Santa's Visit

We had a ward Christmas party last Friday and Santa came to visit. We introduced him to Hayden and she snuggled right into his soft red coat. It was cute!!

Best Invention Ever-The Baby Swing

When we went up to Utah for Thanksgiving Hayden found something that she really loved. She realized that is was very comfortable to take three hour naps in a baby swing. So being the good parents that we are we packed it up and took it home for her. The only problem is it belongs to my sister-in-law. Now we are know as the "Baby Swing Stealers." Well Hayden started to feel a little guilty (but not guilty enough to give it back) and wanted to thank Tiffany and let her know how much fun she has swinging in it.

p.s. Hayden is taking very good care of it!

Food Network Challenge

My new favorite show is the Food Network Challenge. It is the coolest show!! It a competition between four or five pastry chefs. They have to create a specific type of food(usually cake ) in six hours with a chance to win $10,000. Some of the shows I have seen have been Birthday cakes, Halloween cakes, holiday cakes, and edible ornaments. Two upcoming shows are gingerbread houses and Edible mansions. The stuff they can do is incredible, some of the cakes you would never even guess were cakes. I love it!! The best thing about it is they show reruns at 3:00 in the morning, so when I am up with Hayden I can watch it...sometimes I am disappointed when she doesn't wake up until later.

Phoenix Zoo

Colin and if you look really close you can see one of the three animals we saw at the zoo
Colin and Hayden in front of the pond full of lily pads
Kelly and Hayden at the entrance of the zoo

Last night we went to the Phoenix zoo. During the holidays they have lights up and it supposed to be pretty cool. We got there and the place was packed so we thought it really must be cool. To say the least we were a little disappointed. They had the majority of the zoo closed off. We only got to see the zebras, an otter hiding in a tree stump and some flamingos. I figured if I was going to the zoo I was going to see real animals, not fake lit up animals. In their defense the lights were very pretty and it did make it feel a little more like Christmas. Also the part that Hayden was awake for she liked. She loves staring at lights, so I guess that made it worth it.

We are getting so excited for Christmas. We get to go to Blanding this year and our whole family will be there, so it should be a lot of fun. I love the holidays!!

Finally a good picture

Guess who she's smiling at...I'm glad someone thinks I'm funny!

Hayden cheering BYU after their win against Utah.

Thanksgiving

My poor child has no hope of ever having a decent picture taken of her!!
Hayden's blessing day
She is so advanced already holding her own bottle. She really will hold it whenever you put her hands up and she will keep drinking. It is so cute!!


We had a great Thanksgiving. We spent it in Utah with Colin's family. It was so nice to be back and to see all of our friends and family. We also were able to bless Hayden while we were up there. Everything turned out great. The only down side was I had to work Thursday and Friday (long story), but it was actually kind of fun because I got to see a lot of my old coworkers and the girls I worked with. Hayden did really well on the trip, we were a little nervous about taking her on the plane, but it didn't seem to bother her at all. Now we are back and home just waiting for Christmas so we can go to Blanding!!! I didn't take a lot of pictures while were up there and the ones I did get didn't turn out very well...I struggle as a photographer. I didn't get one good one of her in her blessing dress :(

I've been tagged

Isn't she so strong. If you cant tell she is holding up her head.
Chubby cheeks!!

Hayden smiling!!! I was so mad it turned out blurry. I really am the worlds worst photographer.


So a couple of weeks ago I was tagged, which means I have to tell six "interesting" things about me. This is a very hard thing to do, but I will attempt it.

1. I have an obsession with getting rid of things. I used to have a really hard time throwing things away because I always thought as soon as I threw it away I would need it. I am over that now and love the feeling of getting rid of something. My favorite thing to get rid of is food!!! I love using up the last of something and being able to throw it away. I love when my fridge and cupboards are almost empty!! Colin gets mad at me because if we have left overs, I will throw them away before he is done eating them. Once while I was doing the dishes he got some dip out of the refrigerator and put it on the counter. He turned around to get some chips and when he turned back around I was dumping it down the sink. (I thought he was giving it to me because it was old). The rule in our house is if I think it is time to throw something out I have to wait at least two days and then I can throw it away.

2. I, like my sister Shelly love oatmeal. I haven't always liked it. I actually just learned how to make it. I always had Colin make it for me. I have eaten oatmeal for about three weeks straight now and I am not one bit sick of it. I love it!! I put brown sugar and raisins in it...it is very tasty.

3. I love living in Utah!!! I have now tried Arizona and Texas and they just don't compete with Utah. I love the people there, being surrounded by LDS people, feeling safe, the mountains, the cool air, the green soft grass, the parks, seeing a church every block, and having family and friends close. I can't wait to move back!!!

4. I hate talking on the phone. I think it is one of the worst things to do. No offense to anyone. If I do talk to you it is because I want to at the time and I am not miserable while I am talking to you. I do love email though and this blog thing. I check everyones blogs like five times a day and am so disappointed every time there isn't anything new posted. I can always count on Angela and Amelia to update theirs quite often.

5. I am finally starting to enjoy cooking. Making dinner and cleaning is such a good break from what I do all day which basically is holding Hayden. Not that I don't love holding her, but it is so nice when Colin gets home and takes her and I can make dinner and clean the house. It is so fun!!!

6. I'm pretty sure I am married to best man in the world. I honestly think he is perfect. I could not have found a better man to marry. He is so thoughtful and so patient with me...sometimes I can be a little hard to handle!!:) He is such a good dad and loves to be with Hayden. We are very lucky to have him!!

Now I guess I am supposed to tag someone. I tag Audrey and Tiffany. Tiffany you need to post more on your blog, especially more pictures of Gavin!

More Pics

All dressed up for Granny Jo and Grandpa. She was very hungry during this picture.
Doesn't she always look so pleasant
So sweet!!! The first few times we took her in the car seat she screamed almost the whole time. We figured out if we tuck her in real tight, with her arms down she actually quite enjoys it. I still can't figure out how to make her like stroller rides though. My walks last about three minutes before she starts screaming. Just FYI we have been reading a book "The Happiest Baby on the Block" It has saved our lives. It has a lot of info, but the main thing says to swaddle your baby because it makes them feel like they are still in the womb. It seriously works!! Hayden basically sleeps through the night, only waking up once to be fed. If her arms get loose she will cry, but if you just tuck them back in she will fall back to sleep. Maybe everybody has already read this book, but if you haven't I suggest you do. It also shows you how to swaddle your baby. It can be a very frustrating process if you dont do it right. We call Hayden Houdini, because just when you think you have done the best wrap she starts grunting and twisting her body and the next thing you know her little arms are free and her hands are digging into her face.
Grandpa Lyman and Hayden. He is very proud of her. He makes me and Colin feel so good...like we just have the best, cutest baby ever!! It was fun to have him and my Mom here for a couple of days.

Life with Hayden

Grandma Leah's visit.
Granny Jo's visit Our little family
Hayden on Halloween. She was so excited!!


So this is my third attempt to post something on our blog. I haven't been able to finish one, but I am going to try to finish this one today. The past 2 1/2 weeks have been pretty crazy. My mom was hear helping us for about a week, then I had friend stay with us for a few days, then Colin's mom was here until last night. It has been so nice to have so much help. We really appreciate all the phone calls, emails and visitors. It is so nice knowing that people are thinking about you.

Hayden is doing really good. We are starting to learn how to make her happy. For the most part she is a really good baby. She does really well in the evening and through the night. She has a bit of hard time during the day, unless she is being held constantly. Her latest accomplishment is smiling. A few days ago she smiled at Colin and the next day she smiled at me. I don't know how coherent she is when she did it, but her eyes are open so we count it.

As for me and Colin, we are adjusting quite well to having a baby. It definatly isn't easy, but she is such a sweet baby...all the hard times are worth it. Colin has a really hard time going to work each day. He just wants to stay home and hold Hayden, he is such a good dad.

Well, I think I made it trough. Now I will just try to post some pictures.

Latest and Greatest

I love this picture, so I thought I would share with you all.

Our Little Hayden

The day we left the hospital

Before
After

Happy baby
Tummy time in the sun. She's a little Jaundice, so they told us to lay her in the sun. When we took her to see the pediatrician he said that is a myth, unless she is placed directly in the sun, it will do her no good. Just FYI


So here are some pictures finally. As little as Hayden does right now, she sure does take up a lot of time. Enjoy!!!

Our Weekend

Ava (aka Lewskie) actually enjoying the water
Beautiful Brooklyn
This was Ava's expression the whole morning

Brooklyn, Ava and their cousin Trey

This weekend I got a call from Sandi saying she, Brooklyn and Ava were in Chandler with her mom. Chandler is only about 20 minutes from where we live so I was very excited. We drove down there Saturday morning and watched the girls swim. They were so cute. Brooklyn didn't last too long in the pool though, because she got it in her head that we would think their hotel room was really cool and she wanted to show it to us. So the whole time she was asking her mom if they could stop swimming and go back to the hotel room. I bet about an hour after we left she was begging to go swimming again.
After we left them we went shopping at an outlet mall in Tempe...which was very nice. There were so many stores. We walked around a lot!!! Colin likes to take me places where I have to walk so maybe I will go into labor. He wants me to have the baby on the weekend so he doesn't have to use as many sick days. Everyone has the perfect scenario of when the baby should come. Up until last night I have been fine with her coming whenever she is ready, but I was so uncomfortable last night. I didn't go to sleep until 12:30 (if you know me, that is very late). These next two weeks could be very interesting!!!

One Year

Corney Posing...I know!
Aren't I just so cute...less than three weeks!
Not a very good pictures, much prettier in real life. That little book next to the flowers was my gift to Colin, it is a miniature scrapbook of our year.

Our one year anniversary was last Friday. I cant believe it has already been a year. I guess time flys when your having fun & pregnant. We thought and thought about what we were going to do to celebrate, but were just pretty limited due to my condition. Colin got off work early because he had too many hours for the week (I love his job) and brought me home red roses that were really pretty. We finally decided we would go to Tempe and ride the paddle boats (supposed to be really fun). We got there and the park was closed because they were setting up for some event. So it we went to plan B.

We drove down to the temple and walked around. That temple is really pretty and the grounds are really nice as well, but the area that it is in is a little bit sketchy...scary! While we were on the temple grounds we walked off the side walk into the trees because I wanted to see what kind of fruit was growing, while we wandering around in the trees Colin spotted a couple that is in our prenatal class so he yells "hey, you guys are in our in our class." It took them a while to recognize us because we were hidden, but as we made out way out they recognized us. We thought it was pretty funny... especially because the previous week we had suspicions that they might be LDS so after class we hid out and watched them walk to their car to see if they were from Utah. Now it was like we are hiding out in the bushes, waiting for them to come out of the temple.

That evening we went to Black Angus for dinner. We had a coupon, you got a four course meal for two and it only cost $30. We got so much food and it was all really good. We ate leftovers for the next two days.

Well that was our anniversary. It was a lot of fun. I am so grateful to be married to Colin, he is the best husband I could have ever hoped for.

We Will No Longer Be Mistaken For Smokers

Our very messing apartment. Just some of the laundry waiting to get done
There are a few weird things about this apartment. I am taking this picture from the front door. If you cant tell that is the tv in the living room and right through those double doors is our bedroom. We feel like we are living in a hotel!!
This is the other strange thing. This is our tiny kitchen with no room for a table and there is not a dining room area. We are still trying to figure out what to do about that.


Saturday we were able to move into our new place. We are so happy to be here and to be out of that other house. Not only was it stinky, it was too big and we just didn't feel comfortable in that area. Colin had his first "commute" to work this morning. I'm guessing it must have been pretty quick because when he got to work he text me and said it was the greatest commute ever, it almost made him cry!:)
A few guys from our ward helped us move in on Saturday and turns out one of them lives in our exact same building with his wife and brand new baby...I was so excited to hear that. By the way we went to church yesterday and I have had a change of heart. I think I am really going to like this ward.
After we moved in, the first thing we started to do was laundry. In the past two days we have done probably 20 loads. We are not even close to being done. We have about 30 more to go. We have to wash every item we own that can be washed to get the smell of smoke out. Hopefully by the time the baby comes and people start to visit us, the smell will be completely gone. By the way I have posted some pictures of the our apartment complex...I hope they make everyone want to come and visit us, especially when it is freezing in Utah. I also posted some of what the inside looks like right now...don't let these pictures scare you away!!!

I Need Help

Can any tell me how to make a cute header. I cant figure it out. Also lately I have been doing a lot of research on immunizations for babies and I had no idea how much controversy there was about it. I watched Oprah the other and Jenny McCarthy was on talking about her son with autism and how she believes it was caused by the vaccines he was given. There are many people out there that believe the same thing. Has anyone looked into this?

Tucson

This past Saturday we spent the day in Tucson. We had to go down there to pick up a bike for Colin's parents. It actually worked out really well because we have friends that live down there and they happened to only live about six miles from the where we got the bike. So we spent the day with Colin's friend Steve and his wife Callie. We went up to the mountain near Tucson and Barbecued hamburgers. It was a lot of fun and was so nice to get out the heat and the desert. It was about 30 degrees cooler up there.

Yesterday we went to our newest ward. It seems like a pretty good ward. A couple of funny things did happen to me. In relief society I was sitting by a lady and the first thing she said to me was how much she liked my dress. I thought that was very nice of her, but then she followed up the compliment with asking me if I made it. I didn't really know what to think of that.
After relief society a lady came up to me and asked me if I was having twins, she said she thought thats what she heard me say. I said no, I'm just having one. While walking away and laughing a little she said "just one big one huh?" I have never been complimented or offended so many times as I have while being pregnant.

Thats our weekend.

Beautiful Morning!

This morning I was able to get outside and go for a walk. Since we've been here its been to hot to go outside at any time unless you have too. This morning was different...there was actually a chill in the air. It felt so good, I decided to go for a walk. Now I am sad we have to move. We have the nicest little walking path right next to our house and about a block down there is a cute park. I will really miss it. Also, as I was walking into my house I heard a lady say good morning. Turns out she is in our ward and lives right across the street. It is so funny, before we were going to move I didn't like living here at all and now that we are for sure moving I start seeing all the good things. But to get out of the stinky house and be closer to Colin's work is defiantly worth it.

Weekend in Blanding

This weekend we went to Blanding to visit my family. The trip there was a bit long. We got in a little bit of construction on our way out of Phoenix and about 30 miles south of Flagstaff our car started getting really shaky & bumpy. We tried to tell ourselves it was just the road, but as we entered Flagstaff it got even worse, so we knew it was our car. We pulled over into a parking lot, looked for a long time and could not figure out what was wrong. Finally we saw that we had a huge bubble on our tire. Luckily we had a full size spare.... and Colin. He was able to fix it very fast, I went to the bathroom and when I got out he was putting all the tools away...what a
man! :) So we made it to Blanding in just under eight hours.

Saturday we went up on the mountain with my family and Sandi's family. It was very nice to get out of the heat and up into the mountains. We had a picnic and rode four wheelers. The reason I only have pictures of everyone sitting on their four wheelers is because the campground is as far as I made it. Sandi and I were not allowed to ride due to our "condition. "Kind of a bummer, but my mom was nice enough to stay with us so we had fun just relaxing and talking. Colin had a lot of fun on the four wheelers and said it was worth the 14 hour drive to be able to ride.

It was Brooklyns birthday yesterday. She turned 4. We missed out on the cake and opening of presents, but I did see the cake and yes Sandi it was very cute. It was a Barbie cake, I bet Brooklyn loved it.

Well we hope everyone had a great weekend!