Liesel 5-year-old video Trailer

The movie trailer to Liesel's 5 year old video:

Happy Birthday Liesel from angela hays on Vimeo.

Hannah's 3-year-old Birthday/ 3-year-old story

So much to say about my Hannah-Bo. She was sick all day today and would come up to me every hour at least asking for me to hold her. At one point she fell asleep and I got to stare at her peaceful sleeping face: her long lashes, the tiny freckle under her right eye, her crazy hair that she never lets me do (except for church on Sunday, family photos and her birthday-- but you better believe that the SECOND she walks in the door she is pulling those pigtails out). Oh man, I live for Hannah snuggles.   

I'm pretty sure every morning we wake up one of two ways: Hannah yelling, "I went poopy! Come wipe me!" or hearing her little feet pad over to the side of my bed and then climb on up and crawl into the covers next to me- her blonde hair all a mess and usually demanding "bre-fast cuz I'm hundy!" This usually leads to a fight because Liesel always wakes up after her and sees her cuddling with mom and get jealous which leads to accusations of feeling unloved and un-cuddled. 

Hannah is independent. She dresses herself every morning before breakfast, brushes her own teeth and says her prayers (always short, always adorable- "tank dee for mommy. Tank dee for da day. Tank de for Cee Cee and Fa-li-ci-dee. Tank dee for pan-takes." She plays well by herself and will decide everyday what she is going to do. I'll find her doing puzzles, playing with magnet dolls or dressing her baby. She takes such good care of her babies-- although she totally draws on them with marker. She does that to herself too. The most common are large circles on her feet (buttons to help her run fast, she says), or stripes down her leg like a Tiger. 

Hannah loves to cook. If I'm in the kitchen, you better believe she is grabbing a chair and pushing it over to the island to help. And she does pretty darn good. She'll mix with the beater (and I trust her to do it while I get other ingredients or spatula etc), she'll measure the sugar or flour with the measuring cup and knife and she loves to dump in the ingredients. 

Hannah is a quick learner. She figures things out so easily-- but she has to be interested in it. You can't make her do or learn anything she doesn't want to do. Her only stumbling block is her own fear, but once she overcomes that she learns it right away. Like her strider bike or monkey bars. She likes to put together puzzles and she knows many of her ABCs, shapes and all colors even though I've never sat down and taught her any. 

You can't force Hannah. As a matter of fact, that is the quickest way to a meltdown. When Brian gets the girls ready for bed, he used to ask Hannah to do something sternly but after multiple night of that resulting in screaming and crying, he learned that you have to ask Hannah or frame it as her idea. She also prefers mom to get her ready for bed and I'll hear this conversation from the other room while nursing Felicity: "Hannah, time to brush teeth." "NO! MOMMY!" etc. I both find this endearing and annoying. But she is determined and knows what she wants. I find myself giving into her requests frequently because she also knows HOW to get what she wants. She is adorable in her approach and very persuasive. 

Which leads me to another thing about miss Hannah. People (adults and children alike) love her. She is very easy to love, despite her general mistrust of people. The other day we were biking on the pedestrian bridge and I was a little ahead of her when an old man passed. She started screaming and yelled, "MOMMY! I DON'T KNOW THIS GUY!" He laughed and said to her, "I wouldn't hurt you for a million dollars." She gave him her sideways glare and caught up to me (which was all of 15ft). 

Hannah's fear radar is dialed way up. Even when she was 6 months old I could tell she was more sensitive to fear. All Liesel has to do is growl and Hannah freaks out. And she takes full advantage of this. Hannah will frequently say things like, "dere's no monsters under my bed cuz dey don't live dere," while she shrugs her shoulders and her hands are out in explaining position. She also uses this technique while eating foods she think are gross. "Hmmmm, yummy." she says while choking it down. haha!

Love my baby Hannah. 

The White Rim in a day (104 miles)

Keri, Margaret, Me & Leslie-- the Crew.

On Mussleman Arch-- about 25 miles into the ride

The Green River on the west side. About 80 or so miles into the ride. 

Leslie coming up Hardscrabble Hill-- pushing the final leg of the trip and the last 17 miles. 

Quick break on the west side of the Island in the Sky. 

In 2004 I rode the White Rim in a Day with BYU-Idaho's Spring Summit group. It was a challenge and a thrill to complete. I've ridden it about 6 times since but never in one day again and not since having children. 

AND, since I've had kids I find I don't get out and push myself all day physically. I love climbing mountains, scrambling long routes, gaining lots of elevation, moving over the landscape and being outside in the elements. I still get out a lot, but an all-day-push-yourself-to-your-limits adventures are few and far between. This past winter Brian and I decided to put on the schedule a day for me to bike the White Rim in a Day. 

I invited a giant group of women to join me, but in the end there were four of us and the group size and members were perfect. I felt lucky that our numbers were small and all of us fit enough to stay together the whole time. 

About 6 weeks to 2 months before, Leslie invited me on an AM bike ride that was a major wakeup call. I thought that since I was in running/cardio shape, I was in biking shape. Not the case. So for the next two months we were waking up around 5:05am-6:20am to bike, run or swim for at least an hour, often two hours. I'm not going to lie, I loved these pre-dawn adventures and I've missed them since our ride. 

Anyway. Back to the ride. The day of I was so amped on adrenaline, I was like a 12-year-old boy. I could not settle down or go slow. We were up at 4:30am and on the road biking at 5:45am. We rode all. day. long. and finished back at our vehicle at 9:30pm. We were under the stars when we began and finished. Here are a few things I want to remember from the day:

*Riding with 4 women from my ward. I love these ladies. Our ages ranged from 31-40. All of us are outdoor-lovers and the company and camaraderie on the trail was awesome. 

*biking under the stars full of energy at the beginning

*eating as many oatmeal chocolate chip walnut cookies as I wanted all day long. 

*reaching the river on the west side. This is about 80 miles into the ride. I was tired. Every 10 miles felt long to me and we were going fast at this point. My achillies tendon was in a ton of pain and I was worried about it. The sun was in my face and my sunglasses falling off. We finally reached where we could see the green river and it was like a breath of fresh air (not like I needed that since all I had been breathing was fresh air). 

*Chafing. I have never felt chafing like that before. Eek.

*Mineral Bottom Switchbacks. 1,200ft climb out and our car was the at the top. We lay on our backs at the bottom of the hill, staring at the milky way and two small headlamps slowly creeping up the blackness (two other bikers ahead of us). We shared some crackers and tuna and talked about hamburgers and pizza. We talked about not wanting to do this giant hill. We talked about how far we had come and how the last 10 miles in the dark felt long and difficult because we couldn't see the ruts or ditches in front of us. And then Leslie and I started up the hill. Slowly inching our way up the giant switchbacks. We heard Clay's voice calling to her and it was actually really motivating to have someone cheering us on. We topped out in what felt like 20 minutes, but I'm sure it was more like 40mins. 

*Finishing. It felt so good. My body was so tired.

*I was so tired I didn't even want dinner. I went right to bed after a shower and posting an Instagram photo of the day (priorities, ya know). It was one of those times when you climb into bed and it feel so wonderful it's like it's giving you a hug. 

*I could barely walk the next day. My ankle was hot, red and swollen from achilies tendonitis. I felt better by Tuesday when Lindsey and I went for a run though. ;)

*11 years later, I still got it in me to mountain bike 104 miles in one day. BAM. 

Felicity at 7.5 months

5 words to describe Felicity: cheerful, bright, determined, sensitive, patient

she's definitely grown more aware this month. She loves being with the girls in their room, she loves holding things and playing with them and she likes to eat whatever I'm holding. The other day she ate my $100 check as I was walking to the door with the keys in my hand. 

This is Felicity to a T. She is always chewing on that little thumb of hers and she'll give me a smile like this just by looking at her. . . unless she's tired. She has two new teeth since this picture was taken. 

She loves her sisters but they can be a little smothering sometimes ... literally. 

There's that thumb again. She's not crawling and isn't trying yet, but she can scoot backward. 

Felicity is a joy. This might sound silly, but I really really knew her name should be Felicity even in the womb. When she was born, I felt her sweet, kind and peaceful spirit. She is darling. Felicity frequently gets comments about how "easy" or "good" she is. All babies are good, but some are harder in the sense that they are fussy or only want mommy. Not the case with this chica. She's happy except when she's tired and wants to nurse. She definitely knows me though and when Brian is watching her and I come home she is happy to see me (but that means she immediately starts fussing because she wants me). She gets lots and lots of love from her sisters. Often, it's a little too much love. They are both really helpful with her. Although Liesel got her out of her crib today when I was in the bathroom-- thankfully she wasn't dropped. Yikes.

People always say she looks just like Liesel. She'll probably get that her whole life. The other day at the library a new librarian was so distracted by Felicity I couldn't even check out my books. She kept commenting on how perfect, proportional and beautiful she is. 

She has started eating solids and I'm lazier than I've ever been with baby food. I pretty much mash everything with water that we eat in that baby food mill and give it to her. Pancakes with water, chili with water, rice and peas etc. She was eating great for a while and now she's kind of over food and wants to nurse every 2 hours. She WILL NOT take a nap unless I nurse her. Like, absolutely refuses. She's darn right stubborn about it. And in the middle of the night she wakes up as much as 3 times a night still. I indulge her out of laziness and guilt. 

She takes a bottle like a champ. WHY did I not do this before? Formula is like by BFF. I feel no guilt at giving it to her. It makes life so much easier: primary program? check. Family photos? check. Photo biz? check. Dates with B? check. In fact, we went on a 6 HOUR bike ride on Saturday together. It was heaven.So many great things about it. I am a total fan and I actually think it's really sweet and peaceful to watch her drink it down. Even more so than nursing especially now that she has teeth. The girls get to help feed her sometimes and Brian as well. I like sharing that responsibility. I still nurse her 90% of the time or more. Seriously, why did I not do this before? 

I was looking back at photos of F the other day from March and April. Can't believe how much she's changed and grown already. I can't imagine our family without her. She's my little ray of sunshine each day and I dream about her little face when she's asleep. I love her laugh and her cheerful disposition. I love her easy smiles and her cocked head when she eats solids. I love watching her use her hands. We all love our little Felicity.