hayden blessing

normally i wouldn't post about my newest niece haydens blessing, but i was going through my pics and realized i haven't sent these to iv yet (sorry), so here ya go!

 cutest booties ever, i think iv's friend actually made them!

 

 

 hello gorgeous

honestly - what is cuter than this?

July 1

Is it possible to do a summer re-cap without july 1? i think not

 hazel and britton as the two headed monster at one of the many marshmallow roasts.

 auntie keelia with her "mini me's" at the magrath super slide

 hazel lovin the slide

parade day with cuzins boston everson and noah

 dash eying dekker's sucker

 hazel with cuzins jesse jane and hunter

 hazel and i at the fire works

 what is know as "THE cuzins party".  rained out this year, so off to the movies!

july 1 is always a highlight, second to christmas only. if your from raymond, you know what i mean.

OH NO! face

Dekker really likes to hit things. a lot. but he also has a soft side and gets scared easily. and when he does he does something that i thought only happened in the movies...

he holds his cheeks! why? i don't know, but it is dang cute!

HAPPY LATE 29TH!

Kyle is 2 1/2 years my junior, so it's always a bit hard for me as a math challenged person to actually figure out how old he is, i wouldn't bet money on it, but i'm thinking 29. Anyways I'm trying to catch up on a few highlights of the summer and obviously can't skip Kyle's b-day.
Not because we did anything spectacular, but because Kyle is spectacular! (i just made that up right now)

I am constantly telling him he is "a man to ride the river with".  And am I ever glad that he is my man!

The worst day of my whole life!

Dekker is already turning into a pesky little brother.  He loves to throw and kick and poke and hit everything (including his sister). He never does it meanly, hitting is just a fun game to him. It's strange, I know at some piont this will bug me, but right now it makes me smile because he is just such a boy!

A couple of weeks ago he was poking Hazel right before supper and she came to me bawling uncontrollably.  She kept saying "this is the worst day of my whole life."  Of course I had to give her a real tight hug so she wouldn't see my smiling.  She was right -it may have been the worst day in her 4 1/2 years of life.  But how great is that?  We are very blessed to have a very plain, normal, lovely life.  We always have food, we have a nice little house, and we love each other.  I know life isn't always gonna be this uncomplicated, so I am enjoying every second of it!

my 1/2

There is something about being pregnant for 9 months and then nursing for 13 months that makes you really appreciate your body.  I'm very happy to "share" it with my kids, but after I was done nursing Dekker I was dying to use my body for something just for me. So I decided to run a half marathon this spring. I really lucked out cuz the weather was amazing during my training in jan, feb, march and april!  I only ran on a treadmill twice.  Most of my runs were at 9 or 9:30 at night when Kyle got home from work. It was busy season so he would get home and work from home till midnight and I would go run.  I'm a night hawk so I loved running at night, you can even see a few stars here in calgary.


It's no secret that I despise the cold in canada.  While I was running I would often make up "awesome" things about winter running. here are a few ...
- never getting too hot
- being so cold that your speed increases because you are in such a hurry to get inside again
- if your muscles are frozen, you can't feel how tired they are
- avoiding ice patches and snow totally helps agility
- if you close your eyes while running on snow, it feels just like sand on a beach

I ran the Salt Lake City half, so we made a little family vacation out of it.  The only downside to that was everyone but me being sick, and I slept horribly the night before my race, 3 hours of actual sleep.  But I still actually ran my whole race and had an awesome time! My only regret is not pushing myself harder.

It's been 7 years since I ran my full marathon in ogden and when people would ask me if I was a runner, I would hesitate, was I?  This week I had a patient ask me if I was a runner and I said yes.

this reminds me of those cheesy "chocolate" emails with black men in them.

i would never choose chocolate over the "white chocolate" picture above!!

sorry Kyle i just couldn't resist.

Hazel had a blast swimming

Dekker had fun too, but isn't quite the water baby that Hazel was at his age.

my fave pic of the whole trip!

We went to visit Payton in Provo. We went out to eat and then went back to his apartment to help him clean and move. I helped him clean the bathroom and it took us 45 min to scrub it down - it was NASTY! It was fun spending time with him, even if it was one of the grossest experiences of my life (and I clean teeth for a living!)  


Keelia was busy making national news this weekend with her BYU rugby team.  They made it to Nationals and due to a scheduling error they were supposed to play Sunday.  They refused and ended up in newspapers all over the country, including the New York Times.


Oh I forgot to mention that while I ran a gruelling 13.1 mile race, Payton escaped his slum, and Keelia made national news, never to be outdone, my sister Ivory went through a speedy labour and gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.  It was totally easy for her cuz it was so fast and she didnt' even NEED pain medication (right iv?).  Welcome to the family Hayden!

yumm

Hazel lost her first tooth today and swallowed it!  I thought she would be so upset that she had eaten her tooth, but it didn't bother her a bit! She loves telling people "i lost my tooth and i wasn't supposed to till I'm 6 or 7!"  We stuck a note under her pillow to explain the situation to the tooth fairy. Luckily she was understanding and left some money that Hazel is trying to save up to buy a dog. I'm trying to gently persuade her into a fish.

haute couture by hazel

hazel is quite the little fashonista. she gets so excited about new clothes and she loves to pick out cute outfits for special occasions.  she has thrown together some pretty cute outfits, but she also doesn't know a lot of the general matching "rules".   when she first started dressing herself i tried to teach her what went together and tried to force her to look cute, but they i got thinking - who am i?  if she is ever gonna get some style of her own i've got to let her experiment!  and experiiment she has...

this is from hazel's "spring wedding" collection.

 the terry cloth veil and statement jewelry is so 2010.

stripes are all the rage this year and hazel hits the trend dead on by pairing two

differnt stripes in one ensemble.

again we have the pairing of stripes with a third patterned element in her headband.

clearly this look is a cross of rock-n-roll and ballerina.

sportswear will be big this year, but we'll be seeing it in unexpected ways.

 this soccer shirt can go from the field to the gala when a sparkly sweater is thrown on top.

layering will continue to be on trend, with the mixing of patterns adding that special twist.

all the color-matching rules will be thrown out the window and actually matching will be considered so passe.

swim googles are making a big comeback, and not just in the pool. 

headbands will also be on runways and streets from new york to paris, with the emphasis being on the "undone" look. nothing overly fussy here.

IT SMELLS LIKE MUSTACHE IN HERE - hazel stone

Kyle's Mustache Season that he did at his company is over!  He worked so hard organizing everything and it was a huge success.  The wrap up party was in the main area of Flames Central in downtown Calgary.

here are the "growers" up on stage in all their glory

kyle had the celebrity judges choose "womanliest", "manliest", "baby-maker", "gnarliest bush" mustache etc

the prizes were sweet too.

Kyle was the MC. If I had to do that I'd probably pee my pants, but Kyle was giving David Letterman a run for his money.  You would think Lanny McDonald is talking hockey here, but he's talking mustache, he takes them very seriously!

Last year Kyle earned $1,700 for Make a Wish Foundation, this year they earned $13,000!!!!!!

Crazy! It is such a good cause and I am so proud of Kyle for putting it all together!

It's hard to smile with a fake mustache on!

               

don't get caught with a naked upper lip...

it's back

with a vengence

kyle is doing mustache season at his office again this year (it's his brainchild) but this year it is sort of a big deal.  as in a wrap up party at flames central, celebrity judges (anyone heard of lanny mcdonald), and 30 "growers".  they've already raised almost  $10,000 in the first 2 weeks for make a wish foundation.  after all - not shaving your upper lip is hard work.