New York Trip

We had the opportunity to go to NY for a week. 

Eric's boss lives there and invited us out. 

This brought up the perfect opportunity to visit the Gardners in Connecticut too.

I had been so excited to go but had been stressing for months whether or not to take Ksyon.

I knew it would be hard traveling that far and that long with him but at the same time, we take him everywhere we go and since he's still not sleeping through the night, I think I would have worried about him and whoever he stayed with. 

So...after a lot of contemplation, we decided to take him. 

And I'm SO glad we did!!!

He was so good and so much fun to have with us.

Besides being in the city which is NOT kid/stroller friendly.

I think it was just bad being our first time there with a little one.

We'll make better choices next time.

We flew out Saturday morning at 8:30.

Stayed in Manhattan Saturday night.

We visited Ground Zero, ate good food, walked around the Rockefeller Plaza, enjoyed FAO Schwarz toy store, and walked through Central Park.

I'd have to say, Central Park was my favorite and Ground Zero was Incredible!!

Sunday afternoon we picked the Freemans up at the airport, rented a car and headed to Montauk.

Montauk is at the very tip of Long Island. They call it "The End"

Gary (Eric's boss) rented a house for all of us.

The next three days were spent relaxing, shopping, site seeing, playing at the beach and eating lots of good food.

The guys spent the three days fishing on the ocean. They caught some good sized fish along with some sharks!! 

We had such a good time and the weather was absolutely perfect. 

The Freemans flew home Thursday.

We took a ferry over to Connecticut. Another fun experience.

It was nice for Kyson to be able to run around instead of having to sit in a car seat the whole time.

We had dinner in New Haven with the Gardners Thursday night and walked around the Yale campus.

Friday we got up and walked a trail in Branford then took the kids to Pumpkintown.

What a neat place!!

Connecticut is Beautiful in the Fall!!!

Saturday we went on a hike, drove to East Rock, had lunch at Shake Shack then headed to the airport.

We are so grateful for this opportunity and had such an Amazing time with Great people!!!

Blessing Evelyn

Sept 1, Evelyn Jean Hamm was blessed and given a name.

I love baby blessings.
They're probably one of my favorite things to go to.
I love the uniqueness of each and every one.

Although Riley was a little (ok a lot) nervous...he did a Great job!!

Love this little Hamm family!

My Dear Grandpa

July 27 was the day my Grandpa decided it was time to go home.

As much as we are all going to miss him, he is in a much better place.

Anyone who knew my Grandpa knows how active and independent he was until about a year ago.

It was so difficult to see him decline so quickly going from elk hunting at age 90 to being stuck in a hospital bed in his living room at age 93.

What an INCREDIBLE man!!!!

He taught me so much about life.

He never judged.

He was always there when we needed him.

He never left us guessing how much he loved us.

He was my hero. My example. My role model.

He was by far the most Amazing Grandpa a girl could ask for.

I feel so blessed the have had the opportunity to grow up with such Wonderful Grandparents.

One of my favorite things about Grandpa is how much he loved kids.

Even in his last days when he could barely move or speak, he lit up the second he saw Kyson. 

He wanted to hold him. Kiss him. Talk to him.

I have never seen anything more tender and special.

I will never forget those precious moments!!!!

His services were absolutely PERFECT!!

I miss you so much Grandpa and I can't wait to see you again!!!!

Mini Vaca

We left Friday afternoon for
Star Valley
We stayed at the Bott's cabin with Jess and Ryan. (Thanks again Jess!!)
Jess and I ran a half marathon Saturday morning.
I finished in 2:20. Not fast but my best time yet!
And I finished about 5 minutes before it started down pouring!
Lucky!!

Saturday afternoon we went into 
Jackson
and then hiked to Hidden Falls at Jenny Lake.
One of our favorite traditions.
Although we usually like to hike to Inspiration Point, my knees couldn't take it after running 13.1 miles.
We ate dinner at Bubbas and headed back to the cabin.

Sunday morning we had breakfast with Jess and Ryan.
Then we were off to
Island Park
where we stayed with one of Eric's friends and his wife and little girl.
We talked, relaxed, went for a walk, ate dinner and talked some more.

Monday we all got up and went to
Yellowstone National Park
I hadn't been there for years so it was fun to go back.
We didn't have near enough time to explore and see all that I wanted but we did some hiking and had lunch with the Nelsons before heading for home.

It was a great little get-a-way with my family and I can't WAIT to go back next year!!

Firsts

I Love "firsts"

It's so fun to see Kyson do things and experience things for the first time.

First swim lessons

First Slurpee

First kiss ;)

 First swim pool

First time to Hidden Falls

First :( mosquito bites 

This picture is showing his fat lip and swollen arm from bites. His little body is learning what to do with these darn bites. Poor baby!!

July 4th

We were finally able to go camping for the first time this year.

We decided since it was the 4th of July weekend, we wanted to go somewhere that wasn't going to be super busy.

So, we chose the high Uintas by Little Elk Lake.

It was BeAutIfuL up there and we got to spend time with the Houses and the Partridges.

But...we made a quick stop in Park City to watch the parade.

I wasn't too impressed. They didn't have any fun, fancy, colorful floats. 

We left a little over half way through and made our way into the mountains.

Our trip didn't start out great with a flat tire thanks to "the road from H-E-L-L"

All of a sudden we heard "pshhhhhhhhhhh"

The tire was flat within seconds.

But, we got it changed (and prayed the spare would hold out for the rest of our trip).

I have NEVER been on a more rocky bumpy road in my entire life. 

I was so glad to finally see our camp spot!

I have loved camping ever since I was a little girl.

I don't know if it's the 

peaceful feeling

s'mores

camp fire

fishing

relaxing

tin foil dinner

dutch ovens

but whatever it is, I still love it to this day.

Kyson is at a hard age for camping though.

He isn't walking yet but is so busy and doesn't like to sit still.

I had to step out of my comfort zone and let him crawl around in the dirt.

That was HARD!!

Not because I didn't want him to get dirty (hello, he's a boy)

but because I myself am paranoid about Ticks and Spiders and the thought of them crawling on my helpless baby boy made me a little anxious!!

But, despite how I felt, he loved it!

We played horse shoes...

Hiked...a very steep rocky mountain!!

 Kyson did NOT like his head in the shade!

 Big Elk Lake

Fished...

And played games in the tent during the rain storm...

We had a WoNdeRfuL weekend with gReaT fRieNds!!