Happy Birthday to Hailey!

Hailey turns 7 yrs. old!!!

Happy Birthday my sweet Hailey! I love you!

Birthday pancakes before heading off to school.

Joel took the day off work so he could bring cupcakes to her whole 1st grade class! Hailey got a "no homework" pass and got to go home early. Lucky duck!

I told Hailey to show me "seven" on her hands. (I meant 7 fingers)

This is her interpretation of that. Goofy kid!

Hailey requested another Princess Party this year.

Joel served as the Butler, announcing each Princess as she arrived and serving the hot chocolate at the tea party. What a fun dad!

opening presents!

Hailey's Kitty Cat cake

The Princess Tea Party

The Cutest Boy On the Planet Award

... goes to: Tyler Jacob!!!

This here is the cutest little boy I have ever seen in my life! And that's saying something because I've seen some cute ones! (almost stealing her son's spotlight here is my gorgeous sister Megan). I get to watch Tyler a few times a month and it is hilarious to watch how Shae reacts to him. She obviously senses his cuteness factor and sometimes gets a little jealous. But for the most part she can't get enough of him. Observe:

Shae becoming more and more invasive.

Check out the look on his face! Do you think he's had enough? I think he's ready to go home now. Get used to it little buddy. I have a feeling you're going to get this kind of reaction from girls for the rest of your life.

Happy Birthday to JoLynn!

JoLynn turned 5 years old! I can't believe it.

We love our sweet JoLynn!

She wanted to have her party at Chick Fil-A. We asked them if they do Birthday parties and they were like, "umm.... sure." I guess they don't really "do" parties, but they made an exception for this cute little 5 yr. old. When we showed up, they had decorated the tables with balloons and party favors, and put us right by the play area and the kids had a blast. We brought the cake and the kids, they did everything else at no extra charge. It was great!

The party guests

JoLynn's puppy cake.

Happy Birthday my

sweet JoLynn Rae!

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday to Me!

In October I turned The Big 3-0! Dun, dun, dun.....

Turning 30 is not fun. What is fun is getting together with some of my

most favorite friends in the world.

(to Bethany: You're welcome for not posting the other picture...you know what I mean)

Run & Hike

In October I ran a 5k race around Tempe town lake. It was BLAZING hot that morning... why am I the only one with a beat-red face? This was a fun group to run with! There was another guy who was supposed to run with them, but wasn't able to, so last minute I got to go in his place. I clocked in at 27:31.

3 miles, under 30 minutes, the day before my 30th birthday. Whoot, whoot! (that's me tooting my own horn)

Later that morning we went hiking at the San Tan Regional park. We took all 3 girls and did the Gold Mine Trail. It was really fun. It was a lot hotter than we expected so JoLynn had a hard time at first, but then I promised her an oreo cookie if she could go at least a mile. She cheered right up after that and really got into it, running up and down the hills. Once we make it to 1 mile, it didn't look that much farther to the top, so we decided to keep going (with the promise of 2 oreos instead of just one) and we made it to the top!

The girls really had a good time and they were pretty proud of themselves for "hiking a WHOLE mountain!"

It was pretty steep there at the end, so JoLynn held my hand. It was sweet holding her soft feminine hand in mine. Hailey was thrilled with herself for being so independent and not needing any help.

Joel carried Shae the whole way in the baby backpack. What a guy!

It was a fun morning!

Happy Birthday to Joel!

The big 32. Whoot, whoot! Do you love how much JoLynn adores her daddy? I do.

Our family with Joel's sister (Lisa) and Mom (Anne)

Double chocolate oreo cake...YUMMO!

Anne, Joel, and Lisa

Joel with his favorite Lisa (me)

Employee of the Year Award

Alright, alright... do you think I've embarrassed Hailey for long enough? I guess I better post something to get those pictures off the top of this page.

As one of the most outstanding employees Wells Fargo could ask for, Joel often receives gifts from his customers who are pleased with his services. Sometimes they're awesome gifts like one time a customer gave him a $50 gift card to The Cheese Cake Factory. When I was pregnant with Shae, some customers brought in baby gifts. Other times they're not so awesome, like the other day a thankful gentleman gave him a hard-boiled egg. What the?????

The Awkward Years

Can you guess which ones are the fake teeth?

Today I

Beat my 4 mile personal best! 35:34. I know that most of you are scoffing at my diluted sense of triumph, but it was good for me. Six weeks until the 10k Turkey Trot! Anyone want to run it with me?

MHS Homecoming Game

We went to our Highschool Homecoming game last night. It was fun...and funny. I don't know why, but it made me laugh thinking about how awesome we thought we were in highschool, and to see the current highschool kids thinking they were awesome. But it was fun to see some old friends, and that's what I loved most about highschool.

Me and my Man at our alma mater

Dean and Peggy

(My dad was doing "Mesa Rabbits, We are number one!" Funny)

They had fireworks, and everything!

My juicy nephew Tyler who made out with me at half time.

We all stood, joined arms, and sang "Carry On" at the end.

It was so inspirational!

Autumn

The first morning it was slightly cool outside, H & J wanted to whip out the Santa blanket and watch "Polar Express". But by 9:30 am it had warmed up enough outside that plain tap water was hot enough for their hot chocolate. Welcome to AZ, Autumn!

The Halloween Festivities BEGIN!

The first weekend in October we bust out the

decorations and make cookies to welcome in Halloween!