Crater Lakes

Saturday, August 1st, Todd and I went hiking with no kids! We hiked up to the Crater Lakes to check out potential campsites for Todd scout troop. I think Todd said it was about a 3 mile hike in. It was quite the mountain hike, but so much fun! And everything was absolutely beautiful!

Todd and I

Nice picture, huh?! Of course my eyes are closed...and really, our camera doesn't do the mountains any justice.

One of the Crater Lakes. It was gorgeous. Look at the snow still there!
And here's Todd between two boulders that we hike through.

Pumpkin Pickin' and Corn Maze

This weekend our family went to a local Pumpkin Patch to pick our pumpkins. Everyone had lots of fun choosing a pumpkin. Audrey though, just about drove us crazy! She had the hardest time choosing a pumpkin! It seriously took her an extra 15 minutes longer than the rest of our girls! (with us hurrying her)

After paying for our pumkins, our family decided to brave the corn maze. Am I ever so glad Todd was there with us. They would've had to send someone in to rescue me! I would've been in there HOURS!!

Poor Marcella! Her little 2 year old legs just couldn't keep up the whole time. And my poor shoulders! They were so sore the next day, it was hard to brush my teeth!


Isn't that curly-top so sweet?!


Following the leader!


We finally finished!

September 30th!

September 30th turned out to be a pretty big day for our family. First thing that morning, Emily went to the dentist to have her bottom baby teeth pulled out. Unfortunately, Emily inherited my tiny teeth and big gums. Along with the tiny teeth comes the strange way our bottom permenant teeth come in.....
They actually grow in BEHIND the baby teeth, as you can see from this picture. We noticed this happening clear back in May, but the dentist wanted to see if the baby teeth would get wiggly and fall out on their own. They didn't, so out they came with a little, okay alot of help.

This same day we got news that Todd's sister was going to hospital to be induced with her first baby. Her due date was October 7, but she developed Toxemia. So baby Michael Scott arrived weighing in at 6 lbs 5 ozs. I can't believe how tiny he is and what a monster Rylee looks laying next to him! This picture was just taken last night.

And last but not least, that same September 30th, I chopped off my hair. I was sick of it, plus I am loosing TONS of hair since Rylee was born. NO JOKE, I'm getting very thin areas of hair that are on the verge of baldness. It's horrible. So what do you think?
I'm not so sure about it. I went to this way expensive place that specializes in cutting naturally curly hair-it's called a Deva cut. I don't see too much of a difference, but maybe it'll grow out better or something. I may call today and have the gal fix it...it's longer on the right than the left. Can yo tell or is it just me being extra picky? Plus she cut these bang things that I'm not thrilled about. They don't blend at all, and I really didn't want bangs. As you can see, I just push them back. I think I may be the pickiest hair snob. But hey, if I'm paying $65.00 for a hair cut, I want to be happy!!

Introducing...

Me at 5:00 am....just loving, eh?! The hospital didn't actually start anything until 8:00... they told us it was a very busy night. I'll update you on the full labor and delivery story when I have more time. Until then, here's pictures of our sweet baby girl...

Rylee Jo

Rylee was born at 12:42 p.m. she weighed 7 lbs 1 oz and measured 19 inches long

Isn't she beautiful? Tons of dark hair, at least for one of our babies.
Todd and Rylee

Delivery Day Set!

Today I had my doctors appointment. He walked into the room and said "let's have a baby this week!" So he called into the hospital and got us an appointment for 5:00 a.m. tomorrow morning! We are soo excited! But I've decided to cheat and post my picture tonight instead of in all my glory at 4:30 a.m. tomorrow. Todd swears that I look smaller with this baby than Marcella, but I'm not so sure. He does live with me and I'm sure he wants to keep me in a good mood now that I'm at the end of all of this. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers! We'll be posting pictures of our new baby girl very soon!

Parade of Lights

December 1st was Maxine's annual work Christmas party downtown Denver. There was nice food and a Santa and Mrs. Claus to entertain the kids. Denver's Christmas parade was that night too. It wasn't too cold so it was fun to sit and watch it.
Brittany, JT, Austin, Ian, Cassie, Tori, Olivia, Dylan, Emily, Preston, Payton, and Audrey were some of the Gagon clan to line the street.
Audrey and Santa
Emily and the Claus Family
Olivia and Santa.
All our girls...Marcella was NOT interested in sitting on Santa's lap.

Alabama

Ashley had her baby! Kathryn and her baby, Hugh and I flew out at the same time to visit and 'help'. Kathryn and I really felt like we were on a vacation though....only ONE baby to take care of!! We had to sooo much fun just sittin on the couch for almost a week chatting with eachother.
Ashley and Braden sneeking in a nap.
Kathryn and I shopped and cooked for the new family the whole time we were there. We just couldn't believe that there was truly a Piggly Wiggly grocery store still running!!! And the bag boy took our groceries to our car, whether we wanted help or not!!
Kathryn and Hugh
What a cute smile!
Hugh is soo big! I can't believe how he's grown since I last saw him in July.
Hugh and Brayden posing for some much needed pictures.

Ashley and Braden
The most darling new family!

Puerto Vallarta, Mexico

Todd's family had a family reunion in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico this past June. All of seven out of eight children were able to come. And the only reason why number eight wasn't there was because he's serving a mission in Houston, Texas right now. Todd and I decided not to bring our girls with us. With the price of tickets PLUS needing to purchase pass ports for everyone, it was cheaper to fly Ashley to baby sit for the week. Plus, it was SO nice to just have the two of us together. (above is a picture of one of the pools at the hotel. Sooo pretty...plus if you look carefully, you can see the ocean at the horizon)
One of the first nights in Puerto the hotel put on a Fiesta. They had everything decorated and served lots of good Mexican food.
Todd's parents Scott and Maxine
Todd's sister Deb and her husband Nate
Todd's brother Ian and his family Preston, Dylan, Cassie, Payton, and Tori
Chad, Jeri, Mckindry, and Easlyn
Todd and I

Todd's brother Josh and his wife Kristi
Todd's sister Brittany, her husband JT and Austin

Todd and I took the hotel Kayak to the ocean! It was pretty fun bouncing in the surf, but once we were in the open, calm water, it was a little lame. When we paddled back in, we totally hit a wave side ways and rolled right over!
The closest town to our hotel was Bucerias. We would usually take a taxi into town and walk around to shop and then get something to eat.

Monday we ate here, a restaurant that was right off the beach. The food was pretty good, the limonade great, and the view fabulous.


After we ate, Todd and I decided to walk back to the hotel. It took about 30 minutes and was so beautiful with the sun setting.

Tuesday a group of us went to the jungle to ride the zip lines! Above is a picture of the jungle the zip lines were. It was a long bus ride and jeep ride, but it was worth it!
Josh, JT, Todd, Ian, Cassie, Brittany and I. This is after the zip line adventure. It was sooo much fun. But it was really warm and humid. We had to hike from one zip line to the next. All of us were sweaty, but Todd showed it best of all.
Does this helicopter look familiar to anyone? Right where we rode the zip lines is where the movie Predator was filmed!
More beautiful scenery in the jungle. Right next to this waterfall was a restaurant called Paradise.
Todd and I nice and sweaty.

That night we showered up and headed into Bucerias. We ate at a little Tacaria with Chad's family. After dinner we met up with the rest of the family and ordered Pina Coladas and Strawberry Dacaris.

The sun sets are so pretty on the beach.
Thursday another group of people got up early and took an hour and 15 minute boat ride to the Marietta islands. There we snorkeled. I had never been snorkeling before, but I just love it now! It was a little unnerving putting my face in the water and trusting the gear, but I quickly got used to it and had a blast hunting for fish. I've been told that the snorkeling wasn't all that great here, but I really don't have anything to compare it too. The fish were beautiful, and we saw a HUGE eel but I guess the water was a little murky. Oh, I also got my very first jelly fish sting. It was just a tiny jelly fish, so it didn't hurt very much.

Todd and I waiting to board the boat.
Dylan and Preston enjoying the boat ride.
Just as we were all boarding our boat, this old fashions Pirate ship pulled out of the dock.
Here's our boat from the beach.
After snorkeling, our boat took us to a private beach. It was very pretty and the sand was very fine.

Our private beach for about an hour.
Josh, Dylan, Ian, Maxine, Preston in the water and Laura
Kristi and her sister Marcy
Laura had fun burying Preston in the sand.
Todd and I hiding in the shade for a little while. I'm proud to say the Todd and I didn't get burnt the whole week. Thanks to Coppertone 50 spf and shade trees, or should I say palms.

The sun setting and the moon coming out just behind the palms.
Todd and I lounging by the pool one evening after snorkeling.

Our last evening in Mexico we caught taxis into the town of Puerto Vallarta. We walked around and did a little more shopping. Then we ate and the best restaurant called Pipi's! It was by far the best food we ate all week and they had the best limonade and drinks.

Our Pipi's tables.


Todd catching a breeze off the ocean.

This is just out side the restaurant. We thought it was pretty the way the street goes right into the hill.

We had such a wonderful time in Mexico. It was fun and relaxing all at the same time. We're looking forward to doing it again, hopefully in 4 years!!