The Mitchell Family

Am I the only one that lives in CRAZY town?

2011-11-04T11:35:00.006-06:00

I have some major updating to do, I know! I'm sure the 4 people that read my blog are very disappointed in the frequency of my posts. This past summer and fall have been so crazy busy I haven't had two seconds to go through pictures. In fact, it's about 53rd on my list of things to do. But I thought I'd take a few minutes and give some highlights (minus family trips and get togethers - that will come later) of what we've been up to.

Preschool! Hayden started school and loves it most of the time.

Fun times at different park. I love this pictures because their actually holding hands.

Minor construction out of an old cardboard box. I love free stuff!

Our first experience with stitches. Lesson learned?: Don't run around with a towel over your head even if you like pretending to be a ghost.

Chickens. Yes, we've turned a little hick. We have 4 chickens that lay brown and green (yes, green) eggs. Although the green ones aren't featured here.

Church. We've been busy with primary, nursery, callings etc.

Bonus: Dawson is starting to keep his tie on during church.

Pinky. She's often very lazy but still a great part of our family.

Forever families. My mom was finally sealed to my grandma (88) and grandpa (by proxy). It was a special experience to realize that we're all now linked together.

Fishing in the Uintas

2011-11-04T11:11:00.003-06:00

Late this summer we took a day trip to the Uinta's with my family. The plan was to make our meals using different cooking methods. We used a solar oven, a wonderbox (if you don't know what that is google it), plain old fire, and one other I don't know the name. It was a fun day to test our our self reliance skills.

But the highlight for me was learning how to clean and gut a fish! Gross, I know, but a useful skill to know. I was pretty proud of my accomplishment.

Dawson had a blast eating Cheetos and cheesing it for the camera.

Hayden caught one of his first fish. It was a wiggly little devil!

My dad, of course, was our fishing guide. We had lots of fun together.

Missouri 11'

2011-08-13T14:02:00.002-06:00

This free slideshow made with Smilebox

Where the wild things are...

2011-06-15T13:00:00.005-06:00

In April we took a trip to the Hogle Zoo with my sister Heather and her crew. The kids always love it and for some reason it's still fun to take pictures in the same spots you take them every year. The picture looks the same except the kids look a little older.

I highly reccommend going in early April. It wasn't busy at all. Of course, half the zoo was under construction so we never saw any bears or zebras. We still had a great time.

This is Hayden and Dawson with their cousin Bryson. You can tell Hayden is getting sick of posing.

Who doesn't have a picture just like this one?

Moab....the WINDY city

2011-06-10T15:29:00.015-06:00

I don't feel like we've been particularly busy these past couple months. But when I look back on all our pictures it seems like we've done a lot.

We'd been planning this particular trip to Moab for months. It sounded like such fun and actually turned out to be. Although, we got wind-ed out.

The first day was great. But when day 2 and 3 came along we were glad we'd eaten all that vacation junk-food to weigh us down or we might have blown away. I'm not talking about an occasional gust of wind here. It was a constant gale blowing dust everywhere all day and night long. It was hilarious to watch peoples' tents almost level with the ground from wind. I'd shake out our sleeping bags only to come back an hour later with piles of red dirt on our pillows and sleeping bags.

Sadly, we decided to leave a day early. Wind is for the birds! (yes, really it is.) Despite all this we still managed to make some good memories.

Thank you Jana and Chris for lending us your backpack. It was a lifesaver. Dawson hiked in style.

Hayden was a trooper. We did a 3 miler in the hot desert sun. He didn't complain too much. :)

We found this little cove filled with sand. The kids had a blast despite the wind blowing the sand in their mouth and any other place it could find to hide.

Home sweet home

4 or 40?

2011-03-24T15:24:00.003-06:00

I love that Hayden always has a crayon behind his ear while he's coloring. Sometimes he acts more like he's 40 rather than 4.

Cloudy with a chance of....Firetrucks?

2011-03-24T15:10:00.005-06:00

Whenever it gets rainy and overcast I get in the mood to do some kind of craft. I'm trying to create a fireman themed room for Hayden and Dawson. They are sharing a room now and both like firetrucks. I found this cute firetruck painting at Pottery Barn but it was over 200 dollars. I wasn't about to pay that so I attempted a reproduction. It turned out ok and only cost me about 10 dollars! And I sure had fun doing it!

Pottery Barn one

By: Ashley Michelangelo (I mean Mitchell)

We be farmers!

2011-03-15T22:02:00.002-06:00

Jared borrowed his dad's tractor to till up our yard. It's all any little boy can talk about for the past two days. Watching Jared drive that thing around the yard transported me back about 70 years. It's from the 1940's and still works great.
I was tempted to get out my overalls and pitchfork.

Handsome boys with attitude....and freckles

2011-03-15T21:45:00.001-06:00

A grown-up boy...sort of

2011-03-07T08:27:00.006-07:00

Dawson is a little slow growing. He Just turned two a few days ago but can still fit in 12 month clothes. Sometimes I get the feeling he's shrinking. I know it's just because he's getting taller but look at the chubby kissable cheeks he had at five months old.

We had a small spur-of-the-moment birthday party for Dawson last Sunday. He doesn't care yet what we do as long as he gets cake and presents. I found this Fisher Price cash register and had to get it for him. I played with one just like it when I was little and loved it. It's turned into a favorite with him too.

Dawson loves turtles so i made him a turtle cake made out of cupcakes. It was fun and he loved it. Here are 5 things we love about our Dawson:

1. Dawson is so affectionate. He loves to give hugs and kisses all throughout the day. I love it!

2. He's obsessed with airplanes. Jared got two remote control helicopters for Christmas which Dawson broke. But he still asks about them every day and we have to explain over and over that they went in the garbage.

3. Dawson is so little that none of his pants really fit. He has no bum. My favorite image is of him running as fast as he can with on hand back holding his pants up.

4. His dancing skills. He will start to bop around whenever he hears a catchy tune.

5. His mischievous side. He loves to do things just to test my limits. Even though it drives me crazy I can't help but smile. He does it with such a cute smile on his face.

One thing I don't like about Dawson: His diaper changing skills. I caught him trying to change his poopy diaper the other day. It didn't turn out pretty.

Happy Birthday Dawson! We love you!

Now and Then...

2011-01-25T12:46:00.002-07:00

That was then...

1/22/07

This is now...

As each year passes by time seems to go even faster. When I was young a week seemed like such a long time. Now a year doesn't even seem that far in the future.
No, I can't believe Hayden is 4. He just started Primary and seems so grown up all of the sudden. Here are some of the things I love most about him:

1. his freckles - which he doesn't like people to talk about
2. his dance moves and tricks he's always performing around the house
3. the way he talks like an adult. words and phrases like "I realized today...", and "lets talk about something else."
4. He's always trying to give everyone "wet willies"
5. He tries to keep me from saying goodnight by clamping his arms around my neck so tight that I can't move.
6. The way he negotiates with me and Jared so he doesn't have to eat as much dinner.
7. How he sings his made-up songs during quiet time when he thinks no one is listening.
8. How he calls me "Buster Brown" when he's mad about something.
9. He'll dance around on tip toes for literally hours before he'll go to the bathroom.
10. I love how literally he thinks. He really believed me when I told him if he didn't get out of the bathtub soon he'd turn into a raisin. To this day he makes his bath times quick.
He also believed me when I told him if he didn't wear a coat he'd turn into a popsicle and get eaten.

These are only a few of the many reasons why I am grateful to be Hayden's mom. WE LOVE YOU Buddy!

Hayden is 4!

2011-01-25T12:32:00.005-07:00

We had all the family over for a birthday get-together on Saturday evening. Hayden had a blast showing off Pinky, his new cat, and playing with his cousins.

Thanks Aunt Heather for the dinosaur. Hayden liked all his presents but the dino was a hit. Hayden sleeps with it.

Hayden was so cute when we sang "Happy Birthday". He had this embarrassed little smile on his face the whole time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAYDEN!

Announcing an addition to the family....!!!

2011-01-19T15:30:00.008-07:00

Yes....we are announcing a new addition to our family. We only found out about her a couple weeks ago and it was a big surprise. We've already chosen a name. Hayden has been wanting a little sister and his birthday is on Saturday, so we decided to give it to him.....

This is Pinky! She is a Sphynx. Which is a hairless breed of cat.

We were so excited to bring her home for Hayden's early birthday present!

She is the sweetest cat and Hayden was so excited to get her. She is two years old and a retired show cat.

A few interesting facts about Sphynx:

1. They shouldn't go outside because they'll get sunburned.

2. Most of them don't have wiskers.

3. They are very affectionate and curious.

4. They're personalities are a mix of cat, dog, and monkey.

5. They get cold, therefore the sweater.

6. Said to be very intelligent

7. Sphynx need to be bathed every week because they have no fur to absorb their body oils.

8. And the best fact of all.....they don't shed!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAYDEN!!!

(More to come on his birthday)

Fa la la la la....

2011-01-11T12:53:00.009-07:00

This Christmas was very busy. It seemed like we had family parties and get-together's every other day. It was a lot of fun but made Christmas zoom by. Everything went smoothly until Christmas morning. Hayden had been asking for a pillow pet for months. A bumble bee one. Well, last minute he changed his mind to a ladybug. I thought he would still like the bee since that's what my mom had got for him. Also, he had been counting that Santa would bring it Christmas morning but since my mom got it for him he wouldn't get it till later that day. Well, we woke up Christmas morning and ran excitedly into the front room and...Hayden started crying when he didn't see any pillow pet. I felt like a horrible mom. He was so disappointed. Then we went to my moms and he saw the bee pillow pet and started crying that he'd told Santa to bring him a ladybug! Luckily we switched with Hayden's cousin and it turned out fine. I would have just told him to deal with it and be happy except that he'd been talking non-stop about Santa bringing him his ladybug pillow pet for a long time. And was so excited about it.
Besides that everything was great. Although, we were all exhausted by the end of the day.

Toys are so hard to get out of packages these days.

My brother, Scott, bought adult-sized footed jammies for Christmas eve. I'm jealous, I've always wanted some of those. All the grand kids and Uncle Scott look so sweet!

Grandma Mitchell found this awesome train table. My boys love it!

Christmas Eve Dinner

Making Gingerbread houses

Dawson had just fallen off the barstool at this point. He wasn't a happy camper and not much in the mood for building. He did manage to shove a few pieces of candy in his mouth though.

We tried to get them to just smile but, as always, the funny faces and hand motions come out.

A good old fashioned Christmas!

2011-01-11T12:24:00.006-07:00

My brother had our family. He made us this sweet clock. I have to say I was really impressed. I thought he had cheated and decided to buy something. I knew Scott was good and building and fixing things but I had no idea he could just whip up a clock! Thanks Scott, we love it!

My brothers, sisters, and I exchange gifts for Christmas every year. This year everybody was a little tight on money so we decided to do homemade gifts. I got a bunch of ideas online and went to work. I made a block puzzle that has a picture of my sister's family on each side, hot cocoa mix, homemade car air freshener, and sock animals. I serioulsy want to do this every year. I had so much fun and maybe got a little carried away. Also, if you've never made sock animals before it's a really simple and inexpensive gifts for kids. I found the directions online.

Oh ya, I also learned to knit over the Christmas holiday. I made my first washcloth. I'm still trying to decide if the time spent making it was worth it. I took me two full days of constant knitting to finish in time for Christmas. Oh, were my fingers ever sore!

Growing pains

2010-11-16T13:50:00.002-07:00

Hayden just started preschool a couple weeks ago. He acts so grown up and says words like "actually mom..." and "wonderful" and "it was so so terrible". I was teary-eyed his whole first day. I'm scared to see what will happen when I send him to kindergarten. Hayden loves it, and I think Dawson was more sad then anyone else. He kept pointing to the door and asking where his Hayden went.

Halloween 10'

2010-11-16T12:52:00.005-07:00

I did a crappy job of taking pictures this Halloween. It was just such a blustery, miserable day that I forgot for some reason. Hayden was woody, again and Dawson was a skeleton. You'll just have to take my word for it that they were cute. Or look back to last Halloweens pictures where Hayden is wearing the same costume. We really didn't do much trick-or-treating. Still, we managed to get enough candy to give the boys a sugar high and keep them on track for a cavity or two in the future.

Does this look like a kid drunk off Halloween candy?

Chopped!

2010-11-12T10:33:00.003-07:00

My 3 year old took this picture which is why my head is cut off. But yes, I cut my hair. I've had it long for ten years and I thought it was about time for a change. Jared likes it long which is why I haven't cut it before now but I needed a change.

From the house of the WICKED WITCH and all her little MONSTERS!

2010-10-20T13:46:00.004-06:00

I saw this idea for a cute halloween treat in a magazine. I stuffed it full of caramel popcorn. Yum! It was super easy and fun to make, especially for kids. Hayden ran around with one between his legs pretending to be a witch.

Eye Spouts

2010-09-28T13:32:00.007-06:00

In the car the other day:

Hayden: Mom, Dawson is leaking!
Me: What!? Where is he leaking?
Hayden: He's leaking out his eye spouts!
Me: (relieved) Oh, you mean he's crying?
Hayden: Yeah! (like, Oh ya, that's what that is)

Who needs wild animals when you have kids?

2010-09-28T10:23:00.011-06:00

We spent the beginning of September in a cabin near Yellowstone National Park. We'd been planning this trip for over a year thanks to my parents and had a great time. The whole Huntington clan went: 9 adults, 9 kids.

The cabin we stayed in was amazing. It had a hot tub and resident bunnies that lived under the deck. The only drawback was the mouse poop I found one morning on my bathroom towel.

Close to our cabin was a fishing pond with baby frogs. All the kids went crazy gathering up as many as their hands could hold. Unfortunately we came across a few casualties. Sometimes kids don't know when they're squeezing too tight. I didn't take pictures but Dawson walked into the lake while nobody was watching.

Kermit

Next to the Hot Pots, in Yellowstone.

The place we stayed also had free horsebackriding. Jared, me, and Jana went together while the others watched our chillin.

I'm sure the horse lady knew Carter's personality. Which makes me wonder why she teamed me up with him. At 5 ft 1 in tall and have, I'm told, a little girl voice, so I don't think I come across as a take charge sort of person. Maybe she thought it would be funny. My horse, Carter, was a stubborn, mind-of-his-own horse. He wouldn't let anyone pass him which made it difficult to give my camera to Jared, who was behind us. If anyone tried to pass, Carter would start bucking his head and doing all sorts of weird horse things. He practically ripped my leg off pushing his way through other horses to the watering hole. It was still fun and definitely something I'll remember. Especially my sore bum.

Cowboy Jared got a nice horse.

Just horsing around...ha ha

They let the little kids ride around a little. Hayden was so brave on his horse. Although, he looked a little nervous the whole time.

I assigned Tyler as Hayden's geyser buddy to make sure nobody fell in.

Old Faithful, of course

Dawson wasn't so happy about being held back from the extremely hot, extremely deadly geysers.

We were really lucky to see this geyser erupt. Apparently it only happens once a day and at very sporadic times. The wind was blowing that day and we saw the spray coming towards us. There was a mass of people running away and trying to hide their cameras/children from the water. Many of us got pretty wet. There were two kids that were soaked through from head to toe. It was great!

As you can probably tell we didn't see many wild animals this time, just a buffalo or two. But it ended up being a great trip. Thanks mom and dad!

*Note: We had sad news the day before we were supposed to leave. My grandpa had a massive stroke and wasn't expected to live much longer. Everybody packed up and rushed home to be with him and my grandma. My grandpa passed away later that same evening. We were all able to be there in time to say goodbye. We love you and will miss you Grandpa Reed.

Boys and Dirt

2010-09-28T10:14:00.002-06:00

Both my boys love diggers and tractors and such, but Dawson is obsessed. The moment he saw the digger coming down the street Monday morning he couldn't stop watching. I finally just sat him up on the windowsill to watch so that I could get something done.

Bear Lake 10'

2010-09-28T09:17:00.009-06:00

Bear Lake was a blast. I don't feel like writing a lot. Just take a look at the pictures.

Buried Hayden and turned him into a merboy.

Buried Alex and turned him into a fat man.

My sweet boy had so much fun this year playing in the sand. Although we had to keep an eye on him because he kept beelining it to the water.

We visited the Ice Caves. What an adventure trying to get there. Didn't know we'd all be 4 wheeling up and down a mountain in our cars.

All the guys are huddled around trying to figure out how to get all our cars over this huge bump without damaging something.

I've turned into a wimp in my old age. I didn't like to ride in the car up the really steep hill. I walked with Dawson instead. Hayden was asleep so I thought I'd at least save one child if the car went rolling down the hill. (I don't have a good picture of the hill we climbed. Just take my word for it that's it was a little scary. Like something you'd do in Moab with a Jeep and maybe some alcohol.)

My cute boys

You might notice that I look a little tired. Did I mention is was a long, steep hill? I was in flip flops.

We also hiked to a little lake. Hayden developed a crush on our friends little girl, Aspen. They held hands and were super cute. Hayden is really excited to see her around Halloween.

Dawson has grown into quite the escapee. Yes, we do occasionally put a leash on him. Don't judge.

A new house and new monkey

2010-09-24T08:09:00.003-06:00

You may have wondered if we fell of the face of the planet. Not quite. We've just been really busy since July. Here are just a few of the thinks we've been up to in the past 2 or so months:

1. packed up, moved, and unpacked in our new house. (I'm pretty much done, just don't look in the basement)

2. One week after moving in we went on a week long vacation to Bear Lake. (more on that to come)

4. My mom and dad moved to Lehi after living in Orem for almost 25 years. It was really hard t0 say goodbye to the house I grew up in.

3. Dawson fell and chipped his tooth which resulted in his first dentist appointment at 18 months old.

4. 5 day trip to Yellowstone

5. Came home early from Yellowstone to be with my Grandpa Reed. He passed away.

6. Grandpa's funeral preperations and funeral.

7. My brother Scott gave us a huge Curious George that he won somewhere.

8. Had a visit from the paramedics and a firetruck when Hayden gave us a scare after hitting his head on the side of the bathroom door. He's ok. It ended up being a slight concussion. It might teach him to go to the bathroom before he's about to pee his pants.

9. Ashley got a new calling in our new ward: Ward Humanitarian Specialist.

10. Dawson started nursery.

To be summer, or not to be summer...

2010-05-22T08:46:00.005-06:00

Lately, it seems, the weather can't make up it's mind. It's freezing one day and hot the next. Is it early spring? Is it summer? Who knows. My poor wardrobe has been so confused when I break out the shorts and then a coat all in a 24 hour period! I know it's still pretty early and I'm probably just anxious for it to be warm all the time but I swear I learned in 1st grade that "April showers bring May flowers", not "April snows bring May colds".

Anyway, last weekend, on one of the summer days, we all got together and had a BBQ. It sure was fun and reminded me why I love the warm months. It rained all the next day.

My latest purchase

2010-04-21T12:28:00.005-06:00

Ok, I lied. Hayden is not my latest purchase. Although he did cost us around 5 grand (we have crappy health insurance). I can honestly say though, he tied for the top two best things I've ever paid for:)

I'll try anything once...

2010-04-21T12:23:00.003-06:00

Photo Shoots

2010-04-03T11:55:00.005-06:00

We finally got Hayden and Dawson's pictures taken. I realized it was about time when Dawson's last picture was at 1 month old and Hayden's was at 2 years. I usually took them to Kiddie Kandids because it was easy and fairly inexpensive. Although I never really liked their pictures and it always turned into a nightmare to get everyone to smile and sit still. But this year it seems fate took a hand and they went out of business which forced me to look elsewhere for some local talent. Which led me to my in-laws neighbor. She did an amazing job and captured (especially Hayden's) personality. It took Hayden a while to warm up to her. He was trying his hardest to give dirty looks and even tried to spit on her. (I didn't teach him that one) But we did get a few cute smiles out of him thanks to Karalee's fast-taking camera. Here are a few of my favorite pictures.

Happy Birthday Dawson!!!

2010-03-12T16:51:00.002-07:00

We had two birthday parties for Dawson this year. One for my family and one for Jared's. (That's why these pictures are from two different houses.) It's strange to think he's already one. Time has flown by so fast with Dawson. It seemed to go much slower with Hayden.
It was fun having two parties and making twice the cake. Dawson had fun although he was getting over a cold.

I love this picture! Dawson refused to use his fingers to eat his cupcake. He hates messy hands. So he just leaned over and ate it apple bobbing style.

As always, the box the toy came in is more fun then the actual toy.

I attempted a train cake this year. I was also getting over a cold and a little dopey. I noticed later that birthday is spelled wrong. "Happy Birthay Dawson!"

P.S. Dawson also had his one year check up this week. He's in the 0.46 percentile for weight. Not the 46th percentile. the 0.46th percentile! Needless to say he's a little squirt. The doctor was mildly worried about this which makes me freaking out. He told me that if he hasn't gained a good amount of weight by his next appointment it could be something to really worry about! Oh crap! I feel like a horrible mom that doesn't feed her baby enough food. Hayden was always small too but he was at least on the charts. Anyway, my mission at the moment is to fatten up Dawson. We'll see how that works.

Is there such a thing as a chair lock?

2010-03-12T16:34:00.002-07:00

You know those invisible fences people use for their dogs? Basically you put the special collar on your pet and if they wander out of their designated area they get a little zap! Is it just me or does anybody else occasionally wish they could strap one of those on their kids! Not that I would ever want to hurt my son. Maybe just give him a little reminder of where he shouldn't be. The kitchen table is definitely a "shouldn't be" for a one year old. Yet, this and places like it are repetedly where I find him when I turn my back for two seconds. If he didn't look so cute when I found him I might have had a small fit. You can't really tell by the picture how high up it actually is. All I can say is it's a good thing Hayden has got potty training well in hand now (Yea!!!) so i can focus on chasing Dawson.

These are few of my NOT favorite things.....

2010-02-22T11:14:00.003-07:00

POTTY TRAINING, POTTY TRAINING, oh, and....POTTY TRAINING!

Home sweet home

2010-02-12T08:43:00.002-07:00

After months of waiting I was so excited to drive past our lot and see some digging going on. Yea! Only a few more months in the cave we call my parents basement. Just kidding! I've actually enjoyed living with my mom and dad. I love the company when Jared's at work! But we're ready to get into our own home!

It doesn't look like much but we call it home.

Future Picasso

2010-01-25T15:02:00.002-07:00

We've been working on letters lately. So far, Hayden can write an "H"! He says it's like drawing two snakes with a bridge between them.

"I"m Free!"

2010-01-25T14:31:00.004-07:00

I can't believe how fast "free" years can fly! Here's a look at his birthday party:

My mom also made Hayden a cape with a big "H" on the back! He runs around yelling "Super Hayden to the rescue!" He also got another cape that connects to his Wonder Pet jammies. I'm pretty sure he's in heaven.

I've been waiting for over 6 months to make this cake I saw on the Bettey Crocker website. The day before Hayden's birthday he decided he wanted a f'ireman cake instead. I sang"Old MacDonald had a farm" all day to get him excited about this one. I think it turned out kinda cute.

To go with the whole farm theme I made pig noses for everyone.

Hayden loved all his presents! Thank you everyone for coming!

Christmas and other stuff

2010-01-13T14:29:00.003-07:00

A much needed Sunday afternoon nap

Dawson sharing a giggle with Grandma Huntington!

Dawson has 6 teeth now!

This Christmas was full of magic and excitement! Unfortunately, our pictures weren't. We took a lot of video footage but not many pictures. Sorry, this is all you get. It's better than nothing but I still think they're cute!

All I want for Christmas is my...

2010-01-13T14:23:00.003-07:00

....four front teeth!

The last days of warmth

2009-11-18T11:15:00.004-07:00

Woody and the astronaut

2009-11-18T10:54:00.003-07:00

Halloween this year was filled with the usual family parties, trunk-or-treats, and candy! Although we spent part of the week at the Mitchell cabin to spend time together before Alex, Jared's brother, went off to Afghanistan. Good times! I love this time of year!

Dawson was supposed to be Yoda (long story) but ended up sporting an astronaut costume. He didn't seem to mind the mix up.

Hayden had been waiting for months to be Woody for Halloween. He loved answering the door and handing out candy. In fact, sometimes when the door rings he'll yell trick-or-treat and ask me where the candy is to hand out.

Decorating cookies at our annual Halloween party.

Grandma Mitchell tried to combine Thanksgiving, Halloween and Christmas into a couple days for Alex. So Hayden got a new robot at the cabin. I think he's happy about it, don't you?

Carvin' up pumpkins

A nice leafy salad and a swing

2009-10-19T08:31:00.004-06:00

The weather was warm enough on Saturday to take a trip to the park. Hayden demanded on bringing his bike with us to ride when he didn't want to be in the stroller. He always does this and then never rides it. Me or Jared end up dragging it behind us the whole way. Funny boy! I think he's so proud he can pedal now he doesn't want to leave it behind.
Below are quite a few pictures of our fun day at the park.

Dawson was terrified of the swing at first but soon warmed up

In the background you'll see Northridge Elementary. That's where I went. Go Northridge Nighthawks!!

Hayden is quite the climber these days. He tries to slide down the "fireman pole" by himself. He currrently wants to be a fireman when he grows up so he can "drive the firetruck really fast".

Dawson's first salad. He seems to like it.

Dawson liked the taste of sand too. I found a few rocks in his mouth later on.

Team Buddah

2009-10-13T12:32:00.003-06:00

11.2 miles of running in the hot Nevada sun. No sleep. No showers. The constant smell of sweaty bodies crammed in a van. One of the best times of my life!

I just got back from a weekend of fun running in the Las Vegas Ragnar Relay 2009! Jared, the boys and my parents all drove me down and stayed in Vegas while I ran. I loved it! It's an awesome feeling to accomplish something I've always wanted to do but never thought I could. My team was so much fun! This was definitely something I want to do again in the future. There's something cool about running 4 miles at 1:00 in the morning.

The only down side was that a tragedy happened during the race. A member of another team got hit and killed by a drunk driver while trying to give his team mate water. It was incredibly sad since he was so young and had his wife with him. Stupid drunk people!

Below are a couple pictures. Unfortunately I had my crappy camera with me and forgot to take pictures most of the time.

Megan Daniel (Brett's sister) trying to catch some sleep

After our first run and looking sweaty

Marly is passing me the baton for my first run. It's 85 degrees outside but it feels like 105.

Team "Buddah"

Shoe Drinks

2009-10-01T12:28:00.004-06:00

This past Saturday we were bored (we live at my parents now if that explains it) so we decided to wash the cars. Dawson sat in his bouncy seat very quietly almost the whole time while Hayden helped Jared, Scott and I soap down and rinse off the cars.
Warning: Lots of pictures ahead!!

washing the car soon got boring and Hayden moved on to more interesting activities.

You might think he's just giving his shoes a good rinsing.....

nope....

ahhh, refreshing shoe drinks!

He'll stick with the hose from now on.

4th of July 09'

2009-10-01T12:15:00.005-06:00

I know this was a while ago but I finally got the pictures that my brother, Scott, took at the Provo Temple grounds while we watched the fireworks. Hayden had a lot of fun throwing a frisbee and showing off. We almost got rained out but it ended up being a really nice time together.
You may notice that Hayden's hair is a little wacky. He had just woke up from a nap and I never comb his hair except for Sundays. I'm saving all my hair-doing skills for when I have a girl. Besides, his hair does what it wants anyway.

I put this picture in purely because it reminded me of Napoleon Dynamite.

Aren't those the most pinchable and kissable cheeks?

This Family's a Zoo!

2009-10-01T08:13:00.003-06:00

We all spent the weekend visiting Temple Square and the Zoo. Jared's mom and dad took all the family there to stay in a hotel and have a lot of fun!

I guess we did decend from apes, look how alike we are! Actually if evolution were true every mom would grow a third arm!

Hayden didn't want to slow down for a family picture.

We had many great babysitters. Hayden was stuck to grandma like glue, and Jeremy was stuck to Dawson like glue.

The new baby elephant was on display! We spent a lot of time there. She (I think it was a she) was so cute!

Friday evening we went to Temple Square. This was Hayden and Dawson's first time (I know, we're neglectful parents since Hayden is almost 3 yrs. old)

Funnt Story: It was dead silent as we sat in front of the Christus. People around us were crying and all emotional when Hayden shouts out, "Jesus' shirt is falling off"! Everybody busted up, it was pretty funny!

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell for a great weekend!

The many uses of a fork...

2009-08-27T14:29:00.004-06:00

There a hundreds of things you can do with a fork. I am well acquainted with many of them but here are a few that I know especially well....

"Brudders"

2009-08-24T10:38:00.002-06:00

I have been amazed at how good Hayden has been with his little "brudder". Although, lately he will hit or pinch him when I'm not looking and then give me an innocent smile. But on the whole, he's very protective of his Dawson. Some nights we've teased him by saying Aunt Heather is going to take Dawson home with her. Hayden is never too happy about that arrangement. As you can see in the picture, he means business. He'll beat up anyone on the playground that tries to bully his little brother.

The funny thing is that Dawson looks about twice the size of Hayden. I'm not sure yet who will be doing the beating up.

Another milestone...

2009-08-24T10:30:00.002-06:00

Heber Valley Camp Reunion

2009-08-24T10:07:00.004-06:00

If you've never been to the Heber Valley Camp outside of Heber, you're missing out. We have a family reunion there every year. The camp ground can hold thousands of campers at a time without hardly seeing your neighbors. We participated in a confidence course, paddleboats and canoes and just good old family time. I didn't get as many pictures as I should have but here's a few.

We are trying to make our way around the rope without falling into the "hot lava". I died a few times.

Cabin trip again

2009-08-24T09:50:00.003-06:00

We made another trip to the Mitchell cabin this summer. But this time we took my family along. We had a fun time. The high point: spending quality time with my family playing games and hanging out. The low point: mosquitos, or any insect for that matter.

We stayed for two days. During that time we fished, hiked around, caught lizards (or lizard tails), played board games and struggled keeping the kids in line. Brett also led me on a 3 mile run with a lot of steep hills. I was about dead when we got back. I hadn't started running hills at all by that point. The kicker was when I asked him if that was a hard run for him. His answer: "It was a nice easy morning jog".

Tyler and Grandpa

Tyler and Hayden doing his "scary smile".

Clarification

2009-08-13T08:42:00.002-06:00

Let me just make a clarification. Thank you to everyone that thought I had the capability of actually running a WHOLE marathon. I am really not capable of that. In fact, I don't think I would ever want to do a whole marathon. The Marathon that I am participating in is a relay marathon. The Ragnar Relay Marathon includes a 12 person team that takes turns running 180 miles. Each person runs 3 times, each time ranging from 3-8 miles. And I bet you can't guess how long my runs are? Yes, the 3 mile ones! I think I have the second easiest legs of the race. So total, I will be running about 11 miles in 3 legs. So although I'm not a star athlete, it will still be a great accomplishment to me. But thank you all for making me sound really cool for a day.

Huck Finn Days

2009-08-11T15:51:00.001-06:00

I've been a slacker with this whole blogging business lately. It's been a busy month. But here's a few pictures of us at Huck Finn Days. It's part of Lindon City Days each year. All kids go fishing in a little stream that the city dammed up and put fish in. Then after an hour of only using fishing poles, they tear down the fences and all the kids try to catch the fish with their hands or nets. It's a blast to watch. Hayden was a little scared of the fish and wanted to catch them with a long stick. He wasn't too successful but it was still a lot of fun.

Side note: I also ran the Lindon City Days 5k later that week with my brother-in-law Brett. It was something I've always wanted to do but never thought I could. Plus, it was great training for the Ragnar Relay Marathon I'm training for in October. I've never liked running (or been good at it for that matter). Brett roped me into signing up for the Ragnar because they were short a person; otherwise I never would have. I am really excited though, to try something new.

The Air Show

2009-06-11T17:18:00.005-06:00

This past weekend we went the the Air Show at Hill Air Force Base. It's always a lot of fun. To get in you have to pass through metal detectors and when we got there the line was hundreds of people long. Luckily, we had my brother-in-law, Alex, with us. He is in the Marines so he flashed his I.D. and we just walked in. It's nice to get perks sometimes (like being in Disneyland with someone in a wheelchair).
This year was great because it wasn't hot like the last time we went. Even still everyone huddles under the wings of various aircrafts to get away from the sun.
Warning: There are a lot of pictures below.

For some reason it always chokes me up a little to see the Thunderbirds. I thinks it's because they symbolize our freedom. Either that or they're so loud it hurts my ears.

My Smiler

Once the loud planes starting flying Hayden's hands were glued to his ears.

Once again, it wouldn't be a normal day if grandpa didn't take a snooze.

Look closely, one of those planes is upside-down!

Performing my motherly duties. Always a full-time job.

Here is everybody trying to squeeze under the planes wing to steal a little shade.

Growing up

2009-05-13T13:12:00.005-06:00

It's amazing how fast babies go from one milestone to the next. Dawson is getting pretty good at holding his head up. I know most people won't really care but it's so exciting to me! Here are a few pictures of him trying.

Hayden's first girlfriend

2009-05-13T13:03:00.002-06:00

Hayden spends quite a bit of time dodging Hayley's hugs and kisses. It's really very cute. Hayden's first girlfriend!

Mother's Day Weekend

2009-05-13T12:29:00.007-06:00

The day before Mother's Day was spent at the Mitchell's. Jared's brother, Alex, came home from serving in Iraq so we put up flags along the streets and decorated the garage door before he got here. It was a beautiful day and we all had a lot of fun. Hayden took a while to warm up to Alex, as usual with anyone he hasn't seen in more than a few days.

The next day, Mother's Day, was spent there also. We had a delicious dinner and had fun playing Wii Fit and looking at pictures.

No, the flash on the camera wasn't on. Looking forward to the summer sun, we compared tans. Not that it will do us any good since me and Jeremy, the fair skinned ones, won't change color much over the coming months.

Dawson update

2009-05-05T08:51:00.003-06:00

I thought I would update everyone on how our little Dawson is doing. He is now off of his medication, which was pure caffeine. Needless to say, he is sleeping a little better now. We still have him hooked up to his monitor at nighttime and in the car but it hasn't been triggered for quite a while. While we might never know what caused his sleep apnea for sure, he seems to be growing out of it. We'll go to the doctor today for his two month visit and see what he says. We are very happy and grateful that things are moving back to normal. It has been a nerve-racking couple months and I was feeling very picked on. But as scary as this little episode was, I look around at the health problems that other people are having with their babies and I don't feel so picked-on anymore. I never realized what a blessing it is to have a healthy baby.
Dawson is such a happy little boy. He is smiling ALL the time. When he wakes up he's smiling. When I look at him he smiles. For no apparant reason, he's always smiling. I love it! It's like he knows how worried I've been and is saying "Don't worry, mom, I'm ok!"

ok, he's not smiling there

Easter 09'

2009-05-05T08:27:00.004-06:00

We spent this Easter at the Mitchell cabin. We surprised Jared's mom and dad who were already there and had a great weekend. It wasn't the best weather so most of the weekend was spent inside with the boys. I totally forgot our Easter basket stuff but it didn't matter because the Easter Bunny (Grandma Mitchell) left us some yummy Easter treats.
Of course, we didn't have any water while were there because the pump broke that feeds the water to all the cabins in the area so we saved water by bathing the boys in the kitchen sink. Always a fun time!

Lincoln Loggers

2009-04-09T12:37:00.007-06:00

I have three boys. Hayden is two, Dawson is 6 weeks and Jared is 29. They love to play with toys. Jared is particularly fond of Lincoln Logs which he will sit and play with for long periods of time. I found these pictures on the camera. He must have been pretty proud of his log cabins to take pictures of them. Now I know what I should have gotten him for Christmas instead of cologne.

2009-03-30T12:38:00.002-06:00

These pictures are actually a couple days after Dawson was born. Hayden loves his little brother and is very helpful. He'll put his binkie in his mouth if he starts crying - which will sometimes make him cry harder when it gets forcefully jammed into his mouth. If Dawson is fussy Hayden will pat him and say "Don't cry baby brudder". He won't say his name yet and has a hard time remembering it so he still calls him baby brother.

Hayden wanted to read him a story. He chose The Shoemaker and the Elves because that is one of his favorites.

Back to the hospital

2009-03-18T18:00:00.003-06:00

We've been on a roller coaster of emotions the past week. We brought Dawson home after our hospital stay and he was doing fine except that he had a little jaundice. Then one evening I noticed that he felt a little warm so I took his temprature but and it was normal. But all that night he kept gruting in his sleep like he wasn't feeling well. Then he woke up the next morning with a fever that kept increasing througout the day. After his fever reached 101 degrees (pretty high for a newborn) I took him to the doctor. Needless to say I was heartbroken when they told me they wanted to do a spinal tap on him and then admit him to the hospital for a couple days to run a bunch of tests. I didn't realize that a fever in a newborn was that serious.
We took him to the pediatric unit at Utah Valley hospital where they hooked him up to an IV, and a few leads to monitor his breathing, heart rate, etc. Then they took some blood to test for bacterial infections like meningitis. It was so sad to see him in his little hospital gown with so many wires coming out of him.
Jared and I both stayed the first and second night in the hospital. They were miserable nights that left us both physically and emotionally drained. After the second night his fever was gone and he seemed to be getting better. The test were all coming back normal, which was great. Then our little Dawson started having trouble breathing. His monitors would start beeping which would tell us if he wasn't receiving enough oxygen. It was really scary a few times because he started turning blue before the nurses would get there (don't get me started on how I hate some nurses). After that they put him on oxygen and started testing him for viruses like RSV and influenza because those can sometimes cause babies to have trouble breathing. By this time I'm pretty much a walking zombie. My wonderful family (my mom, Scott, and Jared's mom) saw that I desperately needed sleep and stayed with him one of the nights so that I could go home and get a good nights rest.
The virus tests all ended up negative so the doctor decided to start him on daily doses of caffiene to keep him from going into a deep sleep. (which was when he would quit breathing) It seemed to work since his monitor didn't go off that whole night and he wasn't on oxygen. After five days in the hospital we were very happy Sunday morning when the doctor told us we could go home with him on monitors and daily doses of caffiene.
That's where we are now. We've been doing pretty well aside from sleep deprivation and being scared to death when his monitor goes off to tell us he isn't breathing. Then we have to shake him a little so he starts breathing again. The doctor still doesn't really know what is causing this. His best guess is that his brain is acting like a premature babies brain and he'll grow out of it eventually. If he doesn't start to improve in the next little while, the doctor will start testing him for some rare metabolic disorders. But for now we're just hoping and praying he'll grow out of this on his own.
It's actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. If we hadn't gone to the hospital for his fever we could have totally missed the fact that he would quit breathing. The doctor said that he very easily could have just died from SIDS at home if we hadn't been at the hospital with all the monitors hooked to him. The Lord truly does work in mysterious ways.
It's been a rough start to life for Dawson but we are so glad our little peanut is here.

More Dawson Pictures

2009-03-09T23:04:00.001-06:00

Some things never change

2009-03-09T22:39:00.004-06:00

In a world so full of inconsistancy and changes, it's nice to know that some things never change....

I can always count on Grandpa Mitchell falling asleep as soon as his head hits the couch. He makes a great napping buddy for the grandkids.

Dawson Hunter Mitchell

2009-03-04T15:09:00.004-07:00

Here are a few pictures of our little baby boy Dawson. He weighed in at 6 lbs. 15 oz. and 19 inches long. I will post some more pictures later with details. I'm in a hurry right now but everybody is bugging me to post some now. He has lots of beautiful dark hair just like his daddy. The only thing you can't see very well are his two big dimples!

Labor Day!

2009-03-04T11:58:00.004-07:00

On Monday the doctor gave me the ok to be induced. I was very excited! So Tuesday we waited, and waited....and waited for the hospital to call and tell us to come in. Apparently it was a pretty busy day for babies being born. I found out later that 22 babies were born that day. Anyway, we came in at about noon and got checked in and they hooked me up and started my pitocin. Me and Jared sat there and waited for things to kick in when all of the sudden my water broke and I started to have pretty painful contractions so I called in for my epidural and it was smooth sailing from there! At around 5:00 pm I was dilated to a ten and ready to go. The only problem was there was no doctor. He was busy delivering another baby in the next room. So about an hour later (and feeling like there was a baby's head about to pop out of me) he came in I started pushing. Then I only pushed through three or four contractions and he was out. The doctor had to hurry and pull him out with forcepts because his heart rate started dropping. Come to find out he had the umbilical cord wrapped around his shoulder. I was pretty scared there for a minute because they were having a hard time getting him to breath and cry. So they called NICU to come down and work on him. Luckily, by the time they got here he was screaming pretty good and wasn't quite as purple. Needless to say he only got a 5 on his first APGAR score but he came around with a nine on his second. WHEW!

Everything surprisingly went really well. My doctor told me that red heads have fast labors and I'm starting to believe it. With Hayden I had a 7 hour labor even though he was posterior and I pushed for two hours. (which is quick) With this one it ended up being about 6. Although it would have been about 5 if the doctor had been there on time.

Below are a few pictures of me in labor. Jared didn't take any while I was in real pain because I was probably squeezing his hand too tight.

Hayden really didn't know what was going on. He just wanted to play with the baby gifts I got from Grandma Mitchell.

After my epidural. I'm feelin' good by this time!

I can't believe how tired I was after getting my epidural. I fell asleep for a while.

This is right after they started my pitocin. Obviously I haven't felt any contractions yet.

Filling some big shoes

2009-02-18T11:43:00.003-07:00

Valentines Day 09'

2009-02-16T14:31:00.003-07:00

What a surprise Jared got when he came home on Friday! Surprise! Our son is now a girl! I really felt like being festive for our Valentines Party at the Mitchell's house, and I remember having a pink heart outfit in storage just in case we ever had a girl. So I dug it out of my cedar chest and Hayden very excitedly changed into it. Not to mention a pink headband of mine that he happily put on. That was his favorite part, which he didn't want to give up when the party was over. I had to keep taking double takes throughout the night. I'm not used to seeing my usually dinosaur/sports clad son in a pink-heart carebear outfit. When Jared came home he at first thought Hayden was our neighbor girl, Hayley. Even Hayden's 2 year old cousin, Shane, slipped and called him "her". We all had a good laugh! Hopefully this doesn't confuse him.

Apples to Apples: a fun game!

And growing....

Sunny St. George!

2009-02-11T12:57:00.015-07:00

After weeks of trying, we were finally able to head down to St. George with our friends the Buhlers. Mike and Sarah were awesome and let us stay at there friends condo for the first night. Then we used some free hotel stays at the Holiday Inn for the last night. It wasn't quite the sunny place I remember it being, but we still had a lot of fun. The two kids (Hayden and Mike and Sarah's daughter, Brinley) did awesome in the car. Although, that might have been because they watched movies the entire way there and back. Good old portable DVD players!

It was a pretty quick trip but we still managed to get in a few activities. We all had fun swimming at the hotel (me trying to squeeze into my swimsuit was great!). We also had a blast getting lost in downtown St. George. Olive Garden is a hard one to find! Anyway, here are some pictures of us hiking down in Zion's.

Stopping to take a breather from driving and snap a few pics

On one of our short hikes Hayden insisted on running almost the entire time.

Mike, Sarah and Brinley (and half of Jared & Hayden in the background) turning around to head back to the car.

This is some huge disgustin bug I found on the sidewalk. It was huge so I had to take a picture of it. Good thing it was dead.

On our way to Zion's we drove through this little town. We thought it would be funny to stand in front of it in all my pregnant glory.

2 Years Old!

2009-02-09T16:45:00.012-07:00

That was then....

This is now...

I can't believe my baby is two! Here are some fun facts about Hayden:

Favorite Movie: Monsters "Stink" (monsters inc.)

Favorite article of clothing: dinosaur shirt and kittie jammies

Favorite Songs: his "ABC's" and "Once there was a snowman"

Favorite past times: Legos, brushing his teeth, watching Curious George, and trying to scare his mom by pointing out pieces of lint and calling them spiders.

Last thing he got in trouble for: Sneaking his binkie out of the drawer and hiding to suck on it without me seeing.

Funny thing Hayden recently did: He wouldn't go near a vase of tulips Jared got me because he thought they looked "scary".

Favorite food: cold cereal and anything mom doesn't want him to eat

Recent Accomplishments: counting to ten, telling mom when he's pooped

Happy Birthday Hayden!

Hayden's Birthday Dinner of choice

Helping blow up balloons

This is about the fifth time blowing out the candles. Who wants to eat cake when you can play with fire?

and again....

Our cute little fireman

Hayden loved all his presents. His cousin Shandi helped him open most of them. Thank you everyone for coming!

Christmas 08"

2009-01-19T15:38:00.003-07:00

It's a little late but better late than never. Christmas was very busy but great! We started off at home, then made the rounds to both grandparents, and great grandparents. We were exauasted by the end of the day but had a lot of fun too. Hayden was so much fun to watch this year. By the end of the day he was an expert unwrapper.

Here are some pictures of the big day. I also included a few pictures from our Christmas eve gingerbread house contest.

Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell's

One of Hayden's favorite presents was his Curious George. He was soooo excited!

Chaos at Nanny's

Hayden helping Grandpa Reed light the fire. I like this picture because Hayden usually won't go near him.

Scotts bird Nikki spent Christmas Eve with us

The front porch of our gingerbread house

Ta Da!

Jared's Christmas Jammies were great. If you can't tell, they're glow in the dark footie jammies.
Let's just say they weren't his favorite.

I'm a big kid now!

2009-01-19T15:29:00.004-07:00

Our little toddler is turning two this week! I've been debating for a while but decided a couple days ago to try out the toddler bed. I wasn't sure how Hayden would like it but I figured he'd have to like it in a month or so anyway, so why not try it before the new baby comes and kicks him out. Surprise! He loves it! He is actually more excited to go to sleep because he gets to lay on his "new big boy bed". Thanks to my awesome neighbor Maleen Cazier, who gave us the bed.

6 weeks to go!

2009-01-19T15:19:00.002-07:00

I'll be honest, I hate pictures of me when I'm pregnant. I think I have 3 pictures of me when I was pregnant with Hayden. Jared frequently reminds me that I will regret it later if I don't take any so here are a few pics of me with that "lovely pregnant glow". I'm pretty sure I look about how I feel: Large and uncomfortable!! But there's only 6 weeks to go till I can put shoes and socks on without looking completely ridiculous. Yea!

Scary Santa!

2008-12-20T14:47:00.006-07:00

We just had our ward Christmas party last weekend. It was a crazy night with children running in all directions and no place to sit. After dinner and several long musical numbers Santa finally came. All the kids were excited and I almost laughed out loud when I saw him walk through the door. Poor Santa (really Grant Mendenhall, our neighbor) looked like he was caught in a windstorm trying to get to our church. His beard was so tangled it looked like it had never been combed through (which is quite possible since it has probably been stuffed in the bottom of a duffel bag for the past year).
Anyway, we got in line to see Santa and tried to talk Hayden into being excited to see him. He was excited at the thought of a candy cane but not the sitting on his lap part. And as we got closer he got more and more nervous. Only our constant reminder of the candy cane kept him from running away. When it was finally our turn Hayden acted exactly how we expected. Jared tried to put him on Santa's lap. Hayden cried, he flailed, and leaned as far away as possible. I was fortunate enough to get a few quick pictures in. It was a pretty fun night and I can't say I'm sad that Hayden doesn't like to sit on strange peoples laps. A good healthy fear of strangers is good in my opinion.

Hayden before he saw Santa. Happily thinking about candy canes....

Hayden leaning away....

Hayden crying...

A couple days after that we met my mom at the mall to go walking and the mall Santa was there cruising around before all the stores opened. He passed us a couple times and would smile and wave at Hayden in his stroller. Each time I was very surprised to see Hayden's eyes light up and a huge grin spread across his face. Then he would say "Santa" with almost a reverence in his voice. It was pretty cute.

Christmas Lights!

2008-11-27T08:55:00.003-07:00

Well, it's that time of year again. I love it! Last Saturday we put up our Christmas lights. We didn't turn them on yet of course because that's a no no (although I've been secretly listenting to Christmas music during the day). I hate when Jared goes on the roof. It' s scary! When he helps put up his parents lights they tie him off with a rope and harness because of their slope. Luckily our roof isn't too steep. Hayden had fun watching and raking the leaves. He looked so cute in his napoleon boots.

Sewing with Ashley

2008-11-27T08:24:00.004-07:00

I had to post a picture of my latest project because I'm so proud of it. a few days ago I decided I needed a new church bag. I washed the one we usually use and it shrunk majorly to where it will barely fit toys and treats for Hayden, let alone all the binders and papers and books I need to bring. So I scrounged some fabric scraps from my moms, made up a pattern, and set to work. The reason I'm so proud is only because I actually started a sewing project and finished. I am known for starting projects and leaving it unfinished in the closet for years. Either I get bored or overwhelmed by how much I need to unpick. But this time I finished it all in about two hours even though I did end up unpicking some of it. Come to think of it, I did make a hanging rag quilt a few months ago too. I guess there's two finished projects for the record.

I've been tagged!

2008-11-19T12:40:00.004-07:00

I've been tagged. Yea!

What is your husband's name? Jared Glenn Mitchell
How long have you been married? 3 years, 8 months, 1 day - St. Patricks Day 2005
How long did you date? 6 months, and that pretty much counts from the day we met. Definitely a stereotypical LDS wedding, but we knew it was right so why wait?
How old is your husband? He'll get 29 spankins' this coming May.
Who eats sweets? Jared definitely has the sweet tooth. He could have 3 square meals of sugar cubes a day. I on the other hand crave salty foods. Chips, salted peanuts, squeeze cheese on crackers.....mmmmmm.
Who said "I love you" first? I really can't remember, sad. I remember saying it all the time after we'd been dating for a while but I don't remember who said it very first.
Who is taller? Jared is about 6 feet, and I'm 5'1 and 1/2. Jared told me he didn't every realize how short I was until after we were married. I guess I always had shoes while we were dating.
Who does the laundry? I do pretty much all of the housework just because I'm home all day and Jared works all day. I really do like cleaning. Ok, not so much cleaning bathrooms but I do it anyway. Don't think Jared is one of those husbands that doesn't help out. He helps me do anything I ask him to without every complaining. I really couldn't ask for a better husband that shares in all the responsibilities and does things all the time without me even asking. I just get most things done during the day so there's usually not much for him to do when he gets home.
Who pays the bills? I do, I think it's better for me to see where the money is going so I don't recklessly spend it all the time.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Jared usually does, but due some things that have happened lately I'm too scared to sleep on either side, but compromise to sleep on his. My own little horror story.
Who mows the lawn? Usually Jared does but I venture out occasionally and do it for him. I like mowing; The first time I did it I didn't realize it was self propelled so I practically mowed the whole lawn manually. I was so sore afterwards. Then another time I was in a hurry to get it done before Hayden woke up from his nap so I ran as I mowed (obviously I figured out it was self propelled by then) while my neighbors drove by and laughed at me. I probably looked like an idiot.
Who cooks dinner? I do most of the time unless Jared comes home and finds no dinner (which means I've probably had a busy or bad day) then he'll whip something up.
Who drives? That's an ongoing joke for us. Whoever comes out the garage door last usually ends up driving. Neither of us usually like to drive. Unless we want to get there fast, then I drive.
Who is the first to admit they're wrong? We both do, although if I had to pick one person probably Jared. I'm very stubborn and like to think I'm always right.
Who kissed who first? That's the debate of the century. It was probably a mutual kiss. Jared went in 90% and I went in the other 20%. ha ha.

I love being married and am so grateful to have picked such an awesome dude. I really couldn't ask for a better husband then my Jared. I tag Jana banana.

Halloween 08'

2008-11-03T12:14:00.004-07:00

Among varoius Halloween parties, finding out we're having a boy and spending time with my sister and her family while they visited from out of state, we kept busy this October. We did manage to get a few pictures of us in costume. As you can see we decided to be a skeleton family.

At our annual Mitchell Halloween party, Hayden is very proud of his gingerbread haunted house. If you could see closer you would notice a little bite taken out of each decoration.

It's hard to resist this little boy asking for "more treats, pease mommy"

What I liked about my costume is that it included the entire family.

Hayden caught in a moment of Halloween mischief attempting to color on Grandma's wall.

It's a......

2008-10-22T11:21:00.003-06:00

On Monday me, Jared, and my sister, Jana, whose in town from Missouri, went to my 20 week ultrasound. It was very exciting and nerve-racking at the same time. Everything ended up being great and the baby looks perfectly healthy. When it came time to determine the gender the ultrasound lady let us take a look and guess what we thought it was. I said, "That bum looks very familiar, it's a boy!" So we have two boys now! I'm being slowly outnumbered with each child. We were surprised because we both thought it was going to be a girl this whole time. But after a minute of getting used to the idea we became very excited! The fact it's almost impossible to produce a girl in my family. Of 6 grandchildren (soon to be 7), only one is a girl. But that's ok. Jared says, "Well, that's two weddings I won't have to pay for."
We are really both very excited and can't wait till March. I am admitedly a little depressed though because I don't have anything exciting to look forward to until March except getting fat and uncomfortable. All the fun doctors appointments are over with and since I already have most of the baby boy things I need, so there's not much to go shopping for. I hate waiting. Feel free to give me any tips or ideas of things to do to keep me busy. (books, movies, activities, etc)

Special Delivery!

2008-10-14T16:48:00.002-06:00

I guess it's time to spill the beans. Jared and I are expecting a little bundle of joy March 8th 2009! We are very excited and will find out in less than a week if it's a he or she that's been kicking me for the past month. I know we waited for quite a while to tell anybody and believe me it was very interesting trying to keep it a secret from my family. My brother, Scott told me he thought I was just "packing it on". How nice. Interestingly enough, my relief society president was the only one who found out because we have the same doctor and she saw my name on the sign-in sheet. In a way it's nice to be done with the first five months with nobody knowing. I think it made it go by a little faster. Also, it was fun to have a dirty little secret for a while!

Campin' it up at Coalville

2008-10-14T16:11:00.007-06:00

Every October Jared's side of the family goes camping. We stay at Camperworld and have fun shopping at the outlets, hitting the Park City yard sales, and watching General Conference. It was pretty cold and rainy this year but we still managed to get in a little outdoor fun around the campground. The leaves were beautiful and we had a lot of fun spending time together. It's definitely one of my favorite annual family vacations!

Swingin' all by myself!

Hayden, Grandma, Jenny, and Jeremy being kids

silly Jared!

Hayden kept covering his eyes and saying, "Mommy, where did Hayden go?"

This picture is amazing because it took me forever to get him to fall asleep and he looks so precious.

Taking one of many bike rides

We cut up apples to feed to the horses. Hayden loved the thought of doing it but wouldn't get near the horses when they came close. Neither did I for that matter. Horse teeth scare me, why do they have to be so big anyway?

In the campground there's a little pond with fish and a waterfall. Hayden has an obsession with rocks and throwing them into water. We finally had to drag him away crying.

He also likes dumping and throwing sand, in this case, on grandma's shoe.

What a hunk!

Again, admiring the horses from a distance.

Hayden has his stick and he couldn't be happier!

Giving "hugs" (which Hayden thinks means a kiss)

We're still here!

2008-09-30T12:07:00.006-06:00

I know it's been forever since we've updated out blog. We had a six month contract for Comcast internet and when it ran out we just cancelled it to avoid paying twice as much money every month. So after having nothing for a few months, we finally got a good deal and signed up again. I've felt so guilty that I haven't done any blogging for so long. Here are a few updates on our little family:

Jared and I are doing really well. Not much has changed lately. Jared's brother, Alex, was just deployed a couple days ago for Iraq. I know it's been a little hard on Jared to have him gone. Although, we are all very proud of him.

Jared is still working away and keeping very busy with that, his scouts, and squeazing in quality time with Hayden and I.

I have also been keeping pretty busy. But I've found a little time to do some of my favorite things like reading a few good books, hitting the gym once in a while, and listening to bits and pieces of Glenn Beck. (you don't have to tell me that I'm a nerd for listening to talk radio). All in all I'm doing great and am so looking forward to fall!! - my favorite season

Hayden is at such a fun age. I love it! He's such a busy body and won't even stop playing to eat his meals. He's been going to nursery for a couple months and is always wanting to play with friends. His vocabulary has grown big-time in the last little while. He's starting to say the funniest things. He says everything - at least tries to - and makes sense most of the time. His favorite things to say lately are:

"let's pay a game"
"Happy birtday Tyler" (or anyone he's thinking about)
"mommy so funny"
"where did birdie go?"
"more T" (which means he wants to watch t.v.)
"moon cheese" (he says this when he sees the moon because I told him it was made out of cheese)
"Tee too mommy" (thank you)
"Hevy Fodder" (Heavenly Father - he's started to say prayers lately and will scream the amen at the end and start clapping)
"Hayden toot", or "Daddy toot" (I think that one is self explanitory)
He also calls my mom and dad "Gamma and Pampa M" because my dad bribes him with m&m's when we come over.

Here are a few fun pictures:

Hayden has an obsession with water. We went on our annual Bear Lake trip this summer, and couldn't keep him away from the faucet.

We all ended up getting the stomach flu while we were there. Somehow it ended up still being fun.

Heather and I took our kids to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens in August. Hayden and Tyler had fun at the waterfall.

"Paying" a game

Hayden loves his little friends, Hailey Millett and Brinley Buhler. They're actually kinda sharing in this picture.

Mr. Fix-it and son

2008-07-16T08:38:00.004-06:00

Hayden has been asking for a bike for a few weeks now so we decided to get him one. The rest of the day was full of anticipation while he waited for dad to come home so they could put it together. In fact, everytime the air conditioning or the washing machine came on he thought it was the dad opening the garage.

He finally got home and the two spent a good half our as father and son screwing and hammering it together.

Hayden loves to help. He's very independent and if you don't let him do it his way he throws a pretty good tantrum. We've decided some things just aren't worth the fight.

Almost done! Hayden couldn't stop smiling and saying "Bite, bite!" -which means bike, of course

All Finished! Now my job is to push him around the neighborhood because he can't exactly pedal yet.

Hayden also likes to make the sound effects a motorcycle would make.

We ended the evening with a long walk around the neighborhood. It was a nice evening and a fun time spent with eachother.

Hello Potty!

2008-07-01T16:52:00.003-06:00

Hayden has shown so much interest in the potty lately so I decided to try an experiment today. He sat on the potty for almost 20 minutes while he drank his sippie, ate cookies and read his potty book. He's not even 18 months yet so I'm not expecting anything but it's a start, right?

Missouri 08'

2008-06-30T17:34:00.005-06:00

This past week we went with my parents to visit my sister Jana, her husband Chris, and their two kids Gabbi and Jack. We embarked on our journey from Orem, Ut to Kansas City, Missouri on June 21st. As we were heading up Provo Canyon Jared started feeling really sick. We thought it was just carsickness but by the time we got to Heber we had to pull over at a nearby park for a couple hours while poor Jared rested on the grass and puked. Then after another effort to keep on our journey we made it up to Park City and had to turn around and go home because he was just too sick to keep going. What a day! We finally got home and Jared slept it off the rest of the day and we ended up starting again the next morning.
Even after our bumpy start we made the two day trip to my sisters house. It was so good to see them. It was almost as good to see that Huey (their dog/son) still remembered me.

The first night we were there I saw my first glimpse of a firefly. I don't really know the purpose of their bums lighting up but it's nevertheless really cool.

Monday we went to see Liberty Jail. Then on to Leavenworth, Kansas to visit a man that worked at a cemetary. My mom wanted to thank him for helping her with some geneology a couple months back. There's a veterans cemetary next door that I took some pictures of. It was cool to see the headstones all lined up.

Behind us is Liberty Jail. Six men lived in this tiny room for several months.

On Tuesday we went to the Kansas City Zoo. It is in my opinion the coolest zoo I've been to. It's divided into continents. Each continent has the animals that are native to it. It is a 4 mile hike to see all of Africa. But the cool part is you can get so close to the animals. Also, it's hardly ever busy. The only bad thing is that it was stinkin hot and humid! We were all dripping with sweat by the end. Here are some fun pictures:

These sheep ate right out of your hand. Hayden was scared at first but soon became best buds.

These friendly critters kept trying to eat my bracelet

On the swinging bridge

This gorilla looks like a man in a monkey suit but he's real and not too far from where we were.

The kangeroos roam free. It's awesome to be right next to one. One even started boxing because he felt threatened.

After the zoo we hurried home so the boys could go to a Royals/Rockies baseball game while the rest of us had a girls night out. It was a fun-filled night of Pasta Hut (which is delicious), Mary Poppins, and getting the kids to bed. We were too tired by then to do anything really exciting. The kids sure had fun playing together.

Wednesday went to the Crown Center, which is a big shopping center with a lot of other things. We visited the Crayola Store and went to a funny shop with a bunch of random toys for kids. Hayden especially liked the ventriliquist dummys.

Who would have thought a peacock hat would be so scary

Thursday was one of my favorite days. My parents were gone to Witchita while my dad did some business. So the rest of us drove to a place called Deanna Rose Farm in Overland, KS. It's like a big farmlike park with all sorts of animals to see and activities for kids to do. They let you feed goats and pet them in an enclosed area. Hayden was reluctant at first but after a few minutes he loved letting the goats lick his fingers.

A boy and his goat

It took some trickery to get him to put his head through the hole.

The 3 Amigos! Gabbi, Hayden, and Jack.

This was us trying to feed baby goats with a bottle. They knocked Hayden over they were so aggressive.

Hayden's first catch. It's a biggun'!

Our last day was spent seeing some local church sites. We went to Far West and saw the future site of the temple. All that was there were four corner stones with a fence around it and some plaques. Nevertheless, you could totally feel the spirit.

After that we visited a little Amish town called Jamesport. We ate lunch, shopped around and gawked at the horse-drawn carriages with little Amish families in them.
On the last leg of our journey we went to Adam-Ondi-Ahman. What an awesome place. All that's there is a huge valley with farm land. On the way there we read some quotes about what it really is. This is one of them that I found especially neat:

"Before the Lord Jesus descends openly and publicly in the clouds of glory, attended by all the hosts of heaven; before the great and dreadful day of the Lord sends terror and destruction from one end of the earth to the other; before he stands on Mount Zion, or sets his feet on Olivet, or utters his voice from an American Zion or a Jewish Jerusalem; before all flesh shall see him together; before any of his appearances, which taken together comprise the second coming of the Son of God - before all these, there is to be a secret appearance to selected members of his church. He will come in private to his prophet and to the apostles then living. Those who have held keys and powers and authorities in all ages from Adam to the present will also be present. And further, all the faithful members of the church then living and all the faithful saints of all the ages past will be present. It will be the greatest congregation of faithful saints ever assembled on planet earth. It will be a sacrament meeting. It will be a day of judgment for the faithful of all the ages. And it will take place in Daviess County, Missouri, at a place called Adam-ondi-Ahman."

I apologize that this is such a long post. We had a blast and it was fun to look back on. Thanks Jana and Chris for having us. We hope we will do it again soon!

Mr. Potato Monster

2008-05-27T10:28:00.003-06:00

Hayden loves his "tato head". But he's still learning what goes where.

Happy Birthday Jared!

2008-05-25T22:09:00.000-06:00

Jared is 28 today! I would like to wish him a happy birthday! These are 10 excellent reasons I'm glad he was born:

1. He lets me do whatever I want

2. I always catch him cleaning something around the house without being asked

3. He's handsome

4. He is the sweetest daddy and plays with Hayden every evening to give me a break

5. He pushes me to be better without "pushing"

6. He always gives me the last bite of food when we're sharing

7. He never leaves the toilet seat up

8. He's not obbsessed with sports (more time spent with me)

9. He knows I hate filling my car with gas so he frequently does it for me

10. He doesn't complain about my cooking

We had a full house. Both sides of the family came over for my first attempt at an ice cream cake. It actually turned out really good. All the cousins had a blast playing together.

mmmm! mmmm!

Hangin' with grandpa

Learning how to share

Hayden and his cousins Shandi and Bryson

Trying to sneak out as usual

"Let's turn everything upside-down and see if it's more fun!"

Days of mischief

2008-05-21T17:24:00.001-06:00

If I ever apply for a job again I could totally put "maid" in the past job experience section.

Future barber

2008-05-21T17:19:00.000-06:00

Hayden will be such a good big brother. His friend Hailey comes over to play during the week and he gives her a binkie, shares his toys (sometimes), shares her treats, and as you can see, does her hair.

Fun at the cabin

2008-05-21T17:03:00.000-06:00

Daddy's Boy!

Hayden just laughs at us when he's in trouble. He does naughty things just to see what he can get away with. He knew we didn't want him by the fireplace because it gets really hot. Guess what we spent our time keeping him away from?

What a view!

My in-laws own a cabin up in Fruitland (by Strawberry) and we get to go there quite frequently. It's only about an hours drive but far enough that you feel like your getting away. We ride four-wheelers and take hikes. It's a lot of fun. This time we ended up staying till Sunday and attending the "Fruitland Branch". It's the cuttest little white church with only about 10 rooms and 65 members. They have Sacrament Meeting, Sunday School, and Relief Society in the same room. Whew! Was my butt tired after that!

Snuggle Buddies

2008-05-21T16:56:00.000-06:00

Life is CRAZY!!! Between helping my sister, Heather, paint her house, watching a neighbors child during the week, to getting Hayden to give up his binkie (and many other things), I have totally slacked on my bloggin'. So to tide you over till I get some pictures that show what we've been up to, here is a picture of my snuggly kitties. Tootsie and Kita are the best of friends when they're not scratching each other's eyes out. I love to watch then cuddle. They will also usually start giving eachother a bath by licking faces.

Ladies man!

2008-04-02T15:07:00.001-06:00

We bought Hayden some shades for summer and spiked his hair. Hands off ladies, he isn't old enough to date for 15 years!

sooo sweet!

2008-04-02T14:56:00.000-06:00

One day Hayden folded his arms when we were praying. At first it was more like folding his hands but now he can fold his arms across his chest. It's funny because he'll rarely do it when we're actually praying, but then he'll randomly fold them in the middle of playing with toys or when he sees someone else folding them (looking all proud of himself). And when he does folds them during a real prayer, its only for about 3 seconds. But oh so sweet!

Easter Egg Hunts!

2008-04-02T14:35:00.000-06:00

Hayden had a ball at grandma Huntington's house hunting for eggs with his cousin Tyler. They would find an egg, open it, and eat all the candy inside before they went for the next. Then they would steal eggs from eachother's basket and have a tug-of-war match. It was fun to watch!

At grandma Mitchell's house he loved what he found in his easter basket. Cute outfits, treats, of course, and a container full of plastic kitties! Holiday's are much more fun with kids!

St. Patricks Day!

2008-03-12T11:19:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I last posted anything. Sorry about that. We are all doing great, just a little busy. Jared's parents have gone on a cruise for a week and then they day after they get back they travel to Russia for another two weeks. (With his brother Alex, to visit his mission-who would actually want to go there for the site seeing?) So Jared has been extremely busy at work filling in while his dad is gone. And while he is at work, me and Hayden have been enjoying the nice weather. Finally! Althought it's hard to keep Hayden inside. He whines at the door like a little puppy dog and heads straight for the road when we go outside.

FYI: Next monday - St. Patrick's Day - is our 3 year anniversary! Yea! We don't really have any plans yet. Just to get a babysitter and do something fun. Any suggestions? We would go somewhere overnight but I just can't leave my little guy and I wouldn't want to take him either.

I am doing great! Just been keepin busy and reading a lot of books lately for some reason. If anyone needs any suggestions I have like ten really good books that I just read.

Anyway, here's a random picture of Hayden in the tub. It was taken when he still had a little bit of his black eye.

Too much time with mommy?

2008-03-12T11:11:00.000-06:00

I'm beggining to think Hayden is spending too much time with his mommy. He's starting to get a bit confused. His grandma gave him these beaded necklaces (much to his fathers dismay) which he loves to wear around the house while he plays. Playing with cars while wearing necklaces? Hopefully he'll grow out of it. I'm not too worried.

"My fluffy"

2008-03-12T10:57:00.000-06:00

While we were at Ikea the other day we passed by some feather dusters. Hayden goes crazy for them. So, of course, we had to get one for him. I think he thinks it's a kitty or some fluffy animal. He carries it around hugging it and saying "oooo and aaahhhh" and giggles. I'll tell him to go and get his fluffy and he'll get it out of his toy box. I don't think any of my kids could possibly grow up not liking fluffy animals.

Hayden's first shiner

2008-02-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

About a week ago Hayden was playing and I heard him start to cry. When I went over to see what was wrong I looked at his right eye where a big, dark circle was already starting to form. I'm pretty sure he ran full on into the corner of our coffee table. In about an hour it had formed into a full on black eye! Poor guy! I was scared to take him to church in case people might think we beat him or something.
I wish I would have gotten a picture. It's almost gone now but he looked pretty funny for a few days!

Random thought

2008-02-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast time goes by. It seems like just yesterday I was taking naps to the sounds of "Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day" story on tape. Now I'm putting my own son down for a nap.
It's days like today that I feel so blessed for what I have. Maybe It's because I've had an emotional few days due to to joys of womanhood. I don't know. But today I took a second to look at my life and realized that I have exactly what I've dreamed of having since I was young. Not that my life is perfect or that I have everything as far as the world is concerned. More importantly, I have the things that matter to me. I guess thats the secret to a happy life. To find joy in the little things. Like when Hayden comes and sits on my lap just to be with me. Or Hearing him laugh hystarically when he sees me and Jared hug or kiss. (who knows why) And a million other things.
Don't dwell on the stupid little negative things in your life. When you really step back and take a look at what you have, you may be surprised at how blessed you really are.

I can fit!

2008-02-13T09:09:00.000-07:00

Hayden thinks he can fit into any space no matter how small. We frequently take him on rides around the house in the laundry basket, which he loves. So now, he thinks anything that can slide on the floor would be a "sweet ride" - even if he can barely fit into it.

The Horrors of Earwax!

2008-02-05T09:58:00.000-07:00

Did you know that excessive earwax buildup can cause flakes of wax falling out of the ear, dulled hearing, and the ever disgusting Q-tip? Well, it can. Me and Jared occasionally use these earwax drainers. They're actually kinda fun to use. We get them from the Good Earth Health Food store. They've actually made my hearing better after I used them. One time I used one and then went to a concert (which isn't really recommended) later that night and it was so loud I had to hold my hands over my ears the entire time because my hearing was so much more sensitive.

The Three Amigos

2008-02-05T09:42:00.000-07:00

Cousins are so much fun! These three handsom little men were having fun together when we were in Hawaii. This is such a funny picture to me because it's so typical of all three of these boys. Jack (middle) is looking stiff legged as usual while Tyler (right) is looking like he wants to bite a chunk out of Jack's feet. And Hayden is just looking chubby!

Hayden's Love Affairs

2008-02-05T09:27:00.000-07:00

Our little boy has two major loves in his life (not counting his mom, of course). His daddy and his kitty! He only says about 4 words and two of them are "datty" (daddy) and "dee" (kitty). He walks around a good part of day saying "datty?" while seeing if he will come through the garage door. The other part of the day is spent poking the kitty's eyes and pulling it's tail while he laughs when she tries to bite him.