Blog-A-Thon 5 ~ Highland Games

After the race, we got all ready and headed up to Billings. Tyler and Chad competed in the Highland Games. We had never heard of it before, but it was really great! It took place at the Billings Zoo which was a perfect place for it! It was an entire Scottish celebration. They had a whole plaza of booths selling Celtic items, bag pipe competitions, sword fighting, food, dancing, musicians, and all sorts of fun things! It was really cool! Bailey really enjoyed the music. It was so fun to go to the games and see all the other things they had. We even got to go around and see the animals as well.

Tyler and Chad had a lot of fun and did really well. They made some good friends with the other competitors and they even put on a Lovell Highland's Games later. If I remember correctly, they took first and second!! It was also fun to see them in their kilts!!

Here's Tyler This is Chad
Bailey in the field watching the games

Part of the Tyler and Chad Fan Club: (L-R) Grandpa and Grandma Anderson, Carissa, Bailey, Grandpa and Grandma Walker, CJ, Lindsay, Jodi, Tammy, Aaron, Allisa, Steve.

Bailey was pretty worn out, so Ken took Taysum around to see some of the animals in the Zoo. It was a really great day!

What does an elephant say?

Blog-A-Thon 4 ~ Lovell's Days

In June, we had fun participating in Lovell's Days! It was kind of a cooler summer and it was kind of stormy, but we still had fun!

Taysum and I went to the Follies. He had a lot of fun dancing in the street with his cousins and the Dollies and Mustang Band before it started. Taysum's favorite act was The Haka done by Uncle Tyler and the Swing Choir boys. He was "saying the words" for a couple weeks after that!

I had to work, but Ken took Taysum and Bailey to the Family Fun Night. Grandma was nice enough to stay with Bailey and her slide while Taysum played some of the games.

Taysum loves fishing booths. It was fun to see Aunt Lindi's mom, Traci.

Bouncy Castle

Ken and Taysum waited in line for face painting for over 1/2 an hour. It was amazing that Taysum waited that long. There was only one person in front of him and he decided to do something else and got out of line...and that was that!! A few minutes later he remembered he wanted his face painted, but by then it was getting stormy and started to rain, so we did our own version of face painting at home. Here is an eye-liner Spiderman Spider.

Here is an attempt at a Superman symbol in marker...Oh well...he was happy!

Saturday morning, Taysum and Ken ran in the Mustang Days' Ralph Robertson Memorial Run. They had a lot of fun and T really hung in there. They walked most of the way, but he finished!!

Blog-A-Thon 3 ~ Take me back...

I just went through my pictures and realized I'm missing a lot more than I thought!! So, here we go back to JUNE!! These are just some fun things that happened during the month.

Taysum LOVES being a Superhero!

Taysum and his Thomas book
Ken made hiking sticks for Taysum and Bailey. B is using hers as a bat!! That dark spot in the bottom of the frame is our dog Tempo.

I love to see the Temple!! Our kids just love the temple and they get so excited about seeing the temple!

Cool, dude!!

Great Grandma Anderson and Carissa

Ken had to go to Cheyenne for work and he went through Sheridan and found this sign in the Big Horns. Someone had told him about it and he was excited to find it!

Blog-A-Thon 2 ~ GREATS!!

My mom's parents, Howard and Carol Garrick came to visit for the weekend of August 14. They live in California, so we don't get to see them very often. We really enjoyed having them here for a few days and we're excited for May when they are coming back for Tyler's graduation!
Playing with a GREAT Grandpa! Our kids had a lot of fun with Great Grandpa and Grandma Garrick. Grandpa told Taysum that they are good buddies because they share a name. Taysum is Grandpa's middle name; his mother's maiden name. Grandpa was so good to Taysum to spend time on the floor playing with him.

Getting to know a GREAT Grandma!! Bailey Grace is named after Grandma Garrick's mother, Grace Naomi Wade.

They had such a good time and it was really nice to see them for a couple days!

Blog-A-Thon 1 ~ The last of August

This is my effort to catch up the past two and 1/2 months: Rather than one forever long post, I thought it would be a little easier and do-able to break it up into a bunch of smaller posts.

This post has a few fun pictures from the last of August.

"What in the world?" You may be thinking...well, this little guy was growing in the corner of our living room. It was kind of back behind a table, so it wasn't easily noticed...but it was just so funny! My little Mr. Creative! This balloon was already blown up and tied off, but he was having fun pretending he was blowing it up himself with the foot pump.

Taysum and Carissa on Grandpa Anderson's tractor. Taysum just LOVES Carissa and they have a lot of fun together. One time when Carissa was over I heard her crying and I went to check on them and Carissa said, "Taysum is driving me CRAZY!" It was more the way she said it...half crying voice and hand over her eyes! Taysum talks about her all the time and he's always "calling" her on the phone.

In the middle of August, my Grandpa and Grandma Garrick came to visit (next post). We don't get to see them very often and we LOVE it when they do come! They had given Taysum a dot-to-dot book and I had a lot of fun teaching him how to do it; he loves it!

We had some yummy corn given to us this summer and Taysum and Bailey had more fun shucking the corn than eating it!

School Days

Last Tuesday, September 8, was Taysum's LLOONNGG awaited first day of school! He LOVED school last year and the groups they did during the summer. Ever since we went to the screening, everyday he would say, "I have to go to school!" He would be very upest that it wasn't time. We even did a countdown and that didn't really help! I'm glad that he enjoys it so much!

He goes to VIP Preschool which is in the same building he went for his 3-year old class last year. His teachers, Lori Scheffler and Carol Fink are the best! You couldn't ask for better teachers. They are so kind and genuine...it's just great! Taysum loves them both! Carol is actually Katie Fink's mom, who was Taysum's teacher last year...so it's great!

He goes Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10:15am-12:15pm. It's amazing how much more busy three days a week is than two days a week last year! He also has a lot of fun kids in his class (including 3 boys from our ward) and two sets of identical twins! There are also a lot of fun moms I get to see twice a day which is great!!

It was a bright sunny morning, so he's kind of "squinty" in these pictures.

Bailey is actually the one who came up with this idea. She has Taysum's backpack from last year and she came in the picture and started striking a pose and Taysum joined in.

Cool new Spiderman backpack! (You can't tell, but it lights up, too!)

Taysum found his name on his box and hook.

This is a cute way for them to sign in and practice writing their name. Last week I had to help him, but today he did it all by himself! It was really exciting!

They have a question they have to answer each day. Last week was, "Can you hop like a frog?" Then they have to show how they can hop, find their name and put it under "yes" or "no."

They gave a cute little handout to the parents. It had a Hersey hug and kiss and said, "Here's a hug and kiss for you while I'm at Preschool!! 1st day of VIP Preschool 2009" It was so thoughtful!

And he's off to circle time!!

I actually didn't have too hard of time being emotional, because it was all familiar and he was SOO happy! I was just so happy for him! He's getting to be so big! We love you, Taysum!!

This is just a favorite shot of mine from the ward campout last month. First and only time I've been able to get pig tails in her hair!!

Our new one

Introducing, Cutler baby 3!! We are so thrilled and feel so blessed to have our new little miracle! We're just 10 weeks along, but we're so excited to share our wonderful news!!

Fireworks...in September?!!

So, yesterday Bailey was down for her nap and I went to shower...finally. Half way through, I heard Taysum going on about something and I could only hear snatches, "...my house!" "What's going on?" etc. So, I start calling him to try and figure out what is going on, but he won't answer me. He just runs to the door and yells something to me evey once in a while that I can't understand. My first thought is that maybe some one is at the house, so I don't exactly want to go running out there. I'm getting frustrated and finally get him to come talk to me. I ask him what is going on. He says something like, "What's going on my house?" and then the "best" one, "Fireworks in the kitchen!" Ok, so I'm out of the shower and mostly wrapped in a towel headed toward the kitchen and I see a strange flickering light. I get to the kitchen and, sure enough...fireworks...in the microwave!!! It was pretty crazy! Through the door of the microwave I see what looks like one of those flowers, I think they're called. They are those ones you light on the ground and they have a pretty flame on top and sparks underneath! It was exactly that way! Sparks and everything!! So, I get the microwave off and open the door to figure out what in the world he had put in there. All that was left was a charred, half package of pink lemonade koolaid! Apparently they have a metallic lining inside, thus the sparks. I went on to tell Taysum how dangerous that was and to thank Heavenly Father that it hadn't been worse. I have no idea how long of time he had set it for or even how long it had been going, but there was over 51 minutes left on the timer! I'm so thankful it didn't make a bigger fire; it didn't even ruin the microwave! New rule: microwave is only plugged in when in use...by a mommy or daddy!! :) Sorry...this wasn't exactly one of those moments where I thought, he shouldn't have done this, but it's kind of cute, so I'll take a picture...and yes....Ken did ask me if I had taken one...*sigh* ;0)

On a lighter note, our kids have really been into watching Dora the Explorer and Diego lately. It's been so funny to listen to the Spanish they've picked up from these shows. Yesterday Taysum was sorting some toy cups into grande and pequeno. He would say to Bailey, "Grande or pequeno? Bailey? I want grande!" Bailey's favorite has been, ayudame. She'll pretend to be stuck and say, "Ayudame, help, ayudame!!" If they are still "into" it, I think it would be really fun to dress them as Dora and Diego for Halloween...that's a whole month+ away, though, so we'll have to see!