Almost 3 months of catch up!!!

I'm not really sure what my excuse for being so behind on my blog is.....I could probably come up with a few lame ones (like working LOTS more hours the past couple of months, being addicted to Facebook (and couponing), working on a Scrapbook swap, catching up on my scrapbooking, etc., etc., etc.) - but the truth is it seems like once I'm a bit behind I keep putting it off.......

So here's the recap of the past3 months:Hailey's 4th Birthday at the Wave Pool in Price. We had a great day - we swam and swam and swam (for almost 3 hours!!) - we had a blast!

Birthday Celebrations - Daddy, Papa Steve & my birthday all happened.....

Billy & his family came to stay with us one night and the kids had a blast. They went for a walk and enjoyed feeding the horses.

Bill & Becca's newest - Baby Ruby Kay & Uncle Darren

My latest addiction is couponing and seeing what I can get for free or a little bit of nothing. We started doing this in January and in the past 2 1/2 months I have filled my pantry with food - which means I have also been cooking!!!!

My Dad is doing great these days - and we had a great Saturday night as a family eating out and going bowling. It was a great night! I am VERY PROUD of my Dad and the changes he has made in his life - I hope he knows how much I love him!!!

St. Patrick's Day parade in Price!

The Scrapbook Expo was last weekend - and it was AWESOME as usual - nothing but scrapping, eating and gabbing with friends for 2 days straight! I didn't take my camera - so no pictures of that - kind of ironic since it was a "scrapbook expo"!!!

My Baby is Four!

I can't believe my "baby" is four years old (yesterday)! My Mom asked me if it felt like 4 years? I said yes and no.....in a way it's gone so fast....in another sense I can't remember what it's like to not be a Mom. Which made me do a lot of thinking about how wonderful it is to be a Mom, not just a Mom - but Hailey's Mom......I can't believe how much I love and adore that little girl! There are lots of days I look at her and can't believe how much she is growing and changing everyday (and getting so tall). Not one day goes by without someone commenting on how much she looks like me. Which at first was a little bit hard for me to understand - since she is so darn cute - how can she look like me??????

Here are a few things about Hailey Kaye that you may have not known.

• She LOVES the moon and has since she was old enough to talk - she thinks that it follows HER everywhere. She gets so excited when it's full and bright!!!
  
• Her favorite TV shows are "Max & Ruby", "Spongebob" and "ICarly".
  
• Her favorite foods are pickles, pizza and most fruits and vegetables. When I asked her this question she said "scrambled eggs and of course MILK"!
  
• Her favorite toy (as of yesterday) is her mini Etch a Sketch (the $2.99 one from the checkout at Wal-mart...go figure).
  
• She simply ADORES her Nana & Papa and spends lots of time with them (and they spoil her even more rotten).
  
• She loves to gives hugs and kisses and cuddle;
  
• She is awesome at the computer and plays on Nick Jr. when I'm sewing or scrapbooking.
  
• She loves her dolls, her Polly Pockets and her Littlest Pet Shops; she also loves to color and draw. She draws the funniest pictures.
• She goes to Preschool and LOVES her teachers - Miss Racquel and Mrs. M.

Here are some pictures of my sweet girl from the past 4 years! Happy Birthday!

Happy Holidays (Long one!)

The Mortenson's had a wonderful holiday season and hope you did the same! As usual - we spent time with each of our families and laughed and ate lots of good food!! I'd have to say that having a 3 almost 4 year old is definitely what Christmas is all about! Hailey was so excited for Christmas this year. We spent the month each day opening her advent calendar - it was the first thing she asked for each morning!

On Christmas Eve Day we had our family party at my Mom's house with my Brother and his family. Hailey was so excited to go she even cooperated with me while I combed her hair - which does not ever happen! She even posed for these fun pictures!













We always take a group family picture with Santa hats on.....this year we had to do things a bit differently. While we were all enjoying our "White Christmas" Darren had to to to work and plow that white stuff! We were all sad when he had to leave before the party even began and my brother arrived from Salt Lake. Mom said we would take a picture of him by himself and then put it next to our group picture. Gotta love him in his orange UDOT shirt with his Santa hat.

I haven't gotten a group picture yet - they were taken with Mom's camera - but this one of the kids turned out adorable! We had a great day eating and opening presents. Hailey got Baby Alive from Nana and Papa and she LOVED it! I'm not sure what I think of a baby that pees and poops - but whatever makes her happy!

























Christmas Eve we always spend at my Dad & Karen's house - we have our traditional yummy Prime Rib dinner and then Santa comes to see the kids. Hailey still doesn't like him - when he walked in the house she clung to me for dear life. The only way she would go near him is with me holding her. The best part of the night was when my nephew Lincoln raised his hand as Santa was getting ready to leave and said "I'm not sleeping here tonight....I will be at my Grandma Christy's!" It was great - he wanted to make sure Santa knew where to find him! Hailey was pooped by the end of the night!













Christmas morning at our house! Hailey was so tired from the day before that she slept until 8:00! That was nice for Mom and Dad! When she walked in the front room she was so excited. Everytime anyone asked her what she wanted for Christmas she would say "everything I see on TV". She would never say one specific thing. On Christmas morning she said "I asked Santa for everything I saw on TV - and HERE IT IS!"

Once again Daddy had to go push snow on Christmas Day so we went back to Mom & Steve's and enjoyed the day with Steve's family.














Finally on Saturday we got to take our Trip to Salt Lake to visit Family #3 - Darren's Family. We had a little family get together - the kids did some sledding and we opened MORE presents - and of course ATE MORE FOOD! It was a great time spent with family!