She finally said it!

On Thursday night she came up to me and proclaimed, "Momma" all by herself!! My baby girl finally said what I've been waiting so long for!! Nobody prompted her to say it...it was the real deal! So, I thought it deserved a blog entry!! Hip, Hip, Hooray!!

...A funny side note: at Jaelyn's last Dr's check-up, he asked me how many words she could say. I was naming all the words and even told him how she can say phrases like "what is that?", but still couldn't say the word Mommy. He laughed and told me to not worry. He said I should enjoy it while I can because there will be an time where all she'll say is my name and I'll go crazy!! I don't know...I'm definitely enjoying hearing her say my name!! Love you babes!! :)

Orlando, Florida

While Marcus was fishing up in Canada with some friends, Jaelyn & I flew to Orlando, FL to visit some good friends of ours~ Paul & Elise Bosscher! Their two sons, Ethan & Drew were great playmates for Jaelyn! We arrived Friday evening and were planning to stay through Wednesday, however Tropical Storm Fay made us shorten our trip. :( Instead we flew out Monday afternoon. Good thing we did...people said if we didn't get out of Orlando by Monday we may not have gotten out until the weekend! Yikes! When I saw neighbors boarding up their windows for the storm to come through I thought it was best to get out of there!! :)

Thankfully we were able to go to the ocean on Sunday! It is SO hot & humid in Florida during the summer months...even at the ocean! I used to think I could handle the hot/humid weather after living in Michigan for most of my life, but now after living in the Pacific Northwest for almost 3 years that is not the case anymore! Jaelyn wasn't too sure of the ocean~it had pretty big waves that were a bit too scary for her. She did get her feet wet, though! She enjoyed playing in the sand, but didn't like the fact that the sand stuck to her skin! Somehow the sand managed to get into her eyes which was not fun at all!!



I got to try my luck with boogie boarding~it was fun to catch the waves...but not so fun when the waves thrashed you around! I had buckets full of sand in my suit after boogie boarding!

It was such fun hanging out with the Bossher family....even if for a short time! Jaelyn absolutely LOVED playing with both Drew & Ethan! Hopefully we'll get to see each other again soon! :) Thanks for all your hospitality, Paul & Elise!!

Byeman Family Camping Trip: Winthrop, WA

This past week we camped at Pearrygin Lake State Park for the annual Byeman family camping trip. There were ~45 people camping during the week! We had a potluck dinner on Sunday night and even more folks drove in just for it!. The whole crew is pictured below: (you can click on the picture to make it bigger...if you actually want to see our faces!)

The temperatures were in the upper 90's for most of the week...so needless to say we spent lots of time at the lake as well as in Jaelyn's kiddie pool. Thank goodness Oma & Opa have a 5th wheeler that has air conditioning that we could also cool off in!

Jaelyn loved playing in the water...by the end of the week she was walking into the lake all by herself (well, with me right beside her!). She enjoyed throwing rocks into the lake as well as watching the ducks/dogs swim by her.

Jaelyn thought Ellie's little boat was such fun to play in!

Here is a picture of the 6 little girls...all under the age of 3! From left to right: Alexis, Alyssa, Mya (in front), Ellie, Elisabeth, & Jaelyn. This picture taking experience was really quite funny. After Jaelyn starting crying Alexis & Alyssa chimed in as well! Too funny!

Photo op of our family! We got to celebrate Oma's 60th birthday (a little early!) at The Duck Brand Cantina Restaurant in Winthrop.

A camping trip is not a success unless Jaelyn gets dirty! Jaelyn sure loves to play in the dirt. I think she specifically seeks it out to play in!

Just a cute picture!

Jaelyn & I watching Daddy wake board!!

I think we have a cowgirl on our hands! The ice cream store in town (that we frequented a couple times!) had these fun "horses" to ride. She definitely enjoyed riding them!