I'm a slacker...

I guess I shouldn't procrastinate the updating of our blog any longer... so here goes...

At some point this past summer, I don't remember exactly when, we went to the Denver zoo. Emily and Eli were able to come with us, and we had great fun! Mylee loved seeing her cousin and all of the animals.

She LOVED this statue of the bears. She screamed and screamed when we made her get off...

I think the polar bears and the penquins were her favorite. (Probably because they happened to be the most active...)

By the end of our trip, she was pretty tired. She fell asleep as soon as we put her in her car seat.

We got to go visit Grandma and Grandpa Rowley in Utah one more time before school started. Of course, Mylee got super spoiled and even got to ride Grandpa's motorcycle.


And then we got to ride the 4-wheeler!

Mylee also got to meet her new cousin Dallas... She LOVES babies! She kept trying to share her toys with him, but he wasn't interested. =) She has a doll that she carries around and gives lots of hugs to. I'm jealous because that doll gets way more hugs than I do! Mylee is getting lots more cuddly though, which has been fun. She'll even sit still for more than a few seconds now. It's great!

While we were in Utah, Mylee and I went to RJ's Hyde Family Reunion in Vernal. RJ couldn't make it because he had to work ;( but we had lots of fun without him. =) We went boating, and I really enjoyed watching Mylee splash around in the water.


She got to touch her first fish. She even tried to kiss it. Gross!

And she was really hamming it up for the camera!


Uncle Bart took us for a ride in his airplane. Thanks Uncle Bart!


After we got back from Utah, we went on another campout. Dale and Eli came with us. RJ picked a piece of wheat and had it in his mouth. Of course, Eli had to copy him...


Our hike ended up being kind of a long one, but Eli was a trooper. He's such a happy, cute kid! On our way back to camp, Rogue found a cow and decided to chase it. There was no stopping her, and when she came back, she looked awfully happy with herself. I wish I had gotten a video of it because it was pretty entertaining...
Back at camp Eli plays with the puppies...



Don't worry Grandma Rowley! It was just candy! =) We bought the candy specifically so we could take the picture to get a rise out of you =) he he he...
RJ loves giving Mylee new flavors to see her reaction. I think its funny because she likes pretty much everything (even lemon salt, salsa and her favorite... cinnamon bears and hot tomales) and I think RJ gets a little disappointed when she doesn't give more of a reaction. Occasionally though, we find something he has a lot of fun giving to her. This time it was cotton candy. She grabbed some in both fists and was stuffing it into her mouth. Another favorite we recently discovered was the Marshmellow flavored pop corn. She had both hands going and ate almost a whole bag by herself! It's amazing she is so tiny because she eats so much!


Just some cute pics of Mylee... She loves purses and anything with a handle that she can carry like a purse. =) She also loves shoes. What a girly girl! She will randomly bring shoes to me and ask me to put them on her, even if she's already wearing some!




She also happens to love these dress up high heels that Grandma Walker found while cleaning some stuff out. She walks all over the house in them. I was lucky enough to catch her on video tape dancing in them. =)

This was our first snow storm of the season. We've had a lot of snow this year. They've already had a snow day and the Homecoming dance was rescheduled due to a snow storm. It worries me a little since RJ is driving back and forth to Laramie, but so far so good =) It has been a lot of fun to get out and play in the snow with Mylee, although she doesn't do much with it except eat it =)

And then last but not least.... Halloween! It also happens to be RJ's birthday, but I had so much fun dressing up Mylee that I didn't get any pictures of RJ. I feel bad about it now, but at least I made him a cake right? =) Mylee was Pebbles for Halloween. I thought about making Fred and Wilma costumes too, but in the end laziness won...

This picture is kind of appropriate because if you look closely Mylee is signing "candy." We took her to the Mall, but the lines for trick or treating there were so long it was ridiculous! We ended up hanging out with the fam at Grandma and Grandpa's house. It was fun to see all the different costumes. One guy at the mall air-brushed his whole body to look like the incredible hulk!

Anyway, as you can probably tell, our summer was a busy one. I had hoped it would be a good time to catch up on things that needed to get done around the house, but there never seemed to be any time. The time flew by too fast! Mylee is learning and growing so fast! She says new things every day! Today her new word was "shoes". Yesterday it was "baby" and "home" It is so fun because you never know what is going to pop out of her mouth next. We took a video of her sitting by me at the piano. I was playing and she was singing. As we listened and watched I realized some of the things she was singing were real words! It was totally random, but fun all the same.

Mylee also loves playing in the water. If you say "bath" she immediately starts taking her clothes off. So RJ reverted to code and started saying "b-a-t-h" it apparently doesn't take long for kids to learn how to spell because it only took a couple times before she realized what those letters meant. The other day she found a razor and started trying to shave her legs with it. I guess that means she watches me shave more than she watches her dad =).

As for me, I'm busy with school again. It's always kinda fun when school starts because you get to meet your new students and get out and do new things, but it's also sad because I miss that time with Mylee. I'm so thankful that Grandma Walker is willing to watch her. It helps knowing that even though she isn't with me, she is with family who love her. In fact, I almost think that Mylee loves Grandma and Uncle CJ more than she loves me and RJ! =) Culinary Team has started up again, and I have a great team this year, including two AWESOME Chef Mentors! I can't wait to see what they cook up =)!

RJ is busy with school again too. He had a fabulous time with his internship over the summer and told me several times that it was way more fun than school =). Thankfully though, this is his last year. Now he is just studying and doing the whole job searching thing, and we are just praying that the right opportunity will come our way. And that's about it, we're pretty boring around here =)

Summer Fun

Wow! What a crazy, busy, fun summer! So many things going on, there are TONS of pictures on this post.
First off... Mylee turned 1 about a month and a half ago. I don't think I have ever seen a more spoiled baby. The gift pile was higher than her head. Thank you everyone! She loves her toys!



I made a cake for her. She seemed to enjoy it, although she was a little more dainty with it than I expected.
Just after her birthday I headed down to Utah for a week and a half of fun and relaxation and a marathon. It was my first, and it was fun! A super special thanks to Emily for running it with me. She had me laughing the whole time. I don't know how I would have done it without her!
I won't make you look at the ugly after pictures... Here's a crazy before pic instead. =)
While in Utah, I got to visit with Grandma Rowley AND Grandpa Francom. It was so fun! Sometimes it seems like forever in between visits. I love you guys!
We also got to go see the ?Oquirrh? (I can't remember how to spell it) Temple and go through the Open House with Mom and Dad and Grandpa Francom. What a beautiful temple! I love temples so much! Mylee was in awe of the chandeliers, and I can't blame her... I think they were one of my favorite things, they were so pretty and shiny! =)
Oh darn, I misplaced the pictures, and it's getting really late, so oh well... but here are some before shots when we were getting ready to leave. I think Mylee looks really pretty. Even if she is showing her little attitude...
Afterwards, Mom and Dad treated us to Olive Garden, and of course, Mylee got spoiled by her Grandpa...Mylee still loves Dad's dog, Sly, and she really enjoyed the nice weather so she could play outside with Grandma. I was surprised by how much she loved the trampoline.


Mylee really missed her dad since we were gone for a week and a half. I caught her and Side kick looking out the front door for him to get home from work. Those to are such good buds. I'll have to get a video of her teasing him with his toys. She is such a tease and laughs so hard.
Mylee's new favorite thing is climbing, and she doesn't give much thought to how she will get down.
I guess I'm not feeding her enough, cause she couldn't wait for me to peel the banana...
In the midst of all the summer fun, my new car got totalled. We had only had it for 4 months. The car was parked outside our house, and a couple of other cars collided in the intersection. One of them ended up crashed against our tree, the other crashed into our car. The insurance (surprise) gave us a good deal though, so it worked out well, and we now have a new, new car. =) A Nissan Pathfinder this time. We like it.Luckily, Justin's (my cute nephew) birthday party was that day, so I had something to take my mind off the accident. We went to a bounce house, and the kids had a blast. Mylee sure loves her cousins, aunts, and uncles. I feel very blessed to be living so close to family.
Here is Mylee enjoying the bouncing.
Her uncle CJ took her down a slide. It might not look like she enjoyed it, but she kept making us take her down the slide over and over.Mylee's cousin Katie also enjoyed the slide. Sadly, I didn't get any pictures of the birthday boy sliding. Grandma Walker also got her turn on the slide with Mylee and Karissa. Thanks for giving me a break and taking Mylee!
And Thank You Steph for the batteries! Otherwise, I wouldn't have all these cute pictures of Mylee!There was a little bounce house for toddlers where Mylee spent most of her time. Her favorite was the dog. She kept biting his tongue. =)
And Mylee LOVES her cousin Karissa!
And of course, all that fun wore her out. But not for long =)
A few weeks ago, we took Mylee on her first campout. Her uncle CJ came with us, and it was a TON of fun. During one of his business trips, Grandpa Walker got Mylee some cute camo overalls, and they were perfect (and cute! =)) Mylee followed RJ and CJ around everywhere.

I guess she really just wanted to help out.
Mylee and I chillin' while the boys did all the work =) She has this cheesy face she makes now where whe juts her chin out and tries not to smile. It's really cute.In the morning, we went for a nice long hike. There wasn't anyone around for miles, so we just let the dogs run. We were all surprised at Side Kick. When we arrived at the camp, he was a prissy pup walking delicately around the weeds. During the hike, he let loose and took off bouncing through tall grasses and splashing through mud holes. You can see how dirty he is in our family picture. It was fun to see the dogs have so much fun. RJ gave Mylee a long piece of grass while we were walking. Something kept tickling my arm, and I thought it was a bug, I kept swatting at it. I finally realized it was Mylee tickling me. I swear she was doing it on purpose too cause when I caught her she gave me a huge grin and started giggling. RJ's rubbing off on her! What am I going to do?

Tiffany has been an awesome aunt, and takes really good care of Mylee. Mylee loves swimming with her.

She also loves Tiffany's playhouse...
And playing peek-a-boo with our French doors...
There's that cheesy grin again...
Mylee's favorite birthday present (this is so random!) was a toy shark her uncle Josh and Aunt Maca gave her. She chewed on it and played with it for forever. You can kind of see her picking it up here in this picture...
Due to her fascination with her toy shark, I was really excited when Steph invited us to go to the Denver aquarium with her and her kids. Mylee had a blast despite her lack of naps during the day. There was too much going on to sleep!


She got to pet the sting rays. I have cool videos of Tiffany feeding them, as well as some other fun videos, but it is getting late, so they will have to wait for a later post.
Mylee walks away, just as a big shark swims past.
Mylee and her cousin Katie waiting to watch them feed the sharks.

Mylee got to touch a star fish too! She seemed more interested in licking the salt water off her fingers though. Gross!

They had these cool bubbles under the tanks where you could climb under and get "in" the tank. Fun, You can see the fin of a big fish by my head!
Mylee watching another shark swim past...
My favorite... the sea horses. They are so cute and little!
Eating in the restaurant. It was awesome! The whole wall behind the table (you can't see it in this picture) was a giant fish tank, so you could watch all the fish swimming by while you ate.
Last week was frontier days here in Cheyenne and we had tons of fun with that too. I didn't take any pictures cause I got a little lazy with the camera, but it was fun nonetheless. I got to go to the rodeo with Stephanie and her husband Kasey and their friend Mike. We went to Water World. And swimming at the Rec center in Longmont. RJ and I got to go see Rodney Atkins perform, and I for my birthday Steph got me a ticket to the Taylor Swift concert. I got to go with Tiffany and her friend Mariah and Steph's niece Callista. It was AWESOME! =) And we took Mylee to a parade. Her favorite thing was the horses, which was cool since there were tons of horses in the parade. A fun video of her excitement coming soon... but not tonight... =) Finally, this long post is over. If you read it all you are awesome!!!! Mostly I just want to make sure I can remember all the fun we had this summer.