THE Elk Hunt

Travis had quite the adventure on Eddie's Elk Hunt this year. They saw lots and lots of Elk and had multiple Bulls to go after. The trick to this hunt was getting Eddie close enough since he has a hard time hunting due to his physical limitations. So they attempted multiple times to stalk, shoot, or drive up to the bulls but finally, on the last morning they were there, they spotted one off the main road and got him. He's an average size bull, but so good that they were able to harvest one after all that hard work!

Now the hunt was a little more challenging with the freezing cold weather and snow storm that came through. Thankfully, Eddie had rented a trailer for the 4 of them to sleep in. It was also challenging because of all the things that went wrong- generators didn't work, diesel fuel was put into the wrong equipment, water lines and water jugs froze, tires blew, but worst of all was the steering knuckle that broke on Travis' truck! So yet again, he had to get towed- this time all the way from central Nevada to Beaver, including his trailer with the ATV on it. :P What a mess! It definitely was the trip where everything went wrong. All I have to say, is I'm glad I wasn't part of this hunt! I did my time in a huge snow storm hunt. :) But overall they all had a great time and it was a good hunt.

Down to Vegas

While Travis was out on the big elk hunt with his dad, Eddie, and Erik, Dallen & I headed out on his first trip down to Vegas. I hadn't been there since my baby shower in April, but I still found myself calling it 'home' a couple times. ha! I guess having family there and having lived there for 5 years it still is kind of homey. Who would've thought! Anyway, we had a great time staying with Linda and Kristin and her kiddos. Brighton and David were so fun to play with and see how big they've gotten!

Dallen enjoyed all the new toys and animals at Grandma's house and even had his first bath in a big bath tub there!

The dogs seemed to love having us there since they followed me & Dallen all over the house. (In the picture below, that's all of us in the bathroom, minus Roxy who was in the hallway right behind me, getting ready in the morning!) Sadie and Roxy are getting pretty old so they couldn't play much, but they sure still wanted a lot of love. Lily enjoyed her Grandma lovin and hanging out with her doggie buddies.

While I was there I was able to go to the temple with Mindy thanks to Jill who watched Dallen for me. It was so nice to go again since the last time I went was April. I also did A LOT of shopping- the best was with Linda and Kristin at Toys 'R Us. :) Dallen loved looking at all the toys and we had fun finding the best Christmas gifts for the 3 grand kids. I also got to eat at my favorite restaurants: Panera, Sweet Tomatoes, BJ's, and Enzos. So yummy! I ate at Sweet Tomatoes with a bunch of the girls and actually got to go out with them a couple times. It was so nice to catch up! Dallen and I went to our old ward on Sunday too, which happened to be the Hammond's new baby girl, Presley's baby blessing. So adorable! And so wonderful to hear their testimonies. I also showed Dallen off to my old co-workers at Southwick LA. It was nice seeing them but felt weird not being a part of the every day business there. I definitely miss it and am so grateful I got to work in a field that I loved! So those were the highlights of the trip. I had a great time and hopefully less time will pass before we make it out there again!

Dallen's First Halloween!

We celebrated a quick little Halloween with our little turkey. Our neighbors were so kind to lend us this turkey costume and he did great. He just sucked on it basically the whole time. The little tummy poofs out and the feathers are adorable. We went to the church trunk-or-treat and just walked around and said hi to everyone. Lily came along too and loved running around checking everything out. She was a pink doggie- ok so she just wore a pink cape. :) It was a nice, warm Baby's First Halloween.

Momma's Helper

This month I was able to go home to Denver for a nice long 10 day trip. I originally planned to go out to babysit while mom and dad went to Brazil. Well turns out that my mom got a blood clot in her leg and they weren't able to go. Since having a clot can be pretty serious, Jess and her 2 girls went out the first week to help mom and make sure she stayed off her leg and then I went out to help her instead of babysitting. Well I did end up doing a lot of what she would normally do and the trip was definitely more to be the back-up mom rather than a vacation, but I loved being there regardless. It was so nice being part of my families everyday lives and helping out around the house.

I was a little apprehensive about the trip- driving to Denver by myself with Dallen and Lily. It's an 8 hour drive and turned into 10 hours with the stops. I got a book on tape (The Help) to help keep me stay awake which worked great- it was an awesome book. Dallen did great too. He didn't fuss as much as I thought he would. I actually think Lily was more annoyed with the drive out then he was- ha! The trip back was a little harder on the little guy because he came down with a little cold- runny nose and scratchy throat, poor guy. Anyways, overall, the drive was fine and actually gorgeous through the mountains with all the fall colors.

While I was there I did a bunch of organizing and a few projects. I think I got in a little over my head going through ALL the family photos to send them off to get scanned. I thought there'd be around 3000 photos max and it turned into 7000! I finally got them all organized and shipped some of them off. Should be fun seeing them all online once we get them back. :) I also organized the laundry room, the office supply cabinet, the cake decorating supplies and cabinet, the basement living room, the entertainment center, and the medicine cabinet. I didn't quite make it to the tupperware cabinet or the loft or the movie collection, but I did accomplish quite a bit and was always on the go. I went shopping for mom a couple times with Joy, took mom to doctors appointments, made dinners and cleaned. I got a lot of help with Dallen after school and he actually slept pretty good there, except when he got sick of course.


I did fit in a few fun things for me. I FINALLY got to see the last Harry Potter movie and it was AMAZING! Can't wait to see it again once it comes out on DVD next month. I saw it with Audra, Charity and their friend. It was fun. I also got together with Kym-me, Laura, and Trisha. It was so nice to see them and their kids! Stella is Dallen's age so seeing them together was so cute. Trisha's baby Asher is adorable and so cuddly. Laura's boys are so big and into everything like boys are. It's so crazy to think we're all moms now- we got together at my parents' house because it's just too hard trying to take babies to restaurants or anywhere really. Such a change from all the fun stuff we use to do. No complaints though- it's so worth it. :) I also got to spend some time at the big Denver REI and get at Noodles and Panera which was such a treat. I so appreciate yummy food from restaurants now that I live in a small town. I miss my favorites.




Dad had a blast with Lily- he played with her everyday when he got home from work and took her jogging in the mornings. She found her buddy and loved it. Overall it was a great trip and would love to do it every year. I think Travis and I might have worked out a deal that I can go out during hunting season each year since I won't get to hunt with him for a good long while since taking babies hunting is impossible. :) It's definitely nice to be closer to home and I feel so lucky that I had the time and was able to go.

1st CampOut

I have been itching to go camping for so long! We hadn't been since Feb 2010 out at Eagle Valley Reservoir. So in light of the up coming Elk Hunt, we headed out to Cave Lake to go camping with the Starleys. It was perfect weather- not too cold, just a little rain and so nice to be outside all day. I was a little worried about Dallen and the cold weather, but it really wasn't cold at all and we have a tent heater so it wasn't bad.



Dallen did great! He loved being outside all day and slept better at night camping then he has yet at home! I still had to get up to feed him so I was pretty tired by the end of the day without a nap, so time around the camp fire was minimal. But besides that, we had lots of fun. The trip went by way too fast- the guys went out in the morning to scout and then we rode the 4wheelers in the afternoon. Cael fished as often as he could and caught a couple too.





The big story of the trip was with Lily though. We decided to go riding without her one afternoon. So we just left her at camp, not tied up, and thought she wouldn't wander because she didn't know where we went or where to go looking. Well, we come back after about 4 hours and she was no where to be found. I was freaking out! I was hoping someone picked her up and saw her tags and called me. So I checked my phone and there was a message from a local number. It was the park ranger saying they had picked her up and the message was from 2 hours earlier! Thank goodness! So we go down to the station and it's all locked up. I can hear her inside and again was freaking out that she'd have to stay in there all night. :( Thankfully the ranger pulled up and said he picked her up after chasing her back and forth from the lake. Earlier that day I had taken her down to the Lake so she knew how to get there and back to camp. She rode around with him most of the afternoon and he had just recently locked her up in the bathroom in the station. I was sooo grateful! He was worried she was going to get hit by a car on the main road. Ugh! I would've died! So yeah, we learned our lesson. Don't leave Lily behind. She knows she's part of the family and will try and find us. Oh Lil...!

Anyways, it was a great trip and sooo nice to finally camp!

Dallen at 3 months

Here's a random sampling of Dallen at 3 months+. He's so much fun! He can completely hold his head up now, is working on his core muscles and definitely wants to sit up, but still working on it. :) Tummy time isn't his favorite, but he has 'accidentally' rolled over or done a half roll a couple times so he's almost there. He loves attention now and isn't as content as he use to be sitting in front of toys. He reaches for everything and is starting to bring everything he touches to his mouth. He smiles all the time and giggles and coos a lot too. He's even ticklish on his neck and above his knees. It is the cutest thing to hear him talk and laugh. We love spending time with him and cheering him on in his little achievements. :) He's still a cuddler, well, when he's sleepy and he still naps often. He's up to a 3-3.5 hr feeding schedule (thank goodness) and maintains that through the night (not my favorite). But after feeding at night, he usually goes right back to sleep, so I can't complain too much. We love him to pieces!

Blanket Cuddler

Talkin and Bouncin away

Fell asleep hangin out with Dad in the garage

And another sleepy pose

pumpkin head!

Lily begging for her share of attention too!

Ridin the Schnauz

Smiler!

Riding Butterscotch with the Phillips

Little Farm Boy

Rhino eyes!

Tummy Time- 'Now how do I do this roll over thing?' :)