Our Sweet Baby Halle Jane

Here are some pictures of our new addition. I'm sorry it always takes me awhile to get them up. Halle Jane joined our family on August 21st 7:25 pm. She weighed 7 lbs 13 oz and was 20 inches long. The nurses delivered Halle. I didn't give the doctor enough time to get there. We showed up at 6:50 and Halle came 35 minutes later. It was a perfect delivery. We were a bit surprised by her size she was almost a pound and a half bigger then Taiya and Brynne. Halle is such a sweet little baby. I could hold her all day. She's also a good sleeper so I'm getting decent sleep too.

My favorite part was when the girls came to the hospital to meet Halle. I could hear them in the hall jumping up and down clapping their hands yelling "I'm so excited" Their eyes and smiles were so big. They brought presents, custom wrapped by Taiya, that they wanted to give Halle. They even sang her a few songs. It was so much better then Christmas morning.

Halle looks a lot like Brynne's baby pictures.

Am I a mean mom? I totally love this picture. She was a little ticked about her first bathtime.

I LOVE this little girl. We have nicknamed her Halle Huckleberry.

All the GIRLS.

Summer Fun!!!

I decided I better do a post of the last couple months. Baby #3 is coming in 2 1/2 weeks and once she comes I'm afraid I may never get my blog updated. Life is a little busy. Sorry for the constantly late pictures.

Bedtime stories with Papa.

I made these John Deere jammies for the girls for Christmas. I love that they actually wear them together. Kids are so much fun. Taiya is my gymnast. She's been doing these headstands everywhere. The problem is, she has no fear. She tried to do a headstand on our very top step. Nearly gave me a heart attack.

Brynne has had a bit of a rough summer. Beginning of June she nearly took the end of her pinky off in the toychest. After a late night ER visit, and an appointment to the hand specialist, they scheduled her for surgery. They put 10 stiches in to reconstruct the end of her pinky. I don't know who was more traumatized Brynne or me. It's sooooo sad to see your baby get hurt. Thankfully Brynne's pinky seems to be healing well. It has been a bit of an emotional summer for her.

Aaron's new truck. He seems to wear them out every 3 years. He traded his Chevy for a Ford. And he is obviously enjoying his new ride.

In June we were visiting my mom for Zack's wedding. Along with the food shopping, we showed the girls the beautiful Falls in Idaho Falls.

Brynne at Bear Lake, she had a great time. Her bandage didn't seem to hold her back from sand castles and fun.

Taiya entertained herself with snorkeling, swimming, jet skiing, and of course sandcastles.

We set up a large slip and slide in the backyard. Due to my growing belly, I couldn't really show the girls how it's done. After a lot of explaining Taiya actually figured out how to run and slide.

Brynne liked to dance and drink the water.

Just another dirtpile in the backyard. The girls and papa made it to the top of the mountain.

I love this picture!!!!

We finally made it over the mountains for our first camping trip this summer. We played in the river after a hot morning of dirtbike riding. Brynne set her chair right in the middle of the river .

The river had the perfect spot for a little river rafting. It was only eight inches deep but had just enough current to send Taiya down the river to Papa who was waiting to stop her before the real rapids started. I love that HAPPY FACE!!!!

A Little Bit of Everything

The last month was filled with many random things. So I have lots of pictures to share. This is our new sweet puppy Hazel. Taiya's new best friend. She's already grown a ton since this picture. Too bad they grow so fast. Somehow I got convinced we needed another dog, but Hazel is such a good pup already, it's really been fun. So I now take care of 2 dogs, 10 fish, 2 frogs, 1 snail, 1 husband, 2 girls and 1 more girl on the way. Due August 25th.
Taiya turned 5 on March 23rd I can hardly believe my baby is 5. Although, Taiya has always been mature for her age. We held a birthday party for her at a super fun jumpy house. All the kiddos from preschool and church came to play.

These kabobs worked out perfectly. The kids didn't have to stop and have a sit down meal, they could take one of these on the run. We also had meat and cheese kabobs too. Taiya and Brynne had fun making these.

I made an oversized cupcake for Taiya's birthday. She thought that was pretty cool. We had lots of family over for cake and ice cream. Grandma and Grandpa Stafford got her the new dress and headband she's wearing. It only took seconds for her to change into it. She truly looked like a princess on her birthday.
March is the month of birthdays. On March 31st we celebrated Aaron's birthday. He's 31 this year. We went to his favorite place in Seattle to get Brazilian food at the Inpanema Grill. I didn't have my camera so sorry - no pics.
This picture sums Brynne up. She is such a PRINCESS who loves the dirt. She'll only wear dresses and always wants her hair long "like a princess" she says. Anyways, I love that she'll throw on her rubber boots and play in one of the many dirt piles we have around here.
Here's our current sandbox. Brynne played on this hill for hours. The sandbox equipment is Aaron's from his sandbox days. Aaron still plays with equipment just on a much larger scale.
The girls love riding in the trailer while Aaron mows the lawn. This trailer has come in super handy. He put our extra snowmobile seat in the back so they can sit down. They'll cruise like this for hours. Aaron has to make frequent stops though, so he can let Taiya out to catch all the frogs hoppin around. Can I just say that I love living out in the country. I'm not sure we would fit in anywhere else.
The girls are emptying their candy from their eggs. They got way too much. I think we'll be eating Easter candy on 4th of July.
Every General Conference I pull out my bow making stuff and make bows for a couple of days. Good thing I'm having another girl, because I have way too many bows.
This river is about 2 miles from our property. Aaron and the girls love to take the dogs for a swim here. Notice she actually has pants on. Under her dress of course. It's such a fight to get her in pants I guess we actually won this day.

My little family freezing at the river.
We had a fun FHE we snowmobilied to a cabin at Govenment Meadows. Everyone had a great time. The girls were begging to do it again. Aaron and Brynne riding.
Taiya and I on the ride up.
My G-ma turned 90 this year, so all of the extended family got together in Sun City, AZ to celebrate. We arrived on April 9th and returned on the 11th. It was a quick weekend trip. We left the girls with Aaron's parents. Thanks Don and Sue.
Can I just say I have the coolest G-ma ever. I want to be just like her. She has so much energy and enthusiasum for life. She is a very talented, classy lady. It was a treat to visit. Too bad it was only for a short weekend.

Aaron and I took G-ma's peddle boat for a ride on the lake. (No worries Kyra the swans didn't attack us.) Just soaking in the sunshine.

This was at the yummy lunch celebration. We are sitting with Rachel and her new husband Warren. Taiya saw this picture of Aaron and said, "wow papa you look handsome." I'd have to agree. He cleans up well.
Saturday night we took the girls to the Spring fair in Puyallup. It had been raining all day but thankfully held off for a few rides.


The girls can't get enough of the rollercoasters. They even put their hands in the air and squeal. It shouldn't surprise me that they aren't scared, I guess they've been on dirtbikes and quads since they were babies. One cool thing about being a parent, I never knew it would be more fun to watch my girls go on rides then to go myself.

Holy cow! Where has the time gone?

So life has been a little crazy. Sorry for slacking so bad on my blog. I think I am finally catching up. I just sorted my last 3 months of pictures. I have a lot of random ones to share. Here they are:

This picture was just taken on Thursday. What a beautiful day!!! The girls & I have been hanging out for the last 5 days. Aaron is in Canada with some buddies snowmobiling. It sounds like they're getting the same blue clear skies there too. I'm so glad the weather has been good for them. Especially since they drove so far for some great snowmobiling. The girls are constantly asking when Aaron's coming back. We've been holding up well, but are very ready for Papa to come home.
We decided to send Aaron off with his favorite- Chocolate Chip Cookies. Here are my helpers.

Taiya is impressively good in the kitchen. She loves to serve snacks, hot chocolate, oatmeal, cereal, salads etc. She's such a mother hen.

Brynne has been especially happy lately. Thankfully that means I've been doing well with her diet. In November we found out she is allergic to Wheat and Dairy. It's taken me a long while to get this picky eater up and running with a Wheat/Dairy free diet. It is so worth the trouble. When she's eating right, she is the happiest kid around. She's had a tummy ache her whole life and I think it's finally getting better. Yea!

Aaron bought the girls nurf guns for Christmas. So for family night we had a war. Actually it was more like everyone shot mom.

Taiya definitely knows how to use this thing.

Brynne helping my with the frosting for our Valentine cookies.

So for those of you who saw my blog at halloween, there was a picture of Taiya in her ladybug costume I made for her. And I was feeling bad for myself because I made the same costume for Brynne and she wouldn't even try it on. Well, now 3 1/2 months later, she finally decided it was cool to be a ladybug. She's in a much more playful mood lately. Thankfully.

This is the Christmas parade in December. A little late I know, but I loved these pics. and wanted to share.

Enumclaw has the best parades. They're the perfect size. The girls really had a great time.

Brynne obviously had too much fun. It wore her right out.