10 months!

Our Hayley Bug is 10 months old (and a week. I'm late)! We love her so much and can’t believe how big she is! How cute is her sweater dress!?!? It is compliments of Uncle Travis. I can just imagine him browsing the racks of Baby Gap and it just makes me smile! The Ugg boots are compliments of my friend Cathy, the hand-me-down queen! And yes…they are real Uggs. A little ridiculous… yes, but oh so cute!

The last month has brought quite a few changes in our home. Right around 9 months old, Hayley got her 2 top teeth in. With this new asset, she decided that she was ready for grown up food. She absolutely refused baby food of any kind. She also refused any spoon or utensil of any kind. She clinched her little month shut and shook her head back and forth. This new found independence was literally overnight. Hayley and I have both had to experiment with new foods. She currently eats bread of any kind (rolls, pancakes, waffles, pumpkin bread), pasta, yogurt, cheese, lunchmeat, sweet potatoes, Vienna sausages, quesadillas, peas, carrots, bananas, pears, and a never ending supply of cheerios. We went to Texas Roadhouse and she literally ate like 2 rolls. But let’s face it, who doesn’t?!? I was pretty excited to give her Vienna sausages. I remember stealing them from my little brother because they were yummy. Turns out, they are not nearly as good as I remember. :( Hayley now has 6 teeth (4 on top, 2 on bottom)! If anyone has any suggestions for meals, I would gladly accept them! I'm already running out of ideas.

My happy eater!

The picture above was SEVERAL weeks ago when she pulled up on her toys basket for the very first time. Now she is a pro! She is crawling EVERYWHERE and pulling up on EVERYTHING! She started cruising around furniture too. She literally finds a new place in the house everyday!

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Ready for church with Daddy (minus shoes). This was a few weeks ago when it was unseasonably warm! Hayley has so many cute summer dresses that I wanted to use them as long as possible!



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Speaking of unseasonably warm…Hayley has gotten a lot of use out of her new swing due to our beautiful “fall” weather. She loves it! (I've also been meaning to post these pictures for weeks.)

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During the last month, we went to Queen Creek for my cousin, Chellsey’s baby shower.

At the shower with Grandma Farr and Aunt Kristy

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Also during the last month, we have had some hair dilemmas.

Exhibit A: Hayley's hair only stands straight up.

A bow kind of makes it better.

See... straight up!

Exhibit B: We've tried some different "do's" including this "Kate Gosselin" do.

Again, better with a bow.

Exhibit C: the faux hawk. Not a favorite.


Exhibit D: The Pebbles Flintstone look. A current favorite. No matter the hair, my kid is CUTE!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Shane

Yesterday was Grandpa Shane’s birthday. We drove to Pomerene on Sunday to celebrate. The weather was beautiful and Hayley was in a new dress so Sheryl wanted to take some pictures. I think they turned out pretty cute!

After some pictures, we sat Hayley on the grass to play. She LOVED the grass in Utah this summer. Apparently grass in Arizona really isn’t the same. This is what she did. She held her leg like this for like 5 minutes. We were DYING laughing!!

Dustin chilling with his Dad and Grandpa

Hayley with Grandma Sheryl and Great-Grandma Sanders

I made Shane a card for his birthday. It said, “We love you THIS MUCH!” with this picture on the bottom. I tried to get Hayley to stretch her arms as far as she could. It didn’t really work, but she sure is a ham! Shane really liked it. He even hung it up in his office at work.

Pre-Thanksgiving Playtime

Last year, my Grandpa Neilson bought Hayley this Fisher-Price Thanksgiving Celebration Set. This adorable set has gone untouched since last year. As a result, Hayley seemed pleased to open, empty and explore this very fun gift. Apparently, I had too much fun documenting the occasion. I think this is the very first item that she has ever opened by herself. After this little experience, I CANNOT WAIT FOR CHRISTMAS! I just want to buy her tons of toys and go through this process everyday!

Yep... she loves it! We haven't stopped playing with it since!

P.S.-- We're trying out a new hair style. What do you think?

Snooze

One of Hayley’s favorite books is “Way Out in the Desert” sung to “Way Over in the Meadow.”

This is the 3rd page.

Way out in the desert by a palo verde tree
lived a mother javelina and her little piggies three.
“Snooze!” said the mother. “We snooze!” said the three,
‘cause they rooted all night by the palo verde tree.

I heard Dustin’s alarm go off this morning. This is our conversation.

Me: “Hey are you getting up?”
Dustin: “No I’m going to snooze….(then some sort of mumbling).”
Me: “What?!?” (trying to get clarification on the mumbling)
Dustin: “Cause I rooted all night by the palo verde tree!”

Apparently we need some new books.

Hayley's 1st Halloween

We started our Halloween festivities with our ward Halloween party on Friday night. We met at a local park and kids trick-or-treated from blanket to blanket. It got kind of chilly so we only stayed about an hour, but we had fun seeing friends and their kids all dressed up.

Perhaps I should have taken more pictures of Hayley with Daddy because he had to work on actual Halloween.

Going for the candy

Success!

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Hayley and I spent actual Halloween day and night at my parents’ house because Dustin was working. During the day, I was busy doing stuff for Relief Society, so Hayley helped carve pumpkins. Apparently we should have done this as a family because she was really into it (sometimes, quite literally)! That evening we went to their ward Halloween bash so Hayley's proud grandparents could show her off!

Hayley with Grannie Tannie & Grandpa Mark

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We were looking forward to getting some cute pictures of our Ladybug and Grandpa. Unfortunately she wasn’t in a picture taking mood. This was the best we got.

Most of the time, our little wiggle worm was trying to escape. Nice. Don’t you love her new tongue thing? It’s in way too many pictures. Oh geez, silly girl!

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Several weeks ago, I planned on dressing up. Then I ran out of time and I talked myself out of it. Kendle then decided that I still needed a costume and made me into a ladybug like my Hayley bug. Surprise! (Can you believe this was the first time I have ever worn fake eyelashes? It was annoying at first, but they were pretty cute. What do you think?)

In addition to my costume, Kendle made quite a few other costumes. For example, Austin was Cavity Sam. (I didn’t know there was a real name for the Operation guy.) Kendle was the Doctor that performed “operations” on Cavity Sam. Nicole was a bumble bee and my dad was the swine flu (but we didn’t get a picture). All and all, we had a very fun Halloween weekend!

Farewell Kelly Family

Our good friends, The Kellys are moving to Texas tomorrow. We are sad. We have been friends with them for FIVE years! We met them a couple weeks after we got married. Deryk joined the army at the beginning of the year and the time has come for them to move. We decided to have one last hoorah before they head to Texas. We met for lunch at Peter Piper Pizza. They have a decent lunch buffet and the boys had fun running around. The highlight of the lunch was when we got to ride the carousal

Stan the Man! (And little Hayley holding on for dear life)

Elden giving high-fives!

I love those boys like my own! But let's not forget my own offspring. This was Hayley's first real ride!

A small portion of Stanley's tickets!

The boys-- Dustin, Deryk, Stanley and Elden

The girls-- Natalie, Me and Hayley


Little cheese ball Elden! I’ll never forget the first time Elden learned our names. From then on when we came over for game night, Elden would yell “Du-tin! A-drin!” and give us big hugs! Man I love that kid!

We’ll sure miss you guys! Good luck in Texas!

Starving Artist

My sister, Kendle, is THE MOST TALENTED artist I know! Kendle recently started an ART BLOG, so others can view a small glimpse of her work! She also recently started doing some commissioned projects (hint, hint). Seriously… she’s A-MAZING!!

This cala lily currently hangs in my bathroom. One of my favorites!

Of all the types of paintings and pieces she creates, pencil drawings are her favorite to do! Christmas is just around the corner. If you are looking for a creative gift to give, Kendle can create a unique portrait just for you.

***If you (or someone you know) is interested, this is what to do.

1st—Contact Kendle at PortraitsByKendle@gmail.com

2nd—Select a portrait. (This is my Hayley bug.)

These are the phases as she creates it. Pretty cool right?

Finally, this masterpiece is yours! (Or mine… since it's hanging in Hayley’s room.)

This is a random project Kendle did for my dad for some Boy Scout thing. I’m not sure why my dad needed this or what the purpose was, but they turned out pretty dang cool! She painted on feathers. Seriously, she can do anything! Be sure and check out her ART BLOG!!