I'm a bad Blogger

I really am...I'm also a bad memory maker or keeper. I haven't really been thinking too much about pictures, or blogs or anything besides hanging out with Hailey and Ben lately. Hailey's been teething again...ugh. But I think we're almost through the worst of it. This 13 month old has her eight front incisors, her first four molars and her top two canines, for a grand total of 14 teeth! WOW. It's definitely a mouth full. I hope her bottom two canines pop through soon and I hope, (really really hope) we have a bit of a break before her two year molars come through...pray for us!

So that's kind of all that we've been working on lately. Oh...I changed out two toilets last week. You might be asking yourself how a girl who cleaned her first toilet only after she moved out of her parents home is now brave enough to change out two entire toilets. I asked myself the same question. Well, I married a plumber. Not technically a plumber, but his dad and brother are plumbers, and they work together, which means he sees his fair share of toilets. And...my parents needed new toilets, so we got stuck with the job. Actually Ben did...and when I started mocking him too much, he made me help him out - just so I can now appreciate what he does every day. Let me just say, I appreciate him! Taking a 35 year old toilet off the pipe is NOT fun, scraping the OLD wax seal is NOT fun, replacing it with a new toilet is NOT fun either. Appreciating the fact that I'll never do that again IS fun. **Shudder**

Oh another story....so last week Hailey and I were shopping. We were looking around Children's Place when I noticed these two girls and their little girls walk into the store. Instant recognition! Seriously, I know these girls. Maybe I've never met them before, but I know them well enough. So that's the problem, we've never actually met in real life, in the Blog world we've stalked each other...but never met. So I tried to discretely make my way out of the store without making eye contact - it's never fun to admit how much of a loser you are...but Hailey had other plans. She decided that she wanted to go say hi to the little girls. So all of us stood there while our kids acknowledged each other. I have to say, it was awkward for me at least. So of course I like to add to the awkwardness and decided to point out that I read their Blogs...and thank goodness they let me down easily by admitting that they read mine too. Phew. What could have been totally a totally awkward nerdville type run-in, ended really well. They even gave me a hint on where to find some cute leggings for my little kiddo. Anyway...I called Ben when I left the store and let him enjoy a good laugh at my expense. He truly thinks I'm the biggest nerd ever. Anyway...hi Caitlin and Meaghan! I hope you don't mind that I'm writing about this...or that I used your names. But I thought it was funny. So, now we've officially met in a strange creepy sort of way.

So that's it. Maybe one of these days I'll start taking pictures again and actually uploading them to the computer and even posting them on this blog. Maybe.

Pictures - and more

Alright, here are some pics from the last few weeks. Like I said a few posts ago, we had a little intimate Birthday party for Hailey two weeks ago and it some how snowballed into a giant gong show. I knew that with the size of my family things couldn't stay small, but I did NOT realize that it would actually be as huge as it really was. It didn't seem so big on paper. Anyway, we ended up having the party at Nate and Tans cause there was no way our house would accommodate that many people. In then end though, it was a lot of fun...very busy, but fun. Something we'll never do again, but something we're glad we did do. Hailey had a few Birthday girl moments (i.e. it's my party and I can cry if I want to), but overall she seemed to have a lot of fun. She loved the cupcakes I made again, she loved Nate's hamburger, she loved sitting on Tans knee to eat, loved all her presents, and she LOVED wearing the dress I wore on my first Birthday. Oh wait, I think that last 'love' was mine...oops. If I can find a picture of me on my first B-day I'll have to post a picture...you can clearly see the resemblance. She is definitely my baby. Blond, but still mine...and I know, just know there's a blond joke to be made here about me somehow, but I'm not going to give in. I'm not a blond anymore!

This is Hailey and Roel...my cousin Emily's little guy. Maybe they'll be friends one day!

It was definitely Hailey's party...and she pretty much was allowed to do anything she wanted, crying included!

Oh...I forgot, so before we went on Holiday's, we went to a little baseball game here in town. Canadian baseball is oh so different from American baseball. But it was still so fun, the stands were packed and the crowd was crazy. Hailey L-O-V-E-D every single second of the game. She sat still for three hours straight! If only church were that interesting...

Oh, and Chris and Lauren were there too...we pretty much do everything they do, I guess that's one of the perks of having your husbands work together and just living down the street from each other. I LOVE IT!

And finally, our Holidays:

Some lake...MacDonald maybe??

Cute...just plain old cute

Nice face hey?? I can see where Hailey gets her attitude from.

Another lake...maybe it's the same one, who knows.

Snow in August??? WHAT?? No...that NEVER happens where I'm from

The Shadow Family

Playing in the Water, and yep those white things are my legs...just soaking up (or reflecting) some rays

Hailey's favourite place in the RV

More water...this kid LOVED the water

Gophers are almost as cool as dogs...almost

Some Mountain from the hike we took at the top of Logans Pass...pretty blue sky hey?

And a lake just before Hungry Horse Dam...it was so clalm and pretty, I had to take a picture

Waiting at the border on our way home...so close, so close
Oh and finally...my crafty moment of the YEAR!! I made a little bow holder for all Hailey's bows, because she is so well accessorized by this little company here and needs to keep up with the cute little baby that will be born to this amazing person from this blog. It's all about keeping up with the competition around here, right? Kidding, that's actually where I got the idea for her bow holder. I had planned on something else, but it required too much of Ben's power tool time, so I decided that this was something I could do all by myself. Although ... Ben stapled all the fabric on because I couldn't hammer the stapler thing hard enough, and then he put all the ribbon on because he's more of a perfectionist then I am, and he even nailed those little silver nails in too because I was scared I was going to wreck it, and he even put the last coat of paint in the frame too because the coats I did weren't smooth enough. So, for a project I did 'completely by myself, without using up all Ben's precious time' I think it turned out really well. Don't ya think?? Next week I'll show you another crafty thing that I did 'all by myself'. Who am I kidding here? I'm definitely no Martha Stewart...I'm just a mom who likes to stretch the truth about how crafty she really is. Regardless, here is the bow holder, cute hey?

BUSY

So I've been kind of busy lately...in the lay on the couch and read all day kind of way. You heard me right, I'm LAZY! But that's what Holiday's are for right? So just a few days after Hailey's big Birthday bash, Ben, Hailey and I took the RV out for a week of camping relaxation. We had fun and we're just now getting back and recovering. Although Hailey's now sick (i.e. I've been washing crib sheets and carseat covers all day...over and over again; poor girl). Anyway, we spent the first few days with the Coopers on Echo Lake, and then we headed up to West Glacier where we spent the rest of the week shopping, hiking, reading, sleeping and watching movies. And we finished the weekend off at Lake Kucanoosa...which wasn't a favourite and probably won't be on our itinerary again. It was OK, but not our favourite.

Oh, and I just have to let you in on a little secret...when I say we went camping in the RV, I don't really mean 'camping'. Seriously, this is what 'camping' is like in the RV. We've got:

-air conditioning
-a fridge, stove, oven and...microwave!
-double ktchen sink with full running water
-bathroom with a flush toilet
-A full shower
-two bedrooms
-closets and dressers
-tv...with 5.1 surround sound
-internet access...with the laptop
-and all the peanut butter M&M's you can imagine

Seriously, does it get any better? I don't think so. So that's why we bought an RV and that's why we can handle taking off in it with a baby and that's why we plan on keeping it for years and years to come...it does sleep 10 you know.

So that's it, I'll post pictures later once I have time, until then I'll just be here catching up on tv I missed while on Holidays and cuddling my sick little baby. Later.