Why I love Primary

Devin and I are now in the Sunbeams, which is always adventurous, as you can imagine. Today, the person conducting in Primary announced that she was sending around a sheet for all the teachers to sign up to help clean the church for the upcoming Saturdays. Then, this cute little 4 year old, who has something to say about everything, pipes up:

"Yeah, my parents can help, but I will be tired that day."

She's got the idea: see the need, but volunteer someone else!

(You know I am kidding; I am all for service. Of course Devin and I signed on up.)


Here's to a happy year in the Primary!

I did it

Ladies and Gentleman:
Copying my dear co-worker Paige, I have created a new blog specifically for my adoption stories and tales. I have made this blog private so that I don't have to feel as guarded with what I share. If you would like an invitation, please leave me a comment or email me at strobelite@gmail.com.
Oh yeah, a post is already up there so happy reading! :)

The url is http://www.kimsadoptiontales.blogspot.com/.

NEW ADDED INFO: I have a little icon on my right sidebar for the new blog (I know my art is incredible, right? You don't have to tell me, I already know). I will add the latest date for the adoption blog posts on there each time I update. That way, you won't have to continually check it for updates.

My new sweet baby - Hallie!

Oh man, this cracks me up! I saw this on another blog and thought I would try it out. Although you can't see it, I uploaded Devin's picture and my own. THIS is what Hallie is supposed to look like. HA HA HA. Apparently Devin is black and I didn't know it????

Talking

Remember this little girl? I barely do! So sad. One thing that has not changed is that she is still a talker! Hallie's favorite "toy" is a cell phone. My last phone just died and my mom has already given Hals a phone of her own, so now she has two. But that doesn't matter, she only wants to play with the ones that we actually use. Go figure. Most of the time I don't allow her to get to my phone (especially my work phone), but sometime she is just sneaky. She will pace the floor and "chat". It's pretty cute. I haven't been able to get a video of that, though. The other two videos are of her talking. She knows quite a few words now and also has her own language. In the first one, she says, "cookie" and then "meow" which is more like "oooowwww". That's my favorite. In the second video, she is saying "ewwwweee" over and over, which is what she says to alert us that she has pooped and smells.

And of course, a bonus picture. Hallie has taken notice of what Devin and I wear. She likes to put on these gloves of her daddy's and roam around the house. She also likes to put on my shoes, although they don't fit too well. Now that she knows how to wear gloves, I think she is ready to help with snow shoveling and stuff, right?

WELCOME HOME!

Devin's parents returned from their 2 year mission to Samara, Russia this past weekend. We were very excited to see them and most excited for them to meet Hallie for the first time. Although the weekend didn't go exactly as planned (they missed their flight from Denver to SLC on Friday night, so came in 2 hours later than planned. We thought they wouldn't be in until the next morning so Hallie had already gone to bed. Devin ended up going to the airport last minute with all of his siblings and their kids except Mesha's family. So, I don't have any pictures of the airport scene!)

We spent a lot of the day Saturday down in Fairview with them and most of Dev's siblings. Sunday, they reported their mission in Sacrament meeting. I again missed that due to the fact that one of my birth moms had her baby over the weekend and her placement was at the exact same time. It was a good excuse to be missing church, at least. I did, however, make it down for the food afterward. Clearly, I would not miss that! :)


Below are quite a few pictures from the weekend. Before I even married Devin, I thought his family was so beautiful. They are just a good looking family! I kinda detract from that a bit, but Hallie adds to it at least, so we are even. I love the large family feel, too. Different from my little fam. Anyway, enough rambling, enjoy some pictures. This is classic Hallie right here. She and Ryder are the same age. Kirston had them both on her lap and each had their own wafer thing. Hallie finished hers right off and Ryder decided he was done with his too, so he took the safe route and fed the rest to Hals. So funny.

16 grandchildren, missing 1, little Ky, who would actually be 10 now I think. He passed away when he was 16 months old. I never got to meet him, but he is an important part of the family. The numbers are getting right up there! Oh, yeah, there are also four more on the way...(one of which is NOT ours, just cause I know someone will ask!) *Check out Hallie's face. I know I am biased, but that is a dang cute little face!*

The new additions to the family during the mission. Not the best picture ever. There was a lineup of cameras so no one knew where to look! Grandpa with Megan, Ren who married Alisa holding Hals, and Grandma with Ryder.

Great Grandma and Grandpa Maughan were able to come from St. George. Here they are with their great grandchildren from this one branch of the family.

The whole family. Getting big! Yes Hallie is eating a cookie. She just can't stop!Have to have a crazy face picture. My favorites are Mesha and Aaron (the kissers) and Slava (the top row, third from the right.) The first family picture I was in after I joined the family, we did a funny face one that is TERRIBLE of me. I hope that never resurfaces. I decided to tone it down this time! :)

Devin and his parents and siblings. Top is Travis, Shane, Kirston, Devin. Bottom is Mesha, Jana, Mom, Dad, Alisa, and Shawna.

And finally, a picture of Hallie with the grandparents she is finally getting to meet! That is a classic Hallie face and it was past naptime, so that is the best we could get. Although it doesn't look like it, she was happy to see Grandma and Grandpa!

I know I talk about my family a lot on here, but I am extremely grateful to be part of Devin's family too. They are wonderful and I feel lucky to have such great influences in my life and in the life of my child (and future children). We are proud of the service that Devin's parents gave on their mission, but we are happy to have them home too!

A Decade Of...

Growth?

I guess that is what I would like to think! As we enter this new decade, I have thought back to the turn of the last one, which doesn't seem all that long ago to me. I really remember the Y2K hype so maybe that is why it stands out. However. I went back and read part of my journal from around the 1999-2000 turn and whoa, I was a tad bit crazy back then. (Maybe I still am?). Let's be honest, I was 14 years old then, so that might explain a lot of it. Following are a few examples of my ten years younger self:

*I was an out of control Savage Garden, NSYNC, and Atlanta Braves freak. My journal is covered in every magazine picture that I could get my hands on of the bands and at the time I was also a proud subscriber to the Choptalk Magazine (the official Braves publication), so I had plenty of photos of the Braves pasted in as well.

*The bane of my existance was my orchestra teacher, who continually made me write sentances 100 times, such as "I will not talk while in the tuning line." I never failed to mention how much she bugged me, nearly every day, in my trusty journal. Perhaps I was a bit hard to deal with??

*My four best friends and I had started a club that we called the "YWIA" club. I can't hardly type this without laughing, it is so funny to me now. The YWIA stood for "Young Women in Action". We basically took it upon ourselves to find service projects to do, which included making Valentines for people and visiting nursing homes. We met each week and contributed dues that were put into a wrapped box. After that, we had a lesson, which was always like a Family Home Evening lesson basically. Each of us was given an assignment, such as President, Treasurer, Historian, etc. I noted in my journal that as Haylee was the club counselor, I turned to her when I was having a particularly rough time with life and she always solved my problems. We took this club VERY seriously. Man, we were awesome. But, we were definitely good girls and for that I am grateful.

*My friends and I also took it upon ourselves to be missionaries, which we were. After taking the discussions with one of our friends, she was baptized.

*My sister and two cousins and I had our annual Christmas program at my Grandma's house. That generally consisted of us wearing whatever costumes we could scrounge up (red longjohns anyone?) and singing (yeah, I don't sing) Christmas songs on the top of our lungs. Oh, this might have been the year that I played Cortney's trumpet to accompany everyone (although I had never picked up a trumpet in my life until that day, so that tells you how beautiful it was!) Everyone in the family dreaded this blessed event except our dear Grandma and Uncle Charlie, who pretended it was the best thing they had ever heard.

*I used phrases like "he is so fine." Enough said.

*I made sure to mention when the first person ever on "Who Wants to Be A Millionaire" won a million dollars. By mention I mean it took up the 2 page entry. No, I didn't know the person, I was just excited, okay?

*I mastered the manipulation tactic with my piano teacher. Whenever she told me to improve (and she was very very nice about it), I would cry and tell her that I was doing my best. Then she would feel bad and pass the songs off for me anyway. This is why I am such an excellent piano player today (sarcasm). On the other hand, I got along excellently with my violin teacher, who yelled at me constantly and told me how awful my playing was. I guess she was just more my style.

*I had several very serious crushes. I am sure that not one boy that I liked every really paid attention to me because I noted things like "he touched my binder today!" Yikes. I also memorized and wrote down each of their schedules so I knew exactly where they were at all times.

*Overalls were my outfit of choice. Yes, please!

Alright, I think that is enough embarrassing confessions.

Now, for the next ten years, here is what I hope for myself:

*I want first and foremost, to be a good wife and mother. I have an amazing husband who makes my life so much better and who makes me so happy. I hope that our marriage just continues to grow stronger and that we continue to love each other more as time passes. (I really should give him a big fat THANK YOU for even marrying me. For why this is necessary, see above.) I also want to be the kind of mother who is involved in her children's lives. I want my kids to know that I love them and that they are important to me. I want to be patient with them and help them learn to make good choices on their own.

*I want to grow stronger in the Gospel. I need to make scripture study, prayer, and temple attendance a constant priority. I know that my life is better and my marriage is better when I do and when we also do the simple things as a couple.

*I want to expand my skills and abilities in my professional life. I don't know that I will always be working, but even if I am not, I want to seek out opportunities to use the things that I have learned to better other people's lives. I have a passion for social work and I hope that it can continue to grow.

*I want to make memories with my family. Whether that is home, traveling, around where we live, or whatever. I have very fond memories of my growing up years and I want my children to have the same.

*I want to be a good friend. This has always been important to me, but as I get older, I hope that I can continue the relationships with friends that I have had for years. I want to be there to celebrate happy times with them, be there for them through hard times (and vice versa) and just make sure that they know I care about them.

*I want to be charitable. This is something that is important to me. I don't foresee Devin and I ever being really wealthy, but I want to make sure that helping is a priority for us.

Perhaps in 10 years if this blog is still up and running I can come back and check to see how I did. I think I have grown up a bit in the past 10 years (I don't know, you be the judge!) and I hope that I can continue to grow in the next 10!

250th and OSSO

What better way to celebrate my 250th post than to talk about something that is near and dear to my heart. As you all know, I went to Ecuador with a program called OSSO 4 whole years ago, from December 2005 through March 2006. I loved it so much that I went back 5 months after getting home to spend two weeks there, visiting the kids that I grew to love so much. My friend Kylee was able to go back with me and see a little bit of what I had experienced for three months.

When I arrived in Ecuador the first time, I knew nobody. But over the course of the next three months, my life was forever changed as I grew to love the children. I have a bond with the volunteers that I served with that is also beyond my capacity to describe accurately. Although it has been four years and we have all gone on with our lives, I still count them as some of my dearest friends.

The city I served in, Quito, serves four main orphanages. There is a Girl's house for girls from the street, a family style orphanage with children divided into families and assigned a "mother", two special kids orphanages, and the main orphanage we worked at, that serves mainly children under 2 years old. This orphanage is staffed by OSSO volunteers 22 out of 24 hours per day (Yes that means night shifts! Fabulous times had by all during those...). The children in this orphanage are divided into three salas, or rooms. Sala Uno is for new babies up to about age 6 months. Sala Dos is for 6 months to a year or so. And Sala Tres is for a year to two years. When I was there, there were about 35 kids at one time. This orphanage also has the family style housing for the older children, but only two volunteers from each group worked there. I happened to be one of them and it was a challenging, but huge growing experience for me.

Ask any volunteer who has been done this program and they will tell you that it has changed their life. Leaving the babies was heart-wrenching. I still remember very vividly saying goodbye to them and watching the other volunteers with me do the same. Let's just say the tears flowed. I also grew attached to quite a few of the workers at the orphanage and particularly a 16 year old girl who had grown up there and now worked there. She was a challenge sometimes too, but I cried when I left her.

I can honestly say now that the closeness I felt to the Savior during that time was by far the closest I have felt in my life. I know it was because I was doing what He would do, serving as He would. I wish the experience could have lasted my whole lifetime and every day I wish there was someway that I could bring Devin and Hallie back to serve there too. Hallie would fit right in. We could throw her in a cloth diaper and she could eat the same soup every day just like the rest of the kids! It would be so good for her.

Anyway, the reason that I am writing this post is because OSSO needs volunteers. Because of the down economy, less people are choosing to go because you pay your own way to serve there. All past volunteers receive updates from OSSO on a regular basis and the last one asked that we facebook, blog, twitter, or whatever about OSSO to get the word out. I missed the days they were doing it (the 28th and 29th), but I thought now is good too. I know most of you, like me, have families or are in school, or have other reasons why you can't do this. However, if you know anyone, siblings, friends, relatives, who would like an opportunity like this, pass the word on to them.

OSSO's website is http://www.orphanagesupport.org/.

The fun must come to an end...

The rest of Christmas break, basically Saturday, was spent visiting with old friends and playing catch up on meeting their new little ones. I went to lunch with my old roommate Kasie and her husband Scott and met her adorable little boy, Payton. Kasie and Iwent to high school together but we weren't that great of friends until we roomed together as freshman at BYU. We braved the land of 30 year old men together, survived Dare Yahtzee, and had many many many freshman moments, such as collecting Toilet Paper as payment to enter our apartment (what can we say, we were cheap and didn't want to have to buy it!). She met her husband Scott in that ward and they are still happily married almost 5 years later. Crazy it has been that long! We met at Cafe Rio, which is one of our favorite places we discovered when moving to Provo. Luckily, IF has caught up with the times and has one now too!I think Hallie looks absolutely chubby in this picture, especially compared to Payton! Granted, he is about a year younger, but still....
I also got to see my cousin Anneka and my friend Haylee that day. I have been close to these girls since the 6th grade and love them to death. Haylee had her second little boy recently, Jonah, so I got to meet him. She lives in Tennessee so we don't get to see each other that often, unfortunately for me. Jonah is the cutest little guy, with tons and tons of blonde hair. So funny. Jackson is also still excited to marry Hallie, which is good news. Later that night, we played games at Anneka's house with some of my other cousins. They introduced us to this game called Clue Charades. All I have to say is HILARIOUS. I have not laughed so hard in a long time. If you want to play, let me know! Sunday, we packed up and drove home after going to church with my mom. Dave played his cello in sacrament meeting and it was lovely, so that was a real treat. We were so spoiled this Chrsitmas (by we I mean Hallie), our car was packed to the brim on the ride home. Have a look:

Hals could just peek out from her seat in the middle. Otherwise, she was totally surrounded. She also got really crabby on the drive home and was screaming like no body's business. I must be super impatient, because I could only handle so much. Finally, I let her play with the laptop, thats how desperated I was to have her calm down. She totally loved that. What a little miss attitude!

Well, now that I have Christmas wrapped up, Happy New Year!!!!

Happy Christmas!

Here is part two of the big holiday festivities. We woke up Christmas morning to Skype with Devin's parents and then had the largest feast ever for breakfast. Shortly after, we couldn't contain ourselves any longer and had to start diving into the gifts. Hals is possibly the most spoiled girl ever. She got a ridiculous amount of gifts, mostly not from us, but from others.

Despite all the fun toys and everything, her favorite gift was the new toothbrush Grandma got her. She insisted that we take it out of the package right away and then spent the morning sucking on it. Easy to please, I am fine with that.After the morning festivities, we headed to my Grandma's house for the rest of the party! Don't worry, Hals changed outfits because she wanted to wear the one Grandma got her instead of her boring old one.
I love my Grandma. She was fun as ever. This is what happened when I told her to make a funny face for the camera. Love it. Sadie opened all her presents there since Jennifer had to work earlier in the day. This toy that she got was a huge hit with all the kids. Hallie had a great time pushing her around in it. Sadie thought it was so relaxing, she put her feet up for the ride. Most awesome gift awards have to go to Cortney's ornament of the RV from Christmas Vacation (a family classic) and Carter's signed basketball by all the Jazz players. Sadie had his name, so Jennifer gave this to him because she knew he would love it. It was Chris's ball and she said that Chris would want him to have it. Carter is about the biggest Jazz fan ever, as evidenced by his outfit. A close call "best gift" would have to be the pink and blue Snuggies that Che' and Landon got. So cute. Grandma always gives us four girls the same gift and we are always so excited to see what it will be! She also gets the husbands and older boys the same thing. We had a good laugh about the pants because they were the same size for all. Neil, Cortney's husband, is just a tad bit shorter than Devin (ya know, a foot or so), so that was funny. Grandma is so thoughtful though and we love her. Of course we had to top off the night with a few rounds of games. By a few, I mean a lot. We played Spades, Rook, Ticket to Ride, and Apples to Apples. Of course I won them all. (just jokin...I'm pretty sure I didn't win a thing. Oh well, its the fun that counts!).

We had a most fantastic day. I love Christmas. It is by far my most favorite holiday of the year. I just think it is magical and I look forward to the time spent with family and the traditions. Of course, the most important thing is celebrating the Savior's birth. I am grateful for Him and for this time that we can remember Him and be more grateful for all the blessings that we have because of Him.

Eve of the Big Day

Alright folks, buckle down, I will be posting quite a few posts about Christmas I am afraid. I think at least the parents want to see our pictures? We had a fabulous break spent in Idaho. Short (4 days), but fantastically fun-filled and jam packed. So without further ado, here is our Christmas Eve summary.
We got into Idaho Falls on the 23rd really late so that we could have all day on the 24th. No need to waste time! Jennifer and I decided that it would be fun to take the girls sledding, so we busted out our warmest clothes and ran to the store to purchase some sleds before heading out. We met my cousin Anneka and her cute little family there. Despite the freezing cold, we had a great time! Hallie laughed and laughed and laughed all the way down the hill. Sadie wasn't so sure what to think, but she had fun anyway! Hals the pink Snowman and I ready to head down the nearly snowless hill!

This is my sister Jennifer and her "friend" Mike.

Devin took both girls at once. Sadie liked going with him because he would go slow for her.
Check out my gangsta hat! Devin said I was wearing it wrong. Oh well, as long as it was warm!
Ann and her cute kiddos, Addy and Hyrum, and her husband Jonny.
I made Hals make a snow angel. Doesn't she look so fat!? Ha ha ha!!!

Later that evening, we had our annual Christmas party at my Grandparents' house. We had a huge delicious meal and then did the traditional Nativity.

Love the self portraits.

Every year, my Grandpa gives the "State of the Family Address". Everyone loves this and we can't wait to hear what he has to say, let's be honest, he is a funny man. This year, he has been pretty sick and is not doing too well, but he was still able to give his speech. Yes, that is a Snuggie with a white shirt and tie sewn to it. Classic, I know. Never knew Snuggies had so many good uses!

Since the big D, we have always spent Christmas Eve with my dad. So after the party at my Grandparents' house, we headed for my dad's for even more partying. We opened our presents there. The girls got these cute matching jammies from Aunt Jen. What cutie pies!
My dad had these huge wrapped gifts for Jennifer and I and when we opened them, we were surprised to find...these huge POWER SHOVELS! Yeah, awesome right? Devin will have a good time with that baby!
To top off the night, I made my siblings pose for pictures since I don't remember the last time we had a picture of the four of us. Probably never. We lined up oldest to youngest, which sort of ended up being shortest to tallest. Poor Jen. So left to right is Jennifer, me, Michael, and Clark.

That concludes Christmas Eve. Stay tuned for further posts about Christmas!

Check, Check, Check

Two posts in a day, you all must be very lucky! (kidding, of course.)
I am going to town on my list as evidenced by the following photographs.
#51: Go to a taping of Good Things Utah. Che' and I did this a few Mondays ago and despite the mishap of being a tad bit late for taping, we had a most fabulous time. The audience was much smaller than we anticipated and everything was very low key. It was a great time. We even got a few prizes for just showing up: The Forgotten Carols DVD, candied nuts, and a berry trifle. Mmmmmm. We will definitely be doing that again.


#7: Get a picture of Hallie on Santa's lap. Accomplished, but not without a fight, as you can see! We went with the whole fam to a a Christmas play by Pickleville playhouse in Logan a few weekends ago. We had the time of our lives. Uncle Lynn won an ipod, we had a feast of a meal, we got to see our old friend, Eli (who happened to be a performing missionary in Nauvoo 4 years ago when my Grandma was on a mission there. We got really into his performances because he was just so hilarious, so we went every single night to the same play while we were there and then got a picture with him after each and every performance. Pretty sure he was quite alarmed to see us again....), and to top it all off, the roads were terrible for the drive home, so a good number of us crashed at my Aunt Linda's house. There were bodies everywhere. I got the couch and the combination of the flannel pajamas that Linda loaned me and the couch material caused me to sweat bullets all night long while everyone else woke up claiming to have frozen. Too much information. Suffice it to say, we had a great time at Pickleville. Moving on... (Thanks Che, for the pics!)
#67: Go to "Music and the Spoken Word." I got to go to this last weekend, when it was also the mini performance of the Mormon Tabernacle's Christmas Concert. It was FABULOUS. I loved it. Devin stayed home with Hallie, but I went with my mom, Dave, and Dave's son Jesse and his wife Adrienne. It's amazing how much goes into one of those productions. I am grateful though, because it helped put me right into the Christmas spirit.Also, had to throw in this picture since it goes sort of along with the theme of performances that we have been to. It's not on the list, but still a good thing. Devin and I got to go to the "Forgotten Carols" for the first time ever! It is something that I have wanted to see for years, but have never done for whatever reason. We didn't buy tickets this year either, but Che' and Landon had some and had a conflicting event that night, so we got to go instead. I can definitely see what the hype is about, now that I have been. Good thing I got the DVD from the Good Things Utah show; I have already watched it twice since then. Loved it. Of course you can't tell where we are, but just trust me, that's where we were!

That concludes this edition of "Let's See What Kim Has Crossed Off Her List." Stay tuned for future installments!

Art Time

I know that I have been posting a lot about Hallie lately, but she is so funny right now, I can't help it. Yesterday, I was wrapping the last of our Christmas gifts and I had a short little piece of wrapping paper left over. Hallie had gone into the other room and came back with the bag of markers, so I figured, why not let her color on the extra paper? Fun, right? She is barely getting the idea that pens and pencils and the like make marks, so she has kind of liked drawing or coloring here and there. However, yesterday, she had a different idea in mind: It's a good thing I stripped her naked before the art project! She refused to even consider coloring on the paper, but instead thought that her nice big, protruding belly made a much better canvas.
No harm done. Oh except that the marks didn't quite all come off in the bathtub. Oh well, though, its worth it for her little fun time!

In Which Devin Foresees the Future

This past Sunday...
Devin: I have something to tell you.
Kim: What? (anticipating a very serious something coming up)
Devin: (in quite a solemn tone) Hallie is going to be addicted to drugs when she is older.
Kim: WHAT? (Mega alarms going off in my head... Who wants to hear this about their daughter?!)
At this point, I am thinking Devin has gone crazy and is going to insist that since we just got out of church, he had a vision while there that let him know this trial we must endure in our future.

Luckily, its not that. Devin then proceeded to tell me that during Elders Quorum, Hallie kept digging through her diaper bag over and over to find a bottle of medicine that was in there and then shrieking "Ahhhhhh Ahhhhhh Ahhhhhhhh!!!!" while shoving it in Dev's face indicating that she wanted some. Poor Dev had to keep burying the medicine and then enduring the routine again as she kept diving in right after it. I am sure he got a few worried looks from the other men. Poor guy.

What can we say? Hallie definitely is a medicine junkie. She has never found a medication that she did not love. What 1 year old skips the crackers, cereal, milk, and raisins found in her diaper bag to go for the bottle of medication buried at the bottom? Hals, thats who.
Who makes Medicine Time the most serious and important part of the day? Hals.
Who can find the cough drops in mom's purse AND have it in her mouth before her parents can even blink? Miss Hallie.
Who fake coughs and then grunts toward the bottle of Tylenol sitting on the counter? You guessed it!
I find this to be extremely odd and kind of concerning because neither Devin nor I are drug takers. Really, we rarely take medication at all and when we do it is because we are practically dying. Hals hasn't even been on that many medications in her lifetime and I don't give her Tylenol very often either. We went through teething mostly without it. So, where does she get this love of all things drug? Even at her 2 month shots, I remember the nurse telling us that one of the oral vaccines is spit out almost 100% of the time by the babies. Well, not Hals. She sucked it down and wanted more.

(Not to worry, I didn't give her drugs just for the sake of the pictures, we are all sicky around here and she is on an antibiotic)
I guess as long as Devin's original statement does not come true, I shouldn't worry too much, right?

Real Classy

Merry Christmas Everyone! Do you love our family photo? We have all the important elements of a successful picture:

*the phony looking background

*Miscellaneous family members...the more the merrier

*Those that are unmarried or without a partner (not to name names, Lynn) have a tree to hold instead

*Our most beautiful outfits pulled from the back of our closets, particularly the Fourth of July shirt and the early 90's pants with the back pockets high above the actual rear end area. Not pointing anyone out here in particular...

*The essential non human member of the family, Teddy, in his own stroller

*And of course, the miscellaneous extra props dropped in front. No biggie there.

This picture was stolen straight from my sister's blog. It is just too funny not to post, so sorry if you read both of our blogs. We were staining our new kitchen cabinets this day and my uncle Lynn has this nice backdrop at his shop, so of course we had to have our picture taken in front of it. Don't worry about me yet, start worrying about me when I actually send these out for our holiday greeting cards.

P.S. I feel like I have been missing forever from the blog because our computer randomly went d.e.d. last week so we have been without. Luckily we got a new one. Merry Christmas us! Happy to be back!

P.S.S. I really do know how to spell dead. A certain family member (also un-named) has a infamous story about how he said his phone went d.e.d. one day. Too hilarious.

A Day in the Life

Oh to be little...Hallie is quite the character. So without further ado, here are step by step instructions on how to have a fabulous day when you are 13 months old:
1) Grab a little breakfast (If your parents choose to sleep through that, that's not your problem. You will make do with whatever the situation may be, but you will not be skipping breakfast.) 2) Head in for a little hair-do. Dad's idea of a do is a tad bit different than mom's, but hey, it works- kinda.

3)Ruin said hair-do. If its a pigtail, rip it out. If its a bow, take it off. If its slicked back daddy-style, simply run the hands through it until it stands up the way you like it.

4) Dig through mom's purse. Pull out every. single. thing. If mom is really lucky, a garbage is nearby and every item goes into the garbage so that mom gets to dig through to retrieve them. Make sure to pause and stare at yourself each time you come across a picture of yourself. You are cute, afterall.
5) Drag teddy around the house. Pick him up. Drop him. Pick him up. Drop him. Repeat endless times. Clearly, this is awfully entertaining.

6) Have a few meals here and there. Make a huge mess. Appear to look like a cowgirl as often as possible while doing your dining.

7) Enjoy time with your daddy. Cry when he leaves. Get really excited when he comes home and follow him around. If he is not home and you happen to see a picture of him, repeat endlessly, "daddy, daddy, daddy!"8) Really enjoy time with your mommy. Everyone knows she is more fun anyway. (Who am I kidding?) Learn the art of self-portraits. Laugh ridiculously hard when mommy does something funny, like exercise.

9) Head to bed to prepare to start it all over again tomorrow!!

We sure love this little lady. She keeps us entertained, that is for sure. This age has been a really fun phase. It is fascinating to watch her learn. She is starting to copy things that we do and say, which is really funny. She is stubborn and does what she wants, when she wants. She definitely has her whiney moments, but overall, she is a good girl and we are so happy that she is ours!