{wife & mom with a love for}
Jesus
family
photography
decorating
fashion
& bacon.
jack robert hayes was born on march 5 at 2:11pm. weighing in at a surprising 8.3 oz. and 20 1/2 in. long, after a relatively fast and easy delivery. just like a boy, he sleeps a lot and eats a lot. chloe loves her brother and checks up on him several times a day. though the last two weeks have been tiring, we are loving being a family of four. happy 2 weeks jack boy.
this is chloe’s new “game.” we aren’t sure how she can enjoy it as much as she does, but she even breaks out her old man laugh when we play it. we think it’s hilarious.
1st snow. finally. we were away for the first snowfall in october, so it was fun to see chlo enamored by it.
she didn’t last too long, but she loved it. dad even taught her to eat it.
34 weeks. and i feel like i’m going to pop. we will leave it at that.
5 years. matt and i celebrate our anniversary this friday. we are going on a lil overnight to nyc on saturday (taking any suggestions of places to go while there). i feel so old.
yesterday began the never ending day of stripes. my mom came over to help me bring a little more oomph to jack’s room by painting stripes on one wall. we knew it was going to take a lot of prep work, but didn’t know how much patience. if you ever need to use a laser level, just call me and jps. or don’t, maybe. we laughed…we argued…we were successful. i love how it turned out. now we just need to fill the rest of the room. i think a crib should probably be next on the list…
(thanks mom)
2011 brought:
more love for my husband.
a 1 year old.
a baby in my belly.
25.
a nephew.
3 wonderful trips.
an iphone :)
and minivan.
friends moving away.
a graduated sister.
and much more.
2012 will bring:
5 years of marriage.
a 2 year old.
a son.
the late 20’s.
family vacations.
more blogging perhaps.
new friends.
and many thing we cannot forsee.
so grateful that God is faithful year after year.
from us to you.
(chloe is singing ‘in excelsis deo’ above. well, the gloria part.)
may your holidays be very merry.
i made a little video from our christmas tree chopping trip. can i just say iphones are the most wonderful things?
chlo had the time of her life. we went right from church, so she wore her tutu for the occasion. we found our tree in record time. it was matt’s pick and he actually used the word ‘love’ when he found it, which is a shocker. chlo was very concerned when he was chopping it down. she kept talking to him and patting his head. and as a special treat, she got to ride in big red (the truck) for the first time and sit up with mom and dad. i think she is going to like christmas.
there are endless wreath ideas out there nowadays. i saw this one and my heart smiled. mine is nowhere as cool as that one, but maybe one day i’ll get better at felt flower making. cause apparently that’s where the money’s at. i’m not sure how long this will be on my door, cause i’m hoping to make one like this. if i ever get around to it.
i heard many positive comments about this pumpkin roll after fall baking day, so i thought i would share it here. my mom in law actually found it, so all credit goes to her. i was intimidated about making it myself, but it’s quite easy. a few tips i would give:
-make sure your towel is not too wet, but not too dry before rolling it.
-the recipe says to let cool for 20 minutes, but let mine go for a few hours.
-make sure your cream cheese and butter are well softened.
· 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
· 1 cup white sugar
· 1 teaspoon baking soda
· 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
· 1 cup pumpkin puree
· 3 eggs
· 1 teaspoon lemon juice
· 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
· 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
· 1/4 cup butter
· 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
· 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1. preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). grease and flour a 9x13 inch jelly roll pan or cookie sheet.
2. in a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, and pumpkin pie spice. stir in pumpkin puree, eggs, and lemon juice. pour mixture into prepared pan. spread the mixture evenly.
3. bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 15 minutes.
4. lay a damp linen towel on the counter, sprinkle it with confectioner’s sugar, and turn the cake onto the towel. carefully roll the towel up (lengthwise) with the cake in it. place the cake-in-towel on a cooling rack and let it cool for 20 minutes.
5. make the icing: in a medium bowl, blend cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and sugar with a wooden spoon or electric mixer.
6. when the cake has cooled 20 minutes, unroll it and spread icing onto it. immediately re-roll (not in the towel this time), and wrap it with plastic wrap. keep the cake refrigerated or freeze it for up to 2 weeks in aluminum foil. cut the cake in slices just before serving.
from park city we flew down to corpus for a wedding matt was in. it was quite a change from utah. there aren’t many similarities except that everyone drives a truck and the parking spaces are really small.
1. the flight out of salt lake was gorgeous.
2. view from our room in corpus.
3. francesca’s. if you follow any style bloggers, you know what this is. i thought i was pretty special getting to shop here, but apparently there are several and even one in lancaster.
4. matty looking good at the rehearsal.
1. snacks were essential at the rehearsal.
2. the groom wore his customized red suit to the rehearsal.
3. hark! my groomsmen’s wife in crime.
4. cutest groomsman.
1. i even got my picture with him.
2. this requires a story. sarah and i were sitting outside at the reception when seagulls started flying over us. sarah starts to scream. i thought a seagull has pooped on something when actually two of them were fighting over this snake and the proceeded to drop it right in front of us. it was something out of national geographic, i tell you.
3. end of the night.
4. back at home with my girl. only thing missing now is dad.
overall, i’m so happy matt and i got to spend this time away with just each other. we made some great memories and definitely hope to get back to park city again. i miss him so much since he’s in cali all week for work. chlo and i are getting to know each other again. i feel like she really did change a lot in one week. and i’m realizing that with kids, you don’t really get to ease back into real life. it’s full speed ahead.
