Exploring

Dave LOVES to drive and see pretty things.  Fortunately, Laramie has some pretty things within a relatively short distance so it's perfect for all of us.  Eden is a happy little traveler as long as we bring snacks and her blankie for naps.  Milan loves driving with us because she has our attention for her many many questions.

Saturday, we headed up into the mountains and practiced our jumping skills....

found some pretty flowers.....

played fetch with a random dog.....

posed on a rock just like Aerial and sang very loudly.....

and just hung out with dad....

A fun little adventure

Last Saturday, we headed about an hour outside of Laramie and did a little exploring. We took a picnic and intended to go for a hike, but the girls found this little stream and didn't want to leave. The girls ended up soaking wet and pretty dirty so we ended up driving home with a naked 3 year old and a diapered 1 year old. Next time we head out on a little adventure, I'll pack some extra clothes :).

We Made It!

This is fair warning that this a completely RANDOM post....I am sitting in my truck in the Hastings parking lot because I have been without Internet for 1 1/2 weeks and I'm going through withdrawals.

The last couple of weeks have been pretty hectic and now we feel pretty settled. So far, we are really enjoying Laramie. Dave has started classes and is getting less stressed out about his grades....it will be hard work to earn high grades, but not the 100+ hours he was originally anticipating. He is sleeping about 8 hours a night now and has decided that makes him a nicer person :). Dave gets to hang out with our family every day and we love it. Milan has become a "daddy's girl" and loves to quietly play Polly Pockets next to Dave while he does homework. Milan gets to maintain her fun park schedule so she randomly meets new friends almost every day. I have started running again which is great! I have also been cleaning our rental extensively so I now feel like it's fit to live in (and the floors are fit for a little crawler.) Yep, Eden mastered crawling on August 15th. She's pretty cautious, but still has a couple of sad little bruises. Her favorite areas are bathrooms and doors.

Before we started this moving craziness, we had a fun little get together with our friends. My friend Cammie made me this sweet shirt. It was obviously cooler than any shirt I was wearing, so I put it right on.

Me and Morgan. Good thing we still get to talk every other day :)

For some reason, we had a boy side and a girl side.....I guess the boys weren't too interested in talking about girly stuff.

I will miss these girls!! I truly loved living in Rock Springs and it was all because we had such great friends. (It really could have sucked without these ladies!) Laramie's pretty cool, maybe all of our Rock Springs friends will move here!?!? Or stay on a super deluxe air matress in our living room for a visit?!?!

A Fun Date.

The weekend before we moved, we went on a super fun date with friends....dinner, ice blocking, kickball, football, and Drumstick Ice Cream Cones! A friend of our friends was visiting from out of town....he happened to be a photographer and decided to snap some pictures instead playing 12 year old games like the rest of us. I just got these pics and I love them! Dave and I don't have very many pictures of us (although we have about 12,000 undeveloped pics of of the girls) so it's fun to have some candid pictures of our fun date!

How to Avoid Packing

We are moving in 3 days and I have very successfully managed to avoid packing up to this point. We have been playing with friends and enjoying our last few days here. This afternoon Milan was invited to a play date, which she loved (thanks Cammie!), and I loved playing with this little girl instead of utilizing my time to pack.

Milan is pretty protective of her Polly Pockets so that was the first thing Eden wanted to play with when she realized Milan was gone. Eden has moved on from putting everything in her mouth (which is a great phase to outgrow before crawling!) so I let her hang out and play for a while.

This is Eden's favorite thing to play with. She usually manages to move herself, through a combination of techniques, to a spot in front of the TV armoire so she can pull everything out.

Tomorrow might be a good time to start working on moving....maybe.

Yay!

Dave is home! For good! Dave has been working his butt off this past 1 1/2 years so that we're ready to go to school. He's been pretty dang driven....during this last trip to North Dakota, he managed to work 360 hours in 3 weeks. We are so grateful for all of the sacrifices he has made for our family. We are even more grateful that we're done with this crazy lifestyle....I couldn't be more excited to start spending more time together!

Milan stayed up with me Tuesday night waiting for daddy to come home. As soon as she heard his truck, she ran out to give him a hug then stayed super excited for the rest of the night. Here she is riding Piggy-Back.


Wednesday was family day. We went for a walk, watched Milan's gymnastics, headed to the park, took a family nap, then Dave even made dinner (and cleaned up....woohoo!)



We did a lot of swinging at the park.





Yep, we're pretty lucky! :)

Friends

My friends Melinda and Jen put together a little lunch this afternoon. They are going on a fun family vacation to Lake Powell so I won't see them again before we move to Laramie. It's a little sad to start saying goodbye to friends, but mostly I'm thankful to have met such great friends here!

More Gymnastics

I signed Milan up for another session of gymnastics, which she loves! She is getting brave which is great for learning gymnastics, but she is losing her fear of the teacher and getting a little wild while waiting for her turn. Good thing she is pretty cute with her ballerina dress-up and new tricks!

Summersault on the beam.


Handstand.

Sisters

Lately, I've been asked if the girls resemble each other. I found a picture of Milan at 11 months to post above Eden's recent picture from the parade. What do you think?


I think they have different eye shapes and different noses, but definitely look like sisters. It'll be fun to see what resemblences they have as they get older.

11 Months!

I honestly can't believe that Eden is 11 months old, which is so close to 1 year old! Crazy!






















Here's some tidbits about our cute little Eden:
- She's getting very interested in crawling....she goes from sitting to a crawling position and rocks back and forth a little. Her dang foot keeps getting in the way though.
- She is learning to pull herself up to her knees, but for some reason only wants to practice this skill in the bath tub.
- She loves to eat, but she is not interested in baby food or food that is cut up. She wants to use her two little bottom teeth and eat food just like us.
- She's learned to cry when Milan takes her toys.
- She loves to go through drawers and cupboards. She can't get to them on her own yet, which is very nice!
- When we pick Eden up, she gives us hugs and pats us on the back. Dave and I both love her little hugs!

Friends + Candy = Happy Girls

Last Saturday we headed downtown for another fun Wyoming Parade ...princesses, friends, candy, little shriner guys in mini cars ....what more could little girls ask for!?!



Eden was getting a little tired at this point, but we won her over with a sucker (Parenting at it's finest :).