Adam and Heather Hayes

I have been canning like crazy since school started.  So far this year I've canned: green beans, carrots, roast beef, cherry juice, apricot juice, apple juice, plum juice, apple butter, peaches, and strawberry-peach jam.  Here is a picture of the last of our garden's carrots.

On the right, you can see why you should thin your carrots.  They grew into some twisted funky looking blobs.  I have 2 rows of potatoes left in the garden and that's about it.  I didn't grow enough tomatoes or onions to do salsa, so I'll skip that this year. Gotta love harvest time!

Hi friends and family! Welcome to our blog! We realized how convenient it is to put pictures, videos, and pertinent information on the web so we can show and explain things (Our road trip this summer inspired it) without bringing laptops, cds, dvds, scrapbooks and etc. along with us everywhere.

For those of you who don't see us often, I will quickly bring you up to speed on who and where we are.

Adam is running his own business from our home, AH Digital FX Studios . He does web design and hosting. The wonderful thing about that is he can work from anywhere, even Ririe Idaho. He was in charge of his 10 year high school reunion last Saturday, it was a blast. (That also gives you a clue on how old he is!) He is the BYU Idaho 7th Stake Clerk, that takes up a lot of Sunday morning time but he loves it and he can make it back for 1:00 church with me so I really don't mind it either! He is enjoying swinging a bat this summer whether it's softball, baseball, wiffleball he's in the middle of it. Our business is doing well. In fact we are about to close in our 1 car garage and make it the office so there is an outdoor access and more room. In order to do that we needed a shed/shop to store all the stuff in the garage now, so we are looking at the foundation in the backyard and hoping it will be mostly done next week.

I (Heather) am in the middle of yard and garden work. Picking and canning green beans, finding new ways to convince my family to eat zucchini, watering my 1 acre yard by hose and sprinkler, keeping Baby Vi out of every cupboard, and primary presidency stuff. It's an exciting, but busy time of year. I LOVE harvest season. All the hard work in the garden is paying off. Getting Erith and Tricity ready for kindergarten and preschool is fun. The summer has been so busy, I'm excited to get a break once school starts!

Erith is 5 years old, she will turn 6 in December . She played T-Ball this summer and had a playdate with her best friend once a week. She LOVES to learn just like her Dad. She is excited to start kindergarten Aug 20th where Adam's aunt will be her teacher. She has been learning to read words one at a time when we have family scripture study. She's up to 30 and can sound out as many or more.

Tricity is 4 and very smiley. She went to a private preschool last school year twice a week and will get to go 3 times a week this year! She loves to play with her big sister Erith. They are inseparable and imaginative. Yesterday they were making people out of clay and using story books for their tents. (Propping them on their covers /\ I liked it!) She can read about 10 words.

Viola is 1 and walking (ahhh!) She is still a bit stiff legged but it's cute. She has a lot to say but we can't understand most of it. Her favorite word is Dad, yeah she's a Daddy's girl. She has a lot of personality coming through now that she's walking. She's quite the trouble maker. We can't leave anything on the floor or 3 foot from it.

I plan on updating this blog about once a week I will detail our trip we just took next probably. We will continue to add pictures to the photo gallery and I will e-mail when the updates are posted or extra good!

Erith and Tricity started school.  Erith is in first grade and Tricity is in kindergarten. 

Erith is so excited to go all day and eat lunch at school. 

Tricity is excited to go everyday and ride the bus. 

Viola is kind of lonely when they are gone. It has definately been quiet, sometimes too quiet... Two year olds definately know how to get into trouble.  She loves Clara so much, she appreciates her more when the older girls are gone.  Vi is talking a lot more now.  It's so good to be able to communicate with her.  I have never been a good guesser about what she wants when she's bawling.

She has also developed an obsession with books and wearing other people's shoes.  We read LOTS of books while the girls are at school.  She would have me read all day.  I have to eventually draw the line and say, "All done, mom has to get some other things done."

Clara can roll both ways now.  When she's really ambitious she rolls clear across the room.  She's four months old now and has started having an opinion on who holds her and how.  She is so sweet and beautiful, she smiles so much, it melts your heart. 

Adam's business is doing well despite the majorly slowed down economy around here and across the country.  He and his brother love working in the new office, complete with new furniture.  They both have plenty to keep them busy. 

Adam is done being a stake clerk at BYUI and just got called to be Assistant scoutmaster and deacon's quorem advisor.  (That's what he was when we moved from our old ward) So yea for Adam getting to know our ward finally, but it is definitely going to take more time on more days of the month than the last calling did. (Lessons on Sundays, mutual on Tuesdays, Flags every patriotic holiday, campouts almost every month, roundtable and other training)  It's okay though, I won't complain, it'll be nice to have him sit by me in sacrament meeting.

I'm just trying to lose weight, and do everything I used to do with four fast-growing kids!  I am amazed how many directions my four kids want to to go at the same time, while I'm trying to can green beans and do laundry and dishes.  So yes, my house is messier than it has ever been, yes, my garden is more like a weed patch, yes, bedtime is my favorite time of day, and yes I love every one of my four very different girls and I wouldn't trade a one of them for the world!