Projects and Visitors

Daniel and Erin came to visit awhile ago and we had such a great time!  The kids couldn't believe how big Kylie and James were!  Daniel checked out the different medical programs while we played ;)  We all went out Saturday morning to some garage sales and I found this cedar chest at an awesome price!  We refinished it in ONE DAY practically!  Loved seeing them and loved their help!

 Before

 Daniel helping get the top back on :)

 AFTER!  I totally love this!

 Cute cousins!! :)  Come visit anytime! ...especially when you are tired of snow ;)

His First Hair Cut

I had a hard time wanting to cut off Greyson's gorgeous golden locks, but I bit the bullet after he turned one since people started saying he was a really cute girl.....  However looking back on his long hair I love it still!  He looks so cute!  But his new hair cut does help him look all grown up too :)  Either way my Grey is ADORABLE if I do say so myself! :)

He was such a good boy during the cut!

 You can see Hallie reading to him while I cut so he will be happy :) :)  

I thought 

I might as well add Hallie's hair from crazy hair week 

and

Leilah's side pony tail that Daddy gave her...

Greyson's 1 Year Pictures

Pictures are finally here!

 party game- everyone brought items from around the world so Greyson could choose one to show us where is dreams and talents will take him... apparently he's headed to Hawaii and ...

The whole family :)

 Mom and her little man

Getting a closer look...

 Delicious!

 Daddy and his little pal

Greyson Is One!

Today Greyson turned one! It's so amazing to realize that on this day one year ago he was born. He entered this world full of so many people who love him so much! I remember holding him for the first time and giving him his first bottle. He was so tiny and so perfect. Now he his so big and so perfect. Everyday I cherish each smile and kiss and hug, but today I am pausing a second longer on that hug and after that kiss and examining his sweet smile for just a few seconds more. I want to hold him all day long today and just watch as he grows in my arms... because I know it won't be long before he is "all grown up." Of course like any one year old he won't sit in my arms all day long; that curious, adventurous sweet boy will run and play and laugh and explore like he does everyday. But he will also wrap his arms around my leg for a huge one year old hug, kiss me with the sweetest slobber, open mouth kiss ever, and laugh from the top of his head to his toes. I love you Greyson! You are my sweet little boy and the missing piece to our family puzzle. We are completely whole, filled to the brim with joy because of you!

Day to Day Cuteness

Hallie loves to have me lay by her at night. Each night I spend about 15 or 20 minutes chatting with Hallie about her day, discussing our favorite parts of the day, listening to her stories and thoughts, and answering her millions of questions. Inevitably I have to get up and feed Greyson and put him to bed. Within minutes she is out of the bedroom telling me she loves me SO much and misses me SO much! Hallie asks for me to come back in the bedroom and lay by her to talk. Lately her reasoning has been that she "Loves me just TOO much and misses having me by her." Hallie's just at that age where she wants to hang out with me and I'm loving it! When we sit on the couch if I'm a cushion away she'll say, "Mom scoot over! Come right her close to me!" :) :) If that's not adorable I don't know what is! .................................................................................................................................................................................. Leilah is learning SO much right now! She says so many things and is so smart! Leilah has so much energy and loves to play, swim, jump, dance, sing, chase her sister and Oliver around, and "take care" of Greyson. She talks constantly and I can understand most of what she says. She is addicted to pacifiers and at night when we lay her down the first thing she says is "another one." She likes one in her mouth and one in each hand usually, and now it's just one more than whatever she has. So I tell her I'll get one, she asks for the door to be left open (so she can see if I really am getting one or just waiting for her to go to sleep lol) and then I say ok. Then in the sweetest and smallest whisper she says a tire, "ok" back. It sounds so insignificant, but it's one of my favorite parts of the day. :) She also loves to "sh" me. If....WHEN I say things she doesn't like, such as, "eat your dinner," "time to brush teeth," "last slide then we need to go home," then she puts her finger to her mouth and says a quiet, "shhh" and whispers, "quiet." It's SO hard not to laugh each time! ................................................................................................................................................ Today Greyson pulled himself up from sitting to standing! He held onto the step stool and put his feet down and up he went! He is super mobile and grabs anything and everything is sight! I have never seen such a happy baby either. In fact I had no idea that such good babies as this little guy even existed! He is so incredibly smily and sweet, snuggly and easy going! He laughs easily and is so patient! If we miss a nap or he gets woken on accident he still smiles and is so happy the rest of the day :) It's as if he says, "It's ok :) I'll just take a longer nap later, but for now I'm just happy to see everyone!" He melts my heart and makes me laugh out loud every day! Today Hayden came home and said hi to all the kids. Greyson was on the floor and Hayden said hello to him and got a huge smile in return, then he walked over to put his backpack down. Right as he passed Greyson, Greyson let out a huge serious cry! (so unusual for our happy guy) He wanted his daddy! He started to crawl toward Hayden and Hayden came back and picked him up. The tears were gone and he gave Hayden a huge smile and snuggled in :) :)

Life and Lovin' it!

So Leilah turned 2!!! She is amazing and I am going to do a birthday post about her soon :) Greyson was sealed to us and had his baby blessing :) ....that too will be a post :) However, for now and today I just wanted to say I love my kids. I love them! They are amazing! I am so lucky that I get to be a mom, but not just that, I get to be THEIR mom! :) Being a mom isn't easy. I think if you asked any mom they would say that it was a harder job than they expected. But in the same breath add that it was SO much better, full of so much more joy than they expected as well. I know it's been awhile... but it's still close to my heart the days when I felt I would never have the opportunity to be a mom; to wipe noses, kiss toesies, and make peanut butter sandwiches. Then miraculously after over 5 years of heart break, our Heavenly Father mended our hearts with adoption. Through a loving, generous, amazing birthmom. And then we were blessed twice more through this heavenly process! I know I don't know much about a lot of things, but this I do know... Heavenly Father has made my family. He as carefully constructed each piece to fit perfectly together and make a work of art that I could not have dreamed up on my own. Heavenly Father made me a mom. This gift will never be repayable. It is a joy that fills my heart to the top and starts spilling out my eyes :) I love my children so much! I am so grateful to be their mom!

Hallie is 5!!!

Hallie turned 5 last month! I don't know what it is about that number, but suddenly she is "so big." We did a few birthday parties to celebrate. For her actual birthday she went to preschool (which is one of her favorite things!) Hayden took the afternoon off and we all hung out, swimming, making and devouring lasagna, and making a lemon cake. I had no idea she liked lemon cakes, but apparently it is the only favor worth having. She actually didn't eat much of it, Hallie is not a huge fan of cake in general... But she loved that it was a ladybug.

Her friend party was all themed ladybug as well. A friend of mine mentioned that you can get ladybugs from a nursery so we got 1200 ladybugs, put them in our butterfly pavilion and did a "bug hunt treasure hunt" for one of her party games. The ladybugs were the hit of the party! We could barely tear the kids away from them to have treats and open presents! In fact adorable Hals opened half of her gifts then said, "just a minute mom, I'll be right back." Then she walked over to the ladybug pavilion and started watching the ladybugs again...lol Pretty adorable! We have great friends out here who all came to support Hallie. I think every one of her preschool friends came too!

Just starting this post got me emotional and now I'm going to let all of that gooshiness out. :) Hallie is the sweetest girl in the world! I love her SO much! I wish there was a way to convey just how special and unique and perfect she is, and just how much she fills up my heart with joy! She loves to help other people and does whenever she can. She is smiley and silly. She loves to laugh and tease. I think Hallie is also one of the most tender hearted kids I know. She cries when other people cry and gets so worried about anyone who is having a hard day. Right now one of her favorite saying is "no worries! It's ok, we're all still learning. Right?" She says it in this oober happy, positive voice. :) She is so incredible!

One of my favorite times of day is at night. We have this ritual where I come and lay by her and ask her what her favorite part of the day was. We take turns every night, but she always thinks she went first the previous night and is surprise I say that I went first..lol :) Then we talk about the day. That girl can talk! Lately I feel like she is never silent. :) She has so many things to say or observe and questions to ask. Right now is such a fun time with her! She wants to be so grown up and do so many things and is constantly learning. :)

A Taste of Me

This past week we have had Hayden home all to ourselves. It has been wonderful, marvelous, glorious and amazing! The kids and I have missed him SO much! Especially since the two weeks prior to the break I was basically a single parent. We were lucky to see Hayden for an hour a day and we didn't accomplish that often. He was up by 3 or 4 several days and home at midnight or one. Needless to say he was exhausted and the break was a necessity for us all.

So while I was experiencing my few weeks of being a single parent I realized something. Food is important to me. I knew this before.... I have always loved to bake and to cook; to try out new recipes with odd ingredients, or just try a new style of cooking. But never was it more apparent than when Hayden was gone. I needed an out, something for me to enjoy while he was at school. So I turned to baking. First I tried to make and use fondant on a cake...not great, but hey it's my first try.


It was fun to try fondant, and I'll definitely try it again. However, I realized that it is most likely not my niche. We'll see,... I suppose with more practice, but I found love in another place. I have a sincere love for pretty. Any food that is "pretty" is my favorite food. It could be asparagus and beets in some gross sauce and I would love it if it was pretty. So when I found a beautiful picture of a peanut butter cup chocolate cake cheesecake.... I was smitten. Then Hayden and I were invited to an engagement party for two of the sweetest people in the world and I knew I had to bake this cake for them. So after three days of baking this is what was produced....



(this was one of the last pieces and got kinda squished :( but you get the idea ;) )

The pictures aren't the best quality, but you get the idea. Here's the rundown of this cake from bottom layer to top: homemade rich chocolate cake, caramel, peanuts, peanut butter cup cheesecake, caramel, peanuts, (repeat cake caramel peanuts cheesecake...) Then top it with chocolate ganache, frost with whipped chocolate ganache, and garnish with peanut butter frosting, peanut butter cups and homemade chocolate swirls! In the end the cake weighed about ten pounds!

As I made the cake I was so incredibly happy! I loved every second of the process. Finding the best ingredients, putting them together, smelling the flavors being added and combine, adjusting the recipe to fit my perception of what it should taste like..AHHH!! It was so fun, I want to make it again!

I have to say however, there was a bit of a lull in my baking high.... I had made this delicious beautiful cake!....but what now? I am on the hunt for something new, challenging, and of course :) pretty! I may settle for now in trying new flavors out in my baking. Or perhaps fillings... I haven't really made things with fillings... Anyway I may not ever be the best baker, but I have found that I love it! I know that it is an out for me and I can now plan accordingly :) Next finals week everyones waistlines better watch out!!!

Life and loves

So things are good for us all here in warm AZ. The run down is that we miss family. We love our friends. We play outside in the sun everyday :) :) :) Hallie loves preschool, dancing like a star, Oliver, and playing with her siblings. Leilah loves popsicles, following Hallie around, and sweet talking everyone she meets. Greyson loves everyone and everything. He smiles like crazy, grabs for his bottles (loves to eat and grows like crazy) and basically melts my heart. Hayden loves being home and with us, but that is a rare occasion these days. I love finding projects to do with the kids, the library, and walks to the park everyday. And someday I will love me some sleep! :) I love how Hayden works so hard and studies so hard for us.

Oh, and I'd love some visitors!!! PS we swam three times this past month... nudge nudge, wink wink

Pics of us.. sorry never good with order and such :)