Novermber Highlights

This is not necessarily a representation of how our November went, but its seriously one of my favorite pictures of Hailey, ever.



We had an unseasonably warm November. So Hailey and I took advantage of one of the last warm days of the year and went to the animal farm. The above picture is of Hailey having a little pep talk with the horse she rode on. She was afraid that he was going to miss her too much, so she was reassuring him that she would be back soon. LOVE that girl!!

I wanted to start the tradition of taking a family vacation every year. Last year we went to San Diego (posts here, here, here, here, here and here.) This year a big vacation just wasn't in the cards. So we made the most of doing a "staycation".

We started our staycation off by going to Disney Princesses on Ice. Hailey was in HEAVEN. She got to dress like a princess (her current favorite, of Snow White) and watch all of her favorite Disney ladies dance and sing. (PS. Since my camera kind of sucks, I didn't get any good pictures of the actual performance...)

Daddy and Hailey (with Hailey's prized possession of the evening! Which she is darn lucky I got her dad to painfully crack open his wallet for..) before the show started.



Mommy and Hailey during intermission.

To complement our staycation, we bought this pass, which we got on a sale (2 days for the price of one!) and made very good use of it.

The first day, we invited Papa and Nana to go with us to Hogle Zoo. It was a really warm day, so it was perfect for the Zoo.

I had been wanting to go to see the baby animals, and was so glad that we got to see them all!!




I asked Hailey who she wanted to ride the Carousel with her, mommy or daddy. Her reply was, "Papa!" Of course, he's always glad to oblige his grand-kids.




I tried to get her to get closer to this statue, but she was not having it. I was actually impressed that she got this close!

We were glad we did the outside stuff the first day. Because the next day was cold and snowy.

The second day, we visited the Planetarium, a first for all of us. It was very cool. Our passes included admission to two movies, but we didn't really have time to stick around for two, so we chose the Underwater 3D movie. Hailey wouldn't keep her 3D glasses on, but still enjoyed it.

Here she is walking on the "moon" (Actually it looks like she is trying to steal a moon rock!)

LOVE the look on her face!!

Then we continued our indoor activities at the Children's Discovery Gateway. We could have spent all day there!! It is so much fun!!


And quite obviously, not just for kids!!


We ended our Salt Lake activities with a trip to Build-A-Bear, where Hailey made her bear, Aspen. All in all it was a great "staycation!!"

I just wanted to add a little note, since November is the month of Thanks, about how much we are grateful to all of our family and friends. We are so blessed with the best friends and the most amazing family. We love you all and are grateful for your presence in our lives. We are also thankful for everything that Heavenly Father has given us. We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

October Highlights

We attended the annual Scarecrow Festival for the first time this month. It will not be the last! We had a blast!! Some of the favorites were:

The train (which had an ridiculously long line...)


This picture was taken while waiting int he ridiculously long line...had to keep the kids entertained somehow...


The games - This is Hailey's victory dance after knocking down a couple of milk bottles.

And of course the bouncy house

I LOVE Hailey's face in this picture!




We also had a fun opportunity to go up to Park City with our good friends, the Suchers. Marc had an extra ticket to ride down the Alpine Slide, and invited Ryan to go. They also had to wait in a ridiculously long line, but were glad they did. They both enjoyed themselves. Hailey was really mad she didn't get to go down the giant slide.


Then of course there was Halloween. We had Hailey's photo's taken by my wonderful friend, McKenzie, again. Hailey, of course, was the cutest little Minnie Mouse.








We ended out the month by attending the annual Halloween Party at the Alpine Country Club. They always have such good food, and great entertainment. The kids had a blast dancing the night away!!



My little girl likes to groove!!

Ikea Family Night

All summer and through September, Ikea is sponsoring a family night on Monday nights. They have their all-you-can-eat pasta for $1.99, and a lady that does face-painting and balloon animals. Its a lot of fun. I was surprised the first time how well Hailey did getting her face painted. It helps that this lady that they have hired to do it is so fast, and amazing. Best of all, this is all FREE! Unless of course, you opt to grab some food.

Take a look at her work:

The first week we went, she wanted to be a kitty.

The second week, she wanted to be a puppy.

The last time we went, she wanted to have flowers.

Easter Weekend

We had such a great time Easter weekend! We had Ryan's brother's family come stay with us and had a BLAST with the family!!!

We had a family Easter egg hunt on Saturday morning - luckily the rain held out until after we were all done at the park. The kids had a blast playing on the playground, while us adults had a great time catching up! We don't get to see each other nearly often enough!!







Sunday morning, we found that the Easter bunny had come. I wish I had gotten a picture of our living room - it looked like our living room had exploded candy. There were jelly beans, candy kisses and other candy ALL over. Hailey, Brock and Aspen had such a great time running around trying to find the eggs and candy.

the kids waiting at the top of the stairs ready for the Easter egg/candy hunt.

Sunday, as per tradition, we had brunch as a family at the Alpine Country Club. We LOVE the food at the buffet there! Hailey's favorite was the cotton candy.

tired girl - this was near the end of our brunch at the club and the late nights were starting to catch up with her.