Grandpa's visit...

Ben's dad flew home to Spokane with me and the kids after our two weeks in Alabama. It was nice having some help on the way back. The long trek across the country is tiresome when you're flying solo! :) My mother in law still had company at their house, so he came solo, with out her! We missed her, but still had fun with grandpa, while he was here. I secretly think it was because he couldn't get enough of little Taylor Rae. Seriously, I don't think a grandpa can love a little girl more than he loves her! :)
A few things we did while he was here:
The 24th of July celebration! Our stake has a huge 24th of July celebration honoring the pioneers, and we had never been. My father in law was in shock at how big of a festival it was, they certainly don't do anything like that down in Alabama. A wonderful pancake breakfast, and horse rides, and cart pulls and I forget everything else but seriously, like a TON of activities, and some people were even dressed up in pioneer garb! :) It was so much fun, it makes me sad I missed out on so many years of this celebration! :)
Anyway, here is Tucker at the horse ride, giving the peace sign! :) Like father, like son. He learns from the best! :)




We took grandpa up to Manito park one day for a picnic. The weather was beautiful and we had the best time just relaxing in the afternoon. The Pyper men...

And here is Taylor Rae, being her usual lady like self...

The reason we took grandpa to Manito is for him to see the Japanese gardens. He served a mission there like 40 years ago and I wanted to see what he thought about our Japanese gardens here in Spokane, Wa :)

All I had was my little point and shoot camera, so the pics aren't that great. bummer.

The boys went out for a nature walk and Taylor and I stayed behind and relaxed on the blanket. We had a little photo shoot.

I love that fat face! :)

Another day we went out to the bowl and pitcher. Spokane has the most beautiful parks! This is one of our favorite spots and we had to take grandpa there!



Tuck and gramps posing on a rock. This is who Ben and Tucker get their beautiful bronzed skin from! :) ha ha

I turned the camera on Taylor as I was walking. This is what I got! :)

Tuck and gramps just taking in the beauty! :)





Ben had to impress us with his ability to fight the current and get out in the middle of the river.



Then Tucker had to do some posing like his dad.

I'm not sure if you can see Ben all the way up there, or not, but he climbed the big rock. He wanted to do it last time we were there, but it was the winter time and too slippery, he was excited to finally be able to do it!

Grandpa winning the rock skipping contest. Feats of strength are always involved with Ben! :)



We also enjoyed a nice day at the lake with grandpa, and many delicious meals out and of course, lots of good shopping! Rick is like the best shopping partner, ever! He loves to go and it's so fun! :) Thanks for the good times, grandpa!
We had such a great time with you; and can't wait to see you in October! :) Come again, soon, ok!

Tuckers new teeth...

I will be the first to admit that I am not going to win any mothering awards for this next one. And I feel awful that my sweet innocent three year old had to endure something of this nature so young in his life due to my lack of parenting, but it is what it is and there is nothing I can do about it now, right?! :)
Yes, Tucker had to get two new front teeth! I took him in in April for his very first dentist appointment. We brush his teeth every night before he goes to bed, so I wasn't expecting anything TOO bad. wrong. He had a huge cavity in between and on the back of his two front teeth that went into both teeth, almost over half of each tooth! Tucker did awesome at his appointment back in April, but we had schedule an appointment for July to get what is essentially a baby root canal on his two front teeth and cap them both. No, not big silver caps, luckily they had nice porcelain covered ones. And because he is just a little guy they had to put him under. They asked me if I thought he would do ok with just laughing gas, or if his personality was such that he would put up a fight and make it hard for the procedure to be done. I thought it was best that he be completely knocked out. It was the saddest thing ever having to hold him while they put his little mask on and then having him go limp in my arms. He did great though! A few hours later, we were home and recovering. He was a little groggy at first and threw up a few times when we got home, so I made him a little bed on the couch and put in some movies, and we had a movie day for the rest of the day. But he did great, and he enjoyed his day of being treated like a king and having me at his beck and call. :)
Here he is on his throne...

I was a little nervous at first because there was a huge gap between the teeth and they looked so much bigger than his real ones did, but his dentist assured me on his follow up visit that they were done like that on purpose to make room for growth and for when his big ones come in.
For a better look at his new teeth, here is a better photo; taken the very next day:

I am used to them now, and he still has that cute smile; but now we make sure that Tucker brushes twice a day and flosses, too! :)

Family pics...

My in-laws have the most beautiful home and property. Nestled in the corner is this pergola and lots and lots of greenery. I've been wanting to take some pics with the kids there for a long time. But is is just so dang bright and hot down there when the kids are up and at 'em. Regardless, we headed out one afternoon for a little family photo shoot. It was after church so the kids were in their Sunday clothes. It didn't last long due to heat and bugs, but we got what we could! :)

Here are my two babies! I just played around with photoshop a little on this one.

Noah & Jonah...

And beautiful baby Kaiya...

Atlanta Aquarium...

The Atlanta Aquarium is the best! Seriously, I love Aquariums and this one is the best I've ever been to! It was amazing. It is like all around you.

Noah, Jonah and Tucker...

Walking through the tunnel..

Mr. Stingray smiling at me...

A Shark!

The boys thought it was pretty cool! :)

The whole gang...

The big viewing area, it was amazing!

Even Taylor enjoyed it!

Tucker and Jonah, best buddies, in front of the baby beluga whale. Tucker thought he was pretty cool because he loves the song, baby beluga.

And petting the sting rays with grandma...

We were there for hours and still didn't make it through the while thing, can't wait to go back! :)

Captain Tank-top...

That is Tuckers new nickname. And here's the reason why...

Now, as cute as he is in a tank-top (seriously, love that smile!) :) it's driving me crazy! This picture was taken on the way home from Alabama in the Denver airport. I bought him about 4 tank tops before we went to Alabama, and my mother in law bought him a few while we were there, and he loves them. It is now October, and he still begs me to wear a tank top EVERY DAY! He throws fits if I don't let him wear them. He will put one on every morning and I tell him he has to go put on another shirt if we go somewhere and he will put his shirt on over his tank top just so he doesn't have to take it off. And then as soon as we get home later, he will immediately take his shirt off again. Seriously, EVERY DAY! And that is why we call him Captain Tank-top.

Other random happenings in Bama...

A few milestones were met while in Alabama; This little one started eating solids! And loves them! (surprise, surprise!) :)
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Taylor & Aunt Meggie! Ben and I both agree that Taylor reminds us of Aunt Meg, for some reason. (Maybe it's because she's the only one in the family with those beautiful blue eyes that Taylor has.) And if she turns out just like her Aunt Meg, that would be A-OK with us! :)

Another exciting thing that happened in Taylor's life while in Alabama was that she discovered her tongue! She stuck it out 24/7!



It wouldn't be a trip to grandmas house without a nature hike. The kids love it and there are so many bugs in the south, Tucker is in bug heaven!



There's that tongue again! :)

One night after bath time we went outside to catch fire flies. It was so much fun since we don't have fire flies up here in the northwest. Tucker thought they were pretty cool (I think they're pretty cool, too!) :)

That Taylor Rae was loved on by all the Pyper women in the family! She is so lucky to have such wonderful Aunties to look up to! And I am so lucky to have such wonderful people to love on and help with my kids! :)
Tucker & Jonah checking out the fire flies in the jar...

The days are so sweltering hot and humid down there, it is almost miserable to go outside. If you have a hose, it makes things a LOT more enjoyable! :)

Aunt Meri and Kaiya (and Taylor and I) opted to just watch the water fun most of the time.

Taylor discovered her voice while there. She had some great discussions with grandpa. Probably about politics or something of that sort. :) She seems to be very opinionated already.

Grandpa had a few other good uses while we were there. He made a great cushion for the boys while watching movies! :)

And here is Taylor during bath time. Dirty dishes in one side, dirty baby in the other! :)

And swimming; I was so shocked to find out that there are NO water parks near Montgomery! I couldn't believe it. Even Spokane has 3-4 great water parks pretty close and I thought with the heat that water parks would be a dime a dozen. Not even swimming pools are common down there, public ones anyway. Finally after searching on line and making a few phone calls, we found that a little town right outside of Montgomery had a public pool. We went there like every day the last week we were there and the pool was always nearly empty! One day it closed early because of thunder and lightning, but most days we enjoyed a nice big pool almost all to ourselves. It was so much fun!
Tucker ready to go, in his gear!

Taylor LOVED the water. I wasn't thinking and didn't bring her swimming suit, but we just put a swimming diaper on her and let her at it. She kicked and kicked and splashed and laughed. It was so cute! Aunt Lynlee was a great swimming instructor! :)

The whole gang (notice the empty pool!)...

Grandma had foot surgery a few weeks before we got there, so had to sit out the pool since she had a walking cast on her foot. Poor lady, had to endure 13 grand kids while having a broken foot! But she's tough and it didn't slow her down too much! :) Although she was bummed not to be able to swim with us. When Taylor had had enough of the water, she got to hang with grandma on the side.

Whew! I feel like these little posts (with way too many pictures) don't even do justice to show how much fun we have in Alabama. We are so lucky to have such great family down there who take care of us, and love us, and spoil us! Thank you so much for everything grandma, grandpa, Aunt Lynlee, Aunt Meg, Aunt Meri & Aunt Terra! :) Ben also has a brother whom we love, but unfortunately, he wasn't able to come down to visit us while we were there. His wife, Laura came with their kids though, and we love you too Aunt Laura! :) You guys are wonderful!