My Honey!!

Today is Dave's 28th Birthday!! The big 2-8! I'm so happy to be married to him, he's such a loving, patient husband & father. He's my perfect partner & keeps me balanced out! Here are some things I love about Dave~
* He lets me put my cold feet on him in bed (they're always cold!)
* He gives great hugs!
* He doesn't take my harrasment - usually I end up getting squirted w/ water (I know it's an odd thing to love!)
* He supports me in anything I aspire or desire to do.
* He eats all my cooking (it's not always great) & tells me how good it was :)
* He appreciates my need for sweets wherever we go
* He is a great dad & the kids LOVE him!
* He plays games w/ me (since I love games!)
* He is an honest, hard-working man
* He loves his family
* He doesn't speak badly about people

These are just a few of the things that I love about Dave! I hope you have a WONDERFUL birthday honey!

A Celebration of Hailey

Well - today is all about Hailey! I know parents say it all the time, but I can't believe how time flies! I still remember bringing her home as a new baby... and it just seems like yesterday. Hailey has given me TEN amazing years of being a mother. Some of my favorite passing memories of Hay-bug... When she was just over 1, we would go for walks, and all she wanted was one leaf in each hand, and she would turn it around in all directions like she was analyzing every specific detail... it was amazing to me how a one year old could focus for such long periods of time on something so simple. Another not-so fun stage was her times of sticking beads up her nose... yes, I said beadS. We had three different visits to the insta-care to get them removed, and I think one other when I had to blow it out at home (EW! - it was a technique I learned at the first visit to the DR) ... needless to say, we had a few years of high restriction on beads.

Hailey has always been such a HAPPY girl! She is a great daughter, a great friend, so smart and dilligent w/ her schooling, she is SOOO musical - constantly trying to figure out songs on the piano - by ear, and she has a beautiful voice. She likes to joke around with people, and she is a great big sister. She is my #1 helper around the house, and I'm so blessed to have her special spirit in our home.

So - onto the celebration!

HAILEY"S TEN!!!

For Hailey's party, we did a scavenger hunt/ activity challenge. (Some items from their lists included... * Find a house with a brown banana and take a picture of one teammate taking a bite. * Take a picture of two teammates rolling down a hill. * Take a picture of all teammates in someone's bathroom. * Bring back a sock with a hole in it. * Bring back a AA battery. * Bring back something shiny) They had SUCH a blast!

The girls all decorated hats, and their hat color determined their team.

Here they are modeling their gorgeous looks!

... and jumping on the tramp

Hailey & Derek got to ride the bull :)

Derek chose to give Hailey bath colors for her birthday - they were so cute :)

Hailey enjoying some birthday cupcakes w/ her friends

I couldn't resist putting this video on - Derek enjoyed singing several renditions of Happy Birthday to Hailey today! He loves his sissy!

The past few days...

Well - it looks like blogger did a number on my picture arrangements... oh well.

Today we went to my sisters house to celebrate Hailey's birthday along w/ one of her cousins. Derek was SO excited to go to his Auntie Michie's house that he got there and just played hard... not paying attention to the fact that he hadn't gone pee in several hours.

So - here he is in Tinkerbell jammie's, that he borrowed from one of the cousins after he peed in his clothes. And - to top it off - he's wearing a pink pull up underneath because his underwear were soaked. He didn't seem to care that he was wearing girl pj's. :)

Here's Hailey & Amelia blowing out candles (10 for Hay & 4 for Milley) :)

This was from last Thursday, Hailey had a daddy/daughter date for activity days. Dave went as a hunter & hailey as a baby!

Park City

After a hectic week of life... I told Dave I needed to get out of town (for my mental well-being!!), so on Friday we headed up to Park City (sans kids -- except Jenna). We stayed at the Park City Peaks hotel. We had a nice time... we hit up Main street (isn't that a tradition up there?) and ate the YUMMIEST bbq I've had in a long time! I think it was called Bandits BBQ. Anyway - I had their pulled brisket sandwich with YUMMY yams on the side (which were de-lish!), and dave got his fill on all you can eat ribs. Anyway - it was so good.

After a nice long sleep (thanks for the 9 hours Jenna!) we got up, ate some breakfast & decided to take a more scenic drive home. So - we went over Guardsman's pass(loop?). It was so pretty, but sadly most of the leaves were LONG gone. By the time we came down to the mouth of big cottonwood canyon there were still some beautiful colors though.

This was at the top of the peak going around Guardsman's... it was WINDY!~!

Here's Dave on the opposite view...
ANd - YES, SNOW! Dave tried to get me w/ a snowball on the head when I used the timer on the camera, but the timer didn't work, so I got a snowball to the head for no good reason! Rats!
It was really nice to get out of town -- even just for a day. I'm already plotting our next trip up there... I really enjoy going up to Park City. We'll have to hit up the outlets next time though :)

Witches...

Amber & I decided to take the kids to Gardener Village today to see the witches... when we got there, there were TONS of people there for their "Wee Witches Weekend". So, after settling into the fields for a parking spot, we made our way to check out the witches, which were SUPER cute.

Here's Hailey - trying on one of their many witch hats

Witches & ghosts!! :)
I love the pumpkin displays they have all over... so darling!
Jenna was a real trooper during our outing ;)

Hailey, Derek & Cambrie w/ one of the "REAL" witches

quite the busty witch!! :0
Hailey & Derk w/ Matilda the witch

I love gardener village! It would have been a little more enjoyable w/ about a thousand fewer people, but I love checking out all their cute Halloween Decor!

Our past week

I've been a slacker the past week at posting the comings & goings... so I'm making up for it now.

Today was the first "real" snow of the year... that actually stuck. I'm pretty depressed about it personally, as Fall officially just arrived. Anyway, Derek woke up this morning & let Mandy outside and saw the snow and was "so (ex)cited for the snow to make a snowman". I must admit, the joy that comes from little children when the snow comes is rather precious. So - Dave went out and helped Derek build a snowman in the 2 inches of snow that were on our grass.

Derek decided to name his snowman "Meet the Robinsons" (can you tell which movie he has been watching lately??) - anyway, look at the happiness on that face with a 10 inch snowman! :)
Jenna & Ethan had some visiting time this week while Amber & I were working out.
I thought it would be a great idea to have them spoon... but then Jenna's arm started flailing around and kind of bumped Ethan... so the spooning was short lived :) But, very cute.
I thought this was a cute picture of Jenna - being held by her Mimi :)
This was our breakfast this morning - Oven (german) pancakes. This is, and has always been one of my VERY favorite breakfasts. I took the picture, because I never get such a great rise like this... it's HUGE! :)
Jenna's little gummy smiles MELT my heart! Look at the little spit bubbles in her mouth!

Derek & Hailey LOVE snuggling with their baby sissy!
We took the family over to the farmers market at Thanksgiving point last week, and Hailey got hooked up with a shoulder ride :)
More Jenna smiles :)


That's pretty much been our week - it's been a good one :)

random tidbits

I had just a couple funny things I wanted to share.... On saturday we were all laying around watching conference. Mandy kept jumping around on all the kid, so I yelled at her to get away. Then Mandy laid down on the pillows and blankets with Hailey & Derek... Derek just looked up at me and very seriously said "Mom, Mandy wants to watch conference too". He meant it.. :)

THen - last night for dinner, Hailey had asked all of us what job we would do if we could do anything in the world.... so we went around the table... Hailey said she wanted to be a candy maker (a girl after my own heart!), and Derek said he would be a King. Isn't that funny!

Anyway, this week at school the kids have all sorts of things they are dressing up for -- today was sports or athletic wear, so Hailey wore Dave's old football jersey - fun!! :) It was HUGE on her, but she had fun and looked darling :)

I did it!

I like to think that I'm a pretty decent baker (you know, cookies, cakes & the like), but one thing I've always stayed away from are breads & pastries. But - I got this new book that literally had a step by step (w/ pictures) of what to do, and I made my first successful batch of homemade cinnamon rolls! And - not only do they look okay, they actually taste really good!

I had to share my success :)

THe Biggest Loser

Okay, so I have to preface this by saying IF YOU HAVEN"T WATCHED THIS WEEKS EPISODE DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER... okay, now that that's out of the way...
Last year there was all the drama between the brothers (Mark & Jay), but it was a little emotional when Jay was getting sent home, and Mark was softening up (and crying ALL the time).... but last season doesn't even compare to last night's episode of Colleen & Jerry. I'll admit - I was totally crying when they were talking before the vote - isn't Jerry the best dad? I love the yellow team.... and I thought Jerry looked great after he went home. My new favorite is the Red team -- I'd like to see them take it. The Orange team bugs me.... :) What do you think?