Cute even when he's naughty

One of the ways we have been teaching Hayden to count and to learn his numbers is to count the stairs as we walk up and down them. He loves it and is actually learning them very quickly. Sometimes as parents Mike and I can't help but laugh at Hayden, even when he is being naughty and we shouldn't be laughing at the situation. The other day Hayden was in trouble for something, I can't even remember what it is now, so we were telling him what ever he was doing was wrong and he was in trouble, so he started crying really loud...he was mad! He was upstairs throwing his fit and I walked downstairs to ignore the tantrum he was having. He got even madder that I was leaving him so he decided to follow me. As he was screaming and walking down the stairs, with his mad crying voice he says..."two, three...". Mike and I started laughing, trying hide it from him, of course. He can be so funny and cute even when he is being naughty!

Yummy!

Mike has taken up a new yummy hobby of dutch ovening (is that a word? I think it is!). He took a class so he could learn a little more about it, and the other night he tested out his new skills on us. He was seasoning his dutch oven with Crisco and Hayden apparently thought the Crisco looked really good, so he dipped his fingers in and ate it. It was so gross...and I just had to watch Hayden's face! Hayden had a lot of fun watching daddy cook outside and seeing the fire, to light the coals. He made us a chocolate hot fudge cake and it was delish! I can't wait for him to try out some more recipes on us.

Fun stuff Hayden has been up to...

Last weekend we took Hayden to the "Cherry Festival" to watch the parade and eat some carnival food. Hayden and Mike both got foot long corn dogs, and surprisingly Hayden ate most of it. I got a corn on the cob, and we all shared some yummy, greasy, potato things. Hayden had fun watching the horses and police/fire trucks in the parade. He got to collect candy when they threw it from the floats and he was pretty proud of himself. The cutest part was after he had a big handful he would throw it back into the street because that is what the people did to him. We had to convince him that he got to keep it! After the parade we wandered around and found a petting zoo. Hayden got to feed the animals. He pretty much stuck to the goats, and yelled at one when it walked away from him because he still wanted to feed it!

We have put Hayden in a gymnastics class... he calls it "niks." It is so darn cute to watch him. I wasn't quite sure about it in the beginning because he is the youngest and smallest one in the class, so his listening and following directions skills were not quite at the level of the others, but he has really made some progress and has so much fun. He loves to run around for warm-up's, jump on the trampoline, and walk on the short balance beam (he got a little scared on the big one!). His most favorite part is at the end, however, when he gets a stamp on his hand from his coach. He loves getting the stamp and shows us his hand all week where the stamp was. Every time he hears the word gymnastics he points to his hand.

6 years!!

Today is our six year anniversary! In honor I thought I would brag about the way Mike asked me to marry him...because I think it is really fun. I will start a few weeks before the proposal. It was December 2001, and Mike and I were both attending Idaho State University. Mike was graduating so I wanted to do something fun for him on his last day. I had been asking him what he wanted to do, but he kept brushing me off and then finally told me he would plan the night. I thought that was a little weird since he was the one graduating, so my little brain started spinning and I realised he was going to propose that night. I had been waiting and waiting for him to ask me. I am not proud of this, but I had even gone into his room one day, with a friend, to see if I could find any evidence of a ring, I did find something (the receipt). So, I waited and waited! A few days before "the big night" he said, "I couldn't think of anything to do, so why don't you go ahead and plan something." I was fuming and of course discussed this with my roommate who was aware of the whole situation. I later learned that she was in on it with Mike because they knew I had figured it out...so they wanted to throw me off. I don't exactly remember the time frame, but Mike finally told me he had something planned and I needed to be ready at 4:30, all dressed up. He came to pick me up and we headed on the freeway toward Boise. For those of you not familiar with the area, once you are headed that way there is not much around. I knew we weren't going to Boise because he didn't tell me to pack. We finally turned into the tiny Pocatello airport where Mike had borrowed his company plane, and pilot (thank goodness) and he flew me to Salt Lake. When the plane landed we were picked up on the runway by a Lincoln Town Car, and I was given a dozen roses. Then we had dinner at a place so fancy that I know we will never be back again! I waited and waited, and finally on the plane ride home, really high up in the air, he proposed to me! He gave me the most beautiful ring ever. He picked it out all by himself and did better than I think I could have done. That is a whole other funny story I will tell some other time. He couldn't have done it any better...it was perfect!

And here we are six years later, with our sweet little Hayden and another on the way! I love you Mikey!