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?' :)

A Spikey Buck Hunt

This year's hunt for Travis was the archery buck and spike elk. He's never hunted archery before and was anxious to try out his bow and all his new gear. He hasn't hunted big game for himself since before he started PA school 3 years ago, so he was very excited to get to hunt for 4 whole weeks. I was rooting him on, mostly from home with Dallen, hoping he would fill his first archery tag and our freezer. Dallen, Lily and I did go out about once a week with Travis to 'help' with the hunt. Obviously it wasn't a very serious evening hunt on those days with a bouncin schnauzer and a fussy baby. We still had fun though hiking around and getting out up into the mountains. Travis' Dad and Nick came up for opening weekend while I went to Breckenridge for the family vacation. Nick came back a couple more times to help with the hunt as well, so I got to see Mindy then too. Sadly Travis didn't end up filling his tags although he came pretty close a few times. Once there were too many tree branches in the way; another time he jumped them and didn't have time to pull off a shot; and numerous times they just got spooked. It's a whole new type of hunt trying to get one with a bow and arrow. And although he wasn't successful this season, he's already known around here as a die-hard-hunter.

A few mountain goats-the white specks on the hill

One of the bucks he got close to, walking away from him

Dallen's first hunt!

Breckenridge Cabin Vacation

For our family vacation this year we decided to forgo the usual camping trip and make it a cabin trip to Breckenridge Colorado. We all love camping but decided it would be a lot easier with the little ones to do a cabin trip instead. The cabin was a 4 bedroom 2 story place with tons of beds. One room had a king size bed and 2 bunk beds! So we all crammed in and had a great time. We did one activity each day and then hung out and played games, video games, and just socialized at the cabin. It had a nice hot tub and fire pit that we also enjoyed as well as resident doggies that came around. Lily nor Travis came because it would've cost $150 non-refundable deposit for Lily to come :( and it was the opening weekend of Travis' archery hunt. I missed them both. (p.s. the mark on Jacob's head was from a propane lantern that he burnt himself on the day before the trip)

One of the activities we did was ride the train in Georgetown. We chose to do a train since we hadn't ridden one in a really long time and because it was an activity we could all do together. Grandma and grandpa even met up with us for the ride. The sites were beautiful but we mostly enjoyed watching each other play with the grand babies. :) I couldn't pass up getting a picture of grandpa taking a picture of the choo choo- one of his favorite past times.

The next day we went up to the ski resort and did a few activities up there. The older group took turns watching the babies while we rode the alpine slide and coaster. I did the coaster and probably loved it more than I usually would since I'm now a limited mommy. I definitely miss riding roller coasters etc. So the younger girls decided to do a bungee trampoline bounce and Sophie and Jacob rode the ponies. Well, Jacob wasn't too excited about that so Joy got to take his turn. :) Everyone had a great time and Dallen did great once again on another gondola ride.

The last day we spent on Main street and took family pictures and went shopping. It was quite the task trying to get a good picture of all the grand babies-ha! The shops were super cute but not exactly all that stroller friendly with lots of steps to get in. Never would've noticed that before. :) It was a great trip and well worth the 8.5 hr drive.