Noah update

Oh my little Noh Noh. He is just so beautiful, and don't worry, I've cut his hair since this photo, though I just love his long hair. Noah has been growing up so much lately. He loves to swim and is such a little daredevil. He will do waterslides (Big Sky, and a crazy quick steep one in Raymond) and diving boards (the small diving boards all on his own). His vocabulary is finally starting to explode. He is not yet saying sentences but he can mimic nearly every word and it seems each day he is using a new one on his own. "Ay ya too!" (Love ya too), suggle (snuggle), yesh (yes... it is almost with an accent and it's SO cute), potty, raisins, vitamin, cracker, church (one of his favorite words), shoes, sandals, buckle, tired (said in the most strained tired voice possible.... adorable), haircut (anything styling is a haircut), picture, show.... I can't even list them all.

He has started copying his brother and goes pee standing up. It's pretty cute. I basically refuse to start potty training after the terrible time we've had with Ty (he's been doing so great lately)... but Noah seems to be doing it all on his own. He even went poo on the potty the other day on his own (but didn't stay seated and kind of made a mess). My good friend says I have to just do it and start potty training, but I just caaaaaan't yet. I don't want it to not work. Plus Noah can't even fully talk!! Communication is still so limited. But at this rate, maybe I won't have to. :) I think I deserve an easy potty trainer now.

Noah is a little stinker. There are many nights he will come out of his room 20+ times. He just won't stay put and it can be 10pm or even later before he gets to bed. Naptime can often be like this too... it can be so frustrating but so hard to get upset because he is just so cute!!

Noah loves to play the game "Eat You" where you pretend to take bites of each other (usually their face) and eat. haha He also, in the most random moments, will say "knock knock", I say "who's there?" and he usually says "joke"... and thats the end of it. He loves to "play rough" as Ty calls it, with Ty and Dad. They can go for a straight hour and it's just so funny to watch them.

Yellowstone Parker Reunion

Okay so this trip was our BIG family summer vacation this summer... even though we packed soo much in this summer. I was a bit nervous for it because we were going to be gone for a week, and we were going to be tenting the entire time. We have been camping LOTS with the kids, but the longest was about 4 days. We were heading to a Parker Family Reunion just outside of Yellowstone National Park at Buttermilk Campground. I had been to Yellowstone before but Michael hadn't, so I was excited to show him the sights. We left 2 days before the reunion started in a caravan of my Dad, Kristi, and Dani, and The Fyfes in the other vehicle. We decided we were going to drive down to Helena a try out a campground there, which ended up being the lamest campground ever with no trees and so so windy and not really room for tenting.

OFF we go!! 

After scraping the idea of that campground we decided we were going to be classy and camp in the Walmart parking lot. Once we get there, we discover my Aunt Charlyn, Val, and Andrea, and my cousin Theresa and their clans were already there... separately!! haha. It was a party. Since we were in a PARKINGLOT, the Fyfes were kind enough to let us stay in their ginormous tent trailer (king size bed) so we didnt have to pitch our tent on concrete. It was pretty great, until..... 3am-ish the STREET SWEEPERS come in and for a good HOUR are cleaning the concrete. I swear they came right up to our tent. Oh man, I was not happy. Luckily, and amazingly, the boys slept through it. 

 A "chair". 

After church in Helena we headed to Ennis to an RV park. Great showers, LAUNDRY (how nice is it to have all clean clothes 2 days into your camping trip), and green grass. That night we went to Norris hot springs and it was so fun. I dont think Michael enjoyed it as much as I did, but it was so cool. The kids (especially Noah, because Ty ended up with a fever that night for the next 3 days) LOVED the warm water. There was a small band playing music and it was just a really cool vibe. The kids went to bed great and we played card games that night.

 The next morning we headed to Buttermilk campground. We were worried there would be no trees, but it turned out to be an awesome campground. There were TONS of sticks and rocks that the kids played endlessly with.

Grandpa snuggling with the grandkids. Notice Noah's arm in the hammock, holding him in. 

 The kids got their own light sabres. 

 Beware of Noah when he has an underbite... he's looking for trouble. 

For real though... I'm afraid of him. 

On the 2nd day of the reunion we had a free day to explore Yellowstone. We stopped and saw a few awesome and very different geysers. The kids loved them. What an amazing thing to see. 

^^ Boiling water ^^

Hot Springs... too hot to soak in, haha. So cool to look in. It's so clear and looks like you could just dive right in and go so deep. 

Noah was really into checking every geyser out fully.

The mudpots. 

Stinky air!

We saw Old Faithful. Very underwhelming and over anticipated... even Ty thought so. haha, I think we all preferred the other geysers, though they were smaller. 

After Old Faithful I made Michael go into the visitors centre and ask about a swimming hole we had heard about. Oh my, was it worth asking. The guy knew exactly what we were talking about a drew an arrow to a specific spot on our map. Well we just had a blast! We hung out mostly by the cave above. The kids found a little ledge and kept jumping into the water over and over.

 Unfortunately we only stayed a few hours because we had to head back to the reunion for dinner. But it will still an awesome day. We would love to go back to Yellowstone and explore for another 2-3 days. So much to see!

At Family reunions since I can remember we've always made rope. I always had one randomly sitting in my room (not really the purpose of it) but I always thought it was the coolest souvenir. This year my Dad made sure that Ty got one to take home. Ty was pretty excited about it.  

Noah just picking up rocks. 

Every year the families each bring/make a quilt to auction off and the money goes to the next reunion. This year we did themed baskets. So many cool baskets, and our family did a games/Canada basket. I SO wanted it because of all the awesome games. So i spent $26 in raffle tickets ($1 each) and put all my eggs in one basket. AND I WON. Oh yeeeeeah! 

Noah was loving picking up sticks and logs and putting them near/in the fire (or just the pit if the fire was out)

 Michael reeeeeally wanted to go back to the swimming hole. And I was torn about whether to go with him and leave the reunion for another day, or stick around and visit and play games. So he took the kids and I stayed at the reunion. It kinda tore at me because I wanted to do both. Anyways after playing some games and visiting, a bunch of family decided they wanted to check out this swimming hole. So I rode with my Dad into Yellowstone and I was so surprised Michael and the kids were still there! We found a few more fun areas to play in and oh my, was it worth the trip back. What a blast. Oh ya! The water was SOOOOOO warm. Like almost like a pool... i think from the volcano water being so hot. It was perfect. We stayed for about 3 hours (michael and the kids for 6 hours in total).

 Swimming the current on Dad's back. 

Jumping into the awesome current. SO so fun. I want to take the kids back there someday. 

Cousins checking out the river water (a different river that was FREEZING COLD) 

The reunion was so fun. We got to play Amazing Race again (a tradition, and my FAVORITE), we played TONS of games, lots of campfire time at night, watched the meteor shower,  and ate yummy food. It was such a good week. I was so worried about camping with the kids but it just all went so well. 

Nice face Dan... haha. This was our family that came to the reunion. We hope more come next time!! Can't wait until the next reunion.

Asthma and Homecoming!

Every year on the weekend closest to July 6th (my Grandpa Parkers birthday) our relatives camp at Payne Lake. It's always nice to get out and still be close to home. We couldn't stay two nights because we went to a wedding reception for one of Michaels coworkers on Saturday night. Ty has been struggling with sporadic coughing fits and tight breathing... we had been at Payne Lake all day and when he went to bed his breathing started to get heavy and he was coughing so much his tummy was really hurting him. None of us were getting any sleep, so at about 330am Michael drove the hour and 15 mins home and both of them didn't get to sleep until about 6am. Ty had a puffer we got from the hospital when he needed to be taken in months before so Michael gave him that and some Benadryl... They slept for a few hours then drove back out and hung out for a bit. We didn't end up doing much because we had to head back to Lethbridge to get ready for the wedding reception.

That episode of Ty's happened again at Magrath Days, and so I took him into the doctor. We have since been referred to an Asthma Clinic. They can't test for asthma until kids are about 6-7 but it was concluded that he likely does have asthma, though we aren't sure of his triggers yet. Not physical though... So we are figuring all that out at the moment. He used to spend lots of nights coughing in bed, and would cough so hard he could hardly breathe when he would laugh a lot or cry really hard.

 The kids loved playing in the water.. too bad it was kind of murky. 

 Dad bundling his kids. :)

 Noah and I hanging out in the morning.  

 One of the coolest experiences I've ever had was waiting for my little sister to return home from her 18 month mission in Australia. I wrote her nearly every week, sent tons of photos and videos, yet it just is not the same as hugging her and seeing her beautiful face. I took the van up with my sisters and Aiden, and Mom and Bryan, and we were just soooo excited. A flight from Frankfurt of a few hundred people got in before Breannes so we expected it would be quite a while before we would see her walk through those doors.. Still, we stood and watched each person come through searching for a her... a few people made our hearts skip thinking it was her and then finally, earlier than we expected, we saw her!!! We ran to where we could meet up with her and giving her a big hug was just the best feeling. Such a special moment. I am just soo proud of her. Her homecoming talk was beautiful. She is so much more confident with who she is. While hearing the beautiful scripture passages she memorized and recited during her talk, I couldn't help but feel the Spirit. She has grown so much, and she is such an example to me. I can't wait to see what the future has in store for her!

Dinosaur Provincial Park

Our first camping trip of the year was to Dinosaur Provincial Park, not to be confused with Drumheller or Writing On Stone. It's 2 hours from Lethbridge and such a great campground. There was TONS of hiking to do in the badlands. We spent hours hiking with the kids and they were in heaven... even with a bunch of scraped knees. We met the Bennett's there, and it was a great trip. The campsites were HUGE, there was a park, and a cafe where we got ice cream, and we hiked hiked hiked! Michael and I definitely want to take the kids back there again when they are a little older!

 Driving to some of the badlands.

 On a walk to the river. Check out that adorable little boy!

 Ah, this is waaay too cute.

 A giant tree!

 The men checking out the river.

 A reeeeeeeeeally old tree... 

 Mikes giving it a hug. 

 It turned out to be an awesome climbing tree and Lauren rocked it!

 haha, Michael was fearful for his life. 

 We called this "The Brain" 

 Blurry photo but this was at the top of some very big badlands.

 The guys found a little cave and it was really dark but Darcy went in it to see how far it went because he could see a tiny little light and we found it weaved in and out a bit and came out the other side so everyone went through it a few times and the kids just thought it was the coolest.

 Okay, so I actually didn't go through!! It's FREAKY that this is underground, ah!

 Amazing views!! Like nothing I've ever seen. You drive to here and it's all just farmland and then you start to descend a bit and there is just this crazy view that goes on for a long time of bandlands!! Beautiful!

The kids watching the Incredibles in the trailer. Ty loved it!

 grabbing lunch at the cafe before we head home.

 Love this view!

 It was windy and rainy when we were leaving.. Good timing!

 Ty talks about this trip all the time and he calls it Dinosaur Avisual Park.... haha