Santa Baby

We wanted to take Hailey to see Santa this year. Since we've never done that before, we weren't sure where to take her. We heard that Bass Pro does a good job, and is FREE. If you don't know what Bass Pro is, it's like a Cabela's. I called the store and asked when the best time to go was. They said early afternoon because nights and mornings are crazy waits-up to two hours. We went to Bass Pro at 1:30 and walked straight up to Santa. NO LINE AT ALL! We got so lucky.

It was pretty uneventful. She sat on his lap, looked up at him, and then sat there like this.

 I love her nervous, clenched fists. haha. But no tears!

Since visiting Santa went by so fast, we walked around the store for a while. Hailey loved the fish.

 

 And the bear.

 

 It felt like we were on a vacation somewhere. I mean, come one, look at the scenery!

 

We'll definitely make Bass Pro our annual Santa visit. You can't beat free!

Happy 3rd Anniversary!!

Travis and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary on Wednesday. I can't believe we've been married three years. 

 Since our anniversary came around, we've been reminiscing about the "olden days" when we met and began dating. We've known each other for almost four years now. Sometimes I feel like I miss the feeling of excitement that we had when we were first dating. Everything was new. We were always so excited to be together, and had to be together every second.

 

I still love being with my husband as much as I can, but it's not the same as when we were dating. Travis and I were talking about it and decided that we have a way better excitement in our lives right now. We love the excitement of spending everyday watching Hailey learn and grow. She is constantly challenging herself and surprising us. Our love for each other grows everyday as we raise our beautiful daughter hand-in-hand. Life is so exciting. We love each other and love our lives together. Three years down, eternity to go!

When Travis and I were dating, we had to spend a summer apart. I was still at school and he was home working. We already knew we wanted to get married, so we were missing each other like crazy. We decided to write a letter to each other everyday. (Isn't that crazy?) We wrote about things that the other person wasn't around to see-school, work, anything. We would send a bundle of letters every week or so. Now we each have a binder full of letters to each other. A lot of them talk about our dreams of being together. I love reading them! Writing a letter everyday is a little excessive (just a little), but we wanted to continue writing letters to each other because sometimes words come out better on paper than from the mouth. Of course we still constantly tell each other "I love you" but we also write a letter every anniversary. It's so fun to read and I love adding it to our binder of  "love letters". We've never had a ton of money to spend on our anniversary since it's the end of the year and only a week from Christmas. (We are bad "budgeters"-I made up that word- but that's all changing next year! We're going on a super strict budget.) Even though we don't spend a lot of money, I still love when our anniversary rolls around. This year we got a letter from each other and we went to Red Robin for lunch. It was small, but I loved it. 

Marrying Travis was a decision that made so much sense to me. Everything progressed fast in our relationship when we started dating, but it flowed so naturally. We just fit so well together. And we still do! I'm so grateful for my wonderful husband who is an amazing and silly dad.

Nifty Nine Months

Hailey turned nine months old on Sunday. I know you're thinking, "No way! Didn't she just turn 8 months?!".  And the answer is yes. She did just turn 8 months and time is flying by. I had my first mini meltdown where I looked at Hailey and noticed how big she was. I shed a few tears as I realized my baby isn't much of a baby anymore. I've been cheering her on as she's reached new milestones, but she's growing up too fast. So I've decided that I may or may not start pushing her down (gently) when she walks. Maybe that will make her grow up slower. 

But I better update you on this crazy girl and what she's been doing in the last month.

 We went to the doctor for her 9 month check up yesterday. She weighs 15 pounds 8 ounces (9th percentile) and is 27.5 inches long (44th percentile). Her head is also in the 40th something percentile. She's still a petite little thing.

She's started doing this silly cheese face. I LOVE IT!  

  She does it all the time. In moments when we lease expect it. It's hilarious.

 I love winter time because Hailey looks so cute in her winter hat and mittens.

 Hailey met Santa at our ward party and was a little skeptical.

 She's mastered the 2 finger pinch when she's eating.

She's walking! Not across the whole room yet, but she could if she tried. She's mastered her balance and the slow and steady speed. It won't be too long until that's her main way of getting around.

 

 She's been so happy and giggly lately. She'll be playing and all of a sudden she's giggling. It's so cute.

She's getting so big. She amazes me everyday at how much she's growing and learning.

A Christmas Craft

Travis and I have been married three years and we don't have a nativity set to get out at Christmas time. Every year Christmas rolls around, we're low on the dough and can't get one. This year I was fed up. I looked on Pinterest for a diy (do it yourself) nativity scene and came across this.

I immediately loved the idea. We already had paint, so we'd just need to get some people. I convinced Travis that we needed to do it for family night. Monday came around and we went to Hobby Lobby to get the supplies. We spent a total of $11 for our nativity scene. I even forgot to use a coupon. So cheap!

So then we began.

We lined our table with wrapping paper to keep it clean.

We started with painting the skin color.

Then added the hair.

Then the bodies.

Hailey helped by hanging out under the table biting our legs.

The Three Wisemen.

The Angel.

The Shepherds.

Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus.

The final product! I love it!

 The stable is made from a cardboard box covered in construction paper. Travis and I had so much fun making this. And it's even a good one for kids to play with. It'll be fun getting it out each year and telling our kids about when we made it. It was definitely a Christmas craft to remember.

Pizza Fiasco

The other day, Travis and I hadn't gone to the grocery store when dinner rolled around. We decided to pick up a pizza from Papa Murphy's. It's basically across the street from us. Travis always gets the kind I like (Hawaiian), so I decided to be a Good Samaritan and let him get what he wants. He wanted a pizza with pepperoni, sausage, bacon, green peppers, and olives. I am the best at picking things off a pizza, so I didn't care- except for the olives. I told him to do half without olives. I just HATE olives so much. So on to Papa Murphy's he goes.

When he got home, I stuck the pizza in the oven-not even looking at it. When the timer went off, I pulled out the pizza. Umm something wasn't right. Do you see it?

Half of the pizza had ONLY olives. Whaaaat happened? 

I asked Travis what happened and he immediately got furious with the pizza place, going on and on about how they need to get paid minimum wage cause they can't even make a pizza correctly (he was making reference to the McDonald's workers that are on strike for $15 an hour.). So I asked what he told them. These are his exact words:

"I need a pizza with pepperoni, sausage, bacon, green peppers, and olives. But ONLY OLIVES ON ONE HALF." hahaha He was still mad as he told me what he told them. I informed him that they made exactly what he said. It's crazy how they really did do what he said, but he also said it right. So we had a good laugh, I picked off most of what was on my side, and Travis ate an olive pizza. haha. Next time we go to the pizza place, we're drawing a picture.

These are a Few of my Favorite Things

1. Shower Caddy

I hated hated HATED everything we had scattered around our bathtub. As Hailey got older, she started grabbing at the shampoo, my razor, the soap, etc. A shower caddy became essential. And now that we have it, I can't imagine my life without it. It's just so beautiful!

 

2. Disney

Anything Disney. I can't help it. It's in my blood. My mom has the same disease, along with most of my mom's family. Disney just makes me so happy. Whenever I need my Disney fix, I head to the mall and walk through the Disney Store. Such a happy happy place. Eventually we'll get our family to Disneyland and I'll be in Heaven.

 

3. Family Pictures

 My mom took our family pictures back in September. I finally got around to hanging them up in our home a few weeks back. Everytime I look at the wall I don't just glance, I stare. I love it!

4. Baby Stroller

 A while ago, I found this stroller/walker for $3 on an online garage sale. Hailey has gotten so good at walking with it. Her face lights up when she sees it. I was watching the Cyber Monday deals on Amazon and I came across this stroller. It was on sale for $26! I can't believe the amazing deal I got on it. It makes me extra happy when I see Hailey loving it.

 

"Hi!"

 5. Baby Gates

Now that Hailey is into everything, one of my favorite things has to be baby gates. We only have one right now, but I move it from room to room depending on where we need it at the moment. Eventually I want to get a couple more to make my life easier. Hailey thinks the baby gates are another place to dance. haha. 

Thanksgiving

We were lucky enough to have Travis' sister and her family with us for Thanksgiving. They got here Monday and stayed with us all week. I loved seeing the three girls playing together. Hailey is hard for other babies to play with because she just wants whatever they have. When they pick it up, Hailey becomes interested in it. haha. But they were cute. I always love having cousins together. And it was nice seeing family that we don't get to see very often. 

 

 

Dancing to the soundtrack of Tangled

 

While they were here, we went to a local art place for kids called Kaleidoscope. It would be so fun for older kids. We'll have to take Hailey back someday.

Hailey did make her dad a picture though.

 

We also went to a park that overlooks Kansas City. It was cold, but so pretty. The boys played some disc golf.

(I stole this from Dave's instagram. Thanks Dave! I hope you don't mind. haha.)

Tana's husband, Dave, has family here in Kansas City. We were lucky enough to spend Thanksgiving Day with them. They were such nice people. And the food was amazing!

This is one of Tana and Dave's nieces. She's so beautiful!

She was so nice to share her stuffed animals with Hailey.

We had such a busy and great week. We have so much to be thankful for. Life is grand.