Our 4th of July Fun!

Happy 4th of July!! What a fabulous day for a 100th year 4th of July celebration Magna parade! The last few years the famous Magna parade just hasn’t been all that great. So I was leery of going this year even though deep down I knew I couldn’t miss it. So glad we didn’t miss it! Hayden was so excited to go to the parade at Grandpa Rock’s house but after a while during the parade he got a little anxious…. I guess you could say. Once the candy throwing started Hayden was so concerned that all the pieces got picked up. Even out of the middle of the road and even stepped on pieces. He picked up tons and tons of candy but about half way through the parade he wanted to go home and it seemed he wasn’t having much fun. I think that maybe it was too much excitement and confusion. With our Uncle Curtis and Cousin Greg making us laugh like crazy during the entire parade Hayden may have been a bit over the edge with all the craziness! But all in all I think we all had fun and enjoyed ourselves! And what prefect weather!!!! 72 degrees! Maybe even a little chilly at times. After the parade we spent the rest of our holiday with some old friends of ours, the Starley’s. They had rented a big bounce house/slippery slide for the kids. Even though it was not as warm was we would have liked the kids still had a blast. While the kids played we ate some yummy food and once it was dark enough we had our own little firework show.

Thankful!

We have been so fortunate to have special people in our lives that have been able to help take care of Brynlee while her Mommy and Daddy are working. Between my Aunt Debbie and one of my best friends Mom's, Grandma Deni, Brynlee has been well taken care of and well loved during the long days she has to be away from us.

Grandma Deni snd Brynlee

Aunt Debbie and Uncle Curtis with their very special girl, Brynlee



They love this little girl of ours so dang much! We couldn't ask for any better caregivers for our Princess!

Warning.....May Be A Choking Hazard

And this cute little barrette is the culprit-





Who would have thought that my little princess would take this cute little barrette out of her hair in a matter of moments and try eating it. Well, she did and it was the most scariest thing I have been through as a Mom.

It was just another typical rush around morning trying to get out of the door to get to work. This particular morning it was snowing so I called my most favorite most caring and giving Aunt ever and asked if Brynlee could come to her house that day instead of sweet Grandma Deni who lives in West Jordan. And of course my Aunt was more than happy to have Brynlee, thank goodness!!

As we were rushing out I grabbed this little barrette to pull Brynlee's hair back out of her eyes. And out the door we went. The drive was short since my Aunt just lives about a mile away, Thank Goodness! (AGAIN)

Once we arrived I got Brynlee out of the car and her blanket was over her car seat so I didn't take a look at her as I was trying to hurry because it was a blizzard. As I was walking into the house I could hear her like coughing so once we got inside I set her car seat down on the floor an lifted her blanket. I was saying to my Aunt that I think she is choking as I stood there watching her. My Aunt came right over and Brynlee started throwing up horribly. My Aunt hollered to get her out of her seat and I noticed she was throwing up blood. My Aunt began calling 911 and she said to me to see if she has anything in her mouth. I kept thinking what the heck could be choking on. I didn't give her anything before we left the house. It never crossed my mind that it could be her barrette. I never even noticed it was gone out of her hair.

I put my finger in her mouth and felt something really far back and realized it was that dang barrette. So I reached in again and pulled it out covered in blood and flem. The paramedics still came even though I was able to get it out. Because if the blood we wanted to make sure everything was OK.

It seemed that as all of this was happening my Aunt and I were pretty calm. While we were waiting for the paramedics to come I was getting Brynlee out of her wet clothes and that's when things started to settle in my mind. It scared me half to death and it just took a moment for it all to sink in!

The medics came and checked Brynlee out and fortunately she was just fine! Her throat of course would be super sore for awhile but that didn't seem to last too long. I still can't believe this happened. The rest of the day I couldn't quit thinking about how lucky we were and going through the what if's. It still just scares me to death to think of these. We are just so very fortunate!

Here are Brynlee's Hero's for the day! Of course the whole squad was sent to save our little princess. So many big guys for such a tiny little girl!

This is a picture my Aunt sent me later on in the day. It sure helped me get through the rest of my day and brought a smile to my face knowing she was happy and having fun with our very favorite Auntie!. (Yes, I went to work after this whole ordeal. Don't ask me how!)

Preschool Birthday Celebration

Hayden's final 5th birthday celebration was on his first day back to preschool after Christmas break. He got to be the big helper for the day and boy was he excited! We were supposed to make a poster for Hayden telling his friends more about him. Well, I think Mommy went a little over board. OK, so maybe a lot over board.

Nate and I went shopping to find some things to put on his poster and when we got home a started laying everything out the big white poster didn't seem so big. I just couldn't leave any pictures out so we covered both sides of the poster. I think Teacher was probably thinking we were such dorks! Oh well, it turned out cute anyway and Hayden had a lot of fun telling his friends about the pictures we had used. In fact, Teacher asked me to tell the kids about it but Hayden took right over. It was pretty cute! I thought he was more shy but I guess when he is the shining star he coems right out of his shell.

Teacher and Hayden

Teacher was telling the class how special Hayden was and how she loves his big brown eyes and his big loves that he always wants to give her. Hayden is a very lovey boy!

One of my favorite parts of the poster! My Silly Monkey!

Happy Birthday "Little Chef"!

For Hayden’s special 5th birthday party we decided to have all his little friends join us for some cooking fun at Little Chefs Academy. Hayden has always loved helping out in the kitchen so I thought it would be great fun for him and his little buddies to cook their very own pizza all by themselves. We actually decided to have double the fun and have our favorite little cousin, Landen’s 5th birthday party together with Hayden’s. It only made sense since their birthdays are 7 days apart and they have almost the same guest list. Besides, who wouldn’t want to share their special day with one of their most special friends!

The party turned out fabulous! Hayden and Landen brought all their guests their very own apron with their name on it along with their very own pizza cutter with some gummy pizza candy. Everyone looked so cute in their little aprons!

The kids had a blast making their own pizza dough and learning about measuring. The Chef that was helping us was great with the kids and he made cooking a lot of fun! The pizza turned out pretty dang good too! All of our little chefs did an amazing job!



Happy Birthday to our special “Little Chefs”! We Love you!



Side Note: We got “Little Chef” from the movie Ratatouille. We have watched that movie a bazillion times and for some reason “Little Chef” sticks out in our minds so we are constantly calling Hayden that. He used to not like that we would say that but I don’t think he minds now. Hayden just prefers we call him Bubba!

Loftin and Hayden getting the pizza dough all ready for baking.


Hayden and Landen got to be the special birthday helpers of the day!

Although Hayden and Landen were the extra special chef helpers all of their guests got to help too!

All were pretty excited to take their turn, except for Trevor. He is our shy little buddy.

Kayson's turn...

Gage's turn...

Baylee's turn...

Loftin's turn...

Karrie's turn...

And Landen's turn.

While they were making up their pizza dough the Chef said it was a must that they put flour on their face. You know, like maybe one stripe of white flour under each eye like a football player would do with black. Well, Hayden thought he needede more! He had his face and everything around him covered!

And the finished product...Landen and his yummy pizza...


Karrie's yummy pizza

Rivers yummy pizza...

Gage, Baylee, and Kayson's yummy pizza

Hayden and Trevor's yummy pizza.

And the life of our party, Loftin with his yummy pizza. Loftin is no way shy and he is so stinkin' smart! He is always the life of our parties! We love having him around!

Landen chose to have a Batman Birthday so here he is with his cute Batman cupcake cake.

And Hayden of course wanted to have a Transformer birthday.

Happy 5th Birthday To Our Bubba!

On December 30th, Our favorite little man Hayden, turned 5 years old! I can't believe how fast time has gone by. He has been the joy of our lives for the past 5 years and still continues to amaze us! He keeps us on our toes, that's for sure!! He is the light of our lives!


Dear Hayden,

Happy 5th Birthday! We are so proud of what a handsome most loving little man you are becoming. I wanted to share with you our amazing story of how your little life began. I started typing this story just after you were born but never finished it completely. I had big plans for your so called "baby book" and I wanted this story to be a part of it. Since you are now 5 years old and there is yet to be an actual baby book I have decided that this little family blog that I have created is going to take place of it. I only wished I had started it a lot sooner. But that's OK, this is the perfect time to share our story about our little miracle.


Everyone kept telling us that our lives would completely change as soon as you arrived but for us it was a little sooner. On September 30th, 2005, I went in for an ultrasound to make sure what I was feeling was you inside my belly. And of course you were there and growing to be a healthy baby boy however they noticed a problem with me. I was rushed over to labor and delivery where they took a closer look at things. It turned out that I have what they call an incompetent cervix. I was only 24 weeks along at the time and you were only about 1 pound. Daddy was just leaving to go on a hunting trip and I just caught him at home in time to tell him what was happening.

As soon as he arrived to the hospital I was rushed into surgery to have a stitch put in my cervix to keep you in my belly for as long as I could. The doctors and nurses kept telling me how lucky I was I had come in that day because if not I would have had you within two days and most likely you would not have survived. This was a really scary thing for us as you can imagine. I was put on strict bed rest. So strict that I actually had to live at the hospital for 2 months. It was the hardest thing I have ever had to do.

After 8 weeks of laying in a hospital bed, my doctor decided to release me just before Thanksgiving. I was so relieved to be able to spend the holidays at home. Under doctors orders I was told to come back to the hospital 3 times per week for monitoring. I was still on very strict bed rest at home. I was thankful for being at home but at times was real tough because I obeyed my Doctors orders and I truly stayed in bed the entire 4 weeks left remaining until you arrived.


The first week back to the hospital for monitoring and to see the doctor, she advised that I stay in the hospital for two more weeks so that I was at least 35 weeks along. I refused. It was the hardest decision that I ever had to make. I just couldn't understand the point of me staying in the hospital bed when I could be at home in my own bed were I was more comfortable with less stress. I literally could not take anymore mentally.

I made it to 35 weeks and then finally I requested the doctor schedule when she would cut the stitch so that you would be born. We had to wait until I was 37 weeks so she scheduled it for Dec. 29th. I remember this day as if it were yesterday! Grandma and I went in on the 29th at 7 am. The doc came in at 11:00 and cut the stitch. I immediately was dilated to a 3. A few hours went by and the doc came to check me and I was a 5. She told me that I would not leave the hospital without a baby!!! She came back that night at 8 pm to break my water and I got an epidural at that time. I really didn’t think I needed it but I was taking potocin so they said I would need it later. It was a very long night. The last time I could remember looking at the clock it was 2 am, December 30th. Then it seemed as though that things were happening so quickly. I started having stronger contractions (so the machine said) and it was time for your arrival! It didn't take much time or many pushes for Mommy and you were here!! Our most perfect little prince! Ten Fingers and Ten Toes! And mounds of dark black hair! And not just on the top of your head. You were a hairy little critter with dark hair all over!! And you still are!

I was told that I would be lucky to make it through the first 24 hours after the stitch was placed and it would take a miracle for me to make it full term (36 weeks). That just sums it up for us as to why we call you our "Little Miracle". It couldn't be more true.
There are so many more little details and ups and downs that I could tell you about about our journey together before you arrived but we did it! You and I! In the back of my mind I always had a feeling that things would be just fine. I knew that you were meant to be here with us and for you to be a part of our Family.

As I was gathering information and things to start your baby book I would send myself emails of all your firsts so that I would remember. Thought that would be better than writing it down on random pieces of paper and then maybe losing them here and there. Well, emailing wasn't such a great idea either. Our email account was cleared out. There was no way for me to locate all of my emails. We lost everything I had saved. I felt horrible. I do have a little bit of info below. A little time line perhaps but it's not much-

Dec 30th you were born 5:09 am 6lbs. 1.7 oz 18 in long
Jan 6th Landen was born
Jan 13th 2 week check up - sorry, no details
Jan 28th First giggle while sleeping
Feb 4th first sleepover at Grandma Wendy's
Feb 21st 2 month check up. 11 lbs 1 oz 23 in long.
March 26th Hayden’s first haircut

Even though I may not have all the little details of your very firsts through the years we still enjoyed every minute sharing them with you. You amazed us then as you do now at the big age of 5 years old. We can't imagine life without you. We Love You Bubba!!

Here we are! Our first family photo as a family of 3! Pardon the way I look. We are just leaving the hospital and it had been a long road for me!!

The only picture taken of me while I was pregnant. This was on Thanksgiving Day just days after I was released from the hospital. I was 33 weeks along.

Look how tiny you where! Mommy and Daddy didn't have anything ready for you when you came home from the hospital. Not even an outfit! We were so thankful that Grandma Wendy came to the hospital with a sack full of new little outfits and this was one of them. It was your Daddy's favorite outfit and we still have it!

8 Months Old

10 Months Old

10 Months Old

Your 1st Christmas

Your 1st Birthday

2 1/2 Years Old

3 1/2 Years Old

4 years Old (almost)


And the big 5!! (almost)
Look at those eyes!!




*Hayden's Favorites*

Hayden's favorite color is BLUE.

Hayden's favorite foods- Macaroni and Cheese with peas and Pizza

Hayden's favorite snacks- frosting, frosting, and more frosting oh and Cookie Dough. Just like his Mama!!

Hayden's Best Friends-Landen, Trevor, and Kayson

Hayden's Favorite Things To Do-camping, riding his four wheeler, playing video games (He LOVES Mario on the Wii and his DSI)

Hayden's Favorite Movie-Transformers

Hayden's Favorite TV Shows-Phineas and Ferb and Scooby Doo