Introducing the newest member of the family!!

We have adopted a precious little.....


PUPPY!!!!!!!!!

We are all in love (including Ryan, no matter how much he tries to deny it!!)

Hailey sometimes loves her a little too much...

First Day of Preschool

Hailey's started preschool this week. She is LOVING it.

The first day was a little rough for us both. When I dropped her off, she automatically clung to my arm, my hand, whatever she could get her little hands on. She didn't want me to leave. I was a bit emotional, but I held it in until I could leave her there. I didn't want to make it any harder on her. I finally was able to sneak out, and made it to the car before I burst into tears.

I cried for the better part of the two hours that she was gone. But she did fantastic. She LOVED her school and talked my ear off on the car ride home.

Swimming

I'm just going to get this out there:

I am terrified of water. Absolutely terrified. I start to hyperventilate if I get into water above my chest. I panic in boats. One time, when I was a teenager, I had nightmares for 2 weeks before a temple trip to do baptisms for the dead. I dreamed that I drowned in the baptismal font. I have to admit though, I have gotten better over the last few years. I am trying to overcome the debilitating part of my fear for the good of my children. I don't think I'll ever completely get over the fear, but I don't want my children to be as afraid of the water as I am.

Because of this, I have enrolled Hailey in swimming lessons for the past few summers. This year, I chose to do semi-private lessons. My friend, Shelly, is staying with her parents, who have a pool in their backyard. Hailey's teacher, Catie, was amazing. Hailey looked forward to swimming lessons each day. We did two 2-week sessions, and by the end, Hailey had improved so well. She was even jumping off the diving board by herself! I was so proud of her!!

diving for rings at the bottom of the pool

"ice cream scoops" to the wall

my happy little "fish"

star fish floats

1st video - I don't know why this is on its side. This video is of her jumping off the diving board, by herself.

2nd video - This is the first time she jumped in the pool by herself. Catie would "chop" the tree down and the kids would jump in the pool.

Tale as Old as Time...

We went to the Scera Shell Outdoor Theater with our friends to see their production of Beauty & the Beast. Our girls dressed up in their prettiest princess dresses for the show. Everyone commented on how cute they were.

This was after trying to take too many pictures :)

The show didn't end until 10:30pm, and we had to walk about a half mile back to the car, so the girls were exhausted.

This is how they were when we arrived at home:


It was so fun, and since the show, both girls have wanted to watch Beauty and the Beast every. single. day.

Children's Discovery Gateway

We visited the Children's Discovery Gateway for the first time this week. We had a great time! They were running a promotion in April that you could get in for $5, that's a great deal considering normal admission is $8.50 (and they charge for kids beginning at one year old). Hailey could probably move in there and be happy! They have all sorts of really neat stuff for the kids to play with. My big beef with them is that they {normally} charge $8.50 for the parents to get in, and all we do is sit there. Not really much that us parents are going to be doing. But whatever. I would LOVE to have some of that stuff in my basement!! We would be the coolest house on the street!

Claire ringing Hailey up for her groceries.


Hailey and Gavin playing in the water. This was one of Hailey's favorite things there.



They have a helicopter up on the roof which the kids loved to play in. Claire did not like how loud it was, though.


I think that the highlight for Hailey, though, was riding trax there and back. She LOVED being on the "train". Every time we stopped, she would say "We're not done, Mom." She didn't want to get off. I think we could have just rode the train downtown and back and she would have had a blast!

Red Butte Garden

We took our first trip up to Red Butte Garden on Arbor Day (April 24). We went with our friends, Megan and Claire. It was fun, but crowded since it was free admission day and the masses were out.


We were walking past this bench and Hailey climbed up on it and said "Mommy, take a picture of me!"




They have an area just for children that was very impressive. They had play houses, a sand pit, giant lizards, a snake maze and other things to keep the kids entertained.

Hailey chillin' while we were eating our picnic lunch.

On the way home from Red Butte, I decided to take a trip down memory lane and stop by Garden Park Ward, where Ryan and I had our engagement photos taken, and my bridal photos were taken there as well.

She wanted to hold those ducks so badly!

What a cheeser!!!

Rock Star!!!!!!!!!

Hailey attended her first friend birthday party and got to dress up like a Rock Star. I had so much fun getting her ready for the party, and she looked like a 80's Rock Star, but I still thought she looked adorable!

Spring Fever!!!

Its finally been warm enough her to go outside with just a light jacket!!! YIPPEEEE!!! (although, I just looked at the weather forecast for the next 10 days, and it looks like snow again for the next week...BOO!)

Hailey and I went to the park yesterday for the first time this year! We were both so happy to be out of the house and out in the sunshine!!!! I'm so ready for spring!!!

Here, she's pushing her koala bear in the swing.

Happy girl!! We LOVE the park!!

Swinging with her koala bear

LOVE the cheese-ball smile she is giving me these days....

We also tried to go to story time at the library with our good friends, Elle and Stephanie. I say tried, but apparently the big library is on a SIX WEEK break!! Whatever that is for. We'll try again at the library branch that is over by our Stake Center later this week.

Even though there was no story time, we still got some fun books, and Hailey really digs the backpacks that they have to check out too.

*picture taken by Steph - she's a GREAT photographer*

Cute Elle with her new pixie-like haircut!! LOVE her BLUE eyes!!

LOVES!!!

*last two pictures taken by Steph - isn't she amazing??!!*

Still Feels Good!!!

For Valentine's Day, my sweet husband got me tickets for one of my favorite bands - Rascal Flatts!!! I have wanted to see them for SO long!!

We had pretty fantastic seats and we weren't disappointed, well at least I wasn't. It was such a fun show - so LOUD, my ears were ringing by the end, and I could barely talk from screaming myself silly, but totally worth it. I was up dancing for the majority of the show, I think Ryan got a big kick out of watching me.

Jessica Simpson opened for them, and she was pretty good. We missed about 10 minutes of her set. She did quite a few of her pop songs as well as some of her country stuff, including "Come On Over", which I LOVE. AND, true to Jessica Simpson form, she totally messed up her own lyrics during the song. But at least she can make a joke about it :)



Rascal Flatts was so fun! They did a lot of their hit songs, which made it great for Ryan since he recognized so many of them. It was such a fun, FUN time....Thanks babe for the best Valentine's Day present!!!!

Their entrance was pretty heart stopping. During the break between Jessica and them, they were playing random music - Queen, Sister Sledge, etc. - all of a sudden the lights went down, and "All Summer Long" (Kid Rock) started playing. Everyone was screaming and it was pitch black. Then a huge flash went off, fireworks shot up and the curtain came down. When the smoke from the fireworks cleared, you could see this staircase come down with the band on the top. It was AWESOME.






This was during the big finale ("Bob that Head") They released all these red, white and blue balloons and confetti.


The final wave from lead singer, Gary LeVox.