Bath Fun With Daddy

Here's a cute little video of Haddyn and Scott's fun new bath time ritual. The best part is that Scott is only here for three days, but Haddyn likes to play this game EVERY day and I don't do the "right" reaction for her. She gets a little frustrated with me and generally settles with the toss the ducky to Mommy game. Can't win 'em all! I'm sure I am a little prejudice, but isn't her giggle the BEST?

A Fun Little Survey...

My friend Jami had this "survey" on her blog and I thought it was kinda fun, so I stole it. SINNER!! I laughed at her comment about it...

"(this survey) is good for just recording your child's birth history etc. So I thought I would put it on the blog and it would probably always be there as long as blogger doesn't go down with the rest of the world. ;)" Slightly pessimistic maybe, but Amen to that sista! he,he

1. Were you married at the time? Yes

2. What were your reactions when you found out you were pregnant? We were a little surprised and worried because I had miscarried a month before and we had been trying NOT to get pregnant, but I let it turn into excitement once I passed my 1st trimester.

3. How old were you? 24

4. How did you find out you were pregnant? We were driving down to Salt Lake to see some friends and I couldn't get comfortable and Scott said, "You have GOT to be pregnant again, every thing is irritating you!" and it turned out I was...I tested 2 days later.

5. Who did you tell first? Our friends Taylor and Sarah. Scott pulled a nasty trick on me and told Sarah and had her call me to see if I'd cave and tell her and I DIDN'T (sucker). We waited to tell everyone else until I was 13 weeks in case I miscarried again.

6. Did you want to find out the sex? Yes. Scott was in disbelief and called for a second opinion, but there were no "parts" : )

7. Due date? October 20, 2007

8. Did you deliver early or late? Right on my due date, but with a lot of help and after 28 hours of labor. (ALL worth it, I might add)

9. Did you have morning sickness? Yes until about 16 weeks and I got horrible migraines until 19 weeks.

10. What did you crave? ICE CREAM..and because I was gaining such little weight, there was a point I was told to eat it every day!! MMMM!

11. Who irritated you the most? Not really a person, I just had no patience overall. Scott learned to just take me with a grain of salt and if I got really bad he'd clue me in by saying, "Can you stand yourself right now?" ha,ha

12. What was your first child's sex? Female.

13. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? 25.

14. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? Nope, she just didn't want to come and see us. I wouldn't dilate (even though I'd had contractions every 20 minutes or less for two weeks), but a wonderful pregnancy!

15. Where did you give birth? Bingham Memorial Hospital in Blackfoot, Idaho

16. How many hours were you in labor? 28 hours with about 15 or 20 minutes pushing.

17. Who drove you to the hospital? My honey of course. He was so bummed cause we lived 20 minutes from the hospital and he SO wanted this rushed scene and getting pulled over and all that, but I just went to a regular appointment and then decided to have them start me.

18. Who watched? Scott, nurses, and my doc (seriously though, I was SO out of it there could have been a class of students in there and I don't think I would have known until after she was born!)

19. Was it natural or c-section? Natural

20. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? Epidural--14 hours in

21. How much did your child weigh? 7 lbs 12 oz and 21 inches long! (J, I never knew our babes weighed the same when they were born!)

22. What did you name him/her? Haddyn Elaine

23. How old is your first born today? 13 months old! --May not seem like she's all that old, but time FLIES!!!

Our Little Lamb

I guess it's about time I get a few pics posted of Haddyn in her Halloween costume. See, it's interesting because the costume she wore last year at 11 days old, which was a duck, still fit her so that was the plan. However, LUCKILY my friend took some pics of her a few weeks before Halloween and we discovered she absolutely hated (understatement) the costume and screamed the entire time it was on her. Not to mention the hat was getting NO WHERE near her. Here's a pic of Haddyn in her costume last year. I loved how her lips were still puckered from the binky, cause she screamed last year too, so she kinda looked like she had a little bill.Anyway, after seeing she was only going to scream anytime the dang duck got anywhere near her, I decided to get all crafty and make her a new one. So, I set out in search of a new, exciting (and easy) costume. Thus, one hooded black sweater, one pair of black leggings, two pieces of felt, about 600 cotton balls, and a nasty blister on my finger from the hot glue gun later...the lamb was born. (We were sure to keep her far away from any open flames) She actually enjoyed having the costume on and she had fun meeting new people at the mall. Her favorite new friend was a police officer that gave her M&M's. She wouldn't put those things down once she got them. Here are some pics:Here is a pic of Haddyn with her friend Marshall. He was a monkey, but he got too hot. Yes, we let them strip in front of each other...bad habit I'm sure. Marshall is 2 weeks younger than Haddyn and at least 2 inches taller. They have a literal love/hate relationship. One second Marshall is giving his tongue kiss to Haddyn's open-mouth kiss and then next second they are beating on each other. These are Haddyn's cousins Taylor, Amy, Ashley and William. William is 3 weeks younger than Haddyn and they are in the same class at school. They act like brother and sister, but it's really cute...deep down they are good friends.
William is about the lay the smack down in this one...Haddyn was done playing the Halloween game by the end of the night, but it was definitely more fun than last year and the best part of all was that it fell on a Friday, so Daddy got to be home!!

I Love To See The Temple

This is a different post than you would usually find on our blog...I'm not one to be all that vocal about my political or religious views in a "preachy" sort of fashion, but I decided this is MY blog for MY thoughts and if someone doesn't like to read what I'm talking about, they don't have to, right? Well, I received this email tonight with a link to an article written about the protesting at the LA Temple this last week regarding Proposition 8.

Ya know, I will be the first to say that I have not studied the scriptures like I should since being baptized and therefore, there are a LOT of things I still don't understand about the doctrine of the church and that Scott ends up teaching me :) BUT, I do understand that it breaks my heart to see people have so much hatred toward ideas that are different to them. I'm not saying that members of the church themselves never react poorly to a situation and end up hurting the image of the church in their quest, but we are definitely encouraged by the leaders of our church to live our lives according to the teachings and example of Christ and love everyone as our brothers and sisters and children of our Heavenly Father. I don't want to get deep here....all I want to do is encourage you to visit this link and read this article. It's very interesting and I feel like this gentleman, who is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and an LAPD police officer, did a great job of putting some things into perspective.

The main things that stuck out for me and made me think a little more deeply were the fact that we all have a "natural man" side to us and that it is important to remember we need to love as Christ loved. This "natural man" is the side that I am personally always in contention with as a member of the church who really wants to live a truly Christlike existence and do my best to be a better person with each day that I live. I have quite a temper and very strong opinions, as most of you know, and I constantly have to remind myself how to harness and disperse those opinions : ) Anyway, as upset as I get when I think about our beautiful temples and the house of my Father in Heaven being protested against, and even closed down, I must also remember that I have such little knowledge and that I only need to pray to my Father in Heaven to find the comfort that I desire over this, or any issue, and He will be there to hear me. One of my favorite quotes from the article is this, "But when we respond to our accusers as the Savior did, we not only become more Christlike, we invite others to feel His love and follow Him as well."

As hard as it may be for me to fight that natural tendency I have to "lash out irrationally" (I just watched The Santa Clause for those of you who recognized the quote), I must remember that my job at this present time isn't to prove anything about the church and what it stands for by vocalizing my opinions, but by LIVING what it stands for and letting the Spirit do the rest.

http://www.ldsmag.com/ideas/081110hate.html

Check out the link and read the article if you choose, but I want to leave you with a few of my own thoughts. The decision to be baptized was not a decision that I took lightly, but it is undoubtedly the best decision I have ever made for myself and although I didn't see it at the time, for my family as well. I have a testimony of the temple and of the ordinances that are performed within their walls. I have a testimony of a forever family. The gospel and the temple bring such joy and happiness into my life and I am so very thankful for them. Some of my favorite songs are in the Children's Songbook and here are a couple of my favorite lines from one song, "I love to see the temple, I'm going there someday. To feel the Holy Spirit. To listen and to pray. For the temple is a house of God, A place of love and beauty"

I LOVE TO SEE THE TEMPLE.

Birthday Bash!

Haddyn's 1st birthday party was a week and a half ago (I'm a slacker, I know) BUT I have had big tests to worry about, so I'm just now getting it blogged. It was lots of fun and I can't believe how must she grows and learns every day! I'm going tohave to add a video later of her making her famous piles of food inside her high chair as she eats. At one point she even started putting the cake in her belly button...I didn't get that on film, but there is a pic! Hillarious! She loves her "button" and she gets so mad when I put shirts on her that button up and block access : )

So...awesome good times. Everyone made fun of me cause I wanted to do puppy cupcakes because Haddyn LOVES dogs. So, I had decided to do a cake with 3 puppy heads on it, but I wanted Haddyn to have her own cake, so we went with the cupcakes instead and Scott and I made a pink bulldog for her to dig into. I thought it turned out pretty stinkin' cute, regardless of all of the mockery of how hard it was going to be!















I made the frosting from scratch and everything! Big feat for Kelli...and yes, the cake was from a box. Don't get too carried away!


As you can tell, Haddyn wasn't a fan of getting undressed and ready to eat the cake. Isn't that tear the saddest (and cutest) thing you've ever seen?





























Haddyn loved eating her cake, but she was very proper and clean while eating. In fact, she is the best eater in her class, she's also the slowest, but hey! She only started throwing the cake around once she was done and playing.

Of course, here is the famous belly button storage photo...hey, for all we know her belly button likes cake too!She loves eating Grandma's ice cream (all by herself I might add, and don't mess with that cause she's little miss I CAN DO IT BY MYSELF now) and playing peek-a-boo with Nana Jan.


























I think by this time she is thinking "Are you guys done yet?" She's sure careful not to smile for the camera...it's apparently against her rules to smile willingly for the camera, but that is true pretty much all days! It's amazing we got so many pictures of her smiling at her 1 year pics we went and had done.



























Prior to all the cake fun Haddyn went outside (with her new hat) and played on the trampoline. Her favorite thing to do is lay face down and lick the tramp and look to the ground, yes, I said LICK the tramp. It's possible she gets some of her weird traits from me, but I don't know about this one!Here are some fun pics from opening her gifts. Honestly, lets hope Christmas is either more exciting, or we're only getting her two gifts, three TOPS cause it takes her forever to open them AND she was so upset when we'd take the newly opened gift away so she could open the next one before the sun went down. Poor little girl...it's so tough being 1!!!














Thank you to all for the gifts and I hate to say there's a fave, but Daddy is especially proud to say the green flows strong in this one and the John Deere wins out!!!
All of Haddyn's cousins on my side of the family are way older than her and LOVE spoiling her! The "twins" Morgan and Jarod, are her next oldest cousins and they are 5 1/2. Makes for a lot of Mom's when you get all of the nieces together, but they love her and she loves them! Kortnee was the cuz of the day pushing Haddyn all around on the JD cruiser...farm girl with style!!