Viva Las Vegas

Last weekend Carl and I were able to head on down to Las Vegas, with Hayden of course, and spend some quality time with Carl's family.
I have always really enjoyed visiting the sparkling lights of sin city and when I was 16 I decided that Vegas was the place to spend my honeymoon. It turns out I grew up a little bit and realized that there are much better places to spend my time as newly married woman. However, it has still always been a fun place to visit. In the past few years we have traveled down with friends a couple of times and had a lot of fun, but I am slowly realizing that Vegas really isn't a family place, not for families with little kids at least.
But we did have fun this weekend with our family in their huge time share watching Lilo and Stitch,
Hayden taking fun baths in the fancy jet tub,




visiting the sharks at Mandalay Bay





and watching the beautiful lions at the MGM Grand.








It was the perfect amount of time to spend amongst all the smoke and glitz. I LOVE getting together with my baby's cousins and aunts and uncles and, of course, grandma and grandpa. It was a fun getaway for us. THANK YOU!


On a different note, Hayden is a very big helper around the kitchen.
Yesterday she helped me organize the drawers and bake banana bread. She is so domestic.



She is also starting to really dance when she hears music. This is the best video I could get of her, but it's still cute. Enjoy!

A week later..

It's been a week since Carl's surgery, and things are getting better. He can move around on his own again and he is back at work. He still has pains every now and then, but that is to be expected.
The surgery itself went very well! We got to the clinic at 5 a.m. where they took Carl to get prepped and prodded with needles, but he had very good nurses taking care of him and he ended up having a rather pleasant experience with the needles in comparison to what he has had in the past (a little Xanax helped.) At 6 a.m. they whooshed him away to complete the task at hand, I went into the waiting room and dozed a bit, and at 6:50 a.m. the surgeon woke me up and told me they were finished. So it was a very quick procedure. I was aloud to go back and wait for him to wake up, but man, seeing him all doped up like that with an oxygen mask on his face broke my heart. We spent a few hours in recovery waiting for him to be alert enough to be able to leave, and when we got the all clear, home we went!
My brother, Jeff, had stayed home with Hayden so we didn't have to worry about her, which was really nice.
So for the past week, this is how we have spent our time:
Hayden and her gang taking care of Carl.
Carl and his girls.
Here are the 4 incisions. Ouch!
Get better soon, Daddy!

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. Carl and I are so appreciative and love you ALL!

Poor Carlito

Carl has his surgery tomorrow to remove his gal bladder. He is not excited. I am not excited. But it will hopefully help him to feel better, so for that I AM excited.

My poor hubby.

I just want him happy.

I'll keep you posted on the happenings. Say a little prayer for him!:)

Pure Silliness

Seriously, could she be any cuter?
Here is Hayden in her big girl car seat. Yes, it is big. But she looks so comfortable and it's so fun to have her facing us now.





This is what happens when you let dad feed the baby:










And this is what happens when you teach about love:

Thanks for the cute monkey Uncle Brian and Auntie Flora!

Now for pure silliness, check out this video. It is so cute and funny!

It's Fun to Be One!

Yep, my baby girl turned 1 today, and yes, I had a little melt down after she went to sleep tonight. How can she be 1 already? But now that the emotional wreck has pulled herself together, I can document this weekend with a clear head. Ahhhhhh...

It was so fun to have our friends and family over on Saturday for a par-tay! We have the greatest friends to be so wonderful to us and our little sweetie pie. We attempted to get a picture of all the kids that came, but you know how kids are... Needless to say, we had a lot of fun with them and are so grateful for everyone who came to wish Hayden a happy birthday. We love you all!

Grandma and Grandpa Owens were also able to come down to join in the festivities. We loved having them here and wish we could see them and hang out all the time!(watching the super bowl)


Here is Hayden with her birthday cupcakeShe wanted to share

It's hard to believe that a year ago today she was born. It has been such an amazing year and such a learning experience for me as a new mom. I have been blessed to have this sweet miracle in my life. She is so much fun and I can't wait to spend more time with her and watch her grow. I can put pig tails in her hair and I LOVE it!!

I love you Hayden Lily and I hope you have many more wonderful birthdays to come. Now I can go finish crying....I can sure be pretty sappy.

Love and Basketball

I have a million things to be doing right now, but I decided to do a blog instead. I know my priorities. I don't really know why I'm doing a blog because I am so tired and not all mentally there, therefore, my whit and humor may not be at it's best, but that might not even make a difference. You know how it goes, sometimes I think I'm really funny, when in reality I'm not, yada yada yada. Okay, on to the post.

I really just wanted to talk about Carl. I love him. It's true. He works so hard to put food on our table and clothes on our back and for that I am so grateful. Another thing I love about him, and he will probably be in shock that I put this, is his love for basketball. He LOVES it. He loves to play it, to watch it...everything having to do with basketball. He plays on city leagues and church ball. It's one of his favorite things. I used to give him such a hard time about all the time he spent playing, because he should be spending it with me, dang it! But I have learned in my old age that he needs that escape to let loose and burn off steam. I'm glad he has something(other than me, of course) that he loves to invest time in. Plus, I have really learned to love March Madness and I'm not too shabby at picking my bracket. Just don't ever pick Wisconsin to win it all. They'll let you down every time.

Our friend, Andy, invited Carl to play with his team last week, so I took the liberty of documenting his love of the game.

Carl attacking!

This is a shot of two guys fighting. It almost got physical, but it didn't. Just a bunch of yelling in faces. Gotta love city leagues.


Amylyn, me and Hayden rooting the guys on.


Carl and Andy waiting to rebound.(Andy is the one in the dark shirt)


Crazy kid.


BFF


I threw those last couple in because they make me laugh. I love my little family.

A New Day

So history was made today, and I must say, I was fascinated with the presidential inauguration this morning. As I was listening to the new President Obama in his first speech as President of the United States, I realized how excited I am to see a change not only in the country and economy, but in the attitudes of the American people ourselves. I think he really is an excellent speaker and a great motivator, and I am anxious to see what he has in store for our country. I pray that the people in this country will stand behind our new president and encourage him to make this country something we can be proud of, no matter what political background we may have. God bless the U.S.A!

Now, back to me, because that's what everyone wants to hear about right? Ha! Anyway, we were able to hang out with Carl's sister and her family this weekend and we loved it. They have two of the cutest little boys ever, so Hayden was able to play with her cousins once again. I love that. It was so good to see them and we can't wait for our next trip together.

Carl and I are also deeply involved in our beloved series of LOST. We didn't get to watch all of season 4 last year, so we are frantically trying to catch up and finish season 4 before season 5 starts TOMORROW! Holy cow, I forgot how much I really like this show. I have NO idea what is going to happen, it's so good! So therefore, since I have been so caught up at night in LOST, my reading in Breaking Dawn has dwindled, but I am almost finished with it. I'll let you all know when that happens, don't you worry. All I will say is I wish I were a vampire. There, I said it.

And now for the cutest of all cuteness: Hayden
Hayden now has 6 teeth(and counting) that we are actually brushing. Her little toothbrush is so cute, I can't stand it.
She also loves to feed herself with a spoon, so you can only imagine the mess that makes...no wait, no need to imagine, I have proof right here for you:



She is also starting to figure out this walking stuff. So here is a cute video of her new attempts at this crazy thing we do with our legs:


Here's my random of Hayden. While I was changing her diaper and clothes, she escaped and was found doing what she loves... making a mess, of course.
What's not to love?!