HaPpY 6 MoNtH BiRtHdAy HALLE!!!

My baby is 6 months old TODAY!!! I can hardly stand it! Where does all the time go? My kids think I am crazy, but we have been singing Happy Birthday to her all day long! I remembered yesterday that today was the 21st, but it wasn't until I got the video camera out, cuz she was talking so cute that when I looked at the date I realized it!

I ran to the store quick when the kids got home from school and had Brinley and Halle with me. When I was checking out there was a basket of suckers on the counter so I asked Brinley if she wanted one, I grabbed one for Halle just to hold thinking Boston could have it later or whatever! Yeah right! That girl started sucking on that thing and was going crazy! She was getting the flavor through the wrapper of the sucker she was sucking so hard (these were just the little dum dum's) and she totally had red slobber running all the way down her face and shirt! NICE! She even fell asleep on the way home sucking it! Too cute! But of course woke up when I went inside to grab my camera! So, we decided after we got home from Zach's basketball game tonight to strip her down and give her the "real" thing without the wrapper on it! This was her very first taste of a treat, and funny, but I think she like it better with the wrapper on! It was more of a challenge for her! :) She liked it for a little bit, but kept throwing it on the floor. At one point, the sucker was stuck on her cheek and had us all laughing pretty hard! Oh, babies bring so much joy! I can't think of our lives without Halle, she was for sure meant to come to our family! She has brought so much love and happiness into our home it is unbelievable! I just want to put my kids in a bubble right now, and never pop it!

If I have learned anything, it is to enjoy EACH MOMENT! They are going to keep growing whether I like it or not, so I better just enjoy each little stage that they are in and quit wishing that they were this, or that! I have really tried to do this with Halle, where she is my last baby, and it is so fun!

I look back at her tiny little body when we brought her home from the hospital, and never imagined that she would be a whoppin 20 lbs. at 6 months old!

I miss burping her in the night after she had eaten and just holding her on my chest melting into my body.

But I LOVE sitting her up after I have fed her and having her burp and look at me with those pretty little eyes like "What was that?"

I miss her sleeping ALL day long, and not being able to wake her up for anything, even to eat...

But I LOVE listening to her giggle and jabber when she is awake during the day now, and watching her play on the ground as she rolls around, and is trying to sit up!

Each little stage she goes through is SO much fun! She rolled over for the first time on Jan. 10! I remember the date, cuz when I wrote it down, I thought it was cool! 1-10-10

She is sitting up for a little bit at a time now, but I have to stay close by for when she decides to tip over! She loves to be on her belly to play, the second I lay her down on her back she flips right over! We just love this little girl, I can't believe in another 6 months she will be turning 1!

We love you little CHUVVAS!

(Boston gave her this nickname- we would call her little "Chubbas" I don't know where he got the "v" from, but he thought we were saying "chuvvas" and that's what he would call her, well, now we ALL call her that! Too funny! :)

Halle sucking on her toes! One of her favorite things to do!

Super Mario Bros. Wii

If you don't own this game, I highly suggest that you buy it! My kids got this game for Christmas, and just LOVE it! It is fun for the whole family to play! I love that you can play 4 players at a time, and play TOGETHER! Then they get so excited for each other when the other one does something good or saves their life or something! I think I spent way too much time last week when my kids were sick playing this game with them! But it was SO much fun! I didn't get anything done in the house, but I had fun playing Super Mario Bros. with my kids! And guess what the laundry is still there, it didn't go anywhere! :) It totally reminds me of when I was a kid when we got our first Nintendo and we spent hours playing this game! But this one is ten times cooler! I just wish it had a timer on it that you could set for a certain time and it would go off, cuz it is SO addicting! My kids are on World 7-1 right now, and this is what we ended up doing for F.H.E. tonight... Whoops! As long as it doesn't happen every Mon. night right?

Bryce Canyon- Ski Trip!

I LOVE this picture of Morgan and Z!

This past Friday and Saturday Morgan and Zach were able to go with the scouts/dads/leaders in our ward on a Cross-Country Skiing Trip to Bryce Canyon. They had such a great time! I am proud of Zach for keeping up with his scouts when he is so busy with sports! During football season he wasn't able to go to scouts 1 time and still did everything at home to earn his Webelos and Arrow of Light awards! When he IS able to go to scouts, he always has a great time! This was the first overnighter he has gone on and I am so glad that Morgan was able to go with him! They stayed at the Ruby's Inn Friday night, and woke up early Saturday to start skiing! Neither one of them had done it before, and I guess Zach spent alot of time on the ground...Falling... Sorry bud! I guess they took a wrong turn and ended up going on the 7 mile trail with the older boys instead of the 3 mile trail, so they were a little pooped! They had a great time and even met up with Zach's basketball team on the way home so he could play in his game that night! Way to go boys! Glad you made it home in one piece!

I was home with Brinley, Boston, and Halle, so we decided to hit the mall and go walk around for a bit! My kids LOVE going to the mall, and surprisingly enough, they didn't even ask for one thing! We went to P.F. Chang's and had a YUMMY dinner! (Yes, I got a few looks as I walked in with my 3 kids ALONE on a Friday night!) Good thing they are so cute, and well behaved!

We hit Krispy Kreme on the way home and came home and watched Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs and all crashed in my bed! What a fun night it was! Saturday they helped me clean the house, for some reason they wanted to mop the floors, so I said Yeah, let's go for it! They were so cute, I handed Boston a rag and he wiped down all the baseboards for me! Then we ordered pizza when all the work was done! A CLEAN house and not having to cook, what else can I ask for? We finally made it through our week of everyone being sick... and are back to -normal- I hope!

Hittin the Trail!

Beautiful view!

(Thanks for the pictures Bro. Nelson!)

BrInLeY's SpEcIaL bApTiSm DaY!!!

My BEAUTIFUL little girl was baptized last saturday Jan. 2, 2010 and became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints! It was a wonderful day! Thank you to all of our family and friends who supported Brinley on her special day! She truly felt like a princess! She even wanted to stay in her white dress all day, and honestly didn't take it off until she got in her p.j.'s that night! She was so beautiful all day long, and never stopped smiling! I am so grateful for Morgan and for the priesthood that he holds! He always does such a good job when giving our kids a blessing! He gave Brinley a wonderful blessing after her baptism! The spirit was so strong! I hope she will always remember the way that she felt that day! We are so proud of you Brin, and for the decision you made to be baptized!

Brinley and her Daddy right before the baptism!

In her beautiful white dress!

All of her cousins that were there that day! (Boston was going potty)!

This was the best family pic we got! Boston was a little tired of taking pictures... can you tell? :)

Brinley with her Grandpa and Grandma Bingham.

Brinley with her Grandpa and Grandma Udy.

With Uncle Matt (Morgan's younger brother)

He flew in from Phoenix for a few days!

My kids absolutely adore him, I'm sure he goes home exhausted after visiting!

Brinley wanted to take a picture of all the gifts she received! Thank you everyone for thinking of her, she loved everything she got!

She got this pillow case and colored it that night, she did such a good job on it, and loves sleeping on it every night! :)

*BTW* This is my 200th post! I thought that was pretty cool! It was exactly 2 years ago that I started blogging! So, I figured that made about 8 posts a month which is an average of 2 new posts every week! Not bad huh? :)

The Three sick kids!!!

(Instead of the Three Little Pigs) Ha Ha!

It all started with this little girl! Sat. night after Brinley's baptism (which I still need to post about- just wait!) seriously right after everyone left, Halle started throwing up! She pretty much threw up all night, and it was mostly on Morgan and I cuz we were always holding her! I just HATE having a sick little baby! It is so scary! She was not herself for 2 days, and finally Monday started smiling, laughing, and talking to us again! But all day sunday she would just lay there and moan and was running a high fever! We felt so bad for her and missed our happy baby! I could tell Monday when she woke up that she felt better and she wasn't running a fever anymore, so I cancelled her appt. that I had made that morning! But this is how she was, just like in this picture for 2 days! Just wanted to lay there and would fall asleep even while I was changing her diaper! :( So, now that she is feeling better, she is TEETHING! And is a BEAR! I don't remember any of my other kids having such a hard time getting their teeth in, I would just give them a few teething tablets, and they would stop crying and be fine! Halle will scream for hours! I will give her Motrin, teething tables, frozen otter pops to chew on, and anything else we can think of! She won't sleep, won't eat, and is just uncomfortable ALL of the time! I know this won't last forever, and we just have to make it through it!

So, yesterday Boston said he had a stomachache all day, and basically just laid on the couch and didn't feel like doing anything. He went to sleep without eating, and I was thinking/hoping that he wasn't getting what Halle had and was just hungry! Sad to say, but sometimes I forget to feed that kid! And he will never tell me he's hungry unless we are driving by a McDonald's of course! So, I finally got Halle to sleep at 1 a.m. lastnight and I had fallen asleep in the recliner with her, and hear little footsteps coming down the stairs, thinking it is Boston, but NO it is BRINLEY! She was crying and saying her belly hurt and that she needed a drink! I told her to lay on the couch so I could go lay Halle down and help her. So what does she do- Pukes all over the living room carpet! LOVELY! Luckily there was a bowl right there for Boston, and she grabbed that to finish in! So, after getting her taken care of and scrubbing the carpet for 20 min. I took her upstairs to her room, and she said she had to throw up again, off to the bathroom she runs, but doesn't quite make it to the toilet! So, hey why not scrub your bathroom down at 2 a.m.? Good thing I hadn't already cleaned it after the in-law's left!

So, needless to say I was a little tired this morning, and didn't even hear Morgan or Zach get up! Boston climbed out of bed at 9, and when I came out he said "Mommy, do you know why I got up?" I said NO. He said "Cuz you were sleeping too long, and I was BORED!" What a cute kid! And no I am not writing this for your sympathy, I know you can all relate, and this is just what part of being a mom is all about! I just want to look back and remember this night! :)

HapPy NeW yEaR!!!

I wish I could add video to the sound of this picture!!! I put a party "helmet" on Halle and all the kids started blowing their noisemakers at once! It kinda freaked her out a little! I still thought she looked cute though!

All the cute kiddos at midnight!

Halle was so funny when I opened this Coke up she dove right for it and kept smacking her lips! It was too funny! Yeah, I just go for the hard stuff now! J/K! Brinley opened this up and I wasn't going to let her drink it, so I had to try it out for myself!

Thanks Madsen's for a fun New Year's party! We all had a blast!

I am actually looking forward to the New Year! I feel like things have been so busy since we had Halle! I'm hoping to relax and ENJOY!

Brinley gets baptized tomorrow! I am so excited for her! It will be a special day for sure! I'm sure I will have lots of pictures to share!

Christmas Day

We had a wonderful Christmas! The kids always look forward to acting out the "Nativity" scene on Christmas Eve! Boston was really into his part as the Shepherd this year! He was so cute! The picture above is just precious to me! The kids were so excited to have Halle be "Baby Jesus"! She was so sweet! Brinley even wrapped her in swaddling clothes! I wish I would have gotten it on video. But only half of my brain cells are working right now!

(Morgan as the donkey!) :)