Fun Times

We have been pretty busy the last month or so. I cant complain though its all been fun stuff. So needless to say this post is going to be a tad bit long so just a warning.
About a month ago we went to the Oregan coast with Seths family. On the way there we decided to go to the Omsi in Portland. It was so cool. I would definately recommend it. If you haven't been there you should go. There was so much to see and so much to do and it was all pretty interesting and also very educational. We took a lot of pictures and had a ton of fun.

Here is Seth with the kiddos at the Omsi before we got started on the fun stuff.



We finally talked Haylee into touching the electricity ball so that her hair would stand up. It was so funny watching her hair stand up like that. I got a pretty good picture of her too. She was such a trooper. She even gave me a little pose.

Next we talked her into dressing up as a wild animal and climbing into a log on the ground. This was quite a bit easier to talk her into doing. She was pretty cute.

We found a little sand and water table that the kids could play in. They are supposed to learn how to build a dam and make a river and all that good stuff. Haylee loved this. We had a difficult time pulling her away from this one. I think she would have just stayed and played at this the entire time. Seth won't admit it but he had a good time too. I caught him playing in the sand with the other kids. He didn't want to leave either.

The dinasour section was really cool. They had lots of fun dinasour bones to look at. Haylee like this part too. She gave me a different pose at each dinasour.

I liked this picture because it shows how easy it would have been for this particular dinasour to eat Haylee.

We got a little astronaut picture that was pretty cute.

After Porland it was on to Seaside to stay in a really neat beach house with the fam. Seth wanted to hike to the top of tilamook head so he convinced his Dad and Sister to get up early and go hike it with him. I think they had a lot of fun. I was a little jealous. I would have loved to hike with them but I stayed to feed the baby.

We took a trip to the aquarium also. This is a picture of Haylee and I looking in at the seals.

They were so cute and would jump and do tricks. The kids even got to throw them little pieces of fish for them to eat. This was a big hit.

There was a lot of cool stuff to look at and even some stuff to touch.

We spent one day out at the beach. It was so beautiful, the kind of place you have to see to really appreciate just how pretty it is. And even though the weather did not totally cooperate with us we had fun anyway. Haylee immediately started building a sand castle. That is what I like to do at the beach too. We teamed up and built a pretty good one.

Kyle was a trooper. He was all smiles even though Mom had him in like 4 shirts and blankets on him to keep him warm. I think he even had a good time. I actually got creative and used the lawn chairs to build a little fort to keep the wind away. It worked pretty well.

Seth being Mr. adventure decided to play cliff hanger and climb the rocks (while wearing flip flops). I just tried not to look too often.

We even stuck our feet in the water a little bit. That water is pretty cold.

Try as I may I cannot find pants that will stay up on this girl. Her legs are so long that in order for her pants to be long enough they fall off. So once again we captured the bum shot.

After the coast, the kids and I flew out of Portland to make it to my little sisters wedding that weekend. It was so good to get to see my family and be there in the temple when my sister got married. She even let me do her hair and makeup. It was fun to have some sister time. At the reception Haylee and her cousin Aaron started dancing. This was too cute. Little kids dancing together gets me every time.

Here is a picture of Kyle with uncle Kevin. Two pretty handsome boys here.

I found out that nobody was going to decorate the car. I just couldn't have this so I ran to the store and got the stuff. Then I found the groomsmen and gave them the stuff and told them to go decorated it. I helped out a little bit. It was really fun and I think it turned out pretty cute too. We even had cans on the bumper.

I got to spend a little while in California with my family. That was really fun, and then we flew home. So all in all I think that the summer is off to a pretty fun start.

The Circus

A Couple of weeks ago the circus was in town. Haylee saw the tents and thought that it looked like fun. I had never been to a circus before so I kinda wanted to go also. I mean I have been to like circus circus in Las Vegas, but I am not sure that is the same thing. Anyway it was pretty neat. They had a lot of good acts. It was nice to do something like that as a family. They had two jumbo elephants that were giving everybody rides. Haylee didn't get to ride the elephant but I don't think she was too heartbroken, I dont know if she would have liked it much anyway.

Haylee talked her Dad into buying her one of those light sticks. She loved it, I think she pretty much has him wrapped around her little finger. I think that is the way it is supposed to be though. They went to get snacks and came back with a light stick, popcorn, and a slushy. She is one lucky little girl

They had a dog show act, and a show with pigs that was pretty neat. They pulled a baby pig out of like a mail box and put it in a stroller and had the mom pig get up on two legs and push the baby. I thought that was pretty cute. The only thing I was disappointed about was I wanted to see more acrabats. I like the people that walk on the tight rope and swing from bars and catch eachother, I think that stuff is cool. There was one guy that walked on this spinning wheel thing, kinda like a hampster, that was pretty neat.

I think we had a pretty good time, and now I can say that I have officially been to the circus. I like doing things like this as a family and wish that we could do more. I am hoping that this summer we will be able to go on a little camping trip. Of course we will probably practice sleeping outside in the tent in the backyard first just to see how the kids do and then go someplace fairly neerbye just incase.

A little catchin up to do!!

So the time has gotten away from me once again. It has been pretty crazy here the last few weeks. First Haylee got sick for two weeks with a cough and cold. Then Kyle got the cough and cold. Then he got an ear infection, after that he came down with a fever that turned into rosiola. He is feeling a lot better now thank goodness but of course now its my turn and I am sick. I feel like saying Ahhhh are we all ever going to be healthy at the same time? Oh well, so needless to say I have not gotten around to blogging. I wanted to put a few pics on here and catch up.

We had a great Easter this year and conference was great. I thought the weather could have been a little warmer but it wasn't too bad. Haylee had a good time having an easter egg hunt in our back yard. It was fun for us too because she is a little older now so we could actually hide the eggs a little bit instead of just lying them in plain sight.
I love this picture of her. Every now and then I get lucky and get a good picture of her that I need to frame because she is hard to take a picture of these days. I thinks it is too difficult to sit still for 30 seconds. But this one turned out great, I was happy too because I didn't get any spring pictures of the kids this year.

I am so proud of Haylee. Lately she has just had this desire to learn. She wants to learn her alphabet and her numbers and she wants to write them. I know I don't even have to force her. Most of the time she prefers to do it herself but she will come ask me when she needs help. She will come say "Mom how do you draw a W, and I'll show her and then she will go practice doing it herself. I did a little quiz on her the other day just to find out how much she knew. I went through the entire alphabet to see how many letters she could identify by sight. She knew all but six or seven I think. I wish I could take credit for this but she just loves to do it. I hope this means that she will love school and enjoy learning the whole way through school. She has also learned to write her name all by herself so she decided to write her name on her egg this year while we were dying easter eggs. So this is a picture of her writing her name on her egg.

Seth of course did a stick boy egg. I thought it was actually pretty cute. He at one point thought about starting a clothing line called stickboy athletic. I thought it was a great idea. He had this logo on sweat shirts, shirts and beanies. It was pretty cute. So I guess this is like Seths trade mark since he is so skinny.

Since Kyle is still too small to color eggs we decided to do one for him. He has kinda aquired a nick name. I know what kind of nick name can come from Kyle right. Well we have started calling him "Kyle Man." It just kinda stuck. So we did an egg for Kyle that said "Kyle Man." I think he liked it.

Haylee went crazy dying eggs. She did a ton of them. Its a good thing that she likes hard boiled eggs so much because we had quite a few colored eggs this year.

Sunday Morning the kids woke up to find the easter bunny had come and left them a basket. Haylee was really excited about hers. She got tinkerbell flip flops, a jump rope, a new sleeping beauty polly pocket, and lots of candy. I think she liked it but she looks a little sleepy still in this picture.

In Kyles easter basket, he got a new toy, a jar of baby food, and a stuffed bunny. I know it hardly seems fair. Its tough being a baby sometimes. I don't think he cared tough. We just kinda placed him by his basket so we could get a picture of him. I think at this age his basket is more because I think its fun, and I couldn't leave him out right?

We were playing pretty pretty princess the other day, which is one of Haylees favorate games and I got this picture. Kyle likes to play with all the necklaces and bracelets while we play. Haylee put the crown on him and I got a picture of my prince and my princess that I thought was pretty darn cute. Hey at least they play together, even if it is dress up right. Little brothers get dressed up sometimes when they had big sisters. Just ask my little brother.

They also play with boy toys. They were playing with Kyles basketball on the floor the other day. So this is a picture of our future basketball players.

Kyle has found a new friend I think. He loves to sit at the glass sliding door and bang on it and yell at the dog. Even when we let the dog get close to Kyle he doesn't seem to mind. It must be the boy in him. Haylee was always afraid of dogs. It seems like Kyle is ready to get down and wrestle with him. I'm sure they will be good friends when the kids get a little bigger.

Family Update!!

Well it feels like it has been forever since I have blogged, so I figured I should do an update and catch up on what we have been up to the last couple of months. Nothing too exciting but it seems like my kids are changing everyday so I have to write the silly little things down so I will always remember them. For example the other day we decided to go out to dinner. As we talked about where we might want to go Haylee chimed in and told us that she wanted to go to Eatza Pizza. Well this was all great except that both Seth and I wanted chinese food. Well we tried to convince Haylee that Chinese was better but she wouldnt have it. She knew what she wanted. Finally she said to us "thats fine you guys go get chinese but I am staying here, I am going to eatza pizza." We both were a little stunned that our 3 year old daughter had just said this. I looked at Seth and told him, "She is all yours when she is 16." I look forward to those days with mixed emotions. Sometimes I have to remind myself that she is only 3.

The other day I was trying to snap some pictures of them again since I hadn't gotten any good ones of the two of them and I actually think I got some good ones. But as I was taking them I got this one and I think it shows just a little bit of Haylees cute personality.

She and Kyle have really become good friends. I know that they will probably not always be the best of friends as they grow and fight, but a Mother can wish can't she. Kyle just loves his big sister, every time she comes around he lights up. She can always get him to smile or laugh and if he starts to cry and I am not around she tries to talk to him or find him a toy to play with and it just makes me smile. So I was able to get a couple of pretty good shots of them and these are some that I was pretty proud of.

Haylee is a good little Mommy and though she has her moments, sometimes I think it would be harder to have Kyle without Haylee. She is always willing to help. She is also really into making herself pretty. She loves to play dress up and is always getting into my makeup and putting it on when I put mine on. She sometimes can't go out unless she has made herself pretty. So she goes and puts on like 4 bracelets, 6 rings, and 5 necklaces then she insists on whering her black sunday shoes so she can be fancy. I just go with it, even though sometimes what she thinks is fancy is blue pants and a red shirt, I just say you know if anyone has a three year old girl they will totally understand and I don't fight it. She also is always asking me to do her hair like Cinderella, so I just put it up into a bun and that seems to work. She is a lot of fun.

And even though she is so girly and love to dress up. Seth and I both think she is going to totally be an athlete. She doesn't mind going out and playing in the dirt and getting good and dirty and she can throw a ball really well for a 3 year old. She wants to play soccer this summer so we are going to look into that, she also wants to do ballet though so I am not sure what to do. We will have to make a deal because I don't think she can do both. I guess its good because she is well rounded. But thats Haylee, she just loves everything.

Kyle is now 6 months old!! I can't believe that my little baby is growing up so fast. Sometimes I think this is the best time because he is very sociall and loves to talk and laugh and play but he isn't mobile yet. The whole game changes a little when they are able to get around. I am also dreading trying to baby proof my house. I look around and see so many things that I am going to have to change when he starts to get around. He is a pretty good baby and I count my lucky stars that I have had two pretty easy kids so far (knock on wood.)

He is the happiest baby also he is usually smiling or laughing at us and we love it. It just brings so much joy to your life, if I am having a bad day all I have to do is talk to Kyle and he chears me right up. He is also very snuggly. I think that he snuggles a lot more than Haylee did at this age and I love that too.We have started giving him a little rice cereal and he loves that stuff. He is going to be a pretty healthy eater. I think you can tell that by his weight. Also he finally started to roll around. He used to be able to roll onto his back but now he sometimes rolls across the room. I guess it wont be too long until he is mobile.

Well that is pretty much it for now. Nothing too exciting but we love it anyway. I love these two kids more than I can say and am thankful everyday for them. I can't believe that I was lucky enough to get to be there Mother. I love having a little family of my own and I love being a Mother.

Christmas 2009

This year we were able to go to California for Christmas and spend some time with my family. It was a blast, we hadn't been there for Christmas in a couple of years so it was really fun to get to spend some time there. My Grandma was there also and it was so good to get to spend Christmas with her this year. We had so much fun making goodies and decorating the house and going Christmas shopping.

On Christmas eve Haylee made some food for Santas reindeer so that they were sure to find us at Grandmas house. She had fun making it and then went outside and sprinkled it on Grandmas lawn so the reindeer would have something to eat. It was really cute.

My sister Angie and her family were also able to come for the holidays. It was so good to see them. They have a little boy who is almost two and a new little girl born in November. It was fun having her there because we both had our babies. My Mom said it was fun watching us. She said it looked like we were playing with dolls. Its funny because this is what we did when we were younger. We would each have our baby doll and we would stick in in our shirt to feed it and rock it to sleep. Now we have our real babies and it was fun. Kyle and Matilda are only three months apart so they will hopefully always be good friends.
I got the cutest picture of my Mom and Kyle. I thought it was so precious. Grandma has that special touch with the babies. I use a pacifier to put Kyle to sleep but Grandma doesn't need one she just rocked him and out he went. She was also able to get his crazy hair to lay down. I came home and gave it a try and it didn't turn out as good as her job. Again I guess she just has the touch. We also gave Kyle his first haircut together so that he would no longer have a mullet in the back. It turned out so cute. I thought it made him look older.

My family has a tradition that every year on Christmas eve we put on the Christmas play. We all dress up in robes and each play a part of the nativity. we have been doing this for years. We have all of them on tape and it is a blast going back and watching them all as we grow up. I think the first time we did it I was lik 4 years old so it has been a while. Now that we have some grandkids though we thought it would be fun to let them join in. This year Haylee played the angel. She did a great job too. She even had a line, she said "fear not, Jesus is born" to the shepards, then she flapped her wings really hard. It was the cutest thing ever. I think she had a great time playing the angel. I was a shepard and Seth was a wise man.

So kinda as a gag gift my older brother got underwear for My younger brother, My Dad, and Seth. They made sure that they all opened them together. It was really funny watching them open there underwear. Seths was spiderman, and Kevins was batman and Im not sure what my Dads was but it was pretty funny.

Haylee was so excited for Santa to come that it was difficult getting her to go to sleep. Seth and I had fun too getting everything set up. Santa gave her a doll house this year. She wanted an easy bake oven but we thought she was still a little bit young for that so she got some play dough that she can make hamburgers out of instead. She was pretty happy with what she got I think and had a good time opening her gifts. She also got a little computer that she can play games on. I like it because it helps her learn her numbers and letters. We also gave her a jewelry box. She liked playing with mine and told me for weeks that she wanted her own jewelry box. So Seth being the great Dad that he is went to Khols after thankgiving sale and stood in line for a couple hours to buy her a jewelry box that was on a killer sale. He said that some women standing in line next to him were oohing and ahhhhing over how cute he was buying a jewelry box for his daughter. He is a pretty goood Dad.

I think Haylee had a good Christmas this year and was pretty excited about what she got. Kyle got a couple of things also and Haylee was more than willing to help him open his gifts also. He just got some teethers and socks and a toy. He pretty much didn't know what was going on but it was fun anyway.

We had so much fun visiting but we had to say goodbye and head home.I flew down early with the kids and then Seth drove down about a week later. Then we all drove home last week. We found that it was a really good idea flying me and the kids down on our drive home. It was an adventure. Driving that far with two kids is tough. Kyle is nursing so we had to stop at least once every three hours for him to eat. We decided that it would be easiest on everybody if we split the trip into three days. This made it about 6-7 hours a day. The first day wasn't too bad except that Haylee threw up everywhere about 3 hours into the drive. So we stopped at a gas station and got her out to clean her up. I took her into the bathroom to clean her and the car seat while Seth cleaned out the car. It was so bad I just threw her jeans away. It wasn't worth cleaning them off to me. We stayed that night at my Grandmas near sacramento. We didn't get going early enough that morning and got caught in some snow. They ended up closing the road on us and we were sitting in traffic for about an hour while Kyle screamed in the back seat. We then had to call my parents to find us a hotel at the last minute before they were all booked. We got up the next morning with a little more than we had planned to go. It started okay but when we got to Portland things got bad once again. We got stuck in the worlds biggest traffic jam and sat in the car for over two hours. I think we figured we went about eight miles in those two hours. Haylee actually did surprisingly well during this, she sang the get out of the way song to the cars in front of us. I just got Kyle out of his seat since we weren't moving anyway and held him. Finally we got through that and about the last hour home we ran into some pretty thick fog. We made it about midnight that night though. I just told Seth that this was one of those experiences that you one day will look back on and just laugh. Not yet but maybe one day. It was an adventure life is full of them. This will be one of those, "remember the time" stories, you gotta have those right. I am just so thankful for the time I was able to have with my family this year for the holidays and grateful that we made it home safely, that is the most important thing. Hope everyone had a great Christmas this year.

Visiting Santa

We took Haylee to see Santa and she surprised us both with how easily she sat on his lap and talked to him. It seems like every year she gets just a little braver. The first year she was about six months old and she did NOT want to sit on his lap. She screamed so we figured ok maybe next year. So the next year we took her hoping for better results. It was even worse, if we got even close to where Santa was she started to cry. We didn't even try to put her on his lap. She was crying before we even got close. So When we took her last year we thought she would get it for sure. She did better but she wouldn't sit on his lap we kind of had to coax her and convince her it was o.k. This is a picture of Seth trying to convince Haylee that Santa is alright last year.

Finally we convinced her that it was ok to stand next to him. She didnt want to sit on his lap but we got close and compromised. She looked a little unsure the whole time though.

This is Haylee this year. She walked right up to Santa and got on his lap and had a long conversation with him. Afterward we asked her what Santa talked to her about and she said that he asked her if she was cleaning her room everyday. I thought "I like this Santa." He also asked her what she wanted for christmas and Haylee told him she wanted an easy bake oven. This is a little bit of a problem because I don't think that is what Santa is bringing Haylee for Christmas but I think she will be ok with that when she sees what Santa is bringing her.


They talked for awhile and even the people in line behind us commented on how good she was doing with Santa. After thinking for a little while I thought this makes sense. Haylee has become a little less shy and a little more social these days. Sometimes she comes with me to the Mothers lounge to feed Kyle at church and she will talk to all the women in there that she has never met. She will then tell me right in front of them that they are nice and that I should be friends with them. She also talks to people she has never met sometimes in the grocery store. So needless to say we have started talking to her about strangers and who we talk to and who we don't talk to. Santa is ok I think.

We then put Kyle up there so we could get a picture with them both seeing Santa. He did just fine. I don't think he is old enough to care. He kinda looked at him funny and that was it. So I thought that this was a pretty successful trip to see Santa. It got us all excited for Christmas.