big ol' update

Its been forever since we've updated the blog.. so here we go.

Brandon and I just got back from a fabulous 8 day trip to Maui! Its been in the works for 2 years. We went with Brandon's family. Adults only, which is the only way to go in my opinion! My parents were great and came and took Hadley up to St. George. She had so much fun and they did a lot of fun things with her.

I don't have a lot of pics, Brandon's sister was our personal photographer (thanks Cait! seriously you were the best! it was probably annoying for you at times) but I'll post some of the ones I do have.


Here we are on the road to Hana.



One night we got up at 2 in the morning and drove 2 hours to Haleakala and watched the sunrise. It was pretty cool. You are up 10,000 ft and above all the clouds and its amazing!
For Brandon's birthday we did a zipline. Well 5 hours worth of zipping, there were 7 of them! It was the longest zip line in the world. It was so fun and our guides were the best!

One of the nights we snuck away and went on a date. We went down to Wailea to shop and eat.

This was in Kaanapali, the beach was amazing. I think our favorite beach in Maui was big beach though! On our last day we were the last to leave so we took some old towel cards from our brother and sister in law and went down to the marriott and hung out! This was just on a little grassy ledge where we soaked up some sun! It was HEAVEN! I did not want to come home! Seriously give me a book and throw me on a beach and I'm content! I loved it! Thank you Jill and Craig for our lodging! It was the best vacation!



This was a while ago, but Hadley is getting so big! She is so dang funny and tries to make us laugh. She talks so great and comes up with the funniest things! She is so independent now and has to do things herself and has opinions on what she wants to wear all of a sudden. We went to dinner one night and she insisted on her glasses. Oh well, I can handle her wearing those in public but I draw the line with her princess dresses!

Over labor day or whatever Holiday was in Sept.. my parents came down and we took Hadley to the dolphin and lion exhibit. It was fun. and then we went out with my parents to Phantom. It was great! Its nice to live close so we can go do fun things together!

Daddy Daughter Date

Kiley decided to take off for the weekend, so I stayed home to take care of Hadley. I thought it would be a good opportunity to bond with my daughter since I don't get to hang out with her a lot during the week while I'm working. So I decided to take her out on a daddy-daughter date Saturday night.

Hadley loves Finding Nemo and she loves "fishies" so I took her first to the Bass Pro Shop to see the big aquarium in the Silverton. As we were on our way I said, "Do you want to go see the fishies?" And she replied "Go to fishies' house!" Here's a couple pictures of Hadley looking at the aquarium. (I didn't have my camera with me so I took all these pics with my cell phone camera, which explains the poor quality).

I wish the Silverton would move the bar away from the aquarium. There's always tons of kids hanging around the aquarium and the people at the bar don't seem to care that their cigarette smoke lingers over so everybody at the aquarium can inhale it with them.

The problem with taking kids to see something they love is that they never want to leave. Luckily Hadley loves castles as much as she loves fish. So after dragging her out of the Bass Pro Shop I took her to the Excalibur to see a "real" castle. We parked on top of the parking garage where we could see the castle really well. She loved it.

She didn't want to leave there either. As I tried to put her back in the car she freaked out and kicked her shoes off, so I put her down and let her run around the top of the parking garage in her bare feet. Normally I wouldn't let her do that, but since it was her date, I figured I'd let her do whatever she wanted.



Finally I was able to bribe her to get into the car with promises of a green Slurpee. What date would be complete without treats from 7-Eleven?

After running around the Excalibur parking lot, Hadley's feet were pretty dirty. This picture makes her feet look huge:

Overall I'd say it was an excellent date. Plus it only cost me$2.57.

Kiley wanted me to add that I also got Hadley ready for church Sunday morning by painting her toenails and doing her hair. I'd say that I did a good job, except apparently I put her dress on backwards. Fortunately nobody noticed but Kiley. Who puts buttons on the front of a dress? Come on! The best part of Sunday morning while I was getting Hadley ready was when she looked at me and said "Daddy cute." I love my baby.

Our Summer

We've had a fun summer and it makes me sad that it comes and goes so quickly. Its still HOt here til October but they're closing all our pools now and making summer come to an end.

Here is a recap of our summer....

I love having my friends come visit so it started out so fun with Nicole and Brittany coming into town before Nicole moved to Iowa. This will hopefully be an annual thing, no kids, shopping and having some interesting talks out back on the patio! *Riley came to a few times and I got NO pics of us, sorry ri*



Hadley loves going to the District to ride Horsies.

We went up to Salt Lake for a very quick family reunion. It was horrible, Hadley had the flu while we were there too. We were able to say a quick hello to our good friends the Peine's.
Here is Hadley and Nolan.
Hadley having fun with Aunt Erin and Uncle Garrett. She loves jumping off Grandma and Grandpa McDonald's coffee table.
Hadley can't reach the pedals on her trike so she loves when friends or mommy takes her for rides. Here is her little buddy Francesca.

Grandma, or mygam is what Hadley calls her, spends time with us every summer on her breaks. This was after swimming lessons and they were enjoying a shake and having fun with milk mustaches.



We had a fun 4th of July with our friends. All the kids surprised us and played very well together and no one got hurt on the tramp!

And our last visitors were Riley and Crew again. We love when they come play even though Hadley has sharing issues when they do come!! These were the only pics I have and I had to still them off Riley's blog.


We also had Brandon's sisters Shannon and her family, Erin and Garrett and Kristen and her friend come visit BUT no pics!!

Fun Weekend

We had a way to short but fun weekend with my family. It is my dad's and soon to be sister in laws birthdays! We went to dinner and bowling to celebrate. Hadley loved bowling! We got the bumpers for her and no joke she beat me. And she got a strike.

I love my dad so much and want to wish him a happy birthday today! He is seriously the best! He is so fun, caring, smart, loving, strong, funny and the best example to me! I love that his family is everything to him and it shows. He does so much for all of us. If he hasn't seen us in a few weeks my parents will drive down to just eat dinner with us. Or if Brandon or I have needed something or with any move he is always there. I love watching him and Hadley together. She adores him.



I don't know if Syndey reads this, but happy late birthday! We love you and are so excited you are going to be apart of our family! You are so good for Kade and you are the sweetest person!

Uncle Kade helping Haddy bowl.

She would clap and cheer after anyone bowled!


She knew that the orange ball was hers. No one could touch it.

Hadley's 2 yr old pictures

My friend Valerie took Hadley's pictures for us and here are a few. It really hit me on Sunday just how big she is getting. We got home from church and I asked her how was nursery and she tells me she went to the temple church (thats what she calls the church, i have no idea why) and tells me bubbles, treats and knees and toes. It was just weird that she could tell me about the song she sang and what she did there.
It makes me crazy how fast time is going and that I have a two year old.
Here are a few reasons why I love her:
-she talks non stop to me at home
-she'll do anything to make us laugh
-she thinks farts are funny and blames them on other people
-when she doesn't want to do something she says NOPE
-when she does want to do something she says OK MAMA
-she loves to watch movies
-she's good at cleaning up (i hope i don't jinx this)
-she knows all my friends names and their kids
-she can unload the silverware from the dishwasher
-she has to go to bed with all her stuffed animals

She was looking at these with me and I asked her what she is looking at and she tells me a bird.

atlanta!

Warning: There are a ton of pictures! My collage wouldn't work.


Hadley and I went with my parents, grandparents and aunt Kathy to Atlanta to visit our cousins the Kreylings. My cousin Kim had a baby in April so my parents were taking my grandparents to visit and so we tagged along! It was a lot of fun!! I was so nervous for our flight with Haddie, I didn't know how she'd do. Delta screwed up our seats so none of us sat by each other so that made things even better! Luckily Had was great but fell asleep when we landed and taxied in.



We stayed up every night playing Yahtzee, our family favorite. My grandma kicked our buts and set a record.

Kim, baby Davis and haddie

Haddie and Papa playing in Kim's backyard. Why can't Vegas have big yards?!
Enjoying Kim's pool. Hadley showing off her swimming skills.


Davis is the best cuddler ever!! This was me on babysitting duty, I have no clue where my child is..

Hadley loves My aunt Koni's dog Wally. She loved walking him every night with them! And she loved climbing in his cage.

We went to Stone mountain and watched the laser show and fireworks.



While we were there they had Davis's blessing. It was really special. Here is Kim, Lance and Davis. Who by the way is the best baby!



Hadley thinks any coffee table or fireplace is her stage and she'll just sing and dance. Its pretty funny.
We went to the Aquarium. I love that place!! And Hadley was in heaven! She kept yelling "Nemo!"



Grandma and Grandpa spoil her and got her, her own Nemo.
Our family favorite: the Varsity!!
Saying our Goodbye's. Thanks Kreylings and Cones for entertaining us and letting us take over your houses! We had so much fun, wish we could lived closer so we could see each other more!!