Our Little Helper

Lately whatever we are doing Rylee wants to be doing it too.  She is really good at handing me the silverware out of the dishwasher so I can put it away and she is also very good at taking all of the clothes out of the drier and putting them on the floor so I can fold them.  Then after they are folded and in the basket she is really good at taking them out and handing them to me.  I am so lucky to have such a good helper, I love it

Labor of Love

For Rylee's birthday (yeah I know it's still a month away) all of her grandparents got her a swing set jungle gym! We went and picked it up and Ryan got crackin' on it the next day.  All in all it took 15 hours (with a few distractions) to put together.  The directions said it should take 4-6 hours with two people working on it...um, didn't happen!  Ryan put the majority of it together, poor guy, I helped when I could (someone has to watch the kid) and Jeffrey helped as well.  Jamie even helped by watching Rylee while the three of us finalized things.  It was definitely a group effort and I know it will be WELL WORTH IT!

Oh man this is going to be a project!!!

She is such a good helper!!!

Starting to come together...all the big pieces anyway

Playing with "blocks"

Back at it early the next morning

All done, woohoo!!!

She loved it!!!

She approves!

We just need to get her an infant swing until she is big enough to sit on the swings.  I know this bad boy is gonna get a lot of miles put on it in the near future.   Thank you so much Grandmas and Grandpas, you're all the best!!!

Walking!

Well, it's official we have a full fledged walker in the family!  So we all know that Rylee has been walking for a few weeks now.  Until recently she would grab anyone who was willing's hands and walk around.  She has been getting better and taking more unassisted steps, but still kind of freaked out if you let go of her hand.  Well on Sunday she decided that she was going to start motoring on her own.

There is something almost magical about watching your child start to walk.  I love it!

Needless to say, she is all over the place now!  Good thing we have our baby gates up!  The other day I was cleaning her bathroom and she got up and walked out.  She was gone for a little while so I went to look for her.  I started in her room...nothing, went to the guest room...nothing.  I finally found her in our closet playing with the belts!!!

Eleven Months Old

Love me some Rylee cheeks!!

"HI"

So happy!!

heehee

Sitting up so big!!

Grand Canyon

So we have been in Arizona 2 + years and we finally made it up to the Grand Canyon!  Bob and Vickie came for a visit and we made the trip up to Flagstaff so escape the heat and take in some of the Arizona sites.  It's amazing up there!!!  I don't know why we don't go up there more often; it's cooler, there are PINE TREES and I'm sure there are lots of other cool things there, we just didn't have the chance to see them.

 

Our little road tripper!

On the way up to Flagstaff we stopped in Sedona for some photos and then stopped at Montezumas Castle.  It's a cliff dwelling that was actually really cool.  Crazy to think people actually lived there and had to climb alllllllll the way up there several times a day. 

She really liked checking out the castle and riding in her new stroller

Checking out leaves with Grandma

I love this!!!

Still holding onto her leaf

This is so much cooler than I thought it would be and pictures don't do it justice!

King of the mountain!!! 

Family photos

We had a great trip, it was so nice to get out of the heat for a few days and I know we will definitely be going back to Flagstaff (to see SNOW) and the Grand Canyon many times!  Thanks for such an enjoyable trip Bob and Vickie, we loved having you here!

 

10 months old!!!

Love that smile!!!

Rylee's First Trip to Red Lodge

Well, our trip to Red Lodge was horrible!  I had it all planned out that Rylee would be ready to take her nap on the plane.  However, being an Allegiant flight we were delayed 2 hours!  She did great while we waited, there was a little girl in the terminal that kept her occupied.  Then right before we boarded I get her to go to sleep and we got on the plane and an old woman grabbed her leg and woke her up...UGH!!!!  So needless to say she was wide awake and screaming/squealing the whole trip.  Old grumpy men kept giving me dirty looks.  Then when we landed in Billings there was a "medical emergency" so we ended up sitting on the tarmac for 45 minuted.  Needless to say Rylee had had enough when we finally got off the plane!  Whew!  

Red Lodge was great though!  We had a great time, meeting up with old friends, meeting new ones (Rylee met the Lysinger kiddos, Reid Hauge, Anna Kate O'Shay, Elspeth Morton and Brooke Donohoe...she was a busy girl).  One of the days it was super cold (62° haha) so we got all bundled up and went to the park.  Rylee had a blast!

Rylee got to go to her first rodeo!  She much rather liked to walk around and check stuff out rather than actually watch the rodeo.  But she did get her party on above the "Jim Noe" buckin' chute!  

Hanging out on the deck in her cowgirl boots

Rylee went to three parades!  By the time the 4th of July parade was about half way over, she had had enough and fell asleep in my arms! 

This is a picture that someone else took of the parade on the 4th...there were sooooo many people there!

Rylee and Grandpa in their 4th of July outfits

We weren't allowed to have fireworks because of the fire danger, but we had a BBQ at the house which was delicious.

Having some of Hunter Bell's home-made peach ice cream...yummy

Rylee also got to hang out with Great Grandma Etta for a couple days and she got to meet her cousin Dea and Dea's boyfriend Nate.  She loved getting all the attention :)

Giving Grandma some loves...

I was so lucky to meet miss Brooks Lee, one of my oldest friends (known her since before preschool!!!) did a good job of having her before we left town so I got to meet her!  She has literally been home from the hospital like an hour and Rylee and I went to meet her.  She was too precious.  Reminded me of when Rylee was that small...seems like so long ago!  I wish I would have taken a picture of the 4 of us, but there was too much going on :)

Rylee was checking out Brooke's horsey...it worked really well

On the way out to Nye Rylee and I stopped by to see Great Grandma and Grandpa Noe.  It had been several years since I stopped by and I felt guilty for not having flowers, but we improvised and got these.  At least it was something, sorry for the weeds guys :)

We had a wonderful trip, it was nice to see everyone and I am so glad that Rylee got to meet a bunch of people who have been waiting.  I can't wait for her to get a little older so we can do more with her.  We did a lot and I know we could have done a lot more if we had more time.  Ryan will have to go with us next time!   

My view driving home from Anna's house.  So beautiful!  Makes me miss Montana more and more, especially when we landed in AZ and it was brown and 112!!!

Having lunch with Grandma and Grandpa on the way to the airport.

Thanks for a great week guys, love ya!!!