Hayden update

I started to notice that I post all about Reid because he is changing so much!  Hayden is also changing and I am really liking the 4 year old phase.  Hayden continues to have an awesome imagination which I LOVE.  She can literally entertain herself all day long playing little story plots.  She still prefers to play with other kids her age, but does a great job playing by herself too. One of her favorite shows on PBS is Design Squad, I never really watch it with her, but I think they build things a lot.  So anytime we are making anything she pretends to be hosting the show and will say, "Today on Design Squad, my mom and I am making cookies, can you give us the directions mom?" or something like that, it's too cute!

This is an example of her creativity, she took the tie from my yoga mat and made a clothing line and was "drying" her wet clothes!  And on the left she was setting up a special surprise birthday party for me.  Every time I entered the room she'd say, "don't look!"

She also loves when I take the time to go through my old childhood things and let her play with them.  She inherited this Disney set last night :)  She is awesome at showing her enthusiasm and was too cute telling me how much she loved this "special surprise"

This summer we have been swimming a lot, going to 6 flags, white water, and playing in our own backyard.

I've also been trying to let her go on pinterest and pick some crafts she'd like to do.  This was one of our creations:

And since dad works from home 3 days a week now, I can take Hayden with me and have mommy daughter dates while Reid naps.  Hayden came visiting teaching with me and was so good so we went to McDonald's for some ice cream.  I haven't been there forever and I have to say it was delicious!

Hayden seriously loves to spend time with Reid and gets him giggling and smiling every time she walks in the room.  I can already tell he is going to admire her and want to play with her each day.

One of the girls in our ward works at the gym childcare room and she told me how sweet Hayden is to all the kids there.  If someone is missing their mom Hayden will go right up to them and get them involved in her game and cheer them up. She also told me how she is the leader of all the games, all the kids follow her around.  I am NOT a leader at all, so this must all be from Paul.  Paul told me one day he went to pick her up from the playroom and all the kids following behind her as they marched around the room and when Hayden saw Paul she ran over and the kids looked around at each other like, "now what are we going to do?"

I love my social little butterfly!

Father's Day

Since we weren't doing any big gifts Hayden and I decided to have a craft day and make dad a bunch of fun stuff.  This is really fun now that she is cutting and gluing so well.  Last year I started a Father's Day book for Paul where each year we add Hayden's projects for him to keep.

Here were some of her fill in answers for 2014:

My dad can run faster than________ me
Can lift _______ a big rock
Is really good at _________folding laundry (true story)
Makes the best_________dinner (Hey!)

I made his favorite dinner: Turkey Bolognese and tried a new dessert since Paul is eating so good and healthy these days: Garbonzo bean cookies and I have to say this recipe is a keeper!

Paul is not a perfect person, and neither am I.  So it's a personal pet-peeve of mine when people say someone is the best dad or the best mom.  But I will say this:  Paul loves his kids so much and shows them through the quality time he chooses to spend with them and the fun games he makes up for them to play.  They both light up when "daddy comes home" for sure.  I'm so grateful to have such a patient, easy going husband who helps me to lighten up and enjoy life!

6 Months Old

"The days are long but the years are short," another quote from the Happiness Project.  But it's so true, I cannot believe he is 1/2 a year old!  We are planning on getting some professional pictures taken but the photographer wanted him to be sitting to get some better shots.  The only problem is he has ZERO interest in sitting!  He just arches his back and goes to his tummy or back.  We'll see if we manage to get him sitting anytime soon!

His 6 month check up revealed the following:

Weight: 18 lbs 5 oz (60th percentile)

Height: 27 3/4 inches (90th percentile)

Head: 46 1/4 cm (96th percentile!)

• Reid is officially a tummy sleeper which I never thought would happen because he hated his tummy for so long.  He officially rolled from his back to his tummy on June 2nd by himself in his crib.  He was screaming bloody murder which he rarely does when I lay him down to nap so I went and checked on him and I think he was shocked and couldn't figure out how to get back to his back.  
• He doesn't roll around that much while he's awake, but put him in his crib (we have a video monitor) and he rolls all over the place!  He is a closet roller!  

• Reid usually stays awake about 2 hours and then takes about a 2-3 hour nap twice a day.  I love this new schedule!  So now if nurse him breakfast, lunch, early dinner, and bed time around 7:30 pm and then feed him solids at each meal time.
• Reid is tolerant of baby food but really isn't that into it.  He does like most of the fruits, but hates apple sauce!  It's hard because he hates all the veggis too, except carrots.  So I give him a spoon full of something he likes and then sneak in the veggis to which he gives me a betrayed look!  Maybe he'll like real food sooner?  I've tried bits of real food and he doesn't seem to like that either...
• Reid has had 2 crazy hair days which makes us all laugh and Hayden loves it.  We call it, "exciting hair" (from Megamind) 

• Reid has started the awesome baby giggles and Hayden is the best at getting these out of him!  We got the cutest video of the two of them the other day
• Loves watching Disney Channel with big sister Hayden

• We also recently started reading a few books before his afternoon nap, Hayden thinks this is also really exciting

We are continually shocked at how similar Hayden and Reid look, it's a little crazy!  Everywhere we go people tell me how alike they look.  I love their beautiful blue eyes.  

8 years!

I still can't believe Paul and I have been married for 8 years as of June 3rd 2014. It's always fun to look back on our special day with all the fond memories I have of that day.  I know it sounds cheesy, but it really was a perfect, magical day.  I just felt awesome being surrounded by supportive friends and family.

This year we kept our mother's day, father's day, and anniversary pretty simple since our gift to each other is our plane tickets going home to Utah this summer.  But we did manage to go out to lunch during a break Paul had at work and then went out to a fun restaurant downtown in Atlanta.  We went to Murphy's and it was amazing food.  The highlight for me was our appetizer which was a smoked artichoke served with an amazing sauce!  I don't know if I'll ever be able to eat another artichoke again and not be disappointed and they are my favorite food!

Our entrees were also amazing, but check out our desserts!  So yummy!

 I just got done reading a book called the Happiness Project and really enjoyed it.  One section talks about finding out what really brings you happiness, what activities you really enjoy.  Sometimes we do things we think we are enjoying when we really aren't.  Anyway, trying fun new restaurants brings out lots of happiness in me, I love it and have such a great time.

That night we picked the kiddos up from the Heinholds and went home.  We let Hayden stay up later with us and watch our wedding video and she was cracking us up.  She was teary eyed as she watched it and kept telling me how beautiful my dress was and how happy she was that we were a family.  It was really cute!

Happy anniversary Paul!  So glad I got to share this special day with you and I am so happy I get to share my life with you!

Color Run

On May 31st I completed my first 5k race!  I don't know why I've been so afraid to do little races, but it makes me really nervous.  This was the perfect one to start with because it was so fun and half the people walked most of it!  

I went with my friends Amy Marsh, Sara McLeod, Anne Johnson and Marsha Hunter.  It was located out by the Braves stadium so finding parking in a "good" part of town and then finding somewhere to eat dinner before the race was a bit tricky.  But we did manage to find a decent barbecue restaurant.  We ate way too close to the run time though! The race started at 9 pm, so after Sara and I pumped :)  we headed over...

  Still all clean

Right before the 3 of us started running

After all the fun

 I really got a rush from all the excitement and the run went by so fast!  This will definitely not be my last 5k.  We then headed out for dessert and didn't get home until about 1 am and I still had to shower and get ready for bed.  It was a late night, but so fun to be out with the girls.