Big new trick!

No, she's not walking yet, but she's SO CLOSE! Over the past couple of days Evie started standing up without holding on to anything and then stands all by herself! It's awesome!! Walking is coming, you just wait. :)

Here's a video of her doing it. (And I just need to say that her "outfit" is compliments of her father who just didn't feel like putting her pants back on after changing her. We call her "Evie No-Pants. :)

Also today Evie had her first "school outing"! Her daycare provider had a Parents Appreciation picnic at her house where all of the daycare kids and their families came to ride the ponies, play on the jungle gym, and get wagon rides. It was good times! Here are some pictures from that:

Her first pony ride! She went several times and didn't seem to mind it. Once the pony got going she grabbed on to the saddle.

And here's Evie on the wagon with her daycare buddy Bryson in the way back and her daycare lady (we call her Grandma Bev) walking along the side.

Trip to WI

Last week we were in WI for our annual summer trip. We were lucky enough to see tons of family! We had my Dad's 60th birthday party; a party with Kyle's family; a day in WI Dells with a large group; Kyle had a boys camping trip to MN; Evie and I drove Up North to Grandma and Grandpa's house with Claire, the kids and my Mom; and towards the end of the week we even had some down time with the grandparents. All in all it was a busy week but we had a really great time and it was SO nice spending time with the fam!!!

Here are a few of the fun pictures from the week:

Sleepin' on our over-night drive to WI. Evie and Louie did really well in the car!

The Hornickel cousins: Eli, Owen and Evie.

Grandma & Grandpa Johnson with the grandkids.

This one was too cute: Mulu and Evie.

Best buds, cousins Aria and Charlie. ADORABLE!

Evie in her super cute summer dress.

The Hornickel/Simdon/Jensen family.

Happy and ya know it!

This was TOO PRECIOUS! Kyle was singing to Evie one night before bed and he played one of her favorite songs. Look at her face and how excited she got! :)

SO Big

Evie is growing like a weed! It's crazy how big she's getting!! She now has 3 teeth with a couple more on the way anyday now, I'm sure. Luckily she doesn't fuss with this teething process because they are coming in so fast now! I guess that's what happens when the teeth wait 9 months to come in, huh. She eats anything and everything (except for peas still) and loves to feed herself crackers, cheese, bananas, etc.

This week she added one new thing to her bag of tricks: she figured out how to make the "motor boat" sound with her lips. I have no idea what to really call that, but it's similar to the raspberries but WAY less spitty. :) She loves to pull herself up and walk along the furniture and especially loves to crawl over anything she can. Usually it's Kyle and Louie that are "in her way" in the living room floor, so she crawls right over them. And usually her hips get stuck at the top, but she finds a way to make it to the other side. It's hilarious! Here's a video of her and Louie, so you can see what I mean.

In the beginning of the video you can also hear her saying "Louie" or "Ooooooie". And yes, that's Louie's Kong she was going for.

It's so funny that she insists on sleeping across the short way of her crib. It's like she's in denial that she's getting so big! Either that or she's practicing how to be a frog. :)

Grandma & Grandpa Hornickel's Visit

Kyle's parents came to visit as well! They brought their pop-up camper with them so we could take Evie on her first camping trip! On Wednesday we headed up to Steamboat Springs and stayed at the same campground that we stayed at for Kyle's birthday party last year. It rained for quite a bit of the time we were there, but the rain held off enough for us to make it to Strawberry Hot Springs (our favorite spot), Fish Creek Falls, and for Mary Jo and I to go down the alpine slide once. Evie did really well on her first camping trip and she managed to go mosquito bite free (which was amazing because they mosquitos were AWEFUL!) She also was mesmerized by the campfire. :)


This is at the bottom of Fish Creek Falls. Evie really is under that hat... :)


A family shot at the upper viewpoint of Fish Creek Falls. You just can't see the waterfall behind us.



After we got back from Steamboat, we went to Colorado Springs to take the cog train up Pike's Peak and to see Garden of the Gods. Evie's first train ride! She was a bit antsy but all in all did pretty well. Another fun visit! (And Evie has 2 teeth now!!)


On the cog train waiting to go to the top of Pike's Peak. Toot Toot!


Story time with Grandma Hornickel.

Grandma & Grandpa Johnson's Visit

My parents came to visit at the end of June and we had a great time! On Saturday we drove to Estes Park and had lunch and went shopping. Then on Sunday we had a work day: Kyle and Dad finished TONS of projects around the house including bringing a shed over from a friend's house for our backyard! Mom sewed some adorable new clothes for Evie (because pants don't seem to fit her very well). It was a fun visit!








Evie was playing "lion in the zoo" and roaring. Hilarious. By the way, she has 1 tooth on the bottom now and another on the way!

1st Family Vacation

During the third week of June we went on our first official family vacation to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons. It was great!! We took 2 days to get to Yellowstone: the first night in Riverton, WY and the second in Cody. Then we spent 2 nights in Yellowstone park, staying at a very rustic "cabin" in the Canyon Village. We drove the upper loop on the first day stopping at various spots along the way to walk the 1/2 mile loops where we saw a bunch of geothermal features. We also saw a bear, elk, and TONS of bison that day. The second day we drove around the lower loop and saw Old Faithful, the mud pots, and a bunch of other cool sites.








Upper Falls in the Canyon area.

After Yellowstone we drove south to the Grand Teton National Park. It was GORGEOUS!! The first day through the Tetons we didn't stop much, and went to Jackson to stay with Kyle's high school friend for the night. The next day we drove back up to the Tetons and took a boat across Jenny Lake and hiked in the rain to Lost Falls and halfway up to Inspiration Point. It rained that day, but we still hiked and had a really great time. And just as we were heading out of the park, we FINALLY saw 2 moose!!




Lost Falls


The first moose, only about 15 feet away from us.

After the Tetons we drove to Rock Springs, WY, stayed the night and on the last day drove the rest of the way home. It was a really great trip with quality family time. Evie did REALLY well! We spent SO much time in the car so we weren't sure how she'd do, but she was definitely a trooper. She loved the hikes sitting in the backpack on Daddy's back.