Grandma Bywater

A few days before Halloween this year, we found out Tim's Grandma Bywater had passed away. It was kind of a shock to us because she was always so active. We felt so grateful that Tim had talked to her just three days prior, and Ty (along with all of her great grandchildren) received a small package from her in the mail a week earlier. We headed out to Utah for the funeral. It was nice to spend time with family and remember what a talented person she was. I was amazed at all of her talent. Aubrey read a beautiful poem Grandma had written (I'll have to post it when I get a chance), and she had maybe a hundred beautiful watercolors that none of us knew about. We all got to choose a few to keep. Tim got to speak at the funeral. It was a beautiful service. It is obvious she touched many lives, including ours. We will miss her.

Grandma B visiting Colorado for Ty's blessing in 2012:

Ty "driving" Grandma B in Utah March 2014:

It was Halloween while we were there, so the great-grandchildren dressed up and did a little trick-or-treating to the other relatives. Ty was ready for a nap, so he wasn't very cooperative.

 

 I went ahead and took Ty down to Santaquin to spend the evening with his cousins and go trick-or-treating. He took a marathon nap on the way down and wasn't really up for taking pictures once he woke up.  We had fun trick-or-treating with the Lotz cousins and all of their neighbors.  After the festivities, my dad and Sheila came over and we all had pizza. It was an even quicker trip to Utah than the one I took two weeks earlier, but we're glad we live close enough we were able to all make it.

Quick Family Visit

A few months back, I wanted to take a trip to Utah to visit family, but I knew Tim couldn't come. I didn't feel comfortable driving by myself, so I shot an email out to friends to see if anyone wanted to join me. My friend Meghan and her two girls came with us for the drive. The kids were great on our long trip, and Ty and Taylee enjoyed riding together!

Ty was a big helper with washing windows

 Ben and Kaitlyn came up from St. George for the weekend.

Ty had a blast with Grandpa Tom, Grandma Sheila, and other family. Because Kaitlyn was such a great sport to come being 8+months pregnant, we threw her a family baby shower. Aunt Marge, Todd, Grandma Dot, and Grandpa Mel came down to visit. The girls had a great time at the baby shower (that I didn't take any other pictures of), and the boys all went to the Children's Museum at Thanksgiving Point.

 

 Ty and Grandpa Mel

 Firehouse Subs was a hit with Ty for lunch.

 By the time he had finished at the museum and had lunch, Ty fell asleep in my arms still in the restaurant. He slept as we drove home and put him in bed. A few hours later as we were on our way up the the canyon and Ty was awake enough to talk, his first words were, "That was a cool firehouse!"

  It was a beautiful time to be up in the American Fork Canyon.  Ty sure had fun with Aunt Kristen and his cousins!

 Hot dogs for dinner!

 Grandpa's new truck was super fun to play in.

 I was there on Sunday, but caught a stomach bug and was in bed most of the day :( Luckily, I felt well enough to drive home as planned on Monday. We had a great time!

Pumpkin Patch

After being in the house all day for General Conference last week, we decided to head to a pumpkin patch and get our Fall started the right way.  Ty was watching the sheep and "baa-ing" at them. They "baa-ed" back to him and he thought it was so funny!  He also liked the donkey, but needed it to be called a horse.

 Ty went right to work getting through the hay maze. Tim and I both took turns taking him through it.

 

 Though everything was fun, the tractor ride was probably Ty's favorite!

 Ty LOVES jumping "so high." I'm sure Tim is building strong upper body muscles to make this boy happy. We only had a little time, but it ended up being a blast. Bonus that it's free and close, so we can (and probably will) go back soon.

Catching Up

I apologize I've gotten so bad at blogging lately. I am pregnant with number two, so most of the down time I usually spend doing things like blogging are now spent napping. I really want to keep blogging to keep my memories in order, so this is a blast post. It's been a busy few months!

AUGUST

Mini golf family date

 Denver Firefighter's Museum

  

 SEPTEMBER

Louisville Labor Day Parade

 Our town's own "Lil Sebastian" (From Parks and Rec)

 Mommy and Ty date to get donuts for breakfast. This is one happy boy!

Finger painting for the first time (he wasn't a big fan of paint on his fingers, so we used a sponge brush.

 

Denver Zoo with Abby (and her mom Mindy)

 Primary Temple Trip

 Above: Ty with his friend Henry

Below: A group of friends went to eat at Casa Bonita, a huge Mexican Restaurant that has cliff divers, games, shows, etc. It was a lot of fun. I can't believe it took us this long to go!

 Ty found this digger in the parking lot of a park we were at and it was even better than the playground. He did NOT want to leave!

 WOW! Children's Museum:

 Because we took Abby and Mindy to the Zoo with our membership, they invited us to the Denver Aquarium with their membership. It was really neat, but Ty wasn't a huge fan of the dim lights and splashy/erie sounds they played.