The rest of July 2011 ;)

July was a BUSY month for us! Haha, a lot has happened. I made a few posts this month in order to cover all of what happened. We had 3 family reunions (They all have their own post) and we've been busy with getting things ready for second crop which happened at the end of the month. We love second crop because it's only a couple weeks and this time around it only lasted about a week and a half! Woo hoo!!!!!

For the 24th we went out to New Castle. It has become a tradition for us. Travis and I started doing it when we were dating and have just kept going every year. They have a very, very small parade. It is so small that it runs up Main St, turns around, and comes back down. :) They throw candy for the kids, it's a lot of fun. This year it was Grandma Laub, Kevin, Sara, Samantha, Derrick, KayDee, Mandy, Dani, Travis, and me. We missed Grandma in this picture. Grandpa was in the parade pulling a float with his truck. :)
After the Ipson reunion we had Tom, Natalie, Jaycee, Justin, Jacque, Rachel, Kevin, Sara, their kids, Mandy, and Whitney all over for dinner and most of them slept over. Dinner was AWESOME!!! Ribs, potatoes, salad (with awesome Ceaser dressing) rolls, honey butter, there may have acutally been more but I don't remember what else there was SO MUCH FOOD!!! Yummy!! So glad for all the great cooks in this family!

This is an adorable picture of Dani and Jaycee. (It actually may be from August but it is so dang cute I just had to include it.)

This is also a picture from August. (Also just too cute to hold on to for later!) I have problems with my sciatic nerve from time to time and I was down for a few days. Dani snuck into my spot more than once when I ran to the bathroom. She is so cute!!! How happy is she? Haha
This just cracked me up! She started sitting like this from time to time. She makes us laugh. Just wants to put her feet up when watching TV just like Mom and Dad!
Dani is also getting better at eating on her own. She still dumps half of it on her bib but she can work the spoon better and better. About 50% of the time it ends up in her mouth right side up. :) (It's usually empty...) She just loves to do everything all by herself like a big girl! Little Miss Independant!

We've been very blessed in the last month. We feel very grateful for the oportunities that have come our way and for the time we get to spend together as a family. We are so so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives and look forward to more oportunitites to make more memories with all our friends and family! :)

Ipson Reunion 2011

The Ipson Reunion is held on top of Beaver Mountain every year. We look forward to it ALL YEAR LONG!!! It includes all of Travis' Mother's siblings and all of their children and grand children. This group is great and it is oh so much fun to get together and enjoy everyone's company!

Unfortunately this year was cut a little short for us because Dani didn't camp very well. We were up all night with her the first night we were there. Driving didn't work and we were both so tired we just didn't care anymore so Travis drove Dani and I home (luckly we live super close) and we all three got some sleep. Travis made it back up the mountain by noon or so to pack up all our things and spend a little more time with his family before coming home.

This is Dani's cousin Samantha. They are very, very close. Dani lights up every time that she is around and I've had to pry Dani away from her when the time has come for Sam to leave. :(
Exploring her surroundings... She loves to be free and investigate.

Travis' cousin Jacque, her husband Justin and their little girl Rachel. She is only 3 months younger than Dani.
We love all the family time we get in the month of July!!!
Another really cute one of Samantha and Dani.We did enjoy the time that we got to spend with everyone! (Again - I just wish I got more pictures.....) :)

Todd Reunion 2011

My parents organized an immediate family, family reunion out at Jordanelle Reservoir. This year. It was a lot of fun to have all of the siblings and and thier families together. We had a great time camping, playing out on the lake, eating smoores, slack lining, singing and talking around the campfire.

This is the first picture we took when we got there. Left to right: Jessika, Sarah, Dani and Makayla.One of the few moments that Dani was happy in the life jacket on the boat. Most of the time it really really bugged her. She did pretty well for it being her first time though.

Family shot - she looks SO into it! Haha
Makayla got this shot of Dani hanging off the front of the boat. Wind in her face, she LOVED IT!
My mom convinced me to get Dani out on the tube. I'm glad that she did because Dani really did have a good time out on the water. She was done by the time they pulled us back in but she did like kicking her feet in the water. Dani was enthralled with her cousin Eli. She played with him the whole time that he was in his pac-n-play. It was so cute!
We really did have a good time. We had some mishaps with the rain and wind the second night we were there. Dani didn't sleep well the first night we were there. We had to go for a drive and Travis and I spent the second half of the night in the truck. But she adapted by the second night. She loved the fire and my dad's football.

I really wish that I had gotten more pictures (mostly of people other than my kid) I guess I need to be more concious of that next year! :)

Laub Reunion 2011

We've had 3 family reunions this last month. The Laub one was the first. I made Dani's dress, my skirt and Travis' bandana that is wraped around his hat. The reunion was over the weekend of the 4th so we went dressed for the occasion. ;)

They always have the reunion out at the farm in Beryl at Grandma Laub's house. There was good food and games. This year they played abreviated versions of the "Minute To Win It" games. Thanks everyone for all your hard work that makes the reunion a sucess every year!

Dani loved all of the kids that were there. She'd just walk up to them and jabber and then walk away...

They have a little train that they pull behind a four wheeler and we tried to get Dani to do it but she wasn't very interested (as you can see) that is until Travis got off the back of the four wheeler and Samantha (one of Dani's cousins) climbed in with her. Then she LOVED it!!
Travis, two of his brothers and two of his cousins were all piled in this truck and went out playing in all the sage brush. 5 Guys, all 6 ft or taller!! Haha, Travis said it was well well worth it - it always is when Kevin drives!

Another picture of Dani running around with the kids.
How pretty is she? I love this picture. They were doing horse rides and Dani was just hanging out at the gate watching all the horses. :) She sure loves animals.
I love this one too. It was missing a wheel so we couldn't push it around but she loved just sitting on a tractor - just like her Daddy!!

All in all we had a great day and made some more good memories. It was good to see everyone that was able to make it this year. :)

HAPPY INDEPENDANCE DAY!!!!!

Yay!!! Fourth of July!!!!

We had so much fun! We got the whole day together as a family! :)

First we went down to our ward's picnic. Dani entered the 1 yr old race and WON!!!! She SMOKED the other kids! It was hilarious. We thought she would sort of just wander around trying to figure out what it was that we wanted her to do and she didn't! She TOOK OFF RUNNING! So cute! :)

The scouts put together a pretty good meal and we had a good time.

Later that day we decided that we would do some fireworks out at our house so we ran into town and grabbed some dinner (A TON of McNuggets - so yummy) and some fireworks. We set everything up in our drive way and put a blanket in the back of the truck. Dani was so excited sitting back there! Haha our little big girl!
Unfortunately we didn't calculate for the direction of the wind so after we set off the first firework and realized our mistake... we moved our little campout spot.. Haha it was really fun though. Dani really enjoyed it.

I love the look on her face!!

Travis lighting off the fireworks.

FIREWORKS!!!!
She's not even the tinest bit cute is she? ;)

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!

Mandy, Dani and I went out for half a day in June. We went in the morning. It wasn't quite so hot that way. Dani loved digging in the rocks.

She finally did find the perfect one and carried it with her for about 10 minutes. Haha!

She loved being able to wander around and explore. She did really well for the most part. Sometimes we did have to pull her back between us or pick her up, but she had a great time!

This was so funny! With the position of the sun, one side of this log fence was really warm to the touch while the other side was cool. She kept wandering back and forth feeling them both over and over. She just couldn't figure out how it was possible that they could look the same and not feel the same. Haha. It was so cool to see the wheels turning around in her little head. We kept telling her, "hot" and "cold" when she touched the warmer and cooler surfaces. She could have done this all day long!!

Such a big girl now! She doesn't even need my help drinking out of a water bottle... Surprisingly - she very rarely spills unintentionally.

June Bugs

Hooray for Family!!!! We tried to take advantage of as much family time as possible this month. Once first crop got under way we didn't see much of Travis. He was super busy and with all the things we had going on, on the side, we didn't get to ride with him much in the tractor.

Right before things started to get crazy we took a family 4 wheeler ride up the canyon behind our house. It was Dani's first time riding on it for more than a couple minutes and she really really had fun. We went for a little hike and enjoyed some time together and then headed back home.

What a big girl she is now!!!

We didn't do a lot of traveling around this month (we needed a break anyway). :) Dani and I did go out to Bryce Canyon with Travis' sister Mandy. (I'll write another post with all those pics).

We did stay busy though. Travis' brother, Kevin, and his wife, Sara, and their kids stayed in the basement portion of our house through first crop so that they could be out here with Kevin while he worked here through 3rd crop. The only problem was that we really needed to clean it out cause we haven't ever utilized that space and no one has really been down there for over 10 yrs. at least!! Sara was a HUGE help in getting it livable! It looks great down there now and we are so excited to start using it more regularly (it's surrounded by concrete and SO MUCH COOLER in the summer!!) Thanks Sara and Kevin for all your help!!!

Travis hurt his foot this month. He has just started training Bella (the farm's youngest horse). She wasn't so into the idea of letting him get in the saddle the second time around and just as he got up in the stirrup and was ready to swing over she threw him. He twisted, sprained, tore it up SUPER GOOD!! He was on crutches for a week (thanks Roni), then a cane and now he's just gimping out the rest of it. ;) He's doing so so much better. I think we are almost to the point that I can start giving him jobs around the house again with out feeling guilty (Muahahaha)!!

I guess that wraps it up for us here and the month of June! Stay tuned because I will follow this post up with one with the pictures from Bryce and our 4th of July! :)

May Flowers - With Busy, Busy Bees!!

READY, SET, GO!!!!!!

KICKIN' BACK!

We feel like we've been pulled just about every single which way this month. It's all been for good causes and we wouldn't do it any differently. We were glad that we could be there for so many special moments this month but we are TIRED!!!! We'll have just a few weeks to recoup and then we'll be diving head first into first crop. Time to rest up and get the house clean so that it can at least be functional through our busier days and nights when I really will be too tired to care! Haha!!!
Mother's Day weekend we ran up to Salt Lake so that we could see all my siblings and be able to talk to my brother when he called from his mission. It was so good to see every one. There was great food (as there ALWAYS is) and of course plenty of laughs and games. Dani got to meet her Aunt Jessika (my sister) for the first time as she had just returned from her mission a few weeks earlier. It was great to visit my family. Now that we're older I love every opportunity that we have to get together! A full house at my parent's is some of the best times in the world!!
Chloe, Dani's cousin from Travis' side of the family came up to Salt Lake and spent a day with us. Roni, her mom, picked her up that afternoon. Dani loves having little friends to play with!!


The following weekend we were back up in Salt Lake for Jessika's homecoming talk. She did GREAT!!! It was wonderful to have time to visit with all of the Bates family that was able to make it. We got some cute pictures of Dani with her Aunt Jessie! Welcome home Jess!!!



Saturday the 21st was D.J. and Whitney's wedding!!!! They are so cute together and we were so happy that we could spend the day celebrating with them.
They put on a great party for their reception. We hope they had a good time cause we did! ;) I achieved a personal best - dancing the entire extended version of "Boot Scootin' Boogy" while holding Dani on my hip!!! Definitely earned that cake! :) Travis and I also got in a few swing dances which was a lot of fun. We really miss dancing. Too bad there's no where to go anymore.

Travis' and Dani's first daddy daughter dance.

Justin, Jacque and Rachel came and stayed with us the weekend of the wedding. We had some great meals (thanks for always bringing a great recipe with you when you come down!) and some really fun times. The two girls played really well together. No pulling hair, biting, kicking. ;) Good thing they are both really good girls!

The final weekend in May held just one more trip. This one was last minute up to Salt Lake on Sunday night and back Monday morning. We got some hand-me-down furniture. (Thanks Tom and Natalie!!) It was a quick, quick trip but it's always good to visit with friends!!!

When we got home with the new furniture we rearragned all the furniture and had a lot of cleaning to do! How cute is our little helper??! :)

That should basically wrap up our month. We got a TON of rain!!! A lot of days indoors. We're looking forward to Summer, sunscreen and more time in the park!!!

Hope things are going well for all of you too! :)