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Life Lately Hays UPDATE

Hello Family,

All the kids are settled into bed and we just wrapped up eating dinner on the porch with a couple from our ward. I made a salad from all of the lettuce and spinach from the garden, homemade biscuits and cookies. The temperature was absolutely perfect and I love being outside as the sun drops behind the cliff and the kids run around the yard catching ladybugs and stealing cookies. 

Brian had a MAJOR week. The National Park Service wide Search and Rescue training was held at Canyonlands. Rangers from all over came to attend the technical rescue training. This training is for to help retrieve a person stranded after falling off a cliff or is stuck after base jumping or stuck on a climbing/ canyoneering route. They use ropes, pulleys and mechanical advantage systems to lower off the edge and then raise them back up again. Last Sunday it was Brian's responsibility to teach all of the instructors and then co-teach his group the rest of the week. He was gone until 10 or 12pm every day, but he definitely managed to sneak in a lot of fun with all of his co-workers from other parks while they were here: mountain biking, rock climbing, dinners etc. This was back to back with his helicopter manager training, so he hasn't been around much the last two weeks.

My friend Mary Burton came into town Monday-Wednesday. She is go-go-go and it was fun-fun-fun. I was grateful to have her here to get me out and doing stuff every minute of every day. The kids were muddy, sandy, sweaty and so tan by the end of the few days. We played at river beaches, scrambled to an arch the kids had never seen, played in the creek, biked the trails, bouldered at the park and ate delicious food. We even managed to sneak in a 10mile mountain bike ride while Leslie watched our kiddos. 

By the end of her visit, I was so behind on life. I had a mountain of laundry, the car was 2ft high in who-knows-what, the house was a mess and I had an entire wedding to start editing and emails to answer. I spent the next several days trying to get caught up but never managed to do so. I watched friend's kids for 6hrs on Thursday and because of a rescue, I had 10 kids at my house at once right after school and through dinner... every single was was crying and hungry and I had two babies. I was straight up about to lose my mind-- especially since I knew B wouldn't be home until 11pm. 

The next morning I was was working to clean the house between nursing and soothing miss B and Felicity wanted me to help her do a puzzle. I sat down and did one and she wanted another. I said, "How about you come down and be my special little clean-up helper?" She said, "How 'bout you sit and be my 'pecial puzzle helper?" To which I had to say, "Ok! One more." That child is just so cute. We played at another creek spot after Liesel got out of school and a friend of mine who was with me mentioned a birthday party at 4pm. I had the invite and had never even looked at it. We hiked back with dirty kids (hannah didn't have underwear which she reminded me repeatedly of for the next 2 hrs) and went straight to the party on the other side of town through thick tourist traffic that took us 40 mins to navigate. We got there late, but it was fun to talk to my friends while the kids played at the park. 

Right after that was the Moab Broadway Review where the adults perform. Several of my friends and many ward members were in it and I really wanted to go and support them. I decided against getting a sitter since all of the youth were in it anyway, and brought all four kids with me. We didn't get home until 10pm. Bridgette was so loopy that I heard her laugh for the first time while there! Things I never would have done with my first.. .haha! I was so glad I went though. And there aren't a ton of opportunities for art and music here, so I was glad the kids get that exposure. 

Saturday I woke up before the sunrise so I could go for a run out in the canyons. It was so beautiful. Desert wildflowers are my favorite and the cactus are in full bloom as well. The light was hitting the cliffs and I was just overwhelmed with the beauty of it all. I was running uphill and was neck and neck with a mountain biker the whole time until I finally passed him on the last leg of the uphill. Then its downhill next to the canyon with creek below. I love this time to pound out my thoughts and get my heart pumping before the tourists crowd the streets and parking lots and the worries and errands of the day crowd my mind. Brian took off when I returned to mountain bike with his buddies for the last time before they left from the training. 

While he was gone we biked over to the park for the Moab Car Show-- the entire park is filled with rebuilt cars from as early as 1936- 1970s. I love seeing all of the colorful vehicles and reading the stories behind them. The kids were happy they got kettle corn and then we biked home. I worked on editing and then left for Dead Horse Point where I had a photoshoot. Meanwhile Brian took the kids on a dad date: playing up Hunter Canyon followed by watching the movie Coco and eating ice cream.  Speaking of which, have you guys seen that movie???!!! I LOVED it. They nailed the tender and beautiful parts of mexican culture and such a wonderful message that embodies the spirit of Elijah. I watched it when I got home because I didn't feel like working on my lesson. I just wanted to sit on the sofa with Brian's head on my lap and do nothing. It was more stressful this morning while I scrambled to get it together, but I don't regret it. Church burn-out is real, and I didn't want to feel resentful while preparing and impede the spirit's guidance. 

Liesel told me today that I can't add "rooskie" to the end of her name. She also told me I was embarrassing her when I was whooping and hollering at the Broadway show during my friend's number. Um, excuse me? I told her she can't tell me what to do with my friends, but she can if it's her or her friends. She agreed. Does that mean she's growing up? She's quite the sassy-pants sometimes, but she is also the sweetest and very helpful and obedient. She made all of us badges and armbands out of paper, markers and tape. Even Bridgette had one taped to her onesie and on her wrist (which she promptly covered in drool). 

I know this letter is already long, but I want to end by reflecting on my week through the senses:

Seeing: Hannah's freckles popping up on her nose and cheeks in perfect little constellation patterns. Felicity's face always with a dried peanut butter smile extending across her cheeks and dried milk above her lip. And her chubby toddler legs sticking out from below her shorts now that it's hot. Liesel's spellings tests she brings home, her shiny hair and her silly faces that we make back and forth. Bridgette's bright eyes looking up at me while she nurses. A bathtub full of sand, a room littered with clothes, toys and tiny pieces of paper from kid art projects. A toilet that's never flushed and toothpaste on the counters. My row of greens in the garden and the weeds I need to pull. Brian pulling in the driveway. My fridge empty except for 100 eggs in perfect shades of browns and blues and an almost empty gallon of milk with no lid that was undoubtedly lost several days ago.  

Smelling: fire smoke drifting in my window from the neighbor's yard, dijon mustard and bacon still lingering from the salad I made. Honeysuckle from the soap that Mary gave me as a thank you gift-- and it makes me happy every time I use it. 

Hearing: Bridgette's tired cry. Felicity singing "Riding Free-ee!" as she runs her little horse around the room. Hannah fake crying and then her diabolical laugh after tricking me yet again with her perfect theatrics. Liesel orchestrating (ok, bossing) the girls in a game that usually involves fakes names and dressing up. Brian on the phone with someone. A hymn in church that said what I needed to hear. My phone dinging with a text. My laughter after Brian cracks a joke. 

Feeling: Relieved when the parent's finally arrive after hours of kid-watching. Bridgette's hands grabbing at my shirt and skin and fingers. Her soft hair on my lips when I rub the top of her head. Felicity's sticky hands on my face. The wind that accompanies springtime. Hannah as she plops on my lap for scripture study before Felicity reaches me-- which then causes a fight. Exhausted after the 5:30am alarm for Crossfit. Elated returning home sweaty after the workout. A small bouquet of flowers in my fingers given to me by Liesel. Guilt for letting my kids eat so many sweets. Guilt for indulging on birthday cake, granola and spoonfuls of peanut butter. Guilt for taking as long to get through Alma 62 and 63 as the fifteen chapters before that. Hope for another chance. 

Tasting: entirely too many things. Which is why the baby weight remains.

Looking forward to: planting the summer garden this week. Mother's Day. Elder Bednar coming for Stake Conference. The end of school and the lack of routine. Meals outside. Book club on Tuesday. Finishing the four shoots I have this week (and the two weddings on the same day).  A new month. A new week. A new day. 

Hays Update// Spring has Sprung

Dear Family,

Spring is in full swing around here: trees are leafed out, my lettuce is sprouting (I can't wait to eat it!), activities are abundant, meals are on the porch and both doors are always open. I love this time of year despite the 70mph wind gusts.

We've had some highs and lows this week as usual. Let's start with the 

HIGHS:

*The girls participated in Broadway Jr. This is one of my favorite things about Moab. They organize a song, choreograph it and work on it Monday-Thurs and then perform it on Friday on the high school stage. It is seriously adorable. Hannah and Liesel were in three songs that included one from Oliver!, Trolls and A Million Dreams. Liesel was absolutely hilarious and insanely animated. I honestly had no idea if Hannah was hating life or enjoying it. Afterward, she said she loved it, but that wasn't evident from her face haha! 

Every night they were gone until 8am. A friend picked them up and I got used to have an incredibly peaceful evening putting Bridgette and Felicity down one at a time at a nice slow pace. Reading books, treasuring their cuteness and watching them drift off in minutes. I was like, "Remember when I thought two kids was hard?!" haha! Hannah and Liesel came home hyper and excited every night. I think staying up late combined with their instructors being high school students made them seriously jazzed. 

I coached the last two soccer games on Saturday. The last game was actually exciting because we played another good team and Liesel scored the final goal to tie up the game in the last ten seconds. After the game we hiked up Hunter Canyon (remember mom and dad? Where we had that picnic and got all the caterpillars?) and then made it back in time to clean the house before Brian got home at 7pm.

Brian left after church today for Prescott, AZ for a helicopter manager training. He will get back on Saturdy afternoon just in time for me to leave for a wedding. He teaches the NPS-wide search and rescue training starting next Sunday. He is so busy with that he'll basically be gone all that week too. He spent this week prepping our yard for some more sod, organizing a BSA food drive, dealing with a major park service party that involved all of the employees and a DUI and a few rescues. He stays so busy with his job and had to work late almost every night this week. 

I had no shoots this week and caught up on my editing from the weeks prior. I worked on my church lesson, watched my friend's kids every morning this week and joined a Crossfit gym that I love. I woke up every morning at 5:30am and managed to sneak in a mountain bike ride and a sunrise run. 

LOWS:

Liesel got in trouble for taking a pair of glasses she found in a computer lab and pretending like they were hers for two days in class and lying about it. Once the teacher confronted her about it, she lied again. Finally she showed her an email that went out to every teacher about the missing glasses and Liesel finally told the truth. She got sent to "Skills" and got a referral for the principal. They wrote a letter home to me that I needed to sign and I spoke with her teacher. The loss of her teacher's trust and the pain of making the wrong choice made her very sad. All I can say is, "Thank goodness for EMILY!" I followed exactly what she said to a T and I feel very good about my parenting. haha! It was a good life lesson overall. 

Hannah's teacher told me that Hannah told another whopper about me being sick and in the hospital. hannah wouldn't admit that she told the lie for 4 hrs until I threatened her with staying home from Broadway Jr. 

Clay moved to Flagstaff this morning. We had his going away party for the NPS on Friday evening. His kids were all crying in church today. Leslie will follow in a month. We went on our last early morning run together on Saturday and Brian had his last "dude's night." They played poker with pennies and he came home and said that our life won't be the same anymore. It sounds dramatic, but it's kind of true. He said we'll have to replace the empty spaces with service. I guess that's true.

LOOKING FORWARD TO: 

Seeing Cathrine this week! I can't wait to visit her in SLC on Thursday/Friday this week. I'm straight up taking the kids out of school and we are heading up since B is gone anyway. 

This is right before I accidentally dropped my phone on her and woke her up screaming. 

Hannah took this candid true-to life picture. I was playing with Felicity and her friend Anna that I had a pie for an eye. Felicity is constantly in this mermaid dress-- her alter ego is "Isla the mermaid" and she lies down in the middle of the floor and won't walk because she doesn't have legs. 

The girls after their Broadway Jr. performance. They are dressed as trolls

Windy spring day and the million and one eggs our chickens are producing. 

because she is the cutest thing ever. Everyone says my girls are clones. 

Hays Update// Spring 2018

It has been too long since I wrote. I'm sorry. I wanted to sit down before everything starts today and get an email out to mom and dad. (*OK, so that was written at 8:30am this morning and now it is 9:30pm and I'm finishing up).

First off, happy easter! I'm so excited to watch conference today. It was neat to hear that Elder Gong was called as one of the apostles. I felt personally connected to him while at BYU. He was my stake president and once gave a Q&A. It was right in the middle of my broken engagement and I felt so confused about the "stupor of thought" and how the spirit guides us. If it is a good thing and two people love each other, why would they have a stupor of thought? And why would the spirit tell them to not be together? And can mental illness confuse or block your ability to feel the spirit? I stood up and asked my very confusing question into the microphone and didn't feel like I communicated it well and didn't get the answer I was seeking. Afterward, I pushed my way through the crowd and asked him again and explained some of the background to my question. I don't remember exactly what he said but it was something along the lines of, "Eve was the first to decide to leave the garden of eden..." He said a few more things, but the important message when I left was that my heavy heart had hope. I've liked him ever since. 

Life is really good. The girls have been out on spring break this week so we spent a good part of the week doing adventures and playing. I took all four to Goblin Valley and Little Wild Horse canyons by myself. It was an all day adventure and we met up with friends for half of it. I bought lots of junk and took them to get burgers and fries in Green River as we drove back home. 

We had such a great time doing an easter weekend float with mom and dad last year that we decided to repeat the tradition. We camped at the same spot but this time with the Allreds. The kids had a great time playing all evening. They stayed up late around the campfire and woke up early ready to hunt for eggs. 

It has been so nice not having to get anyone ready for school in the morning and makes me excited for summer. 

Work for me is back in full swing and I am editing every free evening again and trying to answer emails and anything else I can in the in-between minutes every day. 

It was so fun to have Lindsey here a few weeks ago. We hiked, talked, played games, went for runs and played with the girls. 

OK, it's evening now and I'm finishing this letter. Felicity had a birthday a few weeks ago and I hate to admit it, but I am so glad it's over. She talked about her birthday every day for months. We made a piñata (wrapped a cereal box full of candy), which she loved and talked about every day until we finally broke it open at her birthday party 9 days early. She was so cranky on her birthday. Maybe all the anticipation finally caught up to her and she wailed on the stairs until it started. Then she was ok during the party. 

Liesel's first grade class wrote and composed a folk opera about a jumping mouse. It was very cute and she was the lead jumping mouse. She wrote all of her parts and sang them wonderfully. They also painted the set in art class and made their own costumes. It was adorable and I was very proud of her. We got her report card and she had 100% or higher on everything. She just started the first Narnia book, "the magician's nephew" and is liking it so far (she's nearly done with it). She is still in love with horseback riding but I worry every week she's going to get hurt. I went with her to horseback for my birthday back in February and the horse tried to buck me off twice. She's still in soccer, but she spends most of the time doing cartwheels and rolling around dreamily on the grass. I'm her "coach" which means I run around the field yelling, "Go get it! Good job!" which Bridgette cries in her carseat from the side and Felicity grabs my legs begging for the other teams Capri Suns and fruit snacks. Liesel is getting so much older and more responsible. She is very emotional and dramatic, but also very tender and kind. She loves one-on-one time but that is unfortunately pretty rare. 

Hannah is playing soccer on Leslie's team. She is still going to preschool, but half the time I keep her home because she entertains Felicity so well and because she doesn't want to go. I can't believe she starts Kindergarten in the fall. She is always making me laugh. The other day we were all sitting on my bed in the morning and I was nursing after getting home from a very early run. She will frequently pretend to call grandma Hatch and have these fake conversations. Well, I was telling Brian that he needed to wake up with Felicity if she pee's the bed because "getting up three times at night is torturous." Hannah says into the phone, "Yeah, having kids is just torturous..." and rolls her eyes. We all started laughing. She also came up with an idea to trick someone for April Fools by filling an Easter egg with a snake head (although I am fresh out of those). She is so helpful with Bridgette. 

Felicity loves to be silly. You give her an inch and she'll go a mile. For example, at bedtime if you are silly with her once, she will not settle down and stop laughing and trying to climb all over you the entire time. She has grown about two sizes and is giant compared to other three year olds. She loves nursery and is the only one in there. They love her and she sits on their laps reading books the whole time and eating fruit snacks. Her nursery leaders even brought her by a birthday present.

Our best friends, Clay and Leslie Allred, are moving to Flagstaff, AZ. Clay leaves in a two weeks and Leslie leaves June,1st. We are seriously bummed about that. We went to their house for Easter dinner tonight with the Penrod's who are also probably going to leave at the end of the year.

Brian was offered a job at Joshua Tree Nat'l park. We considered moving there for his job, but ultimately couldn't trade Moab for the Mojave desert. At the time it seemed fairly serious, but now that the decision is made, it seems hardly worth mentioning. 

Bridgette Elisabeth Hays was blessed this month. Brian blessed her with faith, that the priesthood would be a blessing in her life and to be a peacemaker. Those are the things I'm remembering right now. 

I love you all. I feel so tired. Goodnight. 

February Update from the Hays Family

It's a beautiful Sunday today. I'm sitting here on the very edge of the computer chair because Kitty is sleeping so peacefully on it that I don't want to move her. Bridgette is fading in and out of sleep, which means I run back and forth to put her pacifier back in and I've already nursed her twice in the three hours everyone has been gone and still no luck with sleep. She's entering that fussy phase where they are constantly tired and you're always trying to get them to sleep and they only sleep for short periods of time and you live in fear of the "over tired" because you know it will be a beast from 4-7pm. 

But she is adorable. I've been going back and forth this week between feeling like nursing is going well and feeling like it's going terrible. Yesterday was terrible, today is going well again. I'll be heading to church in a few minutes for Liesel's Great to be Eight meeting at the church. It's crazy to think that she'll be getting baptized this year and while it's not for a while still, as Brian keeps telling me, "the year is already 1/12th over!" He can be kind of obsessed with the passage of time and frequently will tell me that he likes breaks or changes in the routine because it slows down time. Which is very true. Vacations always feel so long because they are so different that the every day stuff, you know? So what I'm saying is, her baptism will be her before we know it. 

This was a very good week. The HIGHLIGHTS included:

-Getting over the nursing hump! It is still painful on one side, but I remember thinking with my other kids that it was still somewhat painful even at two months and I could still feel it at 9 months. BUT the zinging down my arm is at a 1 instead of an 8 and I don't dread nursing her every time like I did before. I love that she is opening her little fists more and looking up at me occasionally and I love her slumping peacefully on me once she's asleep. Bridgette is now officially accepted by all of the girls as part of the family. Felicity has been more interested in her this week, but due to the giant ropes of yellow snot hanging out of the nose 24/7, I've tried to keep her from rubbing Bridgette too much.

-Liesel's swim meet this week! Her first one in mid-december was slightly traumatizing. It was more intense, loud and intimidating than any of us were expecting (especially her) and she ended up crying half way down the lane and only swam in one other event after that. She cried a ton and felt very embarrassed. She was persuaded to not give up and try again, so she stuck it out until this last meet. And she did amazing! I was so proud of her. She competed in 4 events (free, breast stroke kick, dolphin kick, backstroke) and 2 fun events (paddle board relay, full team relay). She was especially impressive at the breast stroke kick-- she is the youngest member of the whole team and she competed with two other 9 year old and won! She was very good at dolphin kick and backstroke and her breathing on free has improved so much! She was really proud of herself. She had prayed frequently leading up to it that she wouldn't be too nervous and that her goggles wouldn't come off and her prayers were answered. The next day she got to attend the pool party and they had a huge blow up obstacle course set up and treats afterward. 

-Hannah and I got to get outside quite a bit together this week. The weather was in the high 50s/low60s and it was so nice that we ended up playing outside almost every day.  I took her to the BMX park and watched her ride and had to close my eyes sometimes because she was so daring! 

-Another highlight this week was hiking behind the girls while they mountain biked a loop here on Friday after school and again yesterday. They are pretty darn good and Felicity even rode her strider on the whole thing! It's amazing what they'll do for a little box of nerds. 

-Liesel started horseback riding lessons and hasn't stopped talking about it since. I got her 12 lessons for Christmas and her first one was Saturday. Brian went with her and said there was no waiver, no paperwork and they pretty much put her on the horse and said "go for it." She was trotting around by the end of the lesson. I told her not to expect to even get on the horse the first day except to walk around some, but I was wrong! She said she learned to turn left, right, back up, walk and trot. Hopefully she'll learn to catch and bridle the horse since that can be pretty hard and intimidating. 

-Brian has been working super hard in his three weeks off. This week we moved the giant boulders/rocks we had as a small retaining wall in our backyard. He moved the ones he could and buried the others. Then he put in another part of the sprinkler system so we could have grass coming up to the big porch we put in last year. Now it will just slope nicely down from the porch with grass. It took him a few days to accomplish this because it was a ton of work. He did manage to get out and ski/summit a peak with a friend (see photo below) but then got the colds that the girls had and was sick this weekend. This break he also managed to fix our automatic van door (he replaced the motor), stained the fence around our property, do our taxes (with my business it gets kind of crazy!) and spend hours meeting with realtors and looking for land so we can possibly build a duplex or something.

-I was able to get out once and mountain bike with Leslie which felt great. I also got my first stretch of sleep longer than 2.5hrs-- it was 4 hours long! That also felt great. 

Baby girl Bridgette!

We tried belaying the kids up this indian ladder in the crack behind Brian.

On our mountain bike ride. It's so oddly warm this winter! The rivers are going to be empty!

Milky smile! I waited at least five minutes with my phone hovering in the air to get this. 

Brian on his climb/ski this week.

Liesel relieved after finishing her first race at her meet last week.

Hiking with all four of my little pookies. 

Hannah with the valentines cookies she decorated at Heidi's house. 

Bridgette sleeping on my shoulder yesterday. xoxoxo