More walking

Hair!!

So many people have told me lately that Hallie looks like she has enough hair for a little pony on top so we tried it and after much distraction her it is. It worked but I think we will let it grow a little more before it becomes part of the daily routine.

The Parade

Our first time to the parade as a family

Hallie watching the parade liked everything but the fire engines...to loud!

Every year growing up I remember looking forward to going to the parade and now that I am older and have actually been to more towns parades Tremonton's parade is the best so of coarse we couldn't miss it this year. We also got to spend sometime with the Nick, Brit and grandma. We had a great dinner and then headed out to the fair. Matt and I regularly make fun of going to the fair in your new clothes and meeting at the zipper which used to be the cool thing to do when we were younger but it is really something special when an entire community basically shuts down to be part of the fair we were happy to be part of it munus the new cloths and meeting at the zipper.

Last Day

I don't know how I managed to catch this picture but its priceless. We used these 5 gallon buckets to hold down the sunshade and they were a common play place for Hallie to rinse her toys, splash, or dump the water out of. She is definitely cute and her personality just makes her that much more darling.

Hallie tubing for the 1st time of many to come I think she liked it...at least she didn't cry?


Maddi showing us how its done...yeah

Grandma and Hallie


Insert a sad face her...we were not ready to come back to reality for sure we loved spending time in and sand and sun with the family. The water was great we did some more cliff jumping and Maddi skiied for the 1st time and got up after only her 3rd try she was very nervous but mom helped her. I love vacation and all the extra help is so nice. But my favorite was watching Hallie and her interactions with the fam. I can't believe my sweetheart is getting so old or that I married my best friend over 4 years ago how blessed we are to have the oppertunity to spend time with family to catch up and build relationships. I am so grateful for a close and supportive family. We had a great time and are already looking forward to next summers adventures.

Day 3

Our little Lake Powell Family

Hallie wouldn't get in the pool without her Maddi..so cute to watch


Waving before she took a nap

Now that the weather was finally cooperating we went for a ride to see some of the canyons. Hallie loved being on the boat but not wearing her life jacket! It was so hot we had to stop and swim. The water was 80 degrees, doesn't get much better.

Day 2

Hallie eating her lunch

Matt cliff jumping

Driving the boat with kimber..one of her favorites

The storm

Hiding from the storm

Hallie loves her Maddi she may possibly be her favorite, the only one she would go to during the storm so I could help. Maddi is so cute with her, they are great buddies. Another 1st Hallie has started giving kisses and she gave the first few to just Maddi

So I wish I could say that day 2 brought nothing but blue skies but unfortunately that isn't entirely true. The morning started out great we played and in the water and sand. We even got some cliff jumping in then as the afternoon started the clouds got dark again. We tried to prepare ourselves but we had no idea what was coming the clouds opened and the water poured out until in turned into quarter size hail and blasting wind. I sat huddled in the middle with Hallie wrapped in a towel as she looked around wondering why everyone was so frantic. It eventually passed and we put camp back together. The wind continued to blow til early the next morning. We still enjoyed our time playing games and visiting. Thank heavens that was the last of the weather we had to worry about the rest of the trip.

The sand creatures Part 3

Construction Phase

Couch & End table

Tv & Stand

The entire setup

So as I said in a previous post the boys got very creative while we waited for the storms to pass after they completed the entire set we had numerous people come over and ask if they could take pictures or pose on it the boys were feeling pretty good about what they had created. One tourist even asked how many beers they all had to drink before their creation was complete. Since they spoke very little english it was interesting trying to expain to them that we didn't drink at all...I think they thought we were crazy.

Day 1 & 4 yr Anniversary

Once it stopped raining there was a beautiful double rainbow what a great way to spend our 4 yr anniversay. These pictures turned out amazing although it is crazy to see as we took pictures how quickly the rainbow faided. I dont know if I have even met a more creative set of grown men than the group that has married into our family plus carl(our new friend) and I think these sand sculpture show this. It stared with an elephant that they worked on while it rain since we really dind't have anything else to do. And they got more creative as the week went on but that will be in a later post.
We missed our Nic & Ky so much and are so glad they are home!!!

Lake Powell Part 1

Last week was packed with fun crazyness so I will break this into parts in hopes in remebering more details and getting caught up before the next fun event. We started our journey on tuesday night after matt got off work we headed off to Kanab where we had found a cheap hotel for the night so we could get some good sleep instead of sleeping in the parking lot...or so we hoped. We arrived at the hotel at about 1130 and quickly found out why it was so cheap. The reviews had been great and they were sold out but obviously people don't have standards as high as our are. Hallie slept terrible and eventually ended up in bed with Matt and I which has never happened so needless to say none of us slept good. But we made due slept a few hours and headed for the lake early the next morning. About five minutes before we arrived we started getting text messages that there had been a fire on the boat. No one had been hurt and the boat with its contents were still fully intact but it wasn't running so we headed to find a camp spot since the sky was full of threatening clouds. One thing my family is great at is pulling together to make sure everyone is taken care of and this situation was no exception. Everyone helped setup tents, care supplies, empty the boat, and stake things down. One thing we aren't afraid of is hard work, this is something I hope hallie will pick up on.

We got everything set up just in time for it to start raining while it rained the boys went to help some of our neighbors to get unstuck in the sand.

Lake powell has undescribable soft sand, its the best. And although the weather wasn't the greatest it didn't stop Hallie and Maddi from having a great time.

Hallie loved the sand and the water just as we suspected but she did have her share of spills in the sand.

My favorite part of the trip was watching how cute Hallie interacted with the family

Dancing and Walking

Thats right you heard correctly she took her 1st steps thurs aug 12. She just turned toward Matt took 4-5 steps and got the ball I would guess she was after. We were both in shock and so excited, Hallie even clapped for herself now when we tried to record it to show that was a more difficult task so when I capture it I will post it. Also when Hallie was younger Matt would sing this song and I would help her dance and it was one of the first times she laughed and has since become something that always makes her laugh...why we aren't sure. Its sure cute to watch.

Night at the Carnival

We were invited by some good friends to join them at a carnival themed party. We had no idea what to expect but it met and exceeded out expectations. Everything was free and there was everything from food, music, balloon animals, ect. We enjoyed all of it and Matt even learned a new skill...balloon animals. The favorite one he made was a lion it looked really good. Hallie displayed her dancing skills for the first time it was very cute. She also had her 1st carnival snowcone. Matt even participated in a pie eating contest with the missionaries...the missionaries beat him although it was more fun to watch. The live band made the atmosphere perfect. And amisted all the fun I still managed to get a few pics. We can't wait to do it again in October!! Thanks Packards for a new fun experience.

I can feed myself!

Hallie for quite sometime has eaten better if she feeds herself. I have no idea where she gets her independence..not. But lately I have noticed I haven't been recording these major milestones so sorry if everyone is feeling overloaded with posts today. Hallie has been doing what seems like talking for quite a while now he 2 newest are yum when she eats something and brrm when she plays with her cars. I can't believe how grown up she is getting. Oh I almost forgot we got her dietary eval back today and she is eating more calories than she has to have so the conclusion was just as I had suspected..she is just little. What a relief.

Where did you learn to do that?

So I ran into the other room to come back and find my dishwasher more than half unloaded, well initally you would think this was a nice thing except Hallie is the one that unloaded it and it was right onto the floor. Now all I have to teach her is how to load the dishwasher...yeah that will be awhile.

I'm ready to be awake!!

The other day rather than what seems like yelling or crying I went in to get Hallie up from her nap and found this. It has continued everyday since. She will stand by the door and make noises until you come get her. She thinks she is so cleaver!

Walker

I found this really cute walker at King's in Tremonton last week. I really like King's they always have good stuff for a great price. Hallie is still getting warmed up to it but eventually she will probably use it to cruise throughout the house. For now she pulls her self up to it and plays with all the toys on it. I can't believe my baby is getting so grown up.

Some of the many faces of Hallie

She was in mid sentance talking


The other day I triend throughout the day t o take various pictures of Hallie's cute faces she pulls. I find them pretty funny.

Crawling

Hallie has been crawling for a while now and have gotten very quick at it. I realized the other day that I had not yet recorded it to share with everyone especially Nic & Ky who haven't seen Hallie since the end of April. We can't wait for them to come home this week!!!

Friend Party

The last weekend in July we had a BBQ with all of our friends and their families from high school. We had a great turn out despite the weather not cooperating. It was great to see everyone and talk about life then and now. It seems like almost everyone has kids now and they all played together so well. Just as everyone was leaving the rain broke and a beautiful rainbow came out, a great end to a great evening. I wasn't very good at taking pics since we were trying to save the kids and food from blowing away but I did manage to get some pics of the rainbow. Can't wait to do it again in 6 months. Thanks everyone for coming and we missed everyone that couldn't.