HAP-PY BIRTH-DAY!

Happy birthday, miss Rya!  She turned ONE on Friday, June, 8th.  We didn't have a big birthday party for her because we headed to Okoboji that Sunday to meet my parents, sister, and two nephews at my parents' time share.  Since Rya doesn't really know any different, we'll hold off until next year to have a big celebration.

Grandma & Grandpa Von Behren got Rya a pair of cute pajamas, and the leggings & pink tee she is wearing.

Grandma & Grandpa Kelso got Rya a cute little Okoboji t-shirt that they then had "RVB 1" put on the back of.

In Okoboji Rya got to go swimming for the first time.  We tried a floaty with a shade but it was too chilly out of the water so I held her and walked around the pool.  Rya wasn't afraid at all.  Eski says she's an H2O baby.  :)

We went to Arnold's Park and watched cousins Caden and Rayne go on the rides.  Next year we'll get Rya on some rides.  She got to play on the playground there and LOVED it!

We also went on the Queen II boat for a relaxing ride around West Lake Okoboji.  Learned that the most expensive house in Iowa is on the lake, at $5 million something I think the guide said.  Warren Buffet's nephew also has a house on the lake, as well as the founder of the gummy bear!  Who knew?!  :)

Rya had so much fun in Okoboji that we had a hard time getting her to nap.  ;-)  But she did ok sleeping while on vacation.  She actually had an ear infection that we just learned of the day before going on vacation.  I thought she might have one over Memorial Day weekend, but wasn't sure and then she slept through the night for the 2 weeks and her symptom was only that when we changed her diaper she fussed and cried and it kept getting worse and worse of a situation; I hesitate to take her to the doctor every time she isn't acting herself, since it could be teething too, which we believe she's been doing recently as well, so I didn't take her to the doctor for 2 weeks, but thought I should before going on vacation.  Sure enough, she had an infection so we got her on antibiotics.

Vacation was great, but not quite like what it used to be before Rya when I used to lay out at the pool all day long- with Rya I was in the room more time than not, getting her to bed, feeding her, etc. ;)  Then, when we got home from Okoboji we went on to Olin for Von Behren cousins Brant & Natalie's baptism on Father's Day.  We are baby Brant's sponsors, and are excited to be a part of the twins' Christian life.

After we got back home from vacation and the baptism trip, we said goodbye to Jesse's motorcycle!  :-(  Jesse had a big scare on it last summer and ever since he felt he should sell it.  He realized his family is too important.  I told him we could always get another when our kids are grown up.  So here we are on the bike for the last time-

Yesterday was Rya's one year doctor appointment.  She is in the 90th percentile in height and 50th percentile in weight = long & lean, as Dr. Bilgi puts it.  Rya is now drinking all 2% milk and has started eating some of mommy's chicken strips and french fries.  :-D  She loves graham crackers, gold fish, and biting off mommy & daddy's bananas.

We also did one year pictures yesterday.  I'm super excited about them, but hate the fact that we still have 6 month pictures in frames but not hanging on any walls yet!  We have a little gold & black tutu she wore for some pictures, plus 4 other outfits!  I got a 5" cake and a used a balloon from Eski's b-day party for Rya, for some pictures.  We had one of those round rainbow lollipops for some pictures.  Stay tuned to see her pictures b/c they were so cute & fun, other than the hot, muggy weather, and rushing so that we got them in before it stormed.

Work is busy and going well.  Jesse is keeping busy with Driver's Ed in addition to basketball and football workouts.  I think that pretty much catches you up on our life.  I hope to post again soon with Rya's one year pictures.  In the meantime, I will be busy uploading pictures to Shutterfly to make a picture book of Rya's first year!  It's hard to believe it's been a year since Rya was born, and it's been quite the ride.  But I treasure the first year of many things, and look forward to the next and all it brings- hopefully some words!