Family Pictures 2013

Posted by Amber

On the day of the Hadfield Halloween party, we went up Payson Canyon to get family pictures taken by Sarah of Sarah Dixon Photography (website, blog, facebook). Here are some of my favs :)

Henlie took some time to warm up.

This was one of three contenders for an 11" x 14" on our wall.

I let Matt pick which to print, and he didn't pick this one.

I ended up printing this one in 8" x 10" for our parents (to make life easier on Carrie by keeping the same orientation on her family photos wall ;)).

This is the one Matt chose for our wall.

He loves that Henlie is pointing in it.

Meet my current Facebook profile photo! haha

Check out those baby blues!

Grandma Biggs' favorite.

This was the other contender for our wall.

It got printed in 5" x 7" for our grandparents.

I don't think she is quite sure of what is going on.

Aren't the trees awesome?

Thanks for taking our photos, Sarah!

0 comments »

Halloween 2013

Posted by Amber

We ended up having a pretty busy Halloween this year. To start, we did Henlie's one year photos in the day. We were going to do them around 11am, but my sewing machine started having issues, and I really wanted to finish the skirt I wanted her to wear in them. Fortunately, Mom's house was open, even though she was off playing with Charlie and Camile, so I could borrow her machine. It was pretty quick with a sewing machine that actually works! haha I asked Sarah if we could bump the shoot, and she had me bump it even more because her husband had taken the car to work that had some of her equipment in it lol. We did eventually make it out to West Mountain to do Henlie's pictures.

My little girl would NOT sit still. She wanted to run all around. She'd run over to Sarah, and Sarah would let her see herself on the camera. Henlie didn't get the concept of how she got there, though lol. I did a lot of running around and a lot of treat giving. I'm pretty sure her lunch consisted of rice puffs and then her birthday cake :) I've only seen one teaser photo from the shoot so far, but hopefully Sarah has them edited by today (that was the last estimate I'd heard from her :)).

During the smash cake portion, I took video and some (okay, a lot) of shots myself. I'm glad I videoed it. It was entertaining, especially when she lost a couple of the pearl candy sprinkles under her skirt and she went hunting for them! haha!

After we got home and gave the baby girl a bath (she was SO covered in frosting. Yes, that was the point, but at the same time . . . baby wipes kind of sucked at getting it off and de-stickifying her), we had to decide what to do next. I was exhausted after chasing her around, and we still didn't have any candy for the trick or treaters! I eventually decided to dress her and the dog up and visit the grandparents. Matt had school, so he wasn't home. I also didn't dress myself up. First stop, Hadfields. (We always stay longer than we intend, poor girl went to bed late, but she did fine with that fact, thank goodness.)

Great-grandpa Hadfield and Henlie

Great-grandma Hadfield and Henlie

When we got there, Grandma and Grandpa were in the shop with some friends. We then migrated to the house, but first we got a cute little witches hat (probably for a doll, in actuality :)) Grandma and her cousin/friend/I'm still not sure who she is just LOVED Mocha. She does make a pretty cute butterfly. Because of Henlie's spots on her costume, Grandma was reminded of a quilt she had in her shop. It's green with jungle animals, and bordered in some giraffe-looking fabric. That was Henlie's trick-or-treat :) (It's a great blanket. The back is all fuzzy. We may or may not use it in the living room when we get chilly :))

After Hadfield's (and almost forgetting my sunglasses and actually forgetting Henlie's coat - don't worry, we realized before we left Lehi and were able to go back to get it), we went down to Provo to Grandma and Grandpa Covalt's. Grandma was either not home or was laying down because she didn't feel well (I'm not really sure which it was), but we chatted with Grandpa Covalt for a minute. He gave us a sucker. No picture as we didn't actually go in and sit down.

Then it was off to Springville and Mapleton. Fortunately, Christiansens, Erdmanns, and Wilsons all live near each other in a (relatively) straight shot. This was good as it was already late.

Henlie helping Brinton hand out candy to trick-or-treaters at Grandma Christiansen's house.

We went to Grandma and Grandpa Christiansen's first, but they weren't home and the porch light was off. We tried the door, and it was open, but no one was home. Apparently Grandma was off trick-or-treating with Randy and Janel and kids, but they arrived shortly after we broke in ;) Henlie loved following Owen around, probably because he had a sucker haha. Grandma gave us a tootsie-pop for our pumpkin, and then gave her another tootsie-pop so she would have a sucker of her own. Later, she also had a strawberry tootsie roll. I'm pretty sure Holland helped with that one ;)

Henlie and Great-grandma Erdmann

Debating if it is safe to get close enough to Great-grandpa Erdmann to reach the teddy bear.

Checking out the other teddy bears.

Next stop was Erdmann's. We visited for awhile and got a couple little fun-size candybars for Mom and Dad. Henlie was rather interested in Grandma's teddy bears. She even let Grandpa pick her up. It was cute - she was laying across his tummy getting tickles and giggling :)

Great-grandma Wilson and Henlie - note she no longer has a nose or whiskers haha

Henlie and Great-grandpa Wilson

Last on our trip was Wilson's. We got some more goodies and visited for a few minutes before heading home. After all, Daddy had already made it home from class, so we were in trouble! :)

It was fun visiting all of her great-grandparents and showing off Halloween costumes. Another plus? We didn't need to buy candy for any trick-or-treaters because we weren't home haha. Although, Matt did ask me to pick up candy for 1/2 price since I was going to the store on Friday anyway :)

0 comments »

Hadfield Halloween Party

Posted by Amber

The Hadfield Halloween party was on Saturday, Oct. 26th. This also happened to be the day we did family pictures :) After pictures up the canyon, we sped back down with a brief stop by Denise's house to drop off final copies of the Primary program for the next day - just in case I failed to make it to sacrament meeting, as often happens. We got home and hurried to change into our costumes and head to Mom's house. Most of my pictures were blurry :(, but fortunately, Mom put hers in our Dropbox folder, so I can have some less than blurry ones :)

To be honest, I was much more excited for Henlie and Matt's costumes than my own. In fact, I pretty much just threw mine together.

So, this is the only one with all three of us . . . and I have no idea who Matt's talking to or where he's looking :)

Matt was Dr. Robert Chase from House. We've been watching House for awhile (the last disc should come in the mail from Netflix today - so sad!) Anyway, he and Chase are a lot alike and even kind of look like each other, so I decided that was who he was going to be for Halloween haha. We bought the labcoat, borrowed the stethoscope, and I edited a replicated name tag off of DeviantArt (thank you thank you thank you person with mad artistic skills! haha) and used a clip from his old missionary tag to attach it to his coat.

I had already planned Henlie's costume when I was pregnant based off of the onesie I bought on Zulily. And then I found the shoes on Zulily while still pregnant haha. I made her ears and her tail. There is a wire hanger in them to give them shape, unfortunately, that made her tail pretty heavy, so I had to pin it to her shirt if I wanted it to stay up :) I glued the ears onto clips so we could put them right in her hair or on a headband. We went with a headband this year. I then drew on her face with eyeliner. She rubbed her nose right off and I had to reapply when we got in the house. Isn't she an adorable little cheetah/leopard/something cat?

I was Little Red Riding Hood. I've had this red cape for ages (and yes, it does have a hood, I'm just not wearing it :)) I was going to wear my broomstick skirt, but it turns out I'd already given it to the DI :) So, I was a little more modern in my under-cape attire. I bought the basket at DI for $1 on the same shopping trip I picked up Matt's lab coat (at *not* the DI - that's a full price actual lab coat, friends. The store was just really close to the DI :)) I put a jar of honey in it and wrapped a Powerade or Gatorade bottle in a linen dishcloth to make it look like a loaf of bread. The basket was also a handy place for my phone and the aforementioned eyeliner. Oh, and Mocha's headband. Yeah, we had the dog, too :)

So, Mocha! I'd almost forgotten her :) (Neither picture is from the party... apparently we didn't love her enough to take any of her that night haha) Zulily had dog costumes on one day for actually decent prices, and there was the cutest butterfly costume. At the time, I had money, so I ordered it for her. Now our puppy has two to choose from :)

Taken the day the costume came in the mail. Had to make sure it fit, right? haha

This is also like the only time she kept the antennae on.

Fun fact: Henlie could totally wear this too. Unfortunately, since it is made for dogs, the butterfly part of the skirt doesn't come around the front, which would make it a little awkward if Henlie were wearing it :)

Taken and Grandma and Grandpa Hadfield's on Halloween.

Mostly we hung out and had some dinner. There was also an activity going on downstairs for the kids, and then there was the chicken dance performed upstairs haha We love getting to spend time with our family! And now, some random pictures from the evening. Enjoy!

Jason, Charlie, and Camile

Brian

Nerdy-nerds

Kayla and Devan

Jennifer was the amazing talent behind the costume.

Grandma fed Henlie some applesauce for dinner.

I love this photo of the two of them :)

Getting down from the Hoppity-Hop.

She loved it!

Jennifer

The three little kittens.

Aria, Harmony, and Henlie

0 comments »

Swimming!

Posted by Amber

Okay, now that I have Henlie's birthday posts up, we need to backtrack a little bit. Recall our busy day on Tuesday, Oct. 22nd? Well, we had another fun-filled day on Thursday, Oct. 24th too.

We had tried to take Charlie and Henlie swimming earlier, but the pool was closed for cleaning. Since we had another warm spell (yay!), we tried again. Fortunately, the pool was open. They previously had issues with the pool cover, and I hadn't been since it had been fixed. It took me a minute to find where to open it now. Camile had the girls in the bathroom with her while I opened the pool.

Miss Henlie's reaction to coming out and seeing the wide open pool :)

Funny how someone else's toys are always more exciting than your own!

Love this picture of Charlie haha

Henlie and Mom, right before we got out.

We had lots of fun playing with Charlie and Camile in the pool. It was great because no one else was there :) Henlie loved it, for the most part ;) We practiced floating, and there were even a couple of times I could remove one hand for a second. We tried going underwater, and she did okay with it. Good thing too because on one trip to sit on the top step, we didn't quite reach, and she fell under. She didn't seem too traumatized by it. We had fun playing with Charlie's squirt toys and kicking our frog beach ball. She loved it when I'd bounce up and down (I was so sore for a couple of days after this...) She thought it was funny when I'd blow bubbles under the water. Now we have a whole lot of swim diapers to use before she gains another 6 pounds :) Too bad I hate walking to the pool in the cold!

0 comments »

Henlie's 1st Birthday Party

Posted by Amber

I started planning Henlie's birthday party between 9 and 10 months. Granted, initially it took me awhile to decide on a theme lol. Once that was decided, I could get into full planning mode. The last month to month and a half has been actually putting things together for her party. Yay for Pinterest! hahaha

Initially the theme was "vintage" but it turned a bit into "shabby chic." The final theme was Purple and Pearls.

I came up with the wording all by myself. I'm quite proud of that! haha

I also edited the pearl strands to better fit the color scheme. I'm rather proud of those too!

After we got home from the doctor's office, Henlie had a good long nap in her car seat. This was great for both of us - she really needed a nap, especially after all of the shots and blood draws, and I had lots to do to get ready for her party!

Chatting before really getting the party started.

Most of the photos are courtesy of Carrie. I actually found the charger to our camcorder, so Matt was taking video for most of the evening while I was helping Henlie.

We were still finishing up decorations when our first guests (Devan, Kayla, and McKade) arrived. We finished up and went to change for the party! Not all of her great-grandparents were able to make it, but we did have Great-grandma and -grandpa Covalt as well as Great-grandma and -grandpa Wilson come.

I love the look Matt and Henlie are sharing :)

Great-grandma Covalt and Grandpa Biggs.

Grandma Covalt was a good sport for coming after she'd been to the doctor earlier in the day. :)

We started off by letting everyone else have refreshments while Henlie (and Charlie lol) open presents. Thanks to McKade, Mom, and Lynell for helping with dishing up and serving :)

The spread.

Drink = "Mormon champagne" (White grape juice and Fresca. Very tasty.)

Chocolate cake decorated to match Henlie's smash cake.

Funfetti white cake with the purple Funfetti frosting (I love that they've made new colors of the frostings! I love Funfetti!)

Ice creams = Vanilla Bean and Rocky Road

The décor.

Pictures from Henlie's first year, including her monthly birthday photos and a string of faerie lights tied with light purple tulle and a darker sheer purple fabric.

On the present table (also covered in a purple plastic tablecloth) is the strand of pearls she wore for her birthday photos.

Once I was finished eating, we got down to the presents!

Poor McKade apparently didn't remember how Charlie's party went and was still a little impatient with the one-year-old present process. All of his exclaming made him much more exciting to watch than anything the presents were doing.

Fortunately for Henlie, Charlie has learned all about presents now and was able to offer her assistance :)

Showing off her play fruit from Grandma and Grandpa Biggs

I know it's blurry - but check out that grin. She loved the ribbons on Aunt Lynell's present.

(She has since enjoyed the contents, too - she likes to sit in her toboggan and get dragged down the hall)

Dad helping her open her hope chest gift from Mom (a ladle).

After presents, we stripped her down and let her have her cake. After her birthday photoshoot on Halloween, she had a better idea of what this was for and how to do it :)

She tried putting the candy flower on her head... either she was just being silly or she thought that was what you did with flowers - they usually are attached to a clip and go on a headband :)