Movin' on up!

Well on Monday I decided it was time for Hailee to move to her big girl bed. I wanted to give her enough time to get used to it before the baby came. I also didn't want her to feel like her crib was being taken away from her.
I didn't really know what to expect or how it would all go down, but I think it's gonna be okay!
Day 1-Naptime-I held off as long as I could so I knew she would be tired. She is still mostly taking two naps a day, but today I decided to try one so she'd be tired enough to stay in bed. Well it worked. She cried for less than five minutes and after 20 I checked in on her and this is how I found her...

Now all I had to worry about was bedtime-we were good to go-five minutes and she was out-wow I thought. Today must be my lucky day, but I bet tomorrow is when it will get hard!
I guess I'll have to just keep thinking that, cuz she has been doing great. By the middle of the week I had left some books on her bed that she was "reading" and that stopped the crying pretty much all together. Now she falls to sleep reading a book, and I can't hear her when she wakes up right away because she's just reading a book.
I love that she loves books! When I peeked in on her I caught her just in time to see her laying on her back reading a book, then she sat up and closed it, and rolled over and fell asleep-what cutie!
Tonight I put her in her bed and gave her a book, then I asked her if she was ready to blow out the light. She blew, the light went out, the door closed and I haven't heard a peep. (I even put her to bed an hour earlier than normal, maybe because she only had one nap today?!)
Even better is the past two days she hasn't woken up at 4 (like usual) and has slept through the night till 6:30 or 7. -I probably just jinxed myself!

In side news...I was going to put up a growth picture of 20 wks and 30 wks but I don't have the 20 on my computer, so here I am at 30 wks.


and another picture I've been meaning to take for awhile...entitled "Ode to Grandma Hall"
She LOVES these socks! Anytime you say bats or Ho Ho Ho she does one of two things.
She either signs Grandma (meaning grandma gave me those socks)
or she runs to find her socks and makes you put them on.
Today we were sitting at the table eating lunch when she saw a snowman cup on the table she had to get down. She signed grandma, and I told her they were probably in her closet (thinking to myself I had tricked her because we took them off in the bathroom this morning!) Lo and behold she walks back out of her bedroom with one Santa Ho Ho Ho and one bat sock. Then we had to put them on! Thanks Grandma, I hope you know how much those socks mean to Hailee!

Dancing Queen

So You Think You Can Dance?
Hailee was pretty shy when she first got to the church, but by the time we had finished eating dinner and started on dessert she had warmed up to most everyone. She loves showing off her great dancing skills, this is just a brief clip of some of her moves! -I expect to see you all learning them and trying them out soon enough! Just wait till I catch her doing her "turtle rock" dance on camera! Man she's can groove!

Happy Turkey Day

Just a few highlights of our Thanksgiving Day, sorry I didn't get the last picture rotated.


Carter and Hailee sportin' the hood!


Grandpa showed Hailee this cool trick of walking on the wall, and then jumping off! Aren't grandpa's the coolest!


Addi and Hailee had so much fun playing together. They played ring around the rosies, the balloon pop game and they both loved the slide-and the suckers!

so much to say...

I have plenty of things to blog about, but this is going to be a short one.
This weekend was lots of fun for us, we went to Plain City on Saturday and again on Sunday. Saturday morning we Hall's got together to film the first (next generation) nativity. So all the little cousins were running around the gym and mostly the stage-not really singing the Christmas songs-maybe because none of them are old enough to know the words, but that just made it all the merrier-right?!
Well all in all I think it turned out quite nice for the first try, and I'm excited to see the final product! Which brings me to my next point-I didn't bring my camera which is fine, cuz I think I would have been too busy with Hailee to take pictures (and since its old and slow I wouldn't have gotten too many before we were all finished!)-BUT I know there were several of my cousins out there who did take pictures...Alyson (I would really like that one of Hailee at the piano) would you please send some my way? Thanks so much!
Sunday we went back for Grandma Greats birthday party. Happy Birthday Grandma Great! I LOVE getting together with the Halls. You guys are all so friendly and nice. The only part I hate is that there never seems to be enough time to talk to everyone I want to, or for as long as I want to.
It was strange to me to go to a family party and watch My little girl run around with all the little kids. She seems to small to be doing that. I still remember asking Santa for a ring for Christmas, now I have that, a wonderful husband to go with it, a beautiful little girl and a very active little boy on the way! I have so much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.
So Thanks again to such a wonderful family for welcoming me in, and making me feel included and loved!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. (I promise I'll take my camera to THanksgiving and update you all-with all these holidays so close together, I might have to start blogging more!)

HALL- oween fun

We had a great Halloween. Last week we went up to Grandma and Grandpa Halls for a Halloween Party. Grandma worked really hard to make it a fun time for Dustin and Hailee. There was a fishing pond, coloring contest, playdough, pinata-by Taryn, pumkin walk and lots more.
Hailee would have been content with just the swings and feeding the animals, but there was lots to do.
She was supposed to be a pink poodle for Halloween but as you can see it wasn't her favorite costume...yes she was tired in this picture, but I got the same reaction just about everytime I tried it on her.
SO, my neighbor Megan had extra costumes and we tried the butterfly costumer. At first she wasn't too into it, but I put it on her at preschool when all the kids had costumes on, and she did much better. I would tell her to "fly butterfly" and she would run around the preschool. Last night, after a bit of practice, she figured out the trick or treating business, and even tried to say trick or treat. She really liked it when someone would knock on our door.
By this morning she was all excited and found her costume again and wanted to wear it all morning...she even got mad at me when I took off the hat-which was the part she hated the most! What a funny girl!
Thanks Grandma for the Halloween socks-Hailee loves those too-she won't take them off! And now she says 'bat'


A sad sad puppy


Fly little butterfly-p.s. she now LOVES the butterfly song on signing time. She gets so excited, pointing and talking all about the caterpillars and butterflies!


Aunt Taryn taught Hailee how to make a mustache with her playdough


Grandma took Hailee on a bike ride-She had a splendid time and didn't want it to be over. She walked back to the garage to get back on after Grandma took her out.


The Pumkin walk in Logan was really neat, I've never been before. People get pretty creative with their pumkins and gourds.


My little melting witches-they turned out pretty cute (Thanks Chelsea)



Our preschool party-decorating cookies

It's a BOY!!!

Hailee is going to be a big sister to a cute new brother! We are sooo excited. Heath was convinced that cricket would be a girl-he really doesn't want to have to buy new clothes when all of Hailee's are still in style!
The ultrasound went great the little guy seems to like staying curled up in a little ball with his knees-or feet up to his face. He has plenty of room to move around, but he seemed content to stay curled up tight. Measurements and vitals all looked good and strong so we are happy that things are going well!
We're not sure of names yet, boy names seem to be harder for us to agree on, but we have time to think of some-any suggestions will be taken into consideration.

I don't have a scanner so I can't add pictures but I have a dvd of the event. Anyone is welcome to come over for movie night and watch! He's a cutie!

We're going to the ZOO, ZOO, ZOO!

Hailee, Dad, and Mom went to the zoo on Saturday. We had a great time. Hailee liked the monkeys...how do you measure up?

She also saw the giraffe's and signed giraffe (I taught her that one-no signing time required!)



She liked the rhino-she called it a cow.



I'm not sure who likes the zoo more...Hailee or Dad? She is trying to mimmick me more and more with what I say, and on a good day I can get her to say zoo. She is also good at telling what different animals say, she knows; sheep, cow, horse, snake, lion, dog, elephant.
She is also a very good pretender. She loves to pretend that she is a dog. She gets down on her hands and knees and pants as she crawls around the room. This morning her and daddy pretended they were monsters and were roaring as they crawled into my bedroom to "scare" me out of bed!
What a fun little girl we have. We love her so much and we can't wait for another bundle of joy to come our way...stay posted to find out if it is a girl or a boy, my appointment is today!

The long lost blogger has been found

I want to apologize for not blogging for so long. I have checked up on a few blogs, but I haven't taken the time to post, I've been too busy enjoying my summer I guess! I want to thank all of you who have on your blog how recently your contacts have updated...it helped motivate me, the one month mark was a pretty sad sight!

July 24th- The Allred Family Reunion
What a great time in Flaming Gorge.(sorry no pics) Our first day Hailee did pretty good on the trip out-until the last hour. After the rainstorm we all rafted down the green river, a nice relaxing trip, I haven't been rafting for awhile, so it was fun. Then the rest of the weekend was spent with family sharing stories, eating great food, trying to avoid the afternoon rainstorms and just vacationing. Too bad Hailee isn't that fond of camping-I mostly feel bad for Jeremy, Taryn, Dustin and Nathan who I'm sure were annoyed by Hailee's frequent wake ups! Thanks Karol for planning a great reunion. My family never did long reunions like that (that I remember) so I love having family reunions!

August 6-8 Girls Camp
What a different experience to go as a leader rather than a girl! Thanks to all my leaders who put up with me back in the day! Really it wasn't all that bad, but it was a lot of work! Thank you Emily G-the bestest camp director ever- she made it wonderful! We went back to Flaming Gorge and camped on the beach near Manila. Our tent was 15 ft from the water-how relaxing to fall asleep to the waves! The girls spent most of the week in the water. We had plenty of food. On Friday we rafted the river-two trips in two weeks-fun stuff! We had afternoon rainstorms everyday, but I don't think it made it any less fun for the girls, they seemed to have a great time. We had a great turn out-15 girls, the most ever attending a YW function-that I've been in charge of!

Aug 11-12 Hall Family Reunion
I'm really glad that Reed and Nadine have decided to have a family reunion, I think it had been a great tradition. We a great time. On Tuesday we went on a "short" hike to coldwater lake...a lake that only Reed found. A hotdog roast at a nearby park. A luau with games and prizes for all. On Wed we went up the canyon and shot 22's and shotguns, with a picnic afterwards. I haven't been shooting much, and I didn't do that great, but I had a great time. That evening we went to Willow Park zoo where Hailee practiced hopping like a Wallaby-it was so cute! She crouched down, grabbed her pants and tried to hop, but really just stood up, it was so funny! Then we had a great dutch oven dinner made by 'Grandpa Hall'
Hailee loved Grandma and Grandpa's new swing set, and of course she fed the cows with Grandpa every morning!

Aug 13-16 Hall (extended) Family Reunion
We just staying in Logan on Thursday and headed up to Bear Lake that afternoon for the next reunion. We actually stayed up a canyon in Paris and spent just one day at the Lake, but what a great reunion. Jessica & Blake did an amazing job of planning and executing this massive family reunion. We went to Bloomington lake for the Polar Bear Plunge-which was amazingly quite warm. I even jumped off the rope swing! Reed told some great stories about Grandma and Grandpa Great and their kids around the campfire. Hailee slept through the night the first night!!!! On Friday we headed to the lake, it was a windy day, but it was still fun. I have never ridden a wave runner, so I tried that out with Mindy. We tipped once and couldn't get back on until Stephen came a saved us in his boat, after that, I gave up and drove back to shore-I think I bruised my ribs trying to climb on so many time! Hailee loved the water. Heath held her hand and she waded out until the waves hit her neck, then she turned around and said "G-ma" and walked back toward the shore. She was constantly shivering from the cold, but didn't understand that it was the water making her that way, because she cried when we took her away from it. Then we took her for a boat ride, she had a pretty sea sick look on her face most of the time. She never cried, but I'm not sure that she enjoyed it too much. BUT she hadn't ever signed boat until after that trip, so something good came from it!
Saturday was the "BIG" day...Heath left Friday night so he could catch a flight to Denver. He got invited to the Denver Broncos game on Saturday-who can pass that up? Hailee and I stayed at the reunion and had a great time. Most of the extended family was there and for good reason. We had fun games and great food, what a great way to celebrate G-ma and G-pa Great's 60th anniversary.
There was a ball pit, which Hailee absolutely HATED until her cousin Dustin showed up, then she kept walking over to it and wanting in. There was a fishing pond for prizes, a tug-o-war with all different kinds of teams some honest, some not so much., and there was the MONEY PIT! Hailee loved the sawdust, she found money and threw it back in, I managed to keep 55 cents of it. The adult contest was gonna be a small crowd until word spread that Uncle Jerry put in a $100 bill. After that I barely had any room to look, I was smashed between a bunch of greedy boys! I came away with the $10 bill-the next biggest, about 14 dollars total- so not too shabby. After that week of reunions Hailee came home and slept!
Highlight of the trip: Flat tire at Bear Lake-so we drove to Montpiliar and bought 4 new tires-it needed to be done, we just were planning on doing it this fall, rather than in the middle of the reunion!

Aug 28
My 25th birthday! I convinced Reed and Nadine to stay for dinner on Wednesday to celebrate my birthday. I made tiny spicy chicken and chocolate cake- who would refuse! Then I sent Heath and Reed to Lowes and had them hang some sheet rock in my basement to get me more ready for preschool-thank you sooooo much! My birthday was a pretty simple day. My neighbors took me to lunch and I shopped for chairs and preschool stuff at IKEA-what a fun big store.
Heath brought my home a huge bag of Reese's-yummy. My real present is coming this weekend. Heath and I are spending the night in Midway and shopping the outlets on Saturday. I've never been to the outlets-so I am excited for this shopping trip-too bad i'm inbetween sizes so I don't know what end to buy for-I guess a little of each! and some for Hailee too! She gets to spend the night at Grandma Gardner's while I go play! Thanks Grandma!

Aug 30 Labor Day weekend
We ended the summer camping season by camping at White Rocks out by Roosevelt. It was nice to be able to visit Grandma Allred for awhile and to just relax in the great outdoors. Hailee loved the dirt and just wandering around. We went on a walk/hike and she loved getting down and choosing her own path! She was covered in dirt and happy as can be...until the sun went down and we closed her in a tent! It was still fun to go camping at one of Heath's favorite childhood campgrounds. Maybe one day she'll learn to like a tent!

Sept 2 Preschool begins!
My first day of preschool went extremely well. I almost cried when at 8:45 I only had one student (we started at 8:30) but people just didn't realize what time it started. So after three days, I think it's going to be a lot of fun to have a preschool. It will be A TON of work, but I'm excited to be doing something that I've wanted to do for so long. I have a neighbor on either side of my with kids in my classes, so I love hearing feedback from them that their kids had a great time! One week down, and so far, so good! If anyone had cute arts and crafts or preschool ideas, I'm always open for suggestions! Anything to help improve the preschool!

Sept 4th DUDE!
Wow! I made it to today. With only the basic highlights of summer you can tell it's been busy and fun! I had a great summer and tried new things. Hailee has grown so much this summer. She is learning so many things and mimicking people all the time. Today she learned a new word. My neighbor Megan finished cutting Colby's hair and Hailee heard her say "Dude" then she repeated over and over again. I heard about it after preschool and asked her to say it-it sounds sooo cute. Her first slang word!
I'll try and be better about blogging, but I make no promises! It would be easier if I had internet during the day, but we're cheap-so I take what i can get-and that is what I give to you!
Oh yeah-an update on the pregnancy. I have felt really good, so it's hard to remember that I'm pregnant. Now that I'm four months my pants are starting to feel tight- I guess maternity clothes are coming sooner this time. I have a bit of a baby bump now. Hailee's nickname in the womb was "pickles", this babies nickname is "cricket". So I have felt cricket more a few times, mostly at night, but it's still a cool feeling! We find out if cricket is a girl or boy on Sept 19th, so we'll let you know soon. Heath is positive it is a girl. I'm not really sure, but I'm excited for either one!

Memory Game

Here is a fun little game... leave a comment on my blog of a memory that you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you've known me for a short time or a long time, anything that you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It is pretty funny to read the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you are playing and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. On your mark... get set... blog those memories!

4th of July weekend

We have been having so much fun this weekend. Hailee was up at Grandma and Grandpa Hall's last weekend while I was gone, and I didn't take pictures, but this time I did, and so I think I got a taste of some of the fun times she had. In fact most of this weekend, I think she forgot we (Heath and I) even existed Grandpa and Grandma are soooo much cooler!
We even got to spend some time at Jenn's house going to the Lewiston parade and swimming. Thanks Jenn we had a lot of fun with Hailee's first pool experience.
Then on Saturday we got to see the Breinholts and go to the "cruise in" car show, and pony cart rides, and feed the calves! It was nice to see Becca, Mike, Makayla, Ben, and Savanah even if it was only for a few hours!

My baby is ONE

These are her birthday cakes. I'm no Martha Stewart like Chels and Meg, but I thought it turned out quite well and I'm proud of myself!


I'm awake and it is my birthday! Aren't I so cute!


This is me opening my presents-mom only helped with the envelope. Thanks Grandma Great for the card!


Yipee! I'm ONE today!


The birthday princess in her birthday suit (and diaper of course, especially on dad's lap!)


Oh- in case you forgot...I'm ONE

(I have more pictures of family and such, on a different camera, and the computer kept freezing up when I tried to download them-sorry for all my excuses!)


It is amazing how fast the past year has gone. My little Hailee started out at 5.4 lbs and is now twenty something (i'll find out for sure tomorrow) and is walking around and figuring out the world around her.
Her birthday party was so much fun (so much work, but so fun) we had quite the crew for dinner and festivities.
Grandma and Grandpa Gardner, Kellee, Alisha & Andy
Grandma and Granpa Hall, Chris, Mindy, Nathan, Jeremy, Taryn & Dustin.
and of course Mom and Dad and the birthday girl!
Dinner was yummy! Ham, potatoes, hot rolls, jello, salad.
I made two cake mixes-I had to have a chocolate one for all the lovers out there, besides they make more of a mess-if the child is willing!
Hailee had a butterfly cake and her own small butterfly cake to destroy. I'm not sure if she gave up cause she was scared, tired, or hates her high chair, but she didn't do a whole lot of destroying.
For presents Grandma Hall gave her an adorable homeade dress and a story, Dustin gave her a book, Grandma Gardner gave her a baby doll, and Mom and Dad gave her a baby doll too!
She has been so cute with her dolls, it's good that we have two cuz I can take one and show her what to do, and she'll copy my with the other one. I taught her how to pat its back and she rocks it and gives kisses. I also gave the baby Hailee's bottle, she didn't like that at first, but then pointed at the baby and signed thirsty and now she gives the baby a bottle too! -So cute!
Today while playing babies, I took the baby and cuddled with it. Hailee didn't like that so she took the baby and held it, and then layed on my lap so I could cuddle with her and she could cuddle with the baby!

All in all it was a wonderful day!

Oh and our other special gift to Hailee was this cute shirt-(better picture to come)
We thought this would be a fun way to announce to the family our exciting news!
Congratulations Hailee, you are going to be a big sister! Yeah! I am due around the beginning of February! We are so excited for another little baby. We'll be happy with a boy or a girl, but Heath is really hoping it will be a girl so Hailee can have a friend to play with! It'll be awhile before we find out, but we'll be sure and keep ya'll updated!



Thanks to everyone who came to share Hailee's birthday with us, it was wonderful!

Trekkin' through the wilderness

So I was looking at blogs tonight and Heath encouraged me to post something new-Amazing, I think. Anyway, so I don't have pictures but I just got back from Stake Youth Conference Hand Cart Trek! It took place at hardware ranch up in Logan starting Thurs. and ending today (Sat.) I (the Y.W. Pres along with my 1st coun. and sec. went at sadly we only had 2 girls out of about 6 that were willing and able to go. The others really missed out. I'm not saying it was a GREAT time, cuz it wasn't. I am extremely sore, a little sunburned, tired, and more tired. Luckily no blisters! But it was worth it! THis is the 3rd trek I've been on and I think it has been worth it every time. A completely different experience every time too! I think we hiked about 14 miles total. We did it pretty fast too, we finished early every day which left us with a lot of free time but it was okay. I was an Aunt in a family of 14 and it was really neat to see how the kids worked together and got to know each other. Yesterday there was a women's pull-which was HARD! It was straight up a mountain filled with large rocks-two of our girls helped out another handcart, and so 5 of us pushed/pulled the hand-cart up the hill. It was a great feeling to make it to the top! We had lots of good food physically and spiritually and I am so glad I went.
My first counselor works at a nail school so she is going to reward us all (who went) next Tuesday with free pedicures-I am so excited, my feet cannot wait to feel better!

During the time I was gone Hailee got to spend the weekend with G-ma and G-pa Hall and Mindy, Chris, Nathan and Dustin, Jeremy and Taryn.
Grandma had her so busy that she took extra long naps. From what I hear these are some of the events that took place:
Willow park zoo (twice it was so fun), swinging at the park, bike rides, sprinklers, feeding the animals, riding the horse-Hailee doesn't like the real one, but she loves grandpa's toy one, she goes giddy-up really well., Playing in the tent that covers the card table, Birthday parties for Nathan-which meant that Hailee and Dustin each got their own "party" cakes to celebrate.
I think that she had a great time, so thank you so much Grandma and Grandpa!
(I saw some pics that were taken and they looked so fun, so hopefully I'll get a copy of those too, and one day I'll start using my own camera again!)
Also, in those short three days Hailee's walking abilities have improved dramatically. She is walking a ton! It is amazing how much they change in such a short amount of time.
Once again, sorry no pictures...but check back tomorrow or Monday, it's Hailee's birthday and I'm sure I'll get some of my own pictures on that day! It'll be worth checking back for (my blog could use some color!)

Yes, I'm still alive!

I don't have much time, I'm at the library with Hailee and she's running away (crawling really). But I have been such a bad blogger lately that I thought I better let people know I am still alive. I finished school on Friday June 6th and have since then been enjoying my summer playing with Hailee. We go on walks with the neighborhood every morning. We call it the stroller brigade. There are usually between 4-8 adults and twice that many kids! Then I have been pretty good about doing p90x with my neighbor after our walks...which means we are done around 11:30. So that's usually my morning. I've been pretty lazy this week as far as afternoon's go. Hangin' out with Hailee taking naps when she does. Going to get the mail...that takes awhile, cuz I let her walk the whole way (across the street) but she won't let go of my hand yet...even though last Saturday she took her first steps! Yipee! Without me even bribing her! She's still to scared to do it on her own . ;l4r4r4r4r4r4r4r4r4re;-from Hailee
Anyway as soon as I get the chance I will post a super long blog of all that has happened this past month-I have pictures, they are just on other people's camera's and I have to get them back. But we poured concrete, went to the zoo for Dustin's birthday, took our first steps and so there is much to look forward to. Until then, farewell my blogging friends!

Happy 3rd Anniversary

I just wanted to tell my husband (even though he doesn't really read my blog) how much I have loved being married to him. We've had some great times together and I'm lucky to have married such a wonderful man.
He works so hard to provide for our family and does a great job. He love his little Hailee and he is such a great dad to her. (Changing a few more diapers wouldn't hurt, but I can't get greedy!) He is always willing to do whatever he needs to do to make me happy. For our anniversary which was Tuesday, we both decided we didn't need to get each other anything, yet he showed up at my school and brought flowers with him! That is a big deal from him, cause he doesn't do flowers very often at all!
We have had a great 3 years together and I'm looking forward to many many more!
I love you babe!

Striking Resemblance

So who's who?
The top picture is of Makayla (she's now 5), the bottom of Hailee. They are both about the same age when the picture was taken. Heath and I both thought that Hailee looked alot like Savannah (Makayla's sister, who is a month younger than Hailee) when they were both little babies, but now they've kindof grown out of that likeness. BUT we both still agree that Hailee and Makayla look alot alike at this age. Would you agree?