I love the holidays! xoxo // Hays update

I can faintly hear Brian playing "the Friendly Beasts" on guitar downstairs and singing. I've always loved to hear him sing. I'm lounging back in my chair to give my swollen belly more room as elbows and knees jab me from the inside and I'm regretting all that cookie dough I keep sneaking. 

I thought it might be fun to sing "the Friendly Beasts" at the ward Christmas party this week, but Brian decided to take over playing the guitar and that's probably a good thing since he will practice it until it's flawless. The kids are very cute singing it. Especially Felicity who sings softly, "I said the sheep wit the curly hair (it's supposed to be horn- but so cute!) she gave a blanket to keep warm." And then she stops. Heart melter. It was stake conference today which is like a Sunday off. Brian has no meetings so we get to sleep in, the meeting is somewhat torturous, but only two hrs. The Penrod's came over and ate lunch with us and so did Sarah.  We chatted for several hours. I love having friends over every week and it is such a blessing to have Sarah here. The kids love her and see her so frequently... multiple times a week. 

December is such a party month. This week we have three party nights in a row... which means I don't have to cook 3 nights in a row! Let's be honest, I won't have to scramble eggs or make a soup nobody eats for 3 nights in a row. 

I'm not sure if nesting is kicking in or what, but I spent a lot of time cleaning this week: junk drawers, cupboards, knobs, walls, sheets, pantry, closets and I finally mopped. Brian fixed our washer since the part came in, so I had heaps of laundry to do. In-between that I volunteered at Liesel's school during math rotations and again the following day for the gingerbread house party. 

I also organized a gingerbread house party of my own and let each of the kids invite a friend they hadn't played with in a while. Liesel invited two friends and Hannah and Felicity each invited one. I thought i could get away with no friend for F'liss, but not the case. That girl is too with it and insisted on Eva coming because "Eva is my best friend."  I hot-glued graham crackers together and made mom's ultra-powerful icing recipe to ensure the kids wouldn't be eating these... haha! We used all the leftover halloween and parade candy and everyone decorated their houses and then I took the kids home at dark. 

I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but every Friday the elementary school gets out at 12:30pm. I took the kids to the Make-one Take-one event in town. It's to empower kids and teach them the spirit of giving. Community members donate toys, ornaments and all sorts of junk and the kids enter the room and are given three pieces of paper (like $3) and everything in the room is "$1". The kids walk around and shop for their family. Each one of the girls shopped for another sister and then went into another room to wrap their gifts and make several crafts they could use as presents as well. I thought it was really neat and they really enjoyed buying one another gifts. Although both L & H chose these really ugly glass angels that Felicity opened up and broke on the floor today (along with my gingerbread ornament). So long, pink and purple angels! 

Liesel started swim club this week. The season only has 6 weeks left, so I thought it would be perfect to sneak her in now. She was assessed and passed and went to both practices last week. She was happy and they work them pretty hard. She has a swim meet this Wednesday, but they don't have winners and it's just against each other. She will be doing swim until the end of January. 

We had large chair boxes arrive this week and Saturday morning I helped the girls convert them into houses. I got out the paints, the art bin and the hot glue gun and they went to town creating their home, picking their house number and decorating their house. 

Hannah went to Sam's birthday party and I got ready to take the kids on a bike ride up at Dead Horse Point-- but first I dropped off Brian's bike at ISKY so he could join us. The bike ride went well for the first 1.2 miles (I let F bike the first .3m and then hid her bike in a bush and put her on my back). I took a wrong turn and the trail was an easy intermediate instead of just easy and I was cringing every time I watched the girls bomb down cliffs and rocks like pros... my goodness! We got to a huge hill and the fun was over. I decided to help everyone up and at the top L said she had a flat. I cried, we prayed and ultimately had to hike out. The whole time I was feeling like world's worst mom because L said all I do is yell at them and it is kind of true and then she said it wasn't true and that I was a great mom, but I was feeling terrible and cranky and sad. Brian decided not to come to us for various reasons and biked down from ISKY on single track (like 25 miles back to his car at Arches) and left an hour after us and still made it back at about the same time. Everything with kids takes so long and I was feeling the weight of having kid #4 and feeling selfish and sad and hormonal and like I can't even raise the three I have so why would I take on another?! And then we made it back to the car as the sun was setting and ate some snacks and made it home and everything was fine again. 

Speaking of hormonal, the pregnancy is going well except for the insane dreams I have... like last night I dreamed I accidentally birthed the baby while in bed and then it wouldn't breathe and dad was there and said I did it on purpose because I don't like hospitals. So weird! Brian can't even sleep in the same bed as me, but opts to camp on the living room floor to avoid my tossing and turning all. night. long. 

Felicity biking with her rat. She loves to have Elizabeth tied to the handlebars. 

Happy Liesel!! Although she got these pants stuck in the bike chain and I had to rip them out! She was so mad! Apparently they are her "favorite after school pants" 

Most awkward stance award! I was trying to show F, but it looks like I'm about to fall over and off that cliff. 

Little pookies in helmets are so cute. 

Liesel in her classroom with Owen and Ellie, her friends in class. 

Hannah and LIesel came too to steal candy off the table while Liesel gave me the evil eye and said, "Ms. Mikalyn said that was not allowed! NO one is supposed to eat candy!" So I said "Ms. Mikalyn doesn't have a two year old."

Taken per mom's request right before this email was sent. Bathroom selfies are so awkward! 34 week tomorrow! Woo hoo! 

Boxes! I moved the sofas and carpet so they could work in our living room. 

Every day a Holiday // Hays Update

I'm now officially the parent of a 7-year-old. Brian and I realized that we have now spent over 1/3 of the time we get with her officially in our home. She had a great birthday party. Brian was spending the night on the White Rim so we decided to have a special birthday breakfast: german pancakes, sausage, berries and whip cream. So in other words, desert for breakfast. Then Liesel told me I was supposed to bring a treat to her class for her birthday. So I made cookies. Then I cleaned the house and prepped for her scavenger hunt. The clues took them around the neighborhood and in our backyard, ultimately leading to a treasure map hidden in the swingset playhouse. From there, they had to figure out where the "X" was in the garden and then they took turns digging up the cooler that Brian had buried (very well, I might add. With cooler handle down locking the lid so the entire thing had to be dug out completely by 9 kids and a pregnant lady). They were so excited when they spotted the lid and eventually we got the whole thing out and passed out the goody bags. I went to buy stuff for them, but couldn't throw my money down for a bunch of plastic junk so I just gave each kid $1 and a slap bracelet. Then we busted open Liesel's star piñata we made months ago and they filled the remaining space in their goody bags with candy. 

Liesel requested a doughnut cake (hello, easiest birthday cake ever!) and she helped me pick out the doughnuts that morning before school. They ate that, watched her birthday video I made and then she opened presents. Afterward, I was too tired to make dinner and should have just left it at the candy and cake, but they insisted they wanted food so I took them to McDonalds. No surprise that 24hrs later Felicity woke up in the middle of the night throwing up. 

Friday we took the kids to the tree lighting and to see santa. Its a great little Moab tradition to have the community come out, the band plays carols, the crowd sings carols, they have cocoa and cookies and the kids tell Santa what they want for Christmas. Then they plug in the tree (a big pine that has been decorated by ornaments the elementary made including Liesel) and a ton of lights. 

So Friday ended well, even though it started out rough. Liesel (probably on a sugar crash post-party) didn't want to go to school and then we got in an argument over asking for a parakeet for Christmas on the way to school. Apparently we got there late (although I didn't know it) and so I biked home with Hannah a different way only to see Liesel pull in at the same time from the other direction with tears streaming down her face. She said the door was locked, "and I just couldn't do it mom! I couldn't go to school!" I gave her a hug and let her mellow out for an hr, but then I took her back to school in the car. We talked to her about it being kind of a big deal to just leave the school when we thought she was there! Yikes. But she was fine by the end of the day and I took the kids mountain biking with Leslie and Natalie and their kids-- then went to the tree lighting like I said above. 

The following day I got a sitter so I could go mountain biking with friends. Then I took the kids on a hike in Arches which was really fun. Sometimes it's great to have friends around and sometimes it's great to just have us. This time it was great to just be us and talk and sing and play in the sand. When we got home the kids decided they wanted to see "Coco" --a new Pixar movie. We made it about 40 mins in and then Hannah said it was too weird for her and we all left. I knew she was going to say that because she doesn't like anything "weird" so I don't know why I took them in the first place.

The light parade was that night. It's another magical Moab tradition where the community all comes together to watch the floats pass by. Everything is lit up, the hospital provides yet more cookies and cocoa and I spent half the time looking at the kids' adorable faces. It was a great night. 

Christmas is stressful, but beautiful too. I finally prepped the advent calendar with Light the World and the kid's did a great job loving their neighbor today. Although, I'm pretty sure Hannah's story was a total lie: after hearing that Liesel befriended someone lonely sitting on the playground "buddy bench" -- Hannah decided to one-up her by telling me that Ava in her class was crying because her grandpa just died and she gave her a hug and they started playing together. I was like, "hmmmmmm." but the point is, her heart wanted to love her neighbor even though it didn't necessarily want to be honest. It is interesting to me that in Liesel's baby blessing she was blessed with obedience and honesty and hannah was blessed with charity and faith... 

Felicity has been like World's Cutest Toddler this week. Everything she is doing lately has me all heart-eyed and dying of cuteness. Her little voice and giggles. But man, that child is destructive. She breaks books, draws on stuff, dumps out my makeup, somehow gets soaking wet, breaks ornaments or puts them all in the laundry basket and is somehow always stealing raisins. I'm pretty sure she is fueled on Cuties (small clementines) and milk. 

Liesel practicing cartwheels in arches

the mountain bike crew

kids and santa. H asked for a surprise, Liesel a boomerang (?! so ridiculous!) and Felicity a flashlight. If it was up to me, I wouldn't even do santa because I feel like I know what they want more than they do. 

a few friends at her party

swinging at her piñata 

friends! Piñata! Arm of victory after the hunt! 

opening the treasure map

The treasure

Felicity in a tree. She was very happy hear. Seeing that is wearing the same thing two days in a row here (see bike photo earlier) makes me realize I must dress her with what is on the floor. whoops. 

Girls on our Arches hike

Liesel at her birthday party! 

Doughnut cake I worked on for like a whole 5 mins. 

Liesel did not like this picture. She said her smile was weird. I love her shirt. It was a hand-me-down from a friend and liesel has been saving it to wear today for months! It says, "I'm so happy today!"

the best of times / Hays update

What a fabulous week. I have decided I LOVE having the kids out of school all week for Thanksgiving. Especially when the weather decides to be absolutely fabulous. This has been the sunniest, prettiest fall I can remember in Moab. But who cares about the weather?! Haha! Brian was off on Monday and he took the kids on a daddy-daughter outing to the dinosaur tracks + bones and on a little mountain bike ride. Hannah had been wanting to go see the dino tracks and bones for the past year because she went on a field trip with Leslie for mom- preschool last year. I took the chance to go mountain biking with a huge group of girlfriends on some new trails. It was so fun to talk with all of the ladies, cruise around on my bike down dirt and rock and just take in the views. Once we got back home at lunch, we took the kids out to go rock climbing for the afternoon at a new crag. Both Hannah and Liesel made it to the top of two climbs and Felicity gave it a good go but we didn't want her to go too high or it would be too hard to get her down! It was a great afternoon all together and we went for  $1 tacos at a local restaurant and ate wayyyyy too many tacos (is that possible?)

For FHE we made a grateful tree and covered it with thankful leaves. The girls came up with so many great things they were thankful for. 

Tuesday I had a shoot which consumed the day until 1:30pm. Then I took the kids biking and literally ran in front of Felicity holding a dum-dum while she chased me and tried to get it. Then I planted it in the dirt at the end of the trail and she got to pull it out again. Happiest I've ever seen her. I didn't see the other kids pretty much the whole ride because they are quite fast and I'm with F, but at the very end Liesel did come up to me in tears because Owen told her she wasn't following directions and would have a consequence but she was waiting at the correct "mushroom rock" that we designated for the meeting location. They got over it pretty quickly and moved on. 

It had been almost a year since I had taken the kids to the Island in the Sky to see Brian at work. The drive always feels so long to me and the hikes are a bit stressful with kids because there are drop offs everywhere... but they were out of school and it made sense so we trekked up there on Wednesday to go see him. It was fun to see him in his office and the girls liked 1) the 3D dinosaur book 2)Seeing their photos on his desk calendar 3) pressing the raise and lower button on his electronic stand-up desk. Then I took them on two short hikes. I was cranky with Felicity who wasn't moving toward the end of the hikes. An hour later as we were driving home, I felt her forehead and she was burning with fever. Mom guilt. Allison and Mike arrived that night for the Thanksgiving holiday that evening. I was worried about Felicity having the flu. Brian's co-worker at ISKY (older gentleman on the interp staff) had died suddenly within three days of getting the flu. I woke up multiple times both because Felicity was so ill and needed medicine, water, blankets, pee etc and also because I was so anxious about her illness. Thanksgiving Day she woke up fairly normal and improved throughout the day until she seemed like her normal self.

Cooked a lot on Thursday and enjoyed the company of Allison and Mike and Sarah. Made the typical thanksgiving fare, but since we didn't have plans to eat until Brian got home from work, I snuck in a quick mtn bike ride and then we all went on a hike to some petragylphs. After Brian got home, we feasted and then talked. It was great. 

Friday morning we woke up and got ready to go the mountains to cut down our christmas tree. This was the first year that the mountains really had almost no snow. We drove up higher than ever and the kids hiked around with us. Felicity was especially excited for the snow. Liesel was incredibly opinionated about the tree and Hannah was just enjoying life.  We found the fullest tree we've had in years and Mike and Allison found their tree as well. We zoomed back down the mountain and changed gears from snow and cold to shorts and chacos and geared up the boat for our last float down the Colorado until next spring. The water was cold, green and somewhat clear... we stopped and played at a beach for a long time and Felicity carried around a stuffed rat that she found tied to the fence while mountain biking-- she's taken a serious liking to it and has named it Elizabeth despite Liesel trying to change her mind by suggesting names like "mousy" and things she thinks are more appropriate. It was only dropped into the river once. We played at the river beaches and got more wet than we anticipated on the small rapids. Luckily I had everyone's coats, which Liesel refused to wear until the last 5 minutes as we were heading home. I felt bad that Allison and Mike got super splashed on the last wave we hit! It was shady and cold at that point. 

When we got home, I prepped for Liesel's family birthday party. She wanted to celebrate a week early since grandma and grandpa were here, so I printed off the Liesel Quiz, pulled out the wrapped presents and we had a wonderful family party. The kids have come to enjoy their videos so much that I have to make sure I prepare one every year. You can see Liesel's video trailer HERE and the 9 minute film HERE. It was very sweet to go around in a circle and share what we love about her. I'm so glad our family started this tradition because you vocalize important feelings and talents that you may not otherwise be inclined to share. The love in the room is strong. Hannah told everyone not to cry and then halfway through she was crying along side the rest of us as we told LIesel what we love about her. Then she ripped open her presents and was thrilled with what she received. Hannah gave her a fancy fan and owl. Hannah picked them out off of Amazon and I created a job list with 5 jobs Hannah had to check off to earn money for these gifts. She did them all dutifully and without complaining at all. I was so impressed. Liesel was always trying to ask for hints beforehand like, "what letter does it start with?" and Hannah would be like, "an 'O' and it's sparkly." She guessed the owl ahead of time, but not the fan. 

I had photo shoots all day Saturday, our company left and Brian did a bunch of house projects. We set up the Christmas tree and got the Christmas decorations out. It feels so festive and peaceful. I love it. We had our usual friend-dinner tonight with the Allreds and Penrods. It was a good evening, a great day and wonderful week. 

bumpie taken today before church-- 32 weeks tomorrow! 

girls at Mesa Arch right before I started yelling at Felicity not to move before she fell off a ledge

My almost 7-year-old! Here party is this week on her birthday! yay! 

Felicity and mom on the river-- note the rat in her life vest. 

Our tree! 

Hannah and Sarah on the river. 

November is my new fave.

Things are good here. I almost can't separate the week into days, which means it rolled along blissfully without much on the schedule. It was the first week that I've had no new photography shoots to go to since August. . . instead of trying to juggle mom/business-owner, I could just focus on being mom. I would frequently have a pit in my stomach throughout the week thinking I needed to organize a babysitter or I was missing something only to realize there was nothing to forget. I think this is why my poor kids aren't signed up for a darn thing. They beg for dance (hannah) and horse back riding (Liesel), but it feels too good to have no deadlines to pack everyone up for. Liesel will be starting piano lessons after Thanksgiving (taught by Leslie), but that feels different. 

I feel like I've hardly seen Brian lately. He was gone in Denver last week and when he got back, his two friends from FLETC were in town on Mon/Tues so he spent both of his days off with them. Then he was in charge of an 80 person SAR training involving multiple counties in Utah, so that kept him busy the rest of the week until today. And he got into bed at 8pm. 

We celebrated our TEN YEAR wedding anniversary on Friday and were able to go on a date that night to a fancy restaurant in town. It was fun to think back and we both decided that we are pretty much exactly where we thought we would be after 10 years of marriage. We're heading on an overnight getaway to Fruita, CO tomorrow. Maybe we can pick out a baby name since we still have talked about that at all! 

Speaking of which, I feel like with the holidays rapidly approaching, I'm going to be due before I know it. Once New Years is over, I'll have like, 3 weeks till go-time. Wow. Baby number 4. Kind of feels like the top of the roller coaster and you know you've signed up for it, but you're still like "oh man! What did I get myself into!" I've decided to try and ignore my discomfort and run and mountain bike through this pregnancy. It definitely improves my happiness level... although I went with two other friends this week and I was in the back the whole time. I don't like being last. 

This week I'm realizing what a big girl Liesel is. She is reading amazingly well and just bumped up another reading level this week. She doesn't struggle at all with math or anything else in class. Her teacher told me at p/t conferences that Liesel is the kind of girl she can pair with anyone in class. With this said, she had been complaining about a difficult reading partner for a while and it just switched to one of her good friends-- Justin. She was very happy about that. School comes pretty naturally to her, but it also might be that Moab curriculum is easy. Liesel has really stepped up to being an older sister to Felicity lately and it's so cute when she will give her attention. Today F was growling like a lion and L was screaming and it made Felicity laugh so hard. 

Hannah has seemed a bit glum since she turned five. Not all the time, but more prone to massive mood swings. She brought a rock on our hike yesterday that she had found about a month ago-- it was shaped like a pizza and she carried it the entire 4.5 miles but somehow lost it in the last half mile. She ran back to where she last went pee on the trail all by herself to try and find it, but no luck. Her little slumped shoulders let me know immediately there was no success. She is a determined little girl and cried for the rest of the way to the car. 

This week I took felicity on several excursions while the kids were in school... mostly biking. She hated some and cried the whole time and loved others. She surprised me by hiking almost the entire 4.5 mile trail yesterday. She never complained, so I never picked her up until the last little bit back to the car when she seemed so tired she was laughing and loopy. I think she was still tired today because they told me she was very cranky in nursery and refused to color her picture. I am struggling with her to learn anything of a religious nature. Her prayer is the exact same every time and she gets very annoyed if I try and encourage her to add anything: "dear Hevly Father, tank dee for mom and dad. Name of Jesus Christ amen." This of course really offends Hannah and Liesel, but that doesn't seem to faze F'liss in getting the job done as quickly as possible. I'm worried about this new baby rocking her world, but I just tell myself that in five years, everything will be easier and Liesel will be able to babysit. ;) 

November this year has been surprisingly stunning-- hardly any gloomy days, perfect weather and still a few leaves clinging to branches. 

Hiking Negro Bill canyon with my girls and the Heidi's kids yesterday. I will still call it Negro Bill canyon despite the official BLM politically correct name change to William Grandstaff Canyon. 

My tic-tac-toe of cuties. 

Taking selfies with Felicity and laughing at all of her cute faces. There were several funny faces, but this was the only one without gag-enducing yellow snot running down her face.

Highs and Lows

I just want to say that I also really like getting these weekly updates. It is fun to read about what everyone is doing each week! All of these "mundane" things are actually so fun to hear in your lives! I want to respond to everyone personally, but I'm trying to make getting this letter out a priority before B gets home in an hour so we can spend some time together this evening.

This week was full of highs and lows. Or maybe it was the low week to match last weeks high week. It started last Sunday night when Felicity woke up twice in the middle of the night after throwing up. The next day was followed by uncontrollable diarrhea and I cleaned it up off of the table, the floor and all overt the bathroom. I was really hoping it was something she ate.

It wasn't.

Monday is Brian's day off so it usually consists of us swapping little adventures. Brian left as I was getting the kids ready for school to bike the whole enchilada and surprised me by getting home at 1:15pm! That bike trail starts in the mountains and is 35 miles long and he ended right at our house. I left afterward to go bike with Sven's wife, Brenna and a few of her friends. 

Tuesday the sickness showed up again. I got home from running with a friend at 7:30am to a sick Hannah and more throw up. It was Halloween, so there were a million activities. Moab might be the only school that lets kids out early (12:45) for Halloween and prior to that there was a costume parade and Liesel's poem performance on the black top where they shared about a "scary" animal (her group did hyenas). Brian took the kids to the carnival hosted by the school and Hannah was so sick she fell asleep for 3hrs afterward. I had to wake her up to ask if she still wanted to trick or treat, and she insisted she did. She was lethargic, but we still had a great time trick-or-treating. I love Halloween. It is such a great excuse to knock on your neighbors doors and mingle with everyone in the streets. Some ward members make scones and cocoa outside and we always love going to their house. The kids had a great time, but I was glad I had the stroller. 

Hannah was sick all the next day and then Liesel woke me up Wednesday night saying that her belly hurt. I realized at 3am that mine was hurting too and spent the next while loosing it on both ends. All the kids stayed home on Thursday and Brian left that morning for Denver, Colorado where he had a Search and Rescue conference and managed to avoid the plague. The sitters I had lined up for my photo shoots that weekend both got word that my kids were sick and canceled on me. I was stranded with no sitter but couldn't cancel the shoots. Sarah Hays ended up coming to my rescue. Thank goodness for family. I thought I was feeling better that night, but around dinner time I was so ill I couldn't move. I was on the toilet throwing up in the trashcan at the same time. In tears I asked Liesel to make dinner for the kids, which she did-- she got the bread and made toast, applesauce and carrots. Hearing her organize the troops, set the table and make it all while I was in bed was a light in the darkness. I had called Brian in tears and he talked to Liesel to ask her to help me and she stepped up and did. I was really proud of her. 

I felt somewhat better the next day and managed to finish the photo shoot in the evening (Friday). Then that night Hannah woke up screaming and crying and had both pooped her pants all and thrown up all over her bed and floor. She had been better for 3 days at this point! That happened another two times that night. 

Needless to say, I had a lot of laundry the next day and we spent all morning bleaching and clorox wiping every single surface in the house. The kids helped me as well and then I couldn't stand being in the house anymore and we all went to the stake Super Saturday (crafts, soup and bread for the sisters). Felicity peed her pants on the church carpet, the kids whined in my ear the entire time and I had to rush Hannah to the bathroom a few times to avoid a blowout. But I made my block letters that said "JOY" for christmas and I felt like they were mocking me. 

I left grateful to get home again. Sarah watched the kids for my second photo shoot and I was so glad to get home and binge on Stranger Things on Netflix and scare myself since I was home alone and B wasn't back yet. I also raided the kids Halloween candy now that I was feeling better (crunched up snickers and reeces on ice cream and didn't even feel shame) and took advantage of the extra hour I was gaining from daylight savings by staying up way to late. 

Then this morning everyone woke up happy! With normal poopy! And no throw up! And totally back to normal! And we went to church and it was a wonderful meeting full of the spirit and I was so grateful that Heavenly Father blessed me with healthy children in time for church. I had prayed the night before to know why the sacrament was important when I could just pray and ask for forgiveness of my sins -- what was the need for the additional step each week? And it was answered again and again in the meeting! Just a wonderful reminder that the Lord answers our prayers and will continue to help me learn as I come to Him with my questions. 

Liesel the Native American! She was so excited about this costume and was so happy to wear it to school with the feather and beads in her hair. It was $10 on amazon and there's no way I could even make a costume for that cheap! She wanted it so badly she paid for half of it with her money from watching the neighbors chickens. 

Hannah the princess. I told Hannah I thought she was smiling like that because she was feeling so sick, but she said, "No. I was smiling like that because I didn't want to mess up my lipstick." Also, I did her hair so cute in ringlet curls with my hot rollers but she hated it and insisted I brush it out. Little stinker. This costume was a result of Liesel convincing Brian and I to buy it for Hannah from Liesel because, "I know she'll love it so so so much!" I caved. 

Felicity the "sunflower fairy"-- she was so excited! I didn't have any face paint for these kids, so I used regular crayola kid paint and it worked great. I also covered her face with shimmery eye shadow as "pixie dust" and she was thrilled about the whole thing. She was on turbo running from house to house to get the candy from everyone and more than one person had to ask her to stop reaching in their bowl. ;) 

Time Marches On

It's been a great week at the Hays residence. Here are the things that stick out this week:

- The primary program was today. They looked beautiful in their braided hair and bright faces. Yesterday Liesel told me that her line for the program was too short and not what she wanted to talk about. She wanted to write about how she's preparing to be baptized. She wrote her own talk and asked if she could give that instead. I contacted the primary president who said, "absolutely." She seemed incredibly nervous but did a great job reading what she wrote. Hannah shared three lines about saying prayers in her bed when she feels scared at night and how she knows Heavenly Father loves her. I was fine until the Gethseme song and then cried. Something about little children singing about the Atonement when they are so pure goes right to my heart.

- I taught gospel doctrine today about Family History. It was kind of a boring lesson, so I prepared a little 1st person blurb about the life of Caroline Pickles and Emmy Collette. At the beginning of class I told everyone I was inviting a guest in, ran into the hallway for my costume and came in and read the blurb and then ran to get "guest" number two (also me obv), and came in as Emmy and told a brief story about her. I probably should have been more embarrassed than I was, but it was a great attention grabber for the lesson. I enjoy teaching even though I dread the prep.

- After church today we carved about 8 pumpkins that we grew in our garden. The kids loved it and it was the perfect temp outside, so B and I had a good time too. Then we had Brian's co-worker from ISKY over with his girlfriend and the Allreds (it was Clay's b-day) for tikka masala and naan bread. I ate too much and now feel very fat.

- We had a lot of partying this weekend. The Niessen's (sort of a new friend this year) invited us to an adult-only halloween party. Brian went as the American flag and I went as Betsy Ross. The dinner was fancy, her house immaculately decorated and the games were fun. It was cool to hang out with people we didn't know well and make new friends.

- All day Saturday was kind of a whirlwind. I went running up Negro bill at 7am, got back and left to shoot a wedding (my last one of the year!!!). Following the wedding I photographed 7 families in a row! It was pure insanity. But I did feel like I was doing a good thing. I charged only $150 a family (which I think is cheap) but not sure if I can still count is as service necessarily. I wrapped up at sunset and met Brian and the kids at Clay's birthday party where we all ate Mexican and had a great time.

-While I was busy photographing Brian took the kids to Grand Junction to a pumpkin patch that had awesome redneck style activities. For example, a 50 ft pyramid of hay that you climb to reach giant slides. You grab a burlap sack and slide down that at 30mph.  Brian said even he was a little hesitant to go down at first. There was a huge pit of dry corn you could jump into, zip lines, pony rides, train rides and a petting zoo. The kids told me all about it when I got back-- including the part about Felicity stealing a pumpkin and them giving it to her for free.

-Earlier this week when I arrived at the school to pick up Liesel, she had a huge smile on her face. She said, "MOM! I WON the griffin drawing contest!" Over a month ago she had wanted to enter the contest to draw a griffin. I coached her, but didn't draw a single line and I thought she did a great job. She went over it with a thin sharpie and then watercolored it in. Well, she won it! And she said there were posters all over school and she won a griffin figurine given to her by the principal. Everyone was congratulating her and she was both embarrassed and thrilled.

-Early in the week I felt anxious to get out with the kids and play before the weather turns too cold and daylight savings robs us of our after school light. We went out every afternoon until Thursday (I had a shoot and Hannah a b-day party) to play outside somewhere. I love doing that with them.

- Felicity keeps stealing my stuff and breaking my jewelry. Brian found my wedding band in a potted plant in the front yard today. I knew it was missing but had no idea where it was. She broke my favorite turquoise necklace and told me it was "in the sprinkler" but I still can't find it. She refuses to be reverent in prayers but tells me she loves Jesus. Everything she does is cute-- well almost. Every morning until breakfast she's insufferable begging for cereal constantly and throwing a fit when she gets something else for breakfast. Then she's darling until about 5:30pm and then nothing she does is cute and she follows me around crying.

- Pregnancy is going well. I have gotten back into running this past month and can still mountain bike. I'm afraid that as soon as I stop, I won't be able to anymore so I keep trying to go a few times a week. I'm slower than normal, but not too much slower. Baby is moving all over the place and I had an apt. this week and everything looks perfect. I can't believe it's almost november! We need to come up with some names!

How on earth do I always write so much from a normal week? Sheesh. 

I love you all. 

xoxo,

Angela 

Picking up Liesel from school the day she won

I volunteered in her class Thurs and took this pic after helping out. 

American flag and betsy ross

L's talk for the primary program

on a hike with my babes

Hannah's birthday pictures that didn't make it last week! This little cutie: