Wee-Ooo...Wee-Ooo

One of Hoyt's truck books has a fire engine in it, and the sound it makes is "Wee-Ooo...Wee-Ooo". Whenever we pass a fire engine, he makes the sound at the top of his lungs.

Last weekend we went over to the Coonce's and Hoyt saw Jeff's 1930's fire engine and was beside himself. He grabbed my hand and said, "Mom, fire truck...Wee-Ooo". Before we left Zan, Blair, Leigh, Ryon, Hoyt and I all climbed aboard the fire engine and took a ride. Hoyt thought it was pretty cool that Blair pushed the siren a few times, so he got to hear the "Wee-Ooo".

We ran out of gas at one point, but Leigh was a trooper and ran back to the house for more! What an adventurous afternoon. Hoyt had a grin on his face for the rest of the day!!

Pretending to drive all "by himself"!

We sat up on back for the ride - oh what fun!

Bull Ridin'

The PBR (Professional Bull Riders) came to town last weekend, and we were able to go on Friday night. We weren't quite sure how long Hoyt would last since it was scheduled to run from about 8:00 to 10:00, but we had a feeling he'd like it and do OK.

Let's just say the child was mesmerized! From the moment the first bull came out of the chute, Hoyt was completely enthralled. We stayed until the bitter end - 10:20 - and Hoyt never cried, complained, or even seemed cranky. He acquired a little black toy bull while we were there, and his new favorite thing to do is to watch bull riding with Ryon, while sitting on his toy bull pretending to be "bucked off". It is one of the most hilarious things I have ever seen!

The boys with their cowboy hats

LOVING the bag of popcorn!

Notice the little bull in Hoyt's hands (the one he pretends to ride!!) - he had to sleep with it for two nights following the bull riding. I had to wait until he fell asleep to go in and retrieve it. All he has talked about for the past week is bull riding and getting "bucked off"!

Look at those cheesy grins

By Myself!

Hoyt's favorite phrase these days is, "by myself". Mr. Independent wants to do everything his own way without any help from mom or dad.

The other night as we were getting ready to say bedtime prayers, he looked at me and said, "Mom, by myself" so I let him go ahead and try. To my surprise his prayer went like this, "Heavenly Father....thank thee for dis day....help us sleep good....name of Christ amen." Definitely pretty good for no help - now I'm just waiting for potty training to go this smoothly!!

Riding Annie all by HIMSELF (at least for the picture, and then dad stepped back in!)

I think he's pretty proud!

"Cheeseburger!"

About a month ago we had some family pictures taken, as well as some two-year-old shots of Hoyt. All we had to do was tell him to say "cheeseburger" when we wanted him to smile, and he was the perfect little model! Here are a few of my absolute favorites.

CHEESEBURGER!

We had to get the hat and stick-horse in the pictures!

Ready for his "close-up"

I love this one! He's feeding his horse some grass

My big 2 -year-old boy!

Birthday Boy!

Hoyt had a fun-filled 2nd birthday! He loved playing with all the kids, blowing out the candles on his cake, and hitting the pinata. (He started to cry when the pinata broke open, but once he saw the candy and toys inside...he was over it!)

We can't believe how fast two years has flown by - we definitely have a little boy on our hands with his own personality, opinions, and way of doing things "himself"! His favorite things to do right now include: playing tackle/fumble football with dad, playing baseball, swinging on the swing set in the backyard, working with his tool set, reading books with mom, swimming, riding Annie and pretending to rope steers, and repeating everything that Ryon and I say. I know I say this all the time, but this is such a fun age!


Getting ready to blow out the candles

With mom and dad

Trying to take an extremely large bite of ice cream

Going after the pinata

The kids with the "spoils" of the pinata

Hoyt getting a push from Abby



Does he look like he's having ANY fun?



Present time



What a lucky little boy!!

Two Years Ago...

today, this little miracle came into our family. How lucky are we?

Five minutes old (I'm still getting stitched up)

Two hours old, and I finally get to hold him! (Hoyt had to stay in the nursery for a little while because of some fluid in his lungs)

Three days old - sometimes you wonder why they have to grow up so fast!

Lake Day with Dad

With summer almost over (sigh!) I decided that Ryon needed to come up to the lake with us for the day. Luckily a few other husbands decided to go to "lake day" as well, so Ryon did not feel like the only guy there!

Hoyt loved the water, boating with mom and dad, building sand castles, and throwing the football to dad over and over and over again. Too bad Ryon couldn't come with us every week - I was even able to get some sunbathing in!

Hoyt has turned into our "little fish"

Fillin' up the sand truck...

And the bucket

So much fun!

Going for a ride with mom and dad



Trying to feed the birds...SAND


Hoyt's idea of "swimming"

One of my favorite pictures of the day



Every day of summer should be like this!

Tuesday Nights

Most Tuesday nights, from about 5:00 on, Ryon can be found roping out in Washoe Valley or Spanish Springs. Last Tuesday we decided to tag along. Hoyt loves to run around and play in the dirt, climb the fence to watch Ryon rope, and beg for rides on Annie when it isn't dad's turn to rope. When we got home at 9:00 it was definitely time for a bath and bed!

Ryon and Matt roping a good one!

Hanging out on the fence enjoying the show

Another good shot of Ryon

Going for a ride and pretending to rope

What I Love About Summer...

is spending a lazy afternoon at the pool with my two favorite guys, eating watermelon, then taking a nap. It doesn't get any better!

Baseball Fever

One of Hoyt's favorite pastimes these days is playing with his baseball tee. He'll hit the ball, run the bases, and pretend to slide. The other morning he came downstairs and asked to watch baseball or football on television. In fact, he started to cry until I could find something on ESPN that he could watch. I definitely think I have a problem on my hands!!

We took Hoyt to the Ace's game last Friday, and (no surprise) he loved it. He lasted the entire game, and even enjoyed the fireworks afterwards. He went to bed at 11:00 that night, slept until 10:00 Saturday morning, and woke up wanting to play baseball with dad. Definitely all boy!!

What a great view

Ryon made sure that he didn't fall out of the box!

One of the best parts of the night was the popcorn

More popcorn please

Being silly with mom

What a great night!