The Hayes Family

Really really late Christmas pictures

2012-02-07T18:42:00.000-08:00

We went to Oregon for Christmas this year. We went through California on the way there, and through Idaho on the way back. We drove 2,485 miles total, and spent 41.15 hours in the car. Long trip, but worth it!! Loved seeing my family!

This is one of the nights in a hotel. We didn't feel like going out for dinner, so we just ate stuff from the cooler. The kids had hot dogs in a cup, and then popcorn in a cup. Meal of champions.

Christmas morning.

This is what my little brother wanted for Christmas. Lovely huh?

Grandma and Grandpa Ovard took us to the Carousel...

and Chuck E. Cheese's.

They had so much fun!

Playing in back yard at Grandma and Grandpa Hayes's house on the way back through Idaho.

Love this picture!

My little Christmas angels

2011-12-18T13:11:00.000-08:00

Our first attempt at sponge curlers. I did tell her that she didn't have to keep them in if they were too uncomfortable so of course she didn't sleep in them. All well. We just used hot curlers the next morning. Yes, she is missing both front teeth just in time for Christmas! YAY! She has to sing the song in front of the tree while I video tape her, just like I did with Enoch two years ago. LOVE IT!

My little Christmas angels all dressed up before church. What a lucky lucky mommy I am! Josh and I are SOOOOOOO blessed to have the sweetest, cutest, kindest, most loving kids EVER! They are all I want for Christmas =0).

She did it!

2011-12-12T09:40:00.001-08:00

Tegan finally decided to get her ears pierced! YAY! It's so fun! I've already gotten her a bunch of little earrings for Christmas.

They had two people do it at the same time, but all Tegan did was say "ouch". She was so brave. Enoch was way more nervous than she was. I SERIOUSLY wish I had just had one lady do it and take the time to make sure they were lined up, instead of them just trying to hurry so it didn't hurt. One lady totally missed the dot, so they are really uneven. It's one of the things I was really worried about happening. I'm just hoping she NEVER notices or stresses about it. If she's anything like me though "which so far she is a LOT like me", she will someday. Josh says it's not noticeable, but he's a guy =0P. You don't have to tell me it's not noticeable, because I know it is...haha.

She also chose rainbow which are really cute, but she has to keep them in for 6 weeks, and they don't match any of her Christmas dresses or anything. I know, I'm totally retarded. I'll get over it all...haha.

She wants her hair in a ponytail every day now, so that everybody can see her pretty earrings. CUTIE!

Decorations, teeth, and bugs

2011-12-04T16:41:00.000-08:00

The kids couldn't wait to decorate the Christmas tree. Last year they didn't want to help with anything but the decorations so to make it easier I just put it together and strung the lights before they got home. Apparently that wasn't the right thing to do this year =0P.

Enoch's turn to do the star.

Both of Tegan's two front teeth were loose. Ya never know, maybe I'll have to make her stand by the tree and sing the "All I want for Christmas are my two front teeth" song too =). The girl wiggles them like CRAZY, but once they are actually about to come out she freaks and won't even hardly eat. She walks around holding her head totally still until the tooth is just hanging by a thread, and checks it in the bathroom mirror every 5 minutes.

Let's just say EVERYBODY was pretty happy when the thing finally came out.

A little confession: If I were being totally honest, I have always thought that it's way cute when little boys loose their teeth, but that it makes little girls look kind of goofy...haha. There's just something about little girly girls all dressed up cute with their hair all done, and then they've got missing teeth, and half big teeth coming in. Anyway, I've definitely changed my opinion on that. I can not get enough of Tegan's toothless grin and love to just watch her talk.

The big tooth is already showing, so she won't be without teeth for very long.

Here's our latest installment of bugs. I found one a little while ago in Tegan's room under her bed...EEEKKK, and this one is from our pantry floor. Thankfully they are all dead and dried up, but I still don't like it. It just proves to me that we need to keep spraying regularly every few months.

Happy Holidays!

Family Pictures 2011

2011-11-06T14:09:00.000-08:00

Ok, here are a bunch of pictures for your viewing pleasure =0). We are very happy with how they turned out. Thanks again Kiss a Frog Photography (good friends Esther and Cortnie). Don't worry grandmas....we'll be printing some out for you.

Halloween

2011-11-01T11:00:00.000-07:00

Tegan was a vampire princess this year, and Enoch was Sonic the Hedgehog. Enoch was a little disappointed that not many people knew who he was.

This is a picture I took before the library party. Enoch is holding their cousin's flat self. It's a children's book. They make a flat version of themselves to travel around. Enoch's eye make up isn't very good in this one because we didn't have any face paint yet.

Jack-o-lanterns

School parade

Super man looks so sad. =0(

I'm pretty sure Enoch was the only Sonic the Hedgehog.

I don't know what is up with Tegan's pose. =0)

Trick-or-treating was good. There were a lot more people out, and giving candy in the neighborhood than I thought there would be. The kids got plenty. We also went to a little party at the Castle house. Thanks so much for a great night good friends and neighbors.

It was pretty hard to get up and get the kids off to school this morning...haha.

Pumpkin Patch

2011-10-26T13:42:00.000-07:00

All the first grade classes walked to the Pumpkin Patch today. What cuties holding hands.

And dancing, or being pumpkins or something. =0)

She got her perfect medium sized pumpkin.

Lunch with her besties.

And her mommy.

Grrrrrrrrrrr.

On the way back to the school. It was a SUPER WINDY day.

Heading back in to class.

It was fun fun!

SO CUTE!

2011-10-25T07:19:00.000-07:00

Here is just a preview of the fun editing our friends do to the pictures they take. These are the few she had on her Facebook page. Still waiting on the ones we'll get back. SO EXCITED!!! LOVE THEM!!

School Pictures!

2011-10-20T16:03:00.000-07:00

I just LOVE school pictures! I know a lot of people that don't get them anymore. They take their own school pictures because it's cheaper or more fun. Yes, the price is ridiculous, and yes the back ground is generic, but there is just something about school pictures and seeing the kids change just a little and grow each year that is SOOO fun to me. I even like to compare them to our old school pictures, because they really are the same style even after all these years.

I love this age where all the kid's two front teeth are so big. =0)

Tegan said she was smiling bigger, but the lady told her not to. I can understand that because a lot of the time Tegan does this huge toothy smile that looks kind of forced, but I'd rather have that and those memories of her doing that than a not so happy smile. All well. She's still pretty cute!

We recently had some family pictures done too. As soon as I get them I'll be sure to post!

SUMMER TIME!

2011-07-08T13:33:00.000-07:00

YAY for lazy summer days! Here comes another flood of pictures.

Barbecuing before it gets too hot outside.

Lots and lots of reading.

Lots of baths to wash off all the dirt.

Buzz cuts.

Fathers Day Fairs. Yes, the kids put together a whole fair for Josh. How cute is that?

Posters,

streamers,

and lots of games.

Play the Toy Story bean bag toss...

win a Toy Story toy.

Read the mini dictionary while rocking on the rocking horse (hahahaha)....

pick a Pokemon card.

Stack the blocks as high as you can, and win a toy car.

Toss the golf ball into the tiny can 18 times...

win the hat of your choice. =0)

Play catch...

get a free book.

Play the marble game, and win a puzzle.

Do I have the cutest kids ever or what?

Happy 4th of July!

We actually went to all the town stuff this year. There was a very early flag raising and breakfast. It was too early for me, so we only made it to the breakfast.

Then there was a "candy grab" where the kids FILLED their hats full of melty taffy. After that was the water games. They got sufficiently dirty first of course.

You can't see him, but Enoch is in the Fire Truck honking the horn.

Tegan's turn.

The two fire trucks had a water fight. If you look close, you can see Tegan in the middle of the picture running into the watery chaos.

After a few minutes Enoch decided he was too cold.

To our great surprise, Tegan thought it was the best thing EVER, and would only occasionally come back to check in with us.

That evening we went to a bbq at the house of some great friends of ours, and later went to the fireworks. Enoch still doesn't like how loud the fireworks are, and got upset that they wouldn't end. Tegan was nervous at first, but realized she LOVED it. Josh and I had more fun watching her and listening to her squeal then watching the actual fireworks. It was a great/busy day =0).

Now that it is over 100 degrees every day, the only thing I could think of doing was signing the kids up for swimming lessons.

They love it. In fact, Tegan is grumpy in this picture because she didn't want to get out of the water and go home.

If only I could get in the water too. =0)

Summer's not over though. We have lots of family stuff, and some camping (not here of course...too hot), to come! YAY for summer!

Catching up

2011-06-09T23:47:00.000-07:00

I have a lot of catching up to do! So sorry! Prepare yourself for lots of pictures.

April

Went with Tegan's Kindergarten class to the Clark County State Fair.

When her class was done, we met up with Enoch's.

Part of it had a fun Wizard of Oz theme.

They needed a couple volunteers with hats.

You can't see it happen because I'm not that good of a photographer, but when the guy landed on the thingy Enoch's hat flew off.

Enoch with his hat on.

A second later after it flew off.

It got soooooooooooo windy as the day went on. It almost wasn't much fun for the kids. We kept getting so much dirt in our eyes.

By the time we got to the car I was literally covered in ice cream. I was dragging them with one hand as they shielded their eyes, and carrying both of their ice cream cones (I know. I let them pick one treat, and they saw an ice cream stand) in the other. The wind was so bad that it was blowing ice cream on to me.

The poor people running the fair had hardly any business this year because of the terrible weather =0(.

I also flew to Oregon in April to go to my little brother Joseph's wedding. It was awesome! I got to spend time with family that I hardly get to see!

Aren't they ADORABLE!!??!!

Easter egg hunt in the back yard.

This is a lovely spider I met as I was walking back into my house after taking the kids to the bus stop. I was like "What kind of spider is that?? It's all bumpy." I managed to be brave enough to get a picture. It was HUGE! Anyway, I got a long garden tool from the garage to come out and smoosh it. My aim happens to be terrible, and I just kind of grazed it. So it fell down, and so did it's hundreds of babies that were on it's back. EEEEEK! Yes, I freaked out a little. The giant spider ran under the mat, and I immediately tried to squish it (the next day when I lifted it up to show the kids it wasn't there anymore). Then I ran into the house and got some bug spray to spray the hundreds of tiny spiders now running free. Just typing about it gives me the willies.

I asked Tegan what she was putting in the suitcase.

Just her brother.

I grabbed the camera because just a few days before when I was in Oregon I was telling my mom that one of my only memories of living in certain house was when my two older brothers and I would put each other in one of those old hard suit cases and push it down the long wooden basement stairs. It was all in good fun =0). She said that she never knew about that, and that I was like 3 years old...haha.

May

Enoch turned EIGHT YEARS OLD! I can hardly believe it. He's going to be in 3rd grade next year. Third grade is like my youngest full memories, and I totally remember it. Before that are just blurbs. Crazy to me that my son is that old now.

He wanted a half chocolate, half vanilla cake.

His favorite present was his new ham bank to go with the rest of his toy story collection. It was a lot bigger then I was expecting when I ordered it.

Enoch's baptism Day.

How handsome are these boys?

Actually, the morning before Enoch's baptism we were able to go to Josh's brother Jay's wedding. We are so happy for them!

School May Day Dances.

Tegan did the traditional parachute dance.

This year however, they had a surprise little jam. She was really into it, and soooooo cute!!

Enoch did a Hawaiian Dance. He's quite the little dancer as well.

Tegan lost her second tooth at school, and was so excited to get the tooth necklace to bring it home in

Last is Tegan's end of the year program, or in her words "performance". =0)

Any time she would look at us she would turn bright red, and would try not to smile.

So she rarely looked at us.

Here she is trying not to smile after looking at us.

After the singing they did a little slide show. Her teacher even copied it for anybody that wanted to send in a dvd. Tegan has watched it a million times already.

She looks so young in the first one.

In a helicopter at the fire station.

Poetry and Pie.

Pajama day.

Growing their own grass.

And now my big soon to be First grader.

Today was the last day of school. I have been looking forward to them getting done so that I didn't have to get up and get them off the school every morning. Now that it's actually over though, I'm thinking to myself "What are we going to do all day every day". Especially when it's so HOT outside here in the summer. Looking forward to reunions in Idaho =0).

Tegan lost her first tooth

2011-03-26T09:52:00.000-07:00

Tegan has wanted to loose a tooth for a LONG time now. She would always say "I'm the only one that hasn't lost any teeth in the family." Well, for the past week it's been a constant "It's a little more loose....it's all wiggly", but of course she was way too scared to just pull it out. The big tooth has even popped up, and made it so the baby tooth wouldn't go back into place, so it was just sticking straight out for a few days.

When it finally did come out she was ecstatic, and emotional =0). She said "Don't worry mom...he he...I'm happy crying!"

Now she keeps asking "Isn't my smile so cute?"

What a sweet heart!!!!

When the kids get the camera

2011-03-26T09:47:00.000-07:00

Sillies =0)

Happy Birthday Tegan!

2011-02-27T18:27:00.000-08:00

I can not believe she is 6 years old today!!!!

These little mermaid barbies were totally mine when I was a kid. I kept them for my future daughter.

She got her scooter early. I forgot that I had left it in the trunk, and when I opened it to put groceries in at the store I was like "AH!", and she said "Mom, I saw it."

She wanted to decorate her own cake. She let me help just a little. =0)

She was worried that Enoch was going to feel left out because she got to open all her presents. She made a list of stuff we could get him when it's his birthday in May.

a rascor chrac. (race car track)
a cofoow shrt. (kung fu shirt)
a sillee hat. (silly hat)
a cofoow doll. (kung fu doll)
a not buc. (notebook)
sum morcrs. (some markers)
a bocoogon. (bakugan...some kind of popular toy)
a blloon. (balloon)

What a super sweet Birthday girl!!! LOVE HER!!!

Tegan's new hair cut

2011-01-23T10:27:00.000-08:00

Tegan wanted me to cut her hair like mine. She loves it. She keeps saying we are twins. I tried to do it the way I watched the girl do mine. I think it turned out pretty good.

Christmas in Idaho

2011-01-22T17:27:00.000-08:00

These are a little late, but hey...it's still January.

Stories with Grandma.

Christmas cookies with aunt Melanie.

A little Christmas program.

New jammies on Christmas Eve.

Sleepy faces on Christmas morning. They actually slept until like 7:30.

Stockings.

Josh laughing because I got him a new winter hat with a bill. Hello honey...they are cool. =0)

Check out Tegan's teeth. She was eating chocolate from her stocking...haha.

Enoch's most wanted present. Doesn't he look so excited?

Tegan with her Jesse doll, and much cleaner teeth.

Uncle Layne fixing the leaky bathroom faucet.

Snow fort the kids help their cousins build. I helped a very small amount =0).

There wasn't any snow when we got there, so the kids were super excited when it started snowing.

The dads/uncles playing Settlers of Catan....for HOURS.

Enoch with most of his Toy Story collection.

We had an awesome Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!

Temple Square

2010-12-07T12:36:00.000-08:00

The Spanish Branch chartered a bus, and paid for a night's hotel room for everybody to go to Temple Square last weekend.

The kids all bundled up in front of the temple. We actually really enjoyed the snow (even with all the taking off and putting on all the winter clothes every time you go inside=0)). The kids kept asking if they could jump in it, and eat it. We didn't have any boots though, and we would be doing lots of walking, and the snow in Salt Lake City isn't exactly clean so we were no fun, but Enoch got a mouthful right off the bus before I could say anything.

We have wanted to show them the lights for a long time now. Josh and I hadn't been there together since before we were married, and I went once on a girl's trip a few years ago, but it wasn't winter.

The kids totally crashed in the hotel after school, a 6 1/2 hour bus ride, and walking around until 10:00pm to see all the lights.

Saturday we took a tour of the Conference Center, saw the Joseph Smith movie, and went to the visitors center to see the Christus, and a few other things before our long ride home.

We got home around 1:00am, and then went to church the next morning. This is the kids zonked on our bed after church. They slept until about 5:30 pm, and were up until 10:00. Thankfully last night we got their schedules back on track, but they are both a little sniffly and still a little worn out.

When I asked them what their favorite part was Tegan said very enthusiastically "the bus ride!" This after lots of complaining of being bored on the way there =0), and sleeping the whole way back. Enoch said "watching cartoons in the hotel." D'oh. After a little more discussion Tegan said she really enjoyed the lights, and Enoch said he really like the big statue of Jesus. I think everybody had a lot of fun, and that it will be a great memory for the kids.

Decorating the Tree

2010-12-07T12:18:00.000-08:00

The kids didn't think it was too much fun putting the actual tree together, and putting the lights on, so I got to do all that. They were however, extremely excited to put on the ornaments all by themselves.

Thanksgiving

2010-12-07T12:16:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was AWESOME! My brother, his amazing wife, and their beautiful children came from Provo and stayed for a few days.

We ate WAY TO MUCH food. At least I did. I gained four pounds....no joke.

Yes, Enoch is touching the jello.

I especially like the big open space on the table by my little niece.

"Who...me?"

The older kids waiting to chow down.

And lots and lots of pie. Come to think of it, the poundage could have come from all the pie consumed.

Tegan has always been a little mom. She takes care of all her younger cousins. Even if they are just barely younger then her =0).

Game fun after the kids are in bed.

Thanks guys!!! Miss you tons already!!!

Fun with Daddy

2010-11-22T12:17:00.000-08:00

The day I was selling my bows at the Pomegranate Festival all day Josh was taking care of the kids. He always makes sure they have a lot of fun. They always plan out their day and have picnics and stuff. Here's a few pictures of the kids spending time with their Daddy.

A picture of the 3 of them thanks to the picnic table. =0) Notice the children's uncombed hair?

Josh took the kids to the 1,000 flags display at a park in Mesquite the day after Veteran's Day. Enoch's teacher sent a note home telling every body about it, and he gets a week of homework off for going.

I don't know if they were supposed to be running through the flags, but Josh said nobody stopped them.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-28T15:01:00.000-07:00

Tegan and Enoch had their school Halloween parties today since there is no school tomorrow for Nevada Day. Tegan is in morning Kindergarten, so they don't do the parade, but the other grades do a parade around the play ground to show off their costumes.

He wanted to be Mario again this year. I was like "sweet, makes it easier for me." =0)

How cute is he?

There was a boy in his class that was Luigi.

Tegan is the Tooth Fairy...without wings. She chose her own costume entirely, and is very happy with it. So I am happy. My mom made this purple dress for me when I was a kid. Isn't it beautiful?

Tegan loves it.

I had a couple pictures for her to choose from. I probably would have gone with just a tooth, but she wanted the whole fairy on her princess hat.

Here are their jack-lanterns they carved....I mean Josh and I carved for them =0)....last night. They wouldn't go anywhere near the pumpkin gunk. Tegan even said "gunk is a gross word mom."

Enoch's is the Trick or Treat one.

Tegan's is "the cute monster".

We are headed out of town for Halloween this year, so farewell for now, and Happy Halloween!

School Pictures

2010-10-20T19:22:00.000-07:00

I can not believe how big they both are.

What do the kids do on a Sunday afternoon?

2010-10-10T19:07:00.000-07:00

Make rabbit costumes of course =0).

They drew, cut out, and glued them together all by themselves.

Enoch's is Bugs Bunny.

Tegan's is the little girl bunny named Lola on some baby Looney Tunes cartoon.

I like how Tegan is wearing my super old sandals. Her feet look huge in this picture.

Thanks to Grandma Ovard for all the paper. =0) They use it ALL the time, and somehow it just lasts forever.

Now they are making Tweety and Sylvester costumes.

Josh's White Boards

2010-10-09T17:26:00.000-07:00

Josh called and asked us to take him some lunch at work yesterday. The kids LOVE drawing all over his white boards. I think it's great entertainment for them, but I've also discovered that dry erase marker is the only thing I have NEVER been able to get out of clothing =0).

I thought their murals were soooo cute that I made Josh take pictures on his lap top video camera thingy and then e-mail them to me. That's why they are such low quality, but you can still see what they drew.

Tegan drew the family, and wrote their names (She has gotten so good at writing, and spelling, and can read a little). The kids are the big ones, and Josh and I are the little ones.

Enoch drew Pooh Bear and all of his friends. Aren't they great??

Conference Weekend, and The Art Show

2010-10-04T11:08:00.000-07:00

Conference was great, of course. The kids did pretty good on Saturday. They colored for a while.

Sunday was a little harder. We have kind of decided that donuts that morning maybe aren't the best tradition. The kids could not sit still. =0)

There was a storm on Sunday afternoon, and Tegan was pretty scared of the thunder, so Josh put these on her.

After Conference was over, Josh and I both fell asleep. I don't think our nap was very long, and the kids kept coming in and out, so I was pretty amazed to come out and see their "Art Show" ALL OVER the walls...haha. They work fast.

Nice eh?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH!!

2010-09-28T16:31:00.001-07:00

My hubby turned the big 3- 0 today. 30, woah =0). We are like grown-ups now, ha.

We celebrated last night because he has to teach Institute tonight. Tegan woke up yesterday morning and said "I know just what I want to give daddy for his birthday...a toothbrush." So I said I'd pick one up when I went to the grocery store. She then said with a "silly mom" look on her face "Not a new one". I don't know why she wanted to give him a used tooth brush, but I did get a new one, and she was happy to wrap that up to give it to him.

He bought a bunch of twinkies, and hohos, and stuff for all of his seminary classes today, but he came home with a GIANT cupcake one of his students made him. Sweet.

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSHY!!!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!!

We have grass!!!!

2010-09-11T18:09:00.000-07:00

After 5 long years, we now have the one thing I really wanted when we bought a house... a fenched in yard with grass. LAAAAAAAAA (that's me singing).

Josh rolling the sod when we were half way done and took a break.

Me laying the sod.

Check out my pants. I was pretty dirty.

After hours and hours of hard work. Seriously, we were exhausted!! I had no idea sod was soooooo heavy, and it was only 96 degrees today, but that's still pretty hot. Every part of my body hurts. =0)

Anyway, isn't it the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?

We are so happy with it. As we were working (and it was probably one of the things that kept us going) we would keep saying "It's so pretty", haha. Tegan was like "Our yard looks so different". It really does. We have MISSED grass. Someday we'll have a garden and a shed, and trees, and other plants along the top, but the grass was a big one that we've been waiting for, and it makes all that other stuff seem possible too.

Now we just have to keep it alive. =0)

First Day of School 2010

2010-08-30T08:57:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm home all alone. A very strange feeling. The kids started school today.

Enoch is in 2nd grade, and it's Tegan's first day of Kindergarten...AUGH! I'm trying to stay calm. She was nervous about riding the bus, but she had Enoch with her, and she did great. She was very brave. There was no crying...thank goodness, and they both waved excitedly as the bus drove away. She'll be home around 12:00, so from now until then whenever the phone rings I'm going to be thinking "please don't let it be bad, please don't let it be bad" haha.

Josh has the camera at the Seminary every year on the first day of school so that they can catalog all the seminary students, and create their classes. That leaves us with the icam on the computer to document the first day. =0)

They wanted to take a picture of their backpacks.

My babies are all grown up....sigh.

The things we meet in the desert.

2010-08-29T17:40:00.001-07:00

We encounter quite a variety of creatures here in Nevada.

There's the bats that come out when the sun goes down, and fly so close you think they are going to run right into you.

There's the frogs that croak alllllllll night long, and the howling coyotes.

There's the rabbits, and the road runners, and the wild game hens that are constantly running out of the brush and in front of your car.

There's the lizards which I actually really like. We've got TONS living in the rocks in our back yard, and they are so fun to see running around, and sun bathing on the rocks, and doing their little mechanical like pushups. Why do lizards do that anyway? I love lizards because they eat up all our bugs. I'd much rather have lizards than mice or some other rodent.

We've come across some old turtle shells while hiking in the desert, but haven't seen any live ones out there yet.

No snakes yet, but we've heard plenty of stores.

There is also the very wide variety of insects, and spiders. Zillions and zillions of ants. I know everybody has ants, but basically you can't even sit on a driveway, or a curb on the side of the road because there are so many ants. I have to either do a little dance, or constantly keep looking down when I'm waiting for the kids at the bus stop. UGH, ants. I'm sure they'd over run everyone's home if you didn't spray every few months, or more.

When we first moved here, and our house was new, and they were still building around us the bugs were really bad. We live by some water (hence the frogs), well at least I'm pretty sure there is water down there some where. It's not maintained at all, and the brush blocks any view of anything, and sometimes it smells funny, so yeah...probably some water. Anyway, when we first moved here we had lots and lots of these little water roaches. One night I counted 5 on the walls, and was freaking out just a little. Josh was of course making fun of me, and telling me that I was over reacting, until we were sitting in our room that night and we saw this on the floor.

I don't think this picture even does it justice. Ours was much more fat. In fact, when we smooshed it, it blew up, and liquid went everywhere. We had NO IDEA what it was. When we described it to people nobody knew what it could be. Finally last Sunday (5 years later) I saw one in the church (still not as big as the one in our house....no idea how it got inside...seriously), and somebody said it was a cross between a spider and a scorpion. I looked that up, and found the picture, and it's called a Sun Spider/Wind Scorpion. Not poisonous or anything. In fact, they apparently eat the other small bugs. Maybe we should have kept it as a pet. HA!

Anyway, this whole post started because last night while Josh was trenching, and doing the watering system, he found a little friend.

YES....after 5 years we will finally have GRASS!!!!!!

Ok, not so much a friend. He actually cut off his head with a shovel. It was dark outside (being 110 most days, he likes to work on the yard in the very early morning, or after the sun has gone down) and he saw something crawling around and thought "what's that lizard doing running around in the dark?" It wasn't a lizard. It was at least 4 inches of scorpion. YUCK!

We've killed a couple other smaller ones outside, and thankfully haven't had any in the house yet, but of course...I've heard stories. Ahhh the desert life.

Summer Vacation

2010-07-17T11:07:00.000-07:00

Ok, here it goes! We headed to Idaho the first part of June as soon as school was out for Josh's Grandmother's reunion in Rigby. Sorry, no pictures of that one.

Then we went camping in Downata with Josh's family. If I get these out of order I'm sorry, it's kind of all a blur now =0). It was lots of fun. We all know how much I love camping, but it really was fun because it was a great camp site, with nice bathrooms, and a pool, and we only went for 3 days. We also decided that no way were we going to try to fit the four of us in our teeny tiny tent again so we bought a new one.

Please excuse the mess, but check out how big it is. I can stand all the way up in it, and we fit two high queen mattresses in it with room to spare. It was SWWWEEEETTT!

We went to the zoo in Idaho Falls. Lions,

and tigers,

and ducks...Oh my. I think there were a couple of small bears, but you couldn't see them well enough to get a picture.

Enoch feeding the ducks.

Kids and cousins.

Tegan pretty excited about the penguins.

It was pretty nice weather. Sometimes sunny, but not too hot, and sometimes breezy enough for a jacket.

Awe...kissing turtles.

Josh telling me that he had a tissue or something in his pocket when I washed his sweatshirt.

Enoch right before he totally bashed the back of his head on the top of the water fountain.

Tegan sad that she didn't hear the lion ROAR. How did she not hear it? She must have been pretty preoccupied.

Josh's mom found this great recipe for home made bubbles. Then you bend wire hangers into circles and wind twine around them. The kids made some pretty big bubbles.

Enoch wasn't quite as interested.

He got a couple good ones though.

The guys of course had to go out and do some guy stuff. Josh was taking all the pictures, so here's some of his brothers and their kids.

Ok, so Josh was there with us for the first week and a half, but then he had to head to Arizona for a week long inservice for work. Then he had to go back to work. The kids and I stayed in Pocatello for a little while longer. Josh's parents were nice enough to let us stay there off and on for 3 weeks. We also stayed with Josh's sister for a few days, and my mom was in Burley visiting and taking care of my grandparents so we stayed with them for a couple days too. I am TOTALLY kicking myself for not getting any pictures of the kids with their great grandparents. UGH. We were away from home for a little over a month. It was awesome, and the weather was awesome (especially compared to the 115 it is here right now), but I missed Josh terribly, and was ready to head home.

Before we left though, Josh's sister came over to Josh's parent's for a water day. My kids absolutely adore their cousins.

And on our way home we stopped at my brother and sister-in-law's house in Provo to visit them, and see my mom and little brother Jono again, and even my dad flew our for a few days. YAY! I was little exhausted by then, after my super long vacation so I probably wasn't the best company, but it was so good to see everybody.

My dad with his grand kids.

We had a picnic and played some tee-ball at the park.

I was so worried about hitting the silly tee that I struck out twice, and then barely hit the ball the third time...haha.

We did some other fun stuff that I didn't get pictures of. While at Josh's parents (I think they had like 30 people staying at their house) we also had a big movie projected on the side of the house. I wasn't out there for that. I wasn't feeling very well. All in all a fabulous vacation. Loved getting home to Josh, and being in my own bed and such, but now that we've been home for a while, and it's too blazing hot to do ANYTHING, I think I'm ready for another little trip =0). THANK YOU EVERYBODY!!! LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!!!

Pre-school Graduation

2010-05-30T18:22:00.000-07:00

Tegan had her Pre-school graduation last week. It was just a short cute ceremony. They sang a couple songs, and got to wear the cap and gown.

Her cap was falling off when she first came out so I ran up and fixed it, but it was way too big. Her teacher had put a little piece of tape at the top, but it didn't help much.

And there goes the cap again. =0)

With her diploma, and trying to keep her cap on.

My big graduate. I can't believe she'll be in Kindergarten next year. She's very nervous, but also very excited.

Love

2010-05-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

Need I say more?

Well, I'm going to =0).

Tegan got a little locket at the thrift store the other day. She decided she wanted to put a picture of Enoch inside so that every one in her pre-school class could see what her big brother looked like. She couldn't wait to tell him when he got home from school.

Enoch being the tender hearted kid that he is, was very excited and emotional when he got home and she showed him. He said "Mom, that means Tegan loves me."

They've always been best friends, and I hope it stays that way FOREVER!!!

Happy Birthday Enoch!

2010-05-04T09:57:00.000-07:00

My little boy is not so little anymore. Enoch turns 7 years old today. Sheesh...he is getting big.

We did his cake and presents yesterday because Josh is working tonight, but we'll be taking cupcakes to his class today. Fun fun! Happy Birthday Enoch!!

Tegan's Pre-school Picture

2010-04-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

I don't think her picture could have turned out any better. She is so beautiful! It just melts my heart. Of course she is my baby, so I'm always going to think that, but what a great picture. It's to bad that it scanned in a little blurry.

Happy Anniversary to us! YAY! =0)

2010-04-28T14:26:00.001-07:00

Well, the love of my life and I had our Anniversary on April 26th. EIGHT years! Yay for us! I love Josh more today then the day we got married. He's such a wonderful husband, and father, and I'm so so so blessed to have him as my eternal companion.

Girl's Trip

2010-04-28T14:14:00.001-07:00

We had our yearly Girl's trip over the weekend of April 16th-18th.

It was great fun of course. We went to Provo this time, and hung out in the condo, talked, talked, and talked some more. The first night after all the driving we just made dinner, and watched a movie, and stayed up until 4:00 in the morning =0). Saturday we went to an art museum at BYU, shopped for a while, and of course went out to lunch and dinner. Sunday we went to church at a singles ward...haha, that's what happens when you're traveling right, and we went to the old tabernacle in Provo. Had a great time! Thanks ladies.

So sweet!

Melanie and I being silly.

Our Spring Break

2010-04-05T18:28:00.000-07:00

Well, we had to spend spring break at home because Josh had a LOT of school work to do. He took work off, but still worked between 8 and 10 hours a day all week on his practicum for his master's degree. He'll graduate in August. WOO HOO! Ok, so on to what we did do.

Monday - Nada =0)

Tuesday - We took the kids bowling. Enoch missed his school bowling trip because he was sick, so we promised him we'd take him bowling. This is their first time. I got a couple pictures with the flash before we got in trouble for using it, so the other pictures are too dark to see anything.

We couldn't really figure out how to get them to push the bowling ball a little harder.

She looks so little and cute bowling.

Enoch was little scary. He kept lifting the ball almost above his head before he put it between his legs. We kept telling him he'd do better without that, not to mention he'd be less likely to drop a bowling ball on his head, but he didn't seem to care.

Wednesday - , There was Relief Society dinner that the Branch Presidency was cooking, so we all went. Josh didn't really cook any of it, but he helped. It was yummy.

Thursday - Grocery shopping, library, Josh school in St. George. I know, super exciting.

Friday - Believe it or not...the kids and I went four wheeling. Some friends that used to be in the Spanish Branch with us invited us to go. Josh of course had to work on his practicum, so just the kids and I went. Josh was very proud of me for saying yes, and I'm glad I did. It was a lot of fun. I even rode my own four wheeler for half of the time, and drove around the rhino for the other half. I liked the rhino...it's like a mini jeep. The kids enjoyed riding in the back of the rhino, but liked best taking turns riding behind Bro. Mortensen on his four wheeler. He used to be Enoch's Primary teacher, and both of the kids just adore him. I didn't take my camera to document this rare occasion, but Connie had a camera on her phone, so here are a couple of me and the kids up in the rocks.

Saturday - We watched Conference which was AWESOME, and we did our Easter Egg hunt. It was so easy for me to tell Enoch that the Easter Bunny isn't real when he asked me flat out "Mom, is the Easter Bunny real?" and I said "No, but it's fun to pretend isn't it?" ...now if only I could have the guts to tell them the truth about Santa Claus. I find that I feel AWFUL when I mislead them to believe that he's real. Anyway, back to the hunt.

That green one in the tree was the last to be found, and we had to help a little.

I love this picture below. Enoch doing his pose, and Tegan can't stop squinting because of the sun. haha

Happy Easter, uh yesterday. =0)

Yum!

2010-03-28T18:14:00.000-07:00

Check out these babies.

And these babies.

And these sugar and cinnamon covered babies. Yummy!

No checking this one out though. He's taken. =0)

That's right. I did not make those awesome pretzels, or bagels. Josh did. One day a couple years ago he decided he wanted some pretzels...so he whips out my cook book and starts cooking. That's not even something I'd be interested in with all the rising, and baking, and boiling, and baking again. Too much work, but every now and then he surprises me with some pretzels or bagels. The pretzels were from last week, and he made the bagels today.

What is better than this? My man in the kitchen cooking something yummy?

Even if I do occasionally get stuck with the clean up...haha.

Ouch!

2010-03-23T19:01:00.000-07:00

We have a great back yard. It's not done yet, but it's nice and big, and it has a lot of potential. Yes it's been a work in progress for almost 5 years now, but SOMEDAY it will be our own little oasis. At least that's what we keep telling ourselves. =0)

Josh finished the patio first. I didn't take a very good picture of it, but here's one of the top with the flagstone from when Tegan was little.

Here's us taking a family picture in front of the patio a couple years ago. So...the rocks are really big.

Since then we've finished our block wall, and gotten more boulders for a smaller retaining wall around the outside. Someday, there will be a garden and trees up there, and a shed, and then the whole bottom part of our yard will be grass.

Josh usually has the help of a bobcat, and or a few strong men. Well, on Saturday I decided to help him work in the back yard. I was reminded of 2 things I really already knew.

1. I am not strong. I may be big and tall enough to be an amazon woman, but I am sooooo whimpy.

2. I am not coordinated at all. Very clumsy. I just run into walls all the time.

So, why did I think I could help Josh move 160 pound rocks? Well, I barely could. In the process I smashed my little toe. Here's some lovely pictures of my foot.

My toe on Saturday when I smashed it.

My poor helpless little toe compared to the giant monster rocks in our back yard.

My toe on Sunday. Ouchy.

Sunday was a very interesting day. Not only did I look really funny limping around in my dressy sandals with a very purple toe hanging out, but also half way through sacrament meeting goop just starting dripping out of Enoch's eye. We get home, get him some medicine for his eye, and then he gets a fever. Tegan wakes up in the middle of the night throwing up, and Monday morning the pink eye had spread to Enoch's other eye. So, we've got one little girl with the stomach flu, one little boy with a fever, cold, and pink eye in both eyes, and me hobbling around with a swollen purple toe. I pulled something in one of my fingers too, but I have no purple to prove it. Well, some of my good friends heard about our...adventures, and came over today to paint our windows with adorable Easter themed pictures. They paint windows every year for businesses all over our town and surrounding areas at Thanksgiving and Christmas time. They are so talented, and they are so fast. We will be the envy of our neighborhood =0). Thank you so much!!!!! I absolutely LOVE it!!

Don't look to close at our weedy rose garden with no actual roses. Aren't the windows so cute??? Thanks again you guys!!

Can they get any cuter?

2010-03-09T18:47:00.000-08:00

This is pretty much just a post to talk about how cute my kids are =0). I was taking some pictures of Tegan to model some lace flowers I just made.

You can just click HERE for the tutorial I found if you want to make your own. Super easy. My sister in law actually said I should start sharing my little projects, but that would mean I'd have to go back and take pictures of all of them and stuff. Probably not. However, I may start from now on. I'd probably be putting them on My just for fun blog though, since this one is more of a family one.

I made one into a pin as well, to wear on a sweater, or to connect a thin belt..that kind of thing. ANYWAY.

Ok, can a child get any cuter than this????? She is such a doll!!!! My sweet girl.

She lost a lot of her curl when we cut her hair =0(, but she actually likes it best when I straighten it anyway.

Here's Enoch showing off his mad monkey bar skills.

He's always coming home from school with big old blisters.

He's so happy ALL THE TIME, and he's so smart. He makes me laugh constantly.

Tegan choking me to death.

Happy 5th Birthday Tegan!

2010-02-24T12:36:00.000-08:00

Her birthday isn't actually until the 27th, but we celebrated early because my brother and his family came for a visit over Valentine's Day weekend.

Don't you just love her little belly poking out all the time? =0)

Presents!

You can't go wrong with chap stick.

Tegan likes to walk around the house singing all day. She changes the words to tunes she already knows. So, one day instead of singing "I want to be a missionary now", she was dancing around singing "I want to be a ballerina now." Every little girl needs a tutu.

She was pretty surprised/excited about her new very large Pinky Pie Pony, that has it's own tutu, and sings and dances.

And now for the cake. My wonderful sister-in-law...who is much better at the creative cakes...helped me with this doozy. Tegan saw a picture of a butterfly cake in one of my cooking magazines and has talked about it for months.

Enoch seriously needing a hair cut...haha. I did finally cut it.

I think this picture of all the kids waiting "patiently" for their cake and ice cream is great.

Yum yum.

The very happy birthday girl.

First short hair cut

2010-02-10T09:53:00.001-08:00

I've only ever trimmed tiny bits off the bottom of Tegan's hair, so it had gotten really long. It was beautiful, and I LOVE her curls, but it was always so tangly and I could tell it was starting to bug her. If it wasn't up she would be moving back out of the way all day. Anyway, she often saw pictures of her when she was younger and would say that she wanted her hair to be like that, and lately all of her little friends have been cutting their hair so she wanted to too.

BEFORE

AFTER

She really likes it. I think it's adorable!! I won't be able to do as much fun stuff with it, but it's not like she loved sitting still while I attempted braids and stuff. Besides....it's just hair. It will grow back if she decides she likes it better long. CUTE CUTE!!

Hiking in the desert

2010-01-11T11:06:00.000-08:00

I didn't know Josh was going to take pictures. They are really cute, but I didn't even comb Enoch's hair that day. He has major mushroom hair in all the pictures. Tegan's got a lovely outfit on too.

The weather has been so nice. I love sweater weather, but it's already starting to warm up a little too much durning the day. I need more than a month of cooler weather before the 120 degree summers get here.

Children's Museum

2010-01-11T10:26:00.000-08:00

We took the kids to the Lied's Children's Museum in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago. We decided before we left that we would let them stay as long as they wanted, not only because it's an awesome place for little kids, but also because it's so expensive for all of us to go. We wanted to get our money's worth. Three hours later I was really starting to rethink that decision.

Playing house and puppet shows.

GIANT bubbles.

It was actually really hard to get pictures that aren't blury. The kids didn't want to have to stop to pose.

Tegan's favorite thing to do was the little grocery store. She'd load up her basket, check out, put it all away, and do it over and over again. She kept asking to go back.

Performing on stage. I really like the Darth Vader fire fighter.

Taking a little trip.

Enoch's favorite thing to do was the green screen games. He would do one and then wait there until the other kids were done, and then do another one. I didn't mind so much, because there was a place for me to actually sit down at this section.

It was a lot of fun and a well spent day. I think it wore Josh and I out more then the kids. That's probably usually how it goes though. =0)

Christmas Morning

2009-12-25T13:00:00.001-08:00

This one is actually Christmas Eve before I had stuffed the stockings. Notice the Woody doll on Enoch's bike, and the book down by Tegan's bike. Well, Josh and I really wanted to get the kids bikes this year because Enoch is riding with no training wheels now and his bike is tiny, and Tegan always feels left out that she doesn't have a bike so she really hasn't learned how to ride yet. We found out later that all Enoch really wanted for Christmas was a Woody doll (he got Buzz last year), and all Tegan asked for was a book. They were excited-ish about the bikes. Not so much. They were really excited about the Woody and the book so it's a good thing we decided to get them at the last minute. Phew.

Christmas morning.

Enoch loving his new Toy Story Woody Doll.

Tegan showing us her new Princess magnet book from Santa.

Josh trying to capture it all.

Enoch's awesome morning hair.

Stocking stuff.

She looks tired. She's actually kind of sniffly today.

They did go out and ride for a little while, but it's kind of cold, and the bikes are just a tad big. We didn't want to get smaller ones that they'd grow out of super fast.

Josh putting together Tegan's new Polly Pocket track from Grandma.

Josh playing with his...I mean Enoch's new toys. =0)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Christmas Eve Family Pictures

2009-12-25T12:33:00.000-08:00

Ok, so besides making cookies for Santa, we decided to take some family pictures on Christmas Eve. Why you may ask. Well, I really don't know. I really really don't know. Anyway, we drove out to the top of the Mesa to hopefully get some mountains behind us. I think they would have turned out really good with the lighting and everything but it was so cold, and the wind was blowing like crazy. Tegan fell on the rocks before we even started, and they were both shivering. Here's what we got in the very short amount of time we were there.

What did I say about the wind. Even if it was calm before the picture, as soon as it clicked my hair went straight into my face.

With Enoch getting over strep throat, and it being so cold...I wasn't willing to sit out there and keep trying. Can you tell? Hahaha.

We headed home and attempted a few pictures in the horrible lighting inside the house. This is the best one. I had to make it black and white, and there's the shadows in the background. All well.

We did get some cute ones of the kids though.

Josh has the shadow in the back, and he's not really smiling.

All he wanth for Chrithmath are hith two front teeth. We LOVE listening to him talk now. So cute!!

What a sweetie!!

Cookies for Santa

2009-12-25T12:25:00.001-08:00

Yummy cookie dough. I love how Tegan's eyes are crossing in this picture.

Of course after they blow up in the oven they don't actually look like the shapes you cut out, but the kids were excited about the Christmas cookie cutters.

I dumped like half of the red food coloring in the frosting, but it would not turn red. Tegan wanted pink anyway, so I told her it stayed pink for her. The pink frosting and red sprinkles made them look like Valentines Day cookies. =0)

Cookies for Santa.

Cookies for us.

Gingerbread House and Two Front Teeth

2009-12-23T10:30:00.000-08:00

We decorated a gingerbread house on Friday. Every time we do something Christmasy Tegan says "This is the best Christmas ever!" I'm glad she feels that way.

It looks just like the picture....kind of =0).

We added our own star design on the back.

Tegan admiring the tree and presents. Do you like Enoch's big hand and face ornament?

Well, like I said...Enoch let his tooth just hang there sideways for a few days, but...

It finally came out. Now he really can sing the song All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth. We'll have to get a video of it when he feels better. We snapped a quick picture, but he's laying down because he's got strep throat. I know, Merry Christmas. He's had a high fever since Sunday, and I finally took him in yesterday(Tuesday). He's on antibiotics so he's already feeling better, but I'm just praying nobody else gets it before Christmas, or on Christmas. If we can just hold out until after that would be helpful.

We had to reschedule some of our Christmas activities, but we did do our own little Nativity video (while the poor guy was sick) for Family Home Evening on Monday. I tried to put in on here, but it would never load. Josh e-mailed it to a few people, but if you want me to try to send it to you...just let me know.

Hayes Family Christmas Party

2009-12-15T12:22:00.000-08:00

We had our own little family party last night for Family Home Evening. We all got to choose a few foods we wanted to eat.

The kids decided what activities we were going to do. Enoch chose video games on the wall, and Tegan wanted us to all dance to Christmas music. =0) It was fun.

Josh has things planned for pretty much every day until Christmas. Today is supposedly family pictures, tomorrow is build a ginger bread house...and so on. He's really gotten the kids excited for Christmas this year.

All I want for Christmas is my two...uh one front tooth.

2009-12-11T08:50:00.000-08:00

Last night Enoch FINALLY lost one of his front teeth. Those things have been loose for so long. This one was just hanging there for almost a week. As fun as it would be for him to lose the other one before Christmas, if it goes anything like this one it'll be there for a while. Josh asked him if he could still say his S's, and he was like "Yeth". It was so cute. He tried saying Sammy Silly Slick, and he just started cracking up. He thinks it's hilarious that he can't say his S's anymore.

So this morning Enoch runs into his room to see if the tooth fairy came, and guess what I forgot to do. Yep. I feel terrible. The only thing that saved me was that he has been having a hard time staying in his bed all night. He usually (including last night) ends up on our floor, so I said "Oh no, maybe she didn't leave you a quarter because you weren't in your bed. She was like 'Where's Enoch?'." So we talked about how we'll try again tonight, and he needs to stay in his own bed. Ugh.

Enoch's Christmas Program

2009-12-07T11:14:00.000-08:00

How cute is he??

Josh wasn't able to go, and I'm not a very good photographer. I was also kind of far away. Not many of the pictures turned out =0(.

Here's Tegan hanging out, and being adorable.

This picture is really dark, but Josh has been teaching Enoch to ride his bike with no training wheels. Yay! He still has a little bit of a hard time starting by himself, but once he gets going he does great. His bike is too little so that is what Santa is getting them both for Christmas.

I can't believe there is only 15 days until Christmas. It's going to come and go by way too fast. We took the kids shopping last weekend, and pretty much got everything we needed. They had a blast splitting up and picking out their presents for everybody. We had them ride and test out some bikes, and then the kids and I went to the other side of the store while Josh rolled the bikes and helmets up to the register to buy them. We brought blankets to cover everything, but it's still so funny that the kids didn't even ask about the HUGE elephant in the car...haha. For the rest of the stuff we just covered it all with coats in the cart while we finished shopping. They won't be young enough to do that for much longer.

MERRY CHRISTMAS everybody!!!

Snuggly Tegan

2009-11-17T15:00:00.001-08:00

Tegan was cold, and wanted to be snuggled on the couch. =0)

Foot infection

2009-11-08T10:39:00.001-08:00

Enoch has an infection in his foot. It started with his toe...I'm guessing a sliver (it's kind of a long story), and wouldn't heal. It then moved to the top of his foot, and was itchy and red. He scratched it and got another sore there. This was all over the course of like 4 days so I was starting to freak out. Yesterday he woke up and it actually looked a little better, but by the evening his foot was all swollen so he was limping around, and he had a redish line going up his leg. The picture doesn't really do it justice. The lighting was awful. With it not getting better, and spreading like that I couldn't wait until Monday so we took him into the hospital. He has an infection that has caused

lymphangitis - Inflammation of a lymphatic vessel or vessels. May result from spread of bacterial infection into the lymphatics, manifested by painful subcutaneous red streaks along the course of the vessels.

It's a good thing we caught it when we did because if it had gotten worse, and he had developed a fever...it would have been blood poisoning.

He's on antibiotics, and he's got some cream to put on his foot. He's supposed to take ibuprofen for the pain, and benadryl for the itchyness. I'm supposed to keep him down and have his foot elevated for 3 days. My question is how in the world am I going to do that with a 6 year old for 3 days? It's only been 4 hours today and we've done everything we can think of and he's bored out of his mind.

Enoch's funny signs

2009-11-08T10:30:00.001-08:00

Yesterday afternoon Josh told Enoch it was Tegan's turn to get on the computer. He got mad and stormed off to his room. That's just what he does when he gets mad or sad. I don't even have to say "go to your room". Anyway, he came back out and grabbed some paper and wrote something down. He asked for a piece of tape, and went back into his room. I didn't notice until a few minutes later that he had hung this sign up on his door.

He's done this a couple times in the past too. The first time was a long time ago, and I was really surprised when he made a sign after getting mad at Tegan that said "Enoch's books, not for Tegans", and drew a big circle with a girl stick figure in the middle with a line through it. I don't even know where he learned that symbol. It was pretty funny. I think I saved it, but I don't know where it is. The other time was after we had had yard sale. A couple days after, he drew a sign that said "NO TOYS FOR SALE" and hung it up in his room. What a funny boy.

Halloween Costumes

2009-11-01T18:16:00.001-08:00

Tegan just wanted to wear her dress up Sleeping Beauty outfit. I was like "Cool". One less costume to worry about. I found the Super Mario costume at Walmart and knew Enoch would love it. He likes playing our old school nintendo...that only works half the time =0).

This is apparently Tegan's new "Princess Pose"...with her mouth wide open...hee hee. I love how "cool" Enoch is in this second one.

This is a more normal pose for her, but her sleeve is covering her face.

The kids had a lot of fun Trick-or-Treating. In past years we've only gone to Trunk-or-Treats. I asked them if they liked it and Enoch said "Yeah, it's a lot of fun, but it's hard work".

Josh's 16 mile run.

2009-11-01T17:36:00.000-08:00

Yes, I said 16 miles. I think he's crazy, but I'm also very impressed. I can barely run one mile. He wants to be able to run a marathon. The farthest he's gone is 16 miles. He'll do 18 next weekend, then in a couple weeks he'll do the 23 or something like that...that you do right before the marathon. I'm not exactly sure. Anyway, he wanted to document the fact that he was still alive =0), and his bloody foot. He's such a guy.

Pumpkin Carving

2009-10-30T17:39:00.001-07:00

Enoch excited to get started.

Go Tegan! Enoch not so sure about the goop.

He got out a few seeds. Good boy. =0)

Nah, we'll just let Daddy do it.

I'm concentrating.

I love how they still think anything we do is great.

Thanks Daddy.

Tegan's jacko-lantern design, and the finished product. What do you think?

Enoch's jacko-lantern design, and the finished product.

Next year we'll definitely need to get some of those small carving knives, and scrapers.

Picture fun

2009-10-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

One day while I was gone for the afternoon Josh took a bunch of pictures with the kids.

He was taking pictures for a "manners" video, or a ....no I really don't know what he was going to do with them, but they are cute pictures so I thought I'd post them.

Incase you didn't know...you can usually click on them to make them bigger. They are kind of hard to see when they are so small.

This is just a picture of my little kimono girl =0).

YAY! I love school pictures!

2009-10-07T16:11:00.001-07:00

Enoch's first grade pictures came today. Isn't he just the most handsome boy you've ever seen? I LOVE school pictures. They are so fun. I can't wait until Tegan starts getting school pictures too. So, it's time to compare =0).

He has definitely grown up a little. He looks older in the eyes, and his face is slimmer. If you look close enough you'll also see that he now has a gap between his two front teeth that he didn't used to have because they are both loose. His hair is still blonde, but it's kind of out of control with his 3 cowlicks, so you have to plaster it down to keep it from sticking straight up in the back.

What can I say about his pre-school picture? It makes me smile, laugh, and almost cry at the same time.

Happy Birthday Josh!

2009-09-24T13:19:00.001-07:00

I did this slide show for Josh's Birthday, but then yesterday was so busy that I didn't even have a chance to put it up. Not that he'll even see it =0), but it was my WONDERFUL husband's 29th birthday yesterday. I'm so thankful for him, and that I get to be with him forever.

Here's him blowing out his candles. I realize he's not 4, but 29 would have been a lot of candles =0).

Show and Tell

2009-09-24T11:40:00.001-07:00

My little princess...

who is ALL things girly...

got the show and tell bag from pre-school. We were trying to decide what to take: a barbie, a doll, strawberry shortcake, jewelry...you get the idea. After talking about it she decided she wants to take a car. A single toy car. I'm wondering if somebody else at one point took a car, and she wants to do the same. Who knows. It just kind of surprised me. =0)

Enoch is loving 1st grade. He still comes home tired, but I guess it'll take a while to get used to it. I still miss him while he's gone ALL day. They just took school pictures, so I'm excited to get those back.

Tegan's first day of Pre-school

2009-09-08T12:20:00.000-07:00

Josh has had the camera at work so that he could take pictures of all his students, so Tegan and I decided to have some fun with the web cam. I had to document her first day of pre-school somehow. =0)

She'd been jumping around all morning because she was so excited, but when I walked her up to the door she said "mommy, my tummy hurts". We wanted to do pre-school for her because she really needs that time away from me before heading off to Kindergarten next year. She gets sooooo nervous. She started to tear up a little when I was leaving, but her teacher talked to her and that helped. We'll see how she did when I go get her in a couple hours. I'm sure she'll love it.

Back to School

2009-09-03T14:47:00.000-07:00

Well, Enoch's been in 1st grade now for almost 2 weeks. He loves it, but comes home just exhausted. Counting the bus ride he's gone from 8:15 to 3:50. Josh decided that every day except for Thursday (Josh has to go to St. George for his classes on Thursdays) that he is going to pick Enoch up from school. That way he has a little more time with him, and he doesn't have to ride the bus quite so much. I was a little worried because Enoch got the teacher that all the moms had informed me was "the yeller", but there was a parent's night on Tuesday and I got to talk to her, and I'm not as worried anymore. Enoch is such a smart kid. He will do great.

We enrolled Tegan in Pre-school, but it doesn't start until the 8th, so she has been bored to death for a couple weeks now. Even that is only 2 days a week for 2 hours, so I'm going to have to find other things for us to do so she's a little more entertained, and more places to go. We've already been to the library twice this week, and I can only go grocery shopping so much =0). We went to her open house for pre-school, and a lady from our local newspaper took a picture and Tegan was put on the front page. Just a small picture on the front page, and then blown up bigger on the 5th page by the article. You can go here to see it online. http://www.mvprogress.com/2009/35/kidskorner
Like I said, just our small town newspaper everybody gets in their mail, but still a super cute picture of Tegan.

Josh is busy busy busy. I feel like I hardly get to see him, and he's gone before anybody wakes up in the morning. I'm hoping things will maybe start to calm down a little for him when everybody settles into the new routine of things. Probably not though =0). Well, that's about it for now.

Animal sleeping bags

2009-08-07T15:18:00.000-07:00

A couple days before we headed home Josh's oldest sister Megan gave the kids a couple animal sleeping bags. They were ecstatic. As soon as I walked in Tegan was like "Mom, what were those furry fuzzy things you were holding?" They pretty much wanted to be in them from then on. Enoch walked around in his, and they both HAD to sleep in them. Fun fun.

Thanks aunt Megan!!

Picnic and the zoo

2009-08-07T14:49:00.000-07:00

While in Idaho we took the kids on a picnic and to the very small Pocatello zoo.

The zoo had a little place for the kids to dig for fossils.

Unfortunately the zoo left much to be desired. All the animals were off hiding, or taking a nap because it was kinda toasty that day. We did get to see a couple buffalo, and some bears (because their cages were so small, they really had nowhere to go). The kids were a little scared of the bears at first, and of course we didn't get any pictures of them =0).

It was a fun day though. Any time spent outside with cousins is fun.

We love backyards

2009-08-07T14:33:00.001-07:00

Technically we do have a backyard, but our backyard is lots of dirt and giant rocks. No grass, no trees. Besides, here in Nevada it's like 117 degrees during July and August. Maybe even hotter. So, even if we had trees and grass, and they somehow survived the heat....we wouldn't be spending much time outside.

The kids were in heaven playing in Grandma and Grandpa's backyard. They were outside as much as possible, and Tegan kept telling Grandma how beautiful it was. =0)

Hanging out on the deck while the kids played.

Enoch and his cousin Kennedy. They've always gotten along so well. =0)

Tegan being beautiful.

My nephew Hyrum riding the rocks. Super cute.

Grandma and Grandpa's house

2009-08-07T14:17:00.000-07:00

After camping and Josh's hike we spent a week at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

The genius boys playing chess. Actually Josh did teach Enoch how to play, and he's pretty darn good for a 6 year old.

Tegan looking sophisticated in Grandma's reading glasses.

The kids having a sleepover with their cousins. How cute!!

Tegan with her cousin Matt.

Josh doing homework. He's still doing his masters through the summer, and unfortunately had a lot of homework to do while we were on vacation. Poor Josh.

Josh's hike

2009-08-07T14:01:00.001-07:00

Right after camping Josh, his dad, and his brother Ben went backpacking/hiking up King's peak in Utah.

The took a day to backpack in, then hiked up and back down mountain the second day, then backpacked out and headed home on the third day.

They said it was tough, but of course they had fun.

This was the uh...shortcut down. Crazies.

Camping

2009-08-07T13:51:00.000-07:00

Our summer vacation started with camping in Utah.

If the kids look hot that's because they were VERY hot =0).

Some of the cousins in the club house. Enoch was out playing in the woods most of the time with all his cousins, but Tegan was too scared to go.

Proof that I was there. No, I didn't go for all 5 nights, but I was there for 3 of them.

The kids first smores. Yum.

Josh chillin by the fire with our nephew Sam.

Mariahnna

2009-08-07T13:26:00.000-07:00

Our little niece passed away a few weeks ago. Josh's oldest brother Jay's little baby girl was born with an underdeveloped cerebellum. I don't remember what it's called, but it's a very rare genetic disorder. She lived to be 10 months old.

It was a beautiful service.

Our love and prayers are with Jay and Audrey and their boys.

Mariahnna's 6 older brothers. They adored her.

My kids were always enchanted with her. She touched many lives in her short time here on earth. How thankful I am to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and to know the truthfulness of the Gospel. To have a testimony of eternal families. We'll see Mariahnna again.

A little catching up to do

2009-08-07T13:21:00.000-07:00

So, here's a picture of me blowing out my birthday candles. I turned 27 on June 9th. Josh had a work conference for a week, so the kids and I drove out and met up with family in Utah and Idaho. My mom made a cake for me at my brother's house, and Josh's sister made me a giant cookie cake. Then Josh's Mom even made me a cheese cake. So even though Josh was gone for my birthday =0(, I still felt very loved =0). Thanks everybody.

I'm a horrible blogger

2009-07-11T12:35:00.000-07:00

So I realize that I'm not very good at this. There's a ton of stuff I've missed in the past few months that I could have blogged about. I just feel like I need a picture with every post, but we've been awful about taking our camera anywhere. Maybe we just need to buy a smaller one so it's not such a pain to lug around. I'll try to do better. We've got some camping and family stuff comig up.

Here's a couple pictures of the kids I took this morning while they were exercising with daddy. Tegan in her miss-matched pajamas, and Enoch with his morning hair. They looked so cute and little walking on that treadmill, but at the same time it made me think of how big they are really getting. Sheesh.

Well, have a good day all. Love from the Hayes Famiy.

Enoch's Last Day of Kindergarten

2009-06-05T13:52:00.000-07:00

The Kindergarten classes did a program for their last day. The close up pictures didn't turn out, but here's a few.

Waiting for Enoch to come out.

There's Enoch in the front row...NOT looking =0).

Growling like a tiger.

Enoch reciting his phone number. Yes...let's tell everyone shall we =0).

This one is really blurry, but his face is so funny. I don't remember what he was doing.

Primary Water Activity

2009-05-31T17:44:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the Primary Activity at the splash pad across the street from our church building. We also had a big blow up slide, and a slip'n slide and stuff. The kids had a lot of fun.

Enoch was all over the place. He doesn't mind the water. Josh took Tegan down the slide once, but she didn't want to again. She wanted to sit in the pool at the bottom, but the kids coming down were so crazy we didn't let anybody just stay in the pool.

Josh finaly got Tegan to go onto the splash pad for a little while, but she was just too cold =0).

I have to admit that once you were sprayed, and the wind started to blow, it really was kinda cold. To bad it was only 94 that day, and not 105 like the week before.

I did take the kids to the splash pad a couple times last year, one day being 114. I thought for sure they wouldn't get cold, but the wind started blowing, and they did.

Enoch's Birthday!

2009-05-10T19:02:00.000-07:00

My Enoch turned a BIG 6 years old on May 4th. I can't believe I have a 6 year old. That means 1st grade next year.

Josh was headed to Utah for a school conference and the kids and I tagged along and stayed with my brother and his fam in Provo. Since Josh would be gone for his actual birthday, we got there Saturday evening, ran to the store to get his cake and presents (since we don't have stores here at all), and then celebrated his birthday that night.

This picture makes it look like it's Tegan's birthday, and that she doesn't really care...haha.

Me and my BEAUTIFUL kids!!!

My beautiful kids with their beautiful cousins! I mean seriously, can a group of kids get any cuter?

Enoch opening some presents. Even though we didn't shop until that night (I know, we're lame) we found everything he wanted, and he was very appreciative. He told Josh 4 times that he was so happy about his presents, and even that night he said "Daddy, I just wanted to tell you one more time how much I love my presents." So sweet.

May Day Dance

2009-05-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

So, I found out a few days before the actual May Day Dance that it's a yearly tradition for the Elementary school to have a big celebration where the kids do all kinds of dances for the parents. It was fun to watch, and some of the dances were really cool. We didn't see much because we left when Enoch was done, but it was a beautiful evening, and a fun night out.

Tegan of course had to get up and do some dancing of her own before the show started. Isn't she just the cutest thing EVER!?!

Enoch looking concerned because he couldn't find us. He was so worried about it that he wasn't concentrating on what he was doing.

Once he did see us, he got super excited, and was bouncing around like crazy.

And finding us I guess made him a little distracted as well...hee hee.

How handsome! Definitely the best looking Kindergartener there.

Girls Trip 2009

2009-04-29T13:00:00.000-07:00

The women on Josh's side of the family have decided to start the tradition of going on a Girls Trip every year. Last year was in Salt Lake, and this year was in Cedar City. It was so much fun!

Just everybody hanging out, getting settled, doing crafts.

The condo was awesome. Two level, three bedroom, three bath, super nice! They have the Shakespearian Festival stuff in St. George, and the condo is super expensive during that, but we got it in an off season, and there were six of us, so it was really reasonable.

This is us dolled-up to go out. We did a party package at a beauty college for cheap and got our hair done up and our nails painted. It was a blast.

Here's us showing our nails, at the restaurant, and then home in our robes with our ice cream getting ready to watch a movie. What else can you ask for right? =0)

Unfortunately, we were one short. My sister-in-law Audrey was at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake that whole week and weekend. Her baby girl was having surgery, and had to stay for a while until she would eat more. The other ladies did get to stop and see them, and have dinner and stuff on their way to and from Cedar City. We missed you Audrey.

Thanks to my sister-in-law Melanie for taking all the pictures, and then being nice enough to send them to me.

Easter Eggs

2009-04-11T20:35:00.000-07:00

Tegan has dark circles around her eyes because she's so sick. Bronchial Infection...so she's on antibiotics, and taking meds to help with the cough and fever, but she's still so sweet and pleasant even when she's sick.

Now if only the kids would even eat hard boiled eggs. All well, it was fun. =0)