family fun time

this boy is bryce, who was incredibly adorable. bryce and ava were instant friends. they spent a great deal of time talking together and playing and sharing. here's a snippet of overheard bryce and ava conversation:

bryce: i have beds at my house.

ava: i have beds at my house TOO!!!

really? when you're standards are set at that level how can you NOT make friends?

ryan's mother has nine older siblings. they're all married. and they all have children. and a lot of those children are married. and some of those children that are married have children. that family is huge. they don't get together that often but i think it's because no one can fit them all into one house.

so we all got together because cousin jesse was getting married and everyone was excited because cousin cameron was bringing baby roan and since she lives in new york, no one had really seen him yet. plus ryan was there with baby seth and ava was pretty popular and cherise is pregnant with a boy and karen brought her mother's namesake, ruth. we all sat around at marilyn's house since she was the bravest one and volunteered her place for a barbecue and ate food over her carpet ad played with every toy we could find. i'm thinking she won't be volunteering her home like that again any time soon.

i loved it. i loved getting together with all those people and hearing all the stories of my loved ones. especially the story about how ryan would go over to his uncle eric's and aunt marilyn's and read their encylopedia brittanica like it was a juicy novel.

"i didn't know if he was really reading them," cameron told me, "and one day he was like, 'i'm on volume k' and i didn't know if he was joking or not." call me crazy, but my love for ryan doubled when i heard that story and i am dead serious. it was just SO CUTE.

but then erica told me that ryan was always asking why. always. and one day he asked what her freckles were. and when she told him, he asked, "are they like decorations for your face?" tell me this, ISN'T THAT THE CUTEST STORY YOU'VE EVER HEARD??? seriously?

it's a good thing this family isn't scheduled for another get together for a year, because i might not be able to handle more. i mean, i can only hear so many stories of young ryan before i just hug him to death.