Yellowstone

In all my 29 years I have somehow managed to never make it to Yellowstone, so we decided to take a mini family vacation up there. I didn't really know what to expect to see or do except I wanted to see a bear in the wild.

We stayed in West Yellowstone and the first day we drove into the park and went around a corner and ran right in to a bear!! haha I wish! We ran right into a Buffalo, it was just walking right next to the car and freaking me out at the same time. All I kept saying was Jay, doooon't roll the window down. Don't. Don't. Don't. Then the next corner we went around there were Huge elk, so right from the start I decided I was going to have a good time. I have a fear of animals, especially in the wild. I don't care for cats, dogs, hummingbirds(don't ask), really any pet unless it is an out door pet, then I don't mind. But, in the wild animals.....no way get me out of there. Don't get me wrong I love seeing them I think it is amazing, but if there is any chance that thing can turn on me then I guess that's where my fear comes in.

Rewind......4 years ago, Jay and I ran into a moose about 10 feet in front of us, on a trail, up the canyon on our way to Donut falls. I froze in my tracks and so did Jay. The moose just stared at us looking like at any moment it might charge. I whispered, What do we do, what do we do!???? His only words, "Turn around and RUN" So obviously we made it out of there but can you imagine getting attacked by a wild animal? Worst day of my life.

So I read up on what to do if you encounter a bear. 1. Don't make eye contact 2. Stay facing the bear and back away slowly 3. NEVER run because no matter what, all bears are faster than you 4. Don't climb a tree because bears can climb trees 5. If you are attacked roll to your stomach put your hand behind you neck and play dead. There you go, you can thank me later for that.

So all in all it was a great trip, I loved how you could see so many beautiful sights in such a short period of time. I also got to catch up with a good friend that lives up that way so that made the trip even more worth it. I would totally go again and can't believe it has taken this long to make it up there. And p.s we didn't see any bears or moose :(

Old Faithful. We were really lucky on this one because we pulled up and walked up to the benches and it was 5:42 we found out that it was due to go off at 5:45 and later learned that it goes off on average about every 90 minutes. 90 minutes, uuhh no couldn't have done that. It was slightly on the too cold side and the 3 minute wait was just perfect for me.

Chilly morning

This is literally how close it was to our car. I had the window half way down to get this picture though and was proud of myself.

Big horned sheep. We got to see them run vertically down those cliffs, it looked really cool.

One of my favorites was the dragons mouth

Sometimes I feel like pictures don't do justice

Look at the size of that elk compared to the Suburban

We wore her out.....

I got to have the cousins for a night and we had lots of fun. And besides Carter teaching Josi a swear word, I think we did okay.

And a few from today, we took the kids over to my mom's work to go trick or treating

AND THE SAGA CONTINUES.............

You think I would learn to put the wipes away by now

Goodbye Mr. Man who was supposed to teach Bry how to go potty

I thought I was doing myself a favor when I taught her how to throw her own diapers away

Oh and here are a few pictures of the toy box Jay built Brylee for a surprise while he was working out of town in Indianapolis. It holds tons of toys and best of all, my front room is no longer a toy room!

Oh the Joys

So anyone with children can tell you that there are many joys of parenthood. You know things like your babies first smile, first words, crawling, walking, first day of school, and things of that nature. But no one ever told me about these oh so joyous moments.......

Two words, Baby Lotion. And too bad Brylees head is cut off in this picture cause she got the treatment as well.

I am glad you asked because YES, that is 20 or so keys popped of of my lap top. It brought me so much Joy this day.

Jay and I decided that after 5 months of no night out alone together that we were due for a date night, so Brylee got to have a sleepover at Grandma's house and cousin Carter decided that Brylee wanted to go outside and play so he opened the door for her to let her out and 6 cement steps later this is what you get.......Goose egg, scraped nose and cut lip. Honestly though I was just thankful it wasn't worse.

Came out of the bathroom to this cute little mug

Momma I just needed a tissue

I'm sure this isn't going to be the last of my Crayon art works by Brylee

But seriously, how can I resist this face

Oh so sad

The other day I was watching our cute little cousin Costner, so I pulled out a bunch of Brylee's newborn stuff for him to play with and got things like her bouncer chair out for him as well. Later that night I walk in the front room to find my little monster standing straight up and jumping on it like a trampoline, so I laid her down in it and bounced her like I used to when she was a baby(used to?) I had another one of those moments where I realized she's not my little baby anymore. Can't we just freeze time sometimes, it is really been flying the last few years. But I must say that I love to watch her grow and watch her funny personality come out and learn new things everyday. I guess that's why our minds were blessed with memory so we can hold on to these little moments for the rest of our lives.(Thank goodness for digital photos too!)

14 months

1 month
Bry has started jibber jabbering, most of the time it sounds like another launguage, but not to me :) I took this video in July and don't mind her bed head, that's when me and Bry have the most fun in the morning times, in our jammies.....

We've got a walker!

Bry started walking yesterday! Shes been taking her walker toy around with her everywhere for a few months now but wasn't interested in taking steps on her own until yesterday, she just decided that she wanted to walk and took off (video at the bottom of this post). She thinks it's funny when she walks so as she toddles around she giggles so much until she gets the hiccups, its cute. Here are some pictures of what we have been up to the last few months........


Jay and I took a trip to San Diego for our 2nd anniversary. This was the first time I had been there and I was not let down, I loved it so much! Basically what we did was take our TomTom(GPS thing) and typed in Beaches, then we went and saw every single one on the list. There were some really beautiful places.This was a hike that was up this huge mountain, there were stairs along the way. I thought I was going to DIE. Number one I DO NOT work out, I get winded just carrying Brylee out to the car let alone hiking a mountain! Trust me I am not proud of it, I wish so much I could get into shape buuuuttt maybe tomorrow. So anyways Jay thought it was pretty funny and snapped this picture of me about ready to faint....

We went to the SD zoo and we loved it so so much. When we went to the Hogle Zoo a few weeks before I was SO disappointed. Every animal looked so depressed and like they were in prison. It made me sad so I wasn't expecting too much with the SD zoo but oh wow there is NOOO comparison. One single exhibit in that place beats the entire Hogle zoo. The only thing that was missing was Brylee, we missed her so much. I didn't think it would be that hard but by Sunday I was thinking about getting an earlier flight home! She was in very good hands though so I resisted. But overall an awesome trip, I think it is still important for Jay and I to take a breather every once in a while and this was a perfect one!

Brylee's first piggy's, haha she does not look impressed.

She loves nothing more than being outside so we take lots of trips to the park.

Hogle Zoo. She was mad because I put that hat on her, I don't blame her lol

And she has been having lots of fun with her cousins, She loves them so much.




Picnic up the canyon for Fathers day

Brylee was a lucky girl and got to have two birthday parties. One at Santaquin park with Jays family and the other at Payson park with my family. She got waaaay to spoiled but she had lots of fun! I broke out my decorating skills, lol this was the first time ever so I was pretty proud of myself for the effort.







Good summer so far!!