Country Weddin'

Cousin Kayla is getting married! We decided to make the 5 hour trek to Mount Ayr , and make a vacation out of it. Macyn traveled pretty well (except when she was mad and spilled chocolate milk all over herself). We only made 2 stops in 5 hours, which is good considering this was our first long trip with her being completely potty trained. We arrived in town about 1 hour before the wedding, so we quickly got ready and headed out. It was extremely hot – 102º heat index. Fortunately, the wedding was short and sweet and we could head to some air conditioning. 

The wedding was held at Ramsey farms, in front of a pond. It was a country theme, as the bride and bridesmaids wore cowboy boots. They also served pie instead of cake, and it was a great time! It was fun to go to a non-traditional wedding for a change. Macyn kept calling Kayla, "princess Kayla." Macyn danced the night away and crashed once we got back to the hotel. We somehow ended up with 3 queen beds, and Macyn had to try out each one before cuddling in for the night next to me.

Macyn with cousin Kayla

Cousins!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to the best daddy Macyn could have!

We celebrated by having lunch with my Grandpa, and then heading over to DH's parents. It was a nice day to see everyone again. I am so thankful for my dad, grandpa, DH's parents, and my husband....and Macyn loves them all a whole bunch too :)

Golf Cake

I decided to make DH a Father's Day cake, based on one I found on Pinterest. Here is the actual link. DH wanted white cake instead of chocolate, and I couldn't find a grass tip for my cake decorating set. I improvised and used a star tip I think? haha. Anyways, I think it it turned out pretty well, considering this is my first cake I have actually "starred" the entire thing.

Relay For Life 2012

My grandpa came home just in time to attend this year's Relay For Life. He came home on Tuesday after 51 days in the hospital. There are no words that could describe the joy on his face to be able to attend. It truly is a miracle that he is still here today - so thankful for all the prayers and the miracles God performs every day. Here are some highlights:

Walking with my Grandpa and Team Yates during the team walk.

With my Grandpa enjoying our time together

Check out those smiles!

Relay for Life has always been an important part of my life. My Grandma on my Dad's side died of skin cancer, and my grandma on my mom's side (Grandpa's first wife) died of breast cancer when she was in her 50s. This is my third grandparent to have cancer, but this year it seemed a little more special to have him there...and sooo thankful that he was able to attend.

2 Years, 8 Months

Our big girl is another month older! She has started to get a little more of an attitude and has had much longer tantrums because we won't give in. In fact, she was crying so hard for so long (about 45 minutes) that she actually made herself throw up. I felt bad, but I wasn't about to give in after putting up with her tantrum for that long, and I had no idea she was going to make herself sick!

She is also starting to talk back to us, like when we say, "Its time for bed Macyn!" she says back in a whiny voice - "No its not!"

Besides her evolving personality, she is getting better at other skills too. She likes to paint and can actually paint objects in the coloring book besides making random paint blobs and swirling them all together. She will paint the princess want a certain color (obviously not in the lines), the princess's clothes a different color, etc. She was even scribbling on her white board and she exclaimed, "a moon!" and sure enough, she drew a crescent shape.

She also enjoys being outside all the time, running through the sprinkler, swimming in her pool, and going to the parks around our area. Since she is outside all the time she has gotten a pretty nice tan and even a flip flop tan line on her feet.

Other stories this month - I was folding laundry and Macyn walks in and says,

Macyn: "There is a monster in here."

Me: "What?

Macyn: "Theres a monster in here."

Me: "Where is the monster?"

Macyn: "RIGHT HERE! I'm the tickle monster - tickle, tickle, tickle!"

This story is kind of inappropriate, but funny at the same time. (side note - she likes to say boobs, so we correct her to say breasts. We have tried to have her not say that word, but you know how that goes.) Anyways, we were getting ready to go in the pool and I was putting sunscreen on her.

Macyn: "You have a swimsuit like me"

Me: "Yes, I do"

Macyn: "It covers our breasts. Daddy doesn't wear one"

.....welcome to her realizing that boys don't have to wear a top on their swimsuit.

She also likes to play with her doctor kit, and likes to listen to your "heart beep"

Macyn comes home from daycare one day, and this is what she says.
Macyn: "Mommy, I say bad words at daycare"
Me: "Well, what kind of bad words do you say?"
Macyn: "Nanny nanny boo boo!" (in the taunting voice)

We are having fun with our girl, even if it can be tiring and testing your patience. I know they don't stay young forever, and soon enough these days will be gone. Better enjoy it now - tantrums and all!

Celebration Days

Our town had their celebration days going on, along with a bunch of fun activities! The weather was absolutely perfect, so we took full advantage of all the things that were going on. We started out the morning by hitting up the booths in the mall. Macyn wanted to take a ride on the kiddy train, and needless to say, that didn't turn out so well:

Since that was a flop, we went outside and tried out the inflatables. It was like pulling teeth to get Macyn to try them out (there was one that was smaller and more geared towards little kids). We bribed her to no avail. Finally we convinced her to go in the door of the "princess castle" and she finally went in. She kept saying, "I like it!" Once it was time to go she was pretty mad, but we told her we were going to the petting zoo and it made it a little better, but there were still some tears!

At the petting zoo Macyn found a new friend! They were giving away the kittens and DH told me I couldn't have one. Then I remembered cats shed and I just don't want to deal with that. They also had goats, bunnies, chickens, sheep, and cows. There was a zebra that did tricks too, but Macyn wasn't too thrilled.

Later on the the day they finished up with a parade. Macyn got lots of candy, 4 frisbees, pencils, bookmarks, a golf ball, a can of pop, and some free ice cream to Culvers. She had a lot of fun at the parade, and once it was all over she said, "Lets go to another parade!"

Needless to say, I think she had a great time. It was fun, and the best part - everything was free!

Gone Fishing!

Since it was free fishing weekend, we decided to venture out and have a picnic, and see if we could catch any fish. Macyn was pretty excited to go!

We first found a spot to fish, and then set up our camping grill along with our fold up table. We bought the table last year for camping, and I am surprised how much we use it. Its so easy to transport! We grilled some brats and had a nice picnic with some chips and nutty bars for dessert.

After lunch we decided to give fishing a try. We didn't even get a nibble, but we did see the fish swim up to our bait and stare at it. They weren't going to bite. We ended up not fishing too long since we had to head home and let Macyn take her nap. She was just happy to use her Cinderella fishing pole!