Sure is pretty....

Office View

My office at work was relocated over the past couple of weeks and the view's not bad:

This Week's TOP TEN

10. Now that the house is off the market, we're unpacking (again), going through all of our crap and getting ready for a garage sale. Come buy some crap in a couple of weeks.

9. Aaron and I are currently abstaining for alcohol during the week. My body actually feels better.

8. Aaron had 3 trips this week and the booyeah was a hit. October is shaping up nicely, too.

7. The St. Louis Cardinals suck.

6. Emma didn't want to go to school on Friday....all the way to school it was - "Nooo.....I want soccer....and Owen and Mia." She didn't want to wait for the FLC women's soccer game that afternoon.

5. It finally got warm again - it was 86 today -after it was 19 on Tuesday morning at work. Fall is Aaron and mine's favorite time of year.

3. I like when Emma and I are dancing in living room and I know that the neighbors can probably only see me through the windows.

2. Emma refers to "Big Bird" as "Big Duck".

1. Emma is the only 2 year-old that I know that watches and has memorized "Spaceballs". After dinner tonight, she started shouting "I want Barf!!!!!" Barf is a "mog" - 1/2 man, 1/2 dog - he's his own best friend.

Montana Pictures...Finally!

Sorry to be such a slacker, but here are a handful of pictures from our Montana trip:

Hyder Girls Roadtrippin'

Hyat & Emma

Visiting Dawn & Conrad in Kalispell

Visiting Mindy & Shane in Missoula

Aaron & Erin - Jefferson River

Aaron & Buck - Jefferson River

Erin & Jeni

Hyders and Reeces

This Week's TOP TEN

10. Aaron detailed all 3 cars yesterday. Who doesn't love a clean car?

9. Emma "reads" a magazine while she poops. She prefers Fly Fisherman or Southwest Fly Fishing.

8. Aaron and I played golf at the Glacier Club on Saturday while Emma hung out with Heidi.

7. Our 3rd hole play was suspended when a coyote wandered across the fairway and then took its time hunting, watching us and walking down the fairway.

6. Rec Soccer season has returned - and today I can barely walk.

5. Fall is officially here and the fall colors have arrived. Hopefully, we can make it through family photos tomorrow.

4. Aaron had a great trip on Friday and has 3 trips this week.

3. Yesterday, Emma was talking outloud to no one in particular and she said "Mama has 2 big boobs." Well, thank you!

2. The Bears beat the Steelers and the Cubs beat the Cardinals.

1. We camped on Saturday - in the backyard - complete with roasting hotdogs, smores, peeing in the grass and plenty of beer (that's how we ended up in the backyard instead of our originally planned location....parents of the year).

Lee's Ferry

This past weekend, Aaron and I celebrated a "toddler free" weekend. We headed over to Lee's Ferry on Friday night to do some fishing. Lee's Ferry is on the Colorado River right below the Glen Canyon Dam. It is located about 30 miles south of Page, AZ and is the put-in to raft the Grand Canyon. Anyways, Saturday morning we picked up our boat and headed to the put-in. (Let me also mention that this is the only river I have floated with the same take-out as put-in). We headed up river and eventually made it all the way to the dam. It is hard to explain the scenary of our day - but it is easily the most majestic place I have even been. Sorry, Kansas! And after spending only a day on that section of the river made us want a Grand permit even more. I can only imagine what it is like within the canyon.

The fishing was great. Aaron hooked us up with his secret weapon #1 and secret weapon #2. We definitely kept the guide boats away because we hooked so many fish. In one spot, Aaron and I took turns each casting 5 casts and each turn, we both landed at least 3 fish. I think we stayed there for at least 4 rounds of taking turns. It almost seemed illegal and the last time I said that about fishing was on the Geishik River in Alaska. We even finished early for the day.

Aaron even had the opportunity to meet Wendy Gunn, who owns the guide service and lodge we stayed at. Wendy is a legendary fly-fishing woman and I think I caught Aaron drooling while he was talking to her!

Here's some great pics:

This Week's TOP TEN

10. I have a unique talent of being able to flip both of my eyelids inside out. I busted it out for the first time to Emma & Aaron while we were in Montana and Emma completely freaked out. And I mean completely - like saw a scary monster. Now Aaron tells Emma "to do Mama's eyes" and Emma rolls them and looks straight up. But she still freaks out hysterically if I were to do it.


9. We witnessed Emma pull up her shirt and nurse her baby doll. Then she told Aaron to get her a blanket to cover the baby 'cause it was eatin'.


8. The world of cable televison has returned to the Hyder house.


7. Aaron has always told Emma to pull his finger to hear a fart. Now Emma does it.


6. The bikers have come to town, spent their money and have finally left.


5. Aaron and Emma were at the pool last week and Aaron watched a grown woman pick her boogers and EAT THEM!! Then, he got yelled at by the granny lifeguard for letting Emma go down the slide head first. Good day at the pool!


4. Our tomatoes are soooo close to turning red...


3. A wonderful Sunday spent at Trimble in the hot pool followed by naps.


2. We finally made contact with Birdwell - it's hard to keep up with our friends and family that work nights.


1. Emma reeled in and landed her very first trout!! As you can imagine, in our family, this is an important milestone and was celebrated with luke-warm PBR.

Back to the Grind

At one point, we knew it was going to happen - back to the daily routines of life after a long-needed vacation. Aaron started classes at FLC last Monday for the semester. This semester he only has classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, which is great that he will be able to work a little bit more than last year. I also appreciate him back in school - it means we actually see him in the daylight and Aaron helps take over daycare drop-off and pick-up duty - which means a little bit more time for myself. Not to sound selfish.

I have been extremely busy at work since I have returned, which may surprise some of you as you're thinking "Isn't it a ski resort?" Yes...and contrary to popular I'm not just busy during the ski season...and actually my busy time of year is now until April. At work we call it "Septober" because the 2 months pretty much fly by as we are getting prepared to open for the season. But being busy for me is good - it keeps me out of trouble, keeps me focused on my to-do list, and I tend to drink less beer (until it gets really busy - then I drink more beer!). My office is being relocated next week, so next week will be full of moving heavy boxes.

Speaking of next week, Aaron and I are headed to Lee's Ferry to fish on the Colorado River for the weekend. We are extremely lucky that Aaron's mom, Beth, will be visiting for about a week which allows us a toddler-free weekend. Hopefully, we will have some good fish stories to report when we return.

Sorry I haven't posted any pictures of our Montana trip yet, but our computer seems to think that we're missing the photo program all of the sudden. I am hoping to take the CPU into work to see if the guys can fix it. But once I am able, I will post some pictures.

Other than that, nothing is too extraordinary. This is our 2nd weekend all summer that we have been able to spend as a family -- and everyone is currently napping (well - obviously, not me). But we are planning to head over to Mancos this afternoon to do some spin-fishing with Emma which is guaranteed to be entertaining.