INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!

After our fun vacation we came home to more fun! Todd was lucky and had off on the 4th this year so we spent the day with both families. We woke up early and headed off to my parents ward breakfast and the Murray parade. Then we went back home and had a BBQ with Todd's family. We did a little shopping and then back to my parents for the evening activities. My brother and sister in law were still here so the kids had a blast playing outside. We had popsicle, watermelon, and of course fireworks. Isabelle and Hayden both loved the fireworks! We had a great day and we feel so lucky to live in this wonderful land! Thanks to all who have sacrificed so that we can live the way that we do! We are so LUCKY!


One more Slide SHow!

Durango, Colorado!

This year for our family vacation with my side we decided to go to Durango Colorado. My brother and his family live in Texas and they were driving out to Utah so we decided to meet them and have a little fun. With my two sisters, one brother, my mom and dad and us there is a total of 28 people and 18 of them being kids all under the age of 13. So you can only imagine the looks we get when we go places together. But we always have a blast!

We drove the 6 hours to Durango and met at Haviland Hideway. That was were we were staying. It was a big house like cabin. All of the cousins were so excited to see each other and to be out of the car. Isabelle could hardly wait to see her cousin Rachel from Texas. They are the same age and have so much fun together. While we were there we ate at a yummy restaurant in down town Durango, got lost in Cortez while trying to find the church,explored the Indian ruins at Mesa Verde, rafted down the Animus River, went on a tour of a gold mine in Silverton Colorado, had a birthday party, played tag in the dark with glow sticks, had a grasshopper funeral, stayed up late every night, went to four corners on the way home and had tons of FUN!

Our girls were so good on the trip and we had so much fun. I love watching Isabelle with her cousins as it reminds me of when I was her age. She is getting so big and was able to do everything we did. We were a little worried about taking her on the river trip because of how she hates water.She had swimming lessons the week before and that cured her of her fear. She did great and only got a little scared and teary eyed when we went over some big rapids. On the other hand Hayden LOVED the water and didn't want to get out. We finally took her out cause her legs were getting red from the cold water. Here is a look at all the fun we had...

Our Day at Mesa Verde...

Our Day on the water...

Day at the gold mine in Silverton, Colorado

As you can see we had lots of FUN and made great memories! Aren't family vacations the best?

Long Needed Update!

Here is what we have been doing lately!!

Isabelle's first dance recital! She has been practicing for quite a while and LOVES it. She danced to "Popular" from Wicked and "Tomorrow" from Annie. Isn't she the cutest?





We went to the Tulip Festival and had a fun day out enjoying the sunshine. We couldn't believe how many tulips we saw and all of the beautiful colors.




We had a great Memorial Day! We started out with a delicious breakfast at my mom's and then headed to the cemetery. Then we went to the park for some fun ice blocking and games. We had a great day!



At the end of May some girls in our neighborhood took the little girls to the Taylor Swift concert. We got the cd and listened to her songs and Belle was SO excited to go. We sat by our friends and they DANCED and thought they were so cool. We had a great girls night out!




Todd got a new toy and Belle loves to ride it with him!

Grandpa!

This past Friday my grandpa George Wahlen past away. He was a wonderful, amazing man. I am so grateful for him and to be part of his family. Him and my grandma have always been such great examples to me. They always loved each other and showed it. They were married for 64 years! I feel so lucky to be his grand-daughter. We have so many fun and great memories with him. I know that a lot of people looked up to him for his service in the military but he He truly was our family hero! He never wanted to be in the spotlight, he was such a humble and patient man.

I am so grateful for the many times that I have taken my girls to there house and we have been able to visit with him. He would always tell us how special and beautiful we are. He taught me how to be strong, how to have fun and to be grateful for the freedoms that we get to enjoy because of other's sacrifices. Because of him and my grandma we have a very close and tight family. We enjoy being around each other and we see our extended family quite often and I love that.

Although this is a very hard time for our family I am grateful for the knowledge that we have that we will see him again. I am eternally grateful for him and for his life here on earth. I love you very much grandpa and you will be deeply missed!

Hayden 6 Months!

We can't believe that our new baby is already 6 months (almost 7)! She is such a joy to our family and we love her very much and can't remember what our lives where with out her. We took her for her 6 month check up and here are her stats:

Weighed in at a chunky 16.42 Ibs.
Length was 25.2 In.
Head Circumference was 17.3 In.
She had to get four shots and she was very brave



Here are some other fun things about Hayden:

She is sitting up all by her self now and loves to play with toys
Is eating rice cereal and has tried applesauce, bananas and squash
She is still an excellent nurser and is a record fast eater
Absolutely loves her big sister!
For the most part she sleeps through the night
Loves daddy!
Loves to smile and show her dimples but has only giggled twice for dad
Eats cherrios
Loves her binki and can find it and put it in all by herself
Loves to be swaddled and cuddled when she is ready for bed
Has found her toes and likes to play with them
Won't drink out of a bottle for anyone
Will drink a little out of a sippy cup
Has started to give kisses:)



We love her very much and think that she is pretty dang cute:)

Happy Easter!!

EASTER WEEKEND:
- COLD WEATHER
- EASTER EGG HUNT WITH COUSINS
- COLORED EGGS
- TALKED ABOUT JESUS AND HIS RESURRECTION
- EASTER BUNNY CAME AND HID BELLE'S BASKET
- ISABELLE AND HAYDEN HAD MATCHING DRESSES
- HAD A GREAT DUTCH OVEN DINNER WITH GRANDMA AND GRANDPA

What am I doing up at this hour???

Ok, here it is 4:30Am and I am sitting at the computer. I am asking myself, WHY? Some parts of motherhood are just not fun! So from the very beginning Hayden has been a pretty good sleeper. I got her on a regular schedule and she would sleep 10-11 hours at night from about one month on. I thought life was great! Then about a month ago things all went down hill fast. All of a sudden she started waking up in the middle of the night. I would go and put her binkie back in her mouth, wrap her back up in her blanket and she would fall back asleep...for about an hour. So I did this process about 6 times a night. I knew that she could go for a long period of time with out eating so I didn't want to feed her because I didn't want her to get into that habit. Well I put up with it for a couple of nights. Then we went on a little vacation and it is impossible to be on a schedule on vacation. So after we got back I thought she would go back to her old sleeping habits. WRONG! Then she got RSV, which is horrible! She couldn't breath well and was very congested so of course she wasn't sleeping well. So now after a couple of weeks we should be back to normal. If things were normal I wouldn't be awake right now. She is five months so I decided that she is old enough to let her cry it out! I absolutely HATE this part of being a mom. It breaks my heart to let her just cry. I would much rather just cuddle her but I know that she needs to learn to put herself to sleep. So after about 45minutes to an hour of crying I think she is settling down. It takes everything I have not to run in there, pick her up and snuggle her in bed with me. I am trying so hard to be a good mom and be strong. I know this first night is the hardest and then hopefully it will be much easier after this. Some people might say it is horrible to just let your child cry. I feel that although it is super hard right now it will make my life much easier in the future. So here I am awake in the wee hours of the morning...I stop for a second and there is SILENCE! I better get to bed! I LOVE being a mom! Hopefully tomorrow night will be much better!