4 Months

So obvoiusly I'm not doing too great on this turning pictures thing and I am too lazy to take the time to figure it out. So we are all just going to have to deal with it, annoying as it is.

Height: 23.5 in

Weight: 12 lb

Head: 39.5 cm (I think I remember this one right?)

Well, dear Hallie,

you are 4 months old and can do so many things. Girl, you're amazing! You love to sit in your bumbo and play with your tinkling butterfly. You can grab things at are really good at eating them. You love to read books and look at all the pictures. You love to look in the mirror every morning, you always smile at yourself...so cute. You love to take baths: always splashing and laughing in the tub. You love your daddy, epecially when he makes silly noises with you. You always growl. You know when your bottle is ready and you always grunt when you see it. You also grunt when you want to be picked up. You are getting so strong and can stand up with a little help. You love car rides and singing. The doctor said we can start feeding you solid foods...which will be fun! You have the sweetest smile and funniest little squeal when you are happy. 

You can sleep all the way through the night. At 3 months I stopped feeding you in the middle of the night but you kept waking up around 4am and I would stick your binki in and you would fall right back asleep. Well after a few weeks I was tired of that....so, I put you in the other room's closet on the other side of the apartment and closed the closet door, the door to that bedroom, and our bedroom door and let you cry it out. The first night when I woke up at 6am to go running you were crying your lungs out. The next morning you were crying but not so bad. The next morning and ever since then you have been sound asleep! You figured it out and are a great sleeper. You sleep about 12 hours at night and then take 3 naps during the day. The morning nap is about 1-2 hours. The afternoon is 2-3 hours and then an hour nap in the evening. I couldn't ask for more sleeping!

We are so glad you are in our family little Hallie bear! You make us all so happy.

Memorial Day

Ashton, Hallie, and I went to Hurricane to spend Memorial Day at the Yellow House with Ashton's family. We had a great time just hanging out with everyone and spending some quality time together. We are glad we could go.

Hanging out with all the cousins and Grandpa and Grandma

Chillin with cousin Chache ( Sorry i couldn't figure out how to turn this picture)

 

Going Swimming

This Picture Makes Me Happy

Sleeping these days....

These pictures were taken right after we got to NC. Hallie sleeps through the night now (after a little encouragement). But I just thought these pictures were funny. I think there's something inherited from both sides. It isn't unusual to find Hallie (or her parents) sleeping with both arms up.

3 Months and Mother's Day

Our little Hallie turned 3 months on Mother's Day. What a treat she is to have around these days. She is singing and talking more. We love her "pillow talk" and her sruprised face she makes sometimes after she's done talking. She has found her hands and loves to suck on them. She has become a great little sleeper. She sleeps all through the night and goes down easily. She has the sweetest laugh and smiles with her whole body. She loves books and soon I'm sure she'll truly taste them. Everywhere we go, people love to ooohh and aahh all over her. I really believe that she has brightened people's lives when they needed it most. She has surely brightened ours. We love our little Hallie bear.

Peace Out Provo...

At the end of April we had to say "Peace out" to our beloved home beneath the Chiropractic Clinic in Provo and head out to where we will be for the summer...Burlington, NC. We had a wonderful road trip east which we had planned when we thought we were going to Illinois for the summer, and although it was going to take us the LONG way to North Carolina, we couldn't pass up our trip through some capitols and very important American landmarks.

We drove through the bleak state of Wyoming into South Dakota where our first stop was the incredible Mt Rushmore. We were impressed with the size of the presidents and all the hard work that went into this piece of mountain.

We stopped at World Famous Wall Drug in Wall, SD. There are a million signs across the world pointing to this place in the world. (Word to the Wise: If you want to visit Wall Drug, beware of it's closing time, 7pm).

We stopped and played some croquet in Pierre (which the locals say Peer). Hallie slept all the way through her first game of family croquet. She was also a champ the whole trip in the car. She slept nearly the whole time! When we stopped to eat, she ate and went right back in her seat and was either quiet or fell asleep. We couldn't have asked for a better baby to travel with. We will see how she does when she is a little older on the ride home from the summer!

After Pierre, we made a few stops before reaching our next capitol. The Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD was first. This place is awesome. It is covered in 100% corn from the local farms. None of the corn is died and every year there is a different theme for the building which means all different pictures made of corn are put up. This has been going on since 1904.

Our next stop was the Jolly Green Giant in Blue Earth, MN. He was huge, a lot bigger than he looks in our pictures.

Then on to the Mall of America or the Temple of Materialism as our friend Ron calls it. This place was HUGE! It had roller coasters and an aquarium. It had every kind of store you could think of. And it had a million stores that sold Minnesota paraphernalia. We walked around the whole thing. Didn't do much shopping, we just wanted to see what they had, and I'm pretty sure they had nearly everything but groceries.

We stayed in Minneaoplis with our friend Ron. He was an incredible host, letting us steal his bed and making us Saturday morning Roll-Ups. Thank you Ron!

We played a game in St. Paul where a handful of people were honoring war veterans by shooting off cannons. One of the guys we talked to knew all about different war memorials and museums across the country. You could tell he was very patriotic. We got a picture with him. After our game, Ashton and I were taking a picture while they were shooting off the cannons and I knew it was going to go off soon, but I totally jumped out of my skin when they fired one sooner than I had expected. I wish I could have seen it. I'll have to wait to watch the movies of my life in heaven.

Our last (fun) stops were in Wisconsin. We stopped at a cheese store and taste-tested all kinds of cheese: cranberry, pepperdew, fudge cheese, 12 year aged cheddar...all kinds. Then we played croquet in Madison or "Mad City" which was a lot bigger and more happening than we thought it would be. We were recommended a place called the Old Fashoined where we bought fried cheese curds...a popular treat among Wisconsinites.

All in all, it was a great trip. And now, here we are in North Carolina. It has been great to be here so far. The ward we are in is awesome. We are being well taken care off. Our first week here many people greeted us at church and even more came over to visit or invite us to different activities. We are lucky to be in such a great place. Plus, Burlington has shown us that chivalry is NOT dead. I have had men take my buggy back to the store when I was done shopping and men let me enter the room before themselves. Southern hospitality lives on!

Lots of people have asked us what we are going to do when the summer is over seeing this is Ashton's last year on contract with Pinnacle. Who really knows? Go on vacation to Europe? To say the least, we are just enjoying where we are right now and all things will work out to how they should be.

The Funeral and Cousins

Right before we left for North Carolina, Ashton's grandma Buswell passed away. She was an amazing lady and we are glad we were always on "her team." We all hope to render the service to others and to God the way that she did. We just knew that Grandpa was tugging her over to the other side. She must have more important work to do over there. We love you Grandma and will miss you!

Because of the funeral, all of Ashton's family was together. There have been 5 new grandkids within about 6 months of each other and we were able to get a picture of all the little babies. Oh boy, will it be fun when they're all 2! (This picture is done by age.)

To AZ...amongst the craziness

Between finishing up my thesis, graduation, packing, cleaning and the rest of life, we managed a short trip to AZ to visit family, and our extended family, the Smiths. We are so glad they are in our lives and for the love they share with us!

(Sorry for coming to AZ and not being able to see everyone. The time there was limited and we'll have to come again!)

Please, Call Me "Master"

The month of April brought a lot of events about for our family, one of which was defending my thesis and graduation! Here is a picture of me with my team: Alan, Ramon, and Neil--right after passing my defense. It went a lot smoother than I thought and I passed with minor revisions. Now, you may call me "Master Lydia." I always thought it somewhat lame that people who earn a doctorate get to be called Dr., yet the work for a master's deserves such little entitlement, well... no entitlement.

Graduate school has been 2 awesome years. It was only possible because of my loving husband, a baby who slept a lot, and of course, the greatest cohort on the planet!

Me and my family on graduation day

My incredible cohort who we love so much and already miss

These are our friends the Chattertons, aka Chattmans. Kara just graduated with her JD and is expecting a little baby at the end of the month. They were our best couple friends at BYU and we already miss hanging out with them and are quite distraught that they have moved to ID and won't be in UT when we get back at the end of the summer. We'll have to make a trip north when the summer is over.

2 Months

I know that this is slightly old, but I couldn't resist putting up this picture of little Hallie bear at 2 months. She is getting so big and can do so many things....which I will write more about at her 3 month picture. We are so glad she is in our family!

Blessing Day

Hallie's blessing day was absolutely beautiful! The weather was nice and the company was even better despite missing a few close people. Ashton gave a beautiful blessing through the priesthood. How blessed we are to have the voice of God on the earth today.

Hallie looked absolutely stunning in her beautiful dress made by Grandma Smith. It is hard to capture the beauty of the dress in pictures.

Hallie is such a lovely girl. We are so lucky to have her. She has been an influence for good already. She has a sweet spirit and is truly a gift from God. We are blessed to be sealed to her forever.

The Family Tree

When Ashton and I were dating he took me to this little ma and pa shop down in Sataquin, UT called The Family Tree. It is a log cabin type place and upon the walls hang pictures of the owners family...all sides of the family (as you can see in the background of this picture). After our first time of going there, we discovered there was one wall that was covered in pictures of friends. So Ashton asked one of the ladies if we brought our picture in, could we hang it on the friends wall. We went back a few days later and that lady wasn't there to help us out so our picture never made it on the wall. While we were sitting there eating the other day, we noticed the perfect spot: an empty nail just waiting for our portrait to grace those blank boards with our smiles. Maybe someday we will just bring a picture and sneak it up on the wall and then come back a month or so later and see if anyone has removed it. We go to The Family Tree at least once a year to fill up on old memories, homestyle, greasy food, and to enjoy the larges scone I have ever seen smothered in warm honey butter. No doubt, The Family Tree holds a special place in our heart even if it doesn't hold a picture of us on its walls. If you ever get a chance, visit The Family Tree and look for our upcoming picture...if we're bold enough.

New Zealand we miss you....

...potato top meat pies, driving on the left side, the beeping when cars back up, the beautiful accents, oki doki sushi, the bush, all of our NZ whanau, the chocoloate, the licorice...when can we see you again?

Juli's Visit

We had the GREAT privilege of having Aunt Juli come for a visit for her spring break (thanks to Grandma Smith!). We had a great time visiting and going up to temple square. It was great to have a full time babysitter too! You are a great sister and a great aunt! We love you Juli and are glad you could come visit!

Pounding the Pavement

So Ashton finally let me go running for the first time last week since having Hallie. He wouldn't let me go until 4 weeks and was nice enough to let me go one day early because the weather was so beautiful. It was so nice to get back to running. My first day back outside, and all this week, I have ran 3 miles every day. I'm not going to lie, it was hard those first two days back out. I never thought it would be so hard to run 3 miles. I used to be able to run 18 with ease. Oh the good ol' days. I told Ashton that 3 miles used to be a warm-up and now it's a workout. His reply, "So you are human." Hopefully my superhuman powers will kick back in soon.