Life is Good

July!

2011-08-20T14:29:00.000-07:00

I know I need to post more than once a month but at least I get the job done, right?

Here is everything that happened in July and photos that I just took just because.

Bostyn playing with pop-its. She couldn't throw them hard enough for them to snap so she just had to step on them and she loved every one!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOSTYN!!!!

Bostyn turned 2 on July 2, 2011.

As soon as she woke up we opened a few presents because Daddy had to get to work:(

She got three fish but only one is still alive. She really likes her fish.

Then she got this doll play thing that is a crib with a sink and high chair on each side. She thought this was so much fun for her doll!

While all the guys were at work I threw a little Birthday Party at the pool for Bostyn with all the wives. It turned out to be really fun! Thanks girls for all who came!

Carla and Bosytn

Camille, Hillary and Nikki

Kim, Bostyn, Carla and Adria

All the wives that got in the pool

Carla, Camille, Hillary, Nikki, Adria, Bostyn and Laurie

Bostyn and Her cake

She thought this was so fun and she loved blowing out the candle. After lighting her candle, anytime she sees fire she yells Happy Birthday!

Kim, Hillary, Camille, Nikki, Adri & Bostyn, Chelsea and Carla

This was the night of her Birthday and we went to go see fireworks. The weekend of the 4th of July there were fireworks all weekend long! I was trying to take a cute picture of her but she would not cooperate at all!

She is trying to show me how old she is but just cant get it right:)

Fireworks in Frisco

She found a couple of friends to play with but when I looked over there she was just sitting in the grass and I didn't know what she was doing. She sat there for a while before I figured out she wasn't able to get up. She was sitting in a yucky swampy area in the grass so we had a bit of a mess to clean up and she smelled bad for the rest of the night. Poor Bostyn. She still had a lot of fun though.

When Ladd got home from work we finished opening some presents and played for a little while before it was time for bed.

We did the candle again for Bostyn for Ladd to see:)

4th of July

This is the actual 4th of July and we went to Mckinney to watch a parade. It was pretty lame but it gave us something to do for a bit:)

Carla, Bostyn and Sarah

The guys got half the day off so we did something fun and it was bowling. Brad came with us as well. I beat both of them both games!!! Ok, me and Ladd tied the first game but I would have won if he didn't mess me up my very last turn!

Bostyn cheered us all on.

Weekend at Adria's House!

All the wives went to Adria's house one weekend to get away from our apartments and it was so much fun! She had a fun pool we all just lounged in and we ate food Adria's mom made for us. Thanks for letting us play at your house Adria!

My sister Andrea was able to stop by on her way through back to Denver. It was really fun to see Her and the Boys and Bostyn sure loved having the company as well. Brad was the Man of the whole time. All the kids just love Brad as you can see!

Trip to Beaver

Bostyn and I were able to go Beaver for a week and it was so much fun! We went for the 24th of July which in Beaver is just about the biggest celebration there is. I haven't been home for the 24th since 2007 and it was nice to be there this year with most of my family.

Bostyn on the airplane. She thought it was pretty neat.

Jaeley and Bostyn out on Grandpa's farm.

These two gathered eggs from the chicken coop but only one egg survived.

Bostyn with the sheep

Bunny Rabbits

Raggetty Ann! Bwhaha.

Bostyn and Grandpa Anderson

Jaeley Climbing the fence and trying to see out of all that hair over her eyes.

Bostyn with the cows

It was so fun going home because Bostyn could actually play outside with out getting heat stroke! The weather was fantastic in Utah and it made me want to stay forever!

This is just Bostyn playing like little girls should play!

Hanging out on the porch enjoying each other's company!

Grandma Anderson, Bostyn, Kate, Jaeley and Grandpa Anderson

MMM…watermelon

Fun fire for the kids. Bostyn kept saying Happy Birthday!

24th of July!

This is the day we were all waiting for. This was such a fun day and it all started with a fun parade.

My mom and dad were in it because he is in the Stake Presidency.

Bostyn and Jaeley wating for some floats with the candy!

Later that evening I was able to go to a class reunion and see a bunch of good friends. Then I came back home to enjoy a good BBQ and a game of croquet. I lost miserably.

That was the last of it. I had to come back to Texas to finish out the summer with my Hubby. I don't hate Texas, I just LOVE Utah where my home is.

Walls of Clay

Some of the wives went to this place in Mckinnney called Walls of Clay. You get to pick out a piece soemthing that you want to paint like a bowl, plate, or Bostyn did a piggy bank. I wasn't too sure about going cause I thought it would be a disaster taking a two year old to a place where everything was breakable! It actually turned out being really fun for me and for Bostyn. She was all hands on and wanted to do this all by herself. I helped a little but for the most part she did it herself. It turned out way cute but I don't have an after picture…sorry.

Adria, Me and Bostyn

I am sweating because this place did not have AC and I was dying!

Kim, Adria, Me, and Chelsea

Hallows Baby #2

2011-07-01T20:32:00.000-07:00

For those of you that haven't heard, we are expecting a new little addition to our family on December 7, 2011. I am really excited for this one and the pregnancy is going by really fast which is good. I didn't go through much sickness this time which I am very grateful for but I have been more tired for sure! I also have two sisters and a sister in law expecting around the time I am and so far we have found out two of the four are going to be boys! I want another little girl but we will see what it is at the end of July. That seems far away. I am getting really anxious to find out. Anyway, that is the news!

June

2011-07-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

This is our month of June and then I will finally be all caught up with my blogging!

Bostyn loves water. She loves to swim, she loves to shower and she loves to take a bath. As you can see, she likes to drink it too!

This is Sunday. Church goes right over Bostyn's nap so she is pretty tired after church. This week she fell asleep at dinner on daddy's lap.

My sister Andrea and her boys stopped to visit on their way to their new home in McAllen, TX. Bostyn Loved having them here. She doesn't get very many play mates being the only little one here with our summer group. The boys had fun too I hope!

Uncle Brad and Jake

Everyone roughing with uncle Brad

I can't believe I didn't strip her for this popsicle. The only thing I can think of is that she must have been extremely dirty anyway:)

Dallas Aquarium

Bostyn really likes animals and she was fascinated by every single animal there was at this place! In this picture below, there was a little bird down the hall that she didn't dare get close to.

The cool thing about this place was that a lot of the animals were wide open exhibits...no cages. It was fun to get close to the animals.

Cute and ugly. Cute because it was a baby monkey, but ugly because it was the ugliest baby monkey I have ever seen!

Huge Sea turtle!

She really does like her hat:)

USA Allen Celebration

Allen had their big fourth of July celebration two Saturday's ago. (I don't know why they just don't do it on the fourth?) It was fun. Most of the wives were able to go but it was mostly kid oriented so I bet the wives were really bored! I on the other hand was in line the whole time with Bostyn to get into the bounce houses.

We waited at least twenty minutes for this one and she didn't even leave the opening of it. She just watched all the kids bounce around. I will admit that she is a little small for it. She would not have been able to jump with those other kids any way but it was annoying that we waited all that time for nothing!

We went to a different one and she really liked it! It was just right for her until it came to a wall she had to climb so the adult helper and to get her over every time. We did this one three times!

All the wives that came!

L-R: Heidi, Hillary, Adria, Laurie, Nicki, Elise and Chelsea.

We have awesome fun wives this year!

They had a great firework show to end the night with. We had to leave a bit early to make it to dinner though with the guys! We were still able to see the finale though and it was awesome!!!

Swimming! Bostyn doesn't like her green floaty tube that she can sit in. She likes to be out and about swimming around (of course with the help of her mom and dad) so I got her arm floaties and she LOVES them! It is so cute to see her swimming by herself. She loves the independence of it all too! The first time with them, I was with her and she hardly wanted any help but the second time it was with Ladd and she wanted to be held most of the time. I don't know why the sudden change but she still liked them and I think they are fun.

She thinks she is so funny when she throws my shoes in the pool. She can be very naughty sometimes!

Mmmm. She liked helping mom make brownies:)

This is Bostyn's choice pose at this stage in her life.

Bowling with the wives. It was great fun!

The same pose again

May

2011-07-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

This was Bostyn's first encounter with corn on the cob. She loved it and it was so cute watching her eat it!

She sure does know how to cheese for the camera! She LOVES popsicles, but what kid doesn't? I have to strip her down every time I give her one because for some reason she can't eat it faster than the sun.

Our first office BBQ. It was May and it was not too hot...oh what I would give to go back to that temperature! We were at a quiet little part and after eating the guys played a fun game of kick ball on a softball field.

Ladd...need I say more?

Bostyn

My brother Brad being Brad. He always does this kind of stuff. He is climbing up a huge light post.

Cute little Bostyn

This was the night we went to find fireflies. It was fun but we only saw a few. Bostyn thought they were really neat!

Fun pictures of Bostyn

I think it is so cute when Bostyn plays with her baby. In these pictures she is teaching her baby how to ride her bike....it was really cute!

Bostyn really likes her Magna-doodle. She is really into circles. She gets better and better everyday. I really should put some of her drawings on here. Her pictures are coved in them. It is quite funny. Maybe she will move onto something else sometime soon?

I found this awesome park one day and saw that it had a huge play ground and a splash pad! I took Bostyn there the next day but she did not want to get into the water. Oh well.

Stock Yards with the Wives. It was a very hot day and we complained about it the whole time. We are all sitting down to eat in this pic. We made sure we sat by the water misters.

Adria and Bostyn

Bostyn is a guzzle gut! She could sip on a yummy drink forever if you let her!

I can't tell if she really actually likes lemons. She always wants them but then she looks as if she is in pain the whole time she is eating them! Silly girl.

She did not like this clown but she really wanted a balloon. It was funny.

If you can't tell what it is, it's a puppy on a leash.

We went to a gift shop at the stock yards and she found this hat that she loved! I really don't give her everything she wants but I figured this could be her one souvenir from Dallas. Plus I thought it was cute.

This is where the rodeo is held. Bostyn loved the rodeo the whole entire time!!! She would get mad at all the horses and animals when they would leave the arena.

This is at the same park as the splash pad. She really just likes the playground and the swings:)

They had cute little ducklings at their pond so we fed them bread and animal crackers.

Month of April!

2011-07-01T19:04:00.000-07:00

This is our month of April. This month was here and there trying to visit everybody and trying to get ready to get to Dallas. It was a crazy month!

Bostyn, Ava, and Jaeley at Grandma Anderson's on the swings.

You always have to take sleeping pictures on the floor right?

We are in Dallas! The Sunday after we arrived was Easter Sunday so we had to color eggs of course. We had our friends Land and Nicki over to join us. Bostyn did not know how to put the eggs in the dye softly so she kind of just threw them in which of course made a difficult cleanup!

Easter Sunday Morning with Bostyn in her new dress and Daddy.

Mommy and Bostyn

Bangs

2011-07-01T18:53:00.000-07:00

This was back in March. Her hair was getting long enough to cover her eyes so I decided to cut her some bangs. Some liked it and some didn't (of course only my sisters would give opinions right?) I like them. I think they make her look like a little girl.

Dallas!

2011-05-20T17:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know I haven't kept up to my goal of posting twice a month, but I will try to do better from now on. Lots has happened in the past month or so. To start, our Saturn died. I was sad because it was my first car and it was mine and Ladd's first car as a married couple. Ladd was not sad. He was a little happy to see it go. He only had bad things to say about it. But when we really left it, his sentimental part of him came out and admitted he was a little bit sad. What happened was the engine blew out while on the freeway, we don't know how but it was a little too costly for us to want to fix the old car so we spent more money and went and got a new one. Makes sense right? It doesn't to me. However, I like our new car...it is a Hyundai Sonata and I think we got a pretty good price for it. But being out here for about of month has put about 10 years onto it the way these boys treat the vehicles! Ladd gets to drive everyday for work so he has a car full of boys every day in and out of it. The next thing: We have moved to Dallas for the summer for Ladd's job. Preseason was very stressful and hectic and we were glad to get it over with and to be here for the summer. The summer however is maybe less hectic but it is still stressful! We have a small group of guys but it will be a good summer:) Ladd is doing great so far and is liking managing to the best that he can. I really like Dallas so far. The weather has been very mild and not hot! I like it a lot! I know it won't last forever and I am bracing myself for the 100 degree heat or higher. I'm not the one who should be worried though. It's the boys that have to be outside all day:( The area we live in has about every shopping and restaurant you can think of within 5 minutes. However, the apartments we live in are the least nicest we have had since being in the job. I said least nicest because they are still nice, just a little older.

Bostyn has gone through a couple of changes. When we moved out here, she transferred from a crib to a big girl twin bed. She really liked it and sleeps just the same. She has also gone through a sleeping schedule change. I don't think she really likes this change so much though. She doesn't really go to bed till 10:00 or later most nights. I feel bad but sometimes I like to keep her up so she can see her Dad when he comes home, sometimes I would like to put her to bed earlier but that time interferes with getting dinner ready and other things done before Ladd gets home. She definitely does not have a set bed time but I am going to try to get her to bed earlier. She is much happier and healthier that way too.

Bostyn is very busy and fun and naughty and loud and sweet and cute at this stage in her life! She is talking and says new things everyday. She likes to do things herself but is not afraid to ask for help if she needs it. She has started to sing her own songs, which is so funny to listen too. She loves to take care of her baby, she loves to draw...not color, she likes to be outside, she like to help and be in the way whenever I am trying to do something productive, therefore, I don't do a lot of productive things:) She still loves Mother Goose. She loves me to sing to her several songs, such as, Herman the Worm man, Little Bunny Foo Foo, Popcorn Popping, Little Fish, Bumblebee and several others...it's cute and exhausting. She will do most of the actions to them and sometimes try to sing along:) She loves hugs and kisses, she likes to be held, she likes to be noticed all day long, she says Hi to EVERYBODY! One thing that drives me CRAZY about this little girl of mine is that she is in a screaming phase. Whenever I do not want her to scream the most, like in a grocery store or other public places, she just screams the whole time and it is a blood curdling, high pitch Banchie scream. I never know what to do in these situations because I hate trying to stop her by some act because it is embarrassing and causes a scene, but it is also very embarrassing to be the mom who just lets her child scream at the store, plus it honestly hurts peoples ears! Shopping of any kind is not fun with her! Anyway, she is a character, and has definitely entered terrible two's early. I still love her and she can be very cute and sweet at times but sometimes she makes it hard to realize the joy of being a mother:) (was that not a horrible thing to say?)

Nothing is really going on with me. I am finished with school! I finished my last class a few weeks ago and now I am done forever. I am not sad, but it does make me feel a little old. I am just trying to be a supportive wife of a salesman and am trying to be a good mom:) I have already met fun new wives that have turned into great friendships! It's fun and I am happy:)

Cruising to the Bahamas and Mexico

2011-03-19T15:21:00.000-07:00

Ladd and I just got back from an amazing trip to the mexican bahamas on a cruise! It was nice to get away and relax before the summer of sales begins. I have a ton of pictures on here so I will just explain the trip as the pictures go on.

Ladd bought a brand new paddle off of an Asian website....it came with a case and everything. Well his best competition are people from platinum so he just had to take his paddle on our trip and he definitely got to play plenty.

First our trip started with a day in Florida. This is where they did their manager trainings.

Jared and Ladd playing ping pong and the Florida office

This is us on our way to the cruise ship...Wahoo!

These next ten pictures are us being silly and bored while waiting to get into our state rooms on the cruise ship.

We finally got going and it took us over two hours to get out of Tampa Bay. We are going under the Tampa Bay bridge in this pic. It was really cool because the ship clears the bridge by just 6 ft!

This is us at dinner.

Lane, Ladd, Beamer, and Brady

They all just came down the water slide. The water is freezing and there was no way I was going down it!

Formal night in the dining room

Us getting off the ship onto a boat to take us to Grand Caymen

We are at Grand Caymen on a boat taking us to Rum Beach Island. It was a pretty fun beach. I just wish we had more time on this day. A bummer that happened this day was that they closed down Sting Ray City which was one of the things we were going to do.

This was the fun group we hung out with at Grand Caymen

L-R: Brady and Josie, Bridger and Courtney, Beamer and Kim, Ladd and Laurie, and Nikki and Lane

Lane, Beamer and Ladd

They played beach volleyball and Ladd got stuck on a team with all strange people. It was really funny.

We are now in Cozemel Mexico at this point. It was a nice day and the water was so pretty and clear.

Us and Beamer and Kim

Us, Lane and Nikki, and Beamer and Kim

You've gotta love the hat!

This is on our way to see the Mayan ruins and Tulum

This is Tulum. It was really cool to see all the ancient ruins!

The Beach was beautiful at Tulum

Ladd played in the Cruise ping pong tournament and he won!

Then Ladd and Lane played in the Platinum Protection Tournament and they won too!

To end the fun vacation, the last day while we were burning time before we had to go to the airport, we got dropped off at Downtown Disney...A perfect ending to a perfect vacation. Thanks Platinum for the free vacation!

Fun with the cousins!

2011-03-19T14:38:00.000-07:00

We had the White kids over for a few days while my sister and bro in law went to Florida! I really hope they had fun and I hope my niece and nephews had fun too.

This is Kate. She fell asleep in the chair:)

This is Bostyn and Kate thinking they are funny laying in Tanner and Tyson's bed:)

This is Bostyn wanting to look at the pictures on the camera

This is my temporary family of four.

L-R: Tanner, Bostyn, Tyson and Kate

Tanner, Bostyn, Kate and Tyson

Bostyn wanting to look at the camera. It is really hard to take pictures when all they want is to look at the camera.

Uncle Ladd was very nice and bought everybody ice cream from DQ.

As you can see, Bostyn thoroughly enjoyed hers.

These are the boys and their swords. They were very protective of them as well.

Bostyn and Kate in the tub together. They played alright with each other but they fought over me so much. I was flattered at first but then in just got annoying. If I was holding on, the other got mad and then they started hitting, kicking and fighting.

We had a great time.

Jumping Jumping Jumping

2011-03-19T14:24:00.000-07:00

Bostyn has found a new hobby and it is jumping onto the beanbag. It is really funny to watch and she can climb up by herself so it makes it easy for her to do whenever she wants to.

All By Myself

2011-03-19T14:14:00.000-07:00

Bostyn surprised me one day when she came into the room with her shoes completely on and even on the right feet. I did not help her one bit!!! I had no idea she could put her own shoes on. She really surprises us everyday with the new things she can do.

Say Cheese

2011-03-19T14:12:00.000-07:00

So Bostyn is definitely starting to be a little poser for the camera. Whenever I bring it out she will just give me this toothy grin. It is fun but sometimes I just want to get pictures of what she is doing in the moment.

Also, as you can see, she is drawing with markers....this was the day she was banned from markers. I have given her so many chances to draw with out writing all over herself and her clothes but she just won't stop so now she is no longer allowed to have markers.

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-03-19T14:04:00.000-07:00

This was a great Valentines Day! I got to share it with the two people I love most in my life. Here are some pics of the day....

Bostyn getting her valentine from Mommy

Mommy and Bostyn making surprise Valentine cupcakes

She gave me a special Valentine kiss:)

Us having dinner together on Valentines Day

Bostyn got so dirty during dinner, she had to get cleaned off in the sink

Don't worry, I didn't forget about Ladd! Ladd was such a sweet heart this day. He prolonged the gift giving throughout the whole day and he connected every thing he gave me with something in the past from our relationship (I hope that makes sense). After Bostyn went to bed we had a really fun and romantic night together. I really love Ladd and I am very happy he is my Valentine.

Jump!

2011-03-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

Bostyn has been on the trampoline before but I would say that this is her first real experience on it and she LOVED it! She thought it was the funnest thing when I would hold on to her while jumping so she could go really high. She isn't quite daring enough to jump really high on her own and she doesn't quite have the technique of it either but I bet it won't take her long!

Our Home

2011-02-09T17:08:00.000-08:00

Normally I would not post pictures of my house, for one I can never seem to get it all clean at once, 2nd, I think it is a little dangerous but that is ok because we are getting a security system, and for another, I never thought about it until my sister told me she wanted to see some pics of it because she has never seen it (she live out of state and probably wont get to see it for a long time). Just so your are aware, it is pretty bare, I have decided that decorating is definitely a process! So let me take you on a tour of our home.

This is my house. Just plain and simple. Do you like our landscaping?

Master Bedroom looking in

Master bedroom looking out

Guest Bathroom.

Crap room (aka office and platinum room). No I did not paint this room blue. It came like this. I haven't had the motivation or the energy to change it. But its ok for now I think.

hallway going into the bathroom and all the bedrooms

This is what you see right as you walk into the house

This is what you see going out of the house

The great room, family room, living room....I don't know what to call it?

This is looking into the kitchen from the family room

I know this has nothing to do with my house but I just like these flowers because they are bright and they remind me of spring. Yes, I have already starting decorating for spring and I know it is only February. I don't even get to be here for all of spring so I would like to enjoy it in my house a little before I have to leave it!

Laundry room and the other crap room:) No, my house is never all clean...its just the way I am.

This will lead you to the dungeon:)

The Dungeon. AKA the P90X hell room!

No, it is actually kind of fun to have this space to workout in. The owners who were here before left the big carpet and if you look below....

They left these AWESOME shelves! I'm guessing they were too big to take out of the basement so they had no choice but to leave them! Good for us though. My food storage is pretty sparse as you can see.

This is the third crap space of the house. Or you could call it the storage room.

I bet you can't guess who's room this is?

Sneaky, Sneaky...Shhh she is sleeping!

I just thought I would add some things about Bostyn. She never proactively plays with her toys unless I go get them for her or unless I am cleaning her room! I cleaned her room today and within 5 minutes after Ladd vacuumed (yes, Ladd is a good husband and vacuumed for me), her toys were everywhere!

Well, this is our Home:)

HELP

2011-02-09T13:27:00.000-08:00

My blog needs an extreme makeover!!! I have been messing around a little bit with it but I just don't know how to do the things I want with it.
1. How do I change fonts and word coloring on my Header and sidebar?
2. How do I center my header picture?
3. How do I change my people to be able to see their picture and when they posted last?

I will be better!

2011-02-02T20:57:00.000-08:00

So I am ashamed to say that for a while now I have stopped looking at other peoples blogs for a very shameful reason. I had stopped blogging all together for a while there. But the reason I stopped looking at other peoples blogs is because of a self pity, jealousy and envious reasons--shameful isn't it? Sometimes I feel like blogging for people is their right to brag and the reason I thought this is because I was jealous of other peoples life. Well, for the first time in a long while, I looked at other peoples blogs tonight! I was nervous to do it because I find myself thinking every time things like, "she is so skinny and I'm not, she is so pretty and I'm not, they do so many fun things and we don't, they have so many nice things and I don't, they are so creative and I'm not, they have such a nice and cute house and I don't.....do you get where I am going and the list goes on. Ladd said I was not allowed to look at other people's blogs because of the mood it put me in which was wallowing in self pity. But when I was looking at others' blogs tonight, I was starting to get those feelings again until I came by somebodies blog (I hope she doesn't care if copy but it was inspiring) which basically said nothing really matters but your relationship with God and our Savior and our Family! It really put me in place when I read it. I thought to myself that none of those things really do matter. What I should be worried about are the things that are favorable in my Heavenly Father's eyes. "Have I done any good in the world today," is what I should be asking myself. I shouldn't be worried about how skinny I am or what others think of me or if I have the best decorations and the cutest house and so much more. It is sinful to be envious of other people and their things. "Thou shalt not Envy" So now everyone who reads this, I want to say that I am sorry because I have probably envied you in one way or another and would want to ask for forgiveness. I am no longer going to be looking at blogs while thinking these shameful things. I am going to be happy for everyone and their accomplishments and whatever they may be doing in their lives. Blogging is a great thing for people! Instead of letting other's accomplishments make me envious, I am going to let it be inspiring and motivating to me and it is going to help me be a better person. So everybody, keep blogging and help me be motivated in my life to do good in every way because nothing matters except the good things:)

Life is Good.

2011-01-28T17:37:00.000-08:00

Well I really don't know what to blog about, but I did say I would blog at least twice a month so I have to blog something. These are just some pics we have taken during the month. Nothing that eventful has happened so I will just talk. Things are pretty easy going at the Hallows house and I like that. We have some fun, sometimes we get bored, sometimes we like to relax, sometimes it is super sonic cleaning mode. Life is good, and we have been blessed. Oh yeah, that reminds me. We talked last week in Church and it turned out pretty good. We talked on goals and priorities using the gospel. It helped us learn quite a bit and we are glad it is over.

As you can see in this first picture, Mother Goose is on the TV. Bostyn loves Mother Goose. Every day after breakfast, she will go point to the TV and jabber something and when I go to grab the remote she gets so excited and sits in her pink chair she got for Christmas. She gets so happy to watch it. She would watch it three times a day if I let her. (Sometimes I do). Also, you can see that in this picture she is squinting. She now knows what taking pictures is all about so when she wants to be a little rascal she squints or does some other funny face thing so we never can get a good picture. Sometimes she will smile good if we say 'cheese'.

Ladd loves his baby girl. He loves to play with her, he loves to get her out of the crib after naps because she is so happy to see whoever goes through her door to get her. He loves how she talks and runs and laughs. However, she can make Daddy very angry sometimes too:)

With Ladd, he is not up to much other than working and wanting to golf all the time and not being able to. Life is fun with Ladd and I love to have him around so much!

Isn't she beautiful?

Bostyn knows how to show us her muscles. It is so funny how she does it because she gets this big grin on her face and then she tenses up so much while trying to flex her arms!

She knows all her facial parts. She is showing us her teeth right now.

The New Year and a New Me

2011-01-17T17:11:00.000-08:00

The New Year has come with some New Resolutions! First and foremost, I would like to tell everybody that I am going to be blogging at least twice a month. Honestly this really is not something I enjoy doing and I feel like it takes some time, however I feel that it is important to keep this going because I don't journal too much and I feel like I am writing myself a family history. So there is one of my New Year's Resolutions.
This Past year of 2010 has been a very good one. We have done a lot of fun things and lived life. Some of the major points of 2010 was that we bought a house in Enoch UT! It is so fun and nice to have a home that we can call ours and do whatever we want with it. However, there are some downfalls to owning your own home...all our utilities put together cost almost as much as our rent did where we lived before! (Ok that is a little exaggerated but its expensive) that really is my only complaint because I absolutely love having a home with space!
Another really major thing from 2010 is that from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010, I was able to lose about 50 pounds! Some might say that I am bragging, but whoever has had struggles with weight and weight loss can say with me that 50 pounds is a HUGE accomplishment! I definitely can not say that I look fantastic but I feel great and I am so much happier with life and myself. I would like to lose 15-20 pounds more and its is going to be extremely hard and it might take another full year!
Ladd graduated with his Bachelor's in 2010 from SUU and he and I are very excited! He is now managing for Platinum and is very busy with that so it is a good thing that he is done with school.

Some things that are going on right now:
I'm am a stay at home mom who is finishing school online with only one class. Sometimes I forget about it because it is only one class that I never have to go to. It feels like I am basically done and am starting my next phase in life. At first I was not sad at all about being done with school but lately I have been a little sad because I don't really get out much and all my time consist of cleaning the house and making meals. My days feel a little empty but somehow I can't find time to blog, or start on any of the projects I really want to do like PICTURES--not scrap booking but creating a photo book with journal doing it digitally. Anyway, I am at the beginning stages of developing a good daily routine and trying to decide how things are going to go in my life. Maybe my days feel empty because I am not accountable for anything right now. I don't have to be anywhere or have things done by a certain day. This is not very good for me because it really makes it hard for me to get going every morning. I have the hardest time waking up! I feel so guilty about it too because I feel like I am not appreciating life and my days go by so fast! Anyway, I am very happy but I for sure have some faults and need improving every day!
Bostyn is 18 months and she is getting to be such a cute little girl and so much fun! She is starting to talk a little bit but she thinks she can have a full blown conversation with you because she will just jabber and talk as if she knows sentences. It is really cute. She has found the value of writing utensils. She likes pens and she likes to draw on herself. She is starting to eat better and that makes me so happy. She is a very happy little girl and loves life. I will be blogging more about our family (at least twice a month) and I have decided it is going to be more that a Bostyn blog. I found that I was just blogging about Bostyn before but I am going to try to incorporate a few more thoughts and events and milestones in our (Ladd, Laurie Bostyn) lives. I just hope this is one of new years resolutions I can keep.

Bostyn's first year of milestones

2010-07-19T20:48:00.000-07:00

So, I am going to copy many other people who do this becasue I thougth it was a cute Idea. Just to recap Bostyn's first year, here are some milestones and things she loves and likes to do. Also, after that I have put a picture of Bostyn each month until one year old! I just want to say that I am so happy Ladd and I were blessed with such a wonderful baby girl! I still can't believe somtimes that she is really mine and we will have her forever! I love you Bostyn so much!

5 1/2 mo. Rolled over for the first time
6 mo. Sat up for the first time
8 1/2 mo. Crawled
10 mo. First Tooth
11 mo. Pulled her self up to stand
Walking---still pending

This is what Bostyn is up to for the first year of her life.

Scared of Vacuum and hides wherever she can to make sure it doesn't find her.
Likes to play peek-a-boo with her own hands
Loves to yell...LOUD
Tells you she is done eating by throwing her food. And throws it even if she isn't done eating!
Loves to talk and jabber
Loves electronics (ipod, ipad, phones, tv, cords) And loves to throw them (the small electronics)
Loves to watch the toilet flush. She races to the toilet to try to get a look at it flushing. We have to make sure the toilet seat is always closed or else she will play in it.
Loves to get into the fridge
Loves to 'help' mom with Laundry
Loves to watch Mom and Dad shower....not together of course.
Loves to be chased and tickled
Loves to try to drink from a cup but is not successful
She know when she is doing something bad because when I catch her doing something she is not supposed to be doing, she tries to run and hide.
Loves to be read to and to turn the pages herself.
Loves to read to herself. It is so fun watching her talk to her books and pretend like she knows what they say.
Is starting to get picky with food
Has 3 top teeth and only one bottom tooth...wierd, I know.
Grinds her teeth, which makes me cringe each time she does.
Waves when anyone goes to the door or anytime we go out the door.
She can eat with a fork for some things.

Day she was born

1 month

2 Months

3 Months

4 Months

5 Months

6 Months

7 Months

8 Months

9 Months

10 Months

11 Months

12 months!

Happy Birthday Bostyn!

2010-07-19T20:02:00.000-07:00

Wow! Bostyn is ONE!!! Happy Birthday baby girl! This was Bostyn's Birthday party--just Bostyn, Ladd and me. We celebrated her birthday that morning before Ladd went to work becasue Bostyn is always asleep by the time he gets home. First thing in the morning we opened presents, and she liked everything she got. She opened the doll Grandma Hallows gave her first and really just wanted to play with it the whole time so opening the rest was up to me and Ladd. She really didn't know what was going on but she liked all the attention from us. Then at lunch we had her birthday cake! She really didn't like it. She had a little bit or the frosting as you can see but not much more than that.

The Pictures with Lincoln Harrison are when we had a joint birthday party for the two of them. They are less than 2 weeks apart so we thought we should throw them a little party. Thanks Mariah for having it at your apartment and basically doing everything for it! (The pictures are in no particular order)

June!

2010-07-19T18:50:00.000-07:00

More Fun in Utah!

This is a continuation of our Utah trip back at the end of May. My family all went down to St. George to go boating at Sand Hollow. The day before that, my sisters and I went down to have some fun before that. We all went to the splash pads in St. George where the kids could play in the water and have some fun. I think this weekend wore bostyn out to the bone. This was just the start though.

Here is all the boys, Emily's family didn't come so its everyone but Emily's kids.

(L-R) Tanner, Jake, Will, Bostyn, Ty, and Tyson. (Jaeley is sitting behind everyone)

Jaeley and Bostyn having a good time.

Us at the splash pads!

This is the next day when we all went boating. It was so much fun! The water was pretty cold and the older I get, the less and less I like cold water. I didn't even think of getting in but most everyone else did. Everyone was there but Emily's family and Ladd, Brian and Jeremy. Even my mom was able to come and ride on the boat! Bostyn was very tired by the time we even got there because of weird sleeping schedules and missed naps. She doesn't look very happy in most of these pics. She thought it was preety fun though to ride at the front of the boat and let the wind get in her face. She would mimick me when I would yell wahoo...she would do the same. It was so cute!

Melissa, Jaeley, Laurie, Bostyn.

Bostyn Playing in the sand. She liked it until it got in her eyes, diaper, ears, and everywhere else it could get. I decided, things aren't as fun when you have crying babies to take care of--welcome to the rest of my life right? No, I am excited to have a very big family to chase around and do all these fun things with them!

She stayed pretty happy after I gave her a licorice to chew on...until it was gone!

This was our setup

11 Months Old!

Alright, so I didn't do this so she would look cute. I did this as an experiment to see if it was even possible. I wanted to see if her hair would got into pony tails and as you can see they did! Anyway, this is the day she turned 11 months old! She is so fun and into everything!

This is Bostyn playing in the Sand Box. She thougth that was fun. I had also taken out the elastics of her hair, but the hair stayed the same:)

This is Bosyn and Bo and Grandma Anderson's house

This is Bosyn and Jaeley taking a bath together. I think they are the cutest little cousins. They are about 12 days apart.

So we finally got back to Houston where Ladd was and back to normal life of a salesman's wife...

On a Sunday afternoon, we went to a park for a bit. We found a turtle on the lawn (there was a pond nearby with tons of turtles in it). I don't think Bostyn even realized it was an animal. It kept it's head in and didn't move. Now that I think about it, I probably shouldn't have let her touch a wild animal...who knows what germs are on its shell?

We swinged on the swingset, slid on the slide and just had a little fun outside.

Bostyn is fun. She LOVES to play to the couch. I usually don't worry about her because she never tries to get off and if she does, she does in a semi smooth way:) Ladd stuch her down in the cushions. It was pretty funny.

Just some more fun pics.

Bostyn also LOVES to help mom do laundry. She also loves to put it on herself. I don't think she meant to put her head in a sleeve! It was so funny! She din't know what to do or how to get out of it either. If you look closely enough, you can see her face through the material.

Ok, so I guess Bostyn loves a lot of things. Rarely these days, you can't take a shower without her in there watching you and talking (more like yelling) to you the whole time you take a shower. She gets pretty wet in the process but she could care less. She just likes to watch.

Bostyn likes to play in this box once in awhile. But what it really comes in handy for is a hiding place from the vacuum...this and behind the couch. Whenever I vacuum she finds a hiding place because she is so scared. So far I have seen her hide in the box, behind the couch and in the corner of her closet. It is sort of sad but really cute too!

This is Bostyn's toy space. She isn't too entertained by her toys but once in while she will go over and play with them. The one she is chewing on was her very first toy she had and played with. She still likes to swing it around and put it in her mouth while she crawls around.

May

2010-06-11T19:50:00.000-07:00

May

So we made it to Houston TX. It was a long drive but we made it. Bostyn did as well as a 10 month old could have done. Whenever she fussed or cried, singing usually calmed her down, so there was a lot of singing. I'm surprised Ladd and I weren't hoarse by the time we got here. Anyway, Ladd started being gone all day so Bostyn and I went to the pool. Considering how warm it is here, Bostyn really enjoyed the cool water in the pool.

Working Hard

This is Ladd working before work. This job takes a lot of hard mental work. He is listening to sales stuff. When he comes home he says he can't think anymore because his brain is exhausted. Poor guy.

Comfortable?

Ok so we didn't have a crib or pack n play for Bostyn for the first couple of weeks we were here. We had her sleeping on a couple of blankets on the floor. At first she actually slept really well and didn't move around much. Then she figured out that she was free to roam anywhere in her room. She would go around playing with the spring door stoppers (We had the room baby-proofed so no worries), and anything else she could find. I had to go in two or three times to put her back down before she would finally go to sleep. One time she would not go to sleep so we just shut the door and let her roam for awhile. I noticed from the monitor it was really quiet and I knew there was no way she laid on her blankets to go to sleep so Ladd and I went to see. We looked under the door crack just in case she was in front of the door and she was. She laying with her head right in between her legs. It was really funny. Of course we didn't leave her like that--we put her on her blankets and covered her up. We thought maybe it was a good time to get a pack-n-play for her. In the meantime though if you look a couple more picutures down, she did it again! So then I felt bad a got her a bed really soon after that. But even in her bed she would fall asleep like that so whatever gets her to sleep right? Doesn't seem comfortable but if your that flexible why not?

I think she likes strawberries!

Bostyn is so particular sometimes. Sometimes I will cut the strawberries for her and she won't eat them but if I give them to her whole, she chows down. Same with bananas--she won't eat them in pieces, but if I give her a big long piece then she will eat it. I hope this pickiness doesn't last long!

Sunday Afternoon

These are just pictures of Ladd and Bostyn. We went down by the pool on a Sunday afternoon but it was right after Houston had a big storm so the pool was pretty dirty and a little cold so we just waded our feet in it. Bostyn thought it was fun to kick her legs in the water.

Hair

So Bostyn for some reason can't leave her hair alone when she is eating. She likes to pull on it. Her hands get really sticky with the food that she is eating and then she will pull on her hair. It gets her hair all sticky and dirty. This really gets annoying when she does this right after her bath! Well, what can you do? Just smile and take a picture I guess:)

Grandpa Hallows

Grandpa Hallows passed away May 23, 2010. Ladd, Bostyn and I were able to go home and be with family for the funeral. This may sound kind of wierd but I actually like funerals. I like them becasue it is a time when families are able to get together not just for another reunion or party but for a time that we can REALLY be together and enjoy each other and bond in such a spiritual way. I always feel the spirit so strong when I am at a funeral and it just reminds me what life reallly is about. Grandpa Hallows was such a good man and even though I only knew him for a short time, I am very thankful for him and his influence he had on his family. Ladd and I were very thankful we were able to join our family for this event.

Scandinavian Days

My family goes to Scandinavian Days every year becasue the Anderson Family (all my extended family) does the Famous Sanpete BBQ Turkey booth there. The Line is usually the longest line at the whole festival and the booth is very busy all the time. We actually ran out of food a lot earlier than usual this year. It was really fun this year becasue all of my family was there except a couple of brother-in-laws and I was able to take Ladd and Bostyn for the first time. We went to the parade and looked around the booths and ate free BBQ turkey and picadilly's. After we were done we were able to go to the cemetary and pay our respects to my grandparents and other reletives in Ephraim and Manti. It was fun to go to Scandinavian Days with my famiiy becasue I haven't been the past couple of times and probably won't for many future times becasue of Ladd's Job so it was good to be with family.

These are all the grandkids in my immediate family. There are twelve of them now and none on the way. We are getting to be a pretty big family now but it is alot of fun. Grandma Howell in in the midst of all of them.

Bostyn was pretty tired after being in the sun all day and not having any good naps.

This is the new look she is giving. It is like a squinting thing. She was doing this to Melissa cause Melissa was teasing her. It's a pretty funny look. Ladd taught her how to squint.

April Fun

2010-06-08T18:32:00.000-07:00

Easter:

I dressed Bostyn up in some bunny ears. She was my practice run for the preschool activity I was in charge of. I think they turned out pretty cute:) We spent Easter weekend with the Hallows this year. We went on an Easter Picnic on Saturday and rolled Easter Eggs. I experienced my first Easter egg rolling. Ok, I didn't actually roll any eggs but I watched everybody else roll easter eggs. I have never understood what the purpose was of rolling Easter eggs. I have learned that there is no purpose to rolling eggs--it's just for fun. I guess that is what happens when you marry somebody...you take on new traditions. Its fun getting to take on new traditions and to have some differences in the families.

Ladd's Birthday

Ladd just turned 24 on April 16, 2010. He has such a personality...after looking at the pictures I think you would agree. He keeps me laughing and smiling all the time. Happy Birthday Ladd!!!

Growing up

Bostyn is getting strong enough to stand up. She didn't stand up by herself, I put her up but she was able to hold the stand for a little while.

This is around the time she started crawling. She was crawling towards me in this picture.

Stink Bug

She started this little stink bug crawl in April. Sometimes she would just get in this position and just look underneeth herself. Then she would start crawling like this. I think it is becasue she didn't like her knees on the floor all the time. I don't blame her. I guess I should put pants on her more often?

Scowls and Dirty Looks

Bostyn is learning how to figure her face how she wants it to go. She started this scowl one day and we thought it was really funny. She learned that it maked people laugh so she did it all the time. A lot of times she would give it to me when I went to get her up from bed. It was really silly. It lasted for about three weeks. She would do it to strangers most often. She must have liked the reaction she got from them:)

More fun pics.

The Flood

We had our first flood in April a few days before we were leaving to Houston. It was a mess but the story behind it is really sad. It all happened sometime in the early morning. We were sleeping and Ladd woke up sometime early in the morning to the monitor making what he thought was a staticky sound. He disregarded it and turned the monitor all the way down so he couldn't hear it anymore. I never heard anything and slept through the whole thing. Well all of the sudden around six in the morning, Ladd jumps out of bed and rushes downstairs. I was still practically asleep and was just thinking he was going to the bathroom or something but then I hear him yell, "Laurie wake up! The downstairs flooded and Bostyn is all wet! I hurry and get up in a frantic and he hands me Bostyn and she is just as cold as can be and shivering and doesn't even know what is going on. This picture of her is pretty soon after we got her upstairs. Anyway, what turned out to be, was the montior's supposidely staticky sound wasn't static, it was the water bursting from the hose to the washer! When Ladd woke up around six, he realized to himself that it was the sound of water spraying and not static. Ladd has no idea what time that was at in the morning so it could have been hours! In fact it was probably hours because there was a few inches of water on the floor even though there is a drain in the middle of the floor. The hose that broke sprayed water directly over Bostyn's crib where she was sleeping. So she was getting the most of it the whole time! When Ladd went down to get her she was on her belly holding the blankets over her head just whimpering. She looked up at him with such a sad look on her face not knowing what was going on. Anyway, we hurry and put some warm clothes on her to get her warm. I would have put her in a warm bath but the water hose that broke was the hot water so the hot water was complely out. Luckily, the hot water didn't burn Bostyn!

How it happened was, our Landlords were there the week before fixing our pipes to the bathtub becasue it was plugged. They had to move the washer and dryer to do this. When they put it back they didn't put it where we had it. They had the hose stretched more than it should have been. We didn't realize this or else we would have moved it back. We already have it totally rigged like hics anyway and they were precisely put where they had to be considering leaks and everything else. We had to move just about everything upstairs, take the carpet out and it was just a big mess! I never want to have a flood again. Luckily it didn't ruin anything but it was hard to clean up and it was right before we were trying to pack up and leave. Oh well, it all got cleaned up, Bostyn was fine, and everything is back in order.

This was the hose that broke

This Garbabe can is full to the brim of water

More Pictures

2010-05-22T17:51:00.000-07:00

These are just some fun pics of Bostyn when she was eight months old. Bostyn finally started jumping in the jumper a little bit. She started learning how to say hi at this time as well.

Bostyn loves green beans and peas. She likes the green stuff more than any other food!

8 months!

2010-05-22T17:37:00.000-07:00

So this is in March and Bostyn turned 8 months. She is starting this head tilitng thing which is funny and she goes crazy in her high chair. She jumps up and down in her high chair and makes the table move quite a bit. She is as fun as ever. Still no teeth but she did start crawling at 8 1/2 months old. I was not there to watch her first crawling steps. Ladd was there and I wasn't. I was at the preschool for school. I was sad that I didn't get to see it but oh well I guess. What can you do right? Hopefully I will get to see her first step at least.

Cruisin the Bahamas

2010-05-22T17:12:00.000-07:00

So in February Ladd and I went on a cruise on Platinum Protection to the Bahamas. It was very nice and very fun. It was nice to get away from school and spend some time together just the two of us. We went for 5 days. It was the perfect amount of time...not too long not too short. Melissa my sister took care of Bostyn which was very nice of her.

This is us at dinner on the cruise boat.

As you can see this was Grand Turk. This was our first stop. We spent this one as our beach day becasue we didn't have much time for anythign else.

These are cruise ships. They are huge!!! Ours was the one on the right. It was the carnival.

This is Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville.

Ladd playing ping pong on the ship with some friends.

This was a beautiful sunset. We were supposed to have three stops but we were only able to have two becasue of bad whether. This was that day. You can't really tell from the picture but the swells were pretty big.

We went to the famous resort Atlantis. I can't remember the islands name but this resort was very nice and very fun. We went on many water slides and went down a very long lazy river. It was fun and we had a good time. We got an extremely good deal from some islanders. I'm pretty sure they got it for us illegally because they couldn't give us the tickets at the resort. They drove us away a few blocks where they could give them to us and where we could pay them. Ha ha it was pretty funny.

cute is all I can say

2010-05-22T16:54:00.000-07:00

The only thing I can say about this is that this is the cutest baby there is. I'm a little worried for the rest of my kids cause I don't think Ladd and I can top this! Ok, I'll stop bragging...for now.

Bostyn

Gotta Love the French Fries

2010-05-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

I love these pictures. Bostyn kept begging us to give her some french fries. We really hadn't given her much solid foods other than the baby food that she usually eats so I was a little hesitant to give her some but I decided it wouldn't hurt. Well, she did like them and she looked really funny eating them too but as you can see she really didn't care what she looked like.

I know I have already posted pictures of her playing the piano but she isn't in her bumbo this time...it makes her look more professional don't you think?

Painted Toes

2010-05-22T16:43:00.000-07:00

FEBRUARY

So I deciced to have some fun with Bostyn and paint her toes and fingers. She liked it. It wasn't too hard...she liked to watch and was wondering the whole time what I was doing. Bostyn just turned seven months in February. She is not doing anything new...just sitting up but she is as happy as can be.

Slump

2010-02-05T17:05:00.000-08:00

Sadly, I am in a slump right now in my life and the cause of this slump is STRESS. I just don't know how to handle my life effectively. Whenever I get stressed this is what happens--I shut down and then go into a slump. Slumps are not good becasue it causes me to rarely get ready for the day and poor little Bostyn is lucky if she gets our of her pajamas and gets dressed. I blame it on school. If I wasn't going to school, I wouldn't be so stressed. I need help. I need help dealing with stress because if I take a step back and look at my life from the outside, my life is rather manageable--I just don't know how to manage it. I get so stressed because I look at all of the things I have to do and things I haven't done all at once. Ladd tries to tell me to take one task at a time and he is right. But how do I take one task at a time when I know there are a million things to get done and not enough time to do them, so it seems? Why can't I be one of those Super Moms who is amazing and has a spotless clean house with dinner ready everynight right on time with cute and dressed kids? If I could transform myself and create a perfect me, this is how my day would be and what I would be like.

Go to bed between 9:30 and 10:30 and actually be able to go to sleep.
Wake up with a smile on my face at 6:00 in the morning.
Make sure I pray before I leave the bedroom
Feed Bostyn OUT of bed.
Work out for an hour
Shower, AND get ready for the day and get Bostyn ready too.
(It's only 8:30am when I'm done getting ready in the perfect me.)
Read my scriptures
Make breakfast for my husband
Have family prayer before we depart our separate ways.
Be very productive the whole day, such as getting my homework done, keeping my house clean, the laundry folded and everything else before it's time to make dinner.
make a delicious dinner
have time to spend with Ladd and Bostyn and not having to do homework throughout the whole evening and also to have time to do the things that I desire to do. I don't even know what I would want to do becasue I haven't had the chance to think about it.
Put Bostyn down at 8:00 every night and then
Put Myself to bed between 9:30 and 10:30 every night.

To me this does not seem out of the ordinary and could be an ideal day right? Well, then why can I not do it?
This is the typical day for me.

Bostyn wakes up around 5:30 or 6:00 and she gets fed in bed. Sometimes she makes it back to her crib and the other times she just falls back asleep with me until seven or eight in the morning.
Finally I get up and feed Bostyn her solids and trying to rush to get ready before I have to go to class. Because I have chosen to sleep this late, this leaves me no time to workout or read my scriputres or get Bostyn dressed and because I'm so frazzled I forget to say my prayers in the morning most of the time.
Once in awhile I will wake up early only to finish unfished homework that is due that day.
Then I go to class. That is if I decide to go to class that day. It depends on how strong the slump is that day.
If I decide not to go to class in the morning, I work out.
Then I shower and if I have no where to go for the rest of the day, I don't get ready.
So, because I decide not to get ready, my whole day feels unproductive. Which it is. Clean and dirty Laundry is piled taller than me, dishes are always a mess. And while all this day is going on, Bostyn is not dressed yet.
I have to go to a preschool extra hours for shcool becasue I have chosen not to stay caught up on it.
Then when I get home, Ladd goes to work at five and I try to clean up the house a bit while he is gone but while trying to clean up, I'm wandering around the house trying to clean four rooms at a time so by the time Ladd gets home, nothing is all the way done, and four rooms are partially clean (these are my great cleaning skills)
Then by the time it is way past dinner, Ladd is tired of waiting and just makes it. (such a good husband, to bad he doesn't have a good wife huh?)
Then Bostyn gets to bed wearing the pajamas she woke up in.
Then by the time it is past my ideal bedtime, I have to start doing my homework.

So much time wasted and the only one to blame is myself! I think all my problems would be fixed if I just had the self discipline to wake up at six in the morning. Last Sunday Ladd and I committed ourselves to unplugging the TV for a week and it has worked wonders--I don't even know when we would have time to watch it, but for some reason, I'm still stressed and continuing my slump. Anyways, sorry everybody for wasting your time if you read this but I just had to complain about it. If any of you have suggestions to be more productive through out the day let me know:)
On the other hand, and asside from all the complaining, I am very thankful for all the blessings I have. I may be a mess at my life right now but I love who is in it and who I get to spend my messy life with! They make me happy:)

ALL CAUGHT UP!!!

2010-01-30T17:19:00.000-08:00

I am finally caught up with my blog! Usually, if I get behind I wouldn't even bother trying to catch up and just start again, but I have decided this is going to be a family journal since I don't scrap book or anything like that so I have forced myself to keep a good blog so we can have some family history. Anyways, I caught up clear from November and now hopefully I can stay caught up. The only problem is, is that my internet at my house is to slow to blog so I have to wait till I get somewhere where I can do it, but oh well, all that matters is that I finally caught up!

I love you Bostyn!

2010-01-30T17:16:00.001-08:00

I love Bostyn so much! I don't ever know what life would be like with out her and I don't ever want to think about it. She is so special to me and as brought more joy to me than I could ever imagine. I didn't know love could be this strong and I am so thankful that I get to be a mother to Bostyn. I just feel so blessed with what I have in my life and the people in it!

Cute hat

2010-01-30T17:14:00.000-08:00

I just love this hat! Bostyn got this hat from Grandma Hallows and I think it is just so stinkin cute! Thanks Grandma Hallows!

Why even buy them?

2010-01-30T17:12:00.000-08:00

Sometimes Bostyn will like to play for a long time with just the simplest things. Why is it that they always play with the non-toys? Bostyn usually chooses something to play with that isn't really a toy. I don't know?

Squeaky Clean

2010-01-30T17:08:00.000-08:00

I just had to post these cause I thought she was so cute just getting out of the tub!

Upside down

2010-01-30T17:03:00.000-08:00

Bostyn sometimes puts her binky in upside down. It's so funny because she doesn't even notice or mind and she will suck on it for awhile like that.

Baby Mozart

2010-01-30T16:46:00.000-08:00

Bostyn was being fussy one day while I was playing the piano, (one of my goals for the year was to play the piano more often) so I let her get up to the piano and play herself. She didn't really know what to do but she thought it was cool. Who knows, maybe she will be a professional?

6 months

2010-01-30T16:43:00.000-08:00

January 3, 2010

These are Bostyn't Six month Pictures. She turned six months on January 2, 2010. As you can tell, I took these myself...agian, too cheap to go get professionals done. She is such a doll, I love her to pieces! She laughs, she cries, she smiles, she plays and loves it when we play with her. She jabbers like crazy. She only say da da da da da, but I always am trying to get her to say ma ma. She jabbers other things too but da da da is her main one. She is not sleeping through the night anymore:( Ever since we got home from Christmas she doesn't sleep through the night. It really saddens me. She is still only is the 5% for her weight, but the 50% for her heigth so she is just like her dad. I love you Bostyn!

The Christmas Tree Grew

2010-01-30T15:53:00.000-08:00

January 2010

Our tree grew while we were gone for 2 weeks! We must have taken great care of it I guess. Maybe this happens to all trees but I have never seen it so I though it was cool to see all this growth all over our tree. This was the day we took our Christmas Tree down and I was very sad to do it. It makes our house so warm and welcoming and I just loved it. Plus it was our first Christmas Tree and I was sad to see it go so I got a few pictures of it before we disposed of it.

You can see all the growth where there are little spikes hanging down all over.

Winter Fun

2010-01-30T15:45:00.000-08:00

December 2009

We went sledding with the Hallows at it was a lot of fun. The kids were having a blast and it wasn't even that cold. Ladd and I went down a couple of times and it was a pretyy good hill--you got some good speed on it. Brant and his family were there, Kade and his boys were there, Grandma and Grandpa and we were there too.

We got Bostyn all bundled up and warm which was pointless because she slept most of the time except for a few minutes before we left. Oh well, I guess better warm than sorry right?

Scrub Dub, Splashin in the Tub

2010-01-30T15:37:00.000-08:00

December 2009

Bostyn is still new at sitting up but I figure she would have more fun in the tub sitting up and being able to play. It was very slick in the tub and I had to keep a close watch but she did pretty good at she liked it.

Christmas Day

2010-01-30T15:34:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2009

This was Christmas morning at the Anderson's. Thank you everybody for the nice gifts! Thanks mom and dad for everything you gave us. We Love You!

Christmas Day at the Hallow's

Bostyn, Hayes, Sadie

Christmas Eve 2009

2010-01-30T15:12:00.000-08:00

December 2009

We spent Christmas Ever this year with the Anderson's. We had a lot of fun. Of course it was chaotic and very noisy, but how could it not be when we have the whole family together? I loved it and we had a great time spending it with the ones we love.

Bostyn liked her toy she got to open on Christmas Eve.

This is our little family

Mommy and Bostyn

Hallow's 2009 Christmas Party

2010-01-30T15:07:00.000-08:00

December 2009

This is Ladd playing with the kids on the bean bag.

This is some of the girls preparing the food in the kitchen

Jared playing some Christmas music

This is Lincoln and Bostyn

Hayes, Lincoln, Bostyn

Bostyn really liked looking at Lincoln

These are the Hallows 2009 babies.

My first!

2010-01-30T14:58:00.000-08:00

December 2009

This was Bostyn's first time sitting up. One day we were at Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's and Grandpa asked if she could sit up yet and we said, we can't, but then again we have never tried so we tried right then and she just sat up! It was so funny becasue she acted like she just knew how to do it with no worries. She had a few falls but she actually didn't mind. She would just lay there and waited for someone to sit her back up. She was five and a half months when she could do this.

This is me and Bostyn. She likes to do this trick a lot where she just stands on my hands. She thinks it is fun.

2010-01-30T14:51:00.000-08:00

(December 2009)

This is our little family in our little apartment with our perfect little tree. We are such a happy family and are so greatful for what we have and are just so happy that we are together. We have fun making memories and just trying to soak in life day by day.

This is my crazy husband who has a ton of personality. The funny thing is, is that he took all these of himself while I was in the other room. (He will probably be embarassed when he sees that I put these up:)

Silly Bostyn!

2010-01-30T14:41:00.000-08:00

(December 2009)

This is Bostyn just playing with daddy's hat and she thought it was pretty silly. Whenever Ladd comes in with a hat on or has his red sports band on his head, she just can not stop staring at it, so we put it on her and she liked it for a bit.

Santa Clause

2010-01-30T14:36:00.000-08:00

(December 2009)

This was Bostyn's first encounter with Santa Clause and Mrs. Clause. She really didn't know what to think about them, but she didn't cry. That will be next year:) This was at our ward party at the Cedar City 2nd ward. I have noticed that she is wearing this outfit in a lot of pictures. She does have more clothes, I guess its just coincidence that I'm taking pictues when she wears it. Oh well.

5 months

2010-01-30T14:32:00.000-08:00

(December 2009)

This is Bostyn at 5 months old. This was the day that she nearly rolled over (I would say that she practically did) but the next day, she really did roll over all the way from her back to her belly. Bostyn is so much fun and she could make any body happy just by being around her. She is very active and she loves to smile and be played with. She loves her daddy very much and is all smiles whenever he plays with her. I can never get her to eat when he is around because all she wants to do is stare and smile at him.

Having Fun With Daddy!

2010-01-30T14:22:00.000-08:00

(December 2009)

This is Bostyn on Ladd's back. They were just having fun and Bostyn was loving it!

Posing

2010-01-30T11:50:00.000-08:00

(November 2009)

Well, she is already posing for a picture! This was cute, but I can never get her to do this when I dress her cute and actually want her to pose. But I guess these are the best when they are just random in random days.

Christmas Tree Hunt!

2010-01-30T11:41:00.000-08:00

(November 2009)

This was Bostyn and mine's first Hallows Christmas Tree Hunt and it was our first Christmas Tree together. Yes, we were married last year at Christmas, but we didn't want to bother with decorating when we would only be home for a week of December (we had a cruise and we spent most our time with our families). Anyways, so this was our first Christmas Tree and it was fun. It took us awhile to find one but when we did, it was a very good one! (I picked it out). This is just Bostyn and me sitting by the fire.

This is the whole family sitting around the fire.

Thanksgiving!

2010-01-30T11:33:00.000-08:00

(November 2009)

This is Thanksgiving of 2009. Holly just had her baby (Kate) a few days before and so finally, the five pregnant sisters all had their babies! We did Thanksgiving at the church this year, (my idea) because I figured it is so chaotic and noisy at the house so why not give ourselves some space? Well, nobody liked it at the church so my idea was a bad one. (I liked it though) Anyways, we had lots of fun, played lightining, (even the girls), had races with the girls, (that was hilarious!) and just got to visit and enjoy everybody's company. I don't think anyone will be expecting any babies this year and I don't think all of us sisters will be pregnant at the same time ever again!

L-R: Meliss & Jaeley, Laurie & Bostyn, Andrea & Bo, Emily & Colt, Holly & Kate

L:R: Jaeley, Bostyn, Bo, Colt, Kate

This is Jaeley and Bostyn. They are only 12 days apart but Jaeley looks like she could be 3 months older (and she acts like it too). They are really cute together and I'm sure they will be best cousins when they get older.

Bostyn is such a sweet little baby, she usually doesn't demand too much attention and is very content most of the time. She just liked sitting on the stage watching everybody.

Summer and Bostyn

2010-01-30T11:19:00.000-08:00

(November 2009)

This is Summer Hallows and Bostyn. Summer is the daughter of Landon and Sammy Hallows. Summer is about two months younger than Bostyn is and she is bigger than Bostyn! Bostyn is just so petite, every baby keeps passing her up. I just thought this was such a cute picture of them together. This picture was clear back in November of 2009 and now summer is getting even bigger than Bostyn! I promise I am feeding my baby, she is just small. She is in the 5th % and so she is still healthy, just petite.

Here is Bostyn going out for the winter days.

2010-01-19T15:16:00.000-08:00

Mouse killed by a Mouse Trap Monday night between 9:00 and 10:00 pm under the bed in the bedroom. Its body now remains in the garbage.

He Got Away!!!

2010-01-04T20:45:00.000-08:00

Alright, I tried the peanut butter on the mouse trap and it worked--but it only got his tail! We didn't know what to do because it was fully alive and trying to get away. Of course I didn't want to handle it so I made Ladd but he didn't want to do it either. I told him this was a man's job and so he had to do it. He wanted to just throw the mouse away in the garbage alive and I wouldn't let him cause I thought that would be mean to let it be thrown away alive--the poor mouse would probably try to eat it's tail off so it could get away. I told Ladd we just need to knock it out before we throw it out but Ladd didn't want to grab the trap with the mouse on it cause he thought it would bite him (Ladd had leather gloves on for crying out loud!) So while we were arguing about the mouse, the mouse climbed back into his hole while the trap was still attached to his tail. Finally, Ladd grabbed the mouse trap and tried to pull the mouse out of his hole but his tail slipped out of the trap and he got away. Yep the mouse is free again to wander around our house like he owns the place! Ladd said he would rather wait till the trap snaps his neck before he would ever try to kill it himself anyway but I would have rather gotten the dang rodent out of our house while we had the chance! Oh well I guess. We'll get you next time little mousey mouse!