Amy Lynn - Through The Years

On this date in 1971 at Holloman AFB near Alamogordo, New Mexico, we were blessed with our second baby, a girl.  My dreams of having two little girls close together had just come true and I was over the moon with happiness.

For Amy's birthday today, I'm posting pictures taken every few years throughout her life.

Here she is being greeted by her sister and new best friend forever, Lori.  It's a friendship that's endured for over 40 years now.

 She was an adorable toddler and if I could find the picture of her at this age sneaking a taste of her birthday cake when she thought no one was looking, I'd post it here.  I thought two things at that time - she was too cute to get mad at and she was definitely a child of my heart.

As an infant, Amy smiled early and often and as these pictures will show, she's been smiling every since.

Here she is with her grandparents when she was 8 years old.

And with her cousins and her closest sister when she was eleven.

In junior high and high school she was a cheerleader and a great one at that.

And here she is a few years later when she was in the wedding of a good friend.

Not too long after that she danced at the brother's wedding.

And one of my favorite pictures of her when she was about 27 was with the first, most important love of her life, her daughter Amber.

And periodically after that.

But there are so many more important things about Amy that don't come out in periodic pictures and they are about Amy and her loves.

She loves her first daughter who has turned out to be a loving and true friend.

 She loves her family because she is first and foremost a family girl.

She loves all three of her grandbabies and she loves that she's such a young grandma!

 Jack

 Dane

 Aubrey

She loves her sisters.


And, in fact, all her siblings.


She adores her nieces and nephews and you can count on her to be the first one to interact with them.  It's truly amazing how they all respond.


And she loves camping, fishing, and all other outdoor activities.
 

 All in all, Amy's a wonderful person.

You can always count on her to help and she's one of the hardest workers you could ever hope to have at your side.

She's loyal and sweet and would rather run from an argument than win one.

We're so blessed to have her in our family and I miss having her nearby every single day.

So Happy Birthday, Amy.  Here's hoping it's the best one ever but only half as good as the many, many more to come!

Ryan Matthew

What a great kid!

Eighteen years ago today we welcomed our second grandchild into the family. He was born in LaPorte, a town about 10 minutes away, at 4:17 a.m. weighing 9 lbs 3 oz. He was 23 inches long and his feet were so large that his footprints covered part of the wording on his birth certificate.

From the time he was very little, he was loving and friendly to everybody. And I mean everybody.

He and his one older cousin, Amber, got along famously.

And they both welcomed our third grandchild -Ryan's brother, Jared - with open arms.

And speaking of Ryan's brother, he's always been close and loving with him. They are such a fun pair.

Here they are doing a parody of the rap song, Hey You There, last Christmas. That was awesome!!!

Ryan was equally welcoming to his baby sister, Emily, although I haven't seem them do any parodies together yet.

From the youngest age, Ryan has always had athletic tendencies.

And he plays both varsity football and baseball in high school.

We should have known he'd be a good athlete when he starting sporting this look and playing Spongebob Ball.

In addition to his athletic skills, he was academically gifted too and started 'pretend' reading at a really early age.

He's always been a good boy who seldom required punishments like this:

And last Spring (how is it possible?), he was old enough to attend his Junior prom.

Ryan lives far away from us now near Lincoln NE so I can't tell you a lot about his day to day life but I can tell you this. Ryan is one of the greatest kids you'd ever want to meet. He's kind and loving and has a wonderful sense of humor.

We're so proud of you, Ryan, and hoping this birthday is your best so far; and that they just keep getting better and better.