Christmas '09

Christmas Eve was spent at Will's aunt Shelly's house.  The adults played white elephant with the gifts, which is a lot of fun.  Papa read the story of Jesus' birth, the kids received a special visit from Santa Claus and we all enjoyed some delicious food.

On Christmas morning we had the traditional opening of presents in our pajamas before we headed over to Meme and Papa's.

Can you guess what her favorite present was?

We spent the 26th with my side of the family at my aunt & uncle's house.  Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas this year.  We sure did.

Six years ago today.......

this happened!

My how time flies! Will and I celebrated with a night including dinner and a movie.  I love you sweetie!  Unfortunately, there is no picture to commemorate the night. (It seems to only occur to me to grab the camera when the kid is involved)

Thanksgiving '09

For thanksgiving we celebrated a couple days early with Will's mom and all his siblings.  There was laughing, stories, plenty of games, and yummy food prepared by Brad, the aspiring chef.  Hooray for family gatherings!

Thanksgiving day was spent at my grandparents' house.  The weather was great so we spent most the day on the patio or in the backyard and got some fun pictures out of it. 

It was also my wonderful mother's birthday, so she got her candles in a slice of pumpkin pie! Love you mom!

One of the best parts of the day was having my talented Aunt Amy take family photos for us Haydens.  She does such a great job!  Here are some of my favorites.

my lovely parents

the whole group

mom & daughters

the Mathis family

Faith

Happy Veterans' Day

On this Veterans' Day we thank all the veterans of this great nation. These men and women put their country ahead of themselves and are some of my personal heroes. Thank you also to the families of our soldiers who sacrifice so much to support their loved ones while they help protect the rest of us. The freedoms they protect are priceless and too often taken for granted. Again THANK YOU and God bless America!

Halloween '09

Halloween was a lot of fun this year.  Faith decided she wanted to be a ballerina.

There was a festival at her school with all sorts of tricks and treats.

 We also went to a carnival at our church and had a good time.

The final event allowed for a night out for me and Will, which was great.  A friend of his at the college he works at put on a charity casino night.  Will took the pictures for the event and it still left us with plenty of time to have some fun.  It was a costume event, so I did my best with something quick and simple.  Meet vampiress. 

At least I gave it a shot! hehe

Labor Day Weekend Camping

Over Labor day weekend, we got to go camping with a group of friends.  We went up to Whitehorse Lake and spent 4 days relaxing around the fire and enjoying the outdoors.  It was lovely!  We all had a great time and can't wait to do it again.  Faith was ready to go back as soon as we got home.  The only trouble we had was on the way back.  Our car broke down and we ended up spending many hours on the side of I-17.  We didn't get home until about 7am the next morning. haha!  Even so, it was worth it!

First day of kindergarten

Our little Faith started kindergarten this year!  She got to meet her teacher the week before and she was really excited.

She made instant friends with two other girls before school even started.  They bonded because they liked each-others backpacks.  Kids are so funny!

Her buddy Shelby had a princess birthday party.  The girls had so much fun and now their teacher calls them his three princesses.  So cute!

Princess Faith

Faith's first computer

Daddy put it together just for her with love. Notice the pink and purple mouse and keyboard? Faith absolutely loves it! She's learning to type and has many fun and educational games on it. They grow up sooo fast.

Disneyland!

So it turns out that Disneyland really is the happiest place on earth! We had a terrific time on our trip. I don't even know where to begin to recap. We arrived at the Disneyland Hotel early Monday evening. It was fun staying there, I haven't been in about 12 years. Faith got a kick out of finding Mickey all over; Mickey shaped bushes, light fixtures, everything! After we got checked into our rooms, we headed down to the park for a few hours. The first ride we all went on was the Matterhorn. I felt like a little kid. Faith had a little issue with the "snow monsters" inside the cave, but she asked to go again a couple days later, so I guess she recovered.

The second day we started off with breakfast at Rainforest Cafe. Faith was in awe of the jungle everywhere. There were huge fish tanks with large salt water fish. I think she would've been happy staying there all morning. She is quite the animal lover, just like her mommy. Of course the rest of the day was spent at the park. It was such a treat for Will and I to watch how much fun Faith was having. The giant smile on her face was priceless. We squeezed in every ride we could. So much fun! When we had our fill Will, Faith, and I decided to hit the pool at the hotel. We had a blast! The water was perfect and the weather was great. Faith was a total fish and quickly found another little girl to pal around with. It was a great time, complete with splash wars and lots of laughs. When we had worn ouselves out completely, we went back to the room. Once Faith was all cleaned up and tucked in bed, Will and I got to go out for a dinner date. Smart call on the adjoining rooms, Mom! Thanks for watchin the kiddo. It was nice to get out together. Opportunities can be few and far between, so we need jump on it when we have the chance.

On the third day, we feasted like royalty...disney royalty anyway. My parents had arranged for us to eat each meal that day with different characters. So the day was pretty much eat, rides, eat, rides, eat. Breakfast was a Luau with Lilo and Stitch and Minnie and Daisy showed up too. It was really cute. Stitch was quite mischievous. At one point, he slipped Will's cloth napkin over Will's head and then sat at our table and pretended to eat off Will's plate. For lunch we went to Ariel's grotto restaurant and Faith got to talk to all the princesses and take pictures with them. Our dinners adventure was at Goofy's Kitchen. Faith saw Goofy, Pluto, Chip, Dale, Minnie, and her new best friend the Mad Hatter (more on that another time). It was a wonderful day filled with a ton of fun and great moments. Faith discovered the thrill of fast rides and Space Mountain became one of her favorites (mommy's too). As we were getting off the ride she said, "I want to go more fast!" with big saucer eyes. She also really liked Pirates of the Carribbean and asked to go on again. Will was very happy because this is one of his favorites. One special treat was that Autumn and Nino showed up to spend part of the trip with us. It was so nice to have them there, plus it was Nino's first trip to Disney land too, can you believe it!? After a big day at the park.....and lots of good eats, we called it a night.

On our final day, we had a lot of fun to cram into the schedule. We hit up a few of the rides we wanted to ride one more time. Then we went overe to California Adventure. It was new to all of us, so it was fun to experience for the first time. There was an insane roller coaster that Dad, Autumn, Nino, and I road on. The four of us also rode the Tower of Terror, I guess we are the thrill seakers of the group. Will and Faith checked out A Bug's World while we were busy screaming. Several hours of rides later, we packed it all up and headed home. It was one of the best trips ever! I know Faith will definitely not be forgetting it anytime soon! She has mentioned something about the trip every day since we've been back. :) Anyway, the pictures (all 200 of them) pretty much say it all!

So long PreK!

Yesterday was Faith's very last day of Prek. In the evening, there was an end of year program for preschool to Kindergarten. The kids sang songs and each got presented with some kind of award chosen by their teacher. They were all so precious especially because most were all dressed up. I had been hearing Faith sing the songs her class was practicing for a week or two. It was cute to watch them perform. Of course, being the ham/attention hog my munchkin is she completely lost her focus once it started. She saw all the people starring up at her and for the most part, just stood there twisting from side to side or playing with her dress, all with a huge grin on her face. What am I gonna do with that kid?! She further proved that she indeed knew the songs but was merely basking in the glow of the spotlight. Not only have I heard her sing these songs at home, but in the car afterwards, she was singing the songs from the other classes which she hadn't even heard till that night. What a little stinker! Unfortunately the sun was setting behind the stage so the lighting was absolutely awful for pictures but I managed to get a few that will have to do.

Getting ready to go on

Told you the lighting was bad

They are so cute!

Looking at me not paying attention, lol

she received the "Most Determined" award, so fitting

Big girl now

cheering for her classmates

with daddy :)