Swimming for the first time!

This was actually a little while ago (May 10th), but again I can't just not post about it. Hali went swimming with her dad for the first time in her Grandma and Grandpa Hoopes' pool. It was still quite cold (as you can see I'm not in the water) but it didn't even phase her. She just kind of hung out kicking in the water. By far her favorite part was going into the cave. She just loved looking up at the water as is came down from the rocks. This gets me very excited because I have a feeling we will be swimming a lot this summer! In fact we went again today with all of her cousins from the Barney side, and she loved it just as much!

Happy Mother's Day!

I know I am way behind, but considering I print these posts off and put them in a journal I can't forget this special holiday. I feel so blessed to finally have this opportunity to be a mother; it is such an amazing feeling. After having several mother's days go by with wanting nothing more than to have a baby, it really makes me appreciate this special day even more! Being a mother also opens your eyes to just how much your own mother loves you, and it makes me really appreciate my mom. She has done and still does so much for me and I love her very much! I have also been blessed with a wonderful mother in-law who treats me as if I were her own. Not to mention my awesome Grand Mothers, who are the most supportive Grandmas I know! I am a very lucky girl to have wonderful 'mothers' in my life and to have the chance to work on becoming a wonderful mother myself! Happy belated Mother's day to all! In my defense everyday is mother's day because it is a job that never ends once it starts, unlike birthdays or other holidays!

From her back to her belly!

When Hali was about 4 months she rolled from her belly to her back, but couldn't roll the other way around. As of Saturday May 2nd she has learned how to roll from her back to her belly. However, sometimes she forgets how to get back to laying on her back, so she gets really mad. She isn't really rolling all over the place yet. She is pretty content to stay wherever we put her, at least for now right?!
Starting position...




Ta-Da - Good Job Hal!

Class of 2008 - COLLEGE GRADUATE

I am a little late at posting Travis' graduation, but I just wanted to share some pictures from the big event. He graduated with his bachelors from Dixie's Business program. I am very grateful to Travis for working so hard. It hasn’t been easy for him to balance both full time school and work, adjusting to sleepless nights with a new baby, and being the YM president, but he has done a great job! He just applied to SUU's MBA program starting in the fall, so we are hoping he gets accepted. On top of school and work he has been working on getting his Administrators license, so this summer he will be taking (and passing) all of his tests. School is not one of Travis' favorite things to do, so I'm proud of him for working so hard even though I know he would much rather be at the lake! Congratulations Trav!
Walking through the 'D'
Hali was such a good girl during the graduation ceremony!

The clan of graduates!
Now that is what a college graduate looks like!
Hali is so proud of her daddy!
She sure loved that tassel
Hali with Grandma and Grandpa Barney - thanks for coming, it meant a lot!
Travis and Clint's proud parents!

This was us four years ago today!

Remember this day? You better! Happy Anniversary babe!! We have made so many great memories in these short four years, and everyday I find more reasons why I love you! Of course the top one being finally welcoming our little Hali into our family - getting her here was our biggest trial, but she is our greatest accomplishment thus far! You are the best daddy, and nobody can make Hali smile the way you do! I have enjoyed sharing your love of travel, and we have been on some great vacations including Hawaii several times, San Diego each year, our first cruise, and all of our road trips to Richfield. Even though I know all of your jokes, I still think you are hilarious and have the quickest wit of anyone I know!! Whether we are tarring walls, cleaning, or just hanging out at home it is always a blast because you have a way of making any situation fun! I am so proud of you for everything you do and have done to make our lives better. You have worked so hard in school and in work for our family, and we are very grateful for it! In my opinion we have had the best four years ever, and I look forward to many great years to come.
HAPPY 4th ANNIVERSARY, I love you Trav!

Two Major Milestones for Hali

Hali hit two very exciting milestones (not your typical baby milestones) the same week she turned five months, at least exciting for us.
1. Her clogged tear duct in her right eye finally cleared up. Hurray! She has had this problem since she was born and everybody told me that it usually goes away in the first three months. Well for Hali it was five months. The poor girl always had her parents picking at her eye to clean it up. She constantly had tears running from it. I look at all of her past pictures and in most of them her eye is red (probably because we wanted to clean it up for the pictures we were taking). I love to wake up and see both of her eyes instead of one open and the other glued shut. Here are some before and after pictures. The before picture doesn't give just how bad it was justice! (You have to enlarge the picture to even see it.) Like I said I tried to clean it up before pictures, so this is about half of what it was usually. Everybody who sees her now says "did her eye clear up?"
BEFORE

AFTER

2. She finally decided to take another binkie! This is very exciting for several reasons. For one, she loves her binkie so much that it is in almost every picture and I was so tired of not seeing half of her face because it was being covered by the huge green circle! Not to mention when those green binkies fall out they bounce clear across the room because you can't put them on binkie clips. The day she turned five months I decided to revisit my assorted collection of cute pink and purple binkies. I put each one in her mouth and she spit most of them out, but this is the one that stuck! Perfect, I was so excited! I think she even likes this one better than the big green monster binkie!
BEFORE

AFTER

Yummy Cereal

On Hali's five month birthday we decided to give the rice cereal a try. She did pretty good. I don't know that she really loved it, but she didn't hate it either. As long as she has something in her tummy she is happy, it doesn't really matter to her what it is. Here are some cute pictures from the big event.
First veggie: squash
First fruit: applesauce

What is this stuff?

First bite.

I don't know about this.


All done, clean up!