Summer Ends and Fall Begins

Towards the beginning of the summer I had my 10 year reunion, I feel old!

Me and Chris with my high school friend Kelsey and her husband Scott

I was looking back through pictures to update our blog and realized I have no pictures from the month of July!  What happened then?  Surgery for Chris and lots of nausea for me is what happened.  I wish I would have taken pictures of Chris when he was in recovery, he was definitely out of it!  I was too busy tossing my cookies.  Sorry babe!  After his recovery from a full ACL repair we were able to join in on some of the family fun.  Every August my Grandparents from my mom's side of the family host a BBQ.   I forgot to take pictures at the BBQ but I do have this cute one of Tanner and his cousin Emmett from that weekend.  Tanner loves his cousins but was being a stinker when we pulled out the camera.

Next up was Lava Hot Springs with Chris' family.  We go every year and have such a blast.  Tanner loved playing in the pool, blowing bubbles and he even enjoyed floating the river.

We also have made a few Hogle Zoo trips.  My friend Ashley was nice enough to take some pictures of us on the carousel.  Tanner was way excited and throwing a fit because we had to wait in line, then the second it started he got really scared because the bear he was on started moving up and down on top of the fact that we were moving in a circle.  

My friend Lindsey and her son Charlie joined us for our second trip as well as her sister in law Laura and daughter Isla.  The kids had a blast and the weather was perfect.

I thought this was too cute!  Also take note on how huge Tanner's car seat is lol, oh well.

Tanner was fascinated by this tiger.

We couldn't get the kids to sit still for a picture for us :-)

They sure had fun "hanging around" though

I was able to get a few great shots of Tanner.  He is almost 20 months here.

He is also still such a happy kid!

We also realized this summer that unless we get a babysitter taking Tanner out for a nice date night is just no longer possible.  We try and enjoy a nice dinner and he doesn't even want to sit at the table long enough to order!  We of course did not want to get rid of date night so when we don't have a sitter the plans just change.  One weekend we did Pizza Factory and played mini golf and arcade games; which was still a little much.  So our second time trying we went to Chick Fila and ate at a table that looked right through to the play land....WINNER!  We had our meal and dessert all at once place and Tanner could run around and play.  It really was such a great date night.  Chris and I were able to sit and chat just the two of us which is hard to do when a toddler is always jumping on us.

Lastly, is our hunting trip.  These hunting trips have been going on for generations.  There are two main hunts they go on; muzzle loader and rifle.  It was so nice to be up in the mountains.  I felt like it was a refreshing break from the normal life back home.  Alan, my father-in-law, always puts so much work  into these trips and we appreciate all he does.  A few of my favorite things from the trip were first of all when Tanner and I would go up on the night hunt and sit the ridge with Chris, or drive around and go exploring.  Second, the company!  All the Bybee brothers were there, Kathy came up for a few days and Heidi and Maddi were there with us most the time.  It made it that much better for Tanner to have a friend while the guys were gone.  Third, the food!  I love food and Alan always makes top notch meals and dinner generally includes a cobbler for dessert.  YUM!  I will admit I was a little bit nervous on how Tanner would do for five days but he loved every minute of it.  I actually think he likes living in the outdoors more than being cooped up in the house.  And because I don't like to forget things I must note the mishaps too:

• Losing a couple of hubcaps on the way down the mountain 
• Tanner getting diarrhea the first day we were there, I know it's so gross that I would say that on my blog ;-) (thanks Alan and Kathy for bringing up more diapers and such for us!)
• Bumblebees -Tanner got stung the first day and I swear we killed a million of them while there
• The propane hose not working (luckily our camping friends had an extra)
• The tent poles getting bent during the take down (it's a large 14 man canvas tent so they're not small by any means
• Our new hammock cot...awesome for taking a short nap, not so awesome for sleeping.  I took a turn one night to give Chris a break from it.  It's not terrible but definitely not my first choice nor Chris'
• The camp kitchen getting blown over at three in the morning

We made so many fun memories while there and I am grateful for the opportunity to go.  Thanks for letting us come up guys!

Beautiful views from the ridge!

Chris scoping for bucks

Tanner's binki kept him quiet while we watched for deer

My heart is in a puddle on the floor!

I love these two more than anything!!!

Next up are the holidays and then our new little addition will be here!  I always get really excited for the holidays.  I love the seasonal change as well as all the opportunities to spend time with family!  I'm a sucker for getting together with my family and friends.  And maybe, just maybe one of these days I won't get so behind on updating :-)