Trip to Idaho

The day after Christmas we hopped in the car and drove all the way to Idaho Falls. It was a long drive! Poor little Hailey was feeling a little better, a luckily slept for a while in the morning. We had a few little car issues, but figured them out and 16 hours later we finally made it to Jeff and Kathy's. We were so excited to see the family. It had been a while since we were all together. We had a great week. Unfortunately, I got sick with a bad cold just like Hailey. We were quite the pair. Here's what we did...

Hailey figured out how to make her own neck pillow with her sheep!

First things first. We opened Christmas gifts with the everyone. Hailey loved all her presents from Grandma and Grandpa!

New hat from Jess!

We had to go sledding! The whole family got bundled up and we went across the street to the elementary school to go sledding. This was Hailey's first time really sledding. She wasn't so sure about the big hills but she was a trooper and tried them anyway. 

Snow Angels

Family Snow Angels!

Hanging with Uncle Ben

What's better than playing on the playground? Playing on the playground with snow!

Handsome guy!

Grandma and Grandpa. (Sorry your head got cut off Jeff!)

We had a few nights of family dance parties with Just Dance. It was a lot of fun and we got everyone to do it at least one time. 

Skiing on New Year's Eve! Brandon was chomping at the bit to hit the slopes. We were excited to take Hailey skiing again as well. She had been practicing before we came so she was just as excited. It was a beautiful day which made it that much better. The Jones family joined us as well. Hailey did great and said that she loves skiing! Proud Daddy.

We were planning on just taking Hailey on the practice hill. There is a little magic carpet that brings you back up to the top of the hill. After going down a few times, Hailey looks over at the chair lift and said she wanted to go on that one! So up they went. She went up and down a few times. Pretty good for a 2 1/2 year old!

I got out and took a few runs. The last time I skied was before Hailey was born. I was a little rusty, but it felt good. Chances are it will probably be another couple years before I get out again...3 1/2 months prego here.

After a long day, Hailey was tired and still getting over her sickness. The only person she wanted was her Daddy. Brandon cherished this rare moment. She definitely bonded with her daddy today. 

It was finally time to head back home, but we had to make a quick pit stop in Ogden. While we were there, we were able to meet up with the Harvey's for lunch. Hailey was so happy to see her friends Aubrey and Ada. Cute girls.

And again with the sheep!

Christmas

Christmas Eve
So to keep up with our usual tradition, we went to a movie on Christmas Eve followed by In-N-Out. We took the kids to see Wreck it Ralph, which we were all kind of excited to see. Not too long after the movie started, Hailey kept coming over to me and saying "I'm bored." I was like how can you be bored with this movie on right now. Well I knew she was tired because she hadn't had a nap and it was getting later in the evening. After moving around from person to person, she finally got sad and started crying. So I took her out and just held her and she fell asleep. Well turns out she had a fever. I was so bummed because I did not want her to be sick on Christmas. Got some Tylenol in her and she was feeling ok. We went back to my parent's house opened our Christmas eve presents. Then home to bed for this sick little girl. :(

Christmas Day
I was hoping after a good night's rest Hailey would wake up feeling better. But unfortunately she woke up really early with a fever. So I gave her some more Tylenol and tucked her back in for a little while longer. Luckily when she woke back up she was feeling a little better. She came downstairs and opened presents but wasn't too excited because she wasn't feeling well. I was kind of bummed because I know this would have been a really fun year for her and she would have been so fun to watch. Oh well. There's always next year! Santa was good this year....

After we opened stockings and Santa presents, we headed over to my parents house to open the rest of our family gifts and have breakfast. Poor Hailey didn't last long and her fever came back. She felt awful and just laid in my lap and slept. She was not at all interested in opening any presents. That's when you know a kid is sick!

Someone finally woke up and felt like opening a few gifts!

But back to the sick couch. This is how we spent the rest of our day. Good thing she got her new princess blanket for Christmas! Poor thing!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Christmas time is my favorite time of the year. I just love the warm feeling of everything. And it is so much fun to celebrate when you have kids. The excitement they have is just priceless. There is always so much to do at Christmas time. Here is a small recap of our December...

Visiting Santa at the mall

We try to see Santa at the end of December before he gets crazy busy. Always a good time. Plus, it gives Santa a good idea as to what these kids might want for Christmas earlier than later. Wink!

Just a little snap shot of our new place all dressed up for Christmas. 

Follow the Star
Every year our church puts on a live Nativity for the public to come and see. It's a really neat thing to come and watch. The youth get to be involved with it and they have live animals as well. Just another way to keep the holiday Christ centered.

The ski boots
We are going up to Idaho falls right after Christmas and we are planning on taking Hailey skiing again. So we have had her wearing her ski boots and practicing her "A's" and "I's" or "pizza" and "french fries" so she is more comfortable in them. She loves her ski boots. One morning after she woke up she came up and asked if she could wear her ski boots. So here she is playing legos in her jammies and her ski boots!

Disneyland
I love Disneyland at Christmas! I mean It's a Small World is amazing with all those lights. We were able to go as a family with my parents and my sister and Lucas. We had a great time. And yes it does get cold in CA...notice the ski jackets!!

The Chill @ Queen Mary
This is something new we did this year. It is in Long Beach right next to the Queen Mary. There is a big dome building that they keep really cold. They have Ice skating, tubing and the main attraction is the ice kingdom. The ice kingdom is full of amazing huge ice sculptures with cave and slides. The area with the actual sculptures is kept at 9 degrees! So they actually have jackets for people to wear upon entering. Pretty cool stuff. Here is a link for a better idea. http://www.queenmary.com/chill/icekingdom.php

 Poor Hailey was soooo tired by the time we were able to go in. She lasted about 5 minutes and then she had a melt down because she wanted to be held. So I ended up leaving the exhibit early. Unfortunately I missed a lot of it but from what I hear it was amazing! Here's an attempt at getting a picture of her by the ice princess. Thought this might cheer her up. No such luck.

Messages from Santa
So there is this really cool thing online where Santa sends a message to your kids. It really is the cutest thing ever. Santa knows about certain events that have happened over the last year and what they want for Christmas (of course!) I loved watching Hailey's reaction to this. It may have brought a few tears to my eyes! Magical!

Christmas Puzzles
So most people know that I am a puzzle freak! I live puzzles and have the tradition of doing a Christmas puzzle every year. The problem I have is that I get so obsessed over them. I just want to finish it. So every free minute I have I might be working on the puzzle. So usually its done in just a few days. And these are the puzzles with 1,3, or 5 thousand pieces. No big deal.

Candy Cane Lane
Looking at Christmas lights is always so fun. There is a street near by that usually goes all out for Christmas called Candy Cane Lane. People go and walk up and down the streets looking at the assortment of Christmas lights and decorations. Hailey was really into the lights this year. So fun!

Hailey's First Haircut

Hailey finally had her first haircut! She was just over 2 1/2 years old! I'm not one of those crazy people that can't cut their kids hair, but it took so long to actually get where we are! Hailey has a couple of really funky layers in her hair one of which is a lot shorter that the other. I have been trying to let her hair grow out a little before cutting it. My sister Andrea gave her her first haircut. Hailey was so excited about it and was glad to find out that it didn't hurt when she cut her hair!

 Before

After

Thanksgiving

We shared Thanksgiving this year at my family's house. It was a crazy family gathering of close to 30 people!  We all ate a bunch of food and the cousins played. Kelly, Sydney and Sammy stayed at our place and were our first overnight guests since we moved.  We did some Black Friday shopping and we were home by 10:30 this year! 

Hailey and Sammy. They hadn't seen each other for about a year half when they were babies. They were holding hands from the get go. So cute!

Girl time! Lucy, Sammy, and Hailey.

Family Time

The three of us have so much fun together! I love making these little memories.

 Riding the carousel at the Spectrum

Sundays at the beach. Sometimes when there is nothing else to do on Sunday, we will go down to the beach. It's nice to sit and relax and enjoy the beautiful ocean.

Big News!

 So....we're pregnant! Hailey is going to be a big sister! Expecting baby #2 June 11, 2013!

Positive!