Nationals

Last weekend was a big weekend for a few reasons:

1. Our cheerleaders had their national competition down in California.

Considering it was the first time for them to compete at a national level, they did very well! We placed 8th, barely missing the finals by .8 of a point. So close, yet so far away. Oh well, maybe next year. I'm proud of the hard work these girls put in to make it this far.

2. It was a 5 day trip down to California and Disneyland/California Adventure! Disneyland really is a happy place :)

3. It was a 5 day trip...without Carl or Hayden. This was the first time I have been away from Hayden for more than a night and the first time for Carl to be in charge of her for that long. I was REALLY nervous about the whole trip to begin with, and then missing them on top of it was freaking me out. BUT, I made it! (Thanks Robyn, for watching Hayden while Carl was working! And for feeding my family!) And Carl did an EXCELLENT job at playing Mr. Mom. Those two now have an even stronger bond than before and I love it. I would be lying if I said I didn't cry at the sight of them when they picked me up to bring me home. I just don't like being away from them.

Period.

New Room

We painted our bedroom a little while ago. I know right? We're crazy with the painting stuff. We went with a green paint but since we had a green comforter that meant we needed to get a new one or that would have been a lot of green going on. So we finally did and we love it.

I wish I had a before shot but I don't. This is the after.

We still need to add a little color, but for now the yellow pillow goes really nicely with our family painting. :)

Carl even put up new curtains with the help of our friend Jethro.

It's fun to get our house how we want it. Plus, this is sooo much better than the beige we had in there. So what should we paint next?

Hayden's 1st Cheer Clinic

Hayden had her very first dance/cheer performance last night.
Our cheerleaders held a mini cheer clinic this week to raise money for nationals and last night was the grand finale.
I have to be honest, I think I was more excited/nervous about it than I probably should have been! haha!
The clinic lasted for 3 days. So considering Hayden missed the first day because we were out of town, practiced the 2nd day and pretty much slept through/wanted nothing to do with it the 3rd day of practice, she was still so excited and looked pretty cute. Even if she kind of just did her own thing. It was still cute...until she ran in front of and got trampled by an older girl towards the end and whacked her head on the floor....but that's another story.
So for now, feast your eyes on the amazing Hayden!!
(She's the one in the little tutu/skirt)
And yes, we accidentally filmed it in black and white. Whoops! It's still cute though:)

I Loved Last Week

It's always a fun time when family comes around. We were lucky enough to not only see 1 set of grandparents, but both sets of grandparents!! Hooray!

First up: Gma and Gpa Owens.
They decided to make a trip down to see us and boy were we glad they did!

I love this picture. Gpa and Hayden doing story time with an audience. See how well they are listening?

My parents now have 2 dogs. We still have only 1. They really like going on walks, so here is Gma taking on all 3 pups at the same time.

And Gpa pushing Hayden.

We were fortunate enough to be with my mom on her birthday. We went to dinner, where Hayden decided to eat about 15 olives in a row. Not even kidding. That's a lot. And she enjoyed every last one of them.

Happy Birthday MOM! Hayden is so excited for you...:)

We had a pretty relaxing time with them in town. It's always so hard for me when they leave. I don't get to see them nearly as much as I would like.

They were here for about a week, but it wasn't supposed to be that long. They ended up staying an extra day because this happened the morning they were supposed to leave back for Washington:

Yep, it snowed about 6 inches. This happened to be the same day we left for Las Vegas to see Gma and Gpa McCain and the Lewis Family, AKA-Cousins! So we packed up and left my parents in charge of our house until the roads were clear enough for them to travel north.

We made it safe and sound and Hayden got to play with Brooks and Ade for an entire weekend.

Such a great picture.

Eating a a delicious buffet in Vegas. This is the ONLY family picture we got while down there. Way to go.

Even though it was 50 degrees outside, we still went swimming. The pools were heated and it actually felt really nice. It was just funny to see everyone walking around with parkas and ear muffs while we were relaxing in the pool. I guess we are just used to Utah weather so 50 degrees feels like summer :)

It was soooo fun to watch these 3 play together. So fun. I wish they lived closer.

We love Grandma!

And this was one of the best parts of the trip. Hayden and Gpa reading together.

While we were at the Hotel, Mom McCain was nice enough to treat me to a pedicure, which was incredible. I also got to take home the bottle of polish they used as part of the deal. Hayden loved my toes, so when we got home, she really wanted to paint her toes just like mommy. So she did. And did a pretty good job :)

My little girl is growing up.

So pretty!

THANK YOU to Mom and Dad Owens for coming to visit us and loving us, and THANK you to Mom and Dad McCain for hooking us up with a sweet vacation spot to get away and hang out with some of our favorite people. I'm bummed I wasn't better about taking more pictures. Heather and Brandon, you guys are amazing. We had so much fun with you! Thanks for having cute kids that not only treat Hayden like a good cousin, but also like a good friend. She really misses them! We love you all!

This is just a little snippet of the kids playing together and our car ride home. I thought it was funny...

My Kid Makes Me Laugh

Seriously, who is this kid?

After Hayden had been in bed for a little bit last night, she called Carl into her room specifically to show him that she had her big bouncy ball in bed with her. Carl laughed, of course and then told her it wasn't play time, it was sleep time. So sleep she did...with her big bouncy ball by her side.
Funny kid.

The other day, I was trying to get a nice picture of Hayden with just a simple smile. That is all I asked, but I got a whole lot more in return...



Does she even realize that she is posing? silly girl.

Also, yesterday she called me a "sticky doody".
What's a sticky doody you ask?
I asked her the same thing:

Me: Hayde, what's a sticky doody?
Hayden: A sticky doody has so much to do with little feet and little toes!
Me: Oh, and what else?
Hayden: And big legs.
Me: Oh, okay, what else?
Hayden: And a face.
Me: So a sticky doody has so much to do with little feet and little toes with big legs and a face?
Hayden: Yes!

I'm not sure if I should be flattered or offended? Oh well, it was soooo funny!

And lastly, I love my little family. They make me laugh sooo much.



What about Hayden's laugh in this? She looks crazy! And I LOVE it!

I Did It!

I finished the last book of the Harry Potter series last night. Finnnaaalllyyyy!! It only took me about 10 years to start reading these books, but I'm proud of the fact that I read all 7 of them in about 9 months. And have you seen the size of those suckers? For me, this is a big deal. And I have loved every. single. minute of it.

So thank you, J.K Rowling, for giving me this fun piece of entertainment!
I am your newest fan. And nerd. But mainly fan. :)

My Girl

This girl just turned 3!

For fun we went to Jumpin' Jacks with some friends. And for fun I thought I would try to get a picture of all the friends together. These were my attempts, but to no avail. It's really hard to keep kids focused when there are bouncy castles and cheetos everywhere. :)

Hayden LOVED being with her friends. It was really cute to watch.

We all know that kids' parties are really for the parents, right? I was so excited to be with my ladies. They are some hot mamas! I love these girls!

After Jumpin Jacks we all came back to our place for some pizza and cupcakes. I didn't get any pictures of that. I should have.
What I did get pictures of was me. And Hayden. Together. I TRIED to get a NORMAL shot of the two of us smiling, but where's the fun in that? I mean, look at Hayden's faces in all these shots...

....Awesome.

Once Carl got home, we had dinner, cake and presents with just the 3 of us. Hayden told us that all she wanted for her birthday was a pink cake with candles.
Tada!!

I think she liked it.

What party would be complete without over sized sunglasses?

Hayden had such a fun day with all her friends. We missed our families and wish we could have been with them too.
Hayden is growing up so fast and if I talk too long about it, I might start to tear up. She is such a sweet little girl, with a funny personality. We love her so much and feel so blessed to have her in our lives. She loves to dance and loves to read and definitely loves her Disney movies and princesses. She loves cheer leading, Grandmas and Grandpas and all things candy. She has great taste in music and gives the best hugs.
We love you, Hayden!