Happy Birthday Gabe!

Today my sweet little boy turns 4. He is getting bigger and bigger each day; we keep telling him we are taking his birthday away and is he not allowed to get any bigger. A couple of times I have even told him he could only have water, because anything else we could give him would help Gabe grow. If only we could freeze time. Gabe always makes us smile with his sense of humor. Madi thinks Gabe is funny - especially when he sings and dances. Gabe loves swords, archery, fishing, Star Wars, football and he is excited about hockey. Today was his first day of hockey. When he puts on all of his hockey gear he thinks nothing can hurt him, I hope that's true.

Gabe is tender hearted. Whenever Gabe sees someone sad, hurt or upset, he'll always be the first to put his arm around them and tell him it will be OK. Yesterday, Grandma Katholyn told him that he wasn't allowed to get any bigger. his response, "It's OK grandma, even when I get bigger I can still give you kisses."

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Fishing at the Reservoir

I think we've seen the last of GREAT Fall weather around here and we spent the last of it fishing. We had a blast. The kids love to fish, and Madi especially loves to catch Rainbow Trout.

I love the cookie in her mouth.

The first fish she caught was a Cutthroat, and Madi was so dissappointed. She wouldn't even touch it.

Gabe always is collecting something, this time it was feathers.

She finally caught her Rainbow Trout.

Madi took this picture of herself and it is probably my favorite picture of the day.

Yellowstone

We went to Island Park and Yellowstone with grandma and grandpa. Yellowstone was surprisingly busy, which was a bit of a let down. We were hoping for relatively few people, but I guess we shouldn't be too surprised, after all it is a National Park.

I think Gabe grew three inches over the weekend or perhaps over night. Half the shirts, including his pajamas, were too short and could have been considered belly shirts (do they have those for boys?)

Gabe loved spending time with Grandpa Byron. I love how both of their pants are rolled at the bottom.

Madi loves to walk, hike or run. Yellowstone was perfect for her since there are so many maintained trails that it is easy to take kids on short or long hikes. Madi was in heaven.

She stopped several times to draw maps in the sand/gravel pathways.

Fishing

I always seem to miss the experience of fishing with the kids. Mike is great at taking Madi and Gabe fishing, hiking, to the zoo, museum, or to the movies when he has a day off from work. Mike's out of school for the next few weeks because of Spud Harvest, so between homework and football practice he spends all of his time doing activities with the kids. It has worked out great this week since his brother is here from Arkansas.

I love that one pant leg is tucked into Gabe's boot.

Family Fun

Mike's brother and his family are here from Arkansas. We have a week full of fun activities planned. We don't get to see them often, so when we get the opportunity, we live it up and PARTY.