Love Lives On

Songs really speak to me and it is when I'm driving in the car, usually to or from work, that I think about Ryan the most and I hear songs on the radio that remind me of him or something we did together. Many of you have not seen me cry much; I cry a lot in the car.

I heard the song Love Lives on by Mallory Hope sometime before Ryan passed away (this was the song sung at his funeral). It spoke to me then and continues to speak to me, as I think about Aubrey growing up and keeping Ryan alive in our hearts and minds, especially because her own memories of him and things they did together with be few.

One way that Ryan lives on for us is through the fair. Although this has been a really tough week and going to the fair will probably always be a little tough, we go because that's what Ryan would have wanted. Ryan loved the fair and I could have cared less if we went more than one time. I remember the first time we went to the fair together and we had to buy passes for the whole week. I was convinced it was a waste of money and that we wouldn't go enough to pay for them; I was wrong . . . we went a lot and continued to go a lot every year. We even went at least 2 times the year Aubrey was just a little over 2 weeks old!



Last year we made it to the fair one day, but this year, we went to the fair 5 days! I actually went 7, but 2 were just at lunch time. Aubrey loves the fair - she loves the rides and the horse races and seeing the animals. We had a lots of favorites: food - cotton candy, ride - the Paratroopers, animals - the Wuebker's cows, special activity - the kiddie tractor pull, favorite horse - Kaptain. Aubrey got 9th place and a trophy in the tractor pull tonight.



Favorite picture:


I really appreciate all the cards, notes, and flowers I got this week. I really appreciate that you all think about us and pray for us often. It truly means a lot to me.

-A

Concert Fun

Aubrey and I (and lots of our friends) have been enjoying The Great Darke County Fair! Ryan's dad raced horses on Saturday afternoon and evening - got a 2nd and a 4th. Aubrey likes the horse races (I do too) so we went in Saturday evening to watch and then walk around a little.

On Sunday after our family reunion, we met our friends the Seuberts at the fair and the kids rode rides. After they went home, I rode a few rides with my daredevil daughter; we rode the Music Express and the Hurricane. I was finished with rides after that, but she rode a couple more ;). One of the ladies that I work with had extra tickets to the Rodney Atkins concert and Aubrey and I went along with Lois, her daughter and granddaughter. We had a great time, you can see from our picture above.

Tonight, Aubrey's friend Brooklynn was in the Little Miss Darke County Fair pageant so we went to watch her. My mom and Kaitlyn and Camryn came along as well. The kids rode 2 rides and had snacks from the fair. We've had a couple late nights in a row; tomorrow we're going to take it easy.

Mule Riding

Ryan grew up riding mules and Aubrey has always loved being around the animals. Aubrey's grandpa was racing horses on her birthday and couldn't come to her party, but he wanted to do something special for her so he set up a mule ride around the farm for Aubrey today. After work we went out to the farm and Aubrey got to pet all the horses and Uncle Russell led Gretchen around part of the track for Aubrey's ride. She did really well holding on and not sliding off. She'll be a good rider one of these days!

After our mule ride, we went out to supper with Uncle Nathan and Auntie Rachel. We ate at Sideliners and it was pretty good!


-A

Back to Work

I had to go back to work yesterday. For the first time in many years, I wasn't ready to return at the end of summer. I know last year that I didn't go back right away, but when it came time for me to return to work, I felt like I was ready - at least ready for the distraction.

I had a busy day yesterday, so it wasn't too bad. Today it hit me a little more.

We're getting close to the one year anniversary of Ryan's death and I had a rough day today; I would appreciate your prayers as I adjust to going back to work and I've been reflecting on the many things that have happened in this past year.

-A

Happy 3rd Birthday, Aubrey

Today was Aubrey's third birthday and she had a big party! Our friends Curtis and Karen and their boys came up last night and we went to Red Lobster to eat. My parents were watching Camryn and they joined us. Here are the five kids after we tormented the waiters during supper.



When Aubrey woke up this morning, I sang happy birthday to her and then she immediately wanted to head to Jumpy's (where we had her birthday party). I had to explain that we were going to church and then having lunch before her party. We went to Jumpy's after lunch and our family and several of our friends joined us there for jumping. We also had cake and ice cream and Aubrey opened some of her presents.



After Jumpy's, my family and a few of our friends came to our house for supper and Aubrey opened more presents and played with her new scooter and hand-me-down Barbie Jeep.



We have now entered the year of 3 and I'm afraid it will be a whiney year. She has been deprived of sleep the last few days though, so maybe the problem is just lack of sleep!

-A

New Homeowner

I was able to close on the house I've been living in in Versailles yesterday afternoon; I'm now officially the owner of my house! I was excited. That means that I pretty much have everything taken care of related to Ryan's estate and I'm looking toward the future in things that need to be taken care of around here. As I'm doing that, I'm looking at the calendar and realizing that my precious summer and free time are getting close to being gone . . . Aubrey and I have really enjoyed this summer and all the things we've done and I'm not ready for it to be over yet.

I'm going to be doing some landscaping around the house, removing the bushes from the flower beds and finding some more attractive flowers to plant. I'm also hoping to have a patio put in out back before fall gets here; I'm going to find out what the estimate for that job is tomorrow, so we'll see if we can get a patio or not :)

We went to Kings Island yesterday and had a lot of fun. Tonight I'm going with Jake and Brandi and my friend Emily to a Little Big Town concert; mom won tickets on the Tiger and didn't want to go. I'm looking forward to that.

I'm having a garage sale next week. I still have some of Ryan's tools that I'm hoping to get rid of, we've got baby clothes, all the stuff that went with Aubrey's nursery decor, some books, a couple ceiling fans, and a couple old tables to sell. If you need anything we'll be around Wednesday afternoon-Friday trying to sell it!

We also have Aubrey's birthday coming up next weekend! She is super excited.

-A

The Most Magical Place on Earth

We have just returned home from a wonderful, but tiring vacation. My parents took us (my brother, his wife, me, and their three granddaughters) to Disney World for vacation this past week. We had a blast! Everyone is tired; at least everyone at this house is, but it will definitely be a vacation to remember. We left last Saturday morning and drove to the airport in Columbus to catch our plane. Aubrey went to Florida with me in May, so this was her second time on the plane, but it was Kaitlyn and Camryn's first time flying. They all enjoyed the flight (and we had a good one). We arrived at Disney in the middle of the afternoon and by the time we checked in and got all our luggage around, we were hungry. We decided to eat, then swim, then we headed to Downtown Disney for a little while.



Sunday through Thursday, we hit the parks. We spent two days at the Magic Kingdom, and one each at Epcot, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. Aubrey loved the carousel at Magic Kingdom. She kept asking at the all the other parks to ride the carousel. We ate supper with Cinderella, her stepsisters, and Prince Charming. We had a Winnie the Pooh and friends dinner, and the last night we were there, we went to Mickey's Backyard BBQ; that was a wonderful time, dancing with the characters.





Yesterday, we headed away from Orlando to the beach. Aubrey really enjoyed the ocean and didn't even want to sit out for a very long snack. The sun was really bright and the water was very warm yesterday. I think most of us got sunburned.



We headed home late last night and arrived home early this morning. I'm doing laundry and unpacking and I keep thinking that I need to take a nap . . . probably won't get around to that today, maybe tomorrow.

By the way, I think I have the house unpacked and all the pictures hung on the walls, so if you're wanting to see the new house, feel free to stop by. I'm going to start tagging things for my garage sale in a couple weeks!

-A