Redfish Lake 2011

Earlier this month, we did our annual trip up to Redfish Lake. It was great but there were a couple of differences this year: First, we had a little baby in tow with us and, second, we took Levi's sister Sevy with us since my mom was going to New York with Laurie and Justin.
It was a nice trip, but for some reason it went by way quicker than tears past and I find myself forgetting that the trip has already happened. I think this is because in years past we would get there around 11:00am the first day and we'd stay late the last day. This time we arrived later and left a little bit earlier, due to the weather being a little crappy.
Also, Hadley was slightly out of sorts but was a trooper anyway. Love that little girl!

Ugh. I was not excited about it being this foggy/cloudy/cold, but it was still a nice little vacation.

The room got a little too cold at night, so Hadley ended up sleeping in our bed with us. Isn't she sweet!

Oh, and I almost forgot the funniest part of the trip. While Hadley was still sleeping in her crib she woke up about 3:00 in the morning and I nudged Levi to get up since it was his turn. He stumbled up, grabbed his glasses and took a few steps in the dark before realizing he had put on my sunglasses. I couldn't stop laughing!

Happy things.

5 THINGS THAT ARE CURRENTLY MAKING ME HAPPY:

1. Project Runway is back! Last season's winner Gretchen (or as I call her, "Wretchen") nearly ruined the show for me, but Levi and I watched the first episode (they had to make a dress out of their pajamas!) and we're convinced it will be great again. Side note, Levi said to me, "Is it weird that I've been excited all day for the new Project Runway?" No, it's not weird. It's AWESOME!

Austin Scarlett is one of the biggest divas ever to grace P.R. and I loved him! The man made a dress out of corn husks. Who can do that?!
2. Levi's barbecued hot dogs. For my mom's birthday this year, I asked her what she'd like for her dinner. I told her she could have anything in the world and she said, "The only thing I want is Levi's barbecued hot dogs." For some reason they are incredible, probably because they're made by an incredible man. My ever-expanding waistline loves them too.

3. Bumbos. Hadley loves her bumbo because it makes her sit up like a grown-up. I love it because I can actually do stuff without worrying about her rolling over/suffocating/choking/etc, etc.

4. Parks and Recreation. If you haven't been watching this show, you are missing out! Don't bother renting the first season (it was only six episodes and was actually pretty bad) but instead start with the second season. I started watching season two all over again while I wait for season four to start this fall. It's seriously the funniest show on t.v.

5. My new phone. I finally caved in and joined the smart phone revolution. I originally wanted an iphone, but I wanted to go with Sprint, so I found that the Android Evo is just as awesome as the iphone and has an 8 megapixel camera, versus the iphone's 5. I'm VERY happy with it. Check out the kind of pics this thing can take!

As a bonus, the 6th thing making me happy is knowing that at this time tomorrow I will be at Redfish Lake!! I will be tanning away my stress and eating enough ice cream to ensure my pants never fit again! Woo hoo!!

Happy 65th Birthday, Mom!

Yesterday was my mom's 65th birthday! That seems like such a distinguished number, like a milestone of sorts. Last night, the Colby's came over and we had a nice BBQ with lots of yummy food and desserts. Hadley wore her "I love Grandma" shirt to celebrate the occasion.
If any of you don't know my mom, here are a few fun things about her:

• She can cook like nobody's business. If given the chance to eat at the best restaurant in Boise or have my mom make me her stroganoff, I'd have to go with my mom's home cooking. I don't think she knows how to mess up a recipe!
• She is a loyal Yankees fan. Levi and I thought we'd be able to convert her to Red Sox Nation within a year of her moving in, but she has stood strong and not given one inch on her loyalty to the pinstriped boys. (By the way, she is absolutely GIDDY to go to New York in a couple of weeks to see the Bronx Bombers in person.)
• She is the best grandma. I'm so excited for Hadley to get to grow up with her in our home. I feel like Mom was born to be a grandma, I only worry what my fights with Hadley will look like in a few years ("Grandma said I could have cake for breakfast!" etc.)
• She is still so fashionable and hip. I feel like a slob around her, especially on my days off when I'm still in my pajamas at noon.
• Her mom-isms only get better by the year. My favorite is still "Oh $#!&, I burned the garlic bread!" (said any and every time we have spaghetti.)

Happy 65th birthday, Mom! We love you!

July 28, 2011

Hadley has the gift of gab. This isn't surprising, with her heritage being both both the Gates family and the Allen family. Here she is trying to tell me a story:

Love that sweet voice!

July 23, 2011

On July 19th, Hadley turned four months old! She is such a big girl! She had to get her immunizations done again and that was very sad, indeed. She got a fever and was achey all day, but tried to remain sweet, which made the whole thing even more sad!

Hadley at her four-month checkup, before being stuck with the needles :(

Here are some four-month Hadley factoids:

• Hadley has started to laugh and smile at just about everything. Uncle Zane can make her laugh pretty hard and she likes you to make funny faces for her amusement.
• She hasn't rolled over yet, but while she's in her swing or her bassinet she can turn completely on her side, which scares me a little bit!
• She definitely prefers to be held and can't understand why you wouldn't be holding her if you're in the room. She has a dramatic cry that she'll use to get you to pick her up, which we always fall for.
• She has just started to try rice cereal, which we put in a bottle at night since her spoon skills aren't all that great yet.
• She has determined that 8:30 is her bedtime and we are hard-pressed to get her to stay up past that, unless we're away from the house. While it's nice that she's going to bed at a regular time, she has decided that 5:30am is the perfect time to wake up, which we don't agree with. We can usually get her to go back to sleep until about 7:00am if we put her in bed with us (I know, I know. I swore I would never do this, but at the time I made that vow I didn't have a happy four month old cooing away at 5:45 in the morning.)
• She can now face forward in the Baby Bjorn and she likes to suck on the fabric of that carrier. Actually she's now sucking on just about anything she can get her hands on. Between the sucking and the spit-up, we go through about eight bibs per day.
• Her hair is turning a gorgeous auburn color and her eyes are bright blue. BEAUTIFUL!
• She loves to look you in the face and talk. It's as if she's trying to tell you a story. You can see her thinking so hard about how to form the sounds and she looks like a little angel.

Hadley continues to blow us away every day. We are so blessed to have her sweet spirit in our house and I can't imagine it any other way (even at 5:30 in the morning!)
We love you, Hadley Finola!!

July 18, 2011

This post is called, "Holding Hadley."
I maintain that there is nothing better in this world that holding little Hadley, so here are a bunch of pictures people doing this exact thing!

Aunt Heather

Grandma Maria

Aunt Bonnie

Kate

Aunt Laurie

Rachel

Grandpa Jennings

Aunt JaNae

Uncle Pat, who makes special trips over to hold Hadley.

Aunt Sayaka is visiting from Japan this month.

Aunt Avery

Grandma Julie

Uncle Zane

Eliza

Aunt Sevy

Uncle Chris

Papa Brad
This is just a tip of the iceberg of pictures of friends and family who love and care about her. I have to fight to hold her whenever we take her anywhere and I love seeing her cuddle with all of these wonderful people. I love you all!

July 17, 2011

On July 9, 2011 we had Hadley baby blessing and what an amazing occasion it was. Laurie's husband Justin did the blessing and he blessed out Hadley to be a sweet spirit who befriends anyone needing a friend, as well as being a quick learner and a help to her parents. It's funny how I can already see those traits in her and I can't wait to see what an amazing woman she'll grow to be.
Afterwards we had a great picnic in a park near our home. It was so neat having Levi's family there and I was so happy to share this experience with them. They thought it was very neat and I know that Hadley could feel all the love in the room for her.

The room has been painted!

Over two and a half years ago, we painted our room a dark teal color that I ended up hating almost immediately. It has taken this long to do something about it and actually paint the room a different color. I told Levi that for my birthday gift I wanted it painted ASAP, which he wasn't super excited about, but was a good sport and agreed to do it (happy wife/happy life and all that...)
I am absolutely thrilled with the results! I didn't know a bedroom could feel so soothing!
The picture is a little dark and doesn't do the color justice, but it is a very soft blue/green color that is both modern and vintage at the same time.

In unrelated, but still fun news...here's some cute pictures of Hadley:

Happy Hadley

Pleasant Hadley

Diva Hadley. "I said no more pictures!"

Hadley's Blessing

Last weekend was Hadley's baby blessing. It was absolutely amazing, made even more great by all the family that came from out of town. We were originally going to have the blessing in Utah, but we were just down there for Grandma Allen's funeral and we thought it might be hard on Hadley to travel again so soon. Laurie and Justin and their family and my brother Scott and his oldest daughter Athena all came from Utah and it was fantastic having them here. Most of Levi's immediate family was there too and it was great to share this special day with them.
Hadley looked amazing in her little gown and she was an angel throughout the whole thing. Justin performed the blessing and, amongst other things, blessed her that she would always be a friend to those needing a friend, that she would be a quick learner, and that she would be a sweet, calm presence in our house.
After the blessing we had a picnic in a park and enjoyed the nice weather.
It was such a neat day and you could feel Hadley's sweet spirit and feel all the love in that room for her. I hope I can always remember what was said and tell her about it when she's older. She is so amazing and I can't believe how blessed we are to have her.
Thanks again to everyone who made the journey, it was incredible.

July 8, 2011

I absolutely love this video I caught of Hadley talking to her little toys on her mat. This is seriously how she laughs and it cracks me up!

Slow down!

Life has been happening a little too quickly for my liking. There are some days that I couldn't even tell you what I did that day because it went by so fast. Lately I've really been struggling with the idea that if I need to get ten things done in a week, I'll usually end up completing two of them. This is happening both at work and at home. At work I make post-it notes of things that I need to get done and I get satisfaction when I get to cross them off, but lately the act of crossing off the tasks has been getting farther and farther apart. At home, I'll set a simple goal like "Sort Hadley's clothes and box up the clothes that are too small." and I'll be lucky if that goal is reached in ten days time.
The work thing is understandable because we're running a huge ship on very little manpower, so it's inevitable that my projects will take longer to do, but I still hate that I can't get anything done at home. Does that ever go away? Will I just get used to it? Advice?
Anyway, enough about that: Laurie & Justin and the kids are coming up this weekend!! I'm so excited! We're having Hadley's baby blessing in our home on Saturday and Laurie's family is able to come up for it! We were going to do it in Utah next weekend, but with Grandma's funeral we just couldn't quite afford to drive back down so soon. I tried on Hadley's blessing gown yesterday and it's so beautiful. I even found little cream colored shoes to match. She'll look like a princess!
This is also the week of events that gets crazier every year: July 4th is not only one of my favorite holidays, but my stepmom-in-law's birthday, July 8th is my wedding anniversary as well as my sister-in-law's birthday and then my birthday is on July 10th. Our wedding anniversary was supposed to be July 21st, but the venue we booked ended up having a remodel booked that weekend so we had to bump it to the 8th, which has always seemed so weird and has never quite felt like my anniversary. Oh well, at least Levi usually gets to combine birthday/anniversary gifts for me :)
I'm so excited for Redfish lake, which is now less than a month away! This year my mom won't be going since she'll be going to NYC the following week, so we're taking Levi's sister Sevy with us. I think it's going to be a blast and I can't wait to lay on that sandy beach again!
Well, I'm off to try to get at least one thing on my list checked off. It probably won't happen, but I'm going to give it a whirl!