At last.....

And now I present....the pumpkin patch. I have been waiting so long and we finally got to go a couple days ago and (drum roll please).... it was great! Perfect weather, excellent company, great choice of pumpkins...ahhhhhh....I love this time of year.HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Also, Hayden has decided to give real crawling a try, and I think she likes it:

Goodbye, dear 20's...

What does a beautiful morning combined with beautiful horses in the mountains of Utah equal? The best birthday present ever! For my birthday this year, Carl planned a horseback ride for me, as a surprise, and if you know me, you know I LOVE horses. Once upon a time I even took riding lessons on Friday mornings before school and didn't even care that I smelled like the sweet scent of manure/horse when I got to class. Of course, that was years and years and years ago so it had been a while since I had even been on a horse, but like they say, you never forget how to ride. However, it was Carl's first time ever on a horse. A boy from Kennewick,WA had never been on a horse, can you believe it? But it's true. Carl works at a place that uses horses for therapy and the trainer was kind enough to take us on a joy ride for fun, and fun it was. I loved it.

Surprise! we're going riding!


Me and my horse David. Did I mention that he was the tallest horse I had ever seen? The pictures don't do his height justice, but he was tall.




This is a great shot of the trail we went on. It was so beautiful. We did see a coyote, a ton of deer and some wild turkeys while we were there. It is also hunting season and we forgot our orange vests, but luckily we didn't get shot.


Heck yes that's me wearing a riding hat. If I fell, I had a long ways to go, so I wasn't taking any chances:)


What a great guy. I love that he really put some thought in this gift and made it something he knew I would love, and I did. Thank you, Carl!


We love this picture. The couple we went with were so cute and he was such a cowboy. It was awesome. This was where we stopped to rest.


Carl's dream, his wife playing video games and having fun doing it!


My two favorite people dressed up on my birthday. What a lucky girl I am!


SO here's to another wonderful year. Thank you Carl for taking such good care of me.
And thank you to everyone who sent their wishes this way. They are much appreciated!
Now to send us off is Hayden playing a little birthday diddy for me:

My ladybug

These were just too cute to pass up. This is her little lady bug hat that gma and gpa Owens got for her and she loved it.(thanks guys!) This is what we do at night. As you can see, Hayden still insists on crawling like an inch worm, but to each his own, right? Plus, she is super fast this way, I can barely keep up with her!




Hayden has decided that she can stand up now, and she pulls herself up on whatever she can get her hands on. In this case, the bathtub. I love her big, droopy diaper.



Hayden playing with her bunny...One of my new favorite things she does is whatever she has in her hands she swings and waves in the air making a very dramatic noise, and I love it.

Phoenix or bust!

We got to spend the last weekend in Phoenix with Carl's family for the blessing of our sweet little nephew, and sweet he is! It was so fun to watch Hayden play with her cousins, we just wish it could be more often. We had such a good time with everyone and even driving the 20 hours in one weekend wasn't so bad. Hayden wins the prize of the century with how well she did in the car traveling. I wish I had some gold stars because she would wear them for the rest of her life.

During the trip we visited Shnepf Farm. We enjoyed the frisbee catching dogs, train ride and petting zoo.

The weather was BEAUTIFUL. I know what you are thinking, Phoenix wasn't 100 million degrees? Nope, it was probably in the high 70's the whole time, so while everyone in Utah enjoyed the first snow, we enjoyed the sun.

We went to dinner at this cool restaurant with a great view of Arizona and enjoyed the live band and dancing. I wish we got pictures of the slide you can ride on your way to your table, but I didn't get any. What was I thinking?! But I made sure to get one of these two silly people....

Sunday was the reason for it all, we got to witness Ade's blessing, which was wonderful, and then it was kisses and hugs and off we went to drive back to cold Utah. On the way home we had to get a picture in front of the visitors center in Page, AZ/Lake Powell. After all, it was called "Carl Hayden Visitor Center" Why wouldn't we stop?!

We loved seeing the family(thanks for everything!) and wish everyone could have been there. Next stop, Elder Dave!! We look forward to seeing him in only a couple months!

Here are my randoms of Hayden...

We made it!

As an update on our little Hayden and her struggle into the teething world, I am proud to say we survived and all are doing well:) That was a rough week we had but for the past few days there has been a significant change in behavior and sleeping patterns. She has been such a big girl with going to sleep when she is supposed to and taking naps when she should. We are so grateful to have a happy baby again. I know it won't always be so easy and we will have stages that we have to push through and it might get tough, but the smiles and giggles make all those times worth it.

This last weekend was General Conference. I really do look forward to these meetings and any kind of spiritual uplifting I can get from them. They always remind me of the many blessings I have in my life and what is really important. I love my family and I love the gospel. I can't wait to read these talks next month when they come out.

Speaking of family, have I ever mentioned that I have the best husband? Well, I do. He is my best friend.
It's a great feeling to know I can be myself around someone and know he will love me for it.


Also, I have the funniest dog and an even sillier little girl. They definitely make my day a little more interesting. Who wants the toy more?

Today is my grandma Lily's birthday(my mom's mom). She is who we named Hayden Lily after. I don't remember much of her but I know she was a beautiful person and a loving woman. Happy Birthday!

Teething Sucks.

Our poor baby is getting her first tooth(maybe teeth)and it has not been very much fun. Not only does she have to deal with the pain of a little tooth piercing her little gum, but I also stopped nursing all in the same week, so double whammy for her. I will admit, I feel a little guilty for 50% of her crabbiness, but the other 50% is all mother nature. She does love her bottles though, and gets excited every time she sees us making one up, but I will miss those special moments with her. But I guess I won't have to deal with any chance of her biting me.....that can't be fun.

Now about those teeth...for the love....stop hurting my child! I know it must be painful for her, but hopefully it won't last much longer. These sleepless nights are just about killing me and Carl and my little girl needs her rest. Tonight was especially hard for us, there was just nothing else we could do for her. We gave her Tylenol, some baby orajel, lots of love, clean diaper, bottle..everything she would need, but in the end she just needed sleep, so we let her fall asleep on her own, kicking and screaming the whole way. She did it though, she fell asleep and it broke my heart, but it worked and the crying only lasted about 15 minutes, or at least that's what Carl said since my whole night seemed to be one big blur.

I'm so sad that these little babies have to deal with any pain at all, even if it is just a little tooth coming in. They are so sweet and innocent. I wish it didn't have to be like that. (Can you tell I've had an emotional night? Because I can.)

So here are some pictures to brighten your day. I attempted to get one of Hayden's new tooth, but it is kind of hard to get an 8 month old to sit still and flash her pearly whites, so I'll take what I can get!

You're probably thinking I made the whole thing up about her teething because you can't really see them in this picture, but I assure you, there is a tooth. If you have super vision you might be able to see it here. Good luck.

I love her eyes in this shot.


Cute nakey time(with a diaper, I learned my lesson the hard way)


Daddy daughter time


Sweet baby


P.S. We just realized that Ella is in one of the photos. Can you find her?