A Worthy Mention...

On September 6th, Greg and I celebrated our 2nd year anniversary!

Mount Olympus...

We celebrated our two year anniversary a week early because it was the only weekend that worked into our schedules for the next month or so. We thought that instead of gifts we would rather spend some time together. We decided to hike Mount Olympus because I had never done it before and Greg said that he had done it years ago, and he didn’t remember it being too hard. It turned out to be pretty brutal, mainly because we were unprepared. I realized the night before that I had lost my hiking shoes and decided just to wear a pair of old tennis shoes which was not a good idea. Also, we ran out of water when we got to the saddle (about 30 minutes from the top of the mountain) so we decided that was as far as we were going to go. I have already gotten a lot of crap because we didn’t hike to the top but at the time I really didn’t care; it was a beautiful view from the saddle and the hike was meant to be enjoyable. Unfortunately the hike down was miserable; my knees and feet were killing me, it was really hot and we were dying of thirst. I kept telling myself the whole way down that I would never climb this mountain again, but now that I am finished I think I would definitely do it again. I would just make sure I had good hiking shoes, enough water and I would start a little earlier to hopefully miss the heat of the afternoon. Anyways, later that night after our hike we went and got massages. I was so tired and the massage was so relaxing that I almost fell asleep. Afterwards we went to the Melting Pot. I really liked the cheese and the chocolate fondue. I thought the rest of the meal was a little over-rated but it was still good.

Cabin Trip

This past weekend we spent a few days at Greg’s parents’ cabin by Flaming Gorge with his family. We drove up there on Friday and thanks to a portable DVD player Hailey was quiet for the entire drive. She fell asleep about 20 minutes before we stopped for lunch, but luckily when we got to the cabin everyone was out boating so we had some quiet time for her to take a nap.
Saturday, we went fishing which turned out to be really fun. Greg and I each caught a fish. I’m not sure if I would ever make a good fisherman because I don’t like touching them when they are still alive and I don’t think I could ever cut the hook out of their mouth. I think Hailey and I liked the social part of fishing more than the actual fishing part. Again on our way back, Hailey ended up falling asleep about 20 minutes before we got back to the cabin. But this time with all the kids around she didn’t take another nap at all. Words alone just can’t describe what happens when a two-year-old gets overly tired. If you have kids you will understand the amount of patience it takes to try and get them to go to sleep. And for those of you without kids just imagine a constant crying over everything, and nothing you do will make it stop. You would think that she would have been so tired that she would just crash, but as it turns out they the more tired they are the longer it takes for them to fall asleep; meanwhile, they just keep whining and crying. (Like I said, words can’t describe it. It is just something you have to experience for yourself.) Her skin was really warm from playing outside all day, so I decide to try and give her a shower. There wasn’t a bath tub at the cabin and trying to give her a shower was nearly impossible. But afterwards she felt better and we were finally able to get her to sleep.
The next day, we made sure to have Hailey take her nap before we ventured out. We ended up going to red cliff lodge which was really beautiful. There was a building that had souvenirs and animals on display. They also had this mountain man mannequin and when Hailey saw that she told us “Look, it’s Jesus!” I guess you can’t really blame her for thinking that because the mountain man had a beard and long hair, so there was a slight resemblance. Still, it had us all laughing.
We decided to leave Monday morning to give us some time once we got home to unpack before we both had to be to work the next day. Everyone else decided to go boating one more time before they left. Hailey was so sad because she had wanted to go on the boat so bad. She was crying and kept telling us that she wanted to go on the boat. It broke my heart and a small part of me wanted to just give in and stay a little longer but instead we promised her to take her again next year.

Tanner, Emmy, Hailey, Brooke and Kylie

Hailey in her sleeping bag. She got a little nervous when we turned out the lights, so she ended up sleeping with us in the trailer.

An intense game of Twister.

Hailey and Emmy were unseperable the entire trip. How cute are these two girls?

Me catching my first fish!

Greg showing Hailey how to fish.

Greg catching his fish!
Family photo!

Grandma has the special touch...

The other day my mom was watching Hailey for the day and that night we had a viewing to go to. I asked my mom to have her dressed and ready to go. When I picked her up this is what she had done with her hair. She looked so adorable, and what impresses me even more is that she was able to have Hailey sit still long enough to do this. I am lucky if she will sit still long enough for me to just comb her hair.

I let my kid play with fire, who doesn't?

Here are a few pictures from the 4th and the 24th. As with everything else, Hailey was very opinionated on what she liked and what she didn’t. She hated the screamers, thought the fountains were alright, liked playing with the sparklers, but what she loved most was when her daddy would light the flowers and then throw them. She asked us over and over if she could throw them and kept asking for more. (In fact when we ran out we had to lie to her and tell her we would get some more another day because she was so upset and it was the only way we could reason with a tired two-year-old.) If I would have known that I wouldn’t have spent the money on the fountains and I would have just bought a ton of flowers to keep her entertained for a while.

Check out my new ride...

Here are some pictures of Hailey's new favorite thing... her scooter. She has absolutely loved it from the moment we brought it home and she has played with it everyday since. She immediately figured out how to ride it and she is already really good at it. She has fallen a couple times when she starts going downhill and she can't quite keep up with the scooter. But she is a trooper and gets right back up without crying and starts riding it again. She also loves to wear her bike helmet (thanks to the good examples set by her cousins) and I have to admit she looks pretty cute in it. I think my favorite part is what happens after she rides the scooter; it consumes so much of her energy that by the end of the night it only takes her about five minutes to fall asleep. Gotta love that!

A weekends worth of fun...

I’ve been feeling lately like I have been stuck in a rut. Doing the same things day after day; I even find myself eating the same foods each week. It almost seems like life gets so busy that you start just going through the same motions everyday. It’s a vicious cycle that I find myself falling into without even knowing it. So, this past weekend we tried to do things to do that would be different that what we usually do.
On Friday Hailey and I went to the zoo with Marti. I had the day off and Marti was watching her cousin, Lexi. Hailey and Lexi are about the same age and they were so sweet to each other. Lexi let Hailey ride in her stroller (because of course Hailey liked Lexi's stroller better) and Hailey loved sharing her graham crackers with Lexi. The carousel is now open at the zoo and Hailey loved choosing what animal she was going to ride. We ran out of time for the train, but that is the wonderful thing about having a zoo pass; we can always go back if we don't get to do everything in one trip.



That night we went up in the canyon with some of our friends. We made s’mores and just sat by the campfire and talked. I can’t believe that Hailey is two-years-old and we have never taken her to a campfire. Hopefully we will start going a little more often because it was fun and relaxing at the same time and Hailey loved it.



Saturday we went to my parent’s house to go swimming. When we pulled up to the pool we were surprised to see my brother Daren (who is going to dental school in Las Vegas) and his kids, Josie and Curen. Then my parents came home with Sadie, Luke and Sam. So, we took Sadie with us and met the others at the pool where we spent the afternoon. Hailey actually wanted to use her floaties this time so I didn’t have to hold her in the pool. It was so cute to watch her kick her little legs in the water trying to chase Grandpa.

Hailey showing us how she floats on her back.
And blowing bubbles in the water.
And now this week I am really glad that we did some fun things last weekend because Hailey got sick on Tuesday, so we have been staying in every night. Hopefully she will get better soon! It is miserable when she is sick... and I am sure it's only worse for her.