Yellowstone is not the place for 21 month-olds

Old Faithful - this will go down in Kinyon family history as one of the worst days ever. Lauren was just about the orneriest kid in the entire world, and when you're stuck in Yellowstone National Park for 6 hours, that really sucks. This is us waiting for Old Faithful to go off with a kid who has had about 10 minutes of nap time all day. It will be much more fun when she's older!

Buffalo! Or as Lauren called the painted ones in West Yellowstone on the street - camel-bears!
This was so cute - little chipmunks were eating right out of everyones' hands - here's Brock and Becky feeding some granola bites to one - it was adorable!
The picture quality sucks - I know, but this just shows you a little piece of the temperament of Lauren that week, even with her little pink six-shooters on! I'm normally not a "junk toy" buyer, but they were so cute, I couldn't resist. You can't see very well, but she's got a black bruise under her left eye. Apparently camping is hazardous to my child's health - in 4 days' time, she managed to give herself a black eye, a cut over the other eye, scraped up her hand, a cut on her chin, and a huge scrape in the middle of her forehead. If the child would just watch where she was going, life would be much easier on her. OH, and I forgot to mention the constipation as well.

Aside from all of that, we still had fun with Bryan's family and being away from work and everything else. I hate to sound like the trip was a total loss, because it wasn't, we still had a pretty good time, all things considered. We just weren't prepared for Lauren to be such a little butt :). Let's just say, thank goodness for Off bug spray with Deet, sunscreen, portable DVD players, and full hook ups that enabled us to watch Ratatouille ALL DAY LONG in the trailer because my child is a danger to herself in the outdoors.

I FINALLY got my pictures!

Here are just some of the random pictures that I have had in my camera FOREVER since I couldn't find a way to get them onto this computer - I need to really think things through the next time we move (which hopefully won't be for a long time) and pack away all of our connections and cords and battery chargers.

Sassy pants with her hat and shades
This was when we were moving - hours in the box - we had to make sure and not keep any boxes around made up or we couldn't get her out without a SERIOUS tantrum.
I know this isn't a very good picture, but this is Lauren being super proud of getting her dress back on herself. She finally let me fix it when she realized that when you fall and don't have the use of your arms, you have nothing to stop you from face planting into the floor.
Only the best of daddies can make forts like this!

I love my Lolo!!!

I just have to tell this cute little story about my kiddo yesterday. She was a royal pain in the @** all day yesterday, so finally at 7:30 I decided it was just time to give her a bath and get her little booty in bed. She splashed me more than usual during bathtime (she knows I hate that) and wouldn't sit still for 3 seconds for me to lotion her chubbiness down. Then, as soon as she was all slick, I helped her stand up and she stepped forward, gave me a big hug, and said "I love you". I could've just melted into a big puddle right then! I was so frustrated with her all day, and so ready to get her into bed and out of my hair, and for her to just say that without me telling her to.......just goes to show you, kids can be the biggest trial and frustration in life, and then one little look, or one little "I love you", and everything changes. Parenting is funny that way. Your patience is pushed to the limit every day, but you still love the little stinkers more than anything.

Walking.......Finally!

Lauren is finally walking!!!! I would've posted some pictures of the event, but I can't get them to dowload to my in-laws' computer for some reason. But here's how it happened:
We were playing downstairs and she was taking a couple of steps here and there, which for her is good, because Lauren really has to be in the mood to walk, and she looked at me and said "I want to go see Daisy". She walked across the family room, and down the hall - only falling down once. My jaw just dropped! That little stinker could walk all this time, she was just deciding that she didn't want to yet. She crawled up the stairs and said to me "I walk!!", then walked across the living room, through the kitchen to the window to see the dog. And I, being pregnant and emotional, just started bawling. I seriously could not believe it! I've been so worried that she wouldn't walk before the baby came, and then what was I going to do, I can't carry around 2 kids all the time - especially a 2 year old. When we went to bed that night, I told Bryan that I was worried she was going to wake up the next morning and not want to anymore, because anyone who knows my kid knows that she's just about the most stubborn, hard-headed kid on the planet, and if she doesn't want to do something, she's not going to do it. But, of course, she hasn't stopped and just wants to run - yes, not walk, run - everywhere. I love it!!!

Like Father Like Daughter

Anyone who has been around Bryan enough has seen his crack - it's just how it is - you see Bryan, you see the crack. Well, apparently it's a genetic thing, because I've been seeing a lot of Lauren's lately. I got them to pose for this picture, and I told him it was going on the blog, and by allowing the picture to be taken, that meant it was OK. So if this offends anyone, I'm sorry, but it had to be done!!

Dress Up New Year's Eve

Here's us women on New Year's in our lovely attire. Jennie, Kiersti, Amina, Heidi, and Jess - aren't we so cute!?!

I do have to say it was the funnest New Year's ever - even if I was in a dress.

And here's our handsome men - Erik, Tyler, Hyrum, Greg, and looking oh so excited on the end is Bryan. If you can't tell, we flatironed Bryan's hair for the event. We thought it was hilarious, but people kept telling him he should do it like that more often and that it looked really good. It did look good, but what guy flatirons their hair on a regular basis?

Our prom picture - ahhh, takes me back!! Since we never went to a high school dance together, I thought it was fitting to take a prom picture. I think Bryan looks kind of like Clay Aiken here - but a much cuter and more straight version.

Date Night GNO

Rock Band Date Night!!! I think I'm not the only one who will say that December 29th was AWESOME!! It was so much fun! Here we have Chase proving his beautiful vocal styles by getting 100%, Jay on guitar, and Abby - the happiest drummer ever. Have I said already that I love this game? Anyway, it's been rumored that some purchases have been made since - maybe because it's the best! Some things are better without the kids!





OK, I guess we did have one little pooper was there, but come on, how cute is Austin! Shauna and Chase have the cutest kids! And i can't believe how good he was, he just sat quietly and listened to us making all sorts of chaos and didn't even make a peep!