New York Day 1

For part of Jared's spring break we decided to go up to New York. It happened to fall on my birthday which was great. We rode a bus up to New York, which was so nice that we didn't have to deal with all the crazy traffic. We got up to New York around 1pm. My lovely dad took care of the hotel for us which was fabulous! We had a great hotel room looking towards the Empire State building. We dropped our stuff off and off we went to explore the busy city! 

The view from our hotel room of the Empire State Building

The poor girls lived in the stroller for 3 days. They were troopers! 

Time Square is CRAZY!! So many people!!

Time Square

We went to Central Park which was quite a walk from our hotel but it was worth it! They had a playground, bike/running track, lots of open space, and many more cool things! We had an enjoyable afternoon hanging out around the park. We then walked up to the temple which was pretty. You had to look for the Angel Moroni to recognize which building was the temple. 

After exploring upper Manhattan, our feet were so tired!! We walked back up to Times Square and had dinner at Bubba Gump's. We then walked back to our hotel and crashed! 

Our first day in Manhattan we had walked 5 miles. 

Birthday Fun

On March 18 I turned 26..man am I getting old. On St. Patricks day Jana hosted a cute party where we had cafe rio salads/burritos. She made a yummy cake for Robby and I, since our birthdays are close. She is such a great friend. On Sunday, which was my birthday, we headed to New York for a few days. I was spoiled this year for my birthday with new running shoes, money, clothes, and a IPad! 

Robby and I blowing the candles out

We got Georgetown Cupcakes which were delicious

It was a great birthday! I'm so blessed to be surrounded by so many wonderful friends and family!

National Zoo

We have loved living so close to the zoo and the fact that it's free.  Jared had an afternoon off so we decided to meet the Willardson's at the zoo. The weather was perfect! Tara had just arrived as well so we got to show her the zoo. Hallee loved having Tara and Ben there.

Ben and Hallee had a lot of fun exploring the zoo hand in hand 

Mckenna is the best baby, she just hung out in the stroller

Hallee came out of the monkey exhibit very fixated on how smelly the monkeys were. She kept saying "monkeys stinky" 

love this little girl

wearing auntie Tara's sunglasses

Hallee showing me what the lizard does

It was the perfect day for the zoo. We had a blast! 

We will really miss the Willardson's when we move to Texas. 

Minnie Mouse Party

After celebrating Hallee's birthday in Utah, in December, we decided it would be fun for her to celebrate her birthday with her friends.  I enlisted the talents of Jana to help me create a Minnie Mouse themed party.

It was so cute and Hallee had so much fun with all of her friends!

Jana made the adorable sign

Thanks to Pinterest, we found these tasty cupcakes

The goodie bags we filled with Hallee's favorite things: Play-Dough, Bubbles and candy

 Traci, Hallee, Grayson & Ben eating cupcakes

 little miss Mckenna was an angel watching all the craziness around her.

We played bowling, played around with Hallee's toys, opened presents and ate goodies.

Thanks to everyone that helped put it all together.  I'm so glad Hallee was able to have a party with her friends.

We have the greatest friends here in Maryland!

Update on life

I haven't updated for awhile about our everyday life. So here it goes...

Jared is extremely busy with school, 2 church callings, institute president, being a dad, and a husband. He does a great job balancing them all. He is rockin' medical school. He has started studying for boards-which he will take in June. The end of June he will start rotations for the next 2 years. We have decided to move our family to San Antonio to do most of his rotations for 3rd year. He will start with Internal Medicine for 12 weeks. It will be nice for Jared to be in a hospital getting the experience.

I stay at home with the girls. We have a lot of fun at home. Some days are great and other days are not so fun but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I love being a mom to these 2 little girls. The weather has been great here. We try to play outside everyday. I think I have the whole "2 kids thing" down. I just have to use my time very wisely. I have learned that the house doesn't always have to be clean. Spending time with my girls is more important right now. My calling in church is the young moms coordinator- which means I plan play dates each week. It's been fun! I want to start running again on a regular basis. I'm hoping to run a 5k in May then work my way up to a 10k, then hopefully a 1/2 marathon.

Hallee is a busy bee. Her attention span is very short these days. We go from playing with play dough, to coloring all within 5 minutes. She loves to play outside. She is very social and loves to play with her friends. Every morning she wakes up asking to go bye bye. She is still a terrible sleeper. Maybe one day she will sleep through the night more than once a week. I think we need to buy a mini treadmill and have her walk on it for 2 hours before bed to get rid of all her energy.

Mckenna is as sweet as can be. She really is the best baby. She just hangs out, eats, and sleeps. She puts herself to sleep without crying. She doesn't like to be held while she sleeps. So hopefully we will have one good sleeper. I'm still having to supplement with formula- I will breastfeed as long as I can. She rolls over. She is a very strong little girl. She is always trying to sit up. I wish she wasn't growing up so fast.

We are loving life in Maryland. We have been blessed with such great friends, and a wonderful ward. We have loved living here but are excited for a new adventure in Texas. Hopefully not so much traffic and not so many trees. :)

Hallee turns 2

I can't believe my baby girl is already 2. I would like time to slow down...a little bit. We were at the Roberts house for her birthday this year. We went to the bounce house and had my family over for dinner. It was a great day--very low key. I feel bad that her birthday is right after Christmas, its hard to be prepared for her birthday since its the day after. We threw a friend party her in Maryland once we got back. I will post pictures in a later post.

birthday girl eating her breakfast, her choice of oatmeal 

Grandma took us to the bounce house. Hallee loved it! 

Later that night we had my family over for burritos and cupcakes

Hallee was a little overwhelmed with opening presents three days in a row but she eventually got them all opened and was spoiled as usual. 

Jared made a video of the past year. She loved watching it. I love that we have that to watch regularly. 

As much as it's hard having her birthday the day after Christmas, I'm glad we can be around family! 

We love our Hallee Boo more than words can say. 

She has such fun personality and is full of SOOO much energy! 

This girl never stops. We just had her 2 year appointment-- due to her always being sick! 

She is 93% for height, 88% for weight. 

She loves to dance and jump. I'm sure our downstairs neighbors love it. She loves Mckenna most of the time. She still has her days. Every night she goes to bed she gives us all kisses and when she kisses Mckenna she always says love you to the moon and back. It melts my heart! She is learning her letters, can count to 10, and knows her colors. She is at a fun age where she is constantly learning something new. 

Her new thing lately is to ask "why" after everything. 

We love her to pieces!!