Hailey's First Birthday!

Yesterday was Hailey's birthday. We can't believe she is already 1 year old! She is getting to be such a big girl and growing up so fast. We had a nice day together and in the evening she had fun opening her presents and reading her books and playing with her new blocks with Alex. She hated wearing her birthday hat though, and would immediately take it off and try to put in on my head. I think we waited a little too long to give her cake, because she was so tired she wouldn't even eat it. She mushed it between her fingers for a little bit, then just tried to throw it off her high chair. Luckily we caught it before it was all over the floor :) Here's some pictures below from her big day!

Playing in the Park

Hailey and I have been enjoying the great spring weather here in Arizona and going to the park a lot lately. Hailey had her first experience in a swing this past week, and loved it! Here's a few pictures of her at the park.

Home of the Buckeyes

This past weekend we went to Columbus, Ohio for Reza and Christy's wedding. I couldn't believe how Ohio State paraphanelia was everywhere! It seemed like everybody was wearing red, and you could buy Ohio State anything. The campus was really cool, but it was sooo cold (12 degrees with crazy wind) I didn't dare go outside. Here's a picture of the brave guys in front of the stadium.

The wedding was really great. And we were happy to spend time with Alex's parents as well. Hailey loves the attention from Grandma and Grandpa. Here's a picture of Hailey and I before the wedding, and our group of friends at the wedding, and of course the happy couple :)




One lesson we did learn from the trip, was to not fly on award travel with United. Alex got stuck for 3 extra hours in DC on the way there, and almost 2 extra hours in Denver on the way back. And the poor guy even had Hailey with him the whole time. However, Hailey is a bit more of a daddy's girl now :)

Hailey's Super Tuesday

Hailey was a big hit at the polls with her "Vote for Mitt" onsie and voting sticker. Unfortunately, even with all her persuasion yesterday, McCain won the delegates for Arizona and not Romney. We had to make two trips to vote yesterday, since the first time somebody had pulled the fire alarm and everybody had to evacuate the building and the fire department came.

Banana Fosters & Standing Up

This weekend we had our great friends Carol and Brady visit from Utah. They were impressive and ran a 1/2 marathon. Alex said he would do it with them next year, but I on the other hand, have no desire :) One of the highlights of the trip was when Brady taught Alex how to make banana fosters... YUM! Here's a picture of the dessert. Also, another exciting thing in our lives is Hailey is starting to stand on her own! She gets really excited and starts to clap, then falls over. Here's a quick video of her standing for a second.

New Years - Dominating the Rock Band

This year we had a lot of fun on New Years with our friends the Hydes, Holdaways, Weaklands, and Mallorys. We played Rock Band on the Xbox, ate food, and played mafia. It was a great way to bring in the New Year!

Here's a group picture of everybody that was there:

The look on James' face clearly describes Alex's singing ability :)

Here I am concentrating while playing the drums:

And of course, little Hailey was excited to celebrate with everyone!

Santa is Scary

Hailey had her first encounter with Santa this morning. She wanted nothing to do with him and had to sit on Dad's lap to take the picture. Luckily they were able to cut him out of the picture. The second picture is Hailey with her cousins Isabella, Chandler, and Rowan. They are so adorable!