Happy Little Camper - Day One

We decided to go on a little camping trip. Hailee was so excited and counting down the seconds until we left. I was a little worried that it wasn't going to be as fun as she was anticipating, but I shouldn't have worried at all. After two nights and 2 1/2 days she wanted to stay camping forever. She had so much fun.

Hailee got a new sleeping bag for the occasion and she loved it. We got it from Costco and it worked out perfectly that it was red. The week before we left she slept in her sleeping bag in her bed, so she was all ready to go.

Hailee helping me get ready for dinner. The thing I LOVE about car camping is the food. I love yummy camping food and this time Todd and I combined our skills and came up with some amazingly yummy food.

We had stuffed red peppers, chicken and green beans, all cooked over the fire thanks to my amazing husband. It was one of our new recipes we tried and it was amazing. The bell peppers were stuffed with cherry tomatoes, thyme, basil, mozzarella cheese, and parmesan cheese. The chicken we cooked it tinfoil as well and put garlic, onion, olive oil, thyme, basil, and chicken. The green beans were also cooked in the fire with just a little pepper. It all tasted so good.

Hailee and Todd enjoying dinner. Hailee was such a good little eater the entire time.

While dinner was cooking we saw some deer right by our tent. Todd took Hailee out to go see them. She was so excited to see a reindeer so close.

This is a picture of our little campsite. There were so many wildflowers and it was beautiful.


What would camping be with out roasted marshmallows and S'mores. Hailee had such a good time roasting marshmallows. Then it was off to bed. Hailee slept so good in her sleeping bag. I was a little concerned because at home she never keeps her covers on, but she stayed in her sleeping bag all night and stayed warm.

Camping - Day Two

Day two brought hot chocolate and cooking over the fire again. Hailee had so much fun helping and spending time as a family.

Here is a picture of Todd and Hailee enjoying hot chocolate by the fire.
Hailee using her spray bottle to keep the fly's away. Roslynn just tried to eat them. I don't know if she ever got any, but I think she enjoyed trying. She would sit really still until one landed on her then try and bite it. It was funny to watch. I don't know who had the most fun.

We went down to the lake to enjoy the shade. Hailee put in her feet, but after a while...

...she jumped in. Before she got to wet I decided to take off her shorts.

But then she got freezing cold. Todd ran back and got her swimming suit and towels.

Once in her suit she would get in and then hop out to get warmed up in the towel. Then once she was warm, she would jump in again.


That afternoon Lisa and Ariel came with their three girls. Hailee was in heaven. They played bocha...

...played in the dirt...
and generally acted like the cutest little monkey's.

After dinner we roasted marshmallows and ate s'mores again.
The girls loved camping together. But as soon as it got dark they were all ready for bed. We were going to let them stay up later if they wanted, but they were excited to sleep in their tents.
Hailee looking at the stars. Once we got to bed and all settled Hailee got after Todd and I for talking. It's quite ironic since usually when I'm putting her to bed I'm the one telling her to be quiet.

H: Will you guys stop talking, you are driving me nuts
N: I'm sorry Hailee, I love you.
H: I love you too mom, but you need to stop talking.

Now if you just switch the names around you'll have the conversation we have every other night at out house. It took her all of five seconds to fall asleep after that. She was exhausted.

Last day

Hailee slept so well in her sleeping bag, and she stayed so warm.

Alicia and Hailee watching Todd pack up the tent. No one wanted to go home. We had such a fun time camping.
The only problem we had coming home was deciding who was going to get in the bath first. We decided that the dirtiest one got to go in first, but then it was a toss up between Roslynn and Hailee. Since Hailee enjoys taking a bath she got their first. The rest of Saturday we just spend doing laundry and resting. Camping can really make you tired, but it was so much fun.

Sunday Sunday

When you have church that starts at 9:00 in the morning it leaves a long afternoon of finding things to do that don't require a television. Sundays seem longer than others days. The bonus of having early church is an afternoon nap. Last year we had 1:00 church and by the time you got home and ate it was way too late for a nap. Although it gave you plenty of time in the morning to prepare a primary lesson. This year I have to be a little more organized...or wake up too early.

Yesterday we resorted to trying a few new recipes. Last Saturday Hailee woke up and turned on her "kid shows," usually if she find a "dad show" (aka anything with sports) or a "mom show" (aka everything else that is not sports or a cartoon)she is a little disappointed until she can find the remote to change it. She found a cooking show. Everyday food by Martha Stewart to be exact. She was so excited and once I came into the room she said. "Look mom a cooking show, do you want to watch it with me. We like to cook don't we." How could I say no. We watch a half an hour and learned how to make parmesan chicken and black and white cupcakes. They was SO GOOD! Hailee is so fun to cook with and she is actually quite a good little helper.

I added more parmesan that the recipe called for and used fresh thyme rather than dried. I also used chicken tenders rather than bone in chicken pieces. With a 4-year old, tenders are just easier. I also used my blender to make the bread crumbs because I don't have a food processor. Todd and Hailee loved it, both had seconds, good thing I made a lot.

The chocolate and vanilla cupcakes served two purposes, I was craving vanilla cupcakes and chocolate. These were fun to make and not very hard at all.

The last month and a half Hailee has just taken off with reading. She is getting so good and surprising me on a daily basis of the words that she knows. She is getting into harder and harder books. Yesterday in Primary, Sister Ludlow put up a sentence that was all mixed up and asked the kids to help her put it back together. (Living) (the gospel) (standards) (helps me) (be a) (missionary) (now.) That was the sentence but it was all mixed up. She asked for a volunteer for what word came first. Hailee raised her hand, but she was looking in the back to the older kids that could read. So the next time around Hailee just blurted out "the gospel" when she asked for a volunteer. There were a few surprised looks. The next time she raised her hand again but wasn't called on, so after that she just blurted out "helps me." I got a lot of surprised looks and honestly I think I was just as surprised. She is learning so fast.

Her favorite time of night now is reading before bed. When I tell her it's time for bed I usually get some kind of "Ah mom," but when I tell her to go pick out her four books she gets so excited. Since we've been on this new routine, she has been so good about going to bed. She loves reading and is so excited to learn new words.

Hailee reading to her dad before going to bed. "Be sure to pay attention dad" is usually how Hailee starts out her reading session with her dad.

Todd reading to Hailee.

Busy Girl

While out and about we decided to check McDonalds Redbox to see if there was a movie we wanted to watch. There wasn't a movie, but Hailee decided she was starving so we decided to just pick her up a kids meal. When we went through the drive through they asked us to pull over because they were waiting on fries. The people behind us also pulled over and were waiting. When they came out they brought out two kids meals, one for our car and one for the other car. Once we were on own way, Hailee started eating her chicken nuggets and asked for her toy. Instead of the girl toy (littlest pet shop) she got a transformers. In fact she got Megatron. She was just as happy as can be with him. Megatron became Sleeping Beauty's prince, then she figured out how to move the pieces. Megatron could point his toes and do ballet. All evening she played with him like this, poor little Megatron, leader of the Decepticons, reduced to doing ballet and pretending to be a prince. Hailee thought he had such a funny mean face. But really the one we should really feel sorry is the little boy who got a toy kitty instead of a transformer.

(Hailee sleeping with Megatron)

Hailee March 2006

Recently I've been rethinking the idea of potty training Hailee at 21 months. She was definitely ready and I've loved not having to change a diaper for the last couple of years, but there are some things to think about before you do it. First, Hailee couldn't really go to the bathroom all by herself at that age so she got used to me coming with her and helping her. Now that she is big enough and doesn't need any help she still likes the company. She hates going to the bathroom by herself. Recently I've come up with the solution that Roslynn can go with her. Although Roslynn really doesn't like the bathroom (she thinks she is going to have to take a bath) she'll humor Hailee and wait in the door of the bathroom with her. I just wonder what she is going to do while she is at school or away from home. Maybe that is why girls always go to the bathroom in groups. The second thing is, she is really good at waiting to go to the bathroom. So good in fact that she waits until she is about ready to explode and then by the time she tells me she needs to go we have about 45 seconds to find a bathroom. Let me tell you when that kid goes it sounds like the flood gates have opened. I am always amazed at how much she can hold. This usually isn't a problem because she needs to go at home (although we've had a few accidents of trying to wait too long). It's more of a problem when we are out and about. I don't know how to teach her to go to the bathroom more than two or three (at the most) times a day. She just is too busy.


Today after taking Todd to school Hailee wanted to know what we were going to do for fun. I told her we could play outside. To which she responded, can we take my baby for a walk. Okay sure. Well she spend the next hour getting her baby ready to go on a walk. I would get a report every 10 minutes or so with what the baby needed or that they weren't quite ready to go yet. Finally they were ready to go. I laughed when I saw everything her baby needed (although by this time it had turned into two babies since the one in the little pink seat really wanted to come too). She had a whole bag full of toys, bottles and clothes. Then another little suitcase thing which she informed me was for "just in case." And at the last minute her little white puffy (puppy) needed to come along for the ride as well. With her pink sunglasses, blue shoes and everything else needed for a walk, she was ready to go. It was quite a sight and I couldn't help but take a few pictures. She even stopped during the walk to get her baby a bottle and some toys to play with. She is such a good little mother.

Ballerina Party

Hailee's little friend Reagan had a ballerina party. Hailee so excited to get all dressed up and go to a party. Since her birthday we've had 3 family birthday's (D.J, Todd and Kristy) and Hailee has been a little disappointed at them. We didn't do a pinata at any of them! Adults can be so boring I guess. She did enjoy the time with family, but it wasn't quite her idea of a "birthday party." Monday we went to Reagan's party and it did not disappoint at all. There were beautiful clothes, fun games, yummy food, cake and ice cream, opening presents, and a pinata. Hailee loved it all. We let her pick out the present for Reagan and after much thought it was decided....a little baby doll, a set of sidewalk chalk, and a little bubble machine. She could hardly wait for Reagan to open it and she promised she kept it a surprise.

Fourth of July

This year was the first year that we even attempted to do a few fireworks as a family. The last couple 4th of July's have been sick ones for Todd so we usually done something during the day and then rest in the evenings, but this 4th of July he was sick during the day and then was feeling better to do sparklers and a few fireworks in the evening. After fireworks we enjoyed
root beer floats, but Hailee informed us she wanted her ice cream and root beer separate.

Hailee loved doing sparklers. When I was putting her to bed that night she wanted to know if we could do sparklers every day. Todd and I tried to explain the reason behind the fourth of July and nothing was really working. She couldn't understand that our country was once part of the place where Louise and Lola live. Then Todd had a brilliant idea. There is a Charlie and Lola episode where Lola creates her own country called "Lolaland." He explained that the people here wanted their own country just like Lola and they called it the United States. Then she wanted to know why they didn't wear big sunglasses and hats like they did in Lolaland. I guess Lolaland is a lot more fun that the boring United States. What a funny little girl.