I fixed it!

I guess they are back. I just needed to post a new comment with the changes I made! YEAH!!!! See, I am not as dumb as I look.

No more comments????

I changed my blog template and my comments went away. I really love the way it looks, so I will be sad if I have to change it again, but I may have to. I have tried everything I can think of to get them to appear again. Any help from my fellow blogger experts would be great!

Christmas

My sister Amanda and her husband Jeremy were here from Salt Lake. Jeremy is a photographer so he took our family pictures this year! I love them so much. I know that two of the subjects in the pictures aren't the greatest, but I am so happy with the way they turned out! Tiffany actually has a new boyfriend and we got to meet him over Christmas, too!

Hayden wanted to give us a surprise gift on Christmas morning, so he found a roll of toilet paper, and gave us this. Thanks monkey!

After the toilet paper incident, we started the morning out with having breakfast with Mike's mom and step-dad. We then went to my parents house to open presents. Hayden got so many toys that I am not sure what to do with all of them. We then went to my grandparents house and had Christmas pizza. A little different kind of meal for Christmas, but it was yummy. We played our traditional game of bingo, with Grandpa Forrey, and we all won lots of fun prizes. We also got to talk to Grandpa Barbour in Kentucky, which was nice. It was a really fun Christmas.

Finally!

It is finally starting to feel like Christmas. I wrapped Christmas gifts last night and today, we handed out goodies, and it SNOWED! I can't believe that I got excited over snow, because I usually don't like the snow and cold, but tonight I liked it. I was so excited, that we took Hayden out to play in it. He had so much fun in the sled going up and down the street. He had a permanent smile on his face and every once and a while we would hear the cutest little giggle come out. He was so sad when we had to come in. He sat at the door for a while and just looked at us with such a sad face. It makes me so happy to see him have fun!

Cookies and Prison

A couple of weeks ago my Uncle Wayne asked our entire family if we would be willing to help make cookies to give to the inmates at the local minimum security prison. He does church services every Sunday at the Prison and has handed out cookies during Christmas for a couple of years. After I accepted to help make cookies, I was given the amount to make. I was in charge of 18 dozen cookies. Wow, I thought, that was a lot of cookies. So, I started baking, and baking. It actually didn't take me as long as I thought it would. It was also fun making it for this purpose. My Aunt Tami told us a funny story about her cookie baking experience. My cousin Nic was asking his mom and dad to take him to Walmart to spend some money he had. His dad told him that he couldn't because he had other things he was doing, so he went to his mom and asked her. She told him no because she was making cookies. He was very angry at this and replied "This is just great, now I am second to prisoners in this family!" And he was serious my Aunt Tami said. I thought that was cute. Hayden didn't mind licking the mixers either! Mike, my Uncle Wayne, my Aunt Tami, and I got the privilege to take the cookies to the prison and hand them out to the inmates. I had been to the prison before in my previous life as a Social Worker before Hayden came along, so I was familiar with the culture of it a little bit, but it was the first time for Mike, so I am glad he was able to come along. I can't even tell you how many cookies we had. My Uncle estimated 6000 cookies. There was box after box of cookies. I tried to snap a few pictures of us loading the cookies into the Prison, but it was such a whirlwind once we got there because there were people waiting for us and once past the gates I was not allowed to bring my camera. I wish I could have because I would have been able to get some great pictures. We gave the cookies to the inmates after they had eaten their dinner. We were in the mess hall while they were eating, so that was interesting. All of the inmates were very grateful for the cookies. Over all it was an awesome experience that I was glad to be a part of. We even were treated to a prison meal after we were all done. It wasn't a gourmet meal by any means but it wasn't too bad. The best part of the meal was watching my Aunt Tami eat it, because she wasn't too excited at the aspect of eating at the prison. I know I wasn't in charge of this, but I wanted to thank all of the family members who made cookies for this because your hard work in making the cookies really made the inmates day... and mine!

Just like Mommy

Hayden fell asleep this morning in the lid of my gift wrap box. It didn't look very comfortable to me, but he was out! I was thinking of how hard this box must feel on his head and it made me think of a time when I was spending the night at a friends house and I told everyone at the sleepover that I didn't like to sleep on a pillow, but that I slept on books. If I remember right I was in first grade. I guess I thought the girls would think I was cool. I slept on books that night to prove my point. Do you have any funny things you remember making up as a kid to make people think you were cool?

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

I am an awful mom. I wasn't going to put up a Christmas tree this year because I didn't want to deal with Hayden getting into it all of the time. To be honest, I haven't gotten out any Christmas decorations. I know, that's bad. I have never been like this. I just had too much other stuff on my plate this year I guess,and it hasn't felt like Christmas for some reason. Well, we started feeling really guilty, so we got out my three little fake alpine trees and decorated them with Hayden. Normally I would gasp at the thought of having a fake tree (I am all for the real thing)! He had so much fun, and he loves having the lights inside the house. We also got to have an early Christmas with Mike's family. His mom made yummy clam chowder. She even made a big pot with no clams because she thought Mike's sister, Rainey, and I didn't like clams...well we both do! Hayden had fun opening his gifts and stealing his cousin Robbie's flashlights he got for Christmas.

Bunko

Mike and I went to a Bunko party last night. It is a dice game. Sorry, but that is as detailed that I am going to get, so if you want more details on how to play ask me! We have a group of friends that we play with every once and a while. It was fun. The most fun part of it was that Hayden had his first sleepover at Grandma and Grandpa Barbour's. I was a little worried because he doesn't usually sleep great while he is away from home, but he did really good. I love my little monkey so much, but it was really nice to not have to drive last night to pick him up and them put him to bed and get him up this morning. Hayden loves to be outside and I am anti cold weather, so his Grandpa spoiled him by playing outside with him all morning. He loved it! There will for sure be more sleepovers in the future...uh, hi mom...hope that's ok!

NO MORE!

Hayden had a check-up at the doctor today. He weighs 23 pounds and is 31 inches tall. He looks happy in this picture, but he was not happy after getting four shots! When I think about it I can't blame him. There were three nurses, one holding his legs, two giving shots, and then me holding his arms down... how would we like that! He was a trooper, poor little guy!

Trip to Poky...

We took a short trip to Pocatello this weekend to visit Mike's Grandparents. It was fun to see them and relax a little. Mike's Grandma is such a good cook. I can tell you for certain that we were never hungry on this trip! Hayden really liked their Christmas tree ornaments and their T.V. He had to touch them all weekend long. Troublemaker! Their house backs up to a horse pasture and Hayden thought the horses were pretty neat! He even touched them, which was surprising to us. I got my hair cut! Chelsea used to cut my hair, but she moved, so I had to take the opportunity while I was there because I haven't found anyone I really like yet to do my hair. On our way home we went to visit Hayden's Great-Great Grandma. She is so cute!

Our Adventures this week

Hayden has been infatuated with looking at Christmas lights this year. It is so cute when he sees them (hopefully my description of what he does will do justice!). He makes an "o" shape with his mouth and sucks air in really fast and points. It is funny. So, since he likes the lights so much we decided to take him to the night light parade on Saturday night. It was so cold and Hayden didn't react quite like we thought he would. He just sat there on my lap and hardly moved an inch! In hindsight I think it was because he was frozen. It was really fun though to take him. On Monday I woke up and I could hardly open my eyes because they hurt so bad! To preface this, I have been having problems with my eyes for a couple of months now. They have been irritated and blood-shot red. I have been wearing contacts since I was about 14 years old, but lately if I wear them for even a little while my eyes are crazy. I have gotten two styes in the last few months too. It has all been very weird! So I wake up and can't handle it anymore. I could barely see, both eyes were weeping and swollen. I called the eye doctor and got an appointment that morning. I drive to the eye doctor and hopefully nobody saw me because I looked like the nerd of all nerds. I had my regular eye glasses on and then I had to put my sunglasses on over my eye-glasses because the light was hurting so bad. If anyone has ever tried to do this it doesn't work that well, but I had to make it work, I was desperate. I get to the eye doc and pretty much he does nothing for me. I don't know if he is used to just doing vision exams and not this, but it was frustrating! He saw Hayden in the waiting room and asked if I was nursing him. I told him no, but then at the end of the appointment he told me that he wasn't sure exactly what it was and he didn't want to prescribe me anything that was going to hurt Hayden. Uh, hello....I told you I wasn't nursing. How is anything going to affect Hayden? So, he said I need to go see my regular doctor. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Eye doctor = eye help - not in this case. So, thankfully I was able to get into my regular doctor a few hours later. He prescribed me some antibiotic drops. But he said it could also be environmental. Great. I am going to have crazy eyes for the rest of my life. Poor Mike had to be gone from work for several hours to help me with my problem. Thanks Mike.Then to top the day off our garbage disposal went out. Mike and I went to Home Depot (twice!) first time to buy a new one, second time to get more supplies that we didn't know we needed, and then we attempted to put it in. And yes, all we did was attempt. It is Tuesday morning and as I type this I cannot turn water on in my kitchen sink, or my dishwasher. I will be making my third trip to Home Depot because the stinkin' disposal doesn't come with a power cord to plug in. It would have been nice for the company to at least put that on the box so one would know this! Oh well. What do you do.

Is he cute or what...

We took Hayden to the park to play on Saturday. I thought he looked so adorable all bundled up in his coat and hat. I know I am biased but I think he is the cutest kid ever. Yes, ever!

Thanksgiving and the day after...

Our Thanksgiving started with a game of football. Mike and a bunch of guys from church got together to play, so I thought I would take Hayden over to watch for a while because he loves to be outside, and I thought Mike might think it was nice of me to show up. I bundled Hayden up, which is no quick thing these days, and we drove over to the middle school where they were playing. It was so cold, and Hayden and I were the only ones there- who weren't playing football- so we went home after just a short time. Oh well. We then went to my parents for a yummy Thanksgiving dinner. My mom never has a shortage of food when people are over, so I was full before I ate, but it was sooooo good. My mom just got back from a trip to Texas, and after we were all done stuffing our faces she told us about this lady, who she was on the trip with, who puked in Olive Garden all over the table because she ate too much food! Sick. This is my Grandma and Hayden. Grandma made a yummy pumpkin pie that she had cut a lot of the fat and calories from - so we didn't have to feel to guilty eating it. Mike and I decided to go to a movie that night. We saw Dan in Real Life. It has Steve Carrell, and I love Steve. I love Steve in the dancing scene. Go see it, I would recommend it. Hayden stayed home with grandma and grandpa and fell asleep at 6:30. He is not used to going to bed that early so he woke up at 3:30 in the morning. Why me? But, I guess he picked an ok day to do it because we spent the night at my parents because my mom and I were adding our names to the crazy list because we went shopping in the wee hours of the morning. I hesitated putting this picture of us up, but here we are, not looking very beautiful, to go shopping! Uh, ya, not good picture. It was fun shopping though. So after eating too much, and shopping too early in the morning, we headed over to some friends to watch the BSU vs. Hawaii game. Our football watching was cut short because Mike got a migraine. I have never had a migraine, but I do not wish it on my worst enemy. It is awful watching him have one. This is not new to him. He has to take daily medicine to prevent him from getting them. In the middle of Mike's excruciating pain, I had to run to the pharmacy to re-fill a medicine he takes at the on-set of a migraine, because he was frantically taking them and ran out. It was Hayden's bedtime, and he had no idea what was going on, so he was being a stinker in the store. The pharmacist gave him a sucker to make him happy. He has never had a sucker before, and it will be a long time before he has another one again. He just doesn't quite get the concept of holding on to the stick and keeping the candy in his mouth. What a mess. Mike's migraine was so bad that we ended up in the Emergency Room. They gave him some good stuff- pain killer, sleepy medicine, etc. He was pretty loopy after the IV started kicking in (very funny to see Mike loopy). The nurse came in one time and asked him an on the scale of 1-10 question, and he couldn't get out the words. I couldn't help but laugh. Poor Mike. Then BSU had to lose. I got him home, he passed out all night and he doesn't remember a thing. He is feeling better. So, it was a very long Friday...but a memorable one.

I admit it...

...I watch The Bachelor every Monday night. The Bachelor this season was Brad Womack. Very cute. Last night was the season finale, so he was supposed to pick the woman he wanted to marry. Did he? No. He dumped both of them. I was so shocked. He sucked me in throughout the season, because he was so good-looking and nice. I thought he really liked both of the girls. I kept going back and forth about which girl he was going to pick - and then he does that!!! I think if he wasn't ready to marry one of the girls that is fine, but he could have just said that to the girl who he liked more and told her that he wanted to date more to see if she was someone he wanted to marry. I am so bad. I get too involved in T.V shows like this! Hmmmm... oh well. Any fellow Bachelor watchers out there?

Just the three of us...

The three of us went to do some errands today. When I say the three of us, I mean myself, Hayden, and the curling iron. Yes, the curling iron. Hayden found this last night and has not parted from it since. When we were getting ready to go to the store today I gently tried to take it from him so I could get his coat on and get out of the door. He had a fit. He clenched on to the curling iron with dear life, pursed his little lips and grunted loudly- all in attempt to let me know that there was no way that I was taking it from him. Yes, I know that he is only 15 months, but he is very persistent and to possibly your disbelief, he won! I know, you don't have to tell me, I know I should have just taken it away from him, but he is pretty strong (willed and in strength!) I didn't get too many weird looks in Lowe's, but I am sure people were wondering. To make it even worse when I got up to the cash register to pay I didn't have my wallet with me so the three of us had to go home and back again! On the way home he fell asleep so I thought it would be a good opportunity to take it and not let him see it again, nope, he woke up and started screaming for it. I always thought it was funny when I would see kids doing stuff like this, so I guess all I can do is laugh. Don't tell Mike I said this, but maybe someday he will be doing all of our hair!

10 things I love about being a mom

1. 1. Watching Hayden eat an ice cream cone.

2. Watching Hayden get a brain freeze from eating an ice cream cone.

3. Taking Hayden to Chuck E. Cheese.

4. Cleaning mac and cheese out of little crevices on Hayden's face.

5. Watching Hayden squeal with laughter from being pushed around by his daddy in a diaper box.

6. Picking up dish towels Hayden has taken out of the drawer twenty times a day. Hey, who am I kidding, picking up anything Hayden can get his hands on that doesn't belong on the floor.

7. Watching Hayden fall asleep.

8. Searching for Hayden's socks because he will not leave anything on his feet.

9. The fact that he can be perfectly content playing by himself... and then I get on the phone or computer and he suddenly becomes a neglected child.

10. Reading to Hayden... he loves books.

Pay it Forward

This idea came from my friend Jessica's blog... and I was one of the first three to reply! So, I am paying it forward on my blog. Read her directions below and hurry and reply if you want in! I promise I will make something really good! Okay...I agreed to do this pay it forward thing so here it goes."......Here's the Pay It Forward Idea:I will send a handmade gift to the first three (3) people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. You may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. (so, you must have a blog to participate.) I can't wait to see who I will be giving to. To join, just cut and paste this on your blog and comment away. So get posting......."

Grandma's Birthday!

Yesterday we celebrated My Grandma Gloria's Birthday. Myself, my Mom, my Aunt Tami, my Cousin Sarah, my Cousin Jen, and Hayden took her out for breakfast. We went to a place downtown called Addie's. It was really good. The service was so-so, but to their benefit it was busy and they were short staffed. Grandma ordered a breakfast burrito and I ordered a vegetarian skillet. Well, the waitress gave grandma my meal, by accident, and she started eating it thinking it was the weirdest breakfast burrito she had ever eaten. When I got my meal, about 10 minutes after grandma started eating mine, they handed me a burrito. This is where we discovered that Grandma had mine. Poor grandma knew she was getting old, but not that old! Anyone that knows my Grandma knows that she is very animated. It was so funny because water was spilled two times on the table, and it wasn't by Hayden! When the water spilled, each time, Grandma shrieked (very loudly)! The restaurant is small inside and everyone turned their attention to our table - very embarrassing- but funny! We were all laughing hysterically, while everyone is staring at us and we are trying to get water cleaned up! We had a lot of fun together.

My "awfuly fun" trip

My friend Jenger and I have been planning a shopping trip to Salt Lake for several months. We have been so excited to go, and last Sunday it finally was time to go. Yeah. Actually it turned out to be a not so yeah trip. On the way there everything was going well... Hayden was sleeping and being very good, and we had good snacks (what more could you ask for). Here is where it took a turn for the worse. We were passing through Snowville and my phone rang... it was roaming, and it was a Texas number- I don't know anyone in Texas, so I didn't answer it. A few minutes later my phone rang again... it was one of my good friends from college, Natalie. I answered it.. it was not Natalie.. it was her sister in law letting me know that Natalie had taken her own life. I could not believe it. She had just come to visit me about a month ago (she is the one I went to Cheesecake Factory with and watched the Office with all weekend).I would have never guessed this was going to happen. So I am upset at this point and in disbelief. We get to the Salt Lake area and I am just exhausted. We stayed with my friend Karalenn. She was so sweet to me the whole time, and she and her husband were so thoughtful of what I was going through. Thanks Karalenn! We did have fun shopping, but my mood was just not the same. In March of this year my family also lost my Uncle Randy due to the same reasons, so I just kept feeling sad for people who feel so sad in life that they decide this is the only way. Then I got really sick... I won't describe the kind of sick, I will just let you fill in the blanks. So the ride home was miserable. I was so exhausted from being sick and emotional that I nearly killed us by falling asleep for a split second, thank goodness for those annoying grate things on the side of the road. Jenger drove home from there and I slept. I was so glad to be home. It took me a few days to get over being sick. I finally feel better. So, I really did not write this to depress you all or to make you feel sorry for me. I wrote this to tell everyone in my life that I love them. Life is precious and you never know what can happen day to day. So make the best of it and do the best things you can! I didn't even take any pictures to post!

Halloween night

Whew- I got rid of my 11 pounds of candy! We had a good Halloween. I made homemade chili and cornbread- yummy- we passed out candy and enjoyed every one's costumes. Hayden was a Dalmatian. He was so cute in his little costume, and to my surprise he didn't fuss about the hoodie part. His Grandma Barbour and Grandma Wyler came to see him dressed up! Hayden was so exhausted with all of the festivities that he passed out before all of the kids started coming to the door. He eventually woke up and loved having the kids come to the door. He would get so mad when they would leave and shut the door. It is hard to explain to a 15 month old that the kids were there just for candy and not to play with him. He sat in front of the door waiting for more kids to come. He was so excited and wanted to see more kids that Mike eventually took him outside so he could see every one walking around and look at the pumpkins!

Carving our pumpkin

We carved our pumpkin last night. Mike and I decided to let Hayden be involved with this Halloween tradition, so we stripped him down and let him go at it with the guts of the pumpkin. He had so much fun. He laughed and laughed and threw seeds and gunk all over the kitchen. I am still finding seeds. It was well worth the mess to see him having so much fun though. Mike cleaned out the pumpkin and I was in charge of carving. I am not an expert carver, but I think it turned out cute! (It looks way better in person than in the picture!)