Adam and Heather Hayes

Well, we made it through another very busy Christmas season.

It seems like we spent most of December running here, there and back again. (However, we didn't do any running the week of Christmas because of the weather. Then we just spent our time digging out our driveway time after time. Luckily, Santa was able to beat the weather and make it a very nice Christmas for us all.

The girls had a blast with their new gifts. Erith got a doll that she could "do hair" on. Tricity got a microphone, it just happened to be connected to a karaoke machine. Vi got her very own laptop learning thing and Clara got her own care bear. Mom got the Twilight series and hasn't surfaced since. I got a sander and a jig saw as my main gifts, plus some other fun Wii stuff.

Overall it was a great Christmas. My sisters spent Christmas Eve at our place, which means we stayed up really late talking and playing. Everyone had come over the night before to have our "Hayes Christmas" on Christmas Eve. I'm still the leg wrestling champion and we didn't have any bruised heels or broken egos this year.

Have you ever needed a break from partying?  That's how December was for me.  Don't get me wrong, I loved getting together with family and friends, eating delicious food and playing games, catching up.  But boy is it nice to sleep in and let the kids make messes again!  Speaking of messes, as you can see, Clara had a spectactular Christmas morning.

Our List of Parties:

Adam's birthday

Ward Christmas party

Elder's dinner party

Christmas eve

Christmas day

Erith's birthday, this was her first non family birthday party.  I can't believe I have an eight year old!  I'm so old!

New Year's eve

New Year's day

Erith's baptism

Dolls, dolls, dolls.  We entered the world of Target made "American dolls" this Christmas.  Tricity paid half to get one earlier this year.  She got a canopy bed for Sophie.  Erith got MaryLynn, and Vi got Jenna, whom is 18" tall but not from Target. Clara got a baby doll that can drink and wet (and 2 potty books).

The girls got up at 6:30 am even after Adam they could get up as early as they want.  (grrrr)  Vi and Clara don't cope with being woken up early very well.

I bought these little baby crib and high chair for Clara, they aren't very sturdy, I won't go the cheap route next time.

I somehow got the most spoiled this Christmas.  I don't think Santa or Adam stuck to the budget.

Adam got lots of painting stuff and a remote control helicopter.

I gave the girls my old tea set so they could use it with their dolls.  One tea cup was immediately broken, I can see why everything is made of plastic these days.

I have to say, seeing the excitement in little kids' eyes sure makes Christmas morning magical!

We really meant to send out Christmas cards with this picture included, but... we've been so busy and unmotivated to do it that I'm afraid this will have to do!

The girls were so fun this year.  They were SO excited for Christmas and Erith's birthday that we did a daily count down to both. We had a Christmas Eve party that went pretty late at our house with Adam's family; the girls didn't get up to open presents till 8:30!  I sat in bed waiting for them to wake me up for an hour and a half!

As you can see the living room started out pretty clean!  It doesn't stay that way for long!

The girls wanted Dora stuff and boy did they get it! Dora dolls, pillow cases, coloring books, stickers, pajamas and puppets, I guess I should suggest different stuff to the various people who ask what they want!  They love it though!

We all had a very Merry Christmas and we hope you did too!

We had a pretty successful Christmas photo shoot last week.  Aren't we a cute family?  I can't believe it's Christmas already.  Where has December gone?  We have had a ward party, elder's party, 3 school programs, lots of temple work and christmas candy making.  I guess that's where December went. 

From our family to yours, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Well here I am now in my 30s. :) 

It has been a while since I wrote, so I figured this would be a good time to sit down and write a bit. I had a great birthday earlier this month. Life has been treating us pretty well.

Here I am with all my cute daughters. Clara is growing up fast. She is now sitting up by her self and trying really hard to figure out how to crawl. She pushes up on her hands or kicks with her feet, but not at the same time yet.

We went up to Jackson and had some fun with my family. It was packed, but we all had fun anyway.

Business is good and we are just trying to wrap up things for this year. The girls are all doing well. Vi had the croupe but is better now. We were worried for a few days when all she did was rasp and sound horrible. 

Overall life is good. The house is all decorated for Christmas, and I think I finally got all my shopping done for this year. The girls (especially Tric) are excited for Christmas, and Tric takes every chance to tell me just how many days until Christmas.

Do you ever feel like your life is too boring for anyone else to be interested in it? That would be me most of the time! Thus the big pauses in new entries. We do have a very blue office though so I think that's worth saying! The lights are hung. The accent wall is antiqued. We will have heat and carpet by the end of the year. Just in time for our ultra sound the first week of January! We'll have Adam's office out of our fourth bedroom and I'm sure the ultra sound will reveal we're having... a

girl.

This pregnancy has been just like my first three so I really don't think I should get my hopes up.

If by chance it is a boy, we'll have to start re-decorating that room because boy, does it need help. Adam's office chair has worn a hole in the carpet and the wallpaper is peeling off like crazy.

But since we are paying off a new SUV and all the stuff to finish the new office and Christmas... We might have to wait on big expensive renovations... Oh well, life is good!

My sister Jaleesa is the haircutting and now Mary Kay beauty queen of the world.  She is helping me get over my beauty aversion.  She convinced me to cut and frost my hair before I had Clara, which I have absolutely loved.  Then she practiced her new Mary Kay party pitch on me and my mother-in-law and sister-in-law, and actually convinced me to care about how my skin ages and... wear foundation! I am actually wearing foundation on days that I go out in public.  I never thought I'd see the day.

Well she came over again this week and showed Erith, Tric and I how to put on... eyeshaddow, eyeliner, blush, and lipstick! Am I turning into a mom of girls or what?  Next thing you know, she'll be teaching me to frenchbraid and other girly hairdo's. 

If I had a million dollars, I'd pay J twice what the JCPenney salon is paying her and have her come over every morning and beautify all 5 of us girls every morning. But alas, I don't, so I guess I'll have to grit my teeth and do some kind of simple hairdo on all 5 heads all 7 days a week, all my life long... Who knows, maybe one of these days I'll actually like hair!

Erith idolizes  J, Santa got her a Barbie head to practice hair on for Christmas.  (When we weren't watching Vi took some sissors and cut two chunks of hair off that night) She is so proud of the... unique hairdo's she comes up with.  I might just get lucky, and have Erith take over the beautifying when she's old enough!  

I've got to admit, I have got some cute, cute little girls.

Andi stayed an extra day over Christmas to be there for Erith's birthday.  I'm so glad she did because I sure needed all the help I could get with that house full of girls!

Erith got get ready for baptism stuff from Mom and Dad.

The girls made marble magnets.

They played lots and lots of games.  (Each one took a shockingly small amount of time)  They played musical chairs, pictionary, Jenga, pin the candle on the cake, duck duck goose, and probably a couple more!

Cupcakes for the party and the cake for the family, Erith got her first taste of trick candles!  Erith got some fun gifts from her friends and I think everyone had a fun time.  Happy birthday Erith!

I figured it is my turn to give everyone an update.

I made my goal of losing 30 lbs. I got back down to 175 which is about the weight I was when I graduated. I haven't been below 180 since before I got married, so I was very surprised to make the goal. I've been hovering around 175.5 and 177 for the past couple of weeks, so I didn't just "bounce" up after losing it either.

I rode my first horse last Friday. We went up to Daniel's house and I got my first ever chance to ride a horse. It was ok. They told me that trotting isn't the most enjoyable and that I should go gallup, but I'm not sure that I enjoyed that any more than trotting, but that could have just been because of how far down the stirrups were. (I have short legs and Daniel has really long legs.) All-in-all it was pretty fun. Darcy threatened that we should go for a trail ride. So we'll see how/when that happens.

T-ball. Heather finished her season (I'll let her tell you about that more herself.) But from my position as designated 3rd base coach, I thought her team did excellent. Heather was soooooo patient with the kids.

Erith and Tric were on her team and they did amazing. Tricity hit two home runs this season (which is pretty hard to do in T-ball.)

Erith keeps getting taller and her long legs kept her ahead of most anyone (even when I thought for sure that she would get out, she always beat them to the base... even if the ball was hit directly at the base she was running to.)

Overall Heather's team had a winning season and I am very proud of her and the girls. 

I've started painting again. I haven't painted in a lot of years, and I've never done oil painting. I did water color when I was in high school, but I haven't done anything since then. I convinced a very nice lady in my ward to teach me how to oil paint. I've been planning this for a while and had asked for oil painting equipment last year for Christmas, so I had most everything I needed to get going. I've completed two paintings so far, one an abstract picture based off of a Paul Klee painting that I really like. The second is a still life of a couple of bottles. I think I'm getting better and I'm really enjoying painting again. I had forgotten how much fun it can be.

Well there is my update. I'll get the pictures out here as soon as I can for people to see. Please let me know what you all think.

Where have I been the past few months?  Well, this is Idaho, and it is winter, so believe it or not, I've been cooped up in the house.  Reading books, watching old movies, and for the past couple weeks exercising! 

I have a goal to lose at least 30 pounds this year. I've joined a group of ladies in my ward who walk 3 miles every morning (5 days a week, M-F) and lift weights immediately after on Tuesday and Thursday (our whole stake is invited to that).  I hope going from nothing to this will be a big improvement.  It has already helped my mood a ton.  January always makes me so stir-crazy.  I'm usually broke after Christmas, thus I don't leave the house much.  I feel like everyday is the same, and there is nothing to look forward to, and I just get down and sad/grouchy.  So I am LOVING the happier mind-set exercise gives me, and I'm sure my family is too. 

We are going to do a complete overhaul on our upstairs bathroom when we get our tax return back.  (Since we incorporated in 2008 we had to pay 90% of Adam and Heather Hayes' AHFX 2007 earned income AND AH Digital FX Studios Inc., so this years return should be a good one) 

Our bathroom is straight out of the 70's from baby blue sink, toilet, and tub to the blue plaid carpet. Yeah, gross, I know. So all new everything, even cabinetry.  Yes, the carpet is going, it will be replaced with: most likely tile.  Post on the comment section the likes and dislikes of all your flooring and counter tops.  We are leaning towards tile floors and granite counter tops.  (Is tile to hard and cold on your feet and does granite show too many splatters and fingerprints?)  We will do before and after pictures of it.

We'll be adding more toys to our swingset, and hopefully... laying some cement for a basketball/volleyball court. It should be a fun, busy year!