Happy Birthday, Maddie!!

Happy Birthday, Maddie!! Our baby is 1! So hard to believe. We have had a very fun birthday weekend. Kicking off Maddie's Friday birthday with friends and family over for hamburgers and birthday cake! All available aunts, uncles, and cousins, as well as, some very special friends from out of town turned out to celebrate the big day! Aunt Kelli was nice enough to bring her camera and take some professional level photos! I LOVE every single one she took, so I uploaded as many as could to remind us forever of the day.

Proud Mama and Daddy with the birthday girl!

The amazing cake from Lisa's Cakery. We were so excited that we got to celebrate in Texas since that's where the good cakes are!!

Soooo Excited!!

She started off a little dainty, picking off each little ball of icing and eating it....

And ended up looking like this!

Checking to make sure she had the perfect bite.

I'm not sure who she was looking at in this picture, but she doesn't like what they have to say, apparently.

Checking out the cabinets.

Enjoying a little chips and salsa.

With Steph and Garrison. She LOVES Garrison!

Little tiny baby feet!!

Beautiful!

Loving on her baby.

Some very special guests!

Garrison just found out that he wasn't going to be getting any burgers or cake. I'd be sad, too!

Misplaced No More!

Remember this little cutie?

Well, she is 'misplaced' no more!!

Maddie would like everyone to know that "It's official!" We are in Texas for goood, God willing!

We even have TX phone numbers and a TX address now. Maddie was using my phone to spread the word. "Who's next Mama?"

She actually puts the phone up to (or near) her ear and says, "Lo." She must be around someone who talks on the phone a lot. Hmm. I wonder who that could be.

Happy Birthday, Maddie!

Well, almost! Maddie got to celebrate a little early with the TN group since we won't be there on her actual birthday. It was great. They showed up with cake, balloons, hats and gifts as a surprise. And what a great surprise it was. We're so happy that we get to celebrate this momentous birthday twice!!

She wasn't sure that the hat went with her outfit.

But she loved the singing!

Yummy Cake!

Checking out her new wheels.

Thank you everyone for the great party! We loved it!!

Yellowstone: Day3

We made our way through the entire park today. It was amazing and the pictures don't do it justice, at all. You definitely need a lot of time here to see it all, but we managed to hit the highlights.

First stop, Old Faithful! We actually managed to luck into getting there within 20 minutes of the eruption, so we didn't have long to wait. Good thing too because Maddie isn't completely excited about all nature has to offer just yet.

My favorite stop, the waterfalls. (one of the many, anyway) This was at the brink of the upper falls. They were amazing!

Maddie loved watching these! At least for a little while.

Look close at her expression in this one. That's a little more like what she thought about all the photos!

The Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.


Roadside Buffalo!

John was obsessed with the water temperature; so he pulled out one of his inspection tools to measure it. 165 degrees!

By far the most exciting moment came as we were leaving the Mud Volcano. One of the Buffalo came into the parking lot, then up the walkway that we were going down. We turned around and hauled tail in the other direction, John pushing Maddie and me with the camera. Once we were safely in the car, John looked at the pictures and was like, you didn't get very good photos. Uh, sorry, I was a little preoccupied with running away. He is right though, this sucker was much closer to us than we have proof of!

Here is about to climb on to the sidewalk we were standing on.

Yellowstone: Day 2

On our second day here, John went on a guided fly fishing trip. I sent him with a camera so he could have proof of the many fish he would catch, but when he got back, he had nothing!! He said that although he caught 6 or 7, he was waiting for a "photo worthy" fish, which he never caught. He did say that he hooked that photo worthy fish, but it got away. Here is indicating how big the "one that got away" was. Oh well.

While John was fishing, Maddie and I took in a little more of the surroundings. Here are some pictures from along the Madison River and at Crater Lake. It's beautiful!!