A walk around the temple

Me, Ash, and Hayes took a walk around the temple last week and while we were there I snapped this pic! I feel like there are no bad pics of the temple, but this one was pretty amazing to me! I love to go walk around there, and I love to take Hayes there. I feel like even though he doesn't totally understand where we are, he knows its a special place. 

Nose picker

Sam took Hayes last Saturday and let him play in the sprinklers. I went with my mom and these are the pictures he sent me. OH. MY! is all I could say. We showed Sydney and she laughed and said that is such a Rick thing to do, so apparently we named him appropriately. :) 

The cabin

The other weekend a few of my friends and I headed up to the cabin for the day. I picked up Alyson's kids (the ones who were home) and we spent the day hiking around and eating pizza and treats. It was fun to get away and to spend time up where it's a little cooler. I always say this, but we really need to do this more often. Hayes had a blast and it was nice to spend time up there. Since I've had Hayes, my love for the cabin has grown like crazy. I know he loves it, and it makes me love it even more. I also remember growing up and going up there and playing with my cousins and I want that same thing for him. 

Fort time

I've tried to come up with some fun things for Hayes to do inside since it's literally been 110 degrees here everyday. One thing I use to love doing was building forts or having "huts" places. I literally spent one summer setting up a fort in our attic just so I could have my own space. I cleared out one closet in our room and built Hayes a pretty sweet fort, complete with Curious George and a night light. He LOVED it and LOVED to slam the door closed. He is really into slamming doors lately, I'm pretty sure it's just a phase of independence, but man alive I hate the slamming doors. 

Cool kid

The other day at the park I convinced Hayes to wear his hat for about 2 minutes (just long enough for me to take these pics). He gets super upset when Sam doesn't have his hat on, but he refuses to wear his. He's such a silly kid. 

I love these park days with Hayes. I can hardly wait for the weather to cool down so we don't have to die in the heat anymore. 

Mckall was here

McKall came down the other weekend and stayed at my mom's house. She was nice and came over to see us for a little while. Hayes LOVED having her here and made her sit and watch Aladdin with him. She was a good sport and was his cushion though the whole thing. 

Nap time

I came home the other day and found these two like this. I loved it so much! These little sleeping beauties are something else. 

Wagons

We bought this wagon last year before we went to California to be able to wheel our stuff down to the beach. We have only got it out of the closet a few time since then, and then the other day Hayes found it and has wanted to ride in it ever since. We went for a few walks in it and then loaded it up with blankets and let Hayes watch a movie in it. He thought it was the coolest thing ever. 

I feel like I need to document these things because I know Hayes won't remember them and I have to remind him that I really was a cool mom! :) haha

Dad

Hayes has started asking where Sam is in the morning when he wakes up. I always tell him "Dad is working." Hayes usually accepts that says "Dad work". The other day I took Hayes to a job site that Sam was working on to show him where dad works at. He didn't fully understand, but I know Sam was happy to see us. 

Another day after Hayes asked about Sam, he ran into the room and grabbed one of Sam's hats and walked around like this saying "Dad Dad!" haha. He's one smart cookie! 

Puddles

Some times mornings are really hard. Sometimes Hayes wakes up early and he's irritable and I'm tired and we just don't get a long. It makes things kind of rough. I especially have a hard time when this happens on my days off. I think I just want my days off to be so much fun and full of good memories and happiness, and tired mamas and irritable toddlers are not included in that picture I have. Sometimes I get really down and it sets us up for a long hard day, then other times, I get over the picture in my head and decide to do something about it. 

So, the other morning when Hayes was up by 6 a.m. and I was tired of getting scratched or protecting Gator from Hayes's terror, we decided to go for a walk and find some good puddles. I let Hayes play and stomp around to his heart's content. He absolutely loved it, and we both instantly felt better. He was thrilled, I let the little things go and we both ended up having a great day. Who would have thought a simple puddle could change a day? :)  

A day at the Mountain- 90th birthday

In July my mom's aunt Louise turned the big 9-0! Her kids were so sweet and threw a party in her honor, and they invited all of us too! It was up on my mom's side of Cedar Mountain and it was a lot of fun. Towards the end we all sang Happy Birthday to her and she was so sweet and started crying. She kept saying how great it was to be surrounded by such a great family, and I couldn't help but agree. We had a lot of fun meeting family members we had never met. Hayes got a little crazy, but all in all I am so glad we went. 

Long boarding with Stock

Hayes thinks long boarding is the best thing he's ever discovered, now add a little Stockden to that and Hayes is absolutely heaven.  

Cool shoes

Hayes's new favorite things is to find my shoes and put them on and then walk around in them. He thinks he is so cool. I think it's hilarious. He really love these running shoes and then some other cheetah print shoes I have. Hayes is a character I tell you. 

Aunties

We don't get to see Sam's sisters very much, especially Brandi, so we were especially happy when both Brooke and Brandi were in town at the same time. Hayes instantly loved Brandi and gave her all kinds of kisses and thought she was the best time. He has always loved Brooke too. We went to lunch with these two and Syd before Brandi left town and Hayes ate up all the attention his aunts were handing out. It was fun to spend time with them and to let them see and get to know Hayes more too. 

Singing in the rain

This was after we got home from the pool. It started down pouring and Hayes was SO excited to play in the rain, I'm pretty sure he thought it was another splash pad. Him and Gator ran around on the front lawn until they were both just dripping wet. It really was a great day!  

Pool day

Sam and I took Hayes to the Washington City Community Center for a swim day last Saturday. Hayes liked to swim, but LOVED the splash pad. He ran around and screamed and played and literally just wore himself out. It was a really fun family day. Sam loves to take Hayes swimming and so I even got a chance to lay out for a little while! It was AWESOME! A little while after we left the pool, it started down pouring, so we felt like we had some great timing! 

Painting

I've seen a lot of moms on social media paint with their little ones, I always looked at that and thought "Wow, that's REALLY brave!" I also thought they might be a little bit crazy, but I found this cute little painting kit at Target and decided it was time to try it out. Much to my surprise Hayes did great! At first he was really good about using the brush and the eventually he just used his fingers, but he did really good to paint only on his paper. I actually feel kind of bad that I haven't let him do it before. I was so proud of him that I hung his painting on our fridge and haven't taken it down yet. This was a really fun activity, and I'm excited to do it with him again.