Summer trip to the Strawberry cabin

We didn't have any summer vacation get-away plans, so when someone mentioned heading up to the cabin, I was all over that!  I wanted to go for a loooong trip and that's exactly what we did!  We went from a Friday to Friday, which was the longest we've ever stayed!  Matt and I drove up separately since he had to go home Sunday morning to be back for meetings.  We brought Andrew and Spencer with us for the weekend.

The kids, especially Brooklyn and Emily, loved being able to help Uncle John (Carroll) milk his goats.  I know I've said this a thousand times, but Brooklyn could LIVE on a farm!!  The girl loooooves animals.

Sweet Preston face, still clean at this point.

 Boy cousins at the cabin ~ Adam, Josh, Spencer, Gavin, Blake, Andrew and Preston 

Milo set up this awesome swing and here's Matt taking Hayden (strapped to him in the Bjorn) for a little ride

Church in the Pine Ward is always interesting.  There was some political views shared in Sunday School, then Hayden felt the need to keep things exciting by having a blowout up the front.  Of course I had just removed the extra outfit from the diaper bag so she sported the toga look for the rest of the block.

Jen put some tape on Hayden's nose and it was hilarious watching her try to get it off!

On our way back from Payson on Monday, Jen saw this little guy in the road!  The kids loved having a cabin pet and named it Indi, short for Indiana Jones.  Josh & Em ended up taking it home with them.

To add to the animal excitement, the kids then found this little snake and captured it.  Once it was put in a different container, we watched it escape back into the wild.

More fun on the swing.  These two spent a LOT of time here!

 Josh and Blakester

This was too cute not to catch -- Hayden just scootched her way right over to join the boys playing a game on someone's phone!

 Grandma and Hayden

 Headed out for a walk

 Grandma taking Grandpa for a spin down the road

 Girly girls!

 Me & the babe

 Gavin cautiously feeds the horse a carrot

 Brooklyn feeds the horse an apple

 Aunt Diana helps Blake with an apple

 Aunt Laura "helping" Preston have a turn.  This was so funny how he just has his hand on her arm!

 Cute cousins!

 Cooling off with otter pops

Getting started young on playing cards!

 Hayden and her baby-buddy, Emersen (Stephanie Skinner McKay), who is 3 months older

 Blake and Josh were really into playing games this trip!  It was fun to get them started in on the easier card games that the LeBarons play.

The last night, I made sugar cookies for the kids to decorate

Hayden and Grandpa having a "moment"

My favorite part of the cabin.  There is always someone up for playing a game!  (hand & foot here)

So glad these two have each other!  Brooklyn lost her top left eye tooth while we were at the cabin so her and Emily had matching smiles!

One last swing....

Before heading home~

Hayden at 7 months

Sometimes I'm still pinching myself that I have another sweet girl!   Every day, I'm in awe at what a beautiful baby she is.

 I bought this headband to match the dress but it's too big (a first!) and kinda made her look ridiculous.  She doesn't really like wearing headbands and tries to intercept me as I put one on her noggin.

 Just after she turned 6 months old, we tried rice cereal for the first time.  Didn't go over real well, as you can see.  She was offended every time Matt stuck the spoon in her mouth.  Preston said, "She just wants her milkies."

I'm still not very consistent with feeding her solids because it's just ONE more thing to stick into the day!  It would be so much easier if I could just nurse her forever!  She did like oatmeal cereal more than rice and so far she's tried butternut squash and pears, both of which she gobbled right up!

I put together the exersaucer and after her siblings left it alone for two seconds, she got to try it out.  She likes it for a little while, but it's not her favorite.

Hayden is a MOVER!!!  Army crawling is her preferred method of getting around these days.  Gone are the days where I can just set her down and know she'll be safe.  She goes after cords, Legos and little specks on the carpet.  I've already had to dig stuff out of her mouth after a few gagging episodes!

She is such a happy baby, most of the time!

 

She's finally sitting up with some stability, although she sticks her legs straight out!

For a couple weeks, I was wavering back and forth on whether to take her in to the pediatrician's office because she had been rubbing/pulling at her ears and popping on and off while nursing, which made me think she might have an ear infection.  I always hesitate because I hate paying for them to tell me nothing is wrong.  Right before we left for the cabin, I took her in anyway because I didn't want to be dealing with a miserable baby if she did have an ear infection.  Nope, her ears were clear (of COURSE!!) but her four top teeth were completely bulging, which was probably the cause of her discomfort.  I guess the peace of mind was worth the trip to the doctor.

I think that about wraps it up for this month.  I'm sad that we're already on the downward slide to her 1st birthday!

**Apparently I only took pictures of her while she was wearing purple this last month!