We've Lost our Minds!

This is the newest member of our family!  Oliver Cinnamon Rocky Hall.  We just call him Ollie though.  He is 8 weeks old and officially ours.  I still can't believe it.

It all started off as a normal day.  The kids and I were on our way to Walmart to buy school supplies.  Next thing you know we turn the corner and there are these ladies holding up these adorable puppies on the side of the road.  So of course the kids wanted to get a better look.  I wasn't concerned since my kids ask for a puppy pretty much every day and every time I say the same thing, "When our last baby is 5 years old we can get a dog!"  So we pulled over and held them and I realized I was in trouble because this little guy reminded me so much of my little dog growing up.  Not at all in looks but in temperment.  He was so mellow and so calm.  He would just lay in your arms and fall asleep.  

 

So I told the lady we had to go buy school supplies but that I would call my husband and we might be back.  In my mind I was thinking "yeah right".  So we are walking around buying school supplies at Walmart and I call Garrett and say, "Hey we were wondering if we could buy a puppy" fully expecting him to shoot me down immediately.  Then to my surprise he said, "I have been wanting a puppy lately!" So I told him to come over and take a look.

So next thing you know we are both in love with this little guy and he is in our car on the way home to our house.  So beware when shopping at Walmart!!

We have had him for 4 days now and I have to say it has been much easier than I expected.  He whined a bit the first night, but He has been doing really well with house training.  He is supposedly a chihuahua but we don't really believe that since he looks nothing like one.  He has floppy ears and a rounded face. We have looked up a ton of pictures on line and think he looks most like a chi-poo.  That's what you get when you buy a puppy from some random lady at Walmart.  Oh well, we love him and the kids are in heaven.  He really is a great dog.  He's so sweet and cuddly and really mellow.  I never thought this day would come so soon, but so far we are loving little Ollie!  The neighborhood is in love with him too and we already have babysitters lined up for Christmas vacation.  This is the perfect neighborhood for a dog. So yeah, we are dog owners!

Tonsil Free!

This is our brave little Munch ready for surgery at 7:00AM!  Rylynn has struggled with strep throat and sleep apnea for the last couple of years so we decided after her latest bout of strep that it was time to get her tonsils out.  Luckily, Geoff, who is Stacey's husband(Garrett's cousin) is an ENT and put Carter's tubes in so we knew we had a great Doctor.  He did a great job!  Rylynn is such a little worrier like me so for weeks before the surgery she stressed and worried about how it would be.  We talked to her about it and reassured her and finally she decided it was worth it to never have to get another strep culture test again.  She hates those!  So the morning of the surgery she was all smiles and bravery.

She did however get a little annoyed about having to put the gown on.  She was told she could come in her comfy jammies and she was sad to have to take her cozy jammie shirt off.

She looks a little scared, but really she was just bored and anxious to get it over with.

There's the confidence!

She did great and Geoff told us her adnoids were enormous and her tonsils were really inset so it was a really good thing we got them taken out.  When she got home she slept for a long time but then she started throwing up because of the Loritab.  I should have known not to put her on crazy strong pain meds since neither her Mom or Dad does well with those.  After throwing up ten times, we called Geoff and decided to take her off the Loritab and switch to regular childrens Motrin.  The next day she was a new woman.  She was outside running around the neighborhood with her friends.  We had to remind her that she had just had surgery and to take it easy.  The snoring and sleep apnea was gone the second night!  We are so happy she got it done and that her recovery went so well.

Pie Eating Contest!

I knew Rachel wouldn't post this so I am taking the liberty to inform everyone that Rachel recently took 2nd place in the Liberty Lake Farmer's Market Pie Eating Contest.  The competition was fierce but she just put her head down and ate like a champion.  She lost by a very small piece of pie crust.  We were all very proud of her, except that Carter and Rylynn were very disappointed that she didn't win.  I think Daddy set an unrealistic precedent on our recent trip to Lagoon (see below). :)

Great job Rachel/Mom; you're the best!

Beckett turns one!!

My baby turned one year old on Saturday!  I can't believe it has been a whole year since he came into our lives in such a miraculous way.  Garrett and I were talking about the amazing experience it was to have him come safely into this world and we were so thankful again at the miracles in our lives.  We just love our baby Beckett.  He has brought so much laughter and joy into our little family this year.  He is adored by Rylynn and Carter and he is such a sweet and easy going little man.  We had a small little celebration for him on Saturday evening with some friends from the neighborhood.

First we had one of Beckett's favorite dinners: pasta with veggies; soft and squishy just the way he likes them!

Then Rylynn and Carter went to round up the neighborhood friends for cake while Beckett looked curiously at his cake and presents.

He was very happy to be sung to by so many of his buddies!

Then it was cake time!  I love how his face in this picture is like "can I really eat this mom?"  Carter is cheering him on.  What a good big brother:)

As you can see though, he didn't need much help when it came to stuffing his face!

Do you mind?  I am trying to enjoy this yummy, sugary, goodness.

It's sooo good!

After a thorough wash down it was time to open presents.  First he wasn't so interested, but Daddy helped him out and then he realized that there were toys inside the weird paper.

He was a big fan of that!

Carter was so nice to help Beckett open his new cars and then quickly take them away so he could play with them himself:)

He got his very own sippy cups since Carter won't share his.  Suddenly Carter really wants to share his old ones with Beckett so he can use the new cool ones.  Funny how that happens.

Look some dinosaurs too!

Beckett got this card from Nana and Papa and he LOVED it!  There was a mirror inside and he couldn't get enough of looking into it and seeing himself. 

Nana sent balloons too!  No party is complete without balloons!

Here are the party people!  Kylynn and Katie were so cute with Beckett.  He was happy to have them to help celebrate his happy day!

Beckett has four teeth on the top and two teeth on the bottom.  He was majorly teething at his party which is why he has such rosy cheeks in all the pictures.  He loves to crawl around and pull up on everything.  He walks along furniture and loves to say Dada, Mama, uh-oh, and wave bye bye and clap his hands.  He is wearing size 18 month clothes since he is such a big boy!  He adores doggies and gets so excited whenever he sees one.  He says DA! and then usually starts laughing or clapping. He is getting really good about playing with Carter and not messing up his cars.  A lot of the time I will find him in the toy room playing with whatever toys are out on the floor.  He is a very happy baby.   He is so smiley and cuddly and we just love him so much!  Happy Birthday Beckett!

Cabin trip 2010

WARNING: GIGANTIC POST!!
Our annual cabin trip was a great success as usual!  We were there for about 10 days and had wonderful weather, beautiful scenery, and even some time for a trip to Lagoon.  On our way to UT, we stopped in Bozeman, MT to visit my cousin Melea so her sweet husband could perform a root canal on Garrett!  Melea has 8 kids and such a fun kid house, so the kids were big fans of the stop over.  They played in the hot tub and loved how the water changed colors, they love petting all the animals, and Rylynn and I got to go to a musical too.

Melea set up an outing for a group of us to go to "Once upon a Mattress" the night we got there.  Rylynn had never been to a musical or play so I knew she would be so excited.

She was quite the enthusiastic clapper after it was over:)  She couldn't wait until she could meet all the actors and actresses.  I was a little worried and started to explain that she couldn't meet them until I saw them all file out to the lobby to greet people.

It made Rylynn's night!  Here she is posing with "Larken" one of the ladies in waiting.  She was so excited!

The kids went in this hot tub about 5 times. 

Carter LOVED the kitties.  They had three baby kittens and the kids always wanted to hold them.  But they were very good about keeping them away from me so I wouldn't get sick.  They like to tell everyone that their mom is allergic to cats.

Here's another one of the kiddies.  This is Ephraim, their youngest posing with Rylynn and Carter.  They had so much fun together.

Beckett kept busy playing with sharp sticks when I wasn't looking:)

Garrett with his favorite dentist (Well, tied with Dr. Poyfair)!  Thanks for all the vicodin:)

We made it to the cabin late on Saturday night and were so happy to finally arrive!  The weather was beautiful and it was so fun to see the excitement on the kids faces to be back to their favorite place in the world.

Rylynn was so good about following the cabin rule of making your bed before breakfast!  She's such a good little helper and cleaner.  She also set the table every night.  My grandma complemented her on being such a great helper.

On Wednesday we took the kids to Lagoon.  First we hit up Lagoon a beach but quickly after we realized it was really lame for Carter since he was too short to go on the slides and they wouldn't let Rylynn wear her floaties on the slide, which made her nervous.  So, we decided to leave and go on rides instead.

We had fun on the lazy river but it was COLD!

Beckett was glad to get into some dry clothes and take a much needed nap in the stroller.

He was sooo wanting that nap right at this moment.  Poor Carter wasn't getting any love from the little bro!

Rylynn and Garrett were going down one of the water slides, but Carter had already changed and was not about to wait for them to get done to go on rides.  Papa took him to the spaceships and he hopped right into a pink one with a bunch of strangers and had a great time!

It was so fun to go to Lagoon with my parents since they met there over 35 years ago!  My Dad worked at "Tip em Over" and my Mom worked at the "Darts" booth right next to his.  It was love at first sight and they got to just sit and talk to each other every day at work.  So for old times sake we went to where they met and played Tip em over.  Garrett won the cheetah my mom is holding and we thought we should take a picture to document the magical moment!

Once Rylynn and Garrett got back it was full speed ahead on kiddie rides.  This was one of their favorites!  The Dino Drop!  Papa was a little tall for the seat but he was a good sport about it:)

Rylynn was so terrified the first time they dropped us, but after that she couldn't get enough of it.

Round two of the spaceships!  This time Rylynn got to ride too.  

I have wanted to take my kids to Lagoon every summer but it is so much dang money that we just keep putting it off.  I'm so glad we finally did it this summer though.  It was so much fun to see my kids on the same rides that I used to love as a kid.  I got to relive my childhood through them and they loved it just as much as I did.  

I love Papa's face in this picture!  He was such a trooper to go on so many rides with the kids.  Nana doesn't do so well with rides because of her neck so she manned the stroller and kept Beckett asleep.  It was so nice to have four adults to keep track of all the kids!

Beckett was so happy after his nap!  We took this picture because his hair was hilarious when he woke up.  He had gotten pretty sweaty in the covered stroller.

I think we did bumper cars three times in a row!

Rylynn really got the hang of the cars and drove all over the place.  Carter however, pretty much stayed here the entire time and turned around in circles.  It was so funny, but he didn't seem to mind.

What happy kids!

This was just the beginning of the stuffed animals craziness...more details to come.

Beckett was the keeper of the stuffed animals, and a big fan of that job!

We took a little junk food break and Beckett got to have some punching lessons with Papa.  I love his face in the picture.  He absolutely adores his Papa!

I remember driving these little cars when I was younger with my little sister and we felt so cool and grown up.

Rylynn had the pageant wave down pat by the end of the day!

Love these little boats!

Look at Carter's steering abilities!  That is some serious arm tangling:)

Beckett gets his first taste of ice cream.  Don't let the face fool you...

you better believe he came right back for more!

The kids finally got to experience my favorite childhood Lagoon ride: Puff the magic dragon!

I thought I should ride with them for old times sake.  It was so fun!

Okay now for the stuffed animals story.  I don't know what possessed my Dad, but basically every game we walked by he would say, "Garrett come play this one" then Garrett would proceed to win the jumbo prize!  It was seriously insane.  The game booth people got scared when they saw us coming since we were pushing a stroller full of stuffed animals.  It was so bad that at one point my Dad and Garrett had to take a special trip to the car to drop off some of the animals to make room for the kids!  He won two jumbo prizes on the hole in one golf game (big surprise) for sinking 2 20 foot double-breaking putts.  The guy basically gave him a dirty look and told him he couldn't play again.  He played the three point contest, tip em over, break the dish, spill the milk, and the list goes on and on.

Here is what we ended up with!  I swear we had a hard time fitting them all in the car for the drive home.

The trip to Lagoon wouldn't have been half as fun without Nana and Papa!  We couldn't have done it all until 10pm without their help.  Nana even stayed with the kids so Papa, Garrett and I could go on some serious roller coasters.  I recommend "Wicked"!

So after all day long, the drive home was pretty quiet:)

Best money we spent all trip!

I love sleeping babies.

On Thursday night I got to go down to Park City for a girls night out with some of my favorite girls from London study abroad.  We had so much fun!  I haven't laughed that hard in quite awhile.  Thanks girls!  

We decided to split up the drive on the way home and stopped in Missoula for the night.  Garrett and I love the book and movie "A River Runs Through it" and Garrett has always wanted to stop by and see the Maclean's house.  This plaque was in front of the Presbyterian church where Norman's father was the preacher.

This is the church.

This is their house.  It was just down the street from the church.  It was cool to see where Norman and Paul grew up.  

We finally made it home Sunday afternoon.  It was a great trip, I think we'll do it again next summer!