September Highlights

I hate the month of September. I don't know if it's because I have to go back to work, or if it's just the realization that summer is over and the long nights of winter are just around the corner. Whatever it is, I hate September, but hanging out with my cute family all month made it a little more bearable.

We went up to the Land on Labor day. Caden loves hanging out with his cousins! And Carson and Colton are the sweetest little boys to Kayla and Caden.

 All three boys in their jammies!

 And of course hanging out with Grandpa is one of the boys' favorite things to do at the Land

 Kayla and Carson got to go see and feed the horse

 and watch movies

 We all got to hang out down at the river

 And go for a 4 wheeler ride

 Makayla has been very attentive to her baby this month. She was giving baby her breakfast. (Oh and the other day I caught her "nursing" her baby... cutest thing ever!)

And then they went down for a nap together. Apparently Baby and Kayla sleep the same way :)

 Caden got some one-on-one time with Daddy

 And Kayla walked around the cabin with no pants on. This has actually become a recurring thing. Makayla will be in another room playing and when I go to check on her she has taken off her pants and diaper.

Labor day was the opposite for us this year. We didn't labor at all; we just relaxed at our favorite family get together spot.

Some other things we've been up to this month with our 19 month old:

We had some left over cupcakes from my birthday last month and Kayla LOVED them. We tried to hide them but she knew where they were and kept saying "cake" to us until we finally caved and gave her one.

We spent a lot of September getting ready for Craig's retirement party and Little Missy was the best helper. She helped me clean the shutters.

Cleaning the house is a lot of work, so our Little Missy had to take some bottle breaks.

 Some other things about Makayla at 20 months:
-She doesn't like her shadow following her.
-Kayla repeats everything we say, so we need to learn to be careful when we talk. She still repeats the last word of whatever we say. Some of our favorite words of Makayla's this month are: boogie, mana (banana), oh ya, and no way!
-She calls all insects "bee"
-Kayla is doing great at daycare. Last week I went to pick her up and she didn't want to leave! Brooke did inform us that Kayla is not the best at sharing. She will get super mad if someone attempts to take her toy or help her pick up her cereal that she spilled.
-Speaking of daycare, the other day Kayla was running and fell on the edge of the table and got a HUGE black eye. I'm sure most people thought we abused our child. We don't. We just have a todd.

Here's some highlights with our Cader Tot at 5 months old.

Caden learned how to roll from his back to his stomach in early September. By late September he mastered rolling from his stomach to his back. Now he gets on all fours and rocks back and forth which means crawling is not far behind... which means baby proofing the house gets more complicated. And when he's on his stomach his kicks his right leg.

Grandpa Collard was so cute playing  Snuggle Bear with Caden

Caden has turned out to be quite the happy little boy. He's always content to just do whatever we're doing, he loves watching Kayla play, and he laughs all the time. He even started making these cute little monster noises.

 Some other things about Caden at 5 months:
-He is very ticklish. And he has the cutest laugh when you tickle him.
-Caden loves rice cereal. We'll start him on baby food next month.
-He's pretty much lost all of his hair. I can barely spike it now.
-We're trying to sleep train him. Caden usually sleeps great until 4 am, when he wakes up and wants to eat then he'll go back to bed until 6 ish. We're trying to get him to just sleep until 6, but it's not working out so great. Poor Daddy has the task of getting up with Caden at 4 am.
-Caden is also doing great at daycare and Brooke has him on a good schedule. Plus Makayla is very protective of Brother at daycare, so we know he's doing great!


Yep, life is good with these two cuties. Especially when they pretend to like each other!

What Happens in Vegas...

Every 4 years the mining industry holds a HUGE conference and the only place that is big enough to host it is the convention center in Las Vegas. Since my husband is awesome and is a mining engineer, he got to go down. Since I am awesome and married a mining engineer I got to tag along with him for a few days. We figured as long as Tyler's work was paying for his trip down there, it wouldn't be that expensive for me to join... who can resist a cheap trip?

We stayed at the very fashionable Flamingo Hotel. Here's our view of the city

We flew to Vegas on Saturday. Tyler volunteered to help his co-worker set up the booth, but by the time we got there she had the whole thing ready to go. So we decided to look around at all the booths. I was in total awe! Mining equipment is big... I mean really BIG! Some companies brought in huge trucks, haulers, and shovels to display. It was seriously unbelievable!!!

I told Tyler all I wanted was a picture in front of a big tire. See what I mean? HUGE!!!

 Keep in mind, Tyler is 6 feet tall...

Tyler was having so much fun explaining what all the equipment was used for.

 I really felt like a midget next to all the equipment

 I dig. I haul. That's all.

 They seriously had a train... yes a full size TRAIN in the middle of the convention center.

I really had so much fun looking at the convention center. But that's not all we did in Vegas. Saturday night we went to dinner and to a Circ Du Solei show with Tyler's co-worker and her boyfriend. The show was hilarious and Tyler even got pulled on stage. I would tell you all about it, but I hope my kids read this some day and I don't want my kids knowing what went on in the show. You know the saying... what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!!!

Just in case you haven't seen enough pictures of me and Tyler in this pose here's another one.

Sunday we were completely lazy. We spent a few hours by the pool, then went to lunch, then came back to the hotel and took a nap. At 3 pm we finally decided to get ready for the night. Tyler's company hosted a dinner for all the employees and their spouses, so we went to that. Then we ended up playing Pai Gow Poker until 2 am. It was so much fun.

Monday I had to fly back, and Tyler had to stay until Wednesday to work. It was such a fun trip, and Tyler and I really lived it up,  but do you know what we missed the most?

This cute little girl and her squishy bum

 and this handsome little mess maker.

Vegas can't compete with these two!!!

The State Fair

We had so much fun at the county fair that we decided to take the kids to the state fair this year. The only day we could make it was on the very last day. Even though Tyler and I were going on about 4-5 hours of sleep (from Craig's retirment party the night before) we knew we had to try to go.

If you can't tell by their faces, the kids were pretty excited!!

 Kayla loves the animals. We got to see the cows, pigs, goats...

 and the bunnies. While we were looking at the bunnies a guy started taking her picture. He got Makayla's name and said he was from the Deseret News and to check online if they decided to use her picture.

 We also got to seee the chickens

 And of course Makayla wanted a balloon

 We got some ice cream before we headed out

 Good thing we left when we did because Makayla was OUT before we even got out of the parking lot.

The next day we found out Makayla's picture made it in the newspaper!!! Isn't that the cutest picture of Makayla and Tyler? I was so excited for both of them.

Sure love my famous family!!!!

Craig's Retirement Party

After 30 years of working at Delta Airlines, Craig decided to retire. We are always looking for a reason to have a party, and this was the perfect opportunity.

We spent weeks getting ready for the party, but it was totally worth it. This is a view of our backyard taken from our bonus room. Since the party was the same night as the U of U/ BYU game, we turned the party into a red themed party for the Utes

 And here's our guest of honor! Craig is sporting his vest that he wore everyday for 30 years. Every time he found FOD (foreign objects and debris) he would attach it to his vest.

 We had so many people support Craig for his big day.





 Since the Ute game was on we had a t.v. outside for the die hard fans that just couldn't miss a second of the game.

 The game ended at midnight after the Utes won and then the guests started to leave. By 2 am we were done cleaning up and at 3 am Tyler and I finally went to bed. It was exhausting, but one of the funnest parties we have ever hosted!!

Congratulations Craig! 57 and retired; that's quite the accomplishment!!

Caden's First Food

Caden's

First

Time

Trying

Rice

cereal

I think he liked it. 

My Bestie in the Westie

This is my best friend Emily.

Emily and I met in college when we were roommates and we became instant friends.

We're more like sisters that were separated (her parents often lament how much they miss me... I'm like the good kid they never had!) :)

Here's just a small list of reasons why Emily is the bestest bestie:

She likes Kenny Chesney...'nuff said.

She likes The Office and Friends

She likes Reeces PB cups.

One semester we ate salsa and chips for breakfast for like a month

She helped me break up with an old boyfriend in college.

And we both have a weird sense of humor when we're with each other.

Well this year Emily turned the big 30 so we went to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate.

They made her sit on a saddle while the the waiters sang to her. It was hilarious! And embarassing for Emily.

 Being the bestie that she is, Emily shared her ice cream with me. If that doesn't spell bestie, I don't know what does.

So as you can see, Emily wins the Bestie in the Westie Award for her 30th Birthday. Hands down.

 Happy Birthday Emily!!!