Temple Open House

A couple of weeks ago, we took our little family up to see the Oquirrh Mountain Temple. It was so pretty, and our kids really enjoyed it. When my mom called saying that she had reserved tickets for us to go while my sister Jess was up from Arizona, of course we were excited to go again! Jared had to work this time, since we were going during the day, but I took the kids and went. They loved it just as much the second time. It is a beautiful temple, and it was fun to be there with my sisters and their kids and of course, my mom. Jared, Dad and a couple of brothers-in-law were missing, along with Jana's twins, and Jess's little Easton, and it would have been fun to have us all there, but some people have to work, and older babies would be hard!! :) I decided to take the camera this time, and it was fun to take a few pictures outside the temple to remember it. When we were outside, I asked my kids what their favorite parts were. A couple of them said "all of it." Bryson liked the "Heaven room" and Hayden said he liked "the pretty rooms." They were so cute and reverent throughout the tour (which is more than I can say for a group right in front of us and a group right behind us... who we let pass us after a bit, so we could enjoy a bit more quiet and reverence). It is so neat to be inside a temple, to see the beautiful rooms, and pictures of the Savior. They are such a great reminder of the purpose of the temple. I'm so glad that my kids were able to tour this temple and the Draper temple a few months ago. I hope they always remember it!

Steel Days

I have always loved Steel Days, our little AF city celebration. There is always a carnival with fun rides, a parade, and lots of other fun activities. This year, we weren't able to participate in as many things as we usually do, but we did go to the parade. The kids always love it, especially when people throw candy. We left with a grocery bag FULL! My favorite part is always the band. I remember when all the neighboring cities' high school bands would come. I really miss that. Now it's only AF and Lone Peak (AF is the best, of course!) The parade isn't quite what it used to be, but our kids love it!



And in case you are wondering who that kid is in the boat that got 3 pictures in my slideshow, it is my little nephew Justice. He got to ride in the parade, and it sure did make my Hayden a bit jealous. :)

Party time!

Wow, get ready for a huge post. I don't know why this one is any bigger than others, but apparently we were pretty picture-happy for Hayden's birthday. It was a really busy and fun day. He woke up to fun construction decor... his party was a Construction themed one! So we made some really simple construction cakes. One for the friend party, and one for the family party later - complete with construction vehicles and safety cone candles! Hayden thought they were the best!


Then at 10 am (nice and early) we had a fun "friend" party for Hayden. The girls were so cute to help me out. They were in charge of games and opening presents, so that all I had to do was snap photos! It was great. The kids had a ton of fun! They played Tractor, Tractor, Dumptruck (instead of Duck, Duck, Goose) and had a treasure hunt that Eryn prepared. Then Hayd opened presents. Then I sent them outside (thank you Summertime) to eat cake. Clean up was a BREEZE!


Check out the slide-show to see all the action!


Then, of course, when the friends all went home, Hayden had to try out all the new construction gear! He LOVES to dig, so he was in Heaven. Bryson even joined in on the action.



After that, Hayden wanted to try out his new Police Gear. He looked SO cute all dressed up, and handing out tickets. I was put under arrest several times!



Later that evening, Grandma Cheryl, PapaBob, Aunt Jo and Harlie, Jana, Brad, Justice, Talon and Cardon all came over to celebrate! We sure love having family come for cake and ice-cream. This was a pretty quick little get together, but it sure was fun. Thanks everyone for coming over!




I'm still having a hard time believing that my baby is 4. Where did all those years go? We sure love Hayden. He makes us laugh everyday!

Four Whole Years!

I cannot believe that 4 years have gone by since our little Hayden was born! Time sure does fly. He was born on July 16, 2005 at 8:06 in the morning. He got to come a little early by C-section, because my pregnancy was being a difficult one. I sure didn't complain about him coming sooner! He weighed in at 7 lbs 7 oz and was 20 inches long. The crazy part was that he was a boy! We had been expecting a girl... her name was going to be Madisyn, I had lots of cute girlie things... and low and behold, in the Operating Room when our new baby was born, Jared's eyes got huge, and the nurse said: "That's not what you were expecting, was it?" I was confused for a minute, but then I had to tease my Dr. who had NEVER been wrong before! We had a boy! I was only surprised for a minute, then it just seemed right. Perfect! It took a little longer for the idea to sink in with Jared. He has a hard time deviating from plans... even one like this! We had to come up with a name quickly, and Hayden was just the perfect name for our new little guy. I am so glad he was a boy! That made two of each for us.

Well, of course the first year FLEW by. He was walking by the time he was 10 months old, and he hasn't slowed down since! He was a sweet but busy baby! Here is his first birthday!

Gotta love 2-year-olds. Hayden was a joy... but sometimes a challenge. He learned to climb everything, get into everything, make a mess with everything... but those big blue eyes made it hard to get too upset! Here is his two-year-old B-day. (And a couple more from around that time).

Then he turned 3! Oh boy! Three year olds are sometimes really hard, but ALWAYS so much fun. It was fun to have real conversations with him, and he learned SO much! These are his 3-yr-old portraits!

Now I can't believe we just celebrated his 4th Birthday! He had a great party, and a wonderful day. Here are a few pics from his birthday. I'll post some from his parties next time!

Happy Birthday Buddy! We love you!

Finally!

My poor sister Jodie. I think she was starting to feel like she was going to be pregnant forever! (And honestly, so did the rest of us). We were SO excited for her to have her baby, that everytime her number came up on the caller ID, I would get my hopes up real high, then answer to find out that she had just called to tell me that "There is this cool game that Jared would like at Cal-Ranch. Mayberryopoly!" or "Did you hear that Michael Jackson died?" at which point I would sigh this huge "That's-not-what-I-was-hoping-for" sigh. Don't get me wrong. I love to talk to my sister, but seriously! We just wanted that baby here, dang it! Well, finally on the morning of July 2 we got a phone call saying that they were at the hospital. I would have gone over right then and stayed all day waiting... except for the fact that I am a mom and have other responsibilities. We did go over later on to take Corey a Dr. P and check on Jo. Waiting... waiting... waiting... That's the hardest part. Finally just a bit after 6 that night (just after we got there for the second time) Harlie Grace Murray was born. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 7 oz. and measured 18 1/2 inches long. She is PERFECT! She's just as gorgeous as can be, and you can't even tell that I'm a proud aunt, can you?

Here are some pictures from the big day. (And the next day, because we just had to go back!) And if you notice that there are no pictures of the new mommy with her baby, well that's because when we were there, we were hogging the new baby. She never even had a chance!)

Oh and by the way, Jodie. I love you and I'm so proud of you. You are going to make a wonderful mom!! And I WILL get a picture of you holding that baby at some point.

Fun 4th of July Weekend

We had a great 4th of July weekend. Jared's sister Marie and her fiance Jeff came down to hang out with us. We started the festivities on Friday night by doing some fireworks. The kids LOVE sparklers.

They loved watching Jared and Jeff light ground flowers and fountains, too. We only had one tiny incident which caused us to be a bit more careful, leaving a small burn on one of the blankets... other than that we had a fun time.


On Saturday, we went to breakfast at the home of some friends. It was a bit early for us after being up late the night before, but it was great! We ate breakfast casseroles, waffles, fruit... all kinds of great tasting stuff. The kids played forever in their huge backyard, and Jared played a little Ping Pong. Later on, we went to Jana and Brad's for a BBQ. Yum!!! It was fun to be with the family and eat great food. Jodie and Corey came home from the hospital with their new baby and even made an appearance at the BBQ. (I'll post some pictures of their new little cutie soon.) Then we went to the fireworks in Pleasant Grove. I was hoping for a little bit bigger show for our Virginia family members. Utah really does have some great fireworks, but PG must have been on a budget. They were still good, and we had fun! I love the 4th of July. I'm a very patriotic person. I love the country we live in, and I'm proud to be an American!

Happy 4th of July!

T-Ball

Bryson has been loving T-ball. This is his second year playing, and Jared was able to co-coach his team. It seems like almost every game was either windy, rainy, or chilly this year. June was just crazy! But we did manage to have a couple of sunny, warmer games... which was nice. Bryson didn't care what the weather was like, though, he had the best time every time. I love watching T-ball... the kids are so little and cute standing out in the field. And I love watching them when they are up to bat. They are so proud of themselves when they hit the ball and get to run the bases. I loved going and watching all of B's games - rain or shine!