!

Thursday, we went swimming for most of the morning!  The kids loved not really having a schedule and flying by the seat of our pants, doing whatever we wanted to do whenever.   We got some lunch and played at the play center there and then we went to a science museum, SpectrUM Discovery Area.  It was a great experience and the staff was great and came and helped us and taught us a lot.  The kids like extracting DNA from a strawberry, learning about erosion and the water cycle, playing with magnets, seeing a 3D printer in action, building rockets, playing with magnets and more.  It was a great place!  When we were done, Sydnie did not want to get back in the car at all.  How many Ryerses does it take to get a tired toddler buckled in her car seat? 3. For 20 minutes! Life's not all fun and games, haha!  Sydnie was being so stubborn and we couldn't get her in.  Ah, the life. We also had lots of back seat fighting this time.  Sometimes I wish they were all infants again, and sometimes in other ways it is easier now they're older.  We love them but are all working on being kinder!  Seems like they wake up best friends and nice all day or wake up fighting like cats and dogs all day.   We met up with Dave at Freddy's for dinner, which was really yummy!  Dave went to go see Godzilla and the kids and I watched movies at the hotel.  

Friday, we slept in, ate breakfast at the motel then packed up and Dave got done so we went to the Smoke jumpers visitor center, pretty neat stuff! It was so cool going on the tour and seeing what the smoke jumpers do every day.  Feeling grateful for those who put their lives on the line each day to keep us safe...fire fighters, law enforcement, military and all public heroes.  We drove home to unpack and pack everything again for the next adventure.  I love all the coming and going that comes with summer.  Off we go again!