Christmas Happenings

LONG POST! 3 WEEK VACATION = LOTS OF MEMORIES AND LOTS OF PICTURES!!!

We were able to spend Christmas with my family this year down in CA. It was an unusually warm year this winter. But good old CA always cools off at night. 

We went down to San Diego to visit with the grandparents and to go to this amazing house before Christmas. He is a friend of my grandparents and every year he decorates his house and invites people to come and enjoy some Christmas festivities. When we pulled into the neighborhood, there were cars parks blocks away. And the line to see Santa was down the street. Luckily my grandparent know PEOPLE. We got to park right across the street!

The entry way/line for Santa...so long!

Cookies, Hot Chocolate and Cider

The gazebo was to write to Santa and tell him what you wanted for Christmas. They mailed them too!

They had one of those blow up movie screens and they played Christmas movies while you waited in line for Santa.

This is the back yard. Decorated with small little houses to go look at. They had snow too!(bubbles) They also decorate the inside of their home for everyone to walk through....I mean themes and decorations galore!

Checking out the snow.

Finally got to see Santa. Hailey didn't want to have anything to do with Santa this year. And usually Lucas doesn't either. But for some reason he was ok with this Santa. This is when he told Santa that he wanted a kitten.... a real kitten for Christmas!

Enjoying her candy cane. All the kids got toys from Santa. Lucas and Hailey both got light up wands. They were a hit!

Because the weather was so nice we had to hit up the beach a few times. We went to Newport one day. We ate at BJ's and played in to sand.

Christmas Eve

Two of the cutest little elves around!

The Spread

Hailey was so cute this Christmas. Such a good helper. My mom would give her a present and tell who to take it to. She would deliver the present and stand and watch them open it. As soon as we gave her one that was for her she would plop right down and open it. She totally got it!

Trying out Lucas' new ride.

Chocolate for breakfast...why not. It's Christmas!

Lucas loves his new 4 wheeler.

Hanging out with Great Grandaddy!

Our attempt at a gingerbread house.

Disneyland seems like a must do every time we are down. This was Brandon's first time going with Hailey. We had a great time and Disneyland is the best when it's decorated for Christmas. 

We went to see Tigger, Eeyore, and Winnie the Pooh. Hailey thinks that any character is just the best. It was so cute how excited she got and gave all of them a hug.

Seriously, how pretty is It's a Small World all lit up. Love it!

On New Year's Eve we took the kids to the Great Park. They had a bunch of games and prizes for the kids. Music and dancing for the adults. Did I mention there were A LOT of people there?

Look who I got to kiss on New Year's Eve!

Celebrating!

The Orange Balloon.

Before Brandon left, we stopped off at Huntington and ate at Ruby's on the pier and walked around a little. Another really nice day!

It was so nice to be out of the cold weather for a while. we took advantage and went to the park several times. Hailey loved it and figured out that she loved going down the slide all by herself over and over again!

Climbing up the slide with Papa. All the other kids were climbing up, so she had to also.

We had a great time in CA. We miss the nice warm weather now that we are here in the snow!

Toy Story on Ice

So my family for a while has had the tradition of going to see a movie on Christmas Eve and then dinner at In-N-Out. Well with two small children in the house this year we had to figure something else out. We decided to go to Disney on Ice. It was all Toy Story. The kids loved it. Hailey was thrilled because lately she loves Toy Story. We had a great time!

 So happy to have Daddy with us!

 So focused

 The Claw!

 Sisters

I love to see the temple

We went to see the lights at temple square a few days ago. Always so pretty. Although it seemed like this year they didn't have as many lights up. Did anyone else notice that? I was also freezing that night. I feel like every year I pick the coldest night to go see the lights. Oh well. We were prepared and enjoyed the wonderful atmosphere. 

 This is just a little added extra... do you think the girl likes chocolate? Definitely takes after her mommy!

Getting Excited...

Anyone else really excited for Christmas to come? This year has been so much fun with Hailey. She is so excited about lights, Santa, snowmen, and reindeer. So we decided to do something fun and festive the other night. Down town Ogden has a Christmas village every year. It's decked out with lights, little decorated houses and Santa is even there. Hailey had fun walking around looking in the little houses and seeing all the lights.

November

Well I feel like I need to post something from November now that's it's December, and I'm tired of seeing Halloween on my blog! Here's a quick rundown....

We went up to Idaho Falls to see Brandon's family. We had a great time going to the ski swap, eating out, watching movies and just hanging out watching Hailey. She is pure entertainment!

Playing/designing with uncle Ben

My sister came up to visit for a few days before Thanksgiving. She hitched a ride up with a friend for a much needed getaway. We shopped and played. So good to have her around. We miss her a lot!

For Thanksgiving we had Brandon's family over at our apartment. We had a great dinner and yummy pies for dessert. Brandon's mom was kind enough to stay the night so we could do a little Black Friday shopping. Crazy! We also celebrated Michelle's birthday on Thanksgiving. Ben and Michelle are moving to Washington this month so we had a little going away party for them with some of the extended family. We're sad they won't be so close anymore but excited for their new adventures!

Halloween Time

October has been a fun and busy month for us! Hailey has really enjoyed all the festivities and decorations. She loves pumpkins and points them out whenever she sees them. She learned the ghosts say "BOO!" and learned what spiders, bats and skeletons are.

We carved pumpkins and I tried to get Hailey to stick her hand in, but she wouldn't. She was very interested though. She liked holding the lids of the pumpkins and she sat and watched Brandon for a little while while he carved her pumpkin.

Lately Hailey has been impossible to take pictures of. She either runs towards the camera or I can't get her to look at the camera or smile for the camera. Ugh. I tried. Anyway, she was Minnie Mouse for Halloween. Minnie is her favorite right now. Every time I went to get her into her costume she was so excited. She was just the cutest!

Playing in the leaves before trick-or-treating!

Visiting Daddy at his work for Halloween. Brandon's work has trick-or-treating around the office for all the employee's kids. It is so fun and so many kids come. Hailey figured out the whole 'get the candy and put it in the bag' concept. 

Hailey's skeleton jammies. We call them her "bones jammies."She loves them, but is too afraid of the dark to see them glow in the dark.

September

Random happenings from September...

Swiss Days 

We went up to Heber/Midway with Gma and Gpa Swaner to see Ben and Michelle and to go to Swiss Days. 

Peach Days

Went to Brigham City's annual Peach Days. We went and watched to parade with some of our friends

Kart and Lindsay and their little girl Mae.

Utah State Fair

The highlight of the night for Hailey was walking through the barns where all the animals were. 

These were some of the cleanest cows I have ever seen. Hailey got to pet a cute baby cow.

 And...

Our little Charger cheerleader. Go Chargers!

18 Months

I can't believe my baby girl is a year and a half! It's just so unreal. Hailey is just so much fun lately. She talks so much and understands so much that it has made life easier in some aspects.  But she is a little fireball. She still love to cling to mommy but is totally independent when she wants to be. She has a little temper and does not like to have things taken away from her(spoiled first child syndrome). My mom like to call her a "little bulldog" because of this behavior. And she can give a little scowl when she is mad about something. It's kind of hilarious.  She is a great little talker. It's starting to get to the point where I can't really keep track of everything she can say b/c she really tries to say almost everything. But I am very impressed b/c she will say three word sentences and multiple syllable words(bragging mom moment...sorry!). She points out things that I don't think she even knows. She loves Minnie Mouse(mimmie), Micky Mouse(Gicky) and Elmo. She will point out the smallest little picture of any of these and it just makes me laugh. She has 15 teeth and her last eye tooth is on it's way. She is still kind of a picky/finicky eater. Can't get her to eat her veggies yet. I'm going to have to become the mast of disguising them I guess. Any suggestions are welcome! She has mastered walking and hasn't crawled since she started. She is getting better and better everyday with her running. She has the cutest little personality. People tell me everywhere I go how cute she is. I love her so much and she melts my heart. I am so proud to be her mama.

18 Month Stats:

Length: 34 in. -- Off the charts!

Weight: 30 lbs. 1.5 oz. -- Off the charts!

Head Circumference: 47.3 cm -- 70th percentile