Tag: ryan

Cancun

Ryan and I decided to do a little get away. Well, Ryan decided and I went along and had a great time. He is the instigator of most of our trips and I appreciate it. We wouldn’t get around to it as much if I was instigating it. We went to a resort in Cancun. Last time we were in Mexico we did some day trips to see different areas and the Mayan pyramids, and a cenote. This time we were just there for three days and we decided we wanted to relax and do not very much. We walked around the area we were at and ate good food and did some window shopping. Otherwise we stayed at our resort and napped or read a book on the beach or at the pool. I got a great tan in February! In the evenings they had some show or activities we could go to. The last night we were there was the super bowl so we watched it on a big screen with the rest of the hotel. It was very relaxing and it was nice to be able to unplug for a few days.

Flying in it was raining. We have had the worst of luck on our beach vacations. We research the best time to go for great weather and smaller crowds and when we get there it is ‘unseasonably cold’ ‘not been this cold for 30 years’. So we were a little discouraged. The rain stopped pretty quick and we didn’t have any more after that. When we landed the airport had no gate for us to go to. Like they were surprised we were there.🤦‍♀️ They told us some stupid story that the plane at our gate broke down so they didn’t have a spot. But our plane was joined by 5 other planes parked at some random spot on the tarmac before we were done. We waited about 30 minutes for a bus to come. Then another. Then finally a third before it was our turn and we were able to get on one and they drove us to the airport. Last time we flew into Mexico it took about three hours to get our luggage from baggage claim so this time we didn’t check bags and were able to leave once we finally made it into the airport. I took a picture of their ladder while we were waiting for the bus to leave, it made me laugh, “Excellence from touch down to take off”. Ok Mexico.

This is the view from the pool I was in. Pretty awesome!
sunrise

After the first day the weather wasn’t really to bad. It got a little windy sometimes but it was warm enough to enjoy the beach or pool. They resort had different restaurants or a buffet to choose from. I thought the food was decent, and I didn’t have to make it so that makes it a win too! Ryan likes to wear his KC hat at the pool to make friends and I like to put my headphones it and sit by myself in peace.

I didn’t look before we went but I was thinking I would be halfway closer to Matthew than in Kansas before we left. I was still further than I thought. I was only 950 miles closer. Because of our flight times I didn’t get to talk to him as much as I usually do on Mondays so I am looking forward to talking to him next week.

November Fun

Ryan traveled a lot this Fall for work. He was in Omaha, Wichita, Vegas, Lake of the Ozarks, Branson, and Denver. He works hard for us. He gets to do some fun stuff when he travels too. When he was in Denver one of his clients took him to the Chiefs and Broncos game. The Chiefs unfortunately did not win.

Our church had the Relief Society Christmas dinner. They like to do it in November because December is always pretty busy. It was a nice dinner and they asked us to dress up as fancy as we wanted too. They also invited the teenage girls to come. Allison had a wrestling practice so she didn’t come but Emilee came with me. She dressed up by putting her hair up. 😜

Blast From the Past

My sister Sherri and her family stopped in a few weeks ago. They were taking a road trip to see our Grandma June and were stopping at family along the way. When they left our house their next stop was Colorado. They were well on the way when they started to come up on an RV and moved over to pass it. When they did Kenny saw that it was one of our old RV’s that we sold when we closed our RV business. It still had our logo on the side! It was the one we called “Cowboy”. Pretty crazy!

Summer Pictures

This is last Summer but I wanted to make sure it is in one of my books. This is from our back porch. I love our view and seeing the beautiful sky.

We went to a karaoke bar for Ryan’s birthday. They had a band playing for part of the night and the friends we were with had them announce happy birthday to Ryan. He was thrilled and loved getting to sing-If I Had A Million Dollars.

I got these pretty flowers for my porch but they blooms only lasted like a day and I kept cutting the dead ones off every morning and was frustrated they didn’t last very long. Then somewhere in the cobwebs of my brain I remembered that some flowers close up at night and then open in the day. So I waited a little longer and then went out and checked them and sure enough they had opened and looked beautiful! I’m glad I remembered before I cut off perfectly good flowers all summer.

Allison went on a youth temple trip.

Found this sign above a drinking fountain in Emilee’s softball facility. It is now one of my favorite quotes to share with my children.

Emilee went to her first church girls camp and had a great time. The food was ‘tolerable’ the weather was 80’s-AMAZING, the cabins were air conditioned and there was a lot of fun activities!

We have a VP of Business Development in the house.

Ryan has always worked hard and pushes himself in his career to be an amazing professional in his field provide a great life for his family. He has always wanted to be an owner in the company he is at and has been aiming for that for a long time. A few years ago, the process of what that would be started taking shape and this past year he has been making it happen. The offer and plan for ownership was presented to him and two other people at the company he work at in December. After a few tweaks and negotiations the final contract was signed and it became official a few weeks ago. He has been at this company since it started. He was the first employee and 12 years later it is still a great company and has grown and become very successful and has a great culture. Ryan has been a big part of that from the beginning.

I am proud of him and really appreciate all his hard work. I am very very grateful to have a partner that is driven and sets and make goals for himself and then achieves those goals. It is one of many great qualities Ryan has and I am super proud of him for working so hard to accomplish this. I am also glad he has such great people to work with and they all want to create something that is good and meaningful for their clients and the company. Congratulations!!

2025 Begins!

January was a typical January this year. There were a lot of social media comments and jokes about how January is a 12 years long, never ends and the most miserable month of the year. I don’t think that. February seems longer to me, ironic since it is the shortest month of the year. I get why people struggle though. It is a long cold and dreary month. I am ready for the calm boringness after several months of go go go with the holidays. We had a few things that spiced the month up though.

RJ and Dani decided we should all go to a show together at the Kaufmann Center downtown. They had never been and it had been a long time for us. We all went to Chicago together. I had seen the movie, never the play. I think the play was a lot better. It was a nice adult date night down town. Allison watched their son and dogs overnight at their house and Matthew and Emilee watched each other so we stayed downtown and used hotel points after the show. It was nice to not have to drive all the way home afterwards.

The following weekend was Ryan’s works holiday party. They rented out a speak easy under the KC Hotel downtown with a roaring twenties theme. It was pretty fun, everyone dressed up and had a good time. We were going to stay in the hotel that night too but mid week Ryan got sick and we didn’t know if we were going to be able to go or not so we canceled it just in case. Luckily he was better and we got to go. It is a pretty fun hotel but I didn’t mind coming home since we had stayed downtown the weekend before. I was talking to the new marketing person Ryan just hired and her spouse. They seemed really familiar and eventually we figured out that they come to my office for dental work, so they reason they looked familiar is because I have cleaned their whole families teeth for the past few years. LOL. Small world. There were some group pictures taken but I didn’t get any copies so I just have the pictures of Ryan and I. I thought we looked pretty good, Emilee thought we looked silly but she clearly doesn’t know how people dressed in the 20’s. Our costumes came with fake cigarettes but we decided to not carry those around all night.

The next weekend we had Grandpa Terry’s 73rd birthday to celebrate! Every year he says he just wants a very simple meal for his birthday dinner with everyone. This year he said he wanted tacos, Ross said that was boring and made chicken fajitas instead. They were very good… I think Roger enjoyed them and ended up being ok with the switch. Rhonda made him a carrot cake-she makes a very good carrot cake-and he blew out all the candles successfully. The Terry family has decided we are going to continue with the decades old tradition of blowing out the candles on a birthday cake despite COVID trying to do away with it. It is kind of gross if you think about it, but we have all survived this long. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ I do not have a clue why Allison is holding a candle up in an orange for him to blow out too-I would guess either an inside joke or she didn’t want to eat cake for wrestling reasons and was including her orange in the celebration.

And last but not least for January-for part of the kids Christmas present Ryan got tickets to the Chiefs playoff game…if they made it. Of course they made it to the playoffs. We have gone to the super bowl 6 times in the last 7 years and will probably go again this year. He had four tickets. I was fine with not going because if I watch the game I prefer to do it in the warmth of my living room. IT WAS COLD! Allison had some wrestling stuff she didn’t want to miss so she passed her ticket onto Matthew’s friend Carter. So Emilee, Carter, Matthew and Ryan braved the weather and went to the game. We won and it was a fun game. No one lost any toes or fingers to the cold. The Chiefs hold the record for loudest stadium in the NFL and Emilee said she believes it. She had a fun time with her dad and brother. Next we have to try for a three win in a row at the Super Bowl!

It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

December was just lovely. It flew by really fast but it wasn’t chaotic and out of control with to much going on. It was perfect.

We made treats, did puzzles, listened to music, looked at lights, drank hot chocolate, did toys for tots and the giving tree, wrapped presents, watched Christmas movies, went to Christmas parties, celebrated with family and friends. It was an awesome month.

Allison had another wrestling match. It was an away meet so we didn’t go but someone recorded it for us. Spoiler alert-she wins! I finally figured out how to combine her videos so we can watch all her matches for a meet in one video.

https://youtu.be/IAO7dOd16K4?list=PLBwkO01uWtw9DJu2WA-l0-1CZ6EuoK5Kl

Ryan and I went on a brief overnight date to downtown Kansas City. He gets a free weekend night as a perk through his Hilton credit card so we usually use it in December. We went with our friends Dani and RJ. We booked a few reservations at some of the Christmas pop up places they have for appetizers, dinner, and dessert and had a nice relaxing night with lots of visiting.

Christmas was on a Wednesday this year. The kids finished school the Friday before and Ryan and I had our last day of work on Monday. Then we had the next week off to celebrate Christmas, New Years and enjoy being lazy, and getting things done around the house that we wanted to. Ryan built some shelves for all the decorations in our storage room. I haven’t taken down all the Christmas decorations yet so I will wait to take a picture when its all packed away and finished. He installed a new security system around our house. I was in my purging our house of things that we don’t need anymore and customizing/organizing a few areas. I did Ryan and my closet, the pantry, and the storage room- which like I said is now just waiting on the Christmas decorations. We played games with the kids and hung out. There is a touch of a sad note for me this year because it will be the last Christmas before our kids start leaving the house and we start tip toeing into a new era in our lives. That is another reason I really wanted to soak everything in as much as possible.

Halloween Spooks

This year our Halloween ended up looking a little different than it has for the last 10 years. The McDonalds kids and ours all made individual plans with their friends so we didn’t get together like we usually do. We still made pizza and home made root beer for people to eat as they came and went to get ready or stop in on the way to their party. Our houses in our new neighborhood are spread out pretty far so we didn’t have any trick or treaters.

Matthew dress up as Dr Duffensmirch from Phineas and Ferb. Campbell was Harry the platypus. They went to a party with a group of their friends from school. They actually went trick or treating for a little bit too.

Allison and her friends assembled matching outfits and were gangster minions together. They went trick or treating in Grandpa Terry’s neighborhood and then spent the night at our house.

Emilee was a witch this year. She went trick or treating with Reese and a few other girls. They picked a neighborhood that is known for handing out full size candy bars and they were not disappointed. They found a few haunted houses people were doing as they trick or treated too.

Ryan rediscovered his Joe Dirt costume from almost two decades ago and proudly wore it to work. He gave himself a goatee to go with the costume.

The night of Halloween Ryan and I shuttled the girls around were they needed to go and then enjoyed a quite night at home. We did go to a Halloween party with Dani and RJ Halloween weekend. RJ is a pilot so he provided Ryan with an outfit to borrow and Dani and I got First Officer costumes to go with them. I think we were a hit. Ryan LOVED being a pilot too.

September

September is one of my favorite months, and not just because it is my birthday. Its a little bit of a chill month. And usually the weather is beautiful, cooler and still pretty. Sometimes the leaves start changing at the end but this year was pretty warm so it was almost end of October before they started. Fall is just my favorite. I really like all the seasons and maybe they are all my favorite when they start, but I think Fall is my favorite right now…since it is Fall.

Per my request, Ryan took me to a Royals game with our friends the Gudjenov’s for my birthday. It was a great game, great company, fun environment and good food. Turning 43 wasn’t bad at all. I highly recommend it.

Emilee opted to not do softball for the Fall. She stuck with horse lessons and piano. She still loves horse riding and looks forward to her lesson every week. She is pushing to quit piano right now. I am letting her take a little break and then hoping she gets back into it.

Allison took a break from extra curricular activities for the first time…ever. She wants to start doing a weight training program but we are still discussing which one to do. She is going to help with wrestling at the middle school which starts mid October and is followed immediately by HS wrestling so she will be busy again before to long.

Of course football started. Matthew and Ryan both are in a few different fantasy football leagues. They love it and look forward to it all year. This picture is his school buddies that he does a league with each year. They get together and draft their teams and eat way to many donuts and junk food.

Homecoming was in September this year, I think it is a little early but nobody asked me. Matthew went to his last Homecoming with Campbell. Ramey and Ellie doubled with them. They took pictures while the sun was still up, then they changed into casual clothes and went to dinner at Taco Bell. Then it was off to the football game. Shortly before the game ended they went to change into their dance outfits again and then went back to the school for the dance. After the dance they hung out at Ellie’s house and played games. Matthew is still growing pretty fast and starting to put on weight too. The pants he is wearing he at the end of July for senior pics with Campbell. Just two months later he barely fit into them!

While Matthew was at his last Homecoming, Allison was at her first!! She went with a couple friends and had a fun time. We had pizza at out house for dinner and pre-game hanging out. She went to the football game with her friend Olivia and met other friends at the game. They came over to our house and got ready at half time and then I took them back to the dance. After the dance she spent the night at Olivia’s. Allison looked beautiful and so did her friends. I think they had a fun time at their first official high school dance.

Left to right-Olivia, Addie, Kylie and Allison

Each year at the high school they have FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). It is several school districts in the area that get together and do it and Spring Hill hosted this year. One of Matthew’s best friends, Ramey, spoke at it and several other people he knew participated in it. Matthew and Allison both went but this is the only picture I got from it. I am really glad Matthew has always picked good friends that have good morals and values. He has a great group of friends- boys and girls- that really support each other and are good kids.

November…it was…then it wasn’t.

The title for this post is referring to our house. Once things got underway with building it, November 1st was the finish date we were hoping for. Well, it was six months before that but our ‘realistic’ finish date was November 1st. Or I would have settled for any day in November. Our year lease on our rental ended and it would have been a smooth transition to get into our house before the holidays and get settled. However, do due weather, deliveries, availability and everyone not making building my house their top priority 😜 November 1st came and went…along with every other day in November and we did not move into our new house. There was a lot more leg work for me to arrange staying in our rental month to month and getting renter insurance renewed and other never ending menial tasks but we didn’t really have a better option so I did it. Grumpily.

Emilee finished off the family birthdays for the 2023 year in November. She turned 11 years old. This will be her last year in elementary school, she starts Young Women in church in January, and she is still growing like a weed.

She wanted to have a family dinner at a place that throws rolls at you. It is called Lambert’s and it is 4 hours away at Table Rock Lake. We convinced her to go with Texas Road House because they have delicious rolls, and we tossed them to her when she wanted one. ALL the Olathe family was able to make it (except Grandma Terry but we ate cake with her later). Texas Road House doesn’t take reservations and we had a party of 11. They thought splitting our group in half and putting us at opposite sides of the restaurant was the best idea. Even when we pointed out the giant open table next to the one they sat us at that we would have all fit at. So we had an adult and kids table which I think everyone was pretty happy with. Sunday we had cake and ice cream at grandma and grandpa’s house. She wanted dolls and legos for her birthday. It was a successful birthday weekend!

The house wasn’t done in November but it was close enough that the girls could start seeing how they wanted to do their rooms. Emilee wanted to have a wall with triangles all over it with her favorite colors so we did that. I had to reach the tall areas but she did as much of it herself as she could. It turned out very cute! Allison was going to do a blue accent wall in her room but after trying a few samples she decided to go all white.

Emilee was one of the student of the months for November. The school changed it to something a little different this year. They call it “Showing Strength of Character” and they have a few different qualities they are focusing on for the year. It is basically student of the month though. We were very proud of her for being a good student and a good person. She also performed in her last Veteran’s Day Performance for her school as well. Emilee loves to sing and sings a lot at home or church but she does not like school performances-especially if they involve singing. We always give her a hard time because she looks like she wants to disappear when she is up there singing.

https://youtu.be/-fVVLxGqtdU (Veteran’s Day Performance)

Ryan was promoted this year to VP of Sales in his company. He has worked very hard and we are very proud of him. He is awesome. Shortly after his promotion, he moved to a new office. He asked me to come help him organize it so we went and did that one Saturday afternoon. Here are the before and after pictures. He still needs a plant and another picture or two but it looks good!

This year was a Terry Thanksgiving. We ate at Grandma and Grandpa Terry’s house and Becky and Jake and their family came from Idaho. My parents were going to be in Oklahoma with my brother for Christmas because he was having a new baby so they decided to join us for Thanksgiving. We were hoping to be in the new house by then but it didn’t happen so they squished in with us at our rental for the week. We played games and watched movies together. Grandma and Allison made lots of yummy treats. It was pretty cold so we didn’t do to much outside. We were able to fins a few of our holiday puzzles and put them together. We love doing puzzles in November and December. Right before we ate Thanksgiving dinner the cousins that were there decided to put on a Thanksgiving performance for us. Allison and Leah helped organize them and they all did a great job sharing their parts. Here is a link for the video.

https://youtu.be/p6NRBpi_0-E (Terry and Bourne Cousins Thanksgiving Program 2021)