Just some of the lovely people who loved on Cadence this last week

Little Blue Dress

This picture is Bonnie, Cadence and I. This little hand made dress is one that Bonnie worn in her one year pictures. We found out later that we had it on backwards. It is still adorable.

HAPPY 27th to RYAN!

I still think he has no idea what he got into when he married me! I am so blessed to have a husband and best friend like Ryan. He has always been handsome, fun, giving, loving, hard working and much much more and now he is showing himself to be a wonderful dad.

Trip to Iowa

Recently the family took a trip to Iowa. We went up for Cadence's family shower! It was wonderful! Lots of good food, fellowship and cute gifts (a ton of cute clothes!!!) Then Ryan had to come home and work so Nixy, Piper, Cadence and I stayed for a whole week (okay 6 days) but it was a long time to be gone from Ryan. It was wonderful to spend time with family that we don't get to see very often. We didn't catch up with everyone but we did see most of the family. Best of all I didn't have to clean, do laudry or take care of anything (besides Cadence and the dogs!). We helped move Matt into an apt. up near his school (I didn't help very much -- Cadence had to have "dinner") but we were there. That is the picture of Matt and his girlfriend, Tamara (I told her to scowl). Tamara and I had been working on this silly entertainment center for 30 minutes (to our credit it was missing pieces, we both had colds and I am a new mother). Then Matt came over and said something along the lines of "i think you should try it this way" -- in the end we had it right but we had to assemble it upside down (which we did figure out but were too tired to undo to redo that late). Other pictures are from the shower. The "poopie" diaper game is where you melt different candy bars in the micro and then have people try to identify them by any sense except taste (!!!!!!!!!!!!) fun game but still incredibly gross! I said to one of my 2nd cousins that the guys should have to guess when they came home and then she said yeah but the 5th diaper should be a real poopie diaper!!!! you can tell she has brothers.

Since I am posting...

Raise your hand if you think she looks like a Patrilla...the blaket by the face is a new thing that she is enjoying this week.

Cadence's Olympic Future

Since the country is in a Olympic tizzy, Ryan and I decided to plan Cadence's life out for her by choosing a sport to go the 2028 Olympics. Here are the contenders:
1) Gymnastics - was a no because we don't want her to be 4'11 and have a squeaky voice for her whole life
2) Ping Pong - I am sorry, the serious people call it table tennis. We decided this was a little dorky :).
3) Running - this had a serious chance until we realized one of us who probably have to train with her until she was good enough to get a pro coach. Ryan said he had bad knees (cop out!) and I just don't like to run so track got voted out.
4) Swimming - this was alright but she really won't be tall enough (even the girls are 6'0 and above!) plus if Cadence became a swimmer we would have to use words like "swum" in everyday conversation and that is just a strange word.
What about trampolining (is that word?), cycling, sailing, AHHHHHHHHHH so many to choose from.
As you can tell we can't really decide so we are open for suggestions (listed below are all the choices) - archery is a serious contender (if Grandpa Patrilla can help coach) and I always liked watching Rhythmic Gymnastics (her name does mean rhythm...)! :)

Archery
Athletics
Badminton
Baseball
Basketball
Beach Volleyball
Boxing
Canoe/Kayak Flatwater
Canoe/Kayak Slalom
Cycling BMX
Cycling Mountain Bike
Cycling Road
Cycling Track
Diving
Equestrian
Fencing
Football
Gymnastics Artistic
Gymnastics Rhythmic
Trampoline
Handball
Hockey
Judo
Modern Pentathlon
Rowing
Sailing
Shooting
Softball
Swimming
Synchronized Swimming
Table Tennis
Taekwondo
Tennis
Triathlon
Volleyball
Water Polo
Weightlifting
Wrestling

Olympics

Here are a few things that I have observed about the Olympics...
1) All the athletes (minus gymnasts, long distance runners, and cyclists) are extremely tall. I never knew that the athletes were almost all over 7'0 - okay that is little dramatic but who knew that even the rowing competitors were over 6'4.
2) Swimming is now an American obsession.
3) China has a flare for lights - Beijing looks like Las Vegas on steroids.
4) I didn't know that each athlete has like 200 support people - coaches, trainers, massage therapists, clothes holders, water handers, spotters, timers on and on the list goes. I guess I just assumes they trained and showed up and competed. How silly.
5) Finally, I find it ironic that what "brings the world together" is a HUGE competition were we are all striving to prove whose county has the best athletes and whose athletes just don't measure up. I guess it is not a philosophical "bringing" together but a literal "bringing together", which would be true since everyone is in China :).