2 best friends + 1 hayride+ 3 GIANT pumpkins= a perfect fall day!

mary, nelson and i went on a fun outing to the pumpkin patch with my friend heidi's preschool class. it was fabulous! it cost $3 a person and you got to pick ANY size pumpkin you wanted! so naturally nelson picked one that seriously weighed 50 pounds. i'm serious...i had to carry it back to the hayride! i think it was over half as tall as he was! makes me want to eat donuts and drink cider.

thanks for the invite heidi!

bear year

this year is bear year in preschool. and the kids who have birthday's in the summer get to have an "un"-birthday during the year. mary had hers the other day and look what she got! i love it!

the WiLd WeSt

i love this picture. it shows their personalities and the imaginations perfectly.

Four

1. independent and incredibly funny

2. lives in her own little fairy world (waltz's around singing and dancing to herself all the time.)

3. full of surprises--you think you know what she will want or do and she NEVER ceases to surprise us

4. full of love

a BIG day.

the 24th of august was a big day in the Hayes household::

first:: Mary turned 4!!!

we had a great time celebrating at Chuck E. Cheese. we had never been there and we a such a great time! plus we totally scored on tokens. they brought us 40 free tokens because our pizza took so long! and mary got a leapster!

so i don't have cake-making skills. it is the truth. mary wanted a crown cake and it seemed simple enough--but it didn't turn out quite the way i wanted it to. oh well. she loved it!

second:: will had his first day of kindergarten!! doesn't he look so old? what a cutie.

the bif

while we were in island park this summer jesse got a "bruised" rib. i personally think he cracked it considering how immobile he has been and how painful it was to even breathe.

anyway...this is what did it...showin' his stuff on the wake board. unfortunately, he didn't quite land his flip the way he wanted. he hit the water HARD. so hard it cracked a rib. thankfully, someone got a great shot of it!!!

boys...

island park.

throwing rocks by the dock.

must be a boy thing.

will and nelson...same spot...4 years apart.

when the fair came into town we HAD to go to the motorcross!!

so here is the gang...sorry about the grainy pics...our camera isn't the best...

the wind was whippin' so they postpone the show for about 45 minutes and you can imagine how excited the kids were about that...but eventually it stopped and we had a great show!

two opposites...albino mary with her cousin jessie...i love the contrast!

oh how i love him.

we tried to get some pics...

i was seriously SWEATING during all their jumps. i could hardly watch! i was so afraid they wouldn't make their landing.

will was in total and complete awe! he love it.

one of my favorite things...nelson's kisses...

a little tired?

we have a been a bit under the weather of late and so this is how it has been at our house...i think this was his second nap of the day and it was only lunch time...

Guess who!

we love photo booth.

mary

mary surprises me daily...for real. i always think that i can predict what she will do or say but i am always totally off! she cracks us up. one of my favorite words that she uses is "gnarly".

when opening a banana she will ask "mom, is that gnarly?" or she will refer to a mud puddle as "gnarly".

anyway, as i was cleaning up dinner i was telling the kiddos to go upstairs and get in the shower but i was calling them "citizens" (probably because i am watching a great 3-disc series on the Scarlett Pimpernel-highly recommend it). so the conversation went something like this:

mom: "alright citizens...go upstairs and get in the shower"

will: "who says that?" (referring to the strange usage of citizens)

mary (without skipping a beat and quite matter-of-factly) replies: Master Shifu

i couldn't help but laugh. she was so serious. and he probably does say that...

hahaha

hahaha...i seriously can't help but laugh when i see how long it has been since i last blogged!! 3 months!!! seriously, all you out there who feel like you aren't the best at blogging...well, i am here to make you feel better! haha

after reading some of my friends blogs and loving it i sadly said to jesse "i wish i was better at blogging..."to which he replied "so start". so much sympathy. he kindly reminded me that i can just start off with today...no need to "recap" and feel overwhelmed. so here it is. i have started "again". so, while the 3 kids are upstairs in the boys' room recklessly throwing bouncy balls from wall to wall i sit down and blog.

we have had a wild and crazy summer to which my repy is "is it really august?" time does fly. what have we done this summer? well we started off with a week in st. george, a fantastic weekend with my girl friends in san diego, some girls camp, the wasatch back, swimming lessons, sisters and cousins in town the whole month of july, swimming, a family run in which Will won first place for the kids!, a few nights out to the theater, family reunion celebrating mom/dad's 50th, some time up in island park where jesse "bruised" his rib after flipping on a wake board (i am pretty sure he cracked it but he won't let me say that), a nephew returning from and mission and his report, the oquirrh mountain temple open house, and 4 days running being sicker that i have been for a LONG time. whew. i just couldn't help recap a little. it has been a whirlwind of a summer...maybe that is why i didn't blog! we have hardly been around it seems. i think we just went from one thing to the next with time in between to do some laundry!

Card Class

now that my sister jeni is back from germany and visiting for a couple of weeks i had to get her to do a card class while she was in town!! so it happened. i had some friends come over and play! we made two cards, covered a quaint notebook, and made a little pillow box. it was so fun! she had all her cards that she has made recently laid out and they were incredible. jen is seriously talented in this area! she loves all things paper and knows how to do some serious creating! thank you jeni!! it was so fun to have you at my house. i love you! so glad you are back from germany!

here are the things we made!

you can check out jen's blog for awesome ideas on cards, etc. she has had a card of hers published in a well known card magazine and has won little card competitions with her stuff! she always has fun ideas.

www.allenjeni.blogspot.com

check her out!

13.1= 1/2 Marathon

it is done!!!! i am so excited to actually say that it is done! my friend Heidi and I ran the SLC 1/2 marathon on saturday and lived to say that we finished it! we had a goal to be under 2 hours and we totally conquered it! i seriously can't believe we did it. but it was such a great time...really. the course was awesome, the weather was perfect, and the side lines full of cheering families was very motivating.

i seriously couldn't believe how many people were there! it was literally a sea of people. and it made it so much fun. i would indeed run it again. thanks to Heidi for making me sign up!! :) she's the best!

i will post some pics as soon as i get them on my computer....

the kids...happily waiting for mom while eating pop tarts...

DONE!

we rode trax and the front runner back home. the kids loved it but i was a "little" tired. can you tell?

Ponytail

this is momumental...we got it all in a single ponytail!!!

and i think it looks so dang cute!

oh, and notice the sleeves. this is a little funny thing about mary. she HATES long sleeve shirts. but she LOVES 3/4 length shirts. so i have to be sneaky and tell her that it is a 3/4 length and do some folding up/pushing up, etc. like this pic below. don't you love her chubby arms?!!! i do.

Peeps

i really don't like them. let's be honest.  BUT i did use some this Easter season because i was making these

 for my lovely ladies i visit teach!  so very cute even if peeps are gnarly.  it makes a sort of s'more-ish treat. so i went to 4 different stores and Peeps were sold out!!!  what?!  who likes Peeps?!  well, except for my dad. i have never been on such a quest for Peeps.  and hope to never be on such a quest again.  but at least they turned out cute!

can't get enough of him

yes, that is his hair.

we call this "dandelion head"

don't you just want to blow it? 

this is what happens from jumping on the tramp!

this is his "squishy" face

Nelson in his "everyday" moods.

ya gotta love him.

happy new year

what?! a post?!  

i know.  i am going to break my streak of being a non-blogger.  i know it is hard to believe.  i mean i haven't posted since december so i thought that since this is the first post of the year i would wish you all a Happy New Year.

no really.  i am really going to try and blog at least once a month! hahaha.

i am going to do some catch up and post of the fun things we have done this year.

wish me luck.

lunch

this had to be blogged. nelson made his own lunch today. it consisted of a tuna sandwich with peanut butter spread on it. and he ate the whole thing!

Happy Valentine's Day

what is valentine's day without homemade heart-shaped sugar cookies with homemade pink frosting?! i seriously could say that homemade sugar cookies (heart-shaped :0) ) are in my top 3 favorite desserts/treats.
will decided he wanted a tree instead of a heart...