Saying Goodbye

The worst part about any trip is the time when it comes to say good-bye.

Uncle Patt and James

 

 

 

 

Driving up to Salt Lake with Kristen and Emily. We flew out of Salt Lake because all the flight out of Las Vegas were with one or two stops in crazy places. It would have taken us hours and hours to get home, and with two kids by myself I liked the options out of the Salt Lake airport better.

 

 We didn't have a lot of time, but we did get to see Aunt Ruthann and Kristy....

 

...visit with my friend Lisa and her girls...

 

...meet Aunt Brenda...

 

...and hurry to the airport so we didn't miss our flight. We got there just before it was time to board and then they announced that it was delayed coming out of Denver, so we had plenty of time. While we waited for our delayed plane at the airport I realized that 10 years ago today I was at this very same airport on my way to Portugal, I can't believe how fast the time has flown by. I don't think I could have guessed that I would be living in Oregon 10 years later. So fun!

Zion's Canyon

A trip home wouldn't be complete without a trip to Zions. We went on an exciting hike to Weeping Rock. It's been years since I've been to Weeping Rock and I don't think I have ever been in the winter. If you've never been it's a huge rock that is constantly dripping water and is a nice short walk for little kids. This time we went it was quite cold and everything was covered in ice from the dripping rock. It was really pretty. Hailee had such a good time and while I was in the car feeding James, Grandpa spoiled Hailee by getting her a 'dark-eyed junco' bird that makes the dark-eyed junco bird call. We're still enjoying that present at our house. :)

James loved being carried by Aunt Kristen.

 

 On the way up the trail, Grandpa was showing her the water coming out of the rock. She didn't know if she should believe him that the water was coming out of the rock.

 

 

 

 

  

We also saw so many deer and wild turkey. Hailee loves to eat turkey so she was especially pleased to find the turkeys.

Birthday Party

My dad's birthday was Friday so we had a party for him with family. It was fun to see my aunts and uncles as well as my cousin and her three little kids. Hailee loved playing with everyone and it was great catching up.

I was terrible at getting pictures with everyone, I was too busy talking and having a good time. I did manage to get a few of the kids playing and Grandma playing with James.

The other fun surprise was Kristen and Emily came home to surprise my dad for his birthday and to see us (I use the term "us" very loosely, they really came to see the kids).

First day of First Grade

Thursday we went and ate lunch with Deneille at her classroom. She is teaching 1st grade. While  visiting she had the idea to have Hailee come with her to school on Friday. Hailee was totally excited about the idea. Deneille cleared it with her principal and Hailee was off the next morning to her first day of first grade.

 

She had so much fun. I wasn't worried about her at all because I knew she could hang out with Aunt Deneille during lunch and recess.  Deneille said once she got there she made best little friends with the kids in her class and she was off playing with them. She LOVED first grade and is still asking me if she can go back to Aunt Deneille's class.

Trip Home

It had been a year and a half since I had last been in St. George. Since we were going to AZ for Christmas we decided the best time to make a quick trip home would be my dad's birthday. Hailee had a few days off school and we found tickets for a fairly good price. It was so much fun. It was a quick trip, but we tried to pack in as much as we could. It was so great to see family.

It was the first airplane ride that Hailee could remember. She was so excited to sit by the window and watch everything. I was a little nervous about taking two kids by myself on the airplane, but it worked out pretty good. The kids were great and had such a great time on the plane. James even slept for a little while.

 

James also got to meet his great-grandparents. Right now he as six great-grandparents that are alive.

 

The kids had so much fun playing and spending time with great-grandparents. Hailee didn't miss a beat and remembered exactly where grandpa and grandma keep the toys. They are the same toys I played with as a kid and I'm pretty sure the same toys my dad played with as a kid. It is so fun to see my kids with their great-grandparents. It's so hard to be far away, but no matter where we lived we'd be far from someone.

We also had time for Hailee and I to get a haircut from Heidi. She is my favorite hair dresser and I've been going to her since I was 15 years-old. She did my hair while I lived in St. George and even while I lived in Provo. She was the first person I wanted to see when I got home from my mission and she did my hair for my wedding. Needless to say I was excite to have her to my hair again. Hailee also got her first "official" hair cut. Up to this point we've just been cutting it ourselves. She was a little nervous to get her hair washed, but after that she was thrilled to be getting her hair cut and sat so still.

 

We had so much fun!

So not ready

Mom: Panic

James: Cried for about 10 seconds then was more interested in the ice. 30 seconds later he was climbing where he had just fallen.

Luckily dad was home to calm mom down, James sure didn't need any calming down.

I am so not ready for boys. You think he would learn after his goose egg. It's a good thing I know the warning signs of a concussion now.

First Kiss

Recently we had some friends over. They have a little girl a year younger than Hailee and a baby girl a month older than James. After dinner the kids were all playing when the little girl decided to give James a kiss. They crawled up to each other and were just looking when all of the sudden she very nicely gave him a kiss.  

James' response: instant tears.

He wasn't too impressed. Later he was crawling away from her and she, being a faster crawler caught up to him and planted another one on him. It was so funny, she was being so nice and friendly and James just wasn't quite sure what to think. I think he takes after his dad. When Todd was in kindergarten or 1st grade a little girl wrote him a note telling him that she liked him.  

Todds response: He sent the note back with a picture of him kicking her.

What am I going to do with these boys. I guess they are just late bloomers, which is just fine by me, I just hope James doesn't break to many hearts. I'll teach him how to be nice after his mission.

Pajama Days

The first week of November Hailee got a little bit sick. Thankfully it wasn't too bad and she only missed 3 days of school more because we were being cautious because of everything that is going around. She had a low fever for two days and the third day she had to stay home because the school wants them to be fever free for 24 hours before they come back to school.

The day before she got sick I bought her some pajamas to match James. She is so thrilled to be matching James. After the initial excited wore off she did want to know if I had gotten her pajamas in the boys section or the girls section. I reassured her that it was just the pajama section and they had both boys and girls pajamas. I love them in matching pj's.

She had such a good time at home, my mom warned me about making it too fun, but when you're sick why should you have to be miserable too. She got to spend the whole time in pajamas, play with her brother, help with laundry and of course get new books to read.

It is so hard to keep up on new books to read for her. She goes through the Magic Tree house books so quickly. We got her four of them and she was done in a day or two. She absolutely loves reading. It's so cute to hear what she gets excited about. As she is reading she say "Listen to this mom....(share a funny part of her book, crack up laughing)...isn't that so funny." One of the books she got was Magic Tree House Ghost Town and Sundown, she got a little scared reading it so she stopped and moved on to the next book. It made me laugh I don't like scary books either so I guess I passed that gene on to her.

Well when Friday came along and it was time to go back to school she was a little sad to go back. She even wanted me to walk with her to her class. Once we got there she forgot all her sadness and ran right in so she could chat with her friends before the bell rang. What a sweet little girl. The next week James and I got to suffer though our cold together while she was in school. We love pajama days.

A visit from Aunt Ruthann

We had a really fun visit from Aunt Ruthann. The kids had so much fun being spoiled with attention from her. She read them stories, played with them, and basically did anything they wanted her to do.

The last time she was out was when James was born, and we kept her so busy taking care of Hailee while I was in the hospital that she didn't get to see the coast. Even though it was November and not really beachy weather, we had to take a quick trip. It was COLD.

 

 

We enjoyed some nice warm clam chowder at Moe's in Cannon Beach and took a little walk on the beach. Even though it was freezing Hailee had to make a sand castle. She brought her bucket and shovel and would not go home until it was built. We really need to take her to the coast when we can really build a sand castle, but she was just as pleased with her little one.

 

We had so much fun with her, we are really hoping she moves out here to be closer to us. The funniest thing that happened while she was here was on Saturday when she was going on a date. A kid she knew in Provo is working out here. When he came to our house Todd started grilling him on where he was taking her, what they would be doing and stopped short of asking him what time he would have her home by. I was dying of embarrassment and Todd saw no problem in giving him the third degree after all "he was taking out my sister Nicole..." Oh heaven help the boys who ask out Hailee. I can only imagine what is in store for them. Luckily Ruthann wasn't too interested in this boy so she wasn't too bothered by Todd's overly protectiveness.

The Princess and the Frog.

When trying to decided what to be for Halloween, Hailee knew that she wanted to wear a dress and she wanted to match her brother in some way, other than that she didn't care. Since James has been so fond of kicking his little legs and sticking out his tongue we thought the princess and the frog would be great costumes.

 

 

 

Overall I say the costumes were a success. Hailee loved dressing up with her brother and James didn't seem to mind his costume too much. He at least kept in on during the church trunk-or-treat and for pictures.

Trunk-or-Treat

For Halloween this year our ward did a carnival and trunk-or-treat. Hailee had such a good time and James had to be woken up from a nap to go so he just sat in his stroller half asleep the whole time.

The first place Hailee wanted to go at the carnival was the cupcake walk. After 25 minutes or so of not winning a cupcake and watching lots of kids get cupcakes she exclaimed she was done and told me "Mom this game isn't very fair." Luckily we had better luck at another game of hot-pumpkin and she got a glowing bracelet as a prize.

James didn't move from this spot the entire night. Once we got home he finally woke up all the way and had a great Halloween.

 

After the carnival they had the trunk-or-treat outside. Hailee loves to go trick-or-treating and loves getting candy, but what I don't understand is she never finishes her candy. She'll eat her favorites (usually about 4 or 5 pieces) and then the rest just sits there until Todd or I eat it.  When we moved to our new house I actually found last years candy still in her Halloween bucket.