Making Candy Canes

Tonight we went over to our friends Scott and Sarah Moss' house to make candy canes. It was really fun. I have never made them before. Hailey really enjoyed it. It was also fun to be able to hang out with our friend Cherae and her kids before they move to Colorado for two years. Her husband Brandon missed out on some quality candy canes. (We are sad they are leaving, but excited to move into their house while they are gone :)

Cherae's daughter Maddy

Christmas Party

We had a great Christmas Party at Dave and Katie's house. We have been so blessed to have such incredible friends in our lives. Thank you so much for organizing it all Katie. I wish I would have taken more pictures. (Amber, Beka & Katie: I want your pics from Saturday.) Of course our husbands spent most of the time in the garage gym talking about crossfit etc., the kids caught on quick and started working out:

I can't get this picture to turn upright. It's rotated correctly in my iphoto library, who knows, you'll just have to crank your head to see cute Lincoln

Here is Hailey, she is so so tough

Scout Chase (Colby's betrothed)

Trip to see Santa

I took the kids to see Santa and Mrs. Clause at Lakeview Hospital. I loved her response to seeing him. She started jumping up and down and with as much excitement as she could muster, she said, " Mom, look, it's the REAL Santa!" These moments remind me why I love being a mom so much. I totally expected Hailey to be shy, but she sat on his lap for a few minutes and told him what she wanted for Christmas. Her list is as follows: A pink t.v. for her room, a pink bicycle, a pink scooter, and a pink suitcase. She was very distraught when it occurred to her about five minutes after she saw Santa that she forgot to tell him about the suitcase. I told her we could write him a letter. Colby wasn't really phased by Santa, he was too busy eating a cookie. :)

Like Father, Like Son

Colby adores his daddy. He asks for him repeatedly throughout each day. I tell him that Daddy is at work, and Colby says "erk." I seriously love this age. They are so much fun. Colby's adoration doesn't stop at just playing with dad. He wants to do everything daddy does, including daddy's "dangerous" (Doug says its not dangerous, but my opinion is yet to be changed) hobbies. Here are some pictures of Colby helping Doug sharpen his crampons for ice climbing.

Hailey and Colby's Christmas Pictures

My Little Artist(s) Vol. II

I think its great that my kids like to color/draw so much. However, I wish there was a way to limit it to PAPER! :) Luckily, markers are washable and for anything else, I have a magic eraser. I just had to share the artwork of Hailey & Colby on my kitchen floor. Hailey obviously knows better than to draw on the floor (I can't say the same for Colb, although he has been told that it's a "no no.") Hailey tried to blame most of it on Colb, but he can't draw letters or people, so that statement wasn't too convincing. :)

My Little Artist

Colby is fascinated with coloring right now. He love to scribble. This morning his canvas happened to be his belly. I see a lot of artistic potential. Thank heavens for washable markers.

Random Pics

Here are some random pictures of the kids from the past week or so:

Lasagna and toddlers = MAJOR MESS for mom

The kids LOVE riding their horse a.k.a. daddy
(Yes, I realize that Hailey looks very much like a vagrant and is half naked. I promise she doesn't always look this way. I also realize that Colby is riding in the nude, it's his preferred style most of the time. ...let's just hope that for Doug's sake, nature doesn't call! Wow, the more I type, the worse it seems. Just disregard any nakedness. Thanks. :)

HAILEY'S BABY PICS

Doug wanted me to post this so he could show some friends from work how little Hailey was when she was born. It's crazy looking at these pictures. We have been so blessed. She is so healthy now. She's our little miracle.

Hailey holding Doug's finger

She was 2 lbs. 9 oz. 15" long, born at 28 1/2 weeks gestation

This picture gets me everytime

Me touching Hailey's tiny foot

Hailey's Doodles

So, I had to share some of Hailey's recent drawings. I always loved the crazy scribbling (that didn't really resemble anything) that she did when she was younger. It's kind of fun to see her progress and try and draw specific parts. They slightly resemble monsters, although I'm sure they're just people. Enjoy!

Girls' Day

I have some wonderful friends from college. We have girls' nights every few months or so. We decided to make it an entire day last Saturday. We told our husbands thank you for watching the kids and that we had no idea when we would be home. It was great! We started off with breakfast at Mimi's. Then we headed over to the mall for a couple of hours and then it was off to Gardner Village. After that, we saw Dan in Real Life and then had dinner at Red Robin. I seriously LOVE these girls and I am so thankful to have such incredible friends in my life. You guys are the best!

Katie, Beka, Kirsten, Me and Nikki

The Motif store at Gardner Village

Breakfast at Mimi's

Halloween

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. I was surprised at how fast Colby caught on. It was the cutest thing to watch his little fist knock on the door alongside his sister's. He held his little pumpkin up for candy and then was ready for the next house. We almost got through the night unscathed. Hailey did trip quite a few times (poor girl inherited some of her mother's putziness--is that even a word?) and after about 10 minutes of Trick or Treating, she had a bloody lip, tongue and hand. Luckily, she's pretty tough (I also believe she inherited that from her mother :) and she was back to getting candy in no time.

Colby getting dressed up as Pablo

Posing for mom...I love when they hold hands :)

Hailey at her preschool Halloween program

Doug Climbing

Hey, I wanted to put up some pictures of Doug doing his favorite pastime. I feel bad that all of the pictures I have of him on here so far are pure blackmail pictures.

Dry tooling in Provo Canyon

Ouray Co.

Mt. Rainier

Mt.Rainier

Halloween Parties

Here are some pics from the Primary Halloween Party:

Colby was Pablo from Backyardigans. I'll get a better picture on Halloween with his hat actually on.

Hailey went as Uniqua (Backyardigans as well) My kids love that show.

Here's some scary pictures. But it's Halloween, so.... We went to a Murder Mystery Party and dressed as 80's. Doug sported a little mohawk and my shoes were to die for.

Sand Stache

Okay, so I know this is really gross, but it's one of those pictures that is definitely blog worthy. Colby was playing in the sand box and had a little bit of a runny nose. I guess he decided that eating sand was a great idea and well, I think the picture shows it best.

Here's the pic. This is just a week after Doug got home from his mission. For those of you who know Doug, this is totally out of character for him. I thought he was a great sport, and I was surprised that I didn't even have to talk him into this. His sister had these costumes (a tribute to Blind Melon; the bee and the flower). Enjoy!

Band Uniforms Anyone??

Okay, so I'm not having much luck finding any band uniforms to borrow and Doug and I are supposed to go to a Murder Mystery Party this Saturday night dressed in band uniforms! It's crunch time and so I'm asking for help online. If any of you know of a way to get band uniforms, please let me know. I would greatly appreciate it. I'm sure Doug will too...although I'll bet he's secretly hoping I don't find any so he doesn't have to dress up. Every once in a while Doug goes out on a limb for Halloween. Some of you were witness to such an event five Halloweens ago. He may kill me for this, but I am going to post the picture. You'll just have to wait until tomorrow because its in Hailey's room and she is asleep. You're gonna love it. :)

To tape??

I vaguely remember Hailey giving me trouble with this, but Colby seems to be my little magnet for mischief. The latest thing is taking his diaper off and always right after he's gone #2. (Of course this all started right after we got new carpet in our front room.) Fortunately, it has pretty much all stayed in the diaper. Initially I thought to just keep his pants on all the time, but...he has figured out how to take his pants off. So, I think I may have to start taping his diapers on. Any advice?

Cabin Fever

We've spent countless weekends this year at Doug's family cabin. We all really love it up there. It has been so much fun to be up there with family and friends.

Colby and the turkeys

Colby playing in the creek

Hailey fishing

Colby chilling on the couch

Hailey playing in the creek

Hailey repelling INSIDE the cabin