Happy Easter and Birthday!

Well, Easter morning didn't exactly pan out as we planned... I think Hazel was teething. Waking her up only to wipe her face, put on tights, bloomers, a big poofy dress, shoes, and a bow didn't go over so well with her. I can't blame her though. We knew she wasn't feeling well because she usually is happy to have us hold her at church, but standing up with her didn't even keep her happy. Poor thing. We just ended up having to bring her home, give her Tylenol, and put her to bed. At least we were at church long enough to hear the 2 great talks about the meaning of Easter. That's the most important part anyway! Pictures had to be done later in the week. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Pay attention to the cute Easter bunny bow Aunt Natalie made!

Then a couple days later was my 27th birthday! Turning 26 was okay, but 27 seems OLD! I'm pretty much 30. Too bad I still look 18. Anyway, I had a wonderful week and day thanks to many family members and friends. On Good Friday, James had the day off, so we were able to celebrate part of my birthday a little bit early. We went to a movie at the real theater thanks to Grandma Palmer who babysat Hazel, and we went out to eat at one of my favorite spots Pappasitos. On my actual birthday, I got to talk with all of my family, and each person sang a different birthday song to me! I had a wonderful lunch with friends from church who got me Paradise Bakery - my favorite lunch spot (mainly because of the chocolate chip cookie that comes with your meal)! And Shayla was so sweet to get cupcakes from Sprinkles Bakery! Yum! Then I got to visit with my cousin Ashna and her cute girls. Then we headed to Cheesecake Factory for a delicious steak and salmon dinner and lemon raspberry cheesecake. I think I had enough food and sugar to last me a week! For a food lover like me, my birthday has got to be all about the good eats. James even got me a cookbook that I've been wanting. Here are a couple pictures from my fun day:

Hazel and her 2nd cousins!

How cute is this picture with the handsome dads and their beautiful girls?!

I love it!

Happy 1/2 Birthday!

Hazel is the big 6 MONTHS old! I've just been trying to enjoy this cute stage because I'm realizing time is flying by! I make sure to give her 758,000 kisses a day, and I take 489,000 pictures a day and send most of them to my family because they're obsessed too, right?! I just really can't get enough of her. She gets cuter and cuter everyday. Her sweet face, giggles, smiles, curiosity, playfulness, hair wave, chunky thighs, tiny feet, pterodactyl noise, hilarious spitting, etc. are all things I'm obsessed with. But I'll be honest... not EVERY moment is enjoyable (ie. middle of the night wakings, short naps, 2 blowouts a day, constant drool, etc.), but MOST are! =) This little girl has stolen our hearts. I absolutely love seeing James get excited to see her when he comes home from work. He just loves that little girl. He does prefer if she hasn't just sucked on a banana, however. So here are a couple of highlights from the last month or so. I feel like she's grown up so much!

She cheered on the Cougars for as long as they let us-

She learned what it was like to be a triplet for a day-

She learned to play the piano-

(The first minute is pretty much nothing, but then she gets into it.)


She learned to roll over (although she wasn't thrilled about it)-

She learned to sit up on her own-

She spent time with her cousins-



She tried new foods like celery, mango, and...

...banana!!


...because we've got to keep this figure up!

She got ready for swim season with a floatie and sunglasses!
(She's not sleeping in this picture.. she just knew that if she were going to wear sunglasses, she had to have a "cool" look to go with them)-

She got ready for her 1st ballet class (3 years early) by wearing her leg warmers and by listening to classical music-

She got plenty of love from her friend Jones-


And here she is laughing at her crazy mom-



These last 2 pictures are just my recent favorites-


How can you not love her?!?!