Emree's 1st Birthday

MY BABY GIRL IS 1!!  I cannot even believe how fast her first year went by.  Must have something to do with having two other kids and home and being busy all the time.  For her birthday we went to visit Grandma Eileen in Boulder, CO.  She was down there for a school conference and it was great spending time with her.  We stayed in a hotel for the night to see Grandma as much as possible.  After her seminars we went back to the hotel, sang Happy Birthday, opened presents and had a little cupcake. It was very simple but a perfect 1st birthday for our little Doodle Bug! 

The birthday girl and her daddy.  She is a total daddy's girl. 

Mommy and baby! She is just too cute, I just want to eat her up. 

The Three Amigos celebrating sissy's big day.  

The birthday girl in her special birthday outfit! 

There is that smile again, I can't ever get tired of seeing that. 

And the bow comes off!!  We were surprised it lasted that long. 

Her new toy from Grandma.  (Thanks Grandma, it has been a favorite for her, the boys and all their friends)

Birthday cupcake! Small and delicious. 

Chowing down! 

Sloppy, birthday cake kisses for daddy, YUMMY! 

Our wonderful friends the Pratt's sent her a birthday present.  She loved the paper (big surprise) and I LOVED the present. :) 

It was the perfect gift Kristine....Troy knows who really is the BEST and it doesn't start with a "D".

Thank you to everyone who made our little girl's birthday so special.  We loved all the phone calls, visits and just knowing she is loved by so many of our wonderful family and friends.

Thunderbirds 2011

With Frontier Days comes the Thunderbird's!! This is the BEST part of CFD for the boys.  They love seeing the jets fly over our house when they are practicing and then love seeing the show.  This year I had my new camera to take pictures with and we went a little over board.  This was our 5th time seeing the Thunderbird's and we still took over 100 pictures!!  I like this years pictures the best.  

This year we were able to go out to a ranch, have breakfast then watch the Air Show on a big hill at the ranch.  It was awesome!  They flew right over us several times and it made the boys day! It was really nice being able to see the show from a different spot this year. 

It is fun to go back and look at the pictures with the boys.  They get so excited every time.  If you follow our blog, don't mind the repeat pictures....I think we take the same ones every year. 

CFD 2011

We really enjoy Cheyenne Frontier Days.  This year the kids were really excited and enjoyed participating in all the activities there are to do.  We always love the delicious lemonade and kettle corn.  Manti was FINALLY big enough to join Sebastien on some of the rides so he enjoyed it much more this year.  They did pretty well staying close and when their legs were "super tired" from walking we would pile all three in the double stroller.  You know what that means.....odd looks and comments from EVERYONE!  Sometimes I have a good sense of humor about the things people say but then you get the few that are completely out of line IN FRONT of the kids.  Anyway, it was a fun year and CFD did not disappoint. 

Manti was ecstatic about the motorcycle ride.  He loved being like his daddy, even if it was only for a few minutes. 

This was Sebasiten's second year riding the motorcycles so he was pretty brave to drive one handed for a picture.  I don't know why but this seems to always be their favorite ride.

Doodle bug was a good sport about having to sit in her stroller while the boys got to play.  As long as she has her thumb, she is all GOOD!!

The best buds were so excited for the train ride but I don't think it was as cool as they thought it would be.  They enjoyed it but definitely wanted to save their tickets for better rides.

Daddy and the kiddos catching some shade to cool off.  I think this was one of the only times doodle bug got to get out of the stroller....poor girl!

The boys getting ready to ride the elephant.  They were super excited about this ride because the elephants are suppose to go up and down.  Wouldn't it figure that the ONE elephant that doesn't work is the one they chose?? They were a little bummed about that but still thought it was pretty cool to be so high in the air.

Doodle bug got to have a little fun with Mom while the boys were riding the elephants.  Don't you just love that little smile?

Troy and I went to two concerts this year.  Darius Rucker with Kevin Costner....yes you read that right.  Kevin Costner the actor!! Who knew he was the lead singer in a band??  We sure didn't.  He was the opening act for Darius Rucker and was pretty good.  Towards the end though, Troy and I were getting very anxious to hear the main act!

Here he is....the man of the hour!!  He was amazing to see in concert and we both really enjoyed his concert.  He is definitely one we would love to see again in the future.

I don't have any pictures from the second concert and cannot remember who we saw, I guess it wasn't that great. Ha!

Hail Storms 2011

 In July (2011) Cheyenne got some of the worst hail storms I have ever seen.  We were outside playing and then it started raining, we all ran inside and seconds later it was hailing.  Then it got louder and louder so we looked out the window and saw golf balls bouncing all over the place.  It was crazy!  The kids got a little scared and thought we were going to have to hide in the laundry room (that's our safe room for when we have tornado warnings). The first storm was about 15 minutes and damaged the cars a little bit.  The second storm last about 30 minutes and totaled Troy's car, caused over 7,000 dollars worth of damage on the Yukon, destroyed our garden and knocked branches off our trees.  I think the only positive thing about these storms was it totally boosted car sales all around Cheyenne and parts of Colorado!

The kids watching very closely to the craziness happening outside.

This was the hail after the first storm. The kids thought it was pretty cool.

The backyard after the second storm.  It looks as if it had snowed but it was just tons of hail.  Sebastien was prepared though....bike helmet, rain boots and shovel to help clean up. 

Manti wanted to join in on the clean up.


Pictures of Troy's car after the second and most damaging storm. 

 Our garden and flowers...what is left anyway! 

 The second storm was so bad, the hail clogged up the drains and the street behind us started flooding.  The base had to hurry and send out the tractors to remove piles and piles of hail to get the water to drain.  

The car on the left had water covering it up to the door handle. 

The sky after the storm had passed over us.  It was really intense.  The picture doesn't do justice to how it really looked.

The size of the hail from the second storm.  

Even after everything, these two were still all smiles.
(Not really daddy, he was just pretending for the picture.)

Manti's 3rd Birthday

I figured I better get this posted before he turns 4!! Here is the birthday boy...last year....

Pretty spoiled right?

Sebastien and doodle bug wanted to get in on the birthday fun.

Momma and the birthday boy! 

                          Don't pay attention to the singing but just watch his face!  He LOVED being sung to. 

For his birthday party we decided to have a carnival party.  We had a photo booth, lucky duck game (try and find the duck with the number 3 on it), bean bag toss, ring toss and one that you had to knock cans off the table.  We had the bubble machine going and a cotton candy machine.  It was such a blast! 

Friends and Family at the photo booth....LOVE IT!!

 

Everyone enjoying some bubble time and cotton candy.  Can't complain, right? 

This cute little guy got a little hot and climbed in the bucket with the ducks! It was so hiliarious.

The crazy Cahoon's at the carnival party.

The birthday boy and his cake.  I made it so it's nothing fantastic but he loved it.

These two are the best of friends.  I love that they are so close it reminds me so much of Paul and I when we were growing up.

Here is the birthday boy, cotton candy face and all.  At the end of the day he was pretty exhausted and this is how I found him sleeping.  I think he had a pretty awesome birthday!!