I've been sucked in

...to the phenomenon that is the Twilight series...that is. Just over a week ago my friend and I took an impulsive trip to the theater to see the movie (thanks Carrie)-on the way home I decided it was time to just suck it up and read the books. I'm not a reader. But oh goodness I, like everyone else, got sucked in. My friend Jana lent me all four books last Thursday. Let the ignoring of the children and the husband begin. Finished Twilight Saturday, Started New Moon yesterday afternoon. I was so mad at the second book I just kept reading till something made me happy-I now have 50 pages left. I'm worried that when I finish the 4th book I'll start having withdrawals...there's going to be another...right??

a Hand-y update

So I recall that a while back someone asked how my hands were doing. This was no doubt prompted by the nasty picture I posted from this summer. Don't worry, I will post another for your viewing (dis)pleasure.

And here is the long story short(kinda): After something like 4 1/2 years of crazy/gross things going on with my hands someone finally suggested I see an allergist. So back in early December they did a panel of like 50 common ingredients in soaps/lotions/household items. They put a dot of each on my back and covered it with tape. I had it checked twice that week and finally was able to learn what might have been ailing me all this time.

It turns out I am allergic to chloromethylisothiazolinone, formaldehyde (in paints, glues and fabrics), and colophony or resin(in adhesives, varnishes, wart remedies, floss), I'm also sensitive (but not allergic) to something called cocomide DEA (in lots of soaps and lotions). So that chemical with the really long name is in a ton of stuff-in my case it's found in that great anti-bacterial soap from Bath and Body Works that I used to use religiously, it's in my baby wipes, and my shampoo and conditioner. So in the last month I have switched over to some expensive soapless soap and natural hairstuff and I just make my son wear his messy diapers all day (ok not really-he's been in underwear for about a month and when he has a messy diaper after bedtime I wear gloves). So by reading the labels on everything, taking my special soap everywhere and avoiding products with those ingredients and I've seen tons of improvement. It's crazy. So here come the before and after photos (drumroll please):

After:
Now all we have to do is convince the insurance company that they really do want to pay for all of this instead of fight about it...

Mom's visit

Just so you know, this post covers 4 different events, but all of them did happen while mom was here!

My mom came down for a visit just in time to celebrate some birthdays with us. We had a great time butchering my vision of the kids birthday cake. It was horrible. Let's just say when those things look so simple to make they're not...unless you are Larissa, or Terri. Anyways, it was supposed to be a castle, but it just kept falling apart. Finally at like 1 am we got things put together enough to go to bed, but when we woke up in the morning it had fallen again. I was so proud of myself that I never cried during the whole ordeal...we just stuck some knights on it with a catapult and claimed that they invaded the kingdom. The weather turned out just perfect and were were able to host like 30-something people in the backyard.

If this picture looks gross, that's because it was. Poor 3 layer cake was doomed from the beginning because of a silly pudding in the mix cake and too-soft homemade frosting...Now before we went off to bed in the wee hours of the morning this strange looking thing is the best we could do.Of course it didn't survive invasion during the night and if you'll notice on the cupcake in the bottom left corner there is a knight with a gumdrop catapult taking over the castle.Here's some of the guests. We were so impressed that all the kids just sat there and ate...quietly.Here's Hunter opening his first present. It was a great cordless drill like daddy's and he really didn't care to look at the rest of his presents after that-thanks for opening them for us Rex!Hailey on the other hand loved opening all of her gifts. Here she is with her cousin Megan and her friend Maryan in the background. Thanks to everyone who made their birthday so much fun!Later that day Ben and I got to get dressed up and go to the ExxonMobil Christmas party. It was a nice formal dinner that for some reason took nearly 3 hours to serve all the courses.Here we are with our friends Akilla and Amit. Yes, you get to take prom pictures to commemorate the evening. In addition to this one with our friends, Benjamin and I had three others taken of ourselves cause I wasn't satisfied with any of them (typical...right?).Here's a picture of the extremely rare snow that we saw here in early December-I'm sure my mom never thought she would see that in Houston.

On the actual day of Hailey's birthday we took a trip to the zoo with my mom and my sister in law Sharon and her youngest Ellie. We didn't stay too long because Hunter wanted to run away from every exhibit. Hmm, guess I didn't take many zoo picts. Well, the first one is Hunter petting a giant bunny.For some reason the only picture I have of my mom from her trip is petting a baby aligator. Way to be brave mom. Thanks for coming to see us-we loved having you here!

I guess I'm in a posting mood

So on the 12th of this month Hailey turned 4. It's amazing that my baby is so big now. She's very smart and oh just a little bit strong willed (who am I kidding...I guess we all are that way in this family). She loves playing with her brother and her friends and she loves everything girly-if it's purple or pink or princessy, she wants it. She was born two months early after my water broke for no apparent reason. She weighed 4lbs 14 oz. She stayed in the hospital for 5 weeks but you sure can't tell now that she was ever a preemie. Here's a picture of her a few days after she was born.

And here she is just before her first birthday.And here she is when she turned 2-looking a little mischievious. (did I spell that right?)

Now that is a pretty 3 year old.And here she is at 4 (I took this one...can you tell??)

What a big girl. My mom and I took her to get her fingers and toes painted (pink and purple of course) and then she got some pictures taken too. She had a great time.

Better late than never

Since December is such a busy month it's ok that I haven't posted the kids birthday stuff yet...right? Well, on the 4th Hunter turned 2. He's such a big boy. He loves playing with just about everything (but especially balls, cars and his sissy). He talks all the time and enjoys singing too. Now for some pictures...The first is actually not a basketball under my gown-that was probably about an hour before Hunter was born (he was a scheduled c-section at like 7 am or something). He was 8 lbs. 12 oz.

Here's Hunter Eugene at a few days old.

Here's Hunter enjoying some cake on his first birthday.And now a couple of pictures of the big two year old. We like him.

Family pictures

Finally, for the first time since just after Hailey turned one, we took the kids back to a studio to get pictures done. It was a very um, energetic experience-Hunter really enjoyed escaping from the studio and running out into the store. Somehow we managed to get a few nice ones and I'm glad we now have something updated in the house (and in all the grandma's houses too).

It's been far too long, I know.

Warning, a ton of pictures to follow...And sadly, I can't even post my pictures from Christmas yet, because I have to catch up on some others first. We've had a fun month since I last wrote. First there was our trip to Utah for Thanksgiving. It was very nice except for the part where the kids were sick for most of it. Acutally they were in pretty good spirits for having such nasty coughs. They loved spending time with Papa Ted and Grandma Nette. Here's a picture of them singing songs with grandma before bed.

If I didn't have at least one picture that I took of me and someone else everyone would go into shock-so here's me and daddy.

This is my dad's mom, Grandma Betty. She tried to get a picture with both kids, but Hunter just wouldn't have it.

I better throw in a picture with my grandpa Jim. Did I mention that my camera actually has a function for taking your own picture? How perfect for me. We even got to see half of my brother Evan's family over the holiday. His wife, Jess and two of their kids (the boys) were down in Utah too. This is Hailey and Hayden having a little light saber fun.The day after Thanksgiving (hours after Ben and my dad camped out at walmart to get a new TV) we went up to visit with Ben's family-his sister and her six boys as well as his brother and his 2 kids). It was a lot of fun and I'm glad my dad was a trooper and let me drag him along as well. Hailey had so much fun playing with her cousin Tyran who is just a week older than her.
Here's a picture of them and then one of Mark, Lisa and Benjamin.

Hunter was freezing, but we had a very difficult time removing him from this great truck they had.The next day I dropped Benjamin and Hailey off in American Fork with the famliy again so he could have an afternoon playing soccer with the boys. (none of thos pictures are close enough to be interesting...)

In addition to getting lots of time to spend with family, we were lucky enough to get some visits in with some good friends. We had fun visiting Claudia and the kids (sorry the visit was so short-hope we didn't make anyone sick). Here's Hailey and Madison-they used to love playing together when we lived across the street. Too bad I couldn't get Jex and Hunter to cooperate for a photo op.

We also got to visit my friend Adrienne (who I used to work with back at the library) and her husband Dustin and their cute kids Audrey and Kaleb. It was so cute how she and Hailey ran off and played together after just meeting.

So I called Adrienne up beforehand and said, "don't forget to wear your black shirt and Khakis for Twin Day"-good thing she didn't mess it up for me. Seriously though, Adrienne is so cute.

The girls looking beautiful.

The boys-probably about to cause some trouble.Here we are the day grandma and grandpa kicked us out and sent us home. What a fun trip!

The flight home was a little tough with the extra two hours of nothing due to mechanical problems and a 45 minute taxi on the runway before we got off the plane. I love this picture because I have about 5 others exactly like it, I kept asking them to smile and open there eyes and they did the opposite.

Looks like this is going to be another set of catch-up posts...come back for more soon!