Backyardigans

small SUMMER joys!

Tyce took his FIRST STEPS this week (towards licorice)

...on his FIRST camping trip ever to the Clark Fork River for 4th of July week. :) I wish I took a picture, but that kid was constantly covered in dirt and/or sand, and we still couldn't wipe the smile from his face...
It was a FAB week of intense rafting, cliff jumping and time with ALL of Brynne's siblings and parents.

Jay learned to buckle his own big boy seatbelt!

Cade had his FIRST baseball game and had 2 hits from the coach-pitch and 1 off the tee! He also had one play to first!

Silver had her first SWIM and could not get enough of the water. She got heat exhaustion on the trip because she had 2 days straight of 3 hours straight of fetch (thanks to all the little cousins) into the river without drinking enough. We had to nurse her back to health with gatorade and hose-downs.

We have also enjoyed Silverwood and Corbin Park beach (on the river here in Post Falls) a couple of times already.

Can't wait to see what else summer brings!

Tyce is ONE YEAR!!!

 This day feels like yesterday.

The day Tyce Gatten Erickson joined our family.

He has so much personality, and is into everything, yet I still feel like he is my newborn baby.

At one year:

your nickname is "DESRUCTO-TYCE!!!!" for a reason. ;)

You have 7 teeth... 4 on top, 3 on bottom

You love to eat everything in sight and you growl at us when someone else is eating and you're not.

You have been off the pacifier for about two weeks and you are just starting to get better.

You have stood twice on your own, but really have no desire to. You are perfectly content being waited on! :)

You are a brute, and you have to be. Your brothers wrestle with you and they don't go easy on you,

you take it, and even fight back! Grunting and pulling hair, and pushing their faces. It's hilarious!

You say "mama", "dada" and that's about it... you mostly just grunt. ;)

COMMENTS YOU GET:

"Look at that hair! It's, like WHITE!"

"He is such a HAPPY baby!"

"He looks JUST like his Daddy."

As you can tell by the below pictures, you are one of the happiest babies we've ever seen. You smile at everyone and everyone who says hi to you.

You are pretty easygoing (as long as you're fed)

and WE LOVE YOU!!!

Cannot imagine our family without your strong spirit in it!

Silver turned one 4 days before you, so we snapped a couple pics of the one year olds!

Birthday Boy!

We went smaller for this kid's first birthday, and it was perfect. :)

Just our little family and Grammie and Grandpa Erickson.

I think his brothers were more excited about the party than Tyce, and it was so cute to watch!

He sure wasn't shy about the cake!!

This guy is so laid back and fun to watch.:)

Love ya buddy.

Inspiration.

I found this list of quotes on a website today. I wanted to pick a few to remember, and I couldn't. I loved them all! 

Believe You Can, Believe You Can't, Either Way You'll Be Right

When You Expect Success, Your Mind Focuses On Success – Anonymous

It's Kind Of Fun To Do The Impossible - Walt Disney

Thoughts Become Things So Choose The Good Ones - Mike Dooley

All That We Are Is The Result Of What We Have Thought – Boedha

Life Isn't About Finding Yourself, Life Is About Creating Yourself - George Bernard Shaw

It's Not What You Look At That Matters, It's What You See - Henry David Thoreau

Nobody Knows What They Can Do Until They Try – Sorus

You Cannot Teach A Man Anything, You Can Only Help Him Discover It Within Himself - Galileo Galilei

You Were Born To Win, But To Be A Winner You Must Plan To Win, Prepare To Win, And Expect To Win - Zig ZiglarIf

Opportunity Doesn't Knock, Build A Door - Milton Berle

The Best Way To Make Your Dreams Come True Is To Wake Up - Paul Valery

Failure Is Success If We Learn From It - Malcolm Forbes

The Greatest Thing In The World Is Not So Much Where We Are, But In What Direction We Are Moving - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Happiness Is Not A Matter Of Events, It Depends Upon The Tides Of The Mind - Alice Meynall

The Only Way To Predict The Future Is To Have The Power To Change It - Eric Hoffer

For Last Year's Words Belong To Last Year's Language And Next Year's Words Await Another Voice - T.S. Eliot

Success Does Not Consist Of Never Making Blunders, But In Never Making The Same One A Second Time - Josh Billings

Strive For Excellence, Not Perfection - H.Jackson Brown Junior

Nothing Great Was Ever Achieved Without Enthusiasm - Ralph Emerson

Human's Are Like Tea Bags, We Don't Know Our Own Strength Until We're In Hot Water - Sister Busche

The Person Who Gets The Farthest Is Generally The One Who Is Willing To Do And Dare, The Comfort Zone Boat Never Gets Far From The Shore - Dale Carnegie

A Kiss Is A Lovely Trick Designed By Nature To Stop Speech When Words Become Superfluos - Ingrid Bergman

A Strong Positive Attitude Will Create More Miracles Than Any Wonder Drug - Patricia Neal

Your Current Safe Boundaries Were Once Unknown Frontiers – Anonymous

If Your Ship Doesn't Come In, Swim Out To It - Jonathan Winters

Insist On Yourself. Never Imitate - Ralph Emerson

People Rarely Succeed Unless They Have Fun In What They Are Doing - Dale Canergie

Be Kind To Your Body - It's The Only Place You Have To Live - Jim Rohn

You See Things And Say Why, But I Dream Things That Never Were And Say Why Not? - George Bernard Shaw

It's Not What You Eat, It's Why You Eat That Really Matters - Mike Scott

Success Is Determined By How Determined You Are To Succeed - Anonymous

Imagination Is More Important Than Knowledge - Albert Einstein

If You Do What You Have Always Done You'll Always Get What You Always Got – Anonymous

What Progress, You Ask, Have I Made? I Have Begun To Be A Friend To Myself – Hecato

You Will Never Find The Time For Anything, If You Want The Time You Must Make It -Charles Buxton

If You Cannot Solve It, It's Not A Problem, It's Just The Reality - Barbara Coloroso

I Am Not Afraid Of Do Not Anticipate Trouble, Or Worry About What May Never Happen. Keep In The Sunlight - Benjamin Franklin

Excellence Is To Do Something Ordinary In An Extraordinary Way - Booker Washington

No Matter Who You Are, No Matter What You Do, You Absolutely, Positively Do Have The Power To Change - BIll Phillips

What We Think, We Become – Buddha

Your Greatest Self Has Been Waiting All Your Life, Don't Make It Wait Any Longer - Steve Maraboli

People Who Enjoy What They Are Doing Invariably Do It Well - Joe Gibbs

If You Can Never Manage With Where You Are At, You Will Never Be Happy With Where You Go - Phillip Bennett

Let Your Star Shine Brightly High In The Sky, It Shines Even Brighter In The Dark – Anonymous

There Is Only One Success, To Be Able To Spend Your Life In Your Own Way - Christopher Morley

What Lies Behind Us And What Lies Before Us Are Tiny Matters Compared To What Lies Within Us - Walt Emerson

Life Is A Big Canvas, Throw All The Paint On It You Can - Danny Kaye

If Your Success Is Not On Your Own Terms, If It Looks Good To The World But Does Not Feel Good In Your Heart, It Is Not Success At All - Anna Quindlen

Live Life Fully While You're Here. Experience Everything. Take Care Of Yourself And Your Friends. Have Fun, Be Crazy, Be Weird. Go out And Screw Up! You're Going To Anyway, So You Might As Well Enjoy The Process. Take The Opportunity To Learn From Your Mistakes: Find The Cause Of Your Problem And Eliminate It. Don't Try To Be Perfect; Just Be An Excellent Example Of Being Human - Tony Robbins

The Wisest Men Follow Their Own Direction. – Euripid

Not Everything That Can Be Counted Counts, And Not Everything That Counts Can Be Counted - Albert Einstein

Every Wall Is A Door - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Let Nothing And Nobody Stand In Your Way Of Being Who You Really Are - Mike Scott

Those First Few Songs I Wrote, I Was Taking Notes At A Fantastic Rock Concert Going On In My Head - Jim Morrison

First Say To Yourself What You Would Be, And Then Do What You Have To Do - Epictetus 

Believe That Life Is Worth Living And Your Actions Will Confirm It - William James 

You Can Because You Think You Can - Virgil

To Accomplish Great Things We Must Not Only Act But Also Dream, Not Only Plan But Also Believe - Anatole

It's Easy To Make A Buck, It's A Lot Harder To Make A Difference - Tom Brokaw

Let This Coming Year Be Better Than All The Others. Vow To Do Some Of The Things You've Always Wanted To Do But Couldn't Find The Time -Ann Landerse

Life Is Like Riding A Bicycle,  To Keep Your Balance You Must Keep On Moving - Anonymous

You Don't Get To Choose How You're Going To Die. Or When. But You Can Decide How You're Going To Live Now - Joan Baezidin

Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful - Albert Schweitzer

Don't aim for success if you want it; just do what you love and believe in, and it will come naturally - David Frost

You will never find time for anything. You must make it - Charles Buxton

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Enthusiasm is the steam that drives the engine - Napoleon Hill

Girl's Week Park City, UT!

My Dad provides us with a time-share condo so we can get away as just girls with no kids (except nursing babies). This year, it was beautiful Park City, UT. 

Park City Mountain Resort... after a day of 8 hours of shopping, we needed to get outside!

 Alpine Slide (like bobsledding). We raced! Mikin won. 

 Not your average roller coaster. You control your speed:

Zip line!

One of my morning rides...viewpoint in the rich hills of Park City!

One of the coolest things we did was watch the under 18 US olympic ski team practicing their arial jumps into pools. Anywhere from 8-17 year olds. NUTS.

ski museum @ Olympic Park

The next day it was 80* so we went to Jordanelle Reservoir and ran, swam and laid out!

One of our **many** treat stops. :)

After we dropped off Angie to the airport Thursday, the three blood sisters spend the day in Salt Lake City. We started off with the temple...

I am always amazed with the Salt Lake Temple, but this time I was absolutely floored. It was the first time I had been inside besides a wedding, and I was totally amazed and humbled by the craftsmanship, artwork, time, talents, means, and many, many other skills that the saints put into the building of this House of the Lord.

There were so many miracles surrounding this building at that time. 

The Spirit was testifying so strongly to me that this gospel is true, and we need to devote everything to it as these saints so bravely did.

Afterward, we hit city creek for lunch, deseret book and a little H&M. :) Then we drove down and had dinner and fun times with Tom, Brooke and family.

Our last day we decided to hike the Heber Valley viewpoint. It was fun, hot and gorgeous!

 Here we are hitting balls at the driving range in Heber. Yeah, we rocked it.

We got ever-so-fun Brooke for a few days. And as you can see, we hit the Bakery at Windy Ridge for the third time. :)

Cheers to a most-successful and relaxing girl's week!
And Cheers to a much-loved husband who stayed home with the kids all week and has a little more respect for the tough daily duties of the mom life! ;)

White Babies

 Above is our cute Silver, before we knew her, as a baby. 

Below is our cute Silver now. :)

Gosh, we love her. AMAZING temperament, beautiful, great listener and great with kids.

Now what should we do with a dog this great? Spread the love, right?

So meet Silver's future husband, Gunner. :)

This is the first time we've seen a picture of this cute guy, too.

He was part of the deal in us getting Silver (if we breed her it can only be to their dog), and they will be making cute, white babies for us in a year and a half or so. I consider it "multiplying and replenishing the earth"...or in other words, a way to replenish the life of Ivory. :)

2 puppies will go back to Gunner's owners, and 1 is pre-sold to some random soccer grandparents who LOVED Silver....but if you'd ever want one, let me know!

Never thought I'd be a breeder. 

ha.