Early Birthday Bash & Big Girl Bed

Blake's not officially 2 until tomorrow, but we celebrated her second birthday last Sunday while Grandma & Grampy were still here. We had a tropical theme for her birthday party. Here's the birthday girl all decked out in a grass skirt and other tropical accessories. the lootopening gifts Grandma & Grampy helping Blake play with her new laptop.Blake's "big" gift was a Power Wheels Ford F-150. Lauren thought she got a great deal on this off of the internet just to find out that it was missing both side windows. Power Wheels was happy to send us our money back if we wanted to return the vehicle (they don't have any side windows to send us), but we couldn't find another similar vehicle for even close to what we paid for this...everything was WAY more expensive. So, Blake has a side-window-less pickup. O WELL...she didn't seem to mind. She had a blast cruising around the back yard!A close-up of our little hot rodder.Blake's birthday cakeGrampy & BlakeGrampy, Blake & Grandma
We've been debating on when it would be best to turn Blake's room into a big girl room, and Lauren decided that while Grandma was here to help it would be nice to make the transition. Here's a before picture.Both Grandma & Grampy were tons of help getting the room painted, decorated, etc. Lauren's Aunt Lynn had made a quilt for Blake, and we just LOVED all the colors in it. It was the inspiration for the color scheme in the room, and we think it turned out pretty nice. Here's the new bed and some wall decorations.We organized the toys.Here's a picture of the wall with the closet.the dressera different angle of the bed including the rug that Lauren absolutely loves :) Lauren was able to make the crib sheet to match the quilt exactly. So, if anyone wants an easy pattern to make a fitted crib sheet (also fits toddler beds) e-mail Lauren and she'll get it to you. They are super simple to make, and there's nothing better than having stylish bed sheets ;) Hope all is well with everyone, and we'll hopefully have Blake's second year in review video posted some time this week...bet you can't wait.

South Dakota Trip

Grandma & Grampy flew out to hang with us for a long weekend, so we decided to take a little trip over to Rapid City, SD. We got tons of pictures, so let's just start there. We stopped by Devil's Tower (in WY) on the way to Rapid. Here's the Close Encounter's of the Third Kind star in real life today.
There's a really neat trail that goes all the way around the tower, and there are tons of HUGE boulders all around that you climb on...definitely a place to take the kiddos when they get old enough to enjoy that part. It looked like lots of fun. Grampy, Grandma, Blake & Lauren posed for a pic underneath one of the boulders.
Bob & Blake on the trail
The whole crew (minus Lauren) enjoying an afternoon walk.
some of the scenery
Bob, Blake & Lauren at Devil's Tower
Grampy & Grandma
After visiting Devil's Tower, we headed on in to Rapid City. Blake got to take a "wim" (swim) in the hotel pool which was quite possibly the biggest hit of the whole trip for her :) The next day we headed out to some of the attractions. Bear Country U.S.A. is one of the best in the area in our opinion, so we just had to show Grandma & Grampy...plus Blake had never been before either. Here are some of the elk in the park.
a sleepy arctic wolf
a lounging bear
white buffalo
The baby bears were all too tired, so they weren't out playing like they were the last time we were there. They are absolutely hilarious when they are active! Too bad we missed out on this trip. Here's the sleepy babies.
Bob, Blake & Lauren at Bear Country U.S.A.
Grampy, Blake & Grandma posing for a quick pic.
Blake needed a nap after Bear Country, so we dropped Grampy & Grandma off at Mt. Rushmore. We had already seen it up close, so while Blake was asleep we stopped at a little pull out on the highway and took in a lesser photographed view of Mt. Rushmore. Doesn't it look like Teddy & Abe are making out?! HA, HA, HA...we thought it was kinda funny!
After Blake's nap, we hit up Old McDonald's Farm. It's basically a big petting zoo. Blake wasn't too interested in touching or riding any of the animals. She completely refused the pony ride, but we did get a few good pics. Here's Blake in with the baby goats.
Grampy helping Blake get a closer look at the draft horse.
And here's our own little monster!
We also took in a pig race while at Old McDonald's Farm. Grampy's pick won the race, and Lauren's came in dead last. Anyway after the farm, we headed over to Reptile Gardens. We couldn't really take in any of the shows because Blake's attention span isn't quite up to par yet, but if you ever go the alligator and the snake shows are pretty cool. Here's a picture of one of the crocs we saw.
and another big croc
126 YEARS OLD!!! I'm not sure if I'd say he's aged well or not. These are some pretty ginormous turtles, though.
Blake & Grandma taking in a prairie dog's view.
Blake & Daddy at Reptile Gardens
Breakfast in bed! What a life?!
We had tons of fun hanging out with Grandma & Grampy, and it was so great to have Blake spend the nights with them in their hotel room ;) Hope you enjoyed all our pics!!!

Saturday Drive

One of Lauren's good friends from college is visiting Red Lodge this weekend, so Lauren and Blake decided to go spend the day with Vick & Trav. We met up and took a little day trip up the Beartooth Pass (it's on the way to the northeast entrance to Yellowstone National Park). Here's a picture of the mountains.
When we stopped to walk around, Blake got a kick out of the ground squirrels. One of them was kind of playing with her. It was playing, "boo boo" (peek-a-boo) as Blake would say. And, it was chasing her. She'd run after it and say "get-n-ya" and it would turn and run back at her. It was pretty entertaining. An older couple thought it was just hilarious, so they put a piece of cookie on the ground trying to get the ground squirrel to come out of hiding. They ended up giving Blake a cookie - SCORE!!! Here's the happy kiddo walking with her cookie.
more scenery
Hikin' like a big kid
Blake & Mom - it was a little windy :)
MOOSE!!!
We stopped in Cooke City for lunch and an ice cream cone. This was Blake's first time to have her very own to hold. Her first bite was out of the cone part of the ice cream cone. We finally got her to eat the ice cream without destroying the cone first, but she still managed to get it all over herself!
some mountain goats
We also saw some bison up close and personal when we passed them on the highway - they were walking right in the middle of the opposite lane of traffic. Travis took a couple pics, but Lauren didn't get any.

Well needless to say, by the time we got home Blake was in MAJOR need of a bath. For whatever reason, she started putting bubbles on her face and laughing. What a goober?!

Hope you enjoyed our pics!!!

Grandma Help And...

We got the chance to visit with Grandma & Grampy a few weekends ago when they came up to visit. It was so great to get to see them both. Grampy had to get back to work, but Grandma stuck around for a little over a week to help Lauren out. And what a help she was!!! Besides all the babysitting, cleaning, dusting and organizing, Grandma planted flowers in our flower beds for us and removed a ton of river rock out of the front yard so we could lay sod down! She also cleaned up parts of the back yard for us. All her hard work could not go unnoticed, so here are a few pictures to document her accomplishments.

Did I mention that Grandma also painted two doors for us?!

Here's a close up of one of the two flower beds that Grandma fixed up for us.

And the big project - here's the "before" picture of the front yard...notice all the river rock.

The "after" pic! Ahhh...such beautiful grass!!!


We were also lucky enough to be a stop along Lauren's cousin's, Brandon, super long road trip from LA to Indiana. It was so great to get to hang out. Blake was happy to give out some fist bumps and wanted "Bran" to "run in the towel" with her after her bath. After Blake gets out of the bath, Lauren usually holds up a towel for Blake to run into...kinda like a matador.

Blake is still our little chatter box. She is starting to use broken up sentences and learns new words everyday. She's into telling us where everyone is. "Blake tana, Momma tana, Grandma homa homa, Grampy homa homa, Chris and Katie and Collier homa homa". We get that a lot! "tana" is Montana and "homa homa" is Blake's version of Oklahoma. When she gets really excited we get some pretty odd looks when Blake says, "Grandma homo" instead of "homa homa". Yes, she's already said that a few times out in public...too funny! She's also working on counting, ABC's, colors and shapes. She can count to 2; her ABC's are "A...B...D"; she's starting to get a few colors right consistently but her default is "geen (green) and yeyow (yellow)"; and her circle is "yircle". Still following in Lauren's Uncle Shawn's footsteps with her speech :) Otherwise, she's an absolute joy AND she's going to be a big sister soon! Lauren is due January 30th with little DeCoteau #2. Hopefully, all will continue to go well with this pregnancy.

We also got a chance to visit with Bob's Grandma, Aunt Joyce and Dad recently. We haven't gotten any pictures lately, so we'll have to try to make a point to get some before everyone leaves town.

Hope all is well with each of you and your families!

A Parade & Poppers

HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!! We amped up our festivities this year which didn't really take much since we've been quite the party poopers the last couple years. Laurel has a parade & a really nice fireworks show. We've never made it out to the fireworks, and we probably won't this year either. But, we did take in the parade this morning. Blake absolutely LOVED it!!! Once she figured out that they were throwing candy & goodies she was all over the place. She was cracking us up! Here she is enjoying a hamburger before the parade.
It's a good thing we got there plenty early because the streets were lined on either side of us by the time the parade started.

The emergency vehicles including all sorts of fire trucks started off the parade.

Blake figured out pretty quick that if you wave you have a better chance of getting candy & goodies thrown your way :)
Taking a break from the action to enjoy one of the two Popsicles that she got at the parade.
Picking up candy
"FUN, Daddy!!!"
Blake showing off a sucker, some necklaces, a sheriff's sticker and a flag...all courtesy of those marching in the parade.
Blake picking up MORE candy. She ended up with quite the loot.
And finally, the prized beach ball. They didn't throw too many of these out, but one happened to bounce Blake's way and she took off running to snatch it up. We were laughing so hard!
Blake also had her first experience with poppers last night. We went out to the fireworks stand and bought some poppers and sparklers. The sparklers were pretty lame, but Blake had a blast with the poppers. She had trouble getting them to pop when she would throw them, so she resorted to stomping on them. Here's a video of Blake popping away.

Hope everyone has a happy & safe 4th of July!!!