The Bair Family

triathlon

2011-10-11T14:07:00.003-06:00

Another life goal checked off! I finished the Fall Finale triathlon in Kearns. Don't doubt for a second that it was HARD! Wow, the swim was good and felt good. It was 400 meters or 1/4 mile. The race officials weren't sure until about 2 minutes before it started if they would have to cancel the bike portion because of rain. Thank goodness they didn't, because it would have felt like I hadn't really accomplished my goal. The 12 mile bike was torture though because it was ALL uphill! Maybe it was more like 9 miles uphill and 3 miles down, but the downhill sure did not make up for grueling uphill. The 5k run was torturous too, but I expected that. It felt like it was all uphill too. There were more downhills on the run, but you don't feel those nearly as much as on a bike. I have no idea what my time was when I finished; I was just so glad to be done! So I just looked up my time and I finished in about 1hr. 54 mins. I would have preferred to have been closer to 1 and a half hours, but like I keep saying - it was ALL uphill and I couldn't breathe because of my current medical condition*. Wahoo, I'm done!

*see next post

a little more summer 2011

2011-08-25T15:14:00.004-06:00

We got to go to Parker, CO this summer to help my sister Heather move to their new house. Heather really got most of it done before we got there so we mostly had some fun cousin time. Sydney and Courtney had fun and I got some cute pictures of new baby Trey. We also watched the last 2 Harry Potter movies. the 1st on DVD then the 2nd in the theater.

Here is another picture of the dogs on one of our hikes while we were camping.

I made this pot of flowers as an effort to beautify my yard one day this summer. While we were out there Sydney also learned to ride her bike without training wheels! Over several days and she is still practicing. More Cal torture pictures, in fact while I am writing this, she is dressing him up again...

summer is the best

2011-08-25T14:43:00.003-06:00

We always fun in the summertime! Bristo, the kitty, is a long story itself. http://www.eransworld.com How to unfriend your brother on Facebook if you want Eran's version of the long story...

Then we love taking the dogs to dog parks, but don't do it very often because there are none close by.

Sydney got to take a dance class at The Little Gym in Orem. She loved that too.

Another popular destination for us in the summer is Thanksgiving Pointe children's garden where Sydney runs around in the Noah's Arc water feature. Probably our most favorite activity of summer is going 4wheeling. We get really dirty, but the scenary is spectacular!

Mother's day and birthdays

2011-08-25T14:09:00.005-06:00

We took some lovely photos of Sydney at the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Pointe for Mother's Day.

Then for Eran's birthday, I gave him tickets to the Stadium of Fire for the 4th of July. Brad Paisley and David Archuletta were scheduled to sing. I was very excited because I am a huge Brad Paisley fan, but Eran isn't so much. To make up for his disappointment, (although I definatley feel it was a lame disappointment) I said those tickets could be for my birthday, and the U2 tickets I bought from the Cluff family in our ward were for his birthday!
Both concerts were amazing! The grainy picture is of Bono. I tried to post a video, but I always get mixed up when trying to use YouTube.

Then there is the sad story of Sydney loosing her front tooth when her feetie pjs and the linolium floor didn't mix well. She is all better now, but she will have a gap for a while...

More happened

2011-08-25T13:53:00.005-06:00

Oops, I forgot to put these pictures in. I had to document the fact that Eran actually gave me flowers for Valentine's day! The only other time he did this was when we were dating, and this time was no romantic feat on his part. I practically begged him, "Will you give me flowers for Valentine's day?" of course I got plenty of grumbling from him too, but he did a great job! They were gorgeous and he had them delivered to me at work:)

Then one of the many cold blustry days this winter, Sydney and I went up to Dylan's grave and built a snowman on it. It was very frusterating because the snow close to our house was very wet and packable, which made me think of building the snowman. But we got to the cemetary and the snow was completely powdery. It would not stick together for anything which is why the snowman is so small.Then I talked about Zach and Disneyland in my last post, but only included one photo, so here are two more. The first is waiting for the shuttle and the next is all of us on the teacups.

We're finally in 2011

2011-08-25T12:56:00.004-06:00

First off Sydney lost her first tooth ON her 5th birthday! Then the next exciting thing to happen in our year was a trip to Disneyland for Spring break! Zach very much wanted to go back and since Sydney was too young to remember the first time we did, we went.

This is Syd escaping prison in toon town. She was in prison for all the times she made us ride that lame Dumbo ride! The ride isn't bad, but the line to get there was intolerable!

Catch up continued...

2011-08-25T12:33:00.004-06:00

Then these pictures are from the ward Christmas party. This year 2010, Sydney asked Santa for a pillow pet. He brought her the one that looks like a ladybug.Then right after Christmas comes Sydney's birthday. Her 5 year old party was a costume party. Her friends came dressed in costumes, then in these pictures we used 2 of our Halloween costumes to do a relay race in. There were 2 teams and they each had to put their team's costume on then pose for a picture. I don't remember which team won, it was probably the pirate costume team because most of the people on that team were a little older. These pictures are of her friends Jackson, (in his ninja costume under the pirate costume) and Molly (in the Elmo costume). Her other friends that are in the pictures are Landon, Allison, Janie and Makenzie.
Jackson and Stephan got along well as we dressed them up as marshmellow men!

1 year catch up!

2011-08-25T11:57:00.005-06:00

Wow, I have not posted for over a year! I converted just over to Facebook, so if you follow me on that, none of this will really be news to you. I want to post so that I can do a blog book to substitute for my journal, since I haven't kept up with that either:)

This is a picture of Eran and Sydney last Oct. at the pumpkin patch we went to.

Sydney constantly tortures the dogs by playing dress up with them. Here is Cal with a bow on his ear. Then she wonders why the dogs run away from her and don't do her commands that she gives them...

She went to one more year of preschool. I can't believe that now she is starting Kindergarten next week. Thanks to the curriculum at this school, and a little hard work at home and just being smart, she is close to being on a 1st grade reading level!

I take my sister Holly's kids photos every year for their birthdays. Sydney usually has to pose with the birthday cousin in at least one photo. This is one of her favorite cousins Stephan.

Then we went to Texas for Thanksgiving where Sydney got to see more of her favorite cousins. Here she is standing between Carly and Brandon in front of some strange Texan's property. They have reindeer (in the picture), camels, zebras, and other zoo like animals. Here she is terrified to be feeding the camels.

Dylan's bday and the zoo

2010-08-26T14:18:00.003-06:00

So we had a fun trip to the zoo this summer. I can't even really remember when it was, I just know it was hot! Sydney was so excited about the giraffes and was sorely disappointed about the Hogle Zoo's lack of zebras. The baby elephant was very cute too.

Then we also celebrated Dylan's birthday. I spent a few hours at the temple which gave me a lot of peace for the day. Then we went to his grave and let Sydney and cousin Carly let go of helium balloons to "send them to heaven" for him. We also had an angel food cake. I included a picture of his headstone because I know many have not been able to come see it yet. Thank you again Seth for the amazing picture. I tried to get a picture of the girls letting go of the balloons, but Carly let go too quickly, and we had to really encourage Sydney several times to let go of hers.

camping fun

2010-07-21T00:17:00.005-06:00

So we always have a good time at Eran's family's annual camping trip, and this year was no exception:) Sydney was much more social this year than in years past, so she had fun with second cousins while 4 wheeling and in the hammock as you see in some of the pictures.

She also ensured we made plenty of smores for her at the campfire every night we were there, and she wasn't very afraid of the many bugs as is seen in the caterpillar on her hand shot. We even went out on a bug catching walk once! You can see her slightly swollen eye from a mosquito bite she got in the picture of her by the stream - ah the many joys of camping!
I can't believe I haven't taken a picture of my smashed up 4 wheeler. Zach crashed when he got panicked because he got a little lost. We were super thankful he didn't get badly hurt, just a few scrapes, and Eran's cousins and uncle helped him un-bend the 4 wheeler so it was still ride-able. I'll have to go take a picture of it before it gets completely fixed though because they used zip ties to fix the broken plastic and my bike looks a little like frankenstein. That will be a picture for my next post on my blog...

There is also this picture of her at soccer practice that a nice girl in my ward did for kids her age for a few weeks. I love good nice neighbors!

Exciting day for pets!

2010-06-18T13:48:00.007-06:00

Some of you may have seen this on facebook, but we have had excitement going on with our pets. One of the black molly fish I just bought had 13 babies! We went from having 3 black fish to now 16! We also had our dogs shaved for the summer. I wanted to see how much it might help our shedding issues in our house. I included before and after pictures for the dogs.

Way to go Zach!

2010-05-27T12:37:00.002-06:00

Zach has been anticipating this day since before we met him. He graduated from high school! Now he is very eager to move out and be a full fledged adult, but we don't think that will be happening anytime soon. I know the team of people who help Zach make decisions are encouraging him to stay with us for at least another year... we'll see what happens.

small catch-up

2010-04-12T13:24:00.005-06:00

So I finally downloaded my 2010 pictures from my camera. I said in my last post that I didn't feel like playing catch-up, but there were some fun pictures to share, so here I go...This is Cal after we had some hot cocoa with whip cream on top. He and Sunny love to catch the whip cream in their mouths as it shoots out of the can. An action shot of that would have been funnier, but show me someone who can shoot a picture and whip cream at the same time and I'll be impressed.

Then Zach turned the big 18. We took him to IHOP, and that is a Ben 10 cake he requested. We are still not quite sure what is going on with him after graduation in May, but everyone (except him) is in agreement he is not ready to move out yet.

We have had a slow start to spring, and this is Syd with a very late season snowman. The thing that cracked me up about this snowman, was that as we were putting the face on, I explained to her that the nose is usually under the eyes. In her drawings, the nose and eyes are currently aligned. Then when I tried to put the arms in the snowman's middle, she protested and said, "Mom, arms start up here (pointing to her shoulder) not in the middle!" I couldn't argue with that:)Many of you have seen the sorry shape of Sydney's baby blanket. She proudly put it on display here in front of her favorite show. She is nearly ready to retire it though because she realizes how it does not keep her warm like other blankets do. She even moved on to a blanket she got when she was in the hospital last month with pneumonia.
Then we finally got to go 4wheeling this year. The weather actually cooperated. This is at the bottom of some mine trailings in the West Desert. Hooray for spring! Let's pray it stays!

winter blahs

2010-02-11T15:09:00.003-07:00

I haven't posted lately because I haven't had much to post about. I realize I never wrote about Christmas or Sydney's 4th birthday - but now those are old news things that I don't feel like writing about. It does make me laugh though when Sydney tries to understand how time and calendars work. She always tells me that she will be turning 5 in a minute. She has been grounded from her scissors though because she cut her own hair and a hole in the knee of her jeans. That would have been a great photo, but unfortunately I was out of it with low blood sugar. Her hair was not disastrous enough to even take her in to fix it - she just has a weird layer in her hair now. So I'm sick of winter - I'm grateful for my medication that is keeping me from diving too low. It is just strange that I can tell the meds are working and that I would be sad some days without it. Anyone else out there on mental meds that can tell those kinds of things?

Sydney's swim class

2009-12-10T13:39:00.003-07:00

I put Sydney in swimming lessons. I could teach her, but she wont listen to me. There was a scheduling error and the time that worked for our schedule, the pre-school level 1 class was full. They didn't tell me this when I registered, they just put us in a time that didn't work for me. When I showed up at the time I thought we registered for, they were like you'll have to come to this later time. When I said that wouldn't work, they asked if Sydney was comfortable in the water. I said yes, and that she can blow bubbles, etc. They put her in the level 2 class. I have to laugh because she is doing things in there that I'd never attempted with her and doing just great! She swallows a lot of water, and if I was her teacher, she'd be yelling at me for that, but she loves her class! Go, my little fish, go!

Thank you!

2009-11-19T08:30:00.001-07:00

All the messages of love made me cry, but in a good way this time. Thanks for your comments, I am doing better today:)

Baby Blues

2009-11-18T12:37:00.002-07:00

No, this is not an uplifting post. I am suffering with some sadness today. I know it has to do with once again getting postpartum, but this postpartum I really have reason for. When I got really bad baby blues with Sydney, one of the things that helped was just holding her. I don't have that luxury this time. The day started off with our goldfish dying, which never helps anything... it is almost 1pm and I'm still in my p.j.s. Yuck - I know I said when I get like this I will call somebody, but I am just venting in general cyberspace - sorry. I recently read in a magazine somewhere that women diagnosed with gestational diabetes are the most likely to get postpartum. I guess that means us women who always have diabetes have no choice in the matter either. Not that anyone does - I am just rambling.

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-04T14:57:00.003-07:00

As many of you saw, on my facebook pictures that Sydney was being Snow White for Halloween. It is a little hard to see in these pictures, but the dogs were tied together being a 2 headed spider. Their costume didn't last very long though - they weren't getting along so we untied them. Sydney got her first blisters from trying to wear her heels while trick-or-treating. Zach handed out treats while Eran and I took Sydney. I think there were more wrappers in the garbage from what he had eaten than what he handed out. Oh the joys of this holiday!

Dog Run

2009-10-08T18:19:00.003-06:00

So I found this little 5k race online for people who like to run with their dogs. It was clearly not advertised really well, and I think it was the first year it was held. There were about 20+ people there with their dogs. It was also a 10k race, so some of the sportier people there were running that. I am currently struggling to get back down to my 10 min. mile pace that I had prior to this last pregnancy... and I took 3rd place! I won a nice red bowl for Cal to eat his food out of. Ha! It was a nice run though, all on the U of U campus.

It's that time of year!

2009-09-23T15:07:00.002-06:00

We were lucky enough to get to go 4 wheeling on Saturday. We went from Tibble Fork Res. to Cascade Springs. The weather was perfect, and as you can see from the picture the leaves are changing and it's gorgeous! The funny part was that we went in the afternoon, and Sydney was a little tired. Anyone who's been 4 wheeling knows it is not a smooth ride. That didn't matter to Sydney; she was on the back of my 4 wheeler and rested her head (in her helmet) on my back and was falling asleep! Then a bump would make her head slip off my back and she'd wake up. I guess when a kid is tired, he or she has just got to sleep! She must be growing again, but I don't know how that is possible since everybody already thinks she's a 5 year old...

my big little girl

2009-09-01T17:23:00.004-06:00

Sydney is growing a little too fast for my tastes lately. She finished up her summer dance class and started preschool! She loves it so far. People always ask me if she started kindergarten this year just because she is so tall - no this is her first year of preschool! Many people have told me that I am doing well to be out of the house and getting her to these events so soon after our tragedy. Believe me, I have the desires to stay home in my room all day and cry, but that just causes my depression to be dominant in my life. I have to do the opposite of my inclinations to fight against the sadness taking over my life.

Baby Dylan photos

2009-08-19T10:29:00.001-06:00

For those not on facebook, here is a link to photos of baby Dylan.
http://bishopimages.instaproofs.com

Loads of Summer fun

2009-07-11T11:43:00.005-06:00

So it has been a while since I blogged... not because I didn't have things to blog about, but that I haven't felt like I have had any spare moments to post anything! First, my college roommates came into town, and I missed the main reunion because of our family camping trip, but Sydney and I did get to go to the children's museum in the Gateway Mall with them and their kids. That's what is happening in this first group of pictures, we also went out to the fountains that the kids ran through.

Then we had our annual Eran's cousin's family camping trip in the mountains of Southern Utah.

We all had lots of fun 4 wheeling, and Sydney even got social with some of her cousins once removed. There is alo the picture of my prego belly. Lots of people comment on how I'm not very big, but it is because I have a long torso. That doesn't mean baby is not getting big and causing me not to be able to breathe.

We also went to another fun fountain park for some lunch, and then went swiming at Messy's parent's condo.

Come take our poll!

2009-06-17T17:33:00.002-06:00

So realize that 3 of the names on this list have not yet been approved by Mr. Kaibosh (Eran). His requirements are that the name is common and spelled correctly. Most suggestions I give him, he poo poos. I guess only 2 of the names I haven't even suggested to him yet. Samuel (ha, ha scripture reference) and Elliot. I am not crazy about Jeremy, but I do like Jeremiah - basically we are clueless! Help! By the way, we are likely to have Campbell as a middle name...

How do you not strangle a 3 year old?

2009-06-11T08:22:00.004-06:00

As cute as some of these photos are... I have been bombarded with reasons to strangle my 3 year old lately! I'll get into that after explaining these pictures though. The first is Zach ready for prom this year, the second is Sydney in her Easter dress (I couldn't remember if I had posted it or not), the third is Sydney in her new dance outfit since she joined a dance class, and the fourth is Cal, once again dressed up by Sydney. So speaking of Cal, or our pets in general, Sydney has recently lost the privilege of the dogs staying in her room at night until she falls asleep. the first thing she did was cut one of Cal's ears with some scissors (I couldn't remember if I'd posted about that either), then she started to spit chocolate milk all over the dogs from her sippy cup - the walls and carpet suffering from this too. I thought I'd compromise with her to get her to give up the sippy cup, and I told her she could only have the dogs in her room if she gave up the sippy cup. She kept choosing the cup instead of the dogs though. Then one night she chose the dogs. I came up a few minutes later to find she had sprayed them both down with Windex and carpet cleaner! (I don't know how these things get in her room - oh wait these last ones were a low blood sugar time for me). Then she killed one of the last fish in our tank by dumping the entire food can into the tank. It may have been the trauma the fish had when I tried to clean out the tank, and he jumped out of the net and flopped on the kitchen floor for a bit. So besides torturing our pets, she has colored all over our walls with crayons, tells us how to drive, "Mom, the light is green, go!" - even though she is looking at the wrong light, argues with us no matter what we say... Me,"I need to take off your old band aid." Sydney, "No! I don't want to!" The next day after I took it off the day before... Me, "We need to put a new band aid on that." Sydney"No, I don't want a new band aid!" With all of that, I still love her and think she is the cutest thing on the planet. I told her we need to go buy her a new bed because her little brother will be using her mattress in his crib besides the fact that she is almost too tall for her current one. Since then she has been sleeping on the floor because we have yet to get this new bed, and she says she can't sleep on her bed because it is for her baby brother.

BeautiControl

2009-06-10T18:21:00.000-06:00

BeautiControl
My dear friend, Sharon, is a consultant for a company called BeautiControl. Their products are amazing, and pretty affordable. Until recently her business has been mostly confined to central California, where she is located. No more though! She now has her very own website up. You can browse and purchase her fantastic products from the comfort of your own home. Go check it out!http://www.beautipage.com/sharoncornelius

Waky Weather

2009-04-23T17:01:00.004-06:00

Just thought I'd post about the crazy weather around here last week. On Wednesday we woke up to a winter wonderland with at least 4 or 5 inches on our lawn. It was very wet snow too, so Sydney and I built a snowman. You can see it is on the very long grass that needs to be mowed.

Then 2 days later on Friday it was lovely, so Sydney and I went out and flew her dragon kite. The weather around here can give you whiplash!

We had fun on Easter too!

2009-04-15T18:53:00.002-06:00

We had fun on Easter going on an egg hunt with some our cousins. I'm not sure what was up with some of Seth and Karalenn's neighbor kids coming and stealing some of our eggs. Just kidding, a bit less sugar at our house always helps.
Then the wonderful Seth and Karalenn were super helpful and babysat the kids while Eran and I went and celebrated our 7th anniversary at The Market Street Grill and the Anniversary Inn. I don't care that I had to make the arrangements, that was the best anniversary we've had ever! Eran was even patient enough to watch "Twilight" with me that night - what a man I've got!

I was silly and forgot to take a picture of Sydney in her cute Easter dress - oh well. Does anyone have any suggestions? She is having major issues with wetting her pants lately. She had been mostly accident free for at least 4 or 5 months!

My early b-day present!

2009-04-08T15:52:00.003-06:00

I love my early b-day present! Eran bought me a '08 Yamaha Grizzly 450 4 wheeler. We will soon get a seat on the back so Sydney can ride with me:) Eran even took all the photos for me! Since I have to eat my words saying that he probably didn't take photos in Moab, I thought I'd include one of those pics. This one is specifically for Sharon who said I looked too skinny in the Salt Lake marathon picture. I am at least 20lbs heavier in this photo of me in Moab!

Then there is this sad picture of Cal wearing a cone so he wont lick his sores on his paws. He has to wear it for like 2 weeks, but maybe more now since Sydney took it off while I was at work and he did some more serious damage.

Announcement!

2009-04-02T15:59:00.002-06:00

glitter-graphics.com
Yes, it's true! We are having a boy! It's hard for me to believe because almost all of my siblings have 2 of the same gender first. It was a bit of a Happy Birthday to Eran. I didn't post on his b-day oops. I was going to get a picture to go with his b-day post, but I failed there too. Geez! Happy Birthday Babe - I love you!

Laziness here I come!

2009-03-23T12:27:00.004-06:00

I am so happy to report I finally finished the half marathon! I went fairly slow, and loved the tiny sunburn I got because the weather in Moab was gorgeous. But the reason I am so happy and excited right now is that I get to be lazy and stop running for at least 8 more months! Yahoo! This is actually a picture of me last year in the full marathon in Salt Lake, but I forgot to even check if Eran got any pictures this year of me. I doubt it...

The Over 30 Crowd

2009-03-17T16:20:00.003-06:00

I stole this from my friend's blog and laughed when I read it! Thanks Heather!
If you have seen it before then you can move on. If not, then ENJOY!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were.

When they were growing up; what with walking Twenty-five miles to school every morning.Uphill... barefoot... BOTH ways… In the SNOW…..Yadda, yadda, yadda!

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!
But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so easy!

I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a darn Utopia!

And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have “The Internet”.

If we wanted to know something...We had to go to the library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!!

There was no email!!

We had to actually write somebody a letter, with a pen!

Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

Stamps were 10 cents!
Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us.

As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our butt!

No where was safe!

There were no MP3's or Napsters!

You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up!

There were no CD players!

We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished and the tape would come undone 'cause that's how we rolled; dig?
We didn't have fancy stuff like Call Waiting!

If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either!

When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was!

It could be your school,your mom, your boss, your Bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!!

You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Play Station video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics!

We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids'.

Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever!
And you could never win.

The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died!

Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on!

You were screwed when it came to channel surfing!

You had to get up and walk over to the TV to change the channel!

There was no Cartoon Network either!

You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning.. Do you hear what I'm saying!?!

We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little brats!

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove...Imagine that!
That's exactly what I'm talking about!

You kids today have got it too easy.

You're spoiled.

You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or before!

Regards,The over 30 Crowd

(Author Unknown)

**I hated it when the DJ messed up my taping process. And I can take it a step further with the phones...We had to rotary dial. Kids these days don't even know what that is unless they have one of the "retro" play phone toys with the eyes that bounce as you roll it along.

How long is a car seat good for?

2009-03-15T16:40:00.002-06:00

so we are now a 2 car seat family... It is such a pain to switch out the seats whenever Eran wants to go in his car, not mine - which is always if he can help it. So we got Sydney a 2nd seat to put in Daddy's car. Of course I was pricing new ones for #2 baby on the way, and the good one we had is like $280! When we need it, I just think we will claim our old one back from Seth and Karalenn, but it will be like 4 years old by that time. I could probably just look on the Brittax website or something like that, but what do you moms think?

So most of you already know...

2009-03-03T14:38:00.003-07:00

Since I am a week away from my 2nd trimester, and Sydney has already started telling people, I thought I'd make an official announcement here. I'm pregnant! Whooppee! I'm not sure how I'll do the super pregnant stage in summer, but I'm due Sept. 23 officially. Yes, I'm still training for the half marathon. My doctor said that was great. I may do it super slow, but I think that may also have contributed to my minimal 1st trimester sickness. Eran thinks he'll only be excited for a boy. Sydney sort of gets it and is excited - I'm excited that Sydney gets to have a sibling. I don't know if Zach gets it or cares - he is very focused on turning 18 in a year and (he thinks) being able to move out. We'll see!

Happy Birthday Zach!

2009-02-13T14:15:00.003-07:00

His mother accused me of not taking enough pictures of him, so I at least remembered to take one on his birthday. He is 17! If he lived in the wizarding world of Harry Potter, he would be of age! Scary enough that he will be there in a year in real life.

We gave him this Snoop Dogg shirt, which he loves, and took him out to dinner. We will eat his Iron Man birthday cake tonight when we are not so stuffed from dinner. His mother (and I'm trying not to curse here) gave him a cell phone. She told me it would not be activated and that I could set up all these parameters for it on line before he used it. Well, that was certainly not true since he has been using it since he got it last night. Whatever - Eran and I don't care, they are the ones paying for it, and knowing Zach, it will be broken in 2 weeks anyway.

I had to include this cute picture of my buggaboo!

catch - up pictures

2009-02-02T14:53:00.005-07:00

These pics are long over due, but here's Sydney at Christmas singing to her new cabbage patch baby.

The next ones are Sydney's 3rd birthday with she and Serenity on her cool new 4 wheeler,

and blowing out her candles on her sponge bob cake with Uncle Seth in the background.

Here is her official 3 year old picture in the outfit Aunt Damy sent her. What a cutie patootie!

Hey, yes I am alive

2009-01-19T14:30:00.002-07:00

It has been a while since I posted. I just thought I'd post to say I'm alive and well but with not much to say. Christmas was great! I'd share some photos, but my cord to plug the camera into the computer somehow got smooshed...
I LOVE having Sydney all potty trained and finally fairly accident free. The pull-ups at night are gonna take a while. She is now a big girl at church too - she joined the sunbeams class. She loves primary.
Zach's new obsession (to add to ALL the others) is who he is going to ask to prom. He tells me that Prom is in June, but school is over at the end of May, hmmm...
I'm training for the Moab 1/2 marathon right now. I can't wait for it to be March so I can run outside again!
More updates soon, at least that is my plan.

It's Official!

2008-11-12T15:42:00.002-07:00

She will kill us someday for having this blackmail picture of her on her potty, but she can blame her daddy, he took the pictures! It's true! I can't believe it is finally official and before her 3rd birthday too! Sydney is potty trained! Whoopee! Thanks for all the suggestions - I think I used a little bit of each suggestion I got, and she really finally caught on:)

Oh Yeah, I forgot I'd been tagged

2008-10-27T12:14:00.002-06:00

Here are the rules: You answer the questions below and at the end of the post you tag 4 people. Then go to their blog and comment to them that they have been tagged.
What is your husband's name? Eran Douglas Bair
How long have you been married? six and a half years
How long did you date? about 2 months, it's hard to say when we officially started dating since I was in fierce denial that I even liked him at first. We were engaged for 4 months and got married pretty close to 6 months after we met.
Who eats sweets? What a strange question - of course we both do even though I'm the diabetic:)
Who said "I Love You" first? He did, I think I tried to say it in return, but I was still debating if that were true, so it came out quite mumbled. I said it more clearly the next day when I'd had time to decide that yes, I did, and he wasn't shocking me by saying it for the first time.
Who is taller? It's really about dead even. I think it depends on the day and our choice of footwear.
Who can sing best? I can, he plays music on his guitar. He can sing, but I don't know if I've ever heard him do it in a serious manner.
Who is smarter? He is, I've killed too many brain cells with my low blood sugar episodes. Just try playing trivial pursuit with him...
Who does the laundry? Mostly me, although he helps on occasion.
Who pays the bills? Eran, except for my specific bills like for my medical supplies and tithing.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you are standing at the foot of the bed, facing it, then he sleeps on the right.
Who cooks dinner? Me. Eran will occasionally when we're bbqing stakes, but he's left that up to me plenty of times too.
Who drives? Eran
Who is the first to admit they are wrong? Me
Who kissed who first? He kissed me first, I'd never kissed anyone before - I wasn't about to initiate it.
Who asked who out first? Eran asked me to the BYU Homecoming football game even though we were over at his house trying to set him up with my roommate.
Who wears the pants? Eran - I often tease him about his constant "it's my way or the highway" attitude
How did you meet? My roommate was stocking his roommate. My roommate Melissa wanted to set him up with our roommate Laura. Since Melissa liked his roommate (and cousin) Richard, she was often looking in the direction of their house in our neighborhood. One day, we were walking past their street on the way home from visiting teaching, and Melissa saw Eran outside taking the top off of his Jeep. She begged me to come meet him, so I could tell Laura what he was like. I was grouchy about it because I wanted to go home a start my Sunday nap. I guess I impressed him by being rude and asking if he was inactive from church since I hadn't met him before. When Laura asked what he was like, I responded, "I don't know, he seemed kind of bitter." Ha!
Now I'm supposed to tag 4 people. I tag Karalenn, Shelly, Sunny, and Heidi

progress...but, any more suggestions?

2008-10-27T11:49:00.002-06:00

So I have a cute picture of Sydney sitting on her potty, but because Zach used our computer one time to try to look up porn, we got a virus, and Eran took care of it, but now I can't open photoshop to download the picture.
Sydney is doing great going on the potty as long as she has no pants on. Every time we put panties, or pull-ups on, she goes in those. A girl in my ward suggested putting pants on her with no underwear, and we might try that later today. Help! I am tired of feeling a bit of a prisoner in my own house because I don't want to go somewhere and have Sydney have an accident. I know I will have to use pull-ups for a while at night with her because she sleeps deeply like I do and she never wakes up dry. I hope she's not too much like me though, I wet the bed until I was somewhere around 10 years old...

Patience - and I need advise!

2008-09-19T14:17:00.002-06:00

The first picture here is a cute one of Sydney on her new pride and joy - her big wheel! It also shows her cute new haircut. I have been learning lately what true patience parents of 2 year olds have to learn to have. My sister Heather described it well when she said that 2 year olds are just a tiny body so full of emotions, and they often don't know how to handle all their feelings. So, I have been doing a little better being patient when she has emotional outbursts - most often having to do with wanting to be independent and do things "all by herself". It wasn't a big deal to me today when it took 30 mins. to go from our house on her big wheel to the church (which is less than a block away from our house) because she is still learning how to pedal. The neighborhood kids made me feel old when they saw her riding the big wheel and asked why her bike looked so funny. I guess they had never seen a "big wheel".

The thing I don't know if I need more patience or just more stubbornness is for Sydney's potty training! Many parents have told me to not push her until she is at least 3, but then others have told me the older she gets, the harder the battle will be because she will get more stubborn. Right now, if I even mention trying to go potty, she throws a fit. She likes talking about "someday" she will be big and go potty like her older friends and cousins. I have tried bribing her with stickers and candy, etc. She of course loves those two things, but when it comes to going to the potty, she wants nothing to do with them. Help! Should I stop pushing for a while, or conquer this battle while it is still young?

The other pictures here are from Zach's talent show performance of Weird Al's "White and Nerdy" again. He wanted to do a Snoop Dog song or a Chris Brown song, but I told him that the lyrics had to be clean for a general public audience. He said he could do the edited version, but I told him he needed the edited version on CD as well. I guess life is full of disappointments.

Fun in Cali

2008-09-08T16:04:00.002-06:00

So it has been a while since I posted. Some of the reasons are because of business as school starts, some because we went out of town to California for a while, but mostly because we only have the one computer and whenever Eran is home he is on it. I've been thinking lately how I need to come post, but we were all sick last week, yada, yada...

so we went to Cali for Eran's grandma's 90 birthday party. The top picture is Sydney at the Sacramento temple, then in Eran's uncle's pool, then at the train museum in old Sacramento, then on the Nye Family (the family friends we stayed with) trampoline that Sydney thoroughly enjoyed.

Bear Lake

2008-07-26T19:10:00.002-06:00

Most of my life I have lived in Utah, and I had never been to Bear Lake until a spur of the moment trip that my old roommate crazy Jenny planned. Bear Lake was so beautiful, I am sad I had missed out on it until now! Sydney loved it too!

I doubt anyone has anything blackmail worthy!

2008-07-16T08:35:00.000-06:00

More tag
Tag! Here's the drill (This one's kind of interesting...)1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Sydney feeding the ducks

2008-07-14T15:51:00.003-06:00

With gas

prices as high as they are, I tried to accomplish as many things in one trip down to Provo as I could. I turned in paperwork for Zach, I went running on the Provo River Trail, and Sydney got to feed the ducks at Paul Ream Park. Of course only one of those activities was worthy of pulling the camera out. I love how Sydney sticks her butt out to throw, as the last picture shows.

Update

2008-07-07T16:51:00.003-06:00

One of the many reasons I haven't posted lately is that we were gone camping with Eran's cousins. It was so much fun! We were a bit concerned because it was our first camping trip as parents, but the kids both did great. Sydney even keeps asking if we can go camping again. The pictures are just a small sampling of how dirty we all were. Sydney was dirty because she played in the dirt like it was sand at a beach. The rest of us were dirty mostly from taking rides on 4 wheelers and 5 days without a shower will do that to you.

Oh boy - TAG

2008-06-19T06:32:00.001-06:00

The rules are as follows: List 3 Joys, 3 Fears, 3 Goals, 3 Current Obsessions/Collections, and 3 Random Surprising Facts About Yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names.

Three Joys
1. Being sealed to my family forever!
2. The knowledge of the gospel
3. dogs

Three Fears
1. drunk drivers
2. pornography
3. aging

Three goals
1. stay sane - oops, too late
2. independently wealthy
3. get next Friday night off from work

Three current obsessions/collections
1. clutter all over every surface in my house - it drives me crazy, but do I change it? HOW?!
2. sleep - I may be obsessed, but do I get enough of it? NO!
3. black dog hair(collection)

Three random surprising facts about me
1. I fight laziness daily and often loose
2. depression and anxiety are big factors in my #1 answer
3. oh, these are supposed to be surprising - I am going to a Motley Crue concert next month

Tag, you're it!
I tag:
1. Messy
2. Seth
3. Heidi
4. Joellen
5. Nila

Thomas the Tank Engine

2008-06-01T22:23:00.003-06:00

I've been meaning to post this for a while now, but is it just me or is May/June a crazy busy time of year for everybody? I am currently feeling guilty for blogging instead of five other urgent things that need to get done - let alone that I want to be in bed too! We had a fun family outing the other day that Sydney just can't stop talking about!

We got to go for a ride on Thomas the Tank Engine! It was just a short little ride on the Heber Valley Railroad, but Sydney was thrilled! We live right next to some railroad tracks, and most days we hear at least four or five trains go by. Sydney will often start talking about how Thomas is giving rides to some of his other friends. That is how we explained why Thomas was gone again when we were leaving the Heber train station to come home.

To you other parents out there, I pose a question. What is a good length of time to allow your children to watch T.V. a day? Sydney loves watching hours upon hours of TV, and I have been justifying it lately because it gives me a little free time to get my things done (cleaning, etc). I am worried that I am teaching her bad habits of watching too much TV. I'm thinking of putting a 4 hour time limit on for her. Is that too much, or too extreme in my expectations for a 2 year old?

Owies

2008-05-16T21:42:00.003-06:00

So I guess Sydney is in a bit of a klutzy stage in life. I took this first photo this morning to show how she crawled into Grandma's fireplace with her forehead. I think seeing a huge hole in my daughter's head that was bleeding did more to me as her mother than it hurt her. I nearly passed out! The funny thing was, as I drove up there, I was listening to the Blue Collar Channel on Sirius (LOVE the satellite radio!). A comedian was talking about how parents nowadays don't like taking their children to their parent's houses because nothing is child proofed. He said, "Come on, we all stuck our fingers in light sockets and lived!" That comedy routine was very appropriate for our visit to grandma's that day.

Then, before I could even post that first picture, Sydney tripped on the sidewalk and got owies on her elbow and knee and bonked her forehead again and made that first owie bleed again! Poor girl! If I had gotten a picture of her with her mouth open you could see her chipped front tooth - this was a previous injury though, not from today. My poor, beat up kiddo.

Funnies

2008-05-06T22:40:00.003-06:00

So I thought I'd share some funny pictures I took recently of some of the funny things I run into on a daily basis staying home with Sydney and the dogs. The first picture is of Sydney wearing some of mommy's pretty colorful underwear! She found it recently in a bottom drawer of my dresser that I rarely use any more. At least it saw some action! I should probably reorganize and place the contents of this drawer on my shelf in my closet and the sweatshirts on my closet shelf can go in that drawer:)

The next picture, I took because I sat down on the floor in Sydney's room to get her dressed. I told her to come over to me so I could put her clothes on. She was not swiftly obeying that day, but Cal did. He came right over when I said, "Come here!"
This proves what I tell my dog training students all the time, "Dogs are simple. Human children are way over my head as to how to train them."

Thankful

2008-04-20T22:52:00.002-06:00

So after a day of glorying in my major accomplishment of finishing the marathon - I realized I need to thank everyone who helped me get there. Of course I have to thank the Lord! You better believe I kept praying for His help to finish. I also need to thank all those who helped babysit Sydney so she didn't have to go on all those extra long runs. Those babysitters include my honey Eran, Karalenn, my mom, Holly, and Hillory, Laura Meek, and Rachel Palmer. I also need to thank those who were my examples and did this crazy goal before me and offered pointers for my training - Dad most especially, Monica Broadbent, Lyle, Marcia, and Jena Anderson. Of course I have to thank everyone who cheered me on both in person and in spirit - Thank You!

I FINISHED!!!

2008-04-19T22:15:00.005-06:00

I accomplished a huge goal today of finishing the Salt Lake City Marathon! 26.2 miles was grueling, but thank goodness it's over! I finished in just under 5 hours, I believe my time was 4:59 in fact. I was expecting to do closer to 5.5 hours because my knee had been killing me in previous training runs. I took some ib profen before the race and my knee felt great the whole time, so I finished faster - yeehaw! Eran was my photographer for these few pictures we got - he got some cute ones of Sydney though -

The first one is of me fairly close to the finish line. I have a distressed look on my face because the finish line was on a bit of a whindy path and at that point in the race, I was so tired I just wanted to see the finish, but it was around the bend! The next picture is me holding Sydney and elated to be DONE! You can see by Sydney's hair that it was quite windy today, but other than that, the weather was beautiful (thank goodness)! Here is another picture of Sydney in the wind.

nothing new

2008-04-14T15:45:00.004-06:00

I don't have much new to report on, but I had some funny pictures to share. Sydney got this butterfly costume for her birthday, and she has found it to be fun to put it on Sunny. He, of course is thrilled by the fun she has, as you can see by the look on his face:)

Zach is the MAN!

2008-04-04T07:49:00.002-06:00

This is a picture of Zach and a few of his many female admire-ers. This was a Valentine's dance he went to for kids with special needs. I guess the blond girl is the one he is going to ask on his first date during spring break! He even asked her to prom, but she already has a date. He is quite the ladies man, and I also think I now know why he likes high school so much more than Jr. High - the girls! He has a subscription to the New Era and the only one he has really even looked at is the one with a pretty girl on the cover. As much as we like to, teasing him about this might get me in real trouble since I stole this picture from his room to share with y'all. So please don't blow my cover!

MTC Memories

2008-04-02T22:56:00.003-06:00

Hey I just collected these photos from my parents and thought some of you might enjoy the trip down memory lane as I did. These are pictures of the day I went into the MTC; June 2, 1999. The day before Seth and Karalenn got married (there's a reason they have such funny looks on their faces). Of course you all know how I value photos - I was so sad that I left these pictures in my purse and something spilled on them and made them stick together which is why the middle picture has that big tare through it.

Happy Birthday Babe!

2008-03-28T08:48:00.002-06:00

Glitter Graphics & Comments

Happy 38th Birthday to my sweetie! Just 2 more years to the big 4 - 0! Wow, we're getting old, oh well have a happy one anyway:)

HOPPY EASTER!

2008-03-23T21:33:00.003-06:00

We had a great day today! Sydney had so much fun with her first real Easter egg hunt (she was too young these last 2 years). I had to explain about eating good food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner before devouring those goodie-filled eggs. The weather was absolutely beautiful! I got to visit with many of our neighbors outside with their dogs socializing with my dogs. It was sad when Eran had to go in to work to fix a computer problem. Since that was my only complaint for the day - we did great! I hope lots of you had nearly perfect days too. If I go get a cord to attach our camcorder to the computer, I will download some video from today to share with y'all.

Glitter Graphics & Comments

Still surviving

2008-03-15T21:53:00.003-06:00

I haven't had much to report on lately, I have been busier than I ever like to be but not doing anything worth writing about.

Here is Eran with Sunny, our billy goat, or that could just be a nice wrestling move. Just because I have nothing exciting to report doesn't mean I don't have cute pictures to share! This next one is of a very cool family who have signed up for all of my training classes at Petsmart. This is their graduation from intermediate class, and their advanced class starts on Wednesday. Baylee is their dog's name and he is better behaved than Sunny - no, it's just great when owners take the time to train their dogs this well. If only all human's parents were this dedicated!

dating is a good thing

2008-03-01T21:22:00.004-07:00

I just wanted to share one of my favorite of the more professional photos we had taken at the dance Eran and I went to on Valentine's weekend. It definitely is a good thing to date when you are married! It reminds you of why you got married and everyone needs a time -out away from kids! Eran took me shooting for the first time in my life this last weekend (thank you again Hillory for babysitting!). We went to a shooting range, and it was fun! I am using too many exclamation points again! Oh well!

Here is one of the targets Eran shot. Notice how there is a hole right in the bull's eye? I had a similar target with a shot like that, but I also had a tendency to shoot the clip that was holding the target, so my target with the bull's eye is still on the floor of the shooting range. Shooting was very loud and much harder than it looks, but thank goodness for the man I married!

Jenny Hoover showed me a clip that she recorded off the TV last week of another boy I dated (Aaron Pond). He was giving a motivational speech to teenagers that was on KBYU. It made me think about how different my life could be with different decisions made in the past, and thank goodness it is not! I love my life and especially how almost opposite from that Aaron, my Eran is! Does that say something bad about me that I prefer going shooting with my husband than listening to a cheesy-motivational speech to teenagers? Oh well, the point really is to say, "Go on dates with your spouse!"

Busyness Abounds!

2008-02-21T15:04:00.006-07:00

Last week was so crazy and busy with things to do, and I am just realizing it is already Thursday of this week and I haven't written to report on any of it! Monday the 11th, I tried to find someplace I could get my long distance run in without imposing on any one too much. I decided to try Gold's Gym since when I signed Eran up for a membership, they told me to come in and use a free VIP day pass sometime. Well, the girl I talked to there was obviously not trying to impress me since she just kept looking at Sydney saying, "I think our day care is full," and "We can give you a day pass for $10, but I think the day care is full..." By the time I frustratedly walked out without my run, the day care at the Lehi Legacy Center was going to close in a 1/2 hour. My long runs are getting to be 3+ hours long - that would never work. The next day was Zach's 16th birthday!

I am such a slacker for not posting something on this earlier! Happy Birthday buddy! He had a fun party with his parents and sisters at his family visit that day. 2 of his friends from Heber came, and a girl from school even showed up! She is one of his peer toutors.

Wednesday I found a friend in my ward that owns a treadmill. I helped her with a sewing project, so she tended Sydney while I did my run. Then we took Zach out for his birthday dinner while a crazy snow storm hit our area. Our power went out, the major roads all around us were shut down - it was crazy!

Thursday was Valentine's, but I don't remember anything super special about it. Eran and I celebrated over the next 2 days. He took me out to Market Street Grill for lunch on Friday - yummy yum! Then he took this cute picture of Sydney sleeping in the TV watching chair.

Finally, as an only request for Valentine's this year, despite plenty of protesting from Eran, he took me to our stake adult sweetheart ball! We had some more professional pictures taken at the dance, but the photographer has yet to email them to me. Eran kept complaining that he thought he was done with dancing since he got married. I told him he was sadly mistaken. Even with all the grumbling and groaning - I had fun! We tried to do the cha cha lessons, but failed miserably. When we were slow dancing, Eran said, "You get this close to me every night when you're hogging the bed, blah, blah, blah..."

Then Monday was President's Day. Zach was out of school and Eran off work, so we went to the zoo! Can you see how I accidentally turned my white coat pink when I washed it with Zach's red one - oops! The first 2 photos are of us feeding the geese and ducks, and the 3rd is enjoying the elephants. It was hard to get that photo, because Sydney didn't want to turn around to look at the camera, the elephants were too interesting!

As soon as we got home from the zoo, I took Zach, and we met up with Holly and her kids, Hillory and her girls, and watched the movie "The Spiderwick Chronicles". It was very fun and very imaginative! It would have been a bit scary for Sydney so I'm glad she was home napping with Daddy.

Vote for Sunny!

2008-02-13T22:02:00.004-07:00

Anyone who has been to our house knows how plauged we are with dog hair everywhere! Bissell vaccums is having a contest every week to give away a pet hair eraser vaccum, so go to this link to vote for Sunny to be the winner! Okay, I will be the winner, Sunny is of course afraid of vaccums, but we want to win!

Big Girl Bed

2008-02-08T00:09:00.001-07:00

Yes, we also had to take this inevitable step. We got Sydney a toddler bed because the night before (for the 2nd time) she jumped over the edge of her crib and landed on her head. She has a nice rug burn there now. She keeps repeating the words, "New Bed" while running around in her room. She slept fairly well in it last night, but woke up crying several times. My guess is she just wasn't sleeping quite as sound because of the change... any other mothers out there say this is normal?

Tagged

2008-01-25T22:29:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged by a friend in her blog to list 7 interesting facts about myself that many people don't know about me. This is making me realize what an open person I am, I don't hide things about myself very well. You might not learn anything about me, but at least I will have admitted it all...
1. I am jealous of people who can be anally clean. Messes don't bother me enough to get me over my laziness and take care of them. I want to be better at cleaning and being organized! How do I get more motivated to do this?
2. I am baby hungry right now. Many days I don't mind that Eran says, "No way, we are one and done!" especially when Sydney is acting like a 2 year old, but I really do want another one soon.
3. I have never been a natural at flirting. Even now that I have been married for 5.5 years, I still find it awkward to flirt with my husband. I will only do it when I feel an extreme need for attention and nothing else will work.
4. My favorite sport to participate in is volleyball. I may not be the most talented at it and may do other sports more often, but I think it is the most fun group sport (downhill snow skiing is a good individual one).
5. I have never read any of the Jane Austin books. As much as I love the movies, and the fact that I own a collection of her novels has still not changed this for me. I never do very well at reading a book when I have seen a movie first because I feel like I already know what going to happen so I don't get drawn in very easily.
6. Eran is the first and only boy I have ever kissed.
7. Chihuahuas are my least favorite type of dogs. They never seem to be the type to just love or trust anyone. They are almost always fearful, therefore; they are also either aggressive or just timid. I think I'd take a cat over a chihuahua at my house.
There you have it! Now I get to tag 7 people: Seth, Karalenn, Dad, Hillory, Heidi, Joellen, & Sunny. Dad I know you don't have a blog to do this on, so either create one or do it over email.

play group

2008-01-20T23:38:00.001-07:00

There is an unofficial "ward" play group that Sydney and I occasionally play with on Fridays. Truthfully, since Fridays are Eran's days off, I often forget about play group (even when I was supposed to be in charge of the activity - oops), but this week I got a reminder phone call, and the activity sounded fun, so we went. We were making cars out of cardboard and then watching a movie. Here is Sydney in her car drinking her Capri-Sun and snaking on popcorn. We watched some "Ducktales" shows, but Sydney's attention span only lasted as long as her drink did.

Sydney's birthday continued

2008-01-20T23:24:00.000-07:00

I downloaded the first pictures of Sydney on her birthday so quickly that I forgot to include pictures at her party... the first 2 are the cute ones I got distracted while trying to save them the first time,

then we have her modeling the butterfly outfit her Aunt Damy sent,

then Daddy modeling her antenna,

then Sydney opening up even more pretty shoes while sitting in her Minnie Mouse chair!

camera phone pictures

2008-01-17T08:27:00.000-07:00

So time for my excuses as to why I haven't been posting lately - Sydney has turned 2 - enough said right? Therefore she got sick and got the rest of us sick, then when she got better (a week and a half later) she decided she is not taking naps any more and her nap time was usually my blogging time. I took a very cute picture of her in the car yesterday with my camera phone and decided to try and get smart about how to share it. Here are many of the others you might enjoy as well.

Sydney is 2!

2008-01-02T14:16:00.001-07:00

I took Sydney's 2 year old birthday pictures, but then I was really distracted when saving them to the computer. These are some cute ones, but I did get one or two with her smiling - oh well they're not in the file on the computer. She is wearing an outfit her Aunt Damy sent her last year - and she finally fits in it! I can't believe it has been 2 years! She is supposed to stay a baby for longer - I don't know if I can handle a toddler.

Zach's Christmas present to his Grandma

2008-01-02T14:00:00.001-07:00

Zach decided since he was

going to spend Christmas with his grandma in Morgan, UT, that he would get her an extra special present - a dog! He is a Chihuahua who is 9 yrs old that I helped pick out from the adoption group that comes into Petsmart every other weekend. His name is Spudnik, and we got to take care of him for 2 days (after Lost Paws closed and before Zach headed up to Morgan). I didn't know if he would be keeping his name, so I kept calling him "Dude". Sydney thought that was extra funny and would laugh and say "dude dog!" Yes, it made my dogs anxious and jealous a few times that there was a new dog in the house, but they did fairly well and mostly left him alone. We had to take him for walks around the block a couple of times to get him to go pee, and my neighbors all thought we were crazy to get another (tiny) dog. I let them know, I'm not that crazy - and we're not really tiny dog people here. Apparently Zach's Grandma has taken to Spud very nicely even though there were some protests at first, she told me personally she really likes him.

Christmas

2008-01-02T13:41:00.001-07:00

Wow! It's been a while since I've posted because holy cow I've been busy!

Christmas and New Year's and Sydney's birthday all in one week is a lot! I was even debating between making this post and taking down the Christmas tree and decor today - this won out because I don't think Sydney will get too much in the way of taking the tree down, but she always likes to contribute a bit too much for doing much on the computer. So these are some pictures of us enjoying our harvest from Christmas - Sydney and all of her Disney Princess shoes,Then Sydney sitting in my favorite present - my new jogging stroller!Daddy playing his guitar hero - really everyone should come over and play - it is way fun!

And Sunny and Cal enjoying their big bones:)

We were over abundantly blessed this Christmas with gifts, peace, and happiness! Thank you all who sent cards and gifts and spent time with us. It just made it all so fun! I have used way too many exclamation points in this post! I forgot to take a picture of him with it, but Zach's favorite present was his Wii game system.

snowman

2007-12-19T14:49:00.001-07:00

Sydney and I made a snowman today! He isn't very big, mostly because Sydney doesn't have much of an attention span, and because there wasn't much snow left after it rained all night. That is also the reason it was perfect snowman making conditions. We tried to make one earlier when there was lots of snow, but it was way too powdery. I also couldn't figure out why she was sad and didn't want to stand by the snowman for the picture. It was because she wanted to wear the Mickey Mouse hat!

Vote for us!

2007-12-15T23:20:00.000-07:00

click on this link and vote for Sydney's picture called "I refuse"

Christmas countdown

2007-12-15T22:59:00.000-07:00

For some reason I can't get images in my posts tonight, just links to what I want you to see here on my blog... oh well. Merry Christmas anyway!

Santa's lap?

2007-12-03T07:34:00.000-07:00

Sydney didn't do well at her first attempt at sitting on Santa's lap. We went to the festival of trees on Saturday (that's why it was Sydney's first attempt - it wasn't at a mall - I just don't frequent those) with some people in my family. She probably would have done better last year, she wasn't so clingy then. She had some cousins there to show her how to do it (yes, I will email all of the shots soon), but maybe she'll do better next year.

Early Merry Christmas

2007-12-02T07:36:00.000-07:00

I surprised Eran this week with his early Christmas present. I traded his old Jeep in for a new one because this one has 4 doors - now Sydney can ride with Daddy too. The top picture is as he was just pulling into the driveway in my car (I lied and told him I was taking his car to get the oil changed that day). The 2nd picture is the priceless look on his face as he saw it and knew what it was. The bottom picture is self explanatory. I saw one of these 4 door Rubicons when I was in California and thought, "Wow, that's pretty!" I tentatively started looking when I came home, but the 2 dealerships I was familiar with didn't have any in stock and would not be getting more in before Christmas. Last week I found one! It may not have been the smartest financial decision present, but it sure is fun! Anyone wanting a ride, come on over!

Silly Cal

2007-11-26T21:48:00.000-07:00

Cal did a very funny thing this morning. For some reason, he was convinced

that my Christmas tree ornament that looks like an apple, was real. The string it hangs from was broken, so I just kind of laughed when he picked it up and started chewing on it. Even when he broke a few pieces off and revealed the Styrofoam, he wanted to keep chewing it. I eventually had to take it away and hide it from him so he didn't eat the whole thing. I also love that he closed his eyes in the middle photo because the flash was blinding him. I love my crazy dogs!

Thanksgiving fun

2007-11-26T21:20:00.001-07:00

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday. We started it off with my crazy family tradition of running in the Turkey Trot. I ran the 4 mile and Sydney ran the 100 meters for 0-2yr. olds. I shouldn't say Sydney ran it; she took 3 or 4 steps before falling down on her knees bawling, so I'd pick her up and get her to take 3 or 4 more... Sydney likes running, but she was miserably cold as you can probably see in the 3rd picture.

Then our entire Hippen family (except Heidi, Matt, and Sarah, and Rob who were horribly missed) gathered at Grandma Smith's house for some feasting! Eran and I fried a turkey for them, and it was just good times all around. The next day we went to the Thanksgiving Pointe dinosaur museum with my sister Heather's family and my brother Seth's family. Here's Sydney looking cute on one of the statues.

Very fun vaca

2007-11-13T22:58:00.000-07:00

So I just got back from a very fun vacation to California. I went down all by myself for a roommate from BYU reunion. Even though 2 of the 6 of us backed out at the last minute we had such a great time! It was also a wonderful opportunity to use some of the lessons I've been learning in my photography class. It is a community class that explains how to use you digital SLR camera. Last week we talked about lenses, so in California I used my macro (setting) lens on the many different beautiful flowers, sea shells and weed, palm tree textures. I used my zoom lens to get those pelicans on the rock. If you want to see pictures of us girls, you'll have to visit our B2 bombers blog.

Halloween 07

2007-11-01T08:16:00.001-06:00

We had so much fun yesterday! I had to go shopping for a costume for Sydney since her Aunt forgot to send the vampire one we had been promised. While

we were there, we decided to get one for Daddy too - even though he tries to be a bah-humbug about Halloween and costumes. "Dog the Bounty Hunter" is highly entertaining in our household, and Daddy wearing the costume was even more entertaining! Sydney was unsure at first when she saw him. She wouldn't even go to him, but she warmed up after about a half hour of trick-or-treating. She loved her monkey costume! It had monkey shoes, and she went around saying, "OOOh! Ooh!" She kept telling me there was something on my face and even honk-honked my nose (there were several reasons it didn't stay on long). One of her favorite parts of trick-or-treating was ringing the doorbell and occasionally snagging a candy before it went in her bag so she could eat it!

My pirates

2007-10-25T22:02:00.000-06:00

Here are my pirates this Halloween! That's not Zach, it is Jack Sparrow. I wasn't home to help put his bandanna on over the wig. My puppy pirates are fun too even though they feel tortured when I put their costumes on. Did you notice, Cal even has an earring! Of course it causes him to shake his head and the earring fell of in the Petsmart parking lot. It's a miracle I found it again! We'll have more fun Halloween pictures next week:)

To our HOA

2007-10-19T13:53:00.000-06:00

I borrowed this image from Melissa on our blog, but I felt it was appropriate for sending a message to our HOA. Last week, while our basement was being repaired, one of our neighbors called our HOA and the COPS because Eran was playing his electric guitar in the garage instead of the basement. SO I guess this image is for that neighbor, but the HOA is a pain in the butt too.

Family Pics

2007-10-03T14:53:00.000-06:00

I am sharing this picture of our recent family pics because I know it is not one of the pictures we are considering for our Christmas cards this year. Sydney's the only one looking at the camera, oh maybe Sunny too. Thank you Seth for taking these for us again!

Tough Weekend

2007-09-30T22:50:00.000-06:00

I have lots and lots of pictures I have taken recently, but I'm not posting any currently, I'm too tired. I just have to vent about this weekend! Why is it some days are impossible to sell training classes at work. I got at least 5 promises to come in this week and sign up, but last week when we needed the sales, nobody was paying. I only collected 1 commission for all week. I'm also feeling punished for my faith - it's really more of a trial, but my husband is mad at me for paying tithing. That made us all in a real chipper mood for our family pictures we had taken today. Of course, my feelings right now are to give up, throw in the towel, it's not worth all the heartache. Any suggestions? Not that anyone wants to comment on this depressing entry, let alone finish reading it...

Dog Training

2007-09-23T21:55:00.000-06:00

I can't believe I haven't talked about how I have the best job in the world. I'm a mom! But I'm also a dog trainer at Petsmart. I get to meet and teach people who have common likes as me - dogs! This was a puppy class that graduated back in the Spring of '07. Then the chocolate lab named Buster is showing how he learned to "shake". Buster belonged to a girl I lifeguarded with at BYU and her husband.

Zach's b-ball

2007-09-23T21:05:00.000-06:00

Zach is on a basketball team for Lehi High School and the Special Olympics. Here he is at his first game. It is awesome, if you ask him if they won, of course he says, "YES!" even though it's not quite true. GO ZACH and the Lehi Pioneers!

How could I not add this picture?

2007-09-17T22:18:00.001-06:00

Sydney's Daddy took this cute picture! For some reason she found Cal to be a great chair. She is fascinated with chairs. I had to go get Zach a new computer chair this week (his old one was quite disgusting), so off to IKEA Sydney and I went. I found the perfect one for him - it was red plastic (Spiderman), but the only red one they had left was the display. A nice worker said I could have it - already assembled and everything! Sydney went crazy over it! She would no longer sit in the cart, so I pushed her through the register and out to the car in the chair. She threw a fit when I put it in Zach's room and not hers, so I had to put her Mickey Mouse chair in her room so she would go in there to take a nap! Her other fascination is shoes...we're doomed!

update

2007-09-14T00:00:00.000-06:00

So I was finally pressured into updating this blog. Hopefully the images wont take too long to upload... here we are on our Labor Day hike up to Timpanogus cave. It was quite the trek! You see Eran and I traded off carrying Sydney. Hey I haven't seen my sunglasses since that day, maybe they are still in the diaper bag. The hike is 1.5 miles straight up the mountain (okay, maybe there were a few switchbacks). The photo at the top is when we were within yards of the cave - the exhaustion shows.

2007-08-03T16:20:00.001-06:00

Zach's picture was disagreeing with being posted in the same post as ours so he gets his own - kind of like at home, especially with food.

Here we are

2007-08-03T15:37:00.001-06:00

This is what everyone saw us look like last Christmas. We really need a picture of us all together. The original family Bair consists of Eran, Hanna, Sydney, Cal, and Sunny. Zach is our foster son and joined us in Oct of 2006.