My favorite shots this week...

Hayden's Misc Photos

OK, so I am trying to get my creative juices flowing and have been participating in daily themed photo contests... In an attempt to get some of the themes I have used Hayden in several shots... these are a few of my favorites...

(Theme was "Around the Corner")


And this one was "Tiny Handprints"

And some of my other favs....

Halloween Pictures

Halloween has come and gone... Hayden and I trick or treated with our neighbor boy, we went to about 15 houses....He really didn't know what to think about it...Here are a few of our pictures:

Here is my favorite picture of Hayden and our pumpkin:

And here is Hayden playing in the guts of the pumpkin....GROSS!

And the sunrise that greeted me on my way to work on Halloween morning:

Boo at the Zoo-- so not worth it

OK... the Zoo has this thing every year where you can go and 'trick or treat' at the zoo. I thought it would be fun to take Hayden. But....I am not sure it was really worth it. We got there about 10:30-or rather we turned onto the street the zoo is located on at 10:30, well, there were cars parked on BOTH sides of the street for at least a half mile, and the road was backed up pretty far. So we paid 5 bucks to park in the 'This is the Place' monument parking lot across from the zoo. We got to the front of the zoo at 11 or so, and then had to wait in line JUST TO GET IN for another 20 minutes. Once inside, the lines for the tables where they were handing out candy were also about 10-15 minutes.

So...Hayden and I skipped the lines and just went through to see the Elephants and the TIGER...who was finally awake this time. (We've been 4 times this year and have yet to see him awake.)

We stopped at a few of the booths that had shorter lines, but most of the candy they were handing out was those little hard round mint candies...which Hayden can't eat. So... even though Hayden had a blast because he loves people and was saying hi and waving at everyone, I don't think I will ever brave 'Boo at the Zoo' again.

Here is a picture of the tiger.....

And the Elephants....

And the Giraffes....

All Right Cousins-I need Addresses

I'm not sure any of you know this but my baby brother Tyler and his wife Julie are expecting a little girl in December. Well, I'm throwing a shower for them and I need updated addresses from most of you. It will be on November 1st and I'd love to send you invites! So.... email me your addy's. It's haydensmom502 at gmail.

Vegas Day 2

Day 2 and we are having a ton of fun. Today Hayden and I ventured out to the Premium Outlet Malls in search of some cute brown shoes for Hayden. Well, still no shoes, but we did get Hayden 2 shirts and a sweater, and I found some cheap jeans that will work until I lose the 20 lbs I need to to justify spending a ton on jeans.

Then we met back up with my friend and had dinner at Hash House A Go-Go. WOW... the food was great, and well, my HALF POUND burger will definitely last another meal or 2!

Nay's little girl Rori and Hayden were both eating Watermelon which is Hayden's FAVORITE! We got a cute picture of the two of them.

Vegas Day 1

This one was taken from my camera phone, just after the fountains at the Bellagio finished. Hayden was trying to wave at his new friends.

At the Bellagio they have this INCREDIBLE fall display. This was one of the tree Ent's, it was really cool! And this huge scarecrow. The whole display was amazing, but there were so many people there it was tough to get pictures of the kids, so we didn't really try. Although there was this big pumpkin back in a corner, no one was around and hadn't been for like 2-3 minutes, so I got Hayden out of his stroller to have my friend try to get some shots. No kidding, the SECOND we get seated and ready to go, a whole big stream of people came tromping through. I don't know if we managed to get any decent shots, but when we transfer all of Nay's pictures I'll post one.

Hayden was having so much fun playing in their backyard. He is getting along with the 3 kids GREAT, has not had any problems sleeping and is overall the BEST kid ever!!! I am so glad!!!

Today it's SHOPPING and Dinner.... Post more later!

Vacation Time!!!

OK, so I lamented a few weeks ago about never getting to go anywhere fun. Well, we have no school this Thursday and Friday! WAHOOO....
I am taking Hayden to visit my good friend Renee who has 3 kids for Hayden to play with. And since she lives in Vegas, there are a ton of things to do. Can I just say I am SOOOO looking forward to this trip!!
And Renee loves to take photographs so expect a TON of pictures when we get back!!

~Free PURSE~

OK..... I'm a sucker for BAGS and PURSES..... and I want more entries.... so click HERE and check out these awesome styles!

http://www.handbagplanet.com/

Grrrrr-smashed pumpkin

So my mom had put one of our newly purchased pumpkins on the porch with her little WITCH decorations in it, and last night some kids came and threw it in the street! I can't believe how disrespectful kids can be....and we don't have very many TEENS in the area, most of the kids are about 10 or so. It makes me so mad! Hayden really liked going out to look at 'Witchy Poo' and now we can't put anything on the porch.

Pumpkins and Tractors

Since Grandma and Grandpa didn't plant a garden this year we had no pumpkins, so we went to a field nearby where they were selling pumpkins. There were several different tractors and Hayden did NOT want to leave, he cried and cried as we left and would not get in his car seat. (I'm sure it didn't help that it was his bed time and he was tired!

We took quite a few pictures... (I always take WAY too many, but he just does NOT like to look at the camera!) I am also practicing editing with a few different programs. I'm not too great with the paint.net program, but it does a lot more cool things than editing on the web at picnik.com, so here is my attempt at black and white with color.

And this is an edit I did at picnik.com....you can add borders, text and tweak colors and such on this site. It's quick, easy and it's FREE. (This was my favorite shot of the night....the last one before we had to go...he just looks so happy and carefree!)

Farm Country with Cousin Easton

Farm Country

Today, Jessica and her son Easton met Hayden and me at Thanksgiving Point to check out Farm Country.


We had SOOOOO much fun. Hayden has a couple of books that have pictures of cows and ducks in them and has been making moooooo sounds and quack sounds for the last few weeks. I thought he'd be so excited to see an actual cow.... Well, he was actually quite terrified and I had a hard time getting him close enough to even take a picture.

I used picnik.com to edit these photos and I love the pencil sketch.

Hayden and Easton had so much fun together- Here is one of the pictures where they are both looking at the camera.

We got to pet a horse, although Hayden wasn't too sure about it.

Hayden found the JAIL.... let's pray he never really ends up there!

I wasn't sure Hayden was going to go for the Pony Ride, but once he got on the pony he was fine and had so much fun. I had a hard time getting very good pictures but I did get this one after the ride was over.

And this is my favorite picture... Hayden was blowing kisses to the kids waiting to get on the sheep.

I was a little sad that there were quite a few pictures that were ruined/not so good, because apparently Hayden had grabbed the camera and gotten fingerprint smudges all over the lens. :(

Random

OK... so I haven't posted in a while, with school starting and just not really wanting to spend much time online.
I have a lot of random thoughts this week.... I've had 2 students this week who are moving, one has been moved around from several different states with his dad and is just the sweetest kid; and the other is the cutest girl whose mom HATES Utah and is moving the family back to the South. I will miss both of them and hope they will do well in their new schools.

I've also been thinking a lot about vacations. I can't wait until Hayden is old enough to appreciate and enjoy a fun vacation. In the meantime, as much as I love and would miss him, I am really dying to go somewhere fun just for me! Of course I can't afford it, and my mom doesn't think I need a vacation.... so, I'll just dream and read about all of your awesome trips!

I do have pictures of the finished yard to download and post one of these days, but I can't find the right cords...

School is finally in session- BLAH!

So, school is finally back in session and I am back into the swing of things. I have 27 4th graders so far this year, and will probably gain a few over the next few months. I really feel like I have a good grip on my kids and hope to have a really good year. I am really hoping to get the kids to love learning and have some fun!

On another note, our school made the news tonight because we have 44 kindergarteners in the morning and 41 in the afternoon and only ONE teacher. Because they figure out how many teachers we should need each year in the spring with an 'estimated' enrollment, we were forced to 'surplus' a teacher, and because of the guestimated number of kindergarteners planning on attending, that teacher was one of the kindergarten ones. We now have to wait until at least September 15th to get a new teacher and in the meantime that one poor teacher gets to test and try to teach 85 kindergarteners with the help of one reading specialist. It is INSANE!!!

Anyway, here's to a GREAT new school year!

The park

We went to the park tonight, Hayden's first time going down the slide and interacting with other kids. He had a ton of fun chasing Michaela around and heading down the slides, landing on his bum, climbing the walls, etc. Here are some of the pictures.

Yardwork

OK, I know it's been a while since I posted anything new. We are in the process of putting in both the front and the back yard at my parents home. Although the builder was required to put the front yard in, nothing has been done, and the HOA requires it to be done, so, we are doing it ourselves.

So far we have cleared about 70 wheelbarrows full of rocks and cement, moved a bunch of rocks to finish off a rock wall in the front and back, planted trees and shrubs, dug trenches for the sprinklers, and managed to keep Hayden from breaking his leg or cracking his head open while he tries to run and explore all the new terrain. I personally unloaded a trailer full of compost for the top level in the front yard and can look forward to a double load of compost tomorrow.

Needless to say, I have been pretty tired when night falls.

I go back to school for meetings and such next week and I have a ton of stuff to get ready. So I may not post for a bit.

Here are just a few pictures-

Hayden telling us just how to do it!

Michaela came and helped out

Hayden sweeping up-Yup he's naked!

Hayden and Grandpa in the BIG TRUCK-

(The pile of rocks in the background all came from the yard.)This is the rock wall BEFORE we continued

it to the corner of the house and down to the sidewalk

Zoo Fun with Grandma and Grandpa

Today was 'Ice Block' day at the zoo. Hayden and I have a membership and I thought it would be fun to see his reactions to the animals playing with their food. Unfortunately, most of them weren't in the mood.

We talked grandma and grandpa into going with us so I was finally able to get some pictures of me with Hayden doing something, and grandma and grandpa too. It was a great day!

Hayden was terrified of the leopard who kept running back and forth behind Hayden in the glass, we got some great pictures though....






The first time Hayden went to the zoo was almost a year ago. I took a picture of us by the Mama Tiger and the Baby tiger. We were able to do that again today... Look at how much he's grown!

At the bird show the black raven comes into the audience to collect donations, well, the lady right in front of us donated a ten dollar bill. Hayden loves birds and was so excited to have one that close.

The bird would NOT go back to the wrangler, it just kept trying to give the money back to the lady. It was quite funny.

This has to be my favorite picture of the day. We donated 5 bucks to get a picture taken with the American Bald Eagle. I just love Hayden's expression, it couldn't have been cuter! And what a beautiful bird! It was magnificent!

And here is a shot the zoo volunteer took of all of us in front of the elephants...

And Hayden about 1 minute after we left the parking lot