Star Wars Celebration IV

I'm involved in something we'll call The Lego Community. This title encompasses all the Lego fan sites on the web, and the various clubs around the world. A friend of mine named Steve Witt works for the Lego company as a community relations kind of guy, and he was tasked with setting up a booth representing The Lego Community at the 4th Star Wars Celebration held here in Los Angeles this past Memorial Day weekend. Myself and a dozen others were brought on to help with the planned display, which was a giant mosaic based on some art drawn up by Lego fan-turned-employee artist Greg Hyland. Thanks to Steve, Katie and I were lucky enough to get into the convention on Monday after hosting him and his girlfriend for a night during their stay here.

The finished product on display.



Up close.



Katie being attacked by the monster!



Oh no, he got me too!



Some of our favorite pieces in the Darth Vader helmet art display.



Yay Star Wars!

Pirates 3!!!

We had a great time with Ryan's family on Saturday. We drove down to the Baker's and we all went to see Pirates of the Carribean 3 and then Denise fixed us a fabulous dinner.

Ryan's mom got everyone pirate hats and flags. All of the people in line were SO jealous!


Garin loves his pirate hat!


I think Ryan was the most excited one of all!


Luke waiting in line.


Nate giving his uncle Ry Ry tips on playing Pokemon while waiting in line.

About five minutes after leaving the Baker's house, we realized that we had left our camera there. This is what happens when you leave your camera alone with them for just a few minutes.

Denise


Derek


Megan


Emily


Nate


Luke

Thanks for the great pictures! Maybe we'll have to forget our camera more often!

Biggest Loser!

Ryan, his mom, sisters, and I started a Biggest Loser competition about six weeks ago and right now Ryan is in the lead. He's amazing!

Week 1 vs. Week 5

He doesn't seem to see much of a difference, but I do and so does everyone else. Way to go, honey!

Happy Mother's Day!

We didn't want our moms to have to cook on Mother's Day, so we invited both families over for dinner. It was a lot of fun to have everyone there!

The table is all set


The Wood Family


The Bradley Family

It was nice to celebrate Mother's Day and we had leftover birthday cake to celebrate Ryan's birthday (Sunday was his actual birthday and he was born on Mother's Day 23 years ago). Thank you all for coming over!

My Spider-Man Birthday Party!

Because my birthday fell on Mother's Day this year and we already had plans for our moms that day, Katie decided to celebrate my 23rd birthday by throwing me a Spider-Man themed birthday party on Friday night complete with decorations, cake, and games. My best friends all came, and we had an awesome time. Party pics below:

A view of the apartment all decked out in Spidey decorations. The string webbed all over the place was part of a game we played.


Katie baked and decorated this awesome Spider-Man cake!


The spread of food. Yay for pizza and "Green Goblin Slush"!


Playing a "Pin the Tail on the Donkey"-type game with Spider-Man and his most famous enemies.


Present time! Thanks for the gifts everyone! (The blue thing became an exercise ball when we finished pumping it up...)


Yay birthday cake!


Katie playing Spider-Man 3 on the Wii.

Party Time!

As you're all probably aware, someone is about to have a birthday. Ryan is turning the big 23 on Sunday, so we're having a Spider-Man birthday party for him.

I searched online for ideas and found a great idea for making our own invitations and Ryan did a great job on them.

We're looking forward to the party and will be sure to take lots of pictures!

What a wonderful husband!

I started coming down with something on Thursday and by Saturday I was miserable and didn't see any way that I would make it to church the next day, so I asked Ryan if he would be willing to teach my Primary class for me (I teach the 5 and 6 year olds). I know he wasn't thrilled to do it, but he's such a great husband that he agreed to do it.
When he got home from church, I asked him how it went and he just gave me this look and said "I don't know how you do it every week." I just laughed as he told me about the lesson and how there were only three kids, but they all wanted to talk. Apparently the lesson started with something to the effect of "image you have a pet", which got them all joining in with "I have a puppy", "I don't have a puppy", "I had a fish, but he died", etc.
I'm pretty sure the word "monsters" was used in Ryan's description of these adorable children and he even made the comment that he would rather teach Elder's quorum, but I'm so grateful that he was willing to teach them for me. You're the best, honey!