New Year, New Blog

A little while ago I ran out of space on this blog and found out I had to start paying a fee, which I didn't want to do, so I joined google+ to get a little more space and buy me some time.  I just decided to start a new blog.  I'm getting a book printed from the past 4 1/2 years of our first blog.  With the new blog I'm going to be uploading my pictures differently and then I'll make a separate photo book of the pictures from my blog as I go along.  We'll see how it works out.  It seems that a lot of people are instagramming more these days than blogging, but I want to keep up my blog because it helps me to document our life.

therowlands.blogspot.com

Rowland Canyon

The day after Christmas we went up to the family cabin and stayed for two nights.  Brendan's parents came and also two of Brendan's cousins with their spouses and kids.  It snowed the whole time we were there, which made it a lot of fun for sledding and snowmobiling.  We played in the snow and watched movies and warmed up by the fire.  It was a pretty relaxing stay.  

 We stayed up in the crow's nest.  In the first picture it is the very top part of the house with the pitched roof.  The kids loved it up there, but it was a lot of stairs, 47 to be exact from the main floor, but there is also an elevator that goes up too.

 Hazel and Dad having a blast!

 Hattie went down with Jesse and loved it, but she got cold pretty fast and went back inside.

 It was nice having the Mule to take us  back up to the top each time after our ride down.

Brendan's dad tried to leave early in the morning to go back to Provo to get some things done and be back before people woke up, but because of all the snow he couldn't figure out where the road was.  He ended up in the field.  When the road was plowed later in the day, it was very obvious he wasn't near the road.  Brendan had to shovel him out for a few hours, and he wasn't very happy about it.

Christmas 2012

Christmas Eve

Whitney came into town for Christmas with her boyfriend, and so we all went out to lunch Christmas Eve Day.  It was so much fun having Whit in town again.  Hazel cried when she left.

These Christmas Eve pictures were from my phone, but they were the only pictures we took.

Christmas Morning

 Hazel and Hattie both got Skootcases (scooter suitcases) and they love them.  They also have straps you hook on the front so you can pull them through the airport.  We'll see how they work when we go on our next trip, but in the mean time they love them as scooters around the house.

Hattie loved her candy in her stocking.  She would pull out a toy and not even care and would scream when she saw the candy.  You can see she is still holding her candy with her scooter.  The morning after Christmas she found the mini recess peanut butter cups and ate several.  I found the wrappers and chocolate all over her face later.  She apparently didn't get all of the foil off because we found it in her diaper. 

Hattie patiently waiting to play with her toy as Hazel shows her how to use it. 

Hazel and Hattie both got new baby dolls, and they LOVED them.  Hazel said it was just what she wanted.  They are both going to be great big sisters to their new brother or sister who is coming in May.  We find out what we're having next week.  Hazel is hoping it is a brother because she already has a sister.

Brendan's Birthday

Brendan's birthday is Christmas day, so we always celebrate it in the evening.  Brendan always requests cheesecake instead of regular cake.  This year I made caramel apple cheesecake.

Updates on the kiddos

These two have SO much personality.  They really have the best time playing together, and they make me laugh everyday.

Hattie

She is 17 months old and is speaking so many words and phrases.  She can say all of our names, including her own.  She points to herself and says "addie."  Hazel doesn't like the way Hattie says her name (which sounds like ay dough) so Hazel says back to Hattie, "ay dough isn't my name."  Hattie can say and point to most of her body parts.  When her bottle is all out she shakes it in our faces and says, "all gone, more milk."  She LOVES books, so she will bring books up to me and says, "read this."  She is pretty attached to her pacifier, which is weird because Hazel never took one.

She loves playing on her rocking horse and screams "wee" as she rides.  Boxes are a fun toy for her.  One day she laid down in a small box and said "night night" and pretended to sleep.  She loves to tag along and play with Hazel, even if it means getting hurt sometimes.

She takes naps and goes to bed without a complaint.  You just lay her down in her crib and she's happy and falls asleep.  She is always so cheerful and happy when she wakes up in the morning usually calling for Mom or Dad from the crib.  She also loves to cuddle.  Hattie usually gets up earlier than Hazel and I, so Brendan will get her out of her crib and she cuddles up with Brendan and watches the news. 

Hazel   

She just turned 3 1/2 and can't wait to be a Sunbeam.  The past few weeks the primary has been taking the older nursery kids into primary for the first hour, and she loves it.  The first day she came home and said, "Hattie I'm a Sunbeam now!"  When our Christmas cards we ordered came in the mail there was a blow pop inside the box and Hazel's response was, "They must have known you had kids!"

Hazel loves to play pretend, especially princesses.  The other day we were playing princesses and I was Rapunzel, Hattie was Cinderella, and Hazel was Belle.  I was doing the dishes and she came up to me and said, "Rapunzel I have to get home to the Beast."  I told her I thought he had turned back into a prince and she said, "Oh yeah he's not that like anymore."  She is pretty good at remembering to stay in character too.  Whenever I randomly call her to come do something later in the day she will remind me her name isn't Hazel.

She loves to sing and dance, and she usually makes up her own words with tunes to songs she knows. One day she took the tune of The Farmer and the Dell and sang some princess song with words about herself.

If you remember this post from 8 months ago where I talked about Hazel and her fits and terrible sleeping habits, I wanted to let you know things have improved dramatically.  Hazel now has a bedtime at 9 p.m. and she is usually really good at sticking to it.  She not only lets you brush her teeth, but if you forget she gets upset that her teeth are going to rot out.  She actually goes in and lays in her bed and falls asleep without a fit.  This is quite amazing considering her fits she used to throw going to bed.  I guess she just grew up a little, which is a blessing to me.  It is so wonderful to have time in the evening with both of the kids asleep.  

I just LOVE these two!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas......

 They loved sliding down the steps.

All they wanted to do was eat it no matter how many times I told them not to.

We went out and bought our tree for family night when we got back in town from Thanksgiving.  Since December 1st we have been opening one wrapped Christmas book every night as our bed time story.  I got the idea from my sister.  At the end of Christmas you just pack up the books and pull them out and wrap them again the next year.  Since I was a teacher I already had quite a few Christmas books, but last year I didn't have enough for 25 days, so I bought a couple more.  Hazel and Hattie love it!!  They get so excited to get their teeth brushed and pajamas on just to open their book.  One problem we've had is that Hattie likes to open more than one some nights. 

Thanksgiving 2012

We went to Sacramento for Thanksgiving this year to be with my family, but I didn't get many pictures.  On Wednesday night we went to our annual family Turkey skate where we rent out a roller rink, but I didn't bring my camera in and all of Brendan's phone pictures were blurry.  On Thursday we had our Thanksgiving meal with my mom's side of the family at a church building to eat with all of our extended family.  It was a bit of a carnival with a bounce house, mechanical bull, and a money blowing machine.  They also had games like knockout and slaughter ball.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we went to Fairytale Town in downtown Sacramento.  I used to go there as a kid, so it was fun to take my kids.  It has child sized playgrounds based on fairy tales and nursery rhymes.

Good Times

These two make me laugh so much.  They love playing together (even though they fight quite often and Hattie is usually left with the scars) and when Hattie takes a nap Hazel asks who's she going to play with now.  The other day after waking up they wanted to put on tutus to dance, so they put them on over their pajamas.  Hazel found a wizard hat and said she was a witch.  I guess Hattie is the princess with the crown and lots of bracelets and a belt around her neck.

I love Hazel's pose. 

I was doing the dishes and looked over to find them both on top of Hazel's kitchen sink playing.  I'm not sure what was going on with Hazel's faces, but I thought they were so cute.

Fall Fun

Rowley's Red Barn

We went to Rowley's Red Barn in Santaquin.  They had a hay ride and pumpkin patch outside and lots of goodies inside.  We bought a big box of apples, some apple cider, hot chocolate, and apple cider donuts.  

 Hazel and Hattie both had apple cider donuts all over their faces.  

 They started chowing down on their apples inside the store.  I was surprised at how much they actually ate.

We took home our apples and put them to good use.  We made a delicious apple pie and took it to a family party, and I also made some homemade applesauce.  I got the recipe from Smitten Kitchen.  I saw these little green pouches on pinterest and ordered some.  My kids love those squeeze applesauce packs, but they can get expensive over time.  These are reusable and you can make lots of your own varieties.  

Riverwoods Pumpkin Parade and Monster Mash

We had so much fun at the Pumpkin Parade and will for sure be going back next year.  They had lots of bounce houses, vendors, dancing, face painting, balloon animals, a petting zoo, games, trick or treating, free cupcakes, a hayride, and lots of pumpkins.   The weather was also very nice, so that helped a lot.

Our princess and strawberry all ready to have fun!

 Hazel was too scared to go in, but once she saw Hattie enjoying the animals she decided to join in.  Hattie is petting a sheep, and Hazel is petting a huge rabbit.

 You can see Hattie eyeing Hazel's cupcake, and I'm glad she decided to share.

 Hazel said the hayride was her favorite part of the day.

There was a very cool headless horseman riding around.

Fall Leaves

These two had a lot of fun playing in the leaves on our front lawn before Brendan cleaned them up.

Ride 'em Cowboy

Brendan found a deal for horseback riding just 20 minutes away from Park City in Oakley, UT.  It was really pretty up there, and we had a great time together.  I highly recommend it as a Fall date!

On our way out of Oakley we stopped at ate at this cute little diner.  It was moved there from the east coast.