Count your blessings...

Well it's a little weird that I thought about all my blessings this week. Our water heater broke on Sunday but instead of being mad about it I realized how lucky we are. Mark mentioned that is makes you appreciate the pioneers a little bit more and that got me thinking. We still have running water, heat, shelter, food, and our health. Who cares if we have to boil water to wash dishes or heat up water for Henley's bath. I have had to go to my parents house to shower but it's not really a big deal. Sure this is an inconvience that we have probably taken for granted along with all of our other "luxuries" but we will survive. I am just so grateful for everything that we still do have and I hope this makes me appreciate all the little things a little more often. Don't get me wrong I hope we get this fixed soon, but I'm glad I had a chance to realize how grateful I am for everything else.

Beautiful Baby Contest

Well every year Regis and Kelly have a beautiful baby contest. The first year Henley was not old enough and last year I didn't submit a picture in time. So this year I finally did it. If any one wants to enter their kid the website is Parenting.com/beautiful baby . The kids have to be between 6 months and 48 months. Anyway, they will show all the pictures on the show at some point. These were the pictures I was choosing from and I chose the 2nd one, I hope that was the best choice. If any one else enters, good luck.

Ready to Party Time

On January 10th we had Henley's birthday party. The week before she kept saying "Mom, is it Ready to Party Time?" I don't know where she learned this but she knew there was going to be a party. She wanted to swim, have balloons, and have a blue cake. So we had our family's come swim at the Sports Academy with us and it was a lot of fun. After, we had pizza and cake at our house

Playing ball with the boys.

Just wanted to show this cool picture of my dad wearing goggles to play basketball. Ha ha

And yes Henley can walk on water.

Playing Red light, green light with Aunt Jillian.

Mark and Carter

Back at our house, getting ready to pray.

Luckily, we were able to get another Winnie the Pooh balloon, which she loved and still loves to play with. It is really bigger than she is.

I was planning on making her cake but Mark decided to do it. He stayed up until 3:00am the night before making the cake to look like the 100 acre wood. He must really like Henley. It turned out great. Henley even helped him dye the cake blue with food coloring so the actual cake was blue like she wanted.

The Ready to Party hats. This was another thing she wanted for the party. Every time she has put a hat on the last few weeks she says, "I'm ready to party". So we got some hats and she loved them.

Checking out her presents. I'm pretty sure she had every toy there is. With birthday and Christmas I don't think there is anything else she could possibly want.


We had a lot of fun and it was great of both of our families to come. I can't believe I have a two year old. And in two short years I will have a four year old. Holy cow. I think if it's possible I love her even more every day. We are so glad we have her in our lives.

Happy Birthday to Henley

Well I am a day late posting but yesterday (January 8th) was Henley's 2nd Birthday. It was a little more exciting than last year because she knew what was going on. Mark had put balloons all over her room before she woke up and she was so excited about that. Ever since I started planning her party about a week ago she has been so excited for balloons. But, since her party isn't until Saturday Mark thought she should have some balloons on her birthday. She opened her presents from us she got, a birthday book, a new swim suit, Candyland Castle game, and some Littlest Pet shop animals. She really liked everything and we even played the Candyland Castle game and it was fun for her. Unfortunately, I had to go to work so we didn't do much the rest of the day but we did go out for ice cream last night to celebrate. We are having a little swimming party for her tomorrow so I will have more pictures to post then. A side note about my balloon fiasco today. I had special ordered a huge walking Winnie the Pooh balloon last week. They don't normally have the Winnie the Pooh ones so I was lucky to get it in time. I picked up all of her balloons today for the party tomorrow. We got home and in the house and I realized the Pooh balloon was not with the other ones. I looked outside and it was floating over the golf course. Poor Henley kept saying "But I want the Pooh balloon mom." She asked me to go get it a couple of times and I had to tell her it was gone. Luckily, Macey's had order two when they ordered mine so they have one more left that I can get for the party. I would have felt awful if they didn't. That was the whole reason I got balloons was for this awesome Winnie the Pooh one. I guess it will all work out. Happy birthday Henley, we love you.

Our Little Dare Devil

We went swimming while we were in Lyman. Mark said "Do you think Henley would jump off the diving board?" We guessed whether she would or not. Me and Mark's mom guessed that she would. Sure enough she jumped with no problem at all. She has a lot of Mark in her because I was so scared of diving board my whole life. I know it is just the small diving board but I think it is still impressive since she is so small.

Christmas

This year we were in Logan for Christmas Eve and Christmas. We went to Lyman on the 26th and 27th to see Mark's family. Henley got Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve and a Christmas Book. We watched a movie but I can't remember which one, I know it was like 4 days ago but I can't remember. Henley was so excited about each gift on Christmas morning. She got a baby doll play set from Santa and she would have played with that all day. I asked if she wanted to open another present and she said "No, I'm playing." Anyway, eventually we opened all the gifts. Mark is refinishing a rocking chair for me and the new baby, that was his gift to me. We each got some clothes, and Mark got kitchen gadgets which he loves. I got a Scentsy from Mark's mom which I was very excited about. We went to my parents for breakfast and to talk to my brother Kyle who was calling from his mission in Nebraska. We opened presents there and then waited for my Grandpa and his wife Tana and the Kirschmans. It was a lot of fun, and then we got snowed in. My parents only live about 5 minutes away but it snowed about a foot on Christmas night so we stayed the night at my parents. The next day we headed to Lyman to see the Huntsmans. I have no idea why we don't have that many pictures but this is about all I could find.

This is how Henley wanted to watch the movie Christmas Eve.

Playing with her new doll set.





Playing with play dough at Grandma Huntsmans

Thank you whoever you are

We had a VERY generous gift left on our doorstep last night. We don't know who it was from although we have an idea. I just wanted to say how much we appreciate this gift and how much it meant to our family. I won't go in to details and I don't know if the person who did it will ever read this, but I want to let everyone know how grateful we are for this. We were very touched by how thoughtful this gift is and hope one day we can do the same for someone else. We also want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. I hope everyone can feel the Christmas Spirit that we have felt this year. Thank you whoever you are.