Lydia's Fashion Show

Oh, it is fun to dress a baby girl!

Lydia at 6 weeks old

6 weeks old

7 weeks old - Her tennis outfit. I don't even have a tennis outfit!

8 weeks old

2 months old

11 weeks old - love the elephants and let's be honest, the hair!

Little House on the Prairie

Growing up I loved reading all of the Little House on the Prairie books. So when we moved to South Dakota and I found out the setting for some of the books took place an hour and a half away in De Smet, we knew we had to go. We spent Saturday, July 31, at the Ingalls Homestead where Laura and her family really lived 130 years ago. http://www.ingallshomestead.com/

A pioneer dugout.

It was surprisingly cool inside. I could see why they would live in these.

Tyler and Carrie in the shanty.

On a covered wagon ride out to the schoolhouse. Look at all that wide open space!

Carrie and Tyler on the wagon ride

A little house on the prairie.

Tyler pretending to cook inside the house.

This was such a fun place to visit! Lots of places to explore that demonstrated what life was like. And lots of animals. Cats, chickens, a baby cow, horses, and these cute miniature horses saddled up for the kids to ride. Tyler was too nervous to ride, but he sat for a picture.

Tyler's favorite part of the whole homestead was the kittens. Lots of tame barn kittens that didn't mind (so much) a 3 year old scooping them up and loving them.

Our family relaxing in the gift shop. I would definitely recommend the Ingalls Homestead to anyone coming out to South Dakota. It was so cool to see this place where Laura and her family actually walked. That was my favorite part of our day trip adventure. Tyler's was the kittens. Tyson's favorite part was watching Tyler's little legs running all over the wide open prairie. And Lydia liked sleeping in her stroller the best.

Baking Success!

http://www.bakerella.com/red-velvet-cake-balls/

These beauties made for one happy husband on his birthday (July 26). Happy Birthday, Honey!

MSP Birthday

My wonderful sister, Lisa, surprised me with a most fun birthday present - a day trip to the Mall of America in Minneapolis (MSP). Wow! Who does that? Someone who works for Delta and always has the most creative present ideas. Initially I thought I just couldn't leave my newborn. But then I realized, I need a break and Tyson is perfectly capable of taking care of the children, so away we went!

This is just a portion of center court at the mall. It's a full on amusement park! Once we flew in, we took the city tram to the mall and had about 4 hours to shop and go to dinner before we needed to be back at the airport. Some of my favorite stores were: H&M, American Girls, Wisconsin Cheese, and a lot more. We were booking it as the mall is huge!

I know I look a bit maniacal in this self-taken shot, but here's my proof that we were there!

As any good trip would have, we did have a series of mishaps, but we just went with the flow and enjoyed ourselves. Our initial plane was delayed so we skipped our trip into downtown to see this -

Add it to my bucket list. Some day I will post a picture of me standing by this awesome sculpture of a cherry on a spoon.

More mishaps.

On the way home, we flew past this incredible lightning show in the sky. It was beautiful...and apparently dangerous enough to close down the Sioux Falls airport, so the pilot turned the plane right back around to MSP. Uh-oh. That was our only fear about taking this trip - Tyson was home alone with the kids - one of whom is dependent on her Mama for food. I called him to see how many bottles were left and he thought I was joking (one left, by the way). We were on the last flight of the night so if it was canceled...well Lisa was ready to rent a car to get me home to my baby.

Back inside the airport, our fellow passengers camped on the ground at the gate while Lisa made a comfortable bottle pumping station for me. In the bathroom. Too bad I couldn't FedEx it out to Baby Lydia...but no need! After an hour of nervously laughing at our situation, the weather cleared enough for the pilot and crew, who also wanted to get home as much as we did, to whisk us up and away.

I had a blast, thank you Lisa! I want to go back! 

But it sure was nice to get home. :-)

Adventures of the Big Boy Bed

It's time. High time Tyler moved to a Big Boy bed. 

 I'll be honest. I was perfectly content to let him stay in his crib because then he had to do just that during nap and bedtime - stay in his crib. But he's gotten so good at vaulting out of his crib lately, so we gave in.

Opa took us shopping and we found a cute bed that Tyler LOVES.

Here he is practicing.

And here he is on his first night, sound asleep.

Since then the whole staying-in-bed thing has been hit or miss. Mostly he's good about it...but there was a time when I got up in the morning and there was floss strung all around the bathroom and my chapstick and contact solution were balanced on top of my contact case. Then once Tyler was supposed to be napping. I went to the bathroom and when I opened the door to come out, I screamed, because there, standing quietly looking up at me was my son. He booked it on back to bed pretty fast. One morning I found my fingernail polish bottle on the living room floor and polish on Tyler's fingers (luckily nowhere else). And then this morning, I found a pillow soaking wet. I asked how that happened and Tyler replied, "I empty the spray bottle!" Oh my little Bounder...I love you!

Fun With Family

Because Lydia's blessing was on a holiday, we had a whole long weekend of family fun!

Having not one, but two grandpa's willing to play outside in the dirt - I don't think I've ever seen Tyler so happy!

Taking a break with Daddy.

Tyler's birthday continues...We started celebrating in May and ended in mid-July, what with family trickling in and out. This boy has had the longest birthday celebration ever!

This storage ottoman was the BEST present, in our opinion. Do you know how many toys you can fit in that thing? Our house has never looked so clean!

"My wish came true!" He wished for a Big Wheel when he blew out his candles on his actual June 4th birthday.

We celebrated July 4th on the Saturday before by having a picnic at the park. In 50mph winds. Good thing we had all that food to weigh down our plates!

Shortly after this round of Bocce Ball, I came across Tyler at home throwing his plastic play fruit around and exclaiming, "Bocce!"

Lydia's Baby Blessing

Today, July 4, 2010, is Lydia Anne Plastow's blessing day. Her Daddy and her Father in Heaven gave her a beautiful blessing at Church followed by a wonderful testimony meeting in the Sioux Falls 2nd Ward. We love our ward. They were so helpful and caring during the difficult pregnancy, it was only fitting we were able to bless her here. We were also blessed to have so many family members able to come all the way out to be a part of Lydia's special day too. We love you, Lydia!

Lydia's blessing outfit is the same blessing outfit that was worn by her mom in 1979 and her Grandma Hillier in 1951.

Grandma Joyce and Grandpa Jim flew in from Arizona.

"Hey, I'm down here!" Tyler loves a good photo shoot.

Opa, Aunt Kristen, and Uncle Matthew were able to fly in from Utah and Arkansas.

Tyson cooked the best tri-tip for our luncheon afterwards.

I just had to post a picture of these berries too. Don't they look delicious?

While Lydia was inside snuggling with Grandma Joyce...

...and then Uncle Matthew...

...and then Aunt Kristen, and anyone else who wanted to,

Tyler was outside exploring our forest with Grandpa Jim.

It's so nice to have family here!

Photos compliments of Kristen Hiller. Isn't she amazing?

Lydia Home For A Month

Here are just a few pictures from Lydia's first month.

First bath - she doesn't know what's coming yet...

"Hey, head massage. This isn't so bad!"

"Well, maybe it's not my favorite thing. Daddy did do a good job though!"

I love it when newborns yawn!

What a peaceful looking baby.

Tyler really loves his Baby Sister (thank goodness!). The other day he realized Lydia was sleeping so he ran to her cradle and threw in his blue blankey and cougar. 

This is BIG. 

 These are his favorite cannot-sleep-without things. Apparently it made him feel so good to share, he raced to the kitchen, grabbed his applesauce, and almost chucked that in as well. I told him he could go ahead and eat it for her. He was okay with that.