First Parade

It seems like there was a parade almost everyday during Frontier Days, so we took the kids to see it last Saturday with Tyler's parents and Lisa. It was the first parade they have seen. Bradlee was interested for about five minutes and Brock not at all!

There were LOTS and LOTS of horses.

Tyler's Groove Thang!

And that is why I love my husband.

It's That Time of Year Again...

Cheyenne Frontier Days!!!

Wednesday during Frontier Days is always "Cheyenne Day" and all businesses close at noon. Tyler and I decided to take the kids down to the festivities just like last year. We went to the rodeo for a while and then hit up the carnival for some sweet rides and prizes.

Here is Bradlee enjoying a delicious dill pickle at the rodeo. She loves 'em!

FYI...This guy had some rockin' moobs. (You know what I'm talkin' about!)

Pretty sure Brock had zero fun the whole day.

Bradlee and Daddy on the Dizzy Dragons!

Bradlee and Mommy on the Flying Dumbo. She really was having fun, I swear!

Brock still not having fun.

Bradlee loved the rides so much she was even willing to go on some by herself! We didn't think Tyler was gonna fit on this one! You should click to enlarge this picture; it is super cute.

Bradlee and Daddy on the jumbo slide. She went down it all by herself and was laughing the whole way. Like I always say, no sissy babies in this family.

And....he finally gave up.

Tyler won some toys for Bradlee by throwing baseballs at plates. Apparently, he has a knack for carnival throwing games. However, I was unsuccessful at winning her a goldfish (weird, because I thought it was impossible to not win a goldfish). We ate curly fries and elephant ears, and by the end of the day were so tired we felt like death. Bradlee fell asleep literally two seconds after we got in the car. Good times!

They say that catchin' up is hard to do, now I know, I know that it's true...

Well, I think I am all caught up for the last three months. I am sure I missed a bunch of stuff, but that is what I get for being such a slacker. I am resolving to be better from here on out!

Fourth of July

My goodness, where do I even begin? We went camping with the McLachlans over the Fourth of July weekend in South Dakota. We left Thursday after work and got to the campground at about midnight. Bradlee spend the majority of that night puking, and I spent the majority of that night cleaning her up and holding a bowl. The next day we headed up to Mount Rushmore to see some awesome fireworks. We knew there was going to be about 20 to 30 thousand people there, and we thought we were prepared for that. By the time we got there, Tyler and I had to walk about three miles uphill with the kids. Luckily, we had a stroller for Brock. I almost forgot to mention that is was a torrential down pour this whole time, and that mountain is steep. We were determined to wait out the storm. Even when it wasn't raining it was impossible to dry off because of the thick humidity, but it did clear up and we did have some fun waiting about twelve hours for the fireworks to start.

Here's Buddy workin' it with the ladies. What girl doesn't like a water bottle to the face?

A typical Bradlee face. She is generally annoyed. "Seriously, dad, why are you still looking at me?"



Handsome devil.

Miss America.

Here's what they look like wet. I know you were curious.

The whole day had been a struggle, but we all tried our hardest to stay in a good mood because this fireworks show was supposed to be one of the top five in the nation. But, alas, when the time came....this was all we could see.

I kid you not, after all that, WE DIDN'T SEE ONE FREAKIN' FIREWORK, and I love fireworks! The fog was way too thick. About ten minutes into the fireworks display, that we couldn't see, we decided to walk down the mountain back to our car. The walk down was much more enjoyable.

That night we drove through Custer State Park back to our campground. The drive was awesome. They had these crazy tunnels cut straight through the rock.

Saturday we just took our time in the morning, and then went to have lunch at Sylvan Lake (where the end of National Treasure 2 was filmed). After that we went on a tour of Jewel Cave. That was super cool. That cave is seriously ginormous (that means super huge).

I was camping. Don't judge me.

They also have a spelunking cave tour. You have to be able to fit through this hole in order to go on that tour. FYI, Collin made it!

Sunday we went back to the Mount Rushmore Memorial because it was such a nice day, and I wanted to get a better look at it before we left. It was a much more enjoyable experience. That is definitely something everybody needs to see. Very cool!

Well, I cleaned up puke, walked three miles uphill in rain, used an outhouse and showered in a public shower. It was awesome! No, I am just kidding. I am sure I was a little high strung the whole time, but I was really glad to be able to see Mount Rushmore and spend time together as a family. I am just not a good camper, but I guess that's not a surprise! Even though I'm a little traumatized, we made some great memories, and Bradlee's new favorite word is Rushmore.

My Birthday Weekend

My mom and dad came to town to celebrate my birthday with us. On Thursday night we went to Pizza Hut, on Friday night we went to Red Lobster and on Saturday Jamie and Amy's family came up to be with us too. We had pumpkin pie (as you saw on Molly's blog, I thoroughly enjoy my pumpkin pie) and ham. Jamie, Amy and the kids all stayed the night. Bradlee snuck out of her room that night to get in bed with them. Pretty sure Jamie lost his spot to her. We didn't take many pictures that weekend because we were having too much fun, but here you can see Bradlee and Thaiya sleeping in on Sunday morning. We all went to church together, and my mom got to watch me teach Sunday School and Relief Society. I was pretty nervous to have her there. I don't care what most people think of me, but I wanted her to be impressed. I loved having my family here. It made for a spectacular birthday.

Bradlee's Wrath

The following is a product of Bradlee's anger. As you can see, it wore her out! FYI...she cleaned it up the next day.

Brock is ONE!

My Little Buddy is one. I can hardly believe it. Well, it has been a while since he turned one on May 22nd, so let me try to catch you up to speed. At his 12-month wellness check-up Brock weighed 22 lbs, was 30-inches long, and his head was 18-inches in circumference. His percentiles are pretty average, if anything, maybe a tad small. He took three steps the day before he turned one. He definitely did not care for walking for a few weeks, but now he doesn't stop! He has four big teeth, and he just sprouted a fifth one this week.

My little boy is just so handsome, I can hardly handle it. He is such a blessing, and he just melts my heart. He still sucks his thumb, and I love that too. He has this super low little man laugh that is 100% irresistable and contagious. We love him so much. Sometimes we get him out of his crib in middle of the night just 'cause we miss him!

Brock's First Birthday

Well, Brocks first birthday was originally supposed to be in SLC at my parent's house. However, my Granny's funeral ended up being on the same day (May 23, 2009), so we had to regroup. We decided to head to SLC and have his party at the McLachlan's house instead. We had a good time celebrating and eating. Our friends the Healeys and the Jensens came to celebrate with us. It was so good to see them. It is so hard to visit our friends in Utah with both of our families living there, so we were really glad they made the effort to stop by! We had his party outside with lots of food, cake and presents. I think Brock enjoyed himself.

Bradlee is such a good sister, she was by his side the whole time to help him open his presents!

Pretty sure his favorite present was a pair of shoes. Atta boy, Brockers!

Of course we sang to him and let him play in some cake. What would a first birthday party be without a huge mess?! He was a little unsure at first, but he got the hang of it...obviously! Maybe we helped him a little....

They each had a little taste.

If I remember correctly, he was a huge fan of this little maneuver.

Seriously, a boy needs to take a rest every once in a while.

How is this not the best picture ever? He loves it!

However, he HATED getting cleaned off in the sink afterwards. I am surprised the neighbors didn't call DFS.

On Saturday night my parents called and said they were going to hurry home first thing the next morning, so we met them at their house as soon as they pulled in the driveway. I was so excited that they made the effort to make sure we got to spend some time with them. Bradlee wasn't super fun for them because she had started puking Sunday morning, and incidentally, they both puked the whole way home to Cheyenne on Monday. That was super....unpleasant. All in all, a fun weekend. Thanks to the McLachlans for letting us party at their house on such short notice!