Happy Halloween...

Our little punkin' is allergic to pumpkins! Poor thing broke out in hives after I stuffed her into the pumpkin:( We won't be doing that again!

I went to the dentist this morning only to find out that I must get a crown soon. ICKY! Guess I shouldn't have eaten so much Halloween candy over the years:) Granny babysat while I went. McKinley took a 2 1/2 hour nap, so they didn't get much play time in:( McKinley is now in the Jumparoo screaming, spitting and smiling. She has really found different pitches in her little voice. She is still too short to touch the floor. My box of files has seen better days- it does the trick though:) She has also been rolling over a lot more lately. Although she gets a little peeved when she can't figure out how to roll back over. And thank goodness the good Lord blessed her with beautiful feet, she loves to play with them! They are better then any toy she has!

Last night we surprised Papa Todd with a birthday party. Everyone gathered at Kathy's for dinner and cake. He is going skydiving this weekend to commemorate his 50th birthday! YIKES.

We sure hope Tyler comes home soon. He has been gone for 2 weeks tomorrow- way too long!

Hope everyone has a fun Halloween, most of you are too old to trick-or-treat- probably a good thing since the candy seems to stick around a little longer these days if you know what I mean:)

HAPPY 50TH PAPA TODD...

HAPPY 50TH BIRTHDAY PAPA TODD. We hope you are having fun in Boston!

Joan and I finished painting today! It feels great to get that project done. It turned out great! McKinley has been exploring all day today. She loves to play with her toes and has also figured out that tummy time isn't so bad after all. She gets high centered on her belly (good thing or she would be crawling!)

I worked this afternoon and we are going to the fire station for dinner as soon as Doodle wakes up from her nap.

Have a great week!

Lil' Punkin'...

Oh my, where to start? We have had some milestones the past few days. McKinley has been repeating "Ma ma." I couldn't be happier! I guess that is what "Da da" gets for being gone:) ha! She also scoots on her back all over the place. She will go from one end of the living room to the other in no time. I have to clear a path for her because she doesn't quite get the concept of running into things. She also started laughing out loud every time I blow on her tummy. It is so cute and makes my day to hear her little voice. We went to the pumpkin patch today with Mel, Koleman and Hudson. It was great. I had never been to an actual patch before. We always went to Albertson's (they had the best!) After the outing we went to their house for pizza. The kids were hilarious. Hudson and McKinley love each other and Koleman is so good at sharing and playing with them. McKinley sat between them in the car today- what a lucky girl:)

My Dad got home from Idaho and gave me a great report! Tyler shot his buck yesterday!! Dad said it was a real nice one. Unky and Bob were still hunting and they also have 2 elk tags- so, I am pretty sure they won't be home anytime soon. Guess our meat will be extra good since it will hang for a while. Just the way we like it! Dad also said they were having a great time and their camp was really nice. I'll bet it was- you should have seen our shop before they left. There wasn't room to walk from one door to the next. They had a lot of stuff!

Nana is coming for the day/night tomorrow and we have Dailey's ONE year birthday party tomorrow night.

Off to bed, I am exhausted! Thank you to Granny for the use of her camera! :)

Filling our time...

Tyler will come home to a freshly decorated and painted bedroom and bathroom. I must say I am quite talented on selecting paint colors:) hee hee. It is amazing what a few hundred bucks will do in terms of makeovers. Not a makeover for me of course, I am talking about the room! :)

McKinley has been so great this week. I am thankful I have such a wonderful daughter. We hung out at home this morning. Paula and Levi came down to help me plant 3 oak trees. This afternoon we went to town with Paula. We got a ton of errands done and came home just in time for McKinley's final nap. She has been smiling at me when I put her down for her naps. I always kiss her on the forehead and say "nigh, night" They must be the magic words. The fire is stoked up (it is 76 in here.) We are set for our first really cold night of the season. I love wood heat- I am in a tank and capri's! :)

Happy day!

Missing Daddy...

Hi. We had a fun weekend. Went to Nana's Friday afternoon and came home on Sunday. Nana was hosting book club at her house this time. We just read a great book by Jim Fergus- 1,000 White Women. It was really good.

McKinley is a great traveler. She did wake up Saturday night with a bad dream or something. She hardly ever wakes up during the night anymore, but she did and wouldn't calm back down unless she was right next to me. Sooo, we shared a twin bed. :) I can definitely tell she is missing her Daddy. I am too. We are ready for him to come home. Hopefully they get their tags filled early! Yeah right!

Yesterday McKinley and I walked with Auntie and Cooper along the canal. It was beautiful. Today, I am working, McKinley is napping and Aunt Hannah is coming over to do chores to earn some money for her trip:)

Still no camera. Sorry! Here is another cute picture though.

First SNOW!!!...

Holy tallito! The picture posted on Wednesday of McKinley and Grandpa Jim shows the beautiful fall weather. Take note of Dad being in a t-shirt! Well...today there was snow in the very spot! We hiked up the loop this morning with Auntie, Cooper, Granny and Joan. It was raining at the bottom, but we figured we would be fine. Then the snow and wind came up! McKinley did not love the snow blowing in her face and ended up riding in my coat for about 45 minutes. She promptly fell right to sleep and I promptly got blisters on my heels and a burning sensation in my arms. She is heavy! It was quite the fun adventure.

We enjoyed dinner in town with Grandma Jackie and Aunt Hannah tonight.

Tyler left this morning for his big hunting trip. We sure miss him already! He better bring home some meat! It will be the best meat we've ever had- it better be anyway. Darn expensive!!! I could have some serious fun with all the money Tyler has spent on "the necessities." Ha! He must think I am stupid! :)

We are without a camera for a while. Tyler took it with him. So, here is a cute picture taken a while ago:)

Later gators.

Nanners and Hiking...

McKinley has been enjoying rice cereal for the past 2 weeks. She really likes it. Of course, she makes a HUGE mess and each time she eats I have to change her clothes:) Oh the joys of learning! Yesterday we gave her some bananas mixed with her cereal and she really like them. They are loaded with sugar- no wonder she likes them! Takes after her Mom on the sweets:)

We hiked the loop with Grandpa Jim yesterday. We met up with Joan and Granny who were hiking below us. It was a beautiful fall morning! Aunt Hannah came over in the afternoon to do some weeding. She is earning money for her trip to Europe next summer. She needs to earn $3,000!!! Whoa! She will be taking a 2 week tour. Do you think I could fit in her suitcase? :) We ended the day with dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was a perfect day.

Thug in training...

Just kidding! Oh, where to start. Tyler and I had a wonderful time on our date. We had an amazing dinner followed by some great wine and dessert. We slept in and enjoyed the fall colors and river feet from our room. What a fun getaway. Pretty romantic too:)

The 3 of us went back to the cabin and spent the night this time. It was great! McKinley is such an outdoor girl. On Sunday we had breakfast, took naps and cleaned up a bit. Tyler went for a HUGE hike in preparation for his big hunting trip to Idaho. Papa, Kathy and Uncle Tyler came over for prime rib dinner last night. Boy, we sure lucked out with good food this weekend. We even had a little homemade ice cream left over from the birthday party. It went very nicely with the apple crisp Papa had made!

Today we are cleaning and catching up after the big eventful weekend.

Have a wonderful day and make sure to take some time to enjoy the fall colors. :)

Week O' Birthday...

Tyler celebrated his 30th birthday yesterday. Actually, we started celebrating on Wednesday with a trip to the cabin in the jeep! It was McKinley's first trip there and she seemed to enjoy it. She loved the fire and was mesmerized for quite some time. Thursday we bbq'd burgers and made homemade ice cream with Mimi's chocolate sauce. I also had made Tyler a cherry pie. Parties have sure changed these days. There were 4 kids under 2 1/2, three of which were under 6 months! It was a hoot! Toys, potties, diaper bags and such were scattered all over. We loved the mess and had a great time watching all the kids play, etc. I almost forgot...McKinley wore her cammo dress in honor of Daddy's birthday and she even had PINK toenails!! :) Wonder who did that?

Tyler and I are going on an overnight date tonight:) Nana is going to stay with the little peanut tonight.

We also plan on going to the cabin for an overnighter tomorrow! Happy hunting!!!:)

Hangin' out...

So happy in her Jumparoo. This toy is a lifesaver! McKinley is to short to reach the floor, so we put a box under her toes. She loves it and jumps around like crazy. It also plays music- oh joy! Thankfully, whoever invented this masterpiece included volume control:)

McKinley was practicing sitting up yesterday. She decided she'd much rather lean and suck on her fingers.
Our new friend. This big ol' guy has been around since 1939. My Great Grandfather took this bull locally! He likes to watch me cook dinner:)

Hope everyone is having a good week. It is Wednesday already! Where does the time go?

Scrumptious...

The piggy was soooo tasty! The cougar was delicious too! We sure do know how to eat (and drink beer!) :) The pig roast was a success once again. It was great to be surrounded by so many great people. I am quite sure we will be having another 'Pre-hunting' gathering next year. This year was a piece of cake with McKinley. She isn't mobile enough to get into everything yet. She also had about 50 babysitters. It was a nice break for our arms:) Justin, Becca and Dailey spent the night. We had pancakes for breakfast and the girls played a little afterwards. It was fun to see them interact. Dailey is almost walking! It is hard to believe she will be 1 in a few weeks.

Well, back to laundry and I think I hear the vacuum calling my name...

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Thanks to all for the food, drinks and memories last night.

Oink, Oink...

We are going to have our annual piggy roast tomorrow. We are late on getting the ol' ball rolling- sorry for the late notice. The shin-dig will occur tomorrow night at 5-6pm. Bring some sort of snack or side dish if you want. We will have some drinks, etc. We always have so much fun telling stories around Tulip (the fire pit.)

Nana and Uncle Tyler visited this week. Tyler just got home after being gone for almost 3 weeks fighting fire. He loves it! He had some great stories to tell and can't wait to start again next summer. His boss recommend him for a 'shot crew'. I think that is where they aggressively put out the hot spots??? McKinley was excited to cuddle with Nana. I am not sure if Nana or McKinley enjoyed it more? :)
McKinley did great after her shots. She woke up this morning and both Tyler and I thought she grew overnight! She also is doing lots of crunchies- attempting to sit up. She is so strong! Must get that from her Daddy!

Hope to see everyone tomorrow night! Bring friends and family- the more the merrier! :)

Happy Friday!!!

Shots...:(

Poor McKinley had her 4 month shots today. She was not happy and did not want to be put down. She weighs 13 1/2 pounds and is 24 1/2 inches long. She is still in the 50th percentile for her weight and 75% for height. I can't believe how fast she is growing. Cooper had is 2 month appointment today too and weighs almost 11 pounds. He is so cute! He had shots too. Poor Mays kids. This picture was taken a few days ago. McKinley discovered a new friend in the mirror. She laid on the floor for about 45 minutes talking to herself. It was hilarious. I was able to get all the vacuuming done while she was entertaining herself:)

Happy day.

Happy Campers...

We went camping! It was so fun. It was just the 3 of us Friday night. Saturday morning we went for a jeep ride and scoped out some firewood. Then, Papa and Kathy came to visit and Jonah, April, Ava, Mason & Lexi. We sat around the fire and watched the kids play. Uncle Sparky, Auntie and Cooper also came up Sat. afternoon and they spent the night. Auntie & Cooper slept in the camper with us and Uncle Sparky slept outside in the tent. Brent & Hailey also spent the night. We had a super time hanging out with friends and family! The kids were so good too! Sunday it rained all day. We put the kids in the Snugli's and went for a walk in the rain. Once again, I have soooo many cute pictures. I will post a few. Hope everyone is enjoying the changing seasons. We LOVE fall!

Love to all!