Our Happily Ever After....

Let the summer fun begin!

2011-08-14T23:35:00.001-07:00

It seems like every year summer comes earlier and earlier. May was an extremely warm month for us- which was wonderful! We spent many days at the pool....

Played indoors when it was too hot to be outside...

Went on several hikes...

Did alot of yard work...

Went on many family walks....

Bought a new pool for the backyard....but played with it indoors first!

Saw a lot of this.... (LOL)

And this!

We are so excited for summer to be here! Let the FUN BEGIN!!!

Happy Birthday Mom!

2011-08-14T23:18:00.000-07:00

On May 5th, we celebrated my Mom's birthday! We had a family birthday party at our house which was alot of fun!

Hailee helped me decorate the house and the cake... And we made the table look pretty for Mom/Grandma!

The Grandkids LOVED helping Grandma open up her presents!

And blow out her candles!

Grandpa and Jake

Kipper being his silly self!

Happy Birthday to an amazing Mother, incredible Grandma and a women who is the most giving, caring and loving person ever! We love you Mom/Grandma!

The big "O-N-E"

2011-08-14T22:31:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful weekend we had of April 23rd! We went down to Mission Bay/Beach for the weekend. It just happened to be Jake's 1 year birthday and also Easter! Rick came into town and my parents had rented a beach condo right on the beach which was so much fun!

We started the weekend off by celebrating Jake's 1st birthday! I can not believe how fast his first year of life had flown by. Happy Birthday Jake! We all love you so very much! We brought all of his presents down with us, and he LOVED opening all of them!

Our little monster!
This was also an extra special milestone day for Jake. Before this day, he would take a few steps here and there and cruise along the furniture. But on his birthday, he decided he was done with crawling and started to walk....all of the time! We were so excited and proud of him! Hailee was especially excited, now she had someone who she could really chase around!
After opening Jake's presents, we walked over to Mission Beach. (Our condo was on Mission Bay) The weather was absolutely PERFECT for flying kites! You would have thought that we were on some kind of roller coaster, or at a comedy club for how much we were LAUGHING as we flew these kites! I wish I would have gotten a picture, but there were hundreds of birds in large groups flying by really low and we kept trying to hit them. My Dad was the lucky one and nailed one of the birds!

After flying kites for a few hours, we went back to the condo and were very surprised that the EASTER bunny had found us and hid Easter Eggs!!! Hailee has really started understanding the fun when it comes to holidays and the Easter Bunny and Santa Clause. She was so excited to start finding the eggs! She was a little disappointed when she dropped an egg and only one Hershey kiss had fallen out. I guess the Easter Bunny needs to work on packing the eggs full next year!
Jake didn't really understand what was going on, but once he realized there was candy in the eggs, he took off finding as many as he could!

That night we celebrated with cake and ice cream!

Jake wasn't one to dig right in, so Hailee showed him how its done....first she let him taste the frosting, and then she helped him put his hands into it.
And once he realized what it was, he dug right in! A few things about Jake and 1 years old:

* He now walks all of the time

* Loves to eat

*Great sleeper!

* Weighs 22 lbs

* Loves to play with balls

* Says mama, baba, dada and a few more (But I cant think of them right now! Ahh!)

* LOVES the water! He loves to play in the bath, pool, sinks, and anything that has water in it

* Loves the sand at the beach

* Loves to play with his sister

Once the kids were in bed, us adults had game time! We laughed so hard that night! Rick's friend Jalissa came down and hung out for the night too!

The next day, Gregg and I and the kids stayed at the beach for most of the day. The kids were loving the sand and sun!
We had a picnic lunch and then fed the seagulls rest of our food.

We played at the park and just enjoyed being on vacation! We had such a wonderful weekend and were so happy that our family was able to share Jake's special day with us!

Weekend Getaway

2011-04-17T22:41:00.000-07:00

My Mom and I were talking about this hike out in Julian. Neither of us had done it, but it sounded like so much fun! It was late at night, and we were just throwing an idea around, a little jokingly, but also somewhat serious, how fun it would be to just pick up and head out to Julian to go hiking! Well, Friday morning my Mom called and asked me how serious I really was about going. I told her I was absolute serious! She said, "Good! 'Cuz at about 1am I booked a house for the entire weekend up there!"

I was so excited! I called Gregg and told him I would be gone all weekend. (He had to work.) I packed up the car and loaded up the kids, at at about 10pm (I know...LATE start....but Friday was a crazy busy day for the both of us!) I met up with my parents and then we made the 1.5 hour drive to Julian.

My Mom had found an awesome 3200 sq. ft. home for the weekend! However, when we pulled up, just before midnight, it middle of now where, I was completely freaking out! I made my Dad search the entire house before I would go in!

The next morning, we took off to go hiking! We didn't get as far as we wanted to, but we did the best we could hiking with a 3 year old and an 11 month old. All in all, it was still fun! Kip, Sarah and Brooke met up with us at the house that night and stayed the rest of the weekend with us!

We all had such a great time, and it was a very much needed vacation! This house was amazing for kids! It was stocked with toys inside and out!

Jake thought it was so hilarious when I would put a block on his head. He would become very serious and not move for the longest time!

Brooke and Hailee enjoyed dancing the morning away! In the "Kids" bedroom, they had this chalk tree on the wall! It seriously felt like a pottery barn room!

Early morning! Kids snuggling with Grandma and Sarah

We were able to watch some of conference while we were there. It amazes me that when ever the choir would sing, it didn't matter what Hailee was doing, she would run to sit in her chair to listen to them. She is so fascinated by music. I cant wait to get her into singing and piano.

Sunday morning breakfast

Grandpa and Jake snuggling during conference

This house, or in Hailee's words, " 'Cation home" had a dream back yard! It had a zip zip (aka zip line), tire swing, 2 tree swings, horse shoes, quads for the kids, so much room to run around!

Hailee LOVED the zip zip! And Echo loved chasing her!

Little Brooke is so brave!

And so is Hailee! These girls impressed me that they were totally willing to try it and LOVED it! We spent alot of time out back!

This is the "pottery barn" room! Isn't it just so cute!?! You could seriously fit SO MANY PEOPLE in this house! I can't wait to go back again!

Family room

This was the upstairs master suite. One door led to the bed and the other to the bath.

This picture cracks me up. So, when I was packing, I asked my Mom if they had a crib there or if I should bring a pack-n-play. She told me she was pretty positive they had one. I jumped online and looked at the house pictures and noticed there was a crib. But, I did not know how LITTLE it was! It seriously looked like an orphanage crib! Stretched out, Jake was almost the entire length of it! He was definitely not a fan of it either!

On Sunday, my Mom and I took the kids into town to do some shopping and sigh seeing. We first stopped at the old town jail.

Grandma had to tie the horse, I meant Echo, up!

Shopping in Julian

We had such a wonderful weekend and am so thankful for amazing parents who are able to take us on trips like these. We love them so much and are so thankful for the relationships we have with them.

I had to snap some pictures while driving back home. It was so beautiful! Reminded me so much of Wyoming!

On the way home, Hailee had to use the bathroom. We were in middle of no where, and then this little restaurant pops up. I pulled in and noticed a huge sign saying that you must buy food to use their bathroom. So, that's what we did. We ordered chips and salsa so she could use the potty! They had these cute wood frame horses, and the kids loved playing on them! Jake is our natural cowboy!

And Hailee is our cowgirl!

We are so glad we were able to get away for the weekend!

A Hardy Update

2011-04-13T17:25:00.001-07:00

This morning our alarm clock went off at 4:45am. Did I really only get 4 1/2 hours of sleep and now I am up for the day? I threw my clothes on, put on a minimal amount of makeup (come on...I know it's early...but I'm not going out of the house feeling naked lol) and brushed my teeth. We loaded up the car and then Gregg went upstairs to get Hailee and carried her out to the car, pj's and all. We were hoping she would fall back asleep in the car, but she didn't. I think she was pretty confused to what was going on.

We arrived at CHOC Hospital a few minutes before 6am, valet parked our car, and walked across the street to the outpatient center. As we were walking, I was looking up at all of the hospital windows wondering who else was awake, how many kids are there, and then I was thinking of those who will never be leaving. I looked at Hailee and truly felt blessed (I always feel so blessed to have such amazing children) but I felt extremely blessed knowing that we would be leaving the hospital the same day.

We checked in, and then were taken to her room. She was very nervous, and wouldn't even let the nurse put on her wrist band. They said its okay, and they will take care of everything after the Versed is in her body.

The pink cup of medicine came, and Hailee did not want to take it. I told her it was either that medicine or a shot, and she instantly gulped down the medicine. (Amazing how well that worked). With in 15 minutes Gregg and I were laughing hysterically! She became the silliest little girl ever! She saw her Dora flip flops on her feet and took them off and then started having them sing and dance to each other! She was saying the funniest little things! Once the medicine was in her, we were able to go back with her to the "operating room." The anesthesiologist put her under anesthesia, and we were able to stay with her until she was completely asleep, which only took about 30 seconds.

We were taken to the waiting room, and about 20 or so minutes later, the doctor came out with the pictures that were taken as they did the small intestine biopsy. Everything to the eye looked normal, but nothing can be determined until the biopsy comes back next week. The doctor said that there was something else that she discovered; a hiatal hernia. I had never heard of this, so of course, she explained. What it is: a portion of the stomach protrudes upward into the chest, through an opening in the diaphragm. She ended up doing an esophagus biopsy too to see if any damage has been done. If there has, she will be put on reflux medicine.

We were then taken back to the recovery room, and sat next to Hailee for at least 45 minutes while we were waiting for her to wake up.

Once she woke up, she ripped the oxygen tube out of her nose and then started taking the tape off her hand to take her IV out. She was so ready to leave! She was extremely emotional, which they warned us would happen once the versed and anesthesia wore off. About an hour later, we were discharged and on our way back to Grandma and Grandpas!

We are so proud of what a brave girl Hailee is. It is really heart breaking to see such a young child to have to go through such scary things. I know this doesn't compare to what some people have to go through with their children, but this is alot for her, and for us. I pray that nothing serious like this has to be done again. But we are so truly blessed that we have been able to take the right steps and figure out what was causinh her pain, and even more blessed, its just a simple diet change.

Now that we have been back, she only remembers bits and pieces of this morning, but overall, has no clue what went on. Thank goodness! We are sure proud of her and love her so much!

Now, while we were gone, Grandma and Grandpa babysat Jake for us. He decided he needed to wake up at 5:30am! (So sorry!) Grandpa went and got him while Grandma made him a bottle. Grandpa rocked him, watched tv, tried getting him back to sleep, but I guess Jake was ready to be up for the day! That stinker! LOL. I know that Jake had alot of fun with them. He really loves them! Thank you Mom and Dad for taking care of Jake for us!

I have been horrible at updates, but I am trying to be better....

Jake is now 11 MONTHS!!! He will be turning ONE on the 23rd of this month! He is our VERY, EXTREMELY, ACTIVE and BUSY child! He is into EVERYTHING! It's alot of work, but so much fun. It is so fun seeing what his little personality is developing into! He has been trying so hard to get "walking down". He can walk about 1/2 way across a room now. Yeah! It is so fun to see him learn! He also loves to color/draw with Hailee. I was so amazed the first time when I saw him pick up a marker (about a month ago) and scribbling it on a piece of paper.

He is also a great eater and sleeper! He wears 12 month clothes, size 3 1/2 for shoes, and I think he is 22 lbs. He's loves playing with balls, cars, anything that Hailee has, and LOVES being outside. We took the kids to the pool last week and he wanted to jump right into the water. It was hard getting him out of it! Such a water lover just like his sissy! He loves giving kisses and hugs and has a smile that just melts your heart. His laugh is so contagious and his countenace is so sweet and pure. He is such a blessing in our family and we love him so much.

Our Life

2011-03-29T22:11:00.000-07:00

I am overwhelmed with the love and support from all of our family and friends that we have received on behalf of Hailee. These past few weeks have thankfully become much easier than I thought it would be. I am starting to get the hang of grocery shopping...just going around the perimeter of the store, since that is all we can buy, but thats okay! Its all such healthy foods for us! Also, I am sooo excited to try out recipes from the new cookbooks my Mom bought me!
Anyways, we met with the GI specialist last Wednesday and she asked me a gazillion questions. She definitely was not the warm and fuzzy make the Mommy feel better type of doctor, but that's okay. She was very thorough. We talked alot about Celiac Disease, and she also told me that just because Hailee's initial blood result numbers were extremely high did not mean she had celiac disease. I was thinking, "great....what else could it be then?" She sent me to take Hailee back down to the lab to get more blood work done (poor girl!) This time the test was specifically for celiac. If the results came back positive again, then Hailee would need to go in for biopsies of her small intestines for the final confirmation. (Amazing how many times they have to "Confirm" it to be celiac.)
This morning the doc called and told me that Hailee's blood work came back and that it has the high elevated levels for celiac and that she would need to have the biopsy's. Originally when I found out Hailee had celiac, I was completely overwhelmed and very emotional. This time I felt so much peace, knowing that we finally did receive an answer to our prayers and that we can get our daughter feeling better. So it looks like Hailee will be going in Monday morning for this procedure.
I am not looking forward to having Hailee have the biopsy, but they said it is not painful (Thank goodness!). Hailee already HATES going to the doctors so much and constantly tells me "Mom, I just want to get outta here!" But hopefully once everything gets settled, we wont be having to make doctor visits for a very long time!
All in all, things are going much better!
To give an update on Jake....
He is 11 months old now. Crazy, huh?? I still can't believe it! He is such a funny lil kid. He is so destructive (in a cute way...for now. lol) and is always so busy! He absolutely ADORES Hailee. He can say "Dadda" "Mum" "Baba" and "Dog" and tonight he added "Doggy"
He can also now take 3 good steps! I think we will be having a walker this month! So excited!
Jake is an incredible eater. He will eat practically everything!
He takes 2 naps a day, one at 1030am and one at 3pm. They usually last for an hour to hour and a half. He goes to bed at 8pm and wakes up at 730am. I love his schedule!
He is such a happy little boy and has so much personality. He cracks up about everything, loves playing games. His favorites are rolling a ball back and forth, playing chase (We will crawl and chase him or he will chase us) and he also loves playing peek-a-boo. He bring so much love into our home and we just love him and Hailee to pieces!
Now time to enjoy some pictures!

Jake loves his cars!
Grandma time!
Best buds
Hailee and Kylee
Jake and Tyler

Miss Karate girl!
Hailee's spider
Jake didn't realize he was supposed to put the chalk on the driveway...not in his mouth! lol
Jake's first haircut! So cute!!
Hailee had her bangs trimmed too!
Hiking at Santa Rosa
She is fearless!

Hailee was our guide. She kept telling and showing us which we we needed to go.

My Pictureless Post

2011-03-21T22:53:00.000-07:00

So, I did it. I gave in. I swore I was over doing a blog. My pictures are all so out-dated, so many exciting events have come and gone, and then I decided there was just too much to try and catch up on. But now I'm back. Mainly for another reason. I need somewhere to write. To express my thoughts and get support from all of my fellow bloggers. So, here's to catching up on life.

The past 5 months have been hard over here at our house. Not the typical hard, but the hard that makes you cry. You ask why? Because we have had to see our daughter Hailee suffer in pain, and it seemed like each couple of weeks, she would have more pain and it would take longer for her to feel better. So, here is the story.

We started noticing about 5 months ago that something wasn't "right". My Mom and I had the kids out for a hike and Hailee was running around full of energy like any other typical 3 year old, when all of a sudden, she stopped dead in her tracks and said her stomach hurt really bad. That's all it took, she crawled up into the stroller and was wiped out for the entire day. I didn't think too much about it at first, but then we started noticing this was happening more frequently. I took her into the doctors and they thought it must be a UTI so she was tested and it came back normal. Hailee was then back to her happy self full of energy, and then, this time on Christmas night, it hit her again, HARD. She was up all night throwing up, diarrhea and in miserable pain for several days. She looked horrible, and just wanted to either be held or lay on the couch for the entire day watching cartoons. By end of the week, she was feeling better again, and then about a week later, it hit her again.
This same routine went on for several more weeks. Feeling good to being hunched over the toilet, throwing up, and wiped out for days at a time. We also noticed that she was bruising for no reason and was extremely pale alot. (Like seriously as white as a ghost at times) It was so hard to watch this, and whenever I was able to get her into the doctors, she happened to have a "good" day so I don't think the doctor fully believed what I was telling him.

We went to Washington in February, and this is when we realized that something major was really going on. The first day in Washington Hailee started throwing up and had diarrhea again. This lasted for 5 straight days. She was pale, tired, and lost almost 2 lbs. I called the doctors to get an appointment the first day we were back home from vacation, and of course, she was acting alot better. They tested her for UTI again, and this time it came back positive. She was put on antibiotics for 10 days, and those 10 days she was feeling pretty good. Day 11 was completely different.

Hailee was back to throwing up and the runs and I called and got her back into the doctors and told him I really want her blood work done and an ultrasound ( I had been asking for these to be done for over a month, and he kept denying me). But this time he agreed. We had her blood work done that same day. It was a Thursday.

Friday morning, I was outside my house, turned on Pandora and stuck my phone in my water bottle belt and was about to take off for a run when my phone started ringing from an "unknown" number. I usually don't answer if I don't recognize the number. But I felt like I should just answer it, and so I did. It was Hailee's pediatrician. He told me that her blood work came back and there was some major concern with her calcium blood serum count. He said it was a very serious issue and I needed to get her up to the hospital as soon as I could to have her blood test re-done. If the numbers came back the same, then he was going to send her to CHOC hospital to be admitted and if it happened to just be an error, than that would be wonderful. Of course, as a Mom, I was overwhelmed with emotion. This is my little girl. Things aren't supposed to be wrong with her. She's healthy. She's beautiful. She doesn't deserve to have to suffer.

So, I took her to the hospital, and was so happy my Mom and friend Wendy were able to come be a support and help with the kids. Once the blood work was done, we had to wait for an hour, which seemed like an eternity, for the doctor to call. Once he called, he told me her numbers looked great! We were all so relieved!
Hailee spent the night at my parents house, and the next morning they went out hiking, and maybe 10 minutes into the hike, her intense stomach pains returned and she was as pale as a ghost and had to be carried the entire way. (She didn't want to turn back, bless her heart, she still wanted to go hiking with Grandpa and Grandma!)
I called the doctor Monday morning and let him know how she was. Wednesday she had her ultrasound. (3/9/11) He was having an ultra sound done on her kidneys and rest of her organs to see if anything would come up to explain these intense stomach pains with the runs and pukes. Well, Friday night 3/11/11, our lives were changed forever.

Gregg was working and I was at Target with the kids. It was about 6:30pm and I was about to check out and head home. My phone rang from, once again, an "unknown" number so I figured I better answer it. Once again, it was Dr. Deterville. He told me rest of her blood work came back and he had a major concern. Actually, he said it just wasn't a concern, it was something serious. He told me that by the numbers, it shows that Hailee clearly has Celiac Disease. The normal range is from 1-19, and her number was 123. He told me to immediately take her off all gluten and wheat. He also told me that he had a major concern with her ultrasound (which we met this past week to discuss) but long story short, her left kidney is enlarged. He has another ultra sound scheduled for her next week and we will figure out what is going on.

But back to Celiac Disease. Before 3/11/11, I really had no clue what it was. I had heard of it, but never cared what it was. But now I do. For those who don't understand what it is, celiac disease is auto immune disease where the lining of your small intestines is damaged from gluten. Gluten is found in wheat, barley and rye. There is no medication to fix this, it is just a lifetime diet change. If the diet is not changed, it can cause even more damage to the small intestines which usually results in intestinal cancer. (And along the way, extreme sickness, horrible stomach pains, vomit, diarrhea).

After the phone call, I had mixed emotions. I was thrilled that it was something "curable" but unsure what it really meant having to change our whole families diet.

It hit me hard Saturday morning. We woke up and I went to make the kids breakfast and I started reading all of the ingredients, and practically everything we had, contained wheat in it! I started to cry, because I didn't even have anything "safe" for Hailee to eat, besides a banana. After she ate her banana, she told me, "Mom, I'm just starving! I want a waffle please!" It broke my heart. I knew she wasn't going to understand, and I gave in and made her a waffle. I knew it was going to hurt her stomach, but I didn't know how to deal with it just yet. We went shopping that day and bought a bunch of gluten free foods, and over that weekend, were so blessed with many gluten free foods from my family and friends.

It has been an emotional adventure so far. Now that its been 10 days since we found out, I finally feel like I can do this. I know that I was having such an emotional time with it because I kept thinking about her future, like, "Is she going to feel left out when she goes to school because she will have different foods?" "Is it going to make her sad?" " Are kids going to make fun of her because she has special dietary needs?" It was just alot to be thrown at with out talking to the doctor yet.

I am feeling so much better now and have been having alot of fun finding new meals that the entire family can eat that are GF, and also that Deterville and I have been able to sit down and talk about it all.

Hailee still has a hard road ahead of her. We meet with the specialist on Wednesday, and Deterville said that they will most likely be doing a biopsy of her small intestines to see how much damage has been done. We are praying that alot of damage hasn't been done, but we'll see. I am so proud of Hailee and what a brave girl she has been through all of her blood work and ultra sound and several doctors appointments. She is just amazing and impresses me.

I know that this is a huge blessing and answer to our prayers that we finally know what has been causing her so much pain. The news could have been much worse.

What really calms my heart when I am feeling overwhelmed, is knowing that Hailee is such a choice spirit, a daughter of God, and that she wanted to come to this earth so bad that she didn't care what kind of trials she would have to go through on earth. She just wanted to come. She is such a blessing in our family, an amazing daughter and an amazing big sister to Jake. We love her so much, and are so happy that she will finally be able to feel better and be back to her full or energy girl that she was.

2010-12-15T21:19:00.000-08:00

We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! May the Spirit of Christ be with you and may your heart be filled with joy!

Love, The Hardy's

Gregg, Laurie, Hailee and Jake

Yep... we had Halloween too!

2010-11-03T23:36:00.000-07:00

October has definitely flown by! We have had such a busy month full of fun and spooky things!

Grandma had a Halloween party for her "Lil Goblins." It was seriously the cutest party ever! They all dressed up, took pictures, had spooky mac&cheese, a pinata, crafts and games!

Later this month, we had a girls "Fright Night" and went to the Haunted House in Lake Elsinore. It was by far not the scariest Haunted Houses, but it was still a blast to get together and have fun!

One of the days Gregg was at work, Mom went with us to the Pumpkin Patch in Corona. Hailee wasn't liking it and Jake was asleep, so this is pretty much the only picture I got! It was just one of those days....

We finally had a "Fall Weather" day! We were at the park, it was freezing, the wind was blowing and it started raining! And yes...my daughter does not have a jacket on....we tried, and she kept refusing. She is alot like her Dad....she is never cold! And poor Jake...he is like me...always FREEZING!

Don't let the fall weather fool you, because it didn't last. A couple days later we were back in shorts and flip flops!

Hailee is finally starting to love getting her pictures taken. She has gone through a spell where she hasn't been liking it...which has been so frustrating!

But on this particular day, she was hammin it up for the camera!

I took the kids to our neighborhood Fall Festival and met up with some friends. This was the only picture I was able to take before my camera died. I really need to get a back up battery! But here is Hailee with one of her besties...Kylee.

Hailee had her preschool Halloween party at the park. They planted seeds in pumpkin containers, made crafts, had lunch, pinata and treats. It was really cute! Most of the kids came in costume.

Now, I was really bad and didn't take any pictures of us at the Ward Trunk or Treat! I am so sad! But it was just me and the kids because Gregg had to work, so it was a little hard to get pictures. But the kids (mainly Hailee) had alot of fun. She participated in the costume parade, and even won an award for her costume! She also loved going around to the cars for candy. Overall, it was a really fun night and I'm really glad we went!

On Halloween, we took the kids Trick or Treating in my parents neighborhood. This is the first Halloween Gregg has had off in 2 years, so we wanted to make sure we could celebrate a holiday with him!

The weather was so perfect that night!
Hailee absolutely LOVED trick or treating this year! She would run up to each door and knock and most of the time she would say trick or treat, or candy please!! We had such a great night!

Afterwards, we went back to Grandma and Grandpas and looked at all of the candy the kids got!

And Jake got a taste of his first sucker!

And I was one tired Mommy by end of the night!

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! 2010

2010-10-29T17:20:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween from our little Alice in Wonderland and our blue fluffy bunny!

Tarantula Trail

2010-10-07T21:28:00.000-07:00

Saturday (October 2nd) started off relaxing and very enjoyable. It had been a calm day at our house and then I decided to call Grandma to see if she wanted to go hike at Santa Rosa Plateau with the kids and I.

When we left my house, the sky was so crisp and blue with enormous white clouds here and there. These were the kinds of clouds that looked like mounds of fluffy white powdered sugar. I was excited to take my Mom to this hiking area finally, after all of the hikes I have told her about and how fun this place was. I think I jinxed myself by saying that. We arrived to the trail at about 4:30pm, which now looking back, was probably not the best time to go out in the hills....because it was feeding time - for the wild life! Yikes!

We started off the hike and came across a tarantula.... We pushed the double jogger stroller close to it so Hailee could see and so she would not be afraid....which she wasn't at all. So we continued on our hike.

Then we came across tarantula #2. My Mom and I started getting a little creeped out. These spiders are huge! We ran by it, in fear that for some reason it would jump onto us. But, we made it past safely.
Then we came to this mean guy- an enormous rattle snake. I have never seen a rattler tail so big before. You can definitely tell he does not lack in the food department. We stood a ways away, throwing rocks at it and trying to get him to move. He wouldn't budge. By this time, Hailee was starting to get a little nervous. She curled her legs up close to her body and bit down on her blanket. Not once did she cry though, she just sat there and watched us trying to scare the snake.
We threw rocks at him for probably a good 10 minutes, even hitting him a couple of times, but he would not budge. He only would rattle that tail of his now and then. We realized he dominated this trail. We had to turn back.

And thankfully, we ran into another one of these! (haha, I am being totally sarcastic that I was thankful for another tarantula).

Hailee spotted this one for us! (Tarantula #4)

Tarantula #5

And lastly, tarantula #6

So, in conclusion of our short two mile hike, we came across SIX tarantulas and one HUGE rattle snake. Guess we learned our lesson to not go hiking during feeding time at dusk. My Mom joked around that she will not come hiking with me out here again, but I'm pretty sure she will give it another shot. Whats a hike with out the "adventure", right?

Grandma, Hailee and Jake

Me and the kids

I have to say, Hailee and Jake are such amazing kids. They love to be outdoors and are always (most of the time) happy! And I was so proud of Hailee for being so brave with all of the big spiders and snake.

We decided that we needed to go do something not so adventurous, so we headed to downtown Temecula to walk around and get some dinner. We had a wonderful time!

Can't wait to go hiking again, but hoping I won't see another tarantula or snake for a while!

Once a month....

2010-10-02T23:57:00.000-07:00

One time a month is seriously not enough for blogging...but it is all I am motivated to do right now....well, actually, it is all I can find time for. So bear with me each month for extremely long posts!

Great Grandma and Grandpa Ginos are amazing. They have 30 (Maybe more now) GREAT Grandchildren, and they always make sure each one knows that they are thinking about them. Each month Hailee and Jake receive a letter from them and a dollar for them to get ice cream. How amazing and great are they!?! Every time Hailee checks the mail with me, she always asks if her mail has come yet. When she does have her letter waiting for her, she gets so excited! She opens it and pretends to read their note and then has me read it to her and then we plan a special time to get her ice cream from Great Grandma and Grandpa! They are such a wonderful example to me showing that its the little things in life that really make a difference. At the beginning of September, we were able to go to Washington to visit Gregg's family. This was also Jake's first plane ride! We were so excited that he did so well on it! He seemed to love it! And so did Hailee! She has flown quite a few times already, so she knew what to do!

Jake meeting Nana (Great Grandma Larsen) for the first time

Jake and Grandma Duh

Hailee and Elli have become pretty close. They are the cutest cousins together and have so much fun!
The kids checking out Nana's room all decorated in pink

All of the cousins together on Labor Day

Pa playing games with the kids

The boys hanging out

Hailee and Elli taking a break from all of the shopping

Down at Gig Harbor

Seriously so beautiful here!

I don't know why, but this has always been one of my favorite fisherman houses here!

Pa, Duh, Hailee and Jake

Giddy Up!

We had such an enjoyable time staying in Washington with Gregg's family. They had a big BBQ with everyone over, we went shopping, out to dinner and just enjoyed being with one another. While we were there, Jake hit a milestone of ROLLING OVER!!!! Pa was the first one to see it and no one believed him until we all looked and Jake started rolling over a ton! We were so excited! He sure is growing up way too fast! We look forward to our next visit up there!

Jake is such an amazing eater. That's all he really wants to do! lol. I decided it was time to start him on solids considering he would stare us down every time we would eat and would try to grab our food. I started him on rice cereal first and he was a champ! A few weeks ago I decided to try sweet potatoes with him, and wow! He ate the ENTIRE container! He sure does love food! So happy I have such a good eater!

Hailee is our little hiker! She loves it! She asks me several times a week when we can go hiking again. So, I try and take her as often as I can.
We were up in Corona and decided to go hiking and Grandma came with! They were throwing rocks at the bushes! So fun to see how much Hailee loves being in the outdoors!

I LOVE when babies find their toes!

Later this month, Gregg's dad and step mom came to visit. We had a family birthday party for Gregg while they were in town. My Mom put together all of the games for me (Thank you!) Some were the "Minute to Win It" games and others were ones she came up with! They were so hilarious and fun!

"Inch Worm"
"Paper Dragon"

Can't remember the name of this game, but it was hilarious! It was an elephant trunk game!

Grandma and her girls

After my parents got back from Hawaii, my Mom decided to buy their own shaved ice machine! Wow...can I say what a piece of Heaven?? We had the ultimate shaved ice desserts!

Ice cream on the bottom, Shaved ice on the top flavored with pina colada, tigers blood, fresh bananas and pineapple on the side drizzled with a little chocolate syrup!

Hailee opened Daddy's gifts for him

Grandma and Jake
Hailee thought the elephant masks were so funny!

What a handsome lil guy!

We had a great night with family celbrating my Mans' day! And thank you Mom and Dad for having it at your house and for helping out! Love you guys!

What do you think, future cheer leader on our hands?

While Dave and Cheryl were here, we went down to Santa Rosa Plataea and went hiking

While we were having this picture taken, I was STUNG by the bee on my stomach! Come to find out, there was a huge bee hive in the tree and the bees were starting to swarm around us! We got out of there so fast! And that bee sting hurt! Its been over two weeks now and I still have a big red area surrounding the bee sting. Maybe I might be a little allergic to bee stings?

So beautiful here!

On top of Monument Hill.

The kids did such an awesome job on this hike!

We also went down to Temecula to the duck pond...I think those ducks are all way over fed because they weren't interested in the bread.

But, we still had a great time!

September was sure a busy month, but it was such a fun month! Jake also turned 5 months old (pictures soon to come....) We look forward to an exciting and super busy October now!

Jake

2010-08-29T23:30:00.000-07:00

Happy 4 months to our darling son Jake. We are amazed at how fast these months have gone by and wish they would slow down. It seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital.
Jake is such an easy baby. I always say that, and then knock on wood in fear that it might change. Since Jake was about 2 months old, he started sleeping through the night. Now, he sleeps anywhere from 8-11 hours a night. It is wonderful!

He is also our little sucker. He always has something in his mouth...usually his fingers or a burp cloth or toy. He loves to keep that mouth moving! He also loves his pacifier! I have a fear that once he starts crawling around we are going to have any little things on the ground picked up all of the time in fear of him sticking it in his mouth! I have to admit, I never thought I would have a thumb sucker, but boy, is it sure cute!!!Jake loves his sister. Every morning when she hears him cry, she goes running into his room yelling, "Jake's awake! Jake's awake!" and looks at him through his crib. He looks at her and then always starts his baby babble talk! It is just so precious seeing how happy he is to see his sissy!He also loves his jumper! We borrowed this one when we were at my parents house, but Jake has his at home at loves it! He is getting such strong legs already!He also loves going to the park and on the swings! He can't stop smiling!He loves being smothered by kisses from Hailee. He tries giving her kisses too and she just cracks up laughing!Jake started eating rice cereal this past week, (8/27/10) and LOVES it! He was getting to the point where instead of 3-4 hours between each feeding during the day it was becoming more like 2 hours, so I figured it was time to start him on the cereal. I am glad I did, and I think he is too!I wasn't feeding him fast enough so he started showing me how to do it!He is such a beautiful, handsome little guy! And don't you think he looks alot like his Daddy??? Some facts about Jake at 4 months:

Roll up onto his sides

Sleeps through the night

Pushes his chest up when laying on his tummy

Laughs

Holds his head up very well (but he's been doing that since almost birth)

He wears 6 month clothing and now some 6-9 month

Loves the silk on his blanket....he instantly snuggles into it when held by his face

Already is fascinated with Curious George (Thanks to Hailee)

Loves the park swings

Loves to go in the pool

Loves bath time

Loves rice ceral

Eats like a champ

Has blue eyes

We're still unsure what color his hair will be

Light skin like his Mommy

Loves to babble talk

Hailee

2010-08-29T22:58:00.000-07:00

Hailee is such a fun girl. She brings so much laughter and joy into our lives and our home. We never know what sneaky thing she is up to next, or when she'll hide and jump out to scare us! I seriously cannot get enough of her. Her smile brightens up the room and her sweet, soft personality can make anyone's heart melt.

Hailee has become quite the talker now at home. She is always telling us stories, singing songs or role playing "house, cooking, etc" with her toys. She is at such a fun age and I just love being home with her everyday! Hailee is an amazing sister to Jake. She absolutely loves him. She is constantly always wanting to hold him, help change his diapers and play with him. She has really been enjoying him even more lately now that he is starting to interact a little and smile and laugh!

I won't be surprised if Hailee is asking for her own "real and working" cell phone for Christmas. She is always playing on hers (or ours) and telling us she is texting her friends. She can also push the correct speed dial number to call Grandma and Grandpa. Sometimes she'll be talking on the phone and I think she is just talking to herself until I hear Grandma or Grandpa talking on the other end! Amazing how kids so young can understand technology!

She is loving that Jake can take baths with her now. She helps bathe him and then bathes her barbies and dolls.

Hailee and Uncle Ricky have always shared a special love for music together. Ever since Hailee was 4 months old, she would sit and listen to Rick play the piano. Nothing could distract her from listening to him. Now that she is much bigger, she loves trying to play with him. Its fascinating to watch her because she doesn't pound on the keys like most kids would, she moves one finger at a time on the keys just like Rick does. Maybe a future piano player? I would be so happy!

Our little water girl! She loves to be held up super high and then thrown into the water!

She is also camera shy alot of the times.... always trying to hide behind things....what a little stinker!

More swimming! Her and her best buddy Deacon. They have been friends for almost 2 years now!

Hailee loves jumping off of the diving board...

(It looks like she is going to whack her feet on the board in this picture....yes she did....but it didn't phase her...she kept on swimming and jumping off) She is seriously one touch chick.

Jumping off the high wall

Giving her brother loves and making him laugh

Loves the park...

Okay, I'll end with this story... So, we were at the park in Corona 8/27/10 and we were playing and having a good time. Hailee was running around and going on the slides and then this cute brown haired 4yr old boy comes and starts following her around. He had been playing with a few other boys and kept watching Hailee and then left his friends to go by her. At first Hailee was always looking back since he was following her everywhere and she was giving him dirty looks. I told Hailee that I think he wants to play with her. So then she tells him to chase her and they started running around and laughing a ton. They chased each other under the slides, down the slides and all around the swings. She got tired so she sat down and said she was going to take a break. The little boy sat next to her and said "I'm going to feed you" and pulled out a bag of pistachios! lol. Anyways, a while later I told Hailee it was time to go, so we started walking back to the stroller. This little kid yells to his Mom, "I'm gonna walk her to her stroller." Before we left, he asks Hailee, "I see you again??" Lol. I could not STOP laughing! This little kid was totally trying to work it with my DAUGHTER!!! Are you serious??? It starts THIS YOUNG??? Oh man, we're in trouble!!!! lol. It was soooo cute though!!!

Gregg's Adventure

2010-08-21T23:46:00.000-07:00

This past Tuesday, August 18 2010, Gregg, Rick and my Mom went hiking to the Bridge to Nowhere. They had so much fun! It's about a 10 mile hike, but you get to cross the river probably a dozen times. By the look of these pictures, it looked like they had a blast! Once I'm able to leave Jake for several hours at a time, I will definitely be doing this hike! Such a beautiful place!

By my Mom's expression....you can tell the water must have been pretty cold!

My hot man
The three amigos

And since I can't do a post with out pictures of our kids...here are some new ones....

Jake and Hailee took their first bath together tonight! (August 21 2010)
They had so much fun! Jake was kicking his legs like crazy which caused the water to splash on Hailee. She thought it was the funniest thing ever!
This afternoon Hailee heard Jake crying so she told me she would go check on him. I followed her up to his room and watched her crawl into his crib. (When did she learn to crawl up into a crib???) She layed down next to him and was giggling and making him smile and then she took several pictures of him on my cell phone. She loves her brother so much! And he loves her just as much too! They are going to be such best buds!

Hailee playing peek-a-boo

Me and Jake

4 years...and then some....

2010-08-11T23:16:00.000-07:00

This month has already felt so busy! I can't believe its almost half way over! Ahh!!

Anyways, August 5th was our FOUR year anniversary! Its been a wonderful yet challenging four years. So much has changed, but the best part has been bringing our two beautiful children into our lives!

For our anniversary, Gregg asked me what I wanted, and I told him that I truly, honestly wanted to go on a night run on Skyline! It had been so long since him and I have just gone out and done something like this, so he agreed. And oh my gosh...we had a blast! We had our head lamps on and were ready to hit the mountain! We got to the top at sunset and it was absolutely beautiful! On our way up we had a coyote run right across the road in front of us and we saw a huge tarantula!

The weather was absolutely perfect too!

We were so excited to be out celebrating that we jumped for joy!

(And I'll tell you one thing...I am not a good jumper at all! This was like the 10th try that I finally got both feet OFF of the ground at the same time! No wonder why I was never a cheer leader! lol)

Starting our run down... excuse my weird expression, but I wanted to show a picture with the head lamp on. We had such a blast and look forward to our next night run adventure!

I find myself running out of time to do several small posts, so I just end up cranking out one large post instead....so here's some more pictures....

Hailee seriously loves to be held so many different ways! Either by standing on Gregg's shoulders, hands or behind held upside down! She is one funny girl!

Me and my little bud

I just love sleeping pictures. And if you are wondering...yes, that is a pink and black polka dot pack in play he is in....we bought this for Hailee...and now I am kicking myself for not buying a neutral one! Oh well!

Hailee is seriously such a girlie girl! We find her sleeping like this all of the time! Legs crossed and hand up by her head! She is such a little princess!

Daddy and his boy

My Dad's birthday was August 1st. We had a birthday party at my parents house and it was a BLAST! It was also Jake's "First" time in the pool! (He has had his toes in several times, but never fully in.) He loved it!

Happy Birthday to the most amazing, wonderful Dad. He truly is such a great example, friend and the bestest Grandpa ever!

We played "Minute to Win It" games at the party. They were H-Y-S-T-E-R-I-C-A-L!!!!

We had two teams....

"The Momma Mafia"

and "The Daddy Dudes"

I just have to say, the Momma Mafia WON!!! Woot woot!

Playing "Moving on Up!" (I won!)

Separation Anxiety (Sarah won)

Brooke made up her own game....I'm not quite sure what she named this game though...

"Breakfast Scramble" (Dad won)

Paper Dragon (I won)

We had such a fun time and was so happy that my Dad had such an enjoyable birthday! We love you Dad/Grandpa!

Lastly, Hailee has made a new best friend. I met her Mom at the pool and now these girls can't get enough of each other. They are 6 months apart and just have so much fun together!

Hailee and Kylie

This Past Month....

2010-07-31T22:02:00.001-07:00

This past month has flown by! We have been keeping busy and having alot of fun!

About three to four times a week, we are here...at the pool. Hailee has become pro swimming with her floaties on. We are going to let her enjoy them this summer and then next summer we will get her into swim lessons. Hailee went to the cutest "Toy Story" party for her friend Alex. They rented ponies for the kids to ride on. I thought Hailee would be afraid to ride it, but she proved me wrong! That was all she wanted to do! She was able to ride the pony 3 times around the block before we had to leave!
She loved riding next to her buddy Deacon
She was very serious while riding
Jake enjoys the stroller while we are playing outside

Hailee loves to take her baby dolls on walks! As soon as it cools off, we are outside for the rest of the night playing!

Gregg set up the jumper for Jake. He was so excited for it, that once he got into it, he fell asleep! haha. Really, this picture is of him after he had been playing for a while.

Hailee taught Jake how the jumper works and was explaining to him what each thing was. She is such an amazing big sister!

I honestly won't be surprised if Hailee ends up loving gymnastics or cheer. Gregg always has her way above the water and then she jumps in. The other day (I wish my camera battery didn't die) Gregg had Hailee standing only on his hands and had his arms straight up in the air! She was so high! Then she jumped off into the water! He also has her standing on his shoulders and she tucks herself over his head and does a somersault into the water! She is so brave! Definitely takes after her Daddy for loving water like that!
The other morning it was too hot to play outside and Daddy was still sleeping, so I told Hailee I would set up a "back drop" for her to take pictures of her baby. She had so much fun! I was excited I was able to get a couple pictures of the kids too!
She loves her babies so much!
Jake turned 3 months old! I can't believe it! He is getting so big! He wears 3-6 month clothing, coos and caws a ton, rolls up onto his sides, loves to stand when holding your hands, almost laughing (He is trying sooo hard!) He sleeps an average of 8 hours straight during the night. He loves to be held and to be outside. He is such a happy baby and we love having him here!
I took the kids up to the park the other night and Jake went for his first swing ride! At first he was unsure about it, but then he decided to just like it!
Hailee enjoyed pushing him too!

I seriously LOVE this smile so much! She is such a fun girl!

After bath time. He is going to be just like Hailee....loves the water so much already!

My sister in law Sarah took these pictures for me for Jake's 3 months! I can't believe how big he looks! Such a little boy already!
Hailee is finally starting to let us take pictures of her again. For a few months she was anti picture taking, but slowly, she is getting better at looking at the camera again! Yeah!

That's all for now. August is another busy month, so I'll most likely be doing one long post for it too!

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-06T23:42:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July! We had such a fun day! Gregg and I realized that the last time we have actually watched fireworks was when we were dating! How sad is that!?! I think that's why this 4th just seemed so much more fun too because I was so anxious to see fireworks again! I felt like a little kid! Plus it was such a great day because we were able to spend it with family!
We all started the day off by going to church. I absolutely love church and feel so blessed that we live in a country where we are free to worship and have our own beliefs.

After church we all met at my parents house for a BBQ and swim. Everyone had so much fun! Hailee is our water girl, I swear, she must be part mermaid under her skin! She can swim for hours and hours if we let her! Grandpa is such a good sport by playing with Hailee in the "baby pool" (That's what she calls it)

While everyone was swimming, we were on baby duty.Gregg and Kip started busting out all of their moves on the diving board. I think we were having more fun watching and laughing and coming up with things for them to do!They decided to try their fancy acrobatic skills, and almost had a mid-air collision!Grandpa and Grandma with the grandgirls!Grandma had crafts ready for Hailee to work on while dinner was on the grillAfter the BBQ, we went over to Santana Park (but we ended up in the Von's parking lot) to watch the fireworks. We seriously ended up with the best spot! No one was in front of us and we were also close to bathrooms which was wonderful! (Hailee is now potty trained and glad we were close to a bathroom for her)Look at our handsome guy! Since they are my kids, I can say that they are seriously the most beautiful kids ever! Hailee and Jake! And Hailee seriously has the most amazing eyes and eye lashes! We are going to be in big trouble when it comes to dating years!I bought them matching 4th of July sweatshirts. It's so fun having two kids! I can now have them match (Or at least coordinate!) on special occasions!Hailee wasn't a fan of the fireworks. Well, she liked the actual firework, but not just the loud sounds it made. The family! Back tracking now....Gregg's Mom, sister Tara and her daughter Ellie came to visit the first weekend of June. We had such a great time with them! (These first few pictures are small and blurry, but I had to pull them off of facebook)

Hailee and Ellie. They were the bestest of friends for the whole weekend! It was non stop play!

On Monday, everyone went to Disneyland. Jake and I stayed home. He was just getting better after being sick for a week and I had a doctors appointment that day. But they had a BLAST at Disneyland! I don't think they even got home till close to 1am!

The girls enjoyed their bubble baths!We also went and did alot of shopping while they were in town. The last night we went to Souplantation for dinner. It was Jake's first time eating out and he did great! He slept almost the entire time!Ellie and Grandma Duh! (Tara was next to Grandma, but she didn't want to be in the picture)

We really enjoyed having them visit and look forward to seeing them in September!

Jake's Blessing

2010-06-30T22:47:00.000-07:00

June 27th 2010 was a very special day for our family. Jacob was blessed in our church. Gregg gave the blessing and said the most beautiful words in it...We are truly blessed to have Jake in our family. He definitely "belongs" with us. I don't know how to exactly describe it, but he makes our family feel so complete. We can't imagine life with out him now. He is such a good baby and we love him so much.

For the blessing, all of my family was able to be here for it. (Even Uncle Ricky!) Thank you to everyone who was able to share this special day with us!
*Jake was originally going to be blessed the first week of June, but he was sick so we had to change the date. However, Gregg's Mom, Sister and niece came that weekend to still see us all! We had a blast with them!

Jake in his blessing outfit
Such a stud!

The family

Because they are special...

2010-06-20T22:36:00.000-07:00

To the wonderful men in my life....Happy Fathers Day

I have an amazing Dad. I truly do. He has always been there for me through out my life, and continues to be everyday. He is one who I look up to; who taught me what qualities a husband should have and has taught me many valuable lessons of life. I just love my Dad. I can always go to him for counsel, advice and for fun times. The other amazing thing about him now is what an incredible Grandpa he is to his Grand kids. I absolutely love seeing Hailee spending time with him. She is always so interested in what "Gampa" is doing. It is so neat to see my Dad get down at her level, take his time to explain things to her and to let her help him work on projects around their house. I am really blessed to have him as my Dad and a Grandpa to our children. We love you Dad/Grandpa! Second, I want to wish my husband a happy Fathers Day. Gregg is such a wonderful Daddy. Hailee and Jake love him so much. I love seeing the relationship that Hailee and Gregg have...they are constantly always laughing together, wrestling on the ground, swimming in the pool, or snuggling on the couch. You can tell that she already looks up to him so much. He is also such a great Dad to Jake. You can tell he is so excited to have a little boy (now he won't always be having to have only tea parties, or dressing up like princesses...which I have to so is just so cute!) But it is so precious to see him with Jake. He is a wonderful Daddy and husband and we love him so much!

Now, I know this is late, but with having a baby...I have been slacking on my blogging so I am trying to get caught up....

So, this is for Mother's Day...

Happy Mothers Day Mom!

My Mom and I have such an amazing relationship. Her and I are so much alike...it's almost scary! lol. She is my best friend and I love her dearly. She has taught me so much through out my life....but most importantly, on how to be a Mom. Still to this day, I am always calling her asking for advice on what to do in certain situations, and she always has the right answer! Amazing! I just hope I can be as good as a Mom to my children and she is to me. She is also the most incredible Grandma. Her and Hailee have such a deep relationship with each other. Hailee just loves her Gama so much. They are always doing fun things together....it might be playing in the play house for hours at a time, singing and dancing the pokey pokey, or going on exploring hikes together! My Mom is also amazing with Jake! They are just too cute together! We love you Mom/ Grandma!

Here are some random pictures:

My Mom and Dad (2007) They can always make us laugh!
Christmas 2009

Amazing Grandparents

April 2010 Gregg and Hailee....he took her for a Daddy/daughter camping trip in the backyard. They had so much fun together!

April 2010

My wonderful husband and amazing Daddy to Hailee and Jake

I can't BELIEVE what I just did

2010-06-13T23:39:00.000-07:00

So I had a few hours to myself tonight and wanted to get caught up on the blog. I felt pretty good for getting a few new posts done....until.....I viewed my blog ONLY to REALIZE that I had already posted about the Arizona trip! And that post took me the longest! I can't believe I just did that! Now I'm too tired to post anything new...so there ya go, another post of the Arizona trip.

Daddy Loves His Kids

2010-06-13T23:28:00.000-07:00

Gregg is such an amazing Daddy. He loves his lil kids so much and they absolutely adore him. It is so wonderful to see the love they all have for one another!

Trip to Arizona

2010-06-13T22:51:00.000-07:00

The weekend of May 21st, we set off for a quick vacation to Arizona. Gregg had to work that weekend, so I loaded up the kids and we went with Grandma and Grandpa!
I forgot how different it is to travel with a little baby....stopping every two hours to nurse! It was like clock work...right at the 2 hour mark Jake would start crying until we stopped so I could feed him! Amazing how that works! haha.

Anyways, the kids were absolutely great the entire car ride! Hailee had so much fun just being in the car with all of us! She was constantly talking, singing and dancing the whole drive to Arizona!
In Arizona, we stayed at my Grandparents extra house in their retirement community. It makes is really nice to have a whole house and a golf cart when you go to stay with them!

Hailee really loved the golf cart rides. She kept putting her baby Jake in the basket, hopefully none of the old folks thought it was a real baby! That could give them a heart attack! lol.

One of the mornings, we went out for a walk...we left at 8:30am...and it was ALREADY 92 degrees! NASTY! How do people live in Arizona!

Jake in his muscle tank!

Hailee was such a happy girl to be on vacation!

Absolutely LOVES sleeping on his stomach

Going to visit "Great Grandma and Grandpa" Ginos

We also went to the zoo out by Surprise, AZ. It was amazing! It was on the smaller side, but you could get so close to the animals. This cheetah (Or what ever it is) was right over our heads! If you stuck your fingers in the holes, you could actually touch him!
I only brought my single stroller because Hailee usually refuses to go in one, but that day she wanted to be in one. So we rented a stroller at the zoo....they were so old school!

Our lil photographer

We took a ride on the train right through where the animals live

Our thumb sucker

Right next to the zoo was an aquarium, so we went and saw alot of the fishes. By that time I was feeling beyond lousy ( I was sick the whole weekend ) and Hailee was extremely tired. So, we didn't have a chance to see all of the exhibits they had. Hailee and her Great Grandma share a special love for music.Great Grandma would sing songs to Hailee and she just loved it!

Great Grandpa and Jake (their 29th great grandchild)
Hailee was being a stinker and refused to have her picture taken

Great Grandma and Jake

It was a fun trip. Felt good to get out of the house and relax a little. While we were in AZ, Jake also turned 4 weeks old!! (oh, I also forgot my camera at my cousin Ali's wedding reception. Bummer)

2010-06-13T22:19:00.000-07:00

Back sometime during the middle of May Hailee had her first hair cut. She has had her bangs cut several times, but never anything off of the back. I still wanted her hair to be long, so our friend Cathy only cut about an inch off.
It looks so much nicer having it even now! Afterwards, Hailee and Grandpa went swimming!

Hailee loves her Grandpa so much! She loves to help him out in the yard, check the pool chemical levels (Don't worry..she just watches him do it) She loves to share Grandpa's ice water with him and just loves to be around him!
These pictures were supposed to be first, but I didn't feel like re-doing it. This was earlier in the week (Still back in May)

Hailee with her two Jakes. Her brother and her baby doll.

I just love sleeping pictures!

Lots of stuff....

2010-06-13T21:40:00.000-07:00

Back in May, we celebrated my Moms birthday. (May 5th) We went up to their house earlier in the day so Gregg and Hailee could swim. She is definitely our little water girl!Look how tiny he looks!

For Christmas, I had gotten a turbie twist from my mother in law and fell in love with it! So I HAD to buy one for my Mom so she could fall in love with it too! And she did! The best thing to own! Robinson tradition...fingers in the frosting!

Mom got two new pocket knifes! Long story short, she got hers taken away from her at the airport...she forgot they were in her hiking backpack!

Grandma with her girls

Mom and Dad are so awesome! They just got back from a night run in the hills

Our sleeping beauty

Lil Prince Charming

For Mother's Day everyone came to our house for a nice dinner and gifts. I can't believe this was the only picture I took that day!

Newborn Photo Shoot

2010-05-30T20:52:00.001-07:00

One thing I absolutely love is seeing a newborn photographed. They grow up way too fast so its wonderful to have their tiny little bodies captured.

We were lucky to have two newborn photo shoots of Jake. I have so many more I want to post of his photo shoots, but I can't get the pictures to upload. So, I will try again tomorrow.

These first pictures were taken when Jake was 7 days old. I just absolutely love them. He was definitely a hard one to take pictures of because he was awake 90% of the time!

Isn't he just so dang cute!?! (These were taken by Sarah Lyn Photography....she is not only my sister in law, but also a great friend! )

These next amazing pictures were taken by my friend Amanda. (Amanda Fein Photography) He is 10 days old and again, he was a stinker and would not sleep during the photo shoot! But the pictures turned out awesome and I love them!

Can You Believe It? Either Can We!

2010-05-25T19:32:00.000-07:00

We can't believe that our little Jake is now a month old! Where has this month gone? It has been such an amazing, wonderful, yet so tiring month! We are finally getting adjusted to the new routine in life and are loving every minute of it! Jake is such a wonderful baby and we are so blessed to have him as ours!

One month stats:

10 lbs (50%) Can you believe he gained 2.5 lbs in one month? Crazy!
22 inches long (75%) He is def. catching up and we think he will end up being tall just like his sissy!

Jake has become much more aware of his surroundings, is starting to coo and caw and loves holding his head up to look at the world around him. He holds onto our hands and has just discovered holding onto my hair! Ouch! He also loves to eat, eat and eat!

This past weekend he went on his first road trip to AZ! Hailee, Jake and I went with my parents to go to my cousin Ali's wedding and reception. Gregg was working all weekend, and we missed him so much!

Riding the golf carts...Hailee insisted on having her baby ride in the back...hopefully we didn't give any old people a heart attack with thinking it was a real baby!After our walk in the 90 degree heat! Yes...she is actually resting! Only lasted for a couple minutes though...then she was back up running around!Jake wearing his big boy clothes! Playing legos!At the zoo in AZ. It was amazing!This was RIGHT above our head! You could stick your fingers and touch it if you really wanted too! (Crazy if I say!)I didn't zoom in at all....the zebra was really this close. The huge rhino!Riding the choo chooOur little JakesterI really wanted to get a picture of Hailee, Jake and Great Grandma and Grandpa, but this is what Hailee gave me....Hailee enjoyed Great Grandma alot. They looked at pictures and sang alot of songs together. It was really sweet.

We stayed at my Grandparents extra house in AZ and while we were there we took many rides on the golf cart, went on a walk at 8:30 am and it was already in the 90's! (I don't know how anyone can live in that state! It's so hot!) And we also went to the zoo which was seriously the best zoo we have ever been too! The animals were so close and we even got to ride a train through some of the animals cages! We had so much fun!

It was a great weekend, even though we all ended up sick! My cousin Ali's reception was also wonderful, but I forgot my camera to take pictures!

2010-05-17T22:52:00.000-07:00

The first week home pretty overwhelming. I won't lie about that. I was in major pain from the c-section, we were all sleep deprived and Hailee was very emotional about our new family life.

Adding a second child to the picture wasn't hard at all. The hardest part which I never realized would be how emotionally hard it would be on Hailee, and myself. I didn't even think about that once we were home, I would not be able to pick her up like I used to. We had a really hard time with that because she didn't understand.

We both cried alot. Hailee would want me to pick her up and hold her, "Momma, please hold" was what I heard alot. Just broke my heart! I had to tell her that Mommy has an owie on my tummy, and I would show her my incision, and told her that once it was better than I could pick her up and hold her. She would fall to the ground and just cry. I would try my best to comfort her but it was still so heart breaking!

Once Gregg went back to work that week, my Mom came and stayed with us. That was a huge blessing. Hailee needed her. Alot. My Mom was Hailee's solid anchor...someone who she knew would be able to give her all of the attention she needed.

My Mom took care of Hailee 24/7 so I could focus on Jake and trying to let my body heal. I would try and play with Hailee through out the day, but she didn't want anything to do with me. Towards the end of the week though, Hailee was getting used to the "new life" and was doing much better!

I am so very thankful for my Mom. She truly is amazing and is such a wonderful help to us!

A few pictures from the first week:

Jake in his crib

Hailee rocking her "Brooke" to sleep

Jake
Daddy and his lil munchkins

First time out in the sun
Our friends came to visit and Hailee was sooo EXCITED to see Deacon! They rode bikes and ran around so much! It was so nice to see Hailee so happy and excited!

By the end of the first week, I decided that we needed to go on a family walk! I was also dying to get out of the house! LOL. So this is their first stroller ride together!

More of the birth....

2010-05-17T22:14:00.000-07:00

I know I have already done a post about Jake's birth, but now that I finally uploaded the rest of my pictures, I can add some more. So after this post, I can officially move onto more recent ones!

This is me on April 23 2010 before leaving for the hospital. My LAST belly shot! Yeah!! At the hospital hooked up to the monitors and the start of our new life as a family of four
One happy Daddy who was anxious for Jake to get here!

This might be a little too much for some to handle...but I thought it was awesome! With Hailee I had no clue what the c-section looked like, but this time because it was planned, Gregg was allowed to take pictures. I'm only posting one so you won't throw up...but I think it's pretty cool! And this is Jakes first breath of life! And right after he took his first breath, he peed all over the doctor. That a boy!

Jake getting his first bath at the hospital

In the nursery waiting for Mommy to come out of recoveryWhen Jake was brought to me, he was sucking his thumb! How cute! Hailee was never a thumb sucker, so it was so crazy to see a baby with his thumb in his mouth!

My first time holding my son

Hailee meeting her brother

Proud Grandparents

Look at those big long feet! He is going to be tall!

All bundled up

Daddy getting him ready to go home

I was so excited to be leaving the hospital! Especially with a new baby in my arms!

The car ride home

Overwhelmed...

2010-05-17T21:59:00.000-07:00

I have finally uploaded all of the pictures we have taken these past few weeks...and I have one word to describe how I am feeling right now....OVERWHELMED!!!
I have so many posts to catch up on and I hate being so far behind! Hopefully I can find the time to work on my blogging!

Picture Post

2010-05-07T23:26:00.000-07:00

I have been feeling so wiped out lately and have become such a slacker on blogging. I decided to do a sneak peak of a few of the pictures we have taken these past couple of weeks.

And can you believe that today Jake is 2 weeks old!?!? Where has the time gone? Life is definitely going by so fast and I am trying to enjoy and live each and every moment to its fullest. I LOVE being a mommy to two. They are the two greatest children and are such a joy.

Enjoy the pictures!

Jacob Ross Hardy

2010-04-26T23:12:00.000-07:00

Jake is here! He was born on April 23rd 2010 at 10:58 am weighing 7lbs 10 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. He is absolutely gorgeous and we are loving being a family of four!

Here is the story: ( It's long, but I don't want to forget any details.)
On Thursday April 22nd, we stayed at my parents house to make the drive the next morning alot shorter. My parents were going to watch Hailee the whole time while I was at the hospital. She was super excited!
On the morning of the 23rd,we got up, showered, said our goodbyes and hit the road. It was really weird knowing that we were on our way to the hospital to have a baby...no labor, no pain, a great nights rest, hair and make up done, and feeling pretty relaxed! I was enjoying it! Well...until we got onto the 91 FWY. We gave ourselves about 30 min. to get to the hospital. It was about 8:35 when we got onto the freeway going East when all of a sudden, we ended up being dead stopped on the freeway. Come on, traffic going Eastbound? This is not supposed to happen! The freeway looked like a parking lot. It took us until 8:51 to reach the 15/91 interchange...(it was about 4 miles worth of driving.) I started to stress because we were supposed to be at the hospital by 9am. I called to let them know I was running late, and thankfully, once we passed the accident that held the freeway up, it was fast driving from there!
We made it to the hospital by 9:15am, and I was checked in. My c-section wasn't scheduled until 11am, but my doctor called and said he was going to do it at 10:30am instead. Up until that point, I wasn't nervous, but when the nurse told me that I was going in for surgery early, I got so nervous! I sat there really quiet, a million things racing through my mind, and then once everything was ready, I was wheeled into the operating room.
This time the c-section experience was completely different. With Hailee, it was an emergency, so everything went so fast and I don't remember about 90% of what actually happened. But this time I knew everything that was going on.
Gregg and the anesthesiologist were up by my head and we were carrying on a conversation, when Dr. Saenz told Gregg to get his camera ready because he was about to pull Jake out. I said "What? They already cut me open?" The anesthesiologist laughed and said they made the cut a couple minutes ago. I had no clue! I could feel a little pressure, but I thought they were just laying the tools on my stomach! Boy, was I wrong!
I layed there waiting to hear the first cry, and as soon as I did, I couldn't help but to start crying. That cry was the most beautiful sound I have ever heard. So pure, so innocent, and already my heart filled with love for our son. As soon as Gregg was able to, he brought Jake up to my face so I could see him for the first time and wow, he was beautiful. I gave him some kisses on the head before the nurses took him away to the nursery.
After I was stitched up (The whole procedure only took 20 min...amazing!) I was taken to recovery for 1 1/2 hours...the longest 1 1/2 hours of my life. I wanted to see my son so bad.
Finally, I was taken to my room and Gregg handed me our son. He was so beautiful. I held him close and thanked Heavenly Father for sending us another child to love, cherish and raise.
For the next few hours, we enjoyed the quiet time with the three of us. We then called my parents to have them bring Hailee down to meet him. I was really nervous to see how she would re act. I made sure I had a present to give to her from Jake...it was a necklace and bracelet. Once they got there, Hailee was very unsure about what was going on. She seemed scared, sad and emotional. She didn't want much to do with me, which sent me into tears. I know she wasn't trying to be mean, she is so little and didn't understand what was going on, but it broke my heart. Her and I have such a strong, close relationship that this made it hard on me to see her like this. After a while (and after some food) she seemed to be a little better. She gave Jake kisses, hugs and even put her new jewelry on him and laughed a lot! I was so happy that she was finally seeming happy!
I spent the next couple of days in the hospital and was very anxious to be released to go home.
I was discharged on Sunday and we went over to my parents house for the afternoon and to pick up Hailee.
Seeing Hailee with Jake is so precious. She is already so protective of him and loves him more than words can express. Every time she passes him, she kisses him. Every time he cries, she gives him his blanket or binki. Every time she goes to sleep, she wants Jake next to her so she can hold his hand. They are going to have such a close relationship and we are truly blessed to have two amazing children.
We are so excited to have Jake as part of our family now and look forward to all of the years ahead of us with him! We love this little guy so much!
(To be continued...and more pictures to come...)

My Warrior Man!

2010-04-22T15:14:00.000-07:00

April 10th 2010, Gregg and his friend Will ran in the Warrior Dash in Lake Elsinore. Gregg's Dad and step mom came down for the weekend to support and cheer him on in the race! It was alot of fun to watch him! He loved it and did a great job in it!

Each runner was given a warrior hat in their goodie bags!

Gregg and Will....what manly men they are in those hats!

Hailee anxiously waiting to watch Daddy race through the mud pit!

Go Gregg go!

After the race! They had so much fun!

He was filthy and stunk of Lake Elsinore mud! lol

So I gave him a congrats kiss standing as far away as I could!

Cheryl, Gregg and his Dad Dave

They had to wash the mud off in the lake....and can you see that smiling face....need I say more???

Hailee was beat after being in the sun for so many hours that day! Thank goodness for the wagon for her to relax in

That night after the race, we had a big BBQ at our house. Gregg's brother Chad and his wife and kids ended up being in town (They stayed at a beach house the entire week) so they came over, as well as my parents, Kip and his cute little family! I wish I would have taken pictures, but our house was packed full of fun, and I totally forgot to pull it out! Bummer! But we had a great time seeing everyone!

While Dave and Cheryl were here, we had a belated Easter egg hunt. It was alot of fun!

Dave, Hailee and Cheryl. She loves the bunny they gave her. She calls it "Buns"

On April 11th, we went on a nice hike back in the hills. The only downside to the hike was that it was FREEZING cold and WINDY! But, still fun!

Hailee asks everyday to go hiking! She sure loves the outdoors already!

My doctor would have killed me if he knew I was out hiking hills this far along pregnant! lol. Thank goodness I didn't slip on the steep hills and go into labor!

We enjoyed having Dave and Cheryl here and look forward to our next visit with them!

Spring Time Lovin'

2010-04-15T22:46:00.000-07:00

I love Spring time! The weather is always (usually) so nice and it gets me so excited for summer! The days start staying lighter longer which means more outside fun!
Gregg has been working on our yard alot lately. He tore up some patches of grass in the front yard that weren't that great looking and he and Hailee re seeded the bare spots. Hailee absolutely LOVES helping her Daddy in the yard. She even has her own rake, broom and shovel! It is so cute!

The first warm day of 85 degrees, we decided to hit the pool! Hailee was in HEAVEN! She is our little water girl! As soon as her floaties were on, she ran to the side of the pool to jump in! Now, the weather was really warm, but the pool water was still pretty COLD!

Gregg decided to help Hailee in so it wouldn't be such a shocker to her body with how cold it was. But even the cold water didn't stop her from having a great time! She laughed almost the entire time they were in the pool! It was so fun to see her sooo excited to be swimming again! We were so proud that she remembered so much from last summer! Once she finally got cold enough, they went over to the hot tub to continue swimming. I think she enjoyed the warm water alot more. She seriously has no fear of jumping in! She will do it over and over and over! Each time she jumps higher and farther!
Last week, (Wed. April7th) my friend Jen Fallon wanted to take maternity pictures of me for her portfolio. I was a little hesitant about taking them so late in my pregnancy (Because I feel so big right now!) But I decided to go ahead with them!
She did such a great job! I am 36 1/2 weeks in these pictures!

Taking these pictures was so much fun! Jen is such an awesome girl! Check out her link on my friends list. Jen Fallon Photography!

Some things to remember about this pregnancy:

-Before I had a positive pregnancy test, I already knew I was pregnant

-I took 3 pregnancy tests at home to make sure I really was pregnant, then went to the doctors to take theirs, and it came back negative.

-I cried, and the nurse told me she could tell I REALLY was pregnant, so had me get my blood work done which came back as a positive pregnancy

-We heard the heartbeat at my 12 week appointment

-I was nauseous 24/7 for the first 13 weeks

-I ran in the SBSD Mud Run at 10 weeks pregnant

-We found out at 15 weeks that we were having a BOY at an ultra sound place

-We thought we were having another girl, and the moment she told me it was a boy, I started crying...out of JOY! I would have been HAPPY either way, but it was so exciting knowing we would have a daughter and now a son!

-Hailee and Gregg came with me to that ultra sound and Hailee was fascinated with seeing a baby up on the screen.

-At my 20 week doctors ultra sound, it was confirmed again that we were having a boy, and also that I had placenta previa

-Because I had placenta previa, I had to stop running at 20 weeks....which was emotionally hard on me

-I freaked out and thought I would gain 50 pounds because I couldn't run anymore

But I didn't....

-I walked 5-7 miles everyday

-Every day since 20 weeks, I have CRAVED running.

-I started really feeling Jake move inside around 22 weeks

-When I was cleared from having placenta previa at 27 weeks, I jogged during part of my walk just to be able to feed my craving a little bit

-After that day, I never ran again during the pregnancy

-I started showing alot sooner this pregnancy

-I carry Jake really low compared to carrying Hailee really high

-I have never worn a pair of maternity pants. I just bought a bigger size in pants. I refuse to wear maternity pants!

-I have never sent Gregg to buy me food that I was craving...the only thing I have really craved is the feeling from a good hard run.

-I taught Pilate's until 22 weeks along and taught the aerobic classes until the last week of March. (Around 34/35 weeks along)

-We knew we would name our son Jake, so once we found out it was a boy, we didn't have to try and come up with a name.

-I am 9 lbs HEAVIER this pregnancy than I was when pregnant with Hailee. (AHH!!!!) Take that back....just went to the doctors today (4/16/10) and I am only 6 lbs HEAVIER! I'll take that over 9lbs! lol

-Every doctors appointment turns into a "lets talk about fitness and running" session with my doctor. He signed up for his first race and always asks me about training and getting into shape...it honestly gets annoying sometimes because it makes my appointments take forever. I finally printed him a running schedule and told him to follow it and if he didn't, I would start charging him for my time when we talk about fitness. lol.

-Hailee is so excited to be having a little baby brother....I think she understands for the most part with what is going on.

-She tells us that Jake is with Jesus right now

-Grandma gave Hailee a boy baby doll and she now has named the baby doll Jake.

-I enjoy being pregnant

-I have been having contractions ALOT, so I have slowed things down....I'm now down to doing only 5 miles a day instead of the 5-7.

-The nursery is pretty much finished. We went with a firefighter theme. It turned out really cute.

-My goal is to walk 7 miles the day before I go in for my c-section.

-I am so excited to be having a son.

-I can't wait to meet him

-I have had two dreams of him, and in my dreams saw what he looked like, so it will be interesting to see if he really looks like he did in my dreams.

-In my dreams he had dark brown hair and bright blue eyes

-And he was a pretty big baby in my dreams!

-I haven't been too demanding on Gregg this pregnancy...probably just a little emotional. lol.

-My scheduled date is April 23rd 2010, and I pray he doesn't come any sooner than that!

-Hailee and Jake will be 2 years and 5 months apart

-Everyone tells me that having two kids is so much harder, but honestly, I am SO EXCITED to have two children. I have felt that this lil guy has been wanting to come to our family for quite some time now, and we are just so thrilled for it. Yes, it will be challenging and tiring, but we don't care. We are just so happy!

-Oh, I still don't have my hospital bags packed....I should probably do that soon!

Happy Easter (and happy picture overload!)

2010-04-15T22:13:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter!
We had such a wonderful Easter. Not only was it General Conference where we were able to listen to the wonderful talks from the Prophet and Apostles and reflect on the Savior and the Resurrection, but we were able to spend the day with family.

This year the Easter bunny decided to stop by Grandma and Grandpa's house to deliver the goodies!

Hailee helped Grandma make the Easter cake

Hailee enjoyed opening her Easter basket. The Easter bunny was really smart this year of knowing what Hailee would enjoy....a new bathing suit, floaties, towel, flip flops and pool toys!

We had an Easter egg hunt in Grandma and Grandpa's back yard. Hailee wasn't the only one interested in the eggs.....so was Bailey! He kept stealing the eggs and would run off with them! It was so funny to us, but not to Hailee!
Hailee really enjoyed finding all of the eggs. I wasn't sure if she would be that "into it" but she was! Once the eggs were all found, I decided to put her in her Easter dress and while I did that, Gregg re-hid the eggs for her to find again! She was sooo excited!

Showing off all of the eggs

Counting them to make sure they are all there

Our little model!

Running to the eggs

She had such a great day! And so did we!

She is our kind of girl....dresses like a girl but plays like a boy! LOVE IT!

What a cute lil family!

We were so happy to be able to spend the day with Grandma and Grandpa. They are always so much fun!

"Jeju"

2010-04-15T22:01:00.000-07:00

(Journal entry)

Last night, April 14, 2010 Hailee and I were sitting at the counter eating dinner and Hailee looked across the room and said "Jeju". I looked to where she was looking and saw the picture of Jesus. I asked her "Are you looking at Jesus?" And she said yes. This was the first time she said who He was. We have her point out pictures of Christ, but she has never actually said it until last night. Then she looked over at me and put her hand on my belly and said "Jake wi Jeju". (Jake is with Jesus). I told her that's right. I asked her if Jake is going to come to our house next week and she said yes. Then I talked to her about when she lived with Jesus and how she knew Jake in Heaven too. It is amazing to see how close children still are to the veil and how much they can feel and recognize their Saviors love for them.

I was so excited this morning, and as soon as Gregg was up, I had Hailee tell him who Jake is with and once again she said he is with Jeju.
She is such an amazing daughter and she amazes me everyday with the things that she learns and understands. She is such a huge blessing in our lives, and we look forward to her being a big sister next week.

Wild Animal Park

2010-04-15T09:03:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, April 3rd 2010, my parents took us all to the Wild Animal Park for a family day! It was so much fun! (Except that we missed Gregg and Rick!)
Hailee absolutely LOVED it! It took her a while to warm up to liking the animals, but once she did, she was all about it.

We arrived to the park around 11am, and both girls were ready to go! (Except that Hailee wasn't too thrilled to have to be in a stroller. She is all about walking and not being pushed)

We started our adventure off with going into the area where you can pet the animals. Hailee didn't care for this at all.

But with Grandpa and Grandma's help, she started to relax and enjoyed it at the very end.

Hailee being silly in the log
Mommy and Hailee
Hailee's favorite animal right now is a monkey (Well, dogs too). But she absolutely LOVES monkeys! She had fun watching these lil guys swing around.

While my Mom waited in line for us for the safari, we went over and saw the lions.

Once we were done looking at the lions, we raced over to the safari tour and all hopped onto the car.

The two best parents!

Hailee decided she needed to wear her monkey back pack. The funny thing is that she would not let me hold the leash at all. Everyone else was allowed to, except for me. She thought it was so fun having it on! She skipped and laughed the entire time she wore it!

Waiting for the tram to start

My all time favorite animal....giraffes!

Us kids having a great time!

Grandma and Hailee have so much fun together! And Grandma is such a great sport for playing on the slides with Hailee!

The gorillas....I never realized how HUGE they are!

All of us!

The elephants. This lil one was born in February. He is already so huge!

Our little chick
At the very end, we went on the carousel. Grandma told Hailee she was riding on a doggy, which made Hailee so excited!
Kip, Sarah and Brooke

We had such a great day and really appreciate Mom and Dad aka Grandma and Grandpa taking us there. We love you guys!

Baby Shower

2010-04-11T09:28:00.000-07:00

My Mom gave me the most wonderful baby shower ever! It was seriously so much fun and it was so fun to be with so many wonderful and great friends! I don't think I have ever laughed so much at a baby shower either! She came up with the most hysterical fun games ever! The first game that was played was "Octo-mommy" where each group was given 8 balloons and had to pin cloth diapers on with out popping the balloons and the second game was "Project Runway" and each team had to design and model a "going home" outfit for the hospital. Everyone got into this game so much! When the clothing was designed, then each team would send their model out and they had a commentary person talk about the outfit. Some of the things people were saying were hysterical!
I had so much fun and was so blessed to receive so many wonderful gifts for Jake. I really appreciate all of the hard work and effort that was put into this shower. Thank you again Mom and everyone else who came to support me at the shower!

Playing the octo-mommy game

Working on the project run way outfits

A few of my friends from the gym...
Project run way

Hailee had so much fun too! She was the little social butterfly the entire night!
The winning team of the project run way!
Project run way models! You ladies look HOT!
Opening gifts. People brought Hailee gifts also. She had such a fun time opening them and helping me open all of the other gifts Sarah, Me and JessicaLisa and I. She was such a big help too in the shower!
Amanda, Cathy and my Mom. Thank you!

Ward Baby Shower

2010-04-05T21:26:00.000-07:00

My friend Susi gave me an awesome shower for our ward. She is such a great friend and I really appreciate all that she (and everyone else) did for the shower. They are all so thoughtful and I got so many wonderful gifts!

My friend Amy in the ward made this cake....and she even made the bottle! I thought it was a real bottle, but its made out of chocolate. AMAZING! After everyone ate the great food, we played a fun memory matching game
And then opened the gifts!
Thanks again so much to everyone!

AfterI brought all of the gifts home, Hailee played with them for several days! She would put them in one bag and then to another and then to the drawers, and then do it all over again! She is such a little organizer. It is so cute too because with every outfit, she would hold it up and say "Baby" and then rub my tummy. She is going to be such a great big sister! (And yes, my child is naked.....it was another pool day for her! lol)

Backyard Fun

2010-04-05T21:13:00.000-07:00

The time is sure flying by fast! I keep telling myself every night that I am going to catch up on my blogging, but by the time the night rolls around, I am too exhausted But...it is my goal to get caught up in the next two weeks before Jake comes!
Gregg has been spending alot of time in the back yard lately. He has been getting it ready for grass so Hailee will have a fun yard to play in this summer! While Gregg has been working on the grass, Hailee has been working on her flowers! Grandma gave Hailee these little pots and seeds to plant and Hailee has had so much fun with it! After about a week, we transplanted them into a little planter, and they are growing good! Hailee enjoys watering them everyday!

With the warmer weather that we had been having, Hailee decided it was time to work on her tan. I guess she is going for the full body, no tan line, type of tan, because she kept refusing to put her bathing suit on. I say,"Hey, she's young...let her enjoy it!" lol. By end of each day, this is usually how she ends up. Hailee has also decided to go on the "no nap" schedule, which at first, was EXTREMELY hard for me. But I actually really enjoy it now because I feel like I am able to get so much more accomplished in the day! We can now go shopping at 3pm when that used to be in the middle of her nap. The best part too is that she is usually asleep at the latest by 8pm now. (When she took naps, we were lucky to get her in bed by 10pm!)

Happy Easter!

2010-04-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

Wishing everyone a Happy Easter! May we all remember the true meaning of this day!

34 Weeks Already?

2010-03-22T19:23:00.000-07:00

I honestly can not believe that I am 34 weeks along! I feel like I was just doing my 30 week post. I have no clue where this past month went!
We are getting so anxious for little Jake to be coming into our family. We have both definitely begun the nesting phase...we have been working on Jake's room, cleaning, and Gregg has started the back yard. (Getting it ready for grass for Hailee!)

I have my official delivery date..... April 23rd at 7:30am! That means that I only have 4 weeks and 3 1/2 days to go! How crazy is that?!? I feel like there is still so much to get done, but I know that it will!
Hailee is also getting so excited! I had my first baby shower last week (Pics will come soon). Everyday Hailee organizes the clothes that we got from the shower (She has a thing of putting them from one gift bag to the other) and then she holds them up and says "Baby.." and rubs my tummy. She has been working on getting "Jakes" name down perfectly. It is so cute seeing her so excited now!
Enjoy my 34 week picture! I have grown alot, am ghostly white and have been sick the past several days, but here it is!

Cinderella

2010-03-19T22:30:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, Hailee and I went with my parents to see the play "Cinderella" in Corona. One of our clients daughters was in the play so it made it even more fun to watch! These kids did such an amazing job! They were all so talented and the play was just darling! Hailee especially loved it. She sat on Grandma's lap for almost 2 solid hours laughing and clapping the entire time! She is one girl who definitely loves plays and music! Thanks Mom and Dad! We had so much fun!

The girl in the picture with us is Tonya's daughter (Tonya is a client)

The Fairy God Mother. She was only 13 and had the most incredible voice!
Us with the Prince and Cinderella

The ugly step sister. She was hilarious!

After the play, we were able to go up on stage. Hailee had so much fun playing on the set!

She is such a doll!

This and That

2010-03-09T22:04:00.000-08:00

This past week or two has felt so busy, but looking back, I really haven't taken that many pictures. I guess its because the "busyness" has been doing things around the house...and come on, how exciting would it be to post pictures of loads of laundry, painting, and cleaning?

But, when we were out having fun, I did manage to take a few pictures.

Last week I had put Hailee's sides up and then braided them. Later that night when we took the braids out, her hair was wavy and looked darling! So I thought I would try and braid all of her hair so it would all be wavy! The braids were a success! But the waves were not. After about half an hour she started taking them all out! Her hair was still damp so it went straight. I was pretty bummed, but I will attempt this again!

One morning while Gregg was asleep, Hailee and I decorated a bunch of hearts to heart attack "daddy's car" for when he went to work. It was alot of fun! I'm really happy that we ended up doing it that day, especially because he ended up having to go to work soaking wet! No fun! (The story: Hailee had turned on the lights in my car and I didn't realize it until the battery was dead. It was pouring rain, my car was stuck in the garage, and of course I didn't leave room for Gregg's car, so Gregg had to push my car onto the driveway, and then jump start mine. And to remind you, it was POURING rain the entire time! He was soaked from head to toe and then had to rush off to work! He is one great husband!)

Since the weather has been beautiful lately, we have spent several days at the park! It's been so much fun!

This is the best hill ever; it's at the park and I don't know why, but alot of the times, Hailee would rather run up and down it instead of playing on the slides. I am definitely not complaining because it tires her out and her naps on these days are AMAZING! She has so much fun and we are so happy and blessed to have such an active little girl!

Hailee and her friends Morgan and McKayla at top of the hill

Hailee loves to go on walks. Some days she is full of energy and other days she is very serious on them. I am guessing this was one of her more serious days because she kept acting like she was thinking about something serious the entire time! She is too funny! In the evenings when it is too cold outside, we turn our kitchen into the "bubble" room! Hailee absolutely LOVES bubbles and loves to pop them!

That's about it for now! More new pictures coming soon!

Growing Up...

2010-03-03T21:26:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how fast Hailee is growing up. It is so bittersweet. We are so thrilled and excited to see her grow and learn but then sad to see her grow up so fast! She is such a special daughter to us and we love her more than words can ever express. She is constantly always on my mind and she is my angel.

Hailee is always so full of energy. It usually doesn't matter what time of day or night it is, she is always up for running around and dancing. She always keeps us on our toes and constantly has us cracking up all the time! She is hysterical! One of her newest things that she does (all through out the day) is she carries around my address book and opens it to a page and starts singing. Then when her song is done, she folds her arms and prays. She does this over and over and over! It's so amazing to see how much they learn at such a young age. She definitely is a girl who loves singing! She also repeats the ABC's to us (with our help) and she knows all of the hand signs to Itsy Bitsy Spider, Popcorn Popping, The Animal Song (They do it in nursery) Head Shoulders Knees and Toes and the Tooth brushing song from Barney. Everyday she surprises us with new things! I am definetely going to start teaching her more songs!

She is also following in our footsteps with loving to work out. She wants to go on daily walks, and if we are unable to, then she wants to go on a walk on the treadmill. She thinks the treadmill is so much fun! She also does work outs with Gregg. She will copy all of the movements that he is doing. She is going to be one active girl growing up!
She is such a joy in our lives and she is going to be such an amazing big sister! She is the sweetest little girl ever! We love her so much!

Family Hike

2010-02-26T15:07:00.000-08:00

On Monday Feb. 15th, we went down to the Santa Rosa Plataea to go for a family hike! It has become one of our favorite places to go! We hiked to the adobe homes again and had a great time! Hailee is our little amazing little hiker! On the way to the homes, she hiked a solid mile then took a break in the stroller for about fifteen minutes and then hiked another half of a mile on her own! On the way back she wanted to "walk" again, so she lasted about 3/4 of a mile before she was finally tuckered out and fell asleep in the stroller. She seriously has so much energy! I never imagined that a two year old could LOVE hiking so much! The entire time she was either talking, laughing or singing as she hiked! Another awesome thing was that on the way back we had passed another family whose 8 year old daughter (we heard them say her age) was sprawled out on the trail refusing to go any further. (And they had at least 2 miles left to go still!) And here comes Hailee skipping by as happy as can be! The Mom of the other child told her daughter "Look....a 2 year old can do this hike...and you can't? That's pretty pathetic of you!" (She seemed like she was kind of a mean Mom from the other things she was saying) But we were so proud of our little Hailee. We were thinking, "Yep! Our girl is awesome!"
We had such a great day and can't wait to go back again!

Then once we got home, Gregg decided to wash the Tahoe and Hailee enjoyed helping!!! However, she did get bored of washing my car so she started putting the soap of Gregg's car! He ended up having to wash both vehicles!

Am I REALLY 30 Weeks????

2010-02-21T19:38:00.000-08:00

This pregnancy has been FLYING by! I definitely enjoy being pregnant, but now I am just so anxious for Jake to get here! I only have 9 more weeks left until I will be holding him in my arms! I can't wait!
However, I am starting to get a little overwhelmed right now realizing I only have 9 weeks to go...the nursery still needs to be done, baby showers need to be had, the deep house cleaning needs to be done, I want to get caught up on all of Hailee's stuff (photo books, baby book, etc) and so much more before he comes! Thankfully the "nesting" has kicked in and I have been up till midnight almost every night working on all of my projects that I want finished! I know I don't have to have everything "perfect" before he arrives, but it is sure nice to feel like you are caught up on everything before the baby comes!
So, here you go....my 30 week belly picture!!!

Life seems to be getting busier and busier...

2010-02-17T20:56:00.000-08:00

I really thought that after the holidays life would slow down. Boy, am I wrong. I can't believe that it is almost the end of February! This has been another busy month full of fun!

Hailee has had a busy schedule lately. From park days to parties, she has been enjoying her days.

She went to her friend Ella's 3rd birthday party at the beginning of the month. It was so darling! The theme was "Pinkalicious" and Lindsey (Ella's Mom) had made each girl their own tutu and pink princess wand. The following day, Hailee had been invited to Kaelyn's Valentine's Day party which she had a blast at! They had a huge jumper in the back yard, toys, cookie decorating and crafts. It was just too cute!

This past weekend, my Dad had called to tell me that he had a suite down in Lagunua Beach for the weekend. Him and my brother were going down (My mom was in Arizona) and they invited Hailee and I to come down and enjoy the beach! (Gregg was working). Of course we didn't want to pass up on this opportunity! We had so much fun! The weather was absolutely BEAUTIFUL and Hailee had such a great time with Grandpa and Uncle Ricky. Thank you so much Dad! You are the greatest!

Views looking off of the balcony from our room

Hailee adores her Uncle Ricky. (Bock) It was so precious to see these two watching the waves together!

Hailee with Uncle Rick and Grandpa

We have been having such a wonderful and fun month; but life really needs to slow down!

Grandma Duh and Pa Skip Come to Visit

2010-02-15T19:56:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of February, Gregg's Mom and step dad came out to visit us. It was their first time coming since we have been in CA so we were really excited to be able to show them our "life" out here and our home!
We had such a great time with them! Hailee had a blast with them and absolutely loved having people in the backseat of the car with her!

We took Grandma Duh and Pa Skip on a walk around our neighborhood to show them everything. The weather was so nice! It had rained the previous day so it was really nice to be able to get out of the house for a nice long walk.

Grandma Duh and Pa gave Hailee a new nickname...."Twinkle Toes!" Hailee is constantly running around on her tippy toes! It is so cute! On the walk, Hailee ran close to 90% of it, never slowing down. She seriously has so much energy!

Hailee found Grandma's purse and had so much fun exploring everything in it! Grandma was a great sport and let Hailee put on her make up. I wish I would have gotten a picture after Hailee had put a bunch of eye shadow on too! She was one true beauty! lol. She had it on her cheeks, chin and eyes!

While the Grandparents were in town, we were able to go up to my parents house, Grandpa and Grandma Robinson's for our monthly family night! It was alot of fun! They made a wonderful dinner, gave a great lesson and then we all visited for rest of the night.
Hailee had a fun time seeing Brooke again too. They played behind the couch decorating it with stickers!

Then once they got bored of that, Hailee decided that Brooke needed to go for a ride on the quad. They were just too cute together!

The last day that Marcia and Skip were here, they took us to do a lot of baby shopping. It was alot of fun! That night we went out to dinner at CPK. It was their first time ever eating there, so we are glad they ended up liking it!

That night after dinner, Marcia helped Gregg make the famous "Chex Mix". Now, this is something "sacred" to Gregg. LOL. He talks about this chex mix all of the time and always asks his Mom to mail him some! They made the biggest batch of it I have ever seen, and Gregg is still working on eating it! It is seriously one of his most favorite snacks ever!
We had so much fun having them in town and hope they can visit again soon!

And this last picture, well, I'm not quite sure what Hailee was doing or thinking, but that's how we found her baby!

Picture Perfect

2010-02-11T22:14:00.001-08:00

About a week ago, Hailee and I were at my parents house and my Mom was taking belly pictures of me and Hailee decided she wanted to join in on the fun! She was having so much fun with the frame! She definetely is a picture perfect girl!

Also, the other day Hailee was being a little stinker about taking a nap. Everytime I would try to get her, she would run in her house and shut the door on me. Finally, I asked her if she wanted to take a nap in her house and she said yes. So I brought down her blankets and pillow and she ended up laying down in there for a good 30 minutes. She never fell asleep, but it did get her tired enough that she finally did take a nap in her bed. She is one silly girl!

2010-02-03T22:00:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, my parents had our family pictures taken. It had been quite a while since we have had them done, so it was really exciting to have them taken again! There were so many to chose from, (Which I will probably end up posting more later) but here are a few that I love! I can't wait to get alot of these printed and hung!

Our little sunshine Hailee and Brooke
Daddy and Hailee playing

Robinson/Hardy Family It's getting so big!

The loves of my life (I am def. going to be framing this picture!)

My cute younger brother!

My beautiful parents

My sweetie

Grandma and Grandpa with their girls

Thanks Mom and Dad for the wonderful memories and the gift of family pictures!

Hailee's First Dentist Trip

2010-02-02T15:53:00.000-08:00

Today (2/2/10) Hailee had her first trip to the dentist! I was a little nervous about how it would go, so all morning I kept explaining to her that we are going to a really fun doctor who will look at her teeth and count them! I don't really think she had a clue about what I was talking about though!
We got to the dentist and Hailee ran right over to all of the Lego's and played while we waited. Each time a kid would go back, she would look at me and pointed to her ears. (Probably because she has been to the doctor so much and he always checks her ears.) I told her "That's right,it is a doctor, but its a special doctor called a dentist who will look at your teeth."

When it was her turn, I took her back and she sat on the chair like such a big girl. They had a talking stuffed animal that she played with, and then when the dentist came in, she explained to Hailee everything that she was going to do. This dentist is AWESOME! She sang songs the ENTIRE time and let Hailee hold the special tooth mirror! Hailee wasn't afraid at all! She let them count, brush, floss, and polish her teeth! The best news too is that she is cavity free!
Afterwards, she was given a bunch of stickers, a new tooth brush and she was able to pick out a special toy from the treasure chest. (She chose a toy race car!)
I'm so happy she did so well today! She is becoming such a big girl!

Rainy Days In....Sunny Days Out....

2010-01-29T11:35:00.000-08:00

With all of the crazy rain that we had (Which I wish it would STILL RAIN!) we have had to be creative with getting energy out of Hailee! We had a couple of play dates at our house, which was alot of fun!

The girls watching Tinkerbell with their popcorn

Each day while it was raining, I moved the car out and put a bunch of Hailee's toys in the garage to run around and play with! I don't know what is so exciting about playing in the garage, but she loved it!

She went on many car, wagon and bike rides alont with running around and going down the slide a hundred or so times!

As soon as the weather got better, we hit the park a few days in a row which was so nice! Hailee was sure excited to be back outside playing again!

We met up with our friends Shannon and Deek at the outlets to let the kids play (while we shopped) and they had so much fun!

Hopefully we will get a few more good storms this winter, but until then, we will enjoy the sunshine everyday!

What we've been up to....

2010-01-17T22:32:00.000-08:00

These past few weeks seems like we have spent alot of time at home. Hailee has been sick with one thing after another! First she had a cold, runny nose, then it went to a double eye infection, upper respiratory infection, fever and the latest has been infected tonsils. Right now she is on two separate antibiotics. This winter has sure been tough on her! Hopefully the medicine will cure all and she will be back to her healthy self for a long time!

Since we have been mostly indoors, we have played alot of dress up. Her favorite though is wearing my heels around the house. I am so surprised at how well she walks in them! You would think she was born wearing heels!

That's my girl! Total girly!

The days that she has been feeling well, we have been keeping busy! Daddy took us girls out to dinner the other night. (1/13/10) We went to our favorite restaurant...California Pizza Kitchen!

Grandma bought two new exciting toys! She bought this quad and a red sports car! My Mom gave me both of them to take home to see which one Hailee would enjoy the best. It was so hard to decide because she LOVED them both! She goes so fast on them! The quad is now at Grandma's house for when we play there, and the red car is at our house for everyday use! Thanks Grandma! You are the best!

On Friday Jan 17th, we were able to meet up with Ricky's girlfriend and her family. They were on vacation here from Colorado (and Utah). We met them in Brea for a great dinner. They are such a sweet family and we had a great time getting to know them, and seeing Janae again! She is such an awesome girl and seriously has some of the cutest clothes ever!

Hailee had a great time with Janae too! They played with Hailee's rubber bands and Janae was such a good sport to let Hailee do her hair!

When Hailee hasn't been feeling the greatest, we have also had many, many tea parties. It is so fascinating to watch her use her imagination. We will pretend to eat and drink and once we are done, she gathers all of the dishes and takes them into her house to wash them. She is growing up so fast!
Tonight, (1/17) we had our first Family FHE. This year our family is focused on becoming closer to one another and uniting more as a family. We are taking turns each month at each others houses to give the lesson and play games. Tonight was alot of fun and we look forward to next month!

Hailee's favorite game tonight was "Ring Around the Rosies!" I don't know how many times we played it, but by the end we were all feeling so dizzy!

We also played Taboo, our new favorite game! Grandma and Grandpa beat Gregg and I! Good job!

That's about it for now.... stay tuned until the next post!

24 Weeks and Feelin Huge!

2010-01-11T14:13:00.000-08:00

Wow! I can't believe that I am already to 24 weeks! I wasn't going to post pics until the very end of my 6th month, but I felt like my belly has changed alot! It seriously seemed like a couple days after my doctor banned me from running that it popped out! (I know it will keep popping out more and more...but this was the first "noticable" one!) So, here I am....24 weeks! (Oh...I only have 15 weeks left! Woo hoo!)

(I knew Hailee was by me in the pictures...but I just noticed she had her shirt up for the pictures again! What a silly girl!)

Also, Hailee has been sick again. She has had a rough couple months being sick on and off. I took her to urgent care yesterday and she was able to get some antibiotics. Hopefully she will get better and stay better for a long long time!

So Grown Up....

2010-01-08T23:49:00.000-08:00

Wow, I knew that Hailee has grown up so much this past year...but I never realized how much she really did until I started looking at pictures from a year ago! She looked like such a little baby and now she is such a toddler! It is amazing how fast they really do grow up. It is so fun seeing her change, but I always tell her if she wants to stay little forever, that Mommy and Daddy will be happy with that! No matter how big she gets, she will always be Mommy and Daddy's little girl!

January 2009

December 2009

(Her hair grew sooo much too!)