Halloween 2014

Fall is one of my favorite times of year here in Cheyenne. The changing leaves and the weather are gorgeous.  There was surprisingly a lot to do in Cheyenne during Halloween time: pumpkin patches, fall carnivals, and parties on base.  I'm awful at taking pictures on a regular basis, but at least I got a few!

Hyrum was batman...

...and Lydia was Little Red Riding Hood

Estes Park Getaway

A couple of months ago my Dad called me (Melissa) up asking if he and my step-mom could come up for the kid's fall break in October and watch our kids for the weekend so we could have a few days away.  Uh...yeah!  So we scheduled leave along with a couple of our friends, rented a cabin in Estes Park, Colorado, and we were off!

Of course we had to visit Rocky Mountain National Park.  First of all, military members get in for free.  Second, we love the outdoors!  

There were elk everywhere.

We ended up hiking the Cub Lake trail, and it was gorgeous!

The beginning of our hike:

The really cool split rock that Joseph had a little too much fun climbing:

The men:

This was probably the highlight of our whole trip.  We come around a bend in the path to a giant bull moose!  It was literally on our trail.  We ended up taking the very long off-the-beaten path around it in order to avoid scaring it, but we were almost close enough to pet it!  It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us.  This Arizona girl who's never seen an elk up close, let alone a moose, really enjoyed it.

Cub lake was quite beautiful.  You can see the fire damage from a few years ago:

Our buddy, Micah..."in the wild"  His wife, Denise, was feeling pretty sick (yay pregnancy), so she didn't come along on the hike.

The rest of the time we ate good food, played lots of games, went shopping, and just had fun together.  But of course we didn't get any pictures of it!  Just believe us when we say it was great!  I can't wait until next year!  Who want to babysit our kids next?

Our Hyrum Bug is One!

Our chunky monkey turned one this month!  Hyrum has been an incredible blessing to our family.  He is almost always happy.  He loves to cuddle, smile, play, and laugh.  Though his pregnancy was incredibly difficult, he has been worth it a million times over!

Some of Hyrum's favorite things are:

Playing peek-a-boo.
Hiding under the sink with his sister.

Swinging on the swing set for as long as we will let him.

Eating anything he can get his hands on.  This little boy is a great eater!

Walking around using his walker for support (he has yet to walk on his own).
Crawling super, super fast (this kid should enter a race.)
Cuddling in bed with his parents when he wakes up at 5am.

Emptying out the toy box.
Eating rocks at the park.
Being thrown up in the air by his daddy.

Watching "Toy Story" with his sister over and over and over again.

"Dancing" to music (he just bounces his body up and down)
Being passed back and forth from his mommy and daddy over and over again.
Feeding his parents his bottles.
Cuddling with soft animals.

We love you Hyrum!  We are so glad to have you in our family, and can't wait to see what you learn this next year!