Ode to Hailey Elizebeth

Ok, I know Haileys birthday party was 3 weeks ago, but, I was trying to get pictures from two computers. And my family came and visited, so we have been busy, most of the time. These pictures are way out of order but they are up.
This is my sweet little Hailey girl. Hailey is right in the middle of all these pretty girls. She has a lot of great and wonderful friends that are such good examples to her. And for the most part they are older than she is. She turned 4 years old. It amazes me how fast they grow up. She had a lovely birthday party. We are thankful to have it at our friends house, thanks again Robin! One of these days we will have grass in yard.
This was one of her presents, an umbrella! I love this picture. The girls had so much fun!

These are the cupcakes we made for her birthday brunch. They turned out ok for never really decorating fancy cupcakes before, the girls loved it.

The girls enjoying their birthday brunch. It was a really windy day, atleast the sun was out.

Its a dark picture, but its me with all the girls, we made flowers for the little girls hair. It was way cute.

Birthday girl with balloons!

Hailey pictures, yaaahhh! She has always been a princess since day one. She has such a love for her family and others. She is always a friend to everyone, she is quick to say I'm sorry.

Hailey also adores her brother Wyatt!! On most days they are the best of friends. Here she is helping Wyatt fix the sink.

She didn't always have curly hair, but when it started coming it was a great surprise. I thought she would be bald for the rest of her life. She adores playing on play grounds, especially with some good friends. She is a very independent girl. And always moms big helper.

There really isn't a sad moment with her, she is usually her happy go lucky self. We are so blessed to have her in our family.

She was born June 3rd. Weighing in 8pounds 3oz. And 21 inches long. She has always been a pretty good sleeper, except when she gets scared, her imagination runs away with her. I'm glad she has a great imagination.

She has always loved a good bond fire. She loves marshmallows and a bratwurst! She could eat brats all day and night. She might have a heart attack before she is 8 if we did that.

She loves pretty dresses, she would wear a skirt everyday if she could, but she is pretty reasonable about what i want her to wear.

This is the first day of dance class. She loved it. She wants to clog again this school year. We will see, I want to try her out in some different kinds of dance and see if she likes those any better. But she does have a talent for dancing. And she doesn't get stage fright.

And of course she loves a good parade!! I love taking them there and see the excitement in their eyes. They have a lot of fun! We sure love our little Hailey! She is such a blessing in our home. She has big aspirations for her life. She wants to be a Surgery Doctor of some sort. And a dancer and a mom.

Busy week!!

So this past week seemed crazy! Wyatt was graduating, Haily had lots of dance rehearsals and a recital, my birthday, and a fun trip to the fish hatchery.

Yesterday, the weather was cold and rainy, so we decided to go for a drive up the canyon to see if the gate was open. Usually they try to have it opened by Memorial day weekend. Some years it hasn't been open due to snow slides. This year it was great. Well, on our drive we ended up at the Fish hatchery. I have never been. Wyatt and Josh have gone. It was awesome. The kids had a blast!! If you haven't ever taken your kids there you should. The guy that was working was way nice and he gave us a bucket with some fish food in it. The fish would go crazy when we sprinkled the fish food in it. It was awesome. We are definitely going to go back more often. Plus its FREE! We were almost out of fish food, but that didn't stop Clayton. That boy cracks me up.

The kids racing.

It seemed that they had two kids of fish. I didn't get a chance to ask what kind. So there were Yellow fish and gray fish. The Yellow ones are easier to see in the pictures

Josh even tried catching one with his bare hands.

Hailey is the 4th one in from the left. What a production. Her teacher has, I think about 8 classes, i could be off on that number, but their were at least 12 in each class. She really does an amazing job. Hailey wants to do it again next year, so we will see. Oh yeah, we have video, but its on the other camera. We will have to get that all worked out.

Daddy got her flowers. She loved them.

Hailey just waiting to perform. They had the works for these girls. Sparkle spray and everything. She was in heaven!

Wyatt's preschool graduation was amazing to. His teachers are "out of this world". They had an outer space theme. We will have to get that video up too. Wyatt did an wonderful job at preschool. He had his ups and downs, but i really think that it prepared him for kindergarten. We even have him reading a little. I just have to keep it up over the summer so he doesn't lose it.

Here are the kids rocking it out on our little trip to the fish hatchery.

Hailey had her first dance practice recital. They went to some assisted living places yesterday and showed their stuff. Its the first time they danced for anyone really. I think they did great!! Her class is made up of 3 and 4 year olds. It was so cute. They had more dances but, I figure posting two would be enough. And Clayton got into the music to..he did his own dance too. It was a fun day yesterday.

Interesting art work

I really thought this was neat. When we went to Illinois we visited my brother Bill. Well, he had the magazine LDS Living and in there there was a featured article. On this artist, James C. Christensen. Amazing work! This picture is called "Hold to the Rod". Here is what he said about his picture. "In it, the character is burden with dozen of objects he has collected to make himself feel confident and safe. They may be material possessions, but they may also be titles or responsibilities. The man longs to reach up and hold the iron rod above him, but he is afraid to let go of his belongings." I feel like we all can relate to this man, where we get wrapped up in the world around us and forget to hold tight. Just thought i would share, there are some other amazing other ones too. One day i would like to have one of his pictures in my home.

Some fun videos

Random thoughts and pictures

Wyatt just lost his first tooth tonight, it has been loose for the last two days. He is so excited!! He wanted it out so bad that he just kept wiggling it all the time.And of course a cute picture of Hailey. I have been baking a ton lately. Its been fun. Here is my French Silk pie, its my favorite, but its still not as good as Villiage Inns French Silk pie.

And this is my whole wheat banana bread, that i made today. Of course i added chocolate chips, but it turned out so good, you would never of guessed it was whole wheat.

Wyatt had pet show at school the other day, and they got to bring home a pet frog. He loves his pet frog(its fake) so much he makes sure it has enough water ever day. I hope these phase will die down soon...he is always changing the frogs water.

Clayton and his love for the drier. I don't know what it is, but he loves climbing in the drier. The first one is a drier at Grandma Greats house. He was sneaky about that one. We were looking for him and there he was. The other one is from our drier, and he emptied it all out just so he could climb in..its so funny and so cute to watch.

Strawberries anyone??!?

Clayton fell in love with strawberries when we were at their Uncle Bills house. And the love continues.

As a side note..lol. Wyatt HATES sloppy kisses on the cheek. He always tells me to try again.

On the Road!!

I'm really excited because i actually got them all in order. I guess sometime I should do slide shows, but I don't like waiting for the pictures to pop up. But they don't take up much space. Anyways, we recently got back from road tripping. It was quite an adventure. First we headed up to Colorado to visit my brother David and his wife Danica. We had such a great time. We always enjoy spending time with them. I'm glad it worked out well. Here are a couple of pictures from the drive.
I just want to add how wonderful dvd players are!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The kids were great in the car! But i think the dvd player saved us along with some different snacks...and of course Candy!

I tryied to take one of Josh and i but it didn't work out. Josh loved having his Ipod, it helped him stay awake.

I love this picture of Hailey!!

After Colorado, we contuined our trip to Illinois. Apparently Colorado was suppose to be kind of a have way point but, not really..lol. We spent close to 18 hours in the car on Saturday. We sure loved the rest stops!! We were so glad when we got to Grandmas house..normally the drive is 14 hours, and there was about 2 hours of rest time and than getting lost a bit on back roads in Illinois.

Once we got there, we spent every moment spending time with family. Wyatt had an instant friend, his cousin, Griffin. Hailey Clayton sure enjoy her time with Griffin too.

There was even some time to go canoening.

And of course a bond fire and some camping out. Camping was such a great adventure..its funny to see it threw other peoples eyes. The kids had a blast, but Josh was waking up every hour to make sure everyone was warm. And of course the minute the sun pops up so do the kids! I'm so glad i got to sleep in my bed that night. Thanks Josh for taking one for the team.

After my parents house we drove about 2.5 hours to Bloominton to visit my brother. We got to go to there little zoo. It was such a cute zoo, and cheap too!

Awesome bear!

My brother Bill with the kids. I'm so glad that even though we are miles away, they can still build a wonderful relationship with their aunts and uncles and cousins.

We had such a wonderful time!! Its good to be home. Wyatt said the best part about the trip was camping out. But as we got closer to home, he said the best part was driving home. They sure loved seeing Grandma and Grandpa McDonald! Thanks mom and dad for everything, we sure miss you!!

Mary, Mary, how does your garden grow.

Ok, obviously the first picture isn't about my garden, I guess they are a garden in a way. They grow and i have to feed them for them to survive. Its our own personal little garden. The boys are really growing fast and Clayton wants to be like his big brother Wyatt. Here is my first grow box. There are all ready things i should of done differently but that's alright. There is always next year. I do have my peas planted. I need to do some more planting here soon. But here it is. I'm really excited and so are the kids. My only hope is that I will be an amazing gardener like my dad.

Thoughtful Thursday

This topic has been on my mind for quite sometime. This past Sunday, in Relief Society, the lesson was on Prayer, actually Sacrament was on Prayer and Scripture study too. It became a day of hope for me. I wish I could remember where the talk came from that they shared in Relief Society, but it was on Prayer. What stood out for me in the talk was praying for everything your thankful for, daily, and don't ask for one thing. I have never looked at doing it that way. It seems we always pray for things we are thankful for and than go on with things we need. For me it has never been a pray of just THANKS. So after church, I decided to do just that with our family. I came home and did a personal prayer of Thanksgiving. Than at bed time we did our family pray of thanksgiving. And as we knelt down as a couple to pray that night it was an amazing feeling of thanksgiving. When we were done josh and I were both in tears. Yes Josh crys..lol. It was such a wonderful feeling. I feel as if we have received blessings that we haven't even ask for. And we have received more answers. So my food for thought seems to be. Take the time to pray and only pray for things you are thankful for. And do it daily, and oh how you will feel your load lighter that day.

Clayton

So i have had a hard time blogging lately. Its not that we haven't had things to blog about. I just seem to read everyones blog and run out of time updating my own. So I need to jump right back on to that horse and start again. So I'm slowing going to catch up. That way i won't be overwhelmed. I also wanted to start again with the days of the week and there themes. So today is MEMORY MONDAY. I thought i need to write about Clayton.

Isn't it funny when you have your first baby you have so many pictures and video of them..but than when it comes to your 3rd and the rest..it seems you slack a bit. I also blame it on the digital world. I don't have any physical pictures to hold. Its all on the computer.

Well on to Clayton. He has grown up so fast and i wonder where it went. Clayton is almost 19 months old, in this picture and he has great hair. Its a mix between Wyatt and Hailey. Wyatt has that great thick hair and Hailey of course has the curls and Clayton got both. And he has these great big blue eyes that could knock your socks off. Clayton loves to babble,and he knows a lot of words..but the biggest was the other day. He ran up to me and hug me and said, clear as day "I love you!" Josh was there to and he heard it and understood it. It brought tears to my eyes. He is such a sweet little boy. And he adores horses, just like his big brother Wyatt who wants to be a cowboy when he grows up. He is just these amazing little boy. I'm so thankful that he was able to come to my family and share his special spirit with us. We love our little "Clay, Clay".