company!

it was another pretty crazy week at our house!

between visiting teaching, lab work, doctors appointments, 

last minute trips to cheyenne.... we didnt have much free time to spare!

life is seriously nuts right now!

(it's a good thing i have this goofball around to keep the mood light :)

but friday came and it was finally time to kick back!

mom and dad came down to visit and we were super excited!

madyn was beyond THRILLED!

she was able to open up some birthday gifts and pick out another toy 

at walmart from grandma and grandpa.

she kept telling mom that it was her best birthday ever!

we waited for eric to get off work and then we went down to cheyenne

to have dinner.

saturday we got up and set up erics birthday gift so we could surprise

him with it when he got home from hunting.

we spent all morning working on that then went and had breakfast

over at the prairie rose where we met up with eric.

after we ate we went home and surprised eric!

that afternoon we went to the pokes game!

it was seriously the nicest day out- perfect weather...

and seriously the best game!

WE WON!

and we all know that doesn't happen often!

we had a great time at the game.

and we even got to hang out with jessie while we were at the game.

it was so nice to hang out and catch up.

after the game we traveled up to centennial to have dinner at the old corral.

after dinner we came home and watched a movie together then called it a night.

it was a pretty great week!

temple open house

it started out as a pretty busy week around the gillies house hold!

it was nice for eric to have a three day weekend... for hunting that is.

on labor day they had to come home early because eric had

to go into work later, so he didnt get as much time in as he would have hoped.

but we had told our neighbor that we would help paint sealant on her

fence so it was nice that they were home early so we 

could get a head start on that.

between me, eric, tys and trav we had it all finished 

within a couple of hours!

madyn i think finally warmed up to tyson...

she wouldnt leave his side while we were painting... 

and i dont think her mouth ever stopped moving either.

that goofball sure keeps us on our toes!

that is for sure!

thursday mom, dad, toomers, jason and his girlfriend were

passing through on their way to the denver game later that night.

so we headed to fort collins with them to go through

the temple open house before they took off to denver.

it was gorgeous!

i love the colors and all the art work

it was seriously beautiful.

probably my new favorite temple.

i was in awe the WHOLE time! 

while we were walking through i asked madyn

how does your heart feel? 

does it feel happy and warm?

she thought about it for a moment and said

NOPE! it feels cold!

oy vey!

the baptistery made a big impact on madyn.

when we were all the way through i asked her what she loved

the most about the temple....

she answered- Jesus' cows and water.

also while we were walking through there

was a lot of elk painted in the murals 

on the walls....

madyn was sure to tell me

how dad is going to shoot one of those!

the slippers also made a pretty big impact on little miss.

she was not too happy to wear them...

but after awhile was finally ok with wearing them.

after the temple we went out to eat at chilis

then they took off so they could make it to the game.

so me and mads went to target and old navy!

when we got home eric was not thrilled to find out that 

we spent some of our time shopping at target.

after he asked us about how much we spent he said I HATE TARGET!

so now whenever madyn wants to tease eric she just yells TARGET!

saturday everyone was passing through again on their way out

of town to head back home from denver.

so we got to spend a few hours with mimi and pop pop

while the toomers took trav grocery shopping.

we had so much fun spending the day with them.

madyn was in seventh heaven!

that night ended perfectly watching the utes beat byu!

this house was pretty happy and excited!

back in session.

welp it was a crazy week!

monday classes at the university started.

so that means i started watching Colter again.

he has gotten soooo big! and madyn is more in love with him then ever!

i only watch him tuesday and thursdays and only for an hour and 45 min.

wednesday madyn started dance class again.

thursday i was busy with appointments.

friday eric started working his private care job.

and saturday he started hunting!

that night we were going to go to the opening UW football game

but it started raining like CRAZY!

by the time we parked we saw lightening so we knew it would be delayed...

so we just waited in the car hoping it would settle down.

about 9:45 it was still raining and lightening so we just decided to head on home.

good thing we did... they didn't start till after 10:30 and didn't finish till after 2.

but they won in triple overtime!

so that was pretty awesome....

guess we missed a pretty good game.

other then that not a whole lot is going on around the gillies house!

madyn right now is attached to eric's side.

she loves her dad and looks up to him so much :)

workin and playin!

sunday we decided we needed to have a bit of fun...

so we decided that we were going to be sluffers and go fishing

with the hysell family up at state line.

we had such a fun day fishing!

jamie, james and ry all caught 3 fish and i only caught one.

madyn and maycie had so much fun playing on the hills and in the sand.

and abbers took over the camera and went a little picture crazy! 

got to love that girl!

that night we went and saw tony and carilyn.

madyn insisted on going over to the toomer's house and jump

on their trampoline.

she's a little goofball!

monday i went and worked over at the shop.

then later that night we had a family night with the potter family.

we had yummy chicken fried steaks and then had

fun playing games together.

tuesday i spent most of my day at the shop again getting

some work done.

that night me and mads went over to the hysells and had dinner

with them while the school teachers of the family went to their steak fry.

wednesday we finished up things around 

the shop and then took off for home.

it felt good to get back home and into the routine of things.

thursday and friday i spent most of my time getting the house

deep cleaned and back in order.

thursday tyson moved down to laramie!

we are so excited to have him close!!!

friday night tony and carilyn got into town to bring some of

tyson's things.

we had them, tys and trav over for dinner and hung out for the night.

saturday we got up and going and headed down to estes and rock mountain national park.

eric was killing it! he was seeing things left and right!

he even spotted some big horn sheep in big thompson canyon on our way in.

our first stop was over at bear lake.

we hiked on over to alberta falls.

we were a little nervous after we started because of how steep

it was going down at the start.

it was well worth the hike.

it was beautiful!

the pictures definitely dont do it justice!

the hike back really wasnt too bad- i think we really just 

freaked ourselves out knowing how steep it was.

we then walked around bear lake.

which was another gorgeous site.

every angle around that lake you have a unique new view.

once we got back to the parking lot eric spotted a six point across 

the street... then they just kept coming!

we were pretty excited to see elk that quick since

we have never really seen animals over on that side of the park.

about that time of day we were ready for lunch

so we headed over to hidden valley to have a little picnic.

while we were there a bunch of people started gathering over

across the other side of the parking lot.

so we headed over to see what that was all about and saw this nice six point!

some people are seriously nuts. 

they were like less then 10 feet away from him...

with their kids being loud and running all around him.

we enjoyed the rest of our picnic watching the blue birds

and chipmunks. 

madyn LOVED the chipmunks and thought they were really funny.

after that she fell fast asleep in the car while we went over trail ridge road.

coming down into grand lake we kept running into herds of elk.

we got to hear the cows chirp- which was pretty cool too.

eric even spotted us a moose!

it was pretty funny because just behind him was a fly fisher...

which im pretty sure he was obvious too.

also can i just say- how stinking cute are those babies!

my ovaries were aching that is for sure!!!

on the way back over trail ridge. the elk were starting to move back up.

so we got a better view of them then before.

we even got to hear the bull bugle- which was pretty awesome!

we finished our trip off having dinner at cafe rio in fort collins.

it was a long day and we were all exhausted by the time we made it back home.

but it was well worth the trip!