A few highlights

So I haven't blogged in a LONG time and I've decided I'm not going to catch up, but just do the highlights.

We made our yearly trip to the Hogle Zoo in September. 

My parents and my sister Wendy joined us for the day.

We had so much fun.

We carved our first pumpkins this year.

Bailey kept playing in the pumpkin gutts and saying

"This is disgusting!"

Bailey was a ladybug for Halloween this year and Hinkley was a bee!

I don't have any picture from Thanksgiving, I guess I'm not really sure where November went! Hoping to do better at keeping up on my blog!

My Tiny Dancer

Bailey started dance class in January, she had to be 3 to start so I got her in as soon as I could.  She loves going to class and being with other kids.  She is one of the youngest in the class, which totally stresses me out.  The other little girls try to pick her up and they have dropped her a couple of times and of course they try to mother her too, but she still loves it.

She loved getting dressed up and getting her hair done. I don't have any make up so we got to skip that, but thank heavens for cousin Katie, she let us borrow some lip gloss!

She did really well the night of her performance! I was so proud of her, the dance was super cute and I was so happy that she only had 1 dance and it was at the beginning of the program.

A huge thank you to my amazing family, my parents, my sister Wendy, my brother Todd and his wife Brenda for driving 2 hours to watch Bailey dance for 3 minutes and gave her 2 groups of flowers, had dinner and than drove 2 hours back home.  Thanks to Lyndsie for being there for all the special moments.  As you can see from the picture Bailey does not lack attention from any one!

Swimming!

All the Browns came to Logan when Ben's little brother got married and they all stayed at Hotels with swimming pools.  So with the weather being bad we all went to the Holiday Inn Express and went swimming.  Bailey was in heaven, ever since going swimming last year at my brother Eric's house she has loved swimming.  Thanks Yvonne for the floaties!

Hinkley wasn't sure she liked the whole swimming idea.  She clung to Ben and cried and when I got in she clung to me and cried and just when I was about ready to give up she decided that it wasn't so bad and enjoyed it for the rest of the time.

Uncle Matt forgot his swim suite so he took all the pictures for us that night, Thanks Matt Man.

The Hair Cut

My mom always trimmed Bailey's hair and after she left we took her to Cookie Cutters for a trim when she needed it.  Well I took the dogs to the groomer for their haircut and for a week after that Bailey kept asking to get her hair cut.  Ben and Lyndsie tried to talk her out of it, but she was pretty sure she wanted to cut her hair.

She was really excited to get it cut, Ben was a little nervous that we had cut off all of her hair.  But she was a good girl and loved getting her balloon after she was all done.  In fact a few days later she asked if she could get her hair cut again.  When I was a little hesitant and started talking to her about it she said she just wanted another balloon! Maybe next time we will just get her a balloon and not get her hair cut!

Plugs and Princess Dresses

Ever since the girls were little we have called thier pacifiers "plugs."  It just makes sense, it "plugs" up thier hole!

I tried a couple of times to break Bailey of her plug when she was younger, but she didn't understand why I was taking it away and just looked at me like I was the meanest person on the earth.  I couldn't take it.  So I decided that there were worse things than her having a "plug". 

In November before she turned 3 we stared talking about her getting rid of her "plug."  Some of her friends had princess dresses and even though I am SO NOT a fan of princess crap, we decided to brib her.  We asked her if she wanted a princess dress, of course she said yes, so we told her to throw her plug away and we'd buy her a princess dress.  She looked at us like we were crazy!

We brought it up a few times, but never pushed it, that way it could be her idea.  Well in March she was playing with some friends and they were all dressed up in princess dresses.  I reminded her that when she threw her plug away I'd buy her a princess dress.

The next day when I walked into her room to put her down for a nap, she kept talking about her garbage can. I finally went over to look in it and this is what I saw.  Excuse the "trashy" picture, hahaha!

We gave her two days to see how she would do, it was a little bit of an adjustment for her and one of the reasons we let her have her plug is because she grinds her teeth, a little gift she got from her father. After her two day trial run we went and got her a princess dress!

I love this picture she is all about busting a move, she gets some of her dancing skills from her dad too! The dress is a little big, but its all good.  She no longer has a plug, she doesn't wear her princess dress every day, and we have one beautiful little princess!

Check up

Bailey's 3 year check up and Hinkley's 9 month were close enough to each other that I was able to take them together, which was so nice not to have to go twice. Anyway they are doing great! Bailey is just under her peers in height and weighs 30lbs. Hinkley is growing all the time! She is a little chunk, she is a pound heavier and an inch taller than Bailey was at her age. Hinkley weighs 18lbs and I can't wait until she hits the 1 year and 20lb mark so we can turn her car seat around.


It kills me how big Bailey is! She is still a sweet sister and an amazing help, sometimes a little too much! She loves to help me cook, clean, and take care of Hinkley. She loves singing, dancing, pretending to play the piano, playing with friends, preschool, Sunbeams, having her nails painted by Lyndsie, seeing family, playing her leapster, and spending as much time as I let her in the tub. She misses her dad like crazy and has started to ask him to please not go to work the next day and to stay home with her! She loves Skyping with Grammy, Papa, and cousins Shaydon and baby Slater.


Hinkley has been rolling ever where for a while and has just started doing the army crawl and now she is really every where. She loves being able to come and find Bailey and I. She just barley broke her first tooth about two weeks ago and now has her two bottom teeth. She LOVES Bailey, loves to try to dance and sing with her, loves splashing Bailey in the tub, loves to have her picture taken. She has the cutest giggle and makes the craziest faces. She hates to have her clothes changed, have her cover on her car seat so she can't see, she hates to have me put her hair in piggys, she hits my hand away and tries to wiggle away from me. She is totally breaking my heart with how big she is getting. She loves her dad and smiles like crazy when he comes home and gets really irritated if he doesn't pick her up right away.

We love our girls and are so grateful for them. They keep us entertained, laughing, up at night, paranoid, and we can't imagine our lives with out them.

Tiny Dancer

Now that Bailey is 3 she is old enough to start taking dance classes. I started bugging my cousin Katie for information on where she takes her girls and I signed Bailey up for the 3 year old dance class at the Smithfield Rec Center. She is SO cute and it is SO funny to watch her! She has only gone twice and in her first class there were over 20 little girls ages 3and 4. Some of the older girls got moved to another class and with 2 teachers it is still the funniest thing I do once a week. There are little girls every where, it's awesome.

Daddy Time and Turkey Painting

We were all home just hanging out and playing with the girls. I went to change laundry and while I was upstairs sorting clothes Bailey came up stairs and found the laundry basket and told me that she was taking it down stairs. When I came back down this is where I found the girls. Hinkley was in Bailey's jumbo blocks box and was loving it. I guess she thought she was pretty cool.
Bailey put some blocks in on top of her and Hinkley was totally happy to hang out and play with the blocks. When Bailey saw how much fun Hinkley was having I guess she thought she needed to try it too! Hinkley has now learned to scoot so there is no confining her to anything!


My sister sent Bailey this little turkey to paint. Bailey was so excited and couldn't wait to piant it. I didn't know what the paint would do to the table but it came right off of everything that it should have. Bailey had an awesome time and felt so grown up. She even put it in a special box when the the Thanksgiving decorations went down. Thanks Aunt Wendy for the awesome memeory, we wished you could have been here for the painting party! I thought I had a picture of the finished product but apparently not!

Little Bailey goes to school!

We have been concerned with Bailey and her pronunciation of words for awhile. I talked to her Doctor and he kept telling me to give it some time. Well its almost been a year and we still have concerns. I called the Up to 3 Program and they came out to the house to do some general testing. She tests great in all areas and her vocabulary came back that she tests higher than her age. But her dang pronunciation struggles. So after being tested by a speech therapist she qualified for their program. So now in the Up to 3 program she goes to preschool twice a week, a speech group once a week and meets one on one with a speech therapist once every other week. She is loving preschool, but it is really hard for me to leave her. She is only 2! I leave her for 2 hours and she does very well. I met with the teachers, watch her through the viewing window but I can't believe she is going to preschool. When she turns 3 she will be out of their program, but has already qualified for another program that will help with her pronunciation. Where did the time go? How can she be old enough to be in preschool? How did we get here already?

Halloween '10

Halloween was a party this year. Its so much fun to have Bailey getting old enough to understand, get excited, and enjoy the holidays. I'm a little sad that she is getting older and such a big girl!


We decided to take her to the Halloween ward party. The youth put on a party for the primary. Bailey had fun playing games, seeing her friends, she hung out with her friends Megan and Ellie pretty much the whole time, and loved winning the prizes. She was so excited. We didn't have her costume yet because I hired Ben's sister to make it for her this year. So we kind of had to improvise on her costume for this party because her real one was in Idaho. We borrowed the wings from Megan and Ellie, the skirt from my cousin Katie. We only half dressed up Hinkley she could have cared less!


For real Trick or Treating Bailey was an Indian and Hinkley was a Skunk. Bailey wore the skunk costume at 10 months and it was getting pretty tight on her. Hinkley wore it at 6 months and it was pretty baggy for her, but still way cute! Hinkley was really good she just kind of puts up with us. Bailey was way excited. We stopped at Uncle Todd's and Aunt Brenda's first and than headed to Ben's mom's ward party. Bailey was having to much fun to eat but had a ton of fun Trunk or treating with her cousins. We left Hinkley with Brenda she was all partied out. After the ward party we went back to hang out with Todd and his family. When ever the door bell would ring she would run and open the door the little kids on the other side would say "trick or treat" and Bailey would say it right back to them. Todd and Brenda would have to be close behind to hand out the candy. That fun come to a quick stop when she ran to open the door, the kids yelled trick or treat and Bailey took one at them and screamed and ran! By the time she got to me she was hysterical! One of the little boys had a skeleton mask on. It took me a few minutes to calm her down and she didn't want to play with the trick or treaters any more after that.


She still loves to play trick or treating and loves to dress up now. She kind of always did, I think she gets it from her Uncle Eric! I think Hinkley is just glad we aren't putting her back in the costume and is our sweet baby.

The Pumpkin Patch

So over the past few years it has been tradition for us to go home and go to a pumpkin patch in Idaho with my mom. Well since my parents bailed on us we had to find another one. Ben thought it was a little silly for us to go to Idaho just to get some pumpkins! Silly boy! I love our pumpkin patch in Idaho because its home, so I think its the best and I LOVE it!


After talking to our neighbors we found one here that worked for us pretty well. We took the girls and had a great time. It was the first time Ben had joined us, he is usually doing something really important, like watching football, and doesn't come with us. It was also a first for Hinkley. She of course was amazing! She did her usual thing and slept the entire time! I love her to pieces!


Bailey loved helping me pick and hold all of the pumpkins and gourdes, while Ben kept a running total in his head. Silly accountant! We took Bailey over to the big pumpkins and told her to pick whatever one she wanted. It only took her a few minutes to decide and than she was really bummed because it was to heavy for her to carry on her own! Bailey looks grumpy in her picture, but I promise she had fun.

Outing to the Zoo

So we took Bailey to the zoo last year and decided that she was a little young and we would'nt go again for a couple of years. Not to mention the day we went was the first day in weeks that it hadn't rained, the zoo was packed, and it was HOT!! That may have been a part of our decision to wait.


Well Bailey is growing up way to fast and she is so cute about everything new and gets so excited that how could we deny her a trip to the zoo. My niece Lyndsie is back in Logan and a trip to the zoo couldn't take place without her and one of Ben's brother's friends Eric moved to Logan recently to go to school so he came too. Neither one of them had ever been to the Hogle Zoo before! What!!! I didn't know that was possible. But they probably just wanted to be with Ben and I, we are pretty cool to hang out with, two old people with two little girls, what a party.


On the way to the zoo Ben asked where the directions were...ok not a great start to the trip, but I reminded him that I was trying to get the girls ready and out the door and since he was driving the directions were his responsibility. Luckily for us we have a navigation app on our phones so we did make it with out any issues!


We had so much fun! Bailey loved all the animals, being with everyone, riding the carousel, the train and a surprise visit from Aunt Wendy! And on a random side note Ben and I ran into a childhood friend, yep love the Hogle Zoo. Hinkley was amazing! She was such a good baby, she didn't cry once all day. We were on the road by 10:30am and weren't home till about 10 that night and the only time she cried was around 9:00pm. I love that little monkey.


My sister met us at the zoo and than we headed to her house to relax and let Hinkley stretch, she had been strapped in her car seat or stroller all day. Than we all went out to eat with my sister, her husband, and my niece Lexie. Than we had a little issue, I changed Hinkley's diaper 3 times at my sisters house and with the other 2 changes before that I was totally out of diapers, so dang it, we had to make a quick stop at Target! Oh darn! I got the cutest winter pajamas for Bailey and diapers for Hinkley. What a day!

Well Hogle Zoo can't wait until next year to see you again!

LOTOJA

So my brother-in-law is amazing. He did LOTOJA (Logan To Jackson) last year and wanted to do it again this year. I think we were out of town last year because they didn't stay with us, but this year we were here so they came to hang out.

They showed up around 10:30 pm the night before the race. Dave went off to bed first and they rest of us didn't go to bed until after midnight! I am way to old to stay up late, but I had a great time talking to my sister, Wendy, my nephew, Jason, and my niece, Lexie.


We all went to bed for a few hours. Wendy and Jason were driving to Dave's check points and would be meeting him in Jackson. Lexie would stay to hang out with us for the day. Dave had to be at the starting line at 5:45am and so they were awake around 4:00am that morning. CRAZY! Well my little Bailey decided to join them that early. Apparently she woke up, walked into the guest room, looked at Dave and asked him "Where's Mommy?" He told her I was still in bed. She looked at him again and asked "Who are you?" He told her he was Lexie's daddy, she seemed ok with that and kept them company until about 4:45am when I heard her little voice and FLEW out of bed. I was so embarrassed that I hadn't heard her sooner! They left around 5:00am and Bailey went back to sleep after that, thank heavens.

The next day Lexie and I went shopping! Ben had the girls and I had so much fun with Lexie. I don't get to see her much and it is always great to have a shopping buddy. We went to the Shade Shirt sale, Old Navy, the mall, Hobby Lobby, and had a great time. I love hats and Bailey has always been really good at wearing them and I bought this hat while we were shopping.


We had a great day and another late night. Dave finished the race and beat his time from last year and than they headed back to Utah. They got to Logan at 1:00am Sunday morning and left! They headed back home which is about another 2 hour drive! I'm way to old to stay up late 2 nights in a row, but I had a wonderful time and loved seeing them!

Thanks for staying with us, hopefully we can make it a yearly tradition! Also thanks for the pajamas, teddy bear, and little bunny Aunt Wendy!

A bike for Bailey

All summer long I have been trying to get Ben to buy Bailey a bike. But either we weren't together to look for one or he didn't like the ones we found. When it was finally his idea he started looking on line and found one he liked. He showed me and I ordered it about 10 minutes later before he could change his mind.

It came the day we headed to Idaho for Labor day and of course we didn't have time to pick it up. So I went to pick it up the day we got back into town. I took Bailey with me to get it and she was so excited it was the cutest thing! She kept smiling and saying "My bike?"


I tried to put the bike together on Tuesday, but I was struggling so Ben put it together that night and we hid it in the bathroom for the whole day so Ben could be here when we gave it to her.

She loves it and rides it in the house, the garage, and outside. She picked up on the pedals, but unless she has her tennis shoes on has a hard time reaching them! She is so excited and has to tell everyone I talk to on the phone about her new bike.

New Experiences

Well its been a crazy week and a half! I took Hinkley to her 4 month check and she is doing really well. She is healthy and a little taller and heavier than Bailey was at this point. She is also what the doctor calls advanced socially, which means she does not like him! Bailey was the same way, I think its just his nice way of calling her a mamma's girl! Bailey had a really hard time again, Hinkley was crying when the doctor was looking at her and so it made Bailey really nervous and she started to cry too. That was fun trying to console both of them at the same time!


This check up caused a lot of stress because we don't immunize the girls until they are older and the doctor told me that whooping cough is a growing concern and the number of children that have it are higher this year than last year. So after A LOT of stress, counsel, and tears, we got her immunized for whooping cough. I was re-immunized when I had her and Bailey is current but it was so hard to do that to her!

But on a happy note Hinkley is starting to roll over more and more and is still her cute self with lots of smiles! She is so cute when she talks and sometimes gets really loud! I love her cute personality and honestly I can't imagine life without her. I know that I used the word "cute" a lot in that paragraph but she is just that cute!

Ben got me a gift certificate for an hour massage at K salon and spas, where I get my hair cut. Which I was so excited to use and did a few days after Hinkley's appointment. It was awesome, when she got to my shoulders she kept saying how tight they were! It was a great gift and so relaxing. Thanks Ben


I decided that Bailey's hair was getting a little to long. My mom has cut and trimmed Bailey's hair since she was about 6 months old, but since we won't be seeing her for awhile I had to figure out where to take her now. I started growing out her bangs awhile ago, because they are just to curly and get out of control! Anyway I was talking to a friend of mine and she mentioned that a little shop called Cookie cutters had opened that was just for kids. I was so excited because that's exactly what I was looking for. I was still a little nervous and Ben didn't help. While I was sitting there waiting for Bailey's turn I get a text from Ben saying that he loves her hair and doesn't think we should cut it. All things that would have been useful to know 30 minutes earlier! Bailey did really well, she didn't have any issues at all and they did a good job and I will be going back as needed until my mom gets back! Hinkley was a little trooper to hang out in her car seat the whole time!


Also my friend Angie came to see Hinkley and the new house. I see her about once a year and even though the visit was short and sweet it was great to see her! Hope to see you again soon!

Oh the county fairs!

I love this time of year! Ok let me clarify, I hate the hot weather, but I love going to the fair! The Cache county fair is nice and its fun to get out and we did, but its not like the Cassia county fair, because that is home and what I grew up with.


Any way we went to the Cache County fair and it was SO hot! The girls did really well though. We walked around and bought a few things here and there. Than we took Bailey over to the pony rides. I was on a horse when I was about 3, not alone, but I have grown up with horses and I love riding. Anyway my dad has a couple horses and one of their names is Poco, Bailey calls him Gato, which is cat in Spanish! Anyway as soon as she saw the pony's she wanted to ride them and kept calling them Papa's Gato. So for $3.00 she got to sit on a horse and go in a circle three times. It was kind of a rip off, but she LOVED it! I can't wait until my dad gets back and can take her for all the rides she wants and do it for free! After the ride we went and got dinner and than headed home.


The next weekend we went home for the Cassia County Fair. I haven't missed a fair since my mission and even though it wasn't the same because hardly any of my family was there we didn't miss it. Usually all of my brothers and sisters come home for the fair, I go to the Fat Stock Sale with my dad, and we all go to the rodeo together on Saturday night. Not this year. Anyway we got into town on Friday night and, my sister-in-law, Brenda kept Hinkley while we took Bailey into the fair to see all the animals. When we got there a couple of Turkey's were getting washed, she was totally fascinated! She wouldn't touch the lambs, loved the goats, liked the bunnies, and had a great time! Ben and I also saw some friends, its always good to go home.


On Saturday Todd and Brenda took Bailey to the fat stock sale while Ben, Hinkley, and I finished getting ready. We met up with them and Brenda kept Hinkley again while Ben and I took Bailey and Shaydon (Scott and Sommers son) over to the carnival to ride on the rides. Talk about a rip off! It cost us $6.00 for the two of them to ride one single ride. They only got to ride a few rides because unfortunately neither one of them was tall enough to ride any of the others. But we bought them hats, they were together and they had a great time. We had lunch with Todd and Brenda and then traded Bailey for Hinkley and went to Twin to pick up Scott.

We had a great time the doughnuts and scones were amazing as usual and it is so fun to have Bailey old enough to have and enjoy new experiences. We missed the rest of the family that couldn't be there it wasn't the same with out you!

The 4th

The week between my parents farewell and the 4th of July the girls and I stayed in Burley. We helped my parents get ready to go and just hung out. Then on Friday my brother Scott and his family came to Burley to hang out and see some of Sommers' family that was coming into town.

Bailey and Shaydon of course had a ton of fun together! They played, fought, wrestled, bathed, ate, went to the farm, saw baby cows, and kept Grandpa very busy! They are 4 months apart, but in this picture Shaydon insisted on holding Bailey. I found them in the hall and Shaydon was trying to pick her up, we decided it was safer if he held her on the couch!


On the 3rd my brother Todd got out his boat and offered to take the kids for a ride. Bailey has only ever been on Uncle Todd's boat and had a great time. She and Shaydon of course had a little issue over who got to help Uncle Todd drive so Todd got them both on his lap to help him. The babies slept most of time we were on our ride. It was kind of a cold day that's why we aren't in our swim suites.


Afterwards Todd and Brenda invited us all back to have a bbq and to watch some fireworks. Bailey had never really seen any fireworks, we always put her to bed before they started. She thought they were pretty and knew that they were hot so she tried to blow them out like a candle when she saw them in the sky. We had a great time, the food was great and I loved being with everyone. I especailly loved when Bailey got Uncle Todd to jump on the tramp with her.

We had a great weekend and I loved spending time with family and having the girls spend time with Scott, Sommers and thier boys. This is all four of the babies from my family. Bailey wasn't to thrilled to sit and play nice while we took the pictures if you can't tell. Gotta love those terrible two's!