1st Christmas Card

Holly Chocolate Christmas

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I'm excited to have our first family Christmas card. Although, it's actually more like a New Year's card since I am so late in getting it done. Oh well, you gotta start somewhere, right?

Mother's Day Fun

Why am I having such a hard time getting words above the 1st pic? It really should not be this hard!
Anyway, my first mother's day as an actual mother (with a kid outside the womb) was wonderful! We had a fun day and had my mom, Steve, Tai, and Dal over. We ate yummy dinner and played some old school Nintendo, Dr. Mario to be exact (my favorite). Then we ate strawberry shortcake for dessert. Hadley was really getting tired. But then we had some dessert and got some sugar in her and she was ready for round 2. She was being so silly! Daddy was also silly and put Hadley's shirt on her head.

I love this first pic cuz it looks like she is skipping, but really it was just a step-fall.

Grandma teased Grandpa Steve for putting Hadley on top of the box instead of inside

Then Hadley biffed it good (but came up smiling, I was laughing till my tummy hurt)

So grandpa made the proper adjustments. Hadley wasn't so sure about this game anymore.

A cute, happy picture with Daddy. This kid knows to smile when mommy has the camera out. She is so dang smart!

Mommy wanted in on the picture fun. (Sometimes she feels left out cuz she's always behind the lens.)

We had lots of fun! I love being Hadley's mommy!

Swing Swing Swing

Hadley's first time swinging at the annual McMillan Easter party that we had a few weeks late because of the crazy Utah weather.

This pic looks like she is doing a peace sign. I love it!

She thought it was funny to kick dad in the face

I love her sweet giggles! (this is my first time uploading a video. I've come so far!)

Ultimate Jazz Fans

We had some fun Jazz time in the month of April. Every year Craig (Jake's dad) invites us to a fun Jazz night with the Utah Funeral Director's Association. We go and eat dinner and afterward they have shooting competitions. There is a 'Lighting' competition and then a three-point competition. I was proud to get in the top six for the womens 3-point comp. Jake took the mens 'Lightning' competition which won him $75!

Hadley didn't know what to do with so much open space. She was having a ball just crawling in circles!

Dad always makes things more fun!

We were able to go to the Jazz-Phoenix game with the UFDA and we also got the hookup on tickets for the first two playoff games. Although the Phoenix game was a major disappointment and lost us home-court advantage, the Jazz pulled through and won both of the playoff games. Both games were against Denver (The team that I hate the most!), and the games were a blast! The arena was packed and had so much energy!

1st home game of the series.

2nd home game when I purchased my cute green Jazz shirt. Now I'm a true fan! Jake got one too and his is way cute on him. Mine's a little too big, dangett!

Hadley's New Chair

My Aunt Megan gave us this cute little chair that used to be my cousins' (Ariel and D.D's) when they were little. I wanted to take some pictures of Hadley in it outside before I brought it in the house. They didn't turn out as cute as I had imagined, but hey, I'm no professional photographer and I didn't have the cutest backdrops at my mortuary apartment.

Spring Cleaning, Clothes, and Smiles

I know it's been a while... We had computer and internet connection issues and then I just got used to living my life off the web. but now I'm back. I really dislike facebook and feel like for the most part it is a waste of time that sucks you in. It was nice to not have that temptation in my home. However, I think blogging is totally different. It is documenting our lives. I prefer it over journaling and scrapbooking because it's easier and it combines the two.
I am still working on organizing my house and my life. I have discovered that this is an ongoing process that I will be doing for the rest of my life. I have also been doing some spring cleaning. It feels so good after you get some of it done. Some things that I learned from Flylady (an website that will send you emails to help you get into good habits of cleaning and organizing) that have really helped me with keeping up on my house are...1. set a timer for 15 minutes for each room you have to clean. It makes you work faster because you are working against time and if you do it every day you get done faster because it's still clean from the day before and you can use the time to organize or deep clean an area of that room. This system has really helped me out. Plus, you can do anything for 15 minutes!
2. If you don't use it regularly then it's clutter. Throw it away!3. A load a day keeps the laundry away... so I don't remember the exact saying but if you just do a load of laundry a day you stay on top of it and don't ever have to spend a whole day doing laundry. Plus, since there are only 3 of us, I don't even have to do a load every day!

Another thing I've learned is to just do it and not procrastinate and just put things away as soon as your done with them.
I don't even know how I started on this topic. I wanted to post some cute pics of my little Hadley girl... helping mommy with laundry seemed fitting.
This cute outfit was given to Hads from Aunt Nat and Auntie Bree picked it out for her to wear it that day. I thought it was still too big but Bree insisted and it looks ok. I would rather have her start wearing her cute outfits while they are still too big and have them for longer. Aunt Bree loves putting outfits together for Hadley Mae! Here is another one she helped me get out while still a little big but so dang cute!

Hadley is the most photogenic baby.
She's kind of a little poser! I bought these jeans a while ago and have been dying for them to fit her. They are dark blue skinny's with the cutest little bows on the back pockets. So excited they finally fit! Well almost... So cute rockin' the hood
Love that smile!

Graduation!

After five and a half years, 12 semesters, and 129 credit hours...

I finally completed my schooling! (At least for now, I will probably eventually go back and get my masters because I really like school and know I am going to miss it greatly.) I graduated with honors from Weber State University with a bachelor's degree in English with creative writing emphasis and technical writing minor on December 11, 2009! It feels so dang good to complete something so big. Especially, something that I always said I would do and had set as a goal for myself at a young age. The automatic question on everyone's tongue is "Now what?" and that is a very good question. For now I am going to focus on being a good mommy to my little Hadley girl.

But as far as work and my degree are concerned I have been working on a few projects from home at nap time to earn a little extra cash and, more importantly, experience. I helped a professor from Weber with the interior layout and design for her memoir, Cachitos Dulces: sweet bits and pieces, and designed her cover. I am in the last stages of designing the cover and we are hoping to publish very soon through Lulu. I also am transcribing an interview for a WSU yearly publication. If anyone has ever transcribed, they know it is an interesting experience. It took me almost 8 hours to type a 1 hour interview and I still have to go back and edit punctuation and paragraphs, etc. As well as look up terms that I have no idea how to spell since the subject is scientific and has some crazy scientific terms. Adding to the interest factor but not making the assignment easier, the man being interviewed has a British accent. This means I also have to listen to the interview another time or two while reading it and make sure I didn't miss anything or type anything wrong.

I have been lucky to gain some good experience to put on my resume over the last year, including layout and design for ERGO, the undergrad research journal for Weber, and working as a copy editor for the Signpost, Weber's Newspaper. Once I finish my current projects I hope I can find more things that I can do from home and make a little extra cash while I perform my most important role of being a mother. I also still serve one or two nights a week at good ol' Pepperbelly's to make quick cash.

It feels so good to know that I am done with school, although it is a weird feeling knowing that I don't have homework and won't again unless I do go back. After having homework on my to-do list for the last 18 years of my life it is so strange to go through my mental checklist and still think clean the house, make dinner, do homework, oh wait no homework. Now I just need to get Jake through. He only has a year and a half left so he's getting there. I just wish he liked school more because I feel like his mom always asking if his homework is done and when his assignments are due. Having all online classes and a full time schedule doesn't go well with Jake's disinterest and lack of motivation when it comes to school . He is also working more than full time hours at the stupid gym. So he is a very busy boy and it makes me sad that Hadley and I don't get to see much of him. He is such a wonderful man and is so good to work as hard as he does.

Looking forward to better days with more family time.

(and more money! ha)

Dallin's hair is up in his little asian style bun in this pic but it's longer than mine and probably as long as mine was in high school/when I got married!

Grandma was really excited about getting a picture with four generations! It's so fun for Hadley to be the first neice, grandchild and great grandchild in my family. As soon as we get to a family gathering it's always a fight of who gets to hold her first and they keep tabs, "You've already held her twice and I've only held her once!" It's quite funny.
Mom and Steve, Steve love's Hadley tons! It's so cute cuz he's just a step and has only been a part of the family a few months longer than Jake. I think Hadley has really brought us closer.

The purple and white cord is for the honors!

New Year's Goals

I have so many goals for the new year and one of them is getting better at taking pictures, blogging and just recording mine, Jake, and Hadley's lives. I'm trying to get back on the Blog Wagon! Blogs hopefully to come include: Halloween, Graduation, Hadley's 1st Christmas, and lots of other cute pics and things about my little Hadley girl.
Other goals include:
Spiritual- the usuals (reading scriptures, praying more, family home evening, and temple attendance)
Physical- I have started a dance class! My first time was last week and I loved it! I have been thinking about it all week and can't wait until our next class Wednesday night at 8:30. I was so sore after last weeks class because I forgot that I'm not as flexible as I used to be and was kicking my leg way up there like I was still a high school cheerleader instead of five years later and a new mom. Haha. I also want to try to go to more yoga classes and just make it to the gym more in generall. If I can't make it to the gym, the goal is to at least work out at home. I have done this two days so far so I'm at least making progress!
I guess cooking and eating healthy from fresher ingredients would be in the physical category. I also want to plant a garden so I can grow my own fresh ingredients but I don't know that this will happen this year since I live in a mortuary apartment and don't have anywhere to put a garden. I do have two small planters back there, so maybe I can work some magic with those. I really have no clue when it comes to gardening so it will be an interesting adventure.
Home- I guess cooking could also be in this category... I have the usual goals of getting my house organized and I want my mom to help me Feng Shui my house since she is now an expert after her week long course on Feng Shui in California.
Financial Goals: Mostly just getting out of debt! So we can finally save money and get into a house! Although, I do have mixed feelings about this because I would like to live outside the country and travel more before settling into a house and it's kind of stupid for us to move out of our sweet setup here at the mortuary, unless we are like building or moving into a house that we plan on being in for a while.