Wyoming Christmas

This year was both Paul and I's first Christmas away from home and also our first Christmas with Hayden. Paul got the day of Christmas off but was not allowed to leave Cheyenne for the holidays this year. But we made the best of it and had a great day. We started off by buying our first Honey Baked Ham in Ft. Collins on Christmas Eve and making my Grandma Cowan's yummy roll recipe. We read the Christmas story and ate Ham sandwiches and opened our Christmas jammies that Paul's mom gets each year.

The next morning we woke up around 8:30 am, Hayden slept 9 hours-thanks Hayden! We made German pancakes and opened up our stockings. Although Hayden had no idea what was going on, I think she was excited because she could tell we were both excited. We got Hayden a tiny love play mate and despite the lamb not singing "Old McDonald had a farm" like it was suppose to, she really loves it. After all that excitment she was tired and took a nap while Paul and I opened the rest. One gift that I found for Paul was a device you attach to your key chain. If you lose your keys all you have to do is whistle and the keys beep. Paul whistled most of the day and thought the gift was pretty funny. For any of you who know Paul, you know that he loses EVERYTHING. Both his mom and dad asked if I got one for his phone, watch, wedding ring and wallet.

That afternoon my sister Michelle and her husband Jared made the drive from Colorado Springs to spend the evening with us. We had them and our neighbors the Sanders over for dinner. It's the first really big dinner I have ever made and all in all it turned out really well. We spent the rest of the evening playing catch phrase and balderdash, which I won! It was a great day.

Paul was supposed to go on alert the next day, but due to the crazy wind and snow drifts (we had a 6 1/2 ft snow drift behind our house!) he didn't have to go and got to spend the day shopping with me.

Merry Christmas Eve!

This is Paul. It is my first attempt to add anything to our blog but I can't help but express how I feel about this holiday season. I just finished writing my brothers, Mark and Kyle, who are serving missions in Alabama and Uruguay, respectively. Without sounding preachy or pompous, I am so grateful for not only the birth but als0 the life of Jesus Christ.

I remember being excited about Christmas at an early age because of the presents (of course) but finding a deep satisfaction in feeling connected to the birth of the Savior of the world. It dawned on me as I reminisced about my mission to Paraguay that without His sacrifice it would have been just another person to enter the world. His life would not have been meaningless but would not have had the infinite reach that it does today. Everything has to start somewhere and we would be hard pressed to find a more auspicious entrance than a virgin giving birth, but as is the case in most things in life the finish is how we are remembered. I am personally grateful that He had the courage, strength and foresight to not only endure but to endure well. I look at Christmas as an opportunity to offer much deserved, and never adequate, gratitude for all He has done for my family and I.

We hope that you all have a memorable, safe and meaningful Christmas!

New Family Photos

My cousins Brian and Becca were kind enough to take some great pictures of Hayden and our family while we were in Cedar City for Thanksgiving. Here are a few of our favorites along with the header photo recently added.

Christmas Party

Paul and I decided to go to his squadron Christmas party this year and there were so many new babies in attendance. Paul says that in his squadron 8 babies were born all around the same time as Hayden. Here is a picture of Susannah Sanders and her daughter Payton and Laura Graham and her son Sam. They are all about 3 weeks apart in age. It was fun to dress Hayden up in her Christmas dress and show her off a little. It was fun to get dressed up a bit and have a night out. They had a raffle and guess what Paul wins....a 12 pack of beer. They had i pods and a playstation 3 and we win a 12 pack! When Paul went up to redeem his prize everyone started hysterically laughing because everyone knows he doesn't drink. Anyway, they let him exchange it for a workout bag filled with protein shakes or something. I thought Hayden would sleep through most of the dinner but there was way too much to look at, she was wired all night!

Mom and Hayden

Family Picture

2 Month Shots

This morning we got Hayden's 2 month shots. We got them a little later because she was going to get them the day before we flew home for Thanksgiving and didn't want her screaming on the air plane! So the whole drive there she is crying and unhappy to be in her car seat and I thought, "this is not going to be a good day." One of the shots was oral, so she drank it. I didn't know they did that. She liked it and had a big smile on her face after she drank it all. Then the nurse asked me to hold her arms down across her chest and she gave her the shot in her thigh. Hayden didn't cry at all at first, then let out one little cry and stopped! How crazy is that. She did the same when they drew blood for her genetic screening, but I thought it was a fluke. I guess I am lucky that she doesn't seem to mind shots :)
Also Hayden is now sleeping between 8 and 9 hours a night. I am probably jinxing myself by typing this, but it has been so great not waking up in the middle of the night. And by the way, ever since we came back from Utah it has been between 1 and 5 degrees! It is freezing. Yesterday with wind chill they said it was -20 degrees!

Already scared of Santa

So yesterday I decided to get out all of our Christmas decorations while Hayden was napping. When she woke up I had most of them put up. She did not like the changes at all! She cried and cried when she saw the Santa that we put above our couch and she also did not appreciate my favorite little snowman! Maybe it is just the changes in the house she does not like. But it was pretty funny to watch her reaction. She is finally getting use to the changes a day later!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Utah Adventures

Grandma Joye above & Grandpa Cowan below

Hayden's Blessing dress

Hayden loves Grandma Robinson

Hayden didn't cry at all on our plane ride

Well our Thanksgiving was very busy, but we had so much fun being home for over a week. Both Paul and I have a bit of a cold now though, so that's no fun. We flew in the Sunday before Thanksgiving and spent Sunday night with my family. My brothers were pretty excited to finally meet Hayden and love telling others that they are uncles. They were a little nervous about holding her, but did a great job with her. Then on Monday we met Paul's mom and dad at the Cheesecake Factory for lunch. Anne went nuts and bought Hayden lots of cute bows and the cutest Christmas dress I have ever seen from baby GAP. We spent until Wed with Paul's mom and dad and then headed down to Cedar City to see my Grandpa and the rest of my extended family. My cousins took some great pics of Hayden in her Christmas dress and some family pics for a Christmas card. I will post some of them when I get them! Hayden slept through Thanksgiving dinner but Paul and I enjoyed the food and company. Everyone was very excited to meet and hold Hayden. She adjusted to all the change so well and was a happy baby for the most part. Then on Friday we drove back down to Tooele and spent until Monday there. We decided to bless Hayden in Utah so that both our parents could be there. Paul did a great job giving Hayden her blessing, I'm so glad he could do this for her. She wore the same blessing dress that me and all my sisters wore, so that was kind of special. After we went to Paul's parents home and ate pork sandwiches, funeral potatoes, grape salad, regular salad and zucchini cake. Kelli and Seth Metcalf came out for the blessing along with my friend Brooke and her husband Jake DeMann.
On Monday we met my mom at the junior high where she teaches which was fun. I got to meet the other teachers and some of her students. My mom and dad took us to a great Thai restaraunt, I love curry! We also went with my grandma Robinson to Chuck a Rama :) Hayden really did enjoy everyone she met, but she made sounds and giggles I have never heard with my Grandma. She just loved it when she talked to her. My dad took us to the airport on Wednesday and of course, Paul's bag doesn't make it through so we had to wait around forever for that and then our ticket to pay for our parking wouldn't work which created another 40 min delay. Then as we are leaving the airport, they find his bag and ask us to come back and get it. It was crazy! It was pretty funny, we had soooo much luggage because we had to bring Hayden's pack and play along with all her other stuff and our bags, it was crazy. Kids definitely complicate traveling. Anyway we had a great time at home despite all the driving and stress over getting everywhere we needed to be! Hayden traveled so well despite all the stress and time in the car, she is a great baby. She is smiling so much now and fitting into all her 3 month clothes. I can't believe how quickly time has gone by.

2 month appointment

Hayden is now 2 months old! I can't believe how much she has changed all ready. She now weighs 10 lbs 10 oz and is 22 inches long! She is in the 50th percentile on both. She is holding her head up a lot now. The packet of information they gave me said to enjoy the next two months because they will be the easiest. Soon she will be rolling and getting mobile. I thought I was suppose to be excited about that!

Back to church....

After 6 weeks off, I decided it was finally time to go back to church. Hayden did pretty good. Everyone was shocked at how alert she was and how much she loved looking around. Everyone was very excited to meet her. We also got to be there for Landon Eastman's blessing, Seth did a great job!

Hayden's 1st Halloween

For Halloween Paul and I decided to dress Hayden up as a pea pod. Isn't she the cutest little pea?!?!

Hayden and I made several stops to visit friends. Sadly, Paul could not join us because he was on alert. We saw Sebastian and Manti who dressed up as Thing 1 and Thing 2

Then we went to the Sanders home and visited with Payton the bumblebee

And our next door neighbors the Lasura's kids: Ezra, River and CoraAnd last but not least, we went to the Eastmans and ate caramel popcorn and took pictures with Landon the pumpkin

Here is one more cute picture of her Halloween outfit, I'm excited for next Halloween when she'll be a little more excited.

New Car

Well we finally made the jump and got a family car! The Toyota Tacoma was a bit tight for the 3 of us. So Friday we drove to Ft. Collins and purchased a Honda Pilot. It is so much roomier and actually fits the stroller in the back! We are very grateful that we could get a new car!

Colorado Springs

On October 19th, base housing shut off our water for one week to put in new pipes. I was not thrilled about staying in a hotel with Hayden, so we decided to go to Colorado Springs and see Michelle's new house and spend time with her and her husband. We had a great time visiting with them. I am so glad my sister is closer now and we can visit more often. The timing was perfect, I am on maternity leave and Michelle is still job hunting! We did some fun shopping, went on walks, saw the Air Force base in the springs (that we will hopefully go next) and just had a great time being together. I miss having good shopping, let's be honest Cheyenne doesn't have a lot to offer. Paul stayed for a few days, but then had to go on alert. While he was there he was playing with Hayden right after I nursed her and she threw up barely missing Paul's mouth! It was great. Paul was very grateful that he moved in time to have it hit his chin and chest!

Hayden's 1st bath

Hayden's umbilical cord took a month to fall off and we couldn't give her a full bath until it did. So her first bath was on October 15th! She hates getting wet and being undressed so she usually screams pretty loud. But she did better in the tummy tub!

Kim's visit

My friend Kim Smith came out to visit and help me out with Hayden. She came out on the 15th of October and stayed until the 18th. It was so much fun having her here, especially because Paul was gone on alert and I had company. She is a great friend to make the drive out to Cheyenne and hang out with Hayden and I.

Welcoming our new arrival

Hayden Michelle Pratt was born on September 16, 2009. She weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 20 inches long!