My Crazy Hailey

I love this little girl. It has been so much fun being alone with her while her sisters are at school. She has such a fun personality as you can see in this video of her. Hopefully you can view it.

She loves to take pictures with my camera and pose for the camera.

My grandma sent this chair and the baby cradle to the girls. The cradle is about 65 years old and the chair was made by Haileys Great Great Grandma and was painted by her Great Grandma. It is very special to the girls and to me.

I told Hailey that she gets to see Santa tomorrow at our ward Christmas Party and I asked her what she is going to say to Santa. She said, "I will say Trick or Treat." I think she is kinda confused. :)

I asked her how she wanted her hair today. She said she wanted it in a Peanut. (She meant a bun.)

She loves to play with her dollies and is such a great mother to them all. Usually wherever she goes she has a dolly in tow.

I am so thankful for such a fun and precious daughter.

My has she ever grown!

Traditions

(Thanks to my sister, Tricia, I now have pictures to go with some of my family traditions. I have to laugh at them. I look SOOOOOO grumpy in one of them. Sorry mom and dad. I must not have been any fun).

I think that it is just that time of year that I am constantly thinking about traditions. They are a very special part of my life. Christmas would not be the same if I did not do those special traditions that I was brought up with. Here are some of my favorite family traditions that we have done either as a married family or when I or Mitchell were growing up.

1. On Easter we would decorate Easter Eggs and go to a park and roll the eggs down a hill. Whomever still had an egg in tack would go back up the hill and roll it again until it broke or until everyone else was out. I really am not sure where this tradition came from but I truly enjoy it. I remember years ago when I went with my brothers and sisters to a park and I swear someone, I think it was my brother Jared, had a hard boiled egg that was covered in super glue or something. When everyone had broke their egg he decided to throw it against a tree to make it break and it just bounced right back. It was so funny to see him throw it really far to see it constantly come back unbroken. My aunt Kathy and their family do the same thing with their families. They invited Mitchell and I to go one year and that was a lot of fun. I have great memories of doing this.

2. We took Mitchell's tradition for Easter in our home. He would wake up Easter morning to a Easter basket. I would wake up to find hidden Easter Eggs all over the home and you had to search for the eggs with your name on them. I thought it would be fun to make Easter simple so we chose an Easter basket. They look forward to that basket every year. We really try to make Easter Christ centered and this really helps. The girls always get a special Easter dress. Here are the girls this last year in their Easter Dresses.


3. Thanksgiving has always been about Family. When I was young I remember making trips to Utah so we could be together as an extended family for Thanksgiving. My Grandma Darley would make some wonderful rolls (if you were able to get rolls that were not burnt. Ha Ha) The other side of my family, the Adamsons, would get together and there would be 60 people in one house. I have great memories of being at an Aunts house or my grandmas home with an ultimate feast to choose upon. If we had to stay at home for Thanksgiving that was wonderful also. My mom always made it a wonderful meal and great company. Every now and them we would dress up as Pilgrims and eat all dressed up. Someone was in charge of the name tags, another was in charge of the candy turkeys (my brother had the younger kids make the turkeys this year at his home. I should have taken a picture of that) someone else set the table. It was definately a family effort. That night we would go to a movie as a family and the next morning always meant shopping with Mom (if you were the lucky one to go. I remember not being able to go a couple of years). I have made my own Thanksgiving traditions with my small family that I hold dear and love.

Here are some pictures of my parents Thanksgiving this year with my brother Mark and his wife Lilly.



4. I wish that I could find pictures of these traditions. On Christmas Eve we always read the story of Christs Birth and dress up in costumes to play it out. I believe that all of my children at one time or another have either been baby Jesus, an angel, Mary or a wise man. Whoever has the baby at the time gets to be Mary and Joseph and the baby is always Baby Jesus. As the story is read and it comes time for the wisemen to give their gifts they brought in our "spiritual gift" for that year. It was either a cd with church songs, a book, a piece of jewlery or something to make us remember what Christmas is all about. This will always be a tradition that I will carry with me through my married life.

My sister Allyson and my brother Adam. Christmas 1992

My parents. Christmas 1992

My brother Jared being the narrator. He is wearing my moms robe. Ha Ha. Cute picture. Christmas 1992
Another fun memory of growing up was the "Train". You would line up in the hallway youngest to oldest and make a train sound then walk into the living room and see what Santa brought you. There was always a gift unwrapped from Santa in that room which was the long awaited gift.

The LINE to go out to see what presents we have.

There always has to be a "party pooper" and I guess it was me this year in 1992. Wow, I can put on a face.

Sometimes that gift would be hidden somewhere in the house. After all of the presents were opened my dad would say something like, "did you hear the patter of reindeer in the garage" and you would run in there and find your bike. Or did you hear something in your room last night and you would run into the room and look under your bed and find your gift. I did this for my girls two years ago. It was a lot of fun.

Lindsay just found one of her gifts under my messy bed.

Growing up every now and then we would find a kiss on our cheek from Rudolph with red lipstick. My girls get s special letter from Santa every year telling them how good they were during the year. They look forward to their special letter from Santa.

A new Christmas tradition that I am going to start this year is one that I have tried to do for a couple of years now. My Young Womens leader one year for Christmas gave me a book with a story in it. You read one story a day before Christmas. I went to a church store, Deseret Book, and found a book that will be the start of new traditions in my family. I am really excited for December 1st to come so that I can start reading them to my girls. It will help us to have a Christ-centered Holiday this year.

It seems like we would always do the 12 days of Christmas for a special family in need or for our ward missionaries. It was fun to run and place the little gift on the recipricants doorstep and then run. This is always a fun way of celebrating the Christmas season by helping other people in need. My Grandma Adamson one year had like 3 people do the 12 days of Christmas for her. She loved every bit of it. She told me she did not want to hide and see if she could find out who was leaving her special gifts. She wanted to make it fun for the families. On Christmas the family would always come to her doorstep and let her know who they were. When I was young someone did the 12 days of Christmas for our family and they never let us know who they were. I remember finding a bike on our doorstep that year from this family. We had our suspicions as to who it was, but what a wonderful way to teach your children the spirit of giving and not receiving.

I hope that I can share these wonderful traditions with my children and teach them the true meaning of Christmas this year.

"Christmas is more than trees and twinkling lights, more than toys and gifts and baubles of a hundred varieties. It is love. It is the love of the Son of God for all mankind. It reaches out beyond our power to comprehend. It is magnificent and beautiful." ("A Season for Gratitude," Ensign, Dec. 1997, 2)

The Day after Thanksgiving Sales

Thursday morning I was up at 2:30 and could not go back to sleep. I decided that I would brave the cold and brave the crazy shopping day and go to Target. When I got there at 4:30 there were about 50 people in front of me. I thought, wow, this is great I might be able to get the camera and the GPS system. I talked with the people in the line for an hour and a half. They were good company. The store opened at 6 and by about 5:45 there were 300 people in line behind me.

Soon thereafter the lady right behind me noticed that a line was forming from the other side of the doors to the other side of the building. This meant that they were forming ANOTHER LINE! We could not believe it. There were no target employees outside monitoring what was happening and people in the line were getting mad since we were waiting there in the freezing cold for an hour and a half. Right before the doors opened we also noticed people hiding behind cars by the front door. We knew that if we were going to get anything we had to run.

I had to get a game plan in my mind. I would not grab a shopping cart, I would just RUN to the electronics department grab my camera and run to get the GPS system. When the doors opened there were at least 150 people in front of me (that is 100 more than who waited in the cold for hours!) I ran through (People were actually nice and I did not get pushed or anything like that) and found the electronics department. It took me a good 3 minutes to find where they hid the cameras. I finally found it and ran to get the GPS system. A lady was standing near the stand and was telling people that the store did not stock any of the on sale GPS systems. I thought that surely that was not fair that they did not tell anyone in the line that they did not have any.

I went lollygagging around to find some of the fun deals and by the time I went to check out the line wrapped around the building through many aisles. It was amazing! I did not think to grab my stuff and run to the check out. While in the LONG line I was able to grab some things that people "dumped" on the ends of the aisles since they did not want to wait in the long line. I was in line for about 45 minutes.

It was an experience that I will never do again (yeah right I may be there next year also. I got my camera that I wanted and so now I am happy.)

Yesterday was the BYU/University of Utah football game. We had fun getting pizza and treats and watching the game. It was a really fun game to watch. I have to laugh at this picture of Mitchell. He is saying NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, I believe the ball was intercepted or dropped.

On Friday night I took the girls to see the play "The Grinch". A girl in our Young Womens was in it and I was excited to surprise the girls. When they realized what we were doing they were really excited. It was put on by a dance company so the actors did not speak, they danced. I would compare it to the Nutcracker. It was so cute.

It has been a fun 4 day weekend. It has been fun having Mitchell at home with us.

Thanksgiving 2007

We had such a fun time at my brother, Jared's, house. Danielle, his wife, cooked a great meal! I need her recipe for the jello salad that she made. It was wonderful. My sister, Heather, and her family also came along with a friend of Jared and Danielle's and the missionaries. It was a lot of fun getting to know them.

While I was helping to get dinner prepared I looked out the window and found this.....

The poor thing was stuck. (This is actually not the time I was speaking of. I did not pick up my camera to take a picture then go and save her.) She was screaming and no one could hear her since the outside door was shut. The poor thing. She finally learned how to get up that last step.

Lindsay had a fun time picking up and playing in the leaves. Jared has a huge backyard with many fun things for the kids to do.

I had to snap a photo of my nephew. He is just too cute. He is Hailey's best buddy.

Mitchell looks like a PRO! This is Jared's daughter, Jade, my niece. CUTE CUTE!

I told you she was cute.

Mitchell is contemplating as to whether or not he will eat some more.

After eating we played a game of American Idol. You actually sing into the microphone a song (like karaoke) and Simon, Paula and Randy judge you. It was a lot of fun. This is my niece, Rachel singing her heart out.

We had a wonderful time. It is always so fun to spend Thanksgiving with those that I love. Hopefully in the near future we will be able to go home to California or to Utah for Thanksgiving.

Once we got home she was so tired that she plopped down in the doorway and went to sleep. (It must have been all of the turkey.)

Some Things that I am Loving

I love my new Chore Board that I made at an Enrichment Activity with our church. We started it last night and I was amazed at how excited the girls were about it. Last night and this morning went so smooth. Once their main chores are complete they get to turn over their card and if a bee is displayed on the card then they have completed that task. Once they have completed their morning routine, homework, chore, and extra chore (if they have one that day) then they get to earn extra money or earn free time on the computer or on the playstation. They are really excited and that makes me really excited. I am LOVING this.
I am LOVING my Mondays. I have a friend that I swap babysitting with. She watches Hailey on Mondays and I watch her son on Tuesdays while she works in her daughters classroom. Yesterday I went shopping and ate out all by myself but it was heavenly!

I am LOVING this time of year. I am really excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I am LOVING my new blender. When Mitchell and I were first married we both worked at Zuka Juice (Now Jamba Juice) together. I know how to make the smoothies that are pretty close to Jamba's. It is my new favorite breakfast item.

I am LOVING my hard working husband. He has always been a really hard worker. There are times that I wish that he had a "normal" job where he has to come home at like 5 since the business closed for the day. In our married life (almost 10 years) he has never had a "normal job". That is okay though, he is living his dream of being self employeed and that has different benifits.

I am LOVING my children. Each one of them brings such a special part into our family. They are all so unique. Lindsay is so helpful. She loves to help me clean the house. She is always cleaning her room before she is asked. Ashley is such a great student and friend. She is a great helper with folding laundry and helping with her younger sister. She does "baby school" with Hailey and teaches her shapes, letters, numbers, gymnastics and even yoga (not sure where she learned it but she does a great job). Hailey is such a ball of energy. She says some pretty crazy and silly things. She has always been a girl of strange faces that makes us laugh. I am so thankful for such wonderful daughters. I would not want it any other way.

I am LOVING this blog. I love that I can keep in touch with friends that I would normally know their day to day happenings. I love that I can keep in touch with my sister also. I check her blog everyday to see if she has updated it yet. (I guess I need a hobby).

I am LOVING that I am losing weight. I feel so good about myself lately. It is nice to be able to set a goal and accomplish it.

3 Year Old + Scissors = Trip to the Salon

Hailey's hair is gorgeous. It is long, curly and beautiful. She loves combing her hair and doing strange styles with it. Her new thing is getting her hair curled into ringlets. She absolutely loves it and looks pretty cute also. Yesterday she found scissors that I left out and she pretended that it was a curling iron and cut her hair. It was an accident but still how do you repair a chunk of hair from the front.

I ran her to Great Clips to see if they could fix it. Here is a picture that I took of her being a big girl in the chair.

If you can see one side is shorter than the other. She was able to "blend it in" somewhat. I will have her hair in clips for the next while.

I did tell them to stop being so nice to her because she was really loving the treatment. I did not want to end up there again under the same circumstances. She got a red balloon with a pink string (just what she asked for) and a "I am a Star" sticker. She was also able to play with toys while we were waiting and she got a lot of compliments from the people in the salon.

FINALLY!

I am very excited to report that I have finally lost one pant size and two skirt sizes. HORRAY! I thought this day would never come. I believe it is just the way that I am losing my weight. I am very excited. After 9 weeks of exercising it has finally paid off.

My Brother the Missionary

My youngest brother is on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Lisbon, Portugal. He will hit his one year mark in January. Wednesdays are a very awaited day for me so that I can read his letter to the family that he will email about his weeks happenings. Today I got this picture of him with his district. He is the one wearing the socks that stand out. :)

J.R.R. Tolkien, in The Fellowship of the Rings "The road must be trod,but it will be very hard. And neither strength nor wisdom will carry us farupon it. This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as thestrong. Yet it is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world:Small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great areelsewhere."

Picture Contest

My friend put a picture that she took in a contest and I thought that I would also give it a try. Please click on this link and vote for my picture if you like it.

http://www.picture.com/voteforme/photovote1.asp?PID=2445057

In the Christmas Spirit

For some reason I am in the Christmas mood this morning. I have been singing with my daughter, Lindsay, some of my favorite Christmas songs. December is my favorite time of year. It happens to be the month of my birthday and we also get to Celebrate the birth or our Savior Jesus Christ. I know that it is November, but I am just in a Christmas singing mood.

When I was younger I would sit down at the piano and sing songs with my sister, Tricia, while she played the piano. She has such a great and wonderful talent of playing. I LOVE the sound of piano music. I have many wonderful memories of us singing for hours on end. It was fun to be able to do that with my own daughter. I wish that I listened and practiced more during all of those years of piano practice.

Flashback Friday (I guess it is Saturday)

I found some fun pictures while I was looking through past emails. Just thought I should share them.

This picture is of Mitchell and my Brother in Law, Paul on a flight around Portland. I believe this was Pauls first time flying with Mitchell. I am so happy when other people choose to fly with him since it terrifies me.

This is Lindsay's first day of Kindergarten. My has she ever grown.

Lindsay was a flower girl at my brother in laws wedding. She looked so beautiful and did a great job going down the aisle. We had to take a moment and get a picture. It was a beautiful place. Hailey was only a month old.

Christmas 2004 at Grandma's house.

This is my long time friend. I was able to fly to Oakland so that I could see her get married. It was a beautiful wedding.

Do You Remember These?

I went to the store today and found these wax lips for $0.25. I remember having these when I was young. They were always so fun. Hailey has had a fun time with them. I guess I need to teach her how to put her lips on correctly though. :)

I also got one for Lindsay and Ashley. Ashley says that they taste bad but she is saving it for show and tell on Monday.

Weight Watchers

My mom has been going to weight watchers since July. She has lost 10 lbs. She bought me a weight watchers calculator so that I can check how many points I can eat during the day. I started this yesterday. She gave me a checklist that you write down everything you eat and drink. You have to check off that you have 6 cups of water a day, 5 fruits and veggies, 2 milks and 2 oils a day. The 6 cups of water was pretty hard since I do not normally drink that much. I was in the bathroom all day! My mom says that it gets better.

I am really excited about this new way of eating. I was pretty hungary yesterday but nothing too drastic. I savored my "points". I saw so many times that I wanted to pick up a piece of Halloween candy but then I realized that one piece is 3 points!!! That is the same as a piece of meat! No way am I going to waste my points on a piece of candy then.

Today has been 8 weeks since I have worked out 5 days a week. Since I got rid of my scale I am not sure how much weight I have lost but at last check it was 3 lbs. I do know that if I do not lose any weight at least I am eating better than I have in a long time and I actually like it. This drinking water thing will take some getting used to. We will see how this new way of eating goes. So far I really like it.

Conversation with Hailey

I was in the other room and did not know what Hailey was doing so I said,

Me: "Hailey, what are you doing?"

Hailey: "I am riding a horsey."

Me: "You do not have a horsey, what are you riding (panic is setting in since I knew it had to be either our cat or our dog.)"

Hailey: Long pause "Umm Smokey" (This is our cat)

I ran into the room to find she named her dolly smokey and was pretending it was a horsey.

Me: Sigh of relief.

Daylight Savings Time

I really like the daylight savings time in the fall. It is nice when it gets darker earlier in the day. I also love it when I have that extra hour to sleep. I get so excited when I can sleep in.

Well, it is not all that I thought that it would be. Yeah, the kids went to sleep at what they think is their normal time, but they wake up at what they think is their normal time also. Hailey was up at 5:45 on Sunday. I tried everything to get her to go back to bed, but she was just not tired. She has an internal clock set and that is when she wakes up. I guess that I will not trick my kids anymore and make them go to bed at 7 since I would rather have that extra hour to sleep in the morning.