Saying Goodbye to Dad & Ryan :-(

With Grant just recovering from Mononucleosis, he was feeling a little overwhelmed, holding down the fort at our house in Belize while Grady & Ryan headed to Oregon to work the hay harvest..Everyone was so sad to say goodbye!

God be with you 'till we meet again!

We had experienced so many issues with systems failing with the house such as: the plumbing, the water lines, the cistern fell and broke, our solar system failed and we had to run off of a generator.. we didn't have hot water.. low water pressure, limited power.. and then the day after Grady left, the generator switch died. This photo cracks me up because Grant was TRYING to get the generator started so that we could charge the batteries but the switch failed! So he had to pull the truck into the front yard- through the mud, to the generator to jump start it with the jumper cables. It seemed like a gloomy way to start the long 6 weeks without Grady and Ryan! Thankfully though, we were able to purchase a replacement charge controller and Jeremy King got us all situated. After that things were much easier because we didn't have to depend on the generator!

Grant was such a trooper!!!! He was really put to the test.. many stressful things happened while Grady was away from us! We had friends help too which was so wonderful!

The girls pitched in helping with projects! (I LOVE MY PORCH SWING!)

The kids felt that we needed a break from the jungle.. where there were lots of issues with the house...things breaking, failing.etc.. SO, they pitched in and paid for a few nights in a resort!! We had so much fun together! (athough we *missed* Grady & Ryan)

The first night we had a lovely tree house that was a screened room, overlooking the beautiful river!

The four olders went on a guided jungle horse ride! They had a blast!

The meals were superb!! It was a fun respite.. away from the fast-paced, never resting atmosphere and the construction issues facing us back at the house. Such a relaxed and fun time with our olders! The Lord has blessed us so much with such a wonderful family! Thanks you guys for a wonderful time!

Fun Around the House!!!

Laura, admiring the neighbor horse!

Our friends Daniel & Nakisha came over to make us a delicious Creole dish called Sere- a fish soup consisting of green plantains, red snapper, fresh coconut milk and vegetables..mmmmm!

So delicious!

Nakisha is an expert at doing hair! She put in this pretty DOO while visiting!

Ashley & Amanda helped our neighbors by creating a website and taking pics of their adorable puppies for sale!

A few weeks being in Belize Grant got mononucleosis. It lasted about 6 weeks.. He was extremely sick for about 2 weeks.. the recovery process took months. In the process he lost about 10 pounds!

He's soo skinny!

Having fun taking Guard down for a drink in the creek

Ash teaches Maritza how to play the violin!

Grace and Laura help mama start some plant & veggie seeds

Grace & Grant do some exploring down at our creek!

...more exploring!

Just LOVE the broadleaf plants!

...I think this is called fire tail? SO beautiful!

These orchids were planted by the creek by the former owner of our property.. gorgeous!

A little piece of paradise!

The girls have so much fun with the sweet farm animals!

Happy Father's Day 2017!!

We enjoyed going to Cheers! for lunch. It was such a blessing to spend some extra time with Grady. We all were kind of dreading a few weeks later when both he and Ryan would be gone for 6 weeks to work the harvest in Oregon. Cheers is located in a great place! They have a playhouse and swingset for the children as well as being on a huge piece of property.. complete with gorgeous flowers and shrubs and horses!

With Dad! From left: Ryan 18, Grant 15, Ashley 25, Grace 9, Laura 6 (almost 7!!) and Mandy 23

Best Friends!

Laura & Ryan's Birthdays!

We enjoyed going to Countryside Park on Laura's birthday as a family. It was nice to have a little time just to ourselves. Later in the day we headed back to AV for a combined bday party with our friend D. :-)

D and Laura shared a birthday party! It was so fun to all celebrate together!!

Happy Birthday to the most wonderful 7 year old little girl in the world!!!

We love you sweetheart!

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Ryan's 19th Birthday!!

Since Ryan was heading back to OR to help with the harvest, we had his birthday celebration a few weeks early! It was a blast! Nakisha & Daniel helped decorate and cook. I found a pretty cake at a local shop for him. It was gorgeous weather!

The Harders arrive for the party on their quad!

Edwin, Grant & Ryan

Grace & Laura with 2 friends

More people ended up coming than what was originally expected! I laugh when I look at this picture because that's an AWFULLY small cake for how many people were there! We were able to portion it out to everyone though! :-)

                                             

 Our AMAZING and absolutely PRICELESS son Ryan!!!!!!

The girls sat & visited on one side of the room......

And the boys gravitated to the other side of the room to visit! It was a very fun birthday party!