I Love My Sister!

Yah, so I am a total slacker. My sister took our family pictures over a month ago, and I am just getting around to posting them. She is an amazing photographer (go HERE to see more of her work), and I was so excited to get the pictures, but then I think we all got sick and busy and overwhelmed. I am just now developing and posting them.
Here's the MAN around our house. I love that he passed those dimples on to all of our children!What can I say, I am gorgeous! He he he . . . At least, my sister's ability to photoshop me makes me gorgeous!
This picture makes me think of that phrase, "All because two people fell in love." People put it in their scrapbooks and on their walls for home decor. It always makes me think about how significant two people falling in love really is. I mean, seriously, Wes and I fell in love just over ten years ago, and KA-BOOM, now we have a home and four children to teach and love. It's crazy!Bradley was kind of being a little stinker so we only got him to take pictures in one pose. Why the curl? He wants to look like Superman. I thought about not letting him do it, but I figure, you know what, I want to remember this phase of his life. So, no knocking his handsome "Superman Curl!"
This kid has the most tender heart and loving personality. I am so proud of his amazing attitude and his overwhelming desire to please everyone.I love this little girl! Her birthday was today so hopefully I'll be doing another post about her, but she is such a wonderful little girl. She is always trying to help me, and she absolutely LOVES her daddy. It's so special.And here is our gorgeous baby boy, who isn't so much a baby anymore! I seriously cannot get enough of those eyes. I know I say that every time I post a picture of him, but it is so true!It's so nice to have a picture with the whole family in it. Of course, Bradley was arguing with me and saying we didn't have the whole family because we didn't take any with Sydney that day. So, here she is:Cristi came over to our house a few days later to take this. I couldn't believe we got her to stay long enough to get some good ones!
Here's one more of my charming, handsome, caring and amazing husband! Isn't he a hottie?!?!?Thanks again Cristi! I LOVE YOU!!!

A Mother's Worst Nightmare Come True . . .

Almost every little girl does this at some point in her life:I just never thought it would happen to Halley!! I have always been so paranoid about her cutting her hair!
While I was showering and getting ready for church this morning, Wes was cutting the boys' hair downstairs because they were looking pretty scruffy. Well, Halley found the clipper set and the scissors inside. And, of course, she cut her beautiful hair!!! She has needed a trim for some time, but I wasn't thinking quite that short!
We were all pretty devastated. Wes and Halley shed a few tears. :)Her hair was so long and beautiful, even if she did have a few split ends!I told Halley I was taking pictures so she could remember not to do it again. She was really upset at first, but we finally got her to smile.
Needless to say, we didn't go to church, not because we are prideful or anything, but because we had seriously been contemplating not going anyway because Dallin has a fever. Instead, I made a quick trip to Fantastic Sam's to see if they could do anything for us!
The employees working there didn't speak English very well - my lucky day, huh? They did understand what had happened though, and the lady tried her best to salvage Halley's long hair. She basically just cut some bangs and tapered her hair in the front around her face. I don't think there was really any way she could have given her a cute haircut, but it'll work for now.

Doesn't that face just say, "I'm so sorry Mom!"

The entire time we were at there she was scowling at all of us - me, the lady cutting her hair, the owner. Halley was not very happy. Then, of course, they offered her a sucker, and she cheered right up.
By the time we got home she was totally willing to do some "princess poses" for me to show off her new "do."It actually doesn't look too bad in these pictures, but that's because I pulled it back a little. Her bangs will look awful for awhile, but the side doesn't look that great right now either!I really love her long hair, and I am glad they just trimmed the back, but I have a feeling as those bangs and that horrible part on the side grow out, we'll probably be getting her a shorter "do."At least she is still dang cute! When it first happened I was a little traumatized, but I kept reminding myself how fast her hair grows and that it'll be grown out in no time. The This is a picture of her when she was one:
She had pretty much no hair two years ago, so I am sure if we do have to go with something shorter in the next few weeks, it won't take too long for it to grow back out!

Crazy Boys

I was taking some random pictures of the boys the other day.Bradley and Dallin looked so cute in their red outfits, but it was impossible to get Dallin to look at me and have Bradley smile at the same time!
Connor was also not feeling up to getting his picture taken.So he made a silly face!It's kind of funny that the older boys were being stinkers about it! Ha ha ha . . . They were watching something on TV. That's why they were annoyed with me, and that's why they were looking sideways at the camera. :)Look at those chubby cheeks!!

Get Me Out of the House!

The boys went off track in the middle of January. Between the cold, trying to get Dallin on a schedule and making sure Halley really was potty trained, we were kind of stuck at home for a lot of the time. All of us were starting to get cabin fever. Oh, and Wes had started his new job so he was pretty much gone 90% of the day. :)

Anyway, so we were having one of "those days," and I decided, "Forget the cold! We are getting out of this house to get some exercise and sunshine!"

I bundled everyone up and we went outside only to find our stroller had a flat tire. I didn't even consider going back in. I pushed that stroller all the way around the block with that "thwump, thwump" sound going the whole time!

I LOVE THESE BOYS!!

The kids loved it, and Dallin took a much needed nap so all around - it was a great idea!

Halley was up in front running the whole time! She was so excited to be outside!

There are those precious eyes again!

Halley's Ramblings

Here are a few pictures of Halley that we've taken over the last couple months. I have been writing down cute things that she's said for MONTHS, and now I will finally post some of her cuteness! Keep in mind, I haven't blogged forever so some of these are things she said A LOOOONG time ago.

• She has just recently figured out that all the disney princesses and fairies are not called "Jingle Bells." I think she started calling them that because she got all confused between Tinkerbell, Belle from Beauty and the Beast and the fact that on some of her books their dresses look like bells. She also hadn't really been interested in the whole princess thing until around Christmas, and we were singing that song all the time! She used to always say, "Can you read me my 'Jingle Bells' book?" meaning any book about princesses.
  (Bradley took this picture. Pretty good except for the background!)
• For awhile, every time the garbage truck would drive by, she would run to the window and say, "LOOK! The garbage chute!"
• Last fall, every time there was a thunder storm, she'd say, "I hear 'Lightning McQueen!'" She was referring to the lightning which I tried to explain she could only see, not hear, but it took awhile to get that to sink in.
• Every time we get to the end of a book she says, "Amen." I guess that's because "the end" and "amen" sound so similar, and they both happen at the end of things.
• During the summer, the ice cream truck would drive by every night right around bedtime. Nice, huh? Well, Halley would get all excited and say, "I hear the ice cream cone!"
• She used to say, "My scaried," every time anything frightening would happen to her. She also always asked us if we were "scaried" about things.
• We were walking out to the van the other day, and she says, "Ewww . . I smell a rac-ca-ca-coon." I said, "You mean, a skunk?" She says, "Yah, a stunk."
• She calls cupcakes, "cuppy cakes."
• About six months ago we were working with Halley on her name and age. Every time we asked her either question she would get confused between the two. Then, every once in awhile, she would randomly mumble something we couldn't understand. We finally realized that she was saying our address!!! We had been working on teaching it to the boys, but I think she learned it first. Our address is not an easy one to say either! She still knows it perfectly too. And now she says, "My two," when we ask her how old she is. She is one smart cookie.
• Speaking of birthdays, she thinks we have to sing "Happy Birthday" for every holiday. If there are any kind of gifts or treats involved, it must be a birthday, right?

I love this little girl's smile, and I am going to try to be much better about keeping things more up to date on here. I cannot believe how time has flown the past year or so!!

P.S. Halley is potty trained now! Gloria!

Dallin's Moods

I'm sorry, but this post is just going to be a bunch of adorable pictures of Dallin. He was playing so cute in his little toy, and I just started taking pictures thinking I'd erase some! I couldn't eliminate any of them! He is so cute in all of them, and his personality is just shining out through those eyes! Enjoy!

I LOVE that all our kids inherited dimples from Wes. They are so adorable!

This is him getting all excited and waving his arms all over - probably because he is getting some one-on-one attention. He definitely doesn't get that often enough with all the other kids around!

This is his, "What areyou doing Mom?" face.

See that cute, crooked smile??

"Ummmm . . .what am I supposed to be doing?"

"Oh, she wants me to do this!"

"Ok, I'm finished now."

P.S. I got a new camera for my birthday! I am loving it!

Another Surgery

So apparently, our kids have bad ears. Bradley and Halley have both had tubes in, and we had to go in and get them in Dallin's ears last week. He had an ear infection that they treated with all sorts of antibiotics and even the antibiotic shots, and it wouldn't go away.
He was a little trooper. They scheduled the surgery pretty late, and then the doctor got there late so it had been over 5 hours since he had eaten before they finally took him back.
He was a little angel the whole time we were waiting. Every person who saw him at the hospital commented on his big eyes. He has these gorgeous blue, big, wide eyes, and it seems like he is always soaking the world up through those baby blues! He is so adorable.
Even after he woke up he only cried for a couple minutes. With Halley and Bradley that was the hardest part. Dallin just snuggled with me and nursed and calmed right down. We left the hospital within a half hour after he was all the way awake.
Hopefully this will help him feel better. The doctor said if he were older we would have noticed significant hearing loss. I am so glad we got this done now. I think the surgery was easier at this age, and hopefully he won't have to deal with any ear problems ever again!

These are pictures from my phone, but hey, he's cute in any picture! I love that little boy!