Backtrack to Thanksgiving

2 posts in one week!  Its like its 2009 again! 
Anyway, I took a ton of pics on our little excursion down to NM to visit Nicole and Devin and their cute little family!
Alamagordo would be a pretty awesome place, if it weren't in New Mexico.  Other than that, I really, really, really had a great time with some of my favorite people!  We ate so much good food.  Nicole has to be the best cook on planet earth, and she loves new recipes, so its always fun in the kitchen with her.  We went to White Sands, which are these cool dunes of (you guessed it!) white sand!  I dragged Nicole out running in the desert with me, we did yoga and weights, went four wheeling and ate more food. ;) 
Here are the pictures to prove it!

December is here again!

No pictures today, just some thoughts.
The last week has been cold.  Really, really cold.  We had a lovely storm hit, and it brought snow and sub-zero temperatures!  Our highs for the past week have hovered around 0 and the lows about -10.  Brrr!
School was cancelled, Ft. Carson shut down, and we just hung out at home.  Snow and ice isn't bad when you never have to go out in it!!!
We put up our decorations and had a visit from "Ziggy" the 'elf on the shelf'.  He hangs out somewhere new each day and watches the kids and reports back to Santa each night.  The kids love it!  Ziggy has been spotted on the top of our tree, in the baking cupboard hoarding the chocolate chips, up on high shelves and last night he got into the pizza and drank a whole coke!

Our weeks ahead are filled with fun!  Peter has a piano recital Friday. (along with the rest of my studio) Brooke has a dance recital Saturday, and Bryan and I are throwing a couple parties next week.  I am excited for my parents and siblings to come visit!  Hopefully we get some skiing in!  (That is the plan for our anniversary too.  Can you believe Bryan and I will be married 9 years next week?!)

In all the craziness that comes with December, I cannot forget the most important thing- the birth of our Savior.  I am so humbled and thankful that Jesus Christ came to earth for me and you.  I love celebrating the season and remembering the story of the Christ child's birth.  The real reason for the season is Him.  I hope that I can find ways to serve others and be a positive influence in someone's life.  I hope I can teach my children the real meaning of Christmas.  It is about love, and service, and hope, and joy!
I hope that you all find Christ in this season and know that He loves you.  There is hope and a purpose to life and it is through Him that we can find it.
Merry Christmas Family and Friends!

Snow!!!!

So it snowed here last week!  I was so excited...but the kids were beyond ecstatic!  They bundled up, boots, jackets, hats,  (after some firm promting) gloves and went out to play.  They are mostly of Brooke.  Peter was being a goof and hiding behind the bushes the whole time, and Heath wouldn't look at me because he was too pre-occupied with the snow! (Also, for my anti-facebook family members, here is the link to the Engagement session I did last week!)

The Sluggish Blogger...

I am so sorry I have really dropped the ball lately with this blog!  I have every intention of blogging...but my computer only works in the basement near the router, and I am never down there because I am chasing kids upstairs!  At night, when I should just break down and do it, I am so exhausted from my day that I am a total vegetable on the couch...and going downstairs in my cold dark basement is not on my list!

So, what is new with the Hays family?  It seems like we need some sort of catch up, because it has been over a month since I blogged!

Bryan has applied for the Endodontics program through the military and has his interview tomorrow.  Tomorrow also happens to be his birthday!!! Happy Birthday my love!  I think he is slowly adjusting to the working life, and misses the life of a student... But the Army has its perks!  He gets every other Friday off, and all federal holidays too, so lately we have had some 3 day work weeks, which means we get to play!

And we have been playing!  We got a mega deal on a multi mountain season ski pass, so we are pretty much ski bums on the weekends.  We even took the kids last week.  They were adorable in their little skis.  Of course, Brooke didn't want me to hold on to her, she just wanted to zoom straight down the mountain.  Peter on the other hand, didn't want me to let go of him.  He was such a chicken.  (go figure...)

Halloween:  We were the cheapest parents every and spent all of 0.00 on their costumes.  To be fair, the kids picked them. Peter was superman, Brooke was 'a dancer' (and wouldn't let me take a single picture!), and Heath was a monkey...and I guess he didn't really get to pick.  It was Peter's old costume.

We have discovered that Peter may be the world's worst soccer player.  We even 'let' him quit halfway through the season.  I was so happy with this because it was so cold during games and all Pete was doing was following the heard of kids with his arms half pulled in his sleeves and flapping his arms like a chicken.  He never once made contact with the ball.  Not once.
  He has moved on to Wrestling and had his first ever tournament this weekend.  Bryan predicted he would get pinned in less than 20 seconds.  I am happy to say he was wrong.  Peter wasn't as bad as we thought he would be!  He is however, the only person I have ever seen wrestling with a big happy grin on his face.  He didn't win any of his matches, but he scored some points and got a metal at the end.  He thinks he got it for being the world's best wrestler.  Just ask him.

Brooke is challenging me on everything.  Just like always.  She does have her cute moments though.  She loves dancing, which is good because I am teaching 3 classes a week out of our home.  She takes all of them.  I just love watching her progress.  She got lucky and has Bryan's feet too.  And great turnout.  I am not sure if she is really my kid...
She is a really good big sister now.  (Most of the time)  I came in to Heath's room last week to find more books in his crib than I even knew we owned.  Brooke decided to help him pass the time by putting about 60 books in his bed for him to read!

Heath is finally talking.  He went from nothing but grunts to complete sentences.  "I want out"  and "Where did it go?" are some of his favorite lines.  He is LOVING Thomas the Tank Engine.  We build train tracks daily and go 'choo' 'choo' all over the house.  He also loves milk, cheese and yogurt.  And I have this feeling he is lactose intolerant.  I switched to a lactose free dairy products (gross!)...wish us luck!

This is typical of Brooke's attire these days:  Leotard, with underwear, and NOTHING else. It is a miracle her hair is in a pony tail.  Most of the time she insists that it is down and in her face.  You would never know it is November by the way this chick dresses.

 

I am super busy, but loving it most of the time.  I love teaching Piano.  And dance.  My 2-3 year old dance class gives me more stress than I care to admit and some days I want to end the class...
I am still jogging with my trust-ee stroller and kids.  My stroller has reached the end of its life and I need to break down and find a new one.  The front wheel broke off a couple weeks ago and ejected Peter from the front of the stoller (no joke!)  Bryan re-attached it, but now it pulls so terribly to the right I think my biceps will show proof in a week or two!
I finally got around to re-doing my kitchen table, and some projects around the house.
I also had 4 photoshoots in October, and a couple more this month.  So ya, I have been a sluggish blogger, but I promise I haven't been sluggish anywhere else in life!

 I found all these frames/mirrors at a thrift store and finally got around to painting them.  I love the way they turned out! 

*Sigh*

October Pictures

Pictures!

I took quite a few pictures last month and didn't get them posted.  Here are a few.  Most of them are of Haley and Mom and I in Telluride.  Enjoy!  I also did a couple photo shoots this month.  I got one of them posted up on my photography blog.  Click Here to see some of them!