Sweet Baby

Hooray! I got a picture of Hallie smiling. She is 6 weeks, 2 days, and 3 hours old. She is so cute. She took a long nap while the kids were sleeping, and when she woke up she was so happy. Morgan was talking to her while I was cleaning, and Morgan said, "Mommy, Hallie is smiling at me" I grabbed my camera, and Morgan & I continued to talk to her to get her to smile. She is such a little sweetheart. I'm so glad we got these smiling pictures of her. Don't you just love her big cheeks! I think she has my mouth and cheeks from when I was a baby, and I think she has Brian's eyes & head. We love her so much!
This right here I think is a "Melissa Smile" (what do you think mom?) I should post a baby picture of me on here to compare. I love her so much, and I love being around her and holding her.

Ode to my shoes...

Well, a few years ago, in a scrapbook magazine, I saw a page dedicated to this girls shoes, and all the places they had taken her. I thought it was weird, and I asked my friend why anyone would ever do that, well, here I am a few years later, and YES I took a picture of my shoes, but these shoes actually have quite the history, so if you're interested, read on, if not, enjoy the pictures of my shoes :) Warning: this story may seem a little bizare, and I'm not sure what my dad will think of me if he reads it. :) ha ha ha
It all began in the spring of 2000 ( I think, it actually may have been sooner) I was working at Target, and in desperate need of a new pair of white sandals. My highschool graduation was coming up, and my amazing and talented mother had just made me a beautiful lavender spring dress to wear for the upcoming occasion ( later, as I look at pictures of my dress, I've noticed that it enhanced my bosom (sp?) thanks mom ) :)ha ha
Anyway, back to my story so I desperatly needed a beautiful pair of white sandals to walk me through the graduation ceremony. I wandered the shoe section of Target, and lo and behold there they were dazzling in front of me... I was in love (okay not really, but for the story) & they were perfect! I loved the straps, and I could just imagine how perfect they would look with the lavender dress hanging in my closet, so I bought them. Graduation came, and my shoes graciously walked me down the isle of graduation to recieve my fake diploma, and then they were with me for the duration of day... celebrating, laughing, and enjoy life as a highschool graduate, well life went on... I brought them out to college with me, & they walked all over UVSC with me. They walked to meetings, parties, firesides, everything... they were constant for me. Well, I continued to wear them for quite awhile, and they continued on with me to the time that I met Brian. They may possibly been the perfect shoes I wore on my perfect wedding day, actually nevermind, it was snowing, and I'm pretty sure I wasn't wearing sandals, so anyway back to my story... I did continue to wear them until that fateful day in February 13th of 2003... Brian and I were invited to attend my cousins wedding in Logan on the 14th, but were heading up a day early to spend more time with my family. We loaded up the car, and Brian took a couple of things outside for me to load up. He placed all my bags in our white jeep, and placed my beautiful shoes on TOP of the jeep, and we were off. Well we made if on the freeway, a little past the springville exit, and all of a sudden a man in the car next to us was motioning to us that something had fallen off of our jeep, at this same time, we realized it was my beloved shoes... oh dear!!! I told Brian not to worry about getting them because I didn't want his life to end by being hit, just for shoes, plus, I needed a new pair anyway, but being the sweet & romantic man that he is, he went after my shoes. I felt like Cinderella... he was my handsome prince & going after my lost slippers... he brought them back to the jeep, and there were nice tire marks on them (notice the picture) They weren't not the straps at all, so I continued to wear them. I have worn these beautiful shoes for the last 8 years, and at last it is time to send them on to the beautiful dumps of Utah county. So long sweet sandals, I shall miss you, but oh am I excited about the adventure I will have with my new white sandals.
My new white sandals.... I LOVE them!

Easter Pictures continued

Brian & Jackson... My handsome guys :)
Here is my dad and Morgan. They love their grandpa so much! I think my little girl might break some boys hearts when she's older... just look at the picture!
Jackson didn't want to let go of the basket. He is a big fan of Grandpa too.
Here are Morgan, Jackson, & Jayden with Brian's mom. We went over to Brian's parents to eat a delicious ham dinner. Yummy! Then the kids got to go on an easter egg hunt. They loved finding the eggs, but somehow we never found the remaining 4... I guess Grandma can find them throughout the year :) At Christmas time we found another egg from last easter. It always gives us something to laugh about. :)

Easter Sunday

We had a really nice Easter. We stopped at my parents house to say hi to everyone, and while we were there Hallie decided to explode in her cute little easter dress, so we decided to hurry and take pictures before we went to Brian's parents house. I love our little family!
My & my best friend. Brian is AMAZING! He is such a sweetheart, especially when I want to take pictures. He even helps me take the pictures, and I love how he takes them! I am so grateful for him. He helps me out so much with everything... the kids, the house, dishes, cleaning, making sure I eat breakfast, :) everything! I love him so much!
Our 3 cute kids. Hallie had a nice surprise starting to leak out of her back, so we told the kids not to touch her back. Morgan moved over as fast as she could because she was so disgusted. We told her and Jackson to just put their arms around her. They are such cute and funny little kids. Jackson would not let go of his easter basket, and wanted it in every picture. :)
Me and my girls... this is the best picture we got where Hallie isn't crying, I don't think she was very comfortable... :)

Dying Easter Eggs

I love weekends! My favorite days of the week are Friday, Saturday, & Sunday because we get to spend lots of time with Brian and our families. This weekend was perfect!!! We got the kids a swing set for spring so Brian set it up Friday night, and the kids played outside all day on Saturday. They were outside from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. so as you can see, the sun kissed them nicely on the nose and cheeks (oops I forgot sunscreen!) but they had a BLAST!!! Brian worked in the yard while they went back and forth between the swing set and the sandbox. They had so much fun, plus it was nice because I was able to get lots of things done plus relax by watching something other than curious george, and I wasn't interupted once... it was so nice! Brian loved playing with the kids, and it was hard for him to leave us all today because we had had such a nice weekend. Saturday after all our work and play was done, my parents, sisters, and brother came over to decorate easter eggs (a tradition I grew up with) I haven't spent Easter with my family for 8 years, so this was so nice this year. The kids loved dying Easter eggs for the first time... especially Jackson... he would put the egg in the blue dye stir it around, pull it out, roll it, and plop another egg in. After about his 3rd or 4th egg we told him to try another color, but he eventually went back to blue... funny kid.
Grandpa helped Morgan write her name on her egg, or should I say Grandpa wrote it and decorated it, and Morgan told him how to spell her name. Last night I realized that I need to start speaking better, & using proper English. I was telling Morgan a story, and asked her to tell me one. She went on to tell me how she was "gonna" tell me a story about how she was "gonna" go to the store and she was "gonna" "git" a treat. oh dear! :)
Cute kids showing off their Easter eggs
And our little family minus Hallie who was asleep the whole time.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Everyone!! I have to say that Easter is probably one of my least favorite holidays. I think that I just don't like the idea of a Bunny coming to my house, however, I am so grateful for my savior Jesus Christ. I am so grateful that I was able to go to church today, and listen to speakers, as they testified of their feelings of Jesus Christ, and how grateful they are for him. I am grateful for Spring time, and for how all of the trees, flowers, plants, etc come alive again with beautiful blossoms. I am so grateful for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, & for his atonement. I am grateful for the fact that because of our Savior, I too can one day be resurrected and live forever. I am so grateful for this Easter spring day, and for the time that I am able to spend with my little family. I love them so much, & I am so grateful for the blessing of having them in my life. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter!

Hallie's Birth Announcement

Well, I FINALLY found some time while the kids are sleeping to work on Hallie's birth announcement. I was trying to decide if I wanted to even do one since I have posted all of her pictures on the blog, but I figured it wouldn't be fair if she didn't have one, and the other kids do, so here it is. I love the pictures of her, and I love my digital scrapbook program... it is so fun to work with, now I just need to decide if I want to print these or not, sorry I guess this is kind of an announcement for all of you so I won't be mailing one... how tacky is that, but I figure with the cost of stamps on the rise, and trying to find all the right addresses, I figured it would be better to just post it on here, so I hope you enjoy!

Our little cuties patooties :)

Well, I know that I just posted some (actually tons) of pictures from St. George, but I had to post these pictures of the kids in their new pajamas. All 3 kids are asleep right now... lucky for me so instead of doing laundry, dishes, & primary stuff, which I really should be doing, I'm taking time to keep myself caught up with pictures (eventually I will make them into a book). So anyway, Brian helped me take these pictures yesterday morning before he went to work. I LOVE pajamas!!!! Especially matching ones. Brian jokes that I love them so much because I wish I could wear them, which I have to admit is somewhat true. Wouldn't that be cute if Brian had blue ones like Jackson and I had matching pink ones. ha ha ha just kidding. :) I don't know if Brian would ever go for that, but I promise I won't make him either. :) We saw these cute pajamas in St. George at the Children's Place outlet store, and they had all 3 sizes... hooray! Too bad they didn't have a size 28 for Brian & I size 26 for me... darn it! :) But the kids look so darling in them!
My 3 little sweethearts. I love them so much. They make me smile & laugh everyday.
I love the little smile on Hallies face. All 3 of them look so happy, and I love it!

What a cheesy little kid... I wish my lighting was a little better so you could see his eyes better, but I love the smile & personality more than anything

Photos of Jackson & Morgan

I LOVE this little kid! He is so funny. He's starting to grow up, and I don't really like it very much. I want him to be my little baby forever, okay maybe not forever, but you know what I mean. Ever since Hallie was born he is just growing into this little boy, & he wants so much independence, but yet at the same time he loves being with Brian & I & is a great brother to his sisters.
I love this picture because it makes me just want to pick him up and cuddle with him, and of course give him a million kisses. :)
Our little princess "Beauty" or "Angel Cake" as she likes to be called. She is such a good big sister, and takes such good care of Hallie. Sometimes she acts so mature and I forget that she is only a month away from being 4, then the tantrum hits when she doesn't get her way, and I remember she isn't the same age as me. :) She is so much fun, and the more I watch her, the more I see myself... sweet, loving, funny, weird - you know what I mean???? ha ha ha :) I love her so much, and I'm so grateful she is my first.

Photo Shoot of Hallie

Hallie was the easiest one to take pictures of. She was so sweet & did great. Thanks to kiddie kandids for teaching me the "correct poses" ha ha for babies and kids.

I LOVE this picture! I love her arm up... I have no idea what she is doing-streching maybe, or she's just excited & happy. Don't ya love the rolls, chubby cheeks, and big belly, & of course the double chin???!! What a cutie! She is so much fun! I love the little half smile too!

Sunny St. George

This blog, and the following are about our trip. I'm writing a lot so I can remember all that we did, & eventually make it into a journal book, so if you are interested in reading, enjoy, if not I hope you at least enjoy the pictures. :)
On Wednesday we left for St. George (about 3 hours south) for the rest of the week. Brian & I were tired of the cold weather here and decided to take a much needed quick vacation to Sunny St. George. It was wonderful! We swam, shopped, ate yummy food that I didn't have to cook, and had a blast. It's a little bit harder with 3 kids, but we still had so much fun. We ate at Ruby Tuesday one of our favorite restaurants, played, & swam as much as possible. The kids had so much fun swimming. One day an older man was sitting by the pool and Jackson kept yelling to him "Hey grandpa!" after saying this to him at least 4 times with the man not responding, Jackson asked me "What is that big boy over there?" I tried to keep him as quiet as I could, but had to laugh anyway. :) Jackson loved the pool. He loved jumping to brian, and he looked so cute kicking his little legs.






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This is one tired little boy! At about 5:00, shopping, swimming, eating, & playing, and no nap. Plus, he didn't fall alseep until midnight the night before. Poor guy was so tired. :)










And now the kid is awake. :)







ooooppps I think the swimming suit is on backwards. Wouldn't that be a fun & interesting style though. :) ha ha ha

Swimming

The kids loved swimming in the pool. It was so nice & relaxing, and we went in the middle of the week, so we pretty much had the pool to ourselves. We got the kids little floaties and they loved being in the water.
I love the attire. :)
Our cute little bug!