Weekend of Fun

Our friends Jordan & Callie and their new baby Drake came to Boise over the weekend to hang out before they move back to Colorado. We had a ton of fun with them and wore ourselves out. The weather was near perfect so we went to Simplot's Hill & Hyde Park Saturday afternoon then had a barbeque and played a rousing game of lawn darts that night. Here are a few pics...
















Callie and Tess walking down Simplot's Hill. I call this our Kennedy picture because it seems like a picture the Kennedy family would be in...green grass, nice house, American flag in the background.

















This is somewhat creepy. Jordan and I were running down the hill with blankets as capes (so as to catch the wind and take flight). In this shot I look like one of the monsters from M. Night Shyamalan's movie "The Village".

















Brayden and Brooklyn liked playing with Jordan. Brooklyn ever appears to be checking him out in this shot.
















Preparing the coals for the firewalk (which we did later that night).

















Here Tess throws a lawn dart. Despite her good form and the fact that she was wearing a Nike sweatshirt, we fell to the Anderson's late in the game.






















We were red. As you can see, this round wasn't our best. We should have played Bocce Ball instead.

Not for the queasy or faint of heart

Now that we've shown how we told Tess's parents that she was pregnant, we thought it was time for the world to see how we told my parents. I must warn you, the photos you will see may be disturbing to some viewers. As the title of this post suggests, it is not for the queasy or faint of heart. So here's how we did it. I found a picture of a baby and using a page out of Conan O'Brien's book, I gave the baby features from both mine and Tess's face. I then blew the picture up to poster size and framed it. Our original plan was to wrap it up and give it to my mom on her birthday. Unfortunately, Tess had been sick for about three weeks straight. A week before her birthday, my mom asked Tess if she thought it might be morning sickness. Tess, afraid of ruining the birthday surprise, told her that she didn't think so.

After lying to my mom Tess's guilt overwhelmed her. So later that day we hung the picture up on the wall above where my mom keeps pictures of all her grandkids. My dad saw it first and asked us if it as for real. We told him it was and then he got my mom to come look at it. For those of you who know my mom, you can imagine her reaction. For those of you who don't know her, she screamed and asked repeatedly, "Are you serious?"

And now, without further adew, the picture...








































As you can see, our baby has Tess's eyes and mouth and my nose and hair. It will also be born with a tattoe on its right arm that says "Grandkid #8".

Tess is crazy pregnant

For those of you who haven't heard, Tess is pregnant. The due date is Oct. 20th. We're not exactly sure that we can be trusted as parents, but we're both excited to give it a shot. We made this video to tell Tess's parents that she was pregnant. This will be her parents' 20th grandchild so we took the birthdays of all the other grandkids and flashed them one by one on the screen, with every fifth one showing Tess's due date. Anyway, I'll stop trying to explain it and just let you watch it. (Make sure the volume is up, the music is what makes it good).



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qxnz6Puh0cE

"Chicago Night Sky" Update

Ever since our post on the top gag gifts of Christmas 2008 there has been an overwhelming response of persons interested in purchasing the artpiece "Chicago Night Sky", by Sam. (For those who did not read the original post, here's the link: http://ryantess.blogspot.com/2008/12/top-5-gag-gifts-of-2008.html )

Unfortunately, as I made an effort to contact Terri Anne to see if she'd be willing to part with it in exchange for a monetary reward, a startling revelation was made. After some interrogation, she admitted to single-handedly throwing the masterpiece away. From what detectives can gather this disgusting act occurred somewhere between the hours of 11 am and 3 pm on Dec. 25, 2008.

All hope is not lost though. Six weeks ago, on or before Jan. 20th I would have said all hope was lost. But the recent inauguration of President Obama changed all of that. Just as Obama did not give up on his dreams, so would I not give up on mine.

I have narrowed the search for Chicago Night Sky to the Hidden Hollow landfill off of Seamans Gulch Road. Ariel and ground surveillance (pictured below) of the landfill suggest that the artwork may yet still be amidst the pile of unburied trash.

We will keep you updated.

Rexburg weekend!

We were able to go over to Eastern Idaho to visit a little over a week ago. We had a good time visiting with Benson, Anna, and Riley. We also got to see our great friends Jordan and Callie Anderson in Rexburg. Jordan didn't tell Callie we were coming so it was such a fun surprise when we showed up.

















Ryan riding the 4 wheeler with Riley up and down the street. We had forgotten how cold Eastern Idaho was, we were quickly reminded.
















Despite being due in 6 weeks Callie jumped up and down when she opened the door and saw us. We had tons of fun playing games and hanging out just like old times.

















Last stop. Before we left the land of cold I got to stop and see Brittani. Catching up on her life is always so great.

Winter Special Olympics

Ryan and I were able to go watch a little bit of the figure skating during the World Winter Special Olympics when it was in Boise a few weekends ago. All of the athletes were so excited and happy, we were glad we were able to see them.






























Ryan and I cheering in the stands.

















Our favorite skating outfits were the two Spiderman costumes we saw throughout the night.

Happy Birthday Papa Baird

Yep, my daddy is 60 years young today. Ryan's dad and my dad are both 60 now. We love our dads and are so grateful for them and all they still continue to do for us.





















Momma and Papa Baird being silly.

















Here is a picture from my trip home in December. Adam, Mom, Dad, Brigham, Ylfe (with her baby boy coming in April), Krystal, Jandi and Me (Tess).