Oh my goodness I have so much to blog about it is intimidating! Let me show you what we’ve been up to with pictures.

Went on a beautiful hike.

Taught Hallie how to drive.

Went to Mount Vernon and saw George Washington’s Grist Mill and distillery.

Volunteered and attended a church exchange. It was HUGE!! It opened up @9 am Saturday morning. I got there @ 8:15 and there was already a line outside the doors. It was pretty much a mormon black friday event!!!! We got these items: lots of books, Home schooling phonics kit, scriptures movies and regular movies, walker/bike toy for Hallie, rollerblades for Ben and I (2 sets), a jogging stroller, and a toaster oven. I’d say we scored big time!! The best part- it was all FREE!!

Carved Pumpkins.

Cooked Pumpkin. (Don’t mind the date on the baggies. I was jumping a month ahead when I labeled them.) Opps!

Went to Cox farms and had the time of our life. (Although Hallie doesn’t look like it in this picture. She wanted to go play instead of stop and pose for a picture.) I have soooo many photos to post from this that I will have to do a whole other blog post just for Cox Farms.

Went to a fabulous little kid Halloween party.  I made Hallie’s costume. It is the fill in until the one my mom made gets here for the ward trunk or treat.

P.S. It is almost impossible to get a good picture of a busy 14 1/2 month old. She seriously NEVER stops! I took like a million pictures trying to get her face and her costume. Alas, I failed!!

Bundled up and went running with our new stroller!

And last but not least we are enjoying a Virginia Fall!

I LOVE MY LIFE!!!!

So here are some pictures of my latest FINISHED craft projects.

Grocery cart cover. This has been my most time consuming project. Thanks to my great friend Stacey and her unwavering patience I am finally finished and able to use it. Goodbye GERMS!!! Just look at how happy Hallie is to have her new cushy and germ free  ride!! 🙂  Tip: Don’t go from burp cloths to grocery cart covers. Much more difficult!!!!!!!!

Here is a lamp that our landlord left behind. BORING!!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I learned a trick from my friend Anna. I’ve fallen in love with Mod Podge!

I made this out of an old mirror I got at a thrift store. I took off the mirror and spray painted the frame. Then I glued ribbon inside to hang all of Hallie’s flowers on.

I didn’t make these, my best friend Tiffany did. (Thanks Tiff!)  I’m posting a pic of them because they are so cute and I FINALLY hung them up. (Thanks Linds!)  p.s. sorry such a bad picture we need a new camera!

Hallie and I went to the zoo today with a bunch of our friends. I wondered how much Hallie would enjoy it-thinking she might get more out of it when she was a little older, but man she LOVED it! My favorite part was watching her face light up as she would she an animal. She would get this little smirk on her face-I wish I could have captured that on camera but you know how kids are. 🙂 BTW it was the perfect 70 degrees today and NO humidity-WOW doesn’t get better than that!

That monkey wasn’t in a cage!

There was the cutest baby gorilla eating with it’s mama.

Just another one of Hallie’s little faces. Such a goof ball. She crinkles her eyebrows and scrunches her nose.

Aquarium

Obviously the elephants

She loved the big fish

Hallie and her buddy Gabe. She loves him and just laughs whenever she is around him. So cute!

Hallie getting a good look at the ducks

Ahh what a perfect day!

Just some clips from our summer.

This past weekend we were invited to go to our friends football game. (Our friend Ed coaches a high school football team.)  It was fun sitting in the stands cheering for the team, listening to the parents get upset, reminiscing about our own high school days and many football games, and visiting with friends from our old ward. It was Hallie’s first football game and she seemed to enjoy it. (There were so many people to observe!) We only stayed for the first half so I’m not even sure if “our” team won-hopefully!  (It was late and Hallie was already way passed her bedtime-ahh don’t you love being old.) haha

Ed’s daughter Noah wanted to stay with us during the game. Apparently she attaches to men. haha She found a cute one!! I love how her hands are around Ben’s neck. She cracked us up!

Hallie sitting on the bleachers with our friend Kami. She thinks she is such a big girl.

Hallie pulling a silly face. Love her jacket!! Thanks Nana

Wow it’s been a long time since I’ve blogged. Nothing too exciting at our house these days. We’ve stayed busy but with non-blog worthy events. 🙂 We’ve been doing lots of bike riding lately which has been really fun, and lots of movie watching.

Ben and Hallie at Burke Lake Park after our bike ride

Hallie and best friend Paige on the train. (Gotta love Hallie’s face.-I couldn’t keep her still the whole train ride!)

Ben and Hallie brushing their teeth. (One of Hallie’s favorite things.) She also got her teeth flossed for the first time that day. She has 4 1/2 teeth. lol!

Just practicing! 🙂

This past weekend was marvelous!! I love when Ben is home and spends all of his time with us. It seriously doesn’t get better than that! We went shopping at Costco and ate all their free samples, organized our house, watched movies, stayed up late talking, ran a 5k, applied for our passports, went to a BBQ and met new friends, watched the BYU game, played softball, played at parks, went on a bike ride and ate chocolate cupcakes! I wish it didn’t have to end, but alas life must go on and somebody’s gotta bring home the bacon. So off to work Ben goes. 🙁

Here are some of the things I managed to take pictures of.

Hal loves helping with laundry. She climbs right in but struggles getting out. lol

We went to a playgroup at a nearby park. Hallie loved just wandering around. She even learned how to go down the slide by herself!

My friend Nicolette and I took our kiddos on a train ride at Burke lake. It was so much fun!!

I ran another 5k. This time it was in Arlington and supported firefighters, police, etc. I thought it was fitting considering my dad is a stud of a firefighter. I finished in the same time I did my first race. No improvement but also not worse so it’s a good thing. 29 mins.

Ben and Hallie came to support me. This is them chilling before the race started.

This is just a fraction of the people who ran. I wanna say there were about 4000 runners. That’s a lot!

*Funny story-  While we were waiting to start we saw a girl dressed in a Redskins jersey, cowboy boots, and some sort of skirt/panties. She stood up on a wall so she could look for someone and a man stood in front of us and was taking her picture. Ben and I laughed and I was disgusted. When he finished up he walked right past us and I asked him “Did you get her?” He responded with, “kindof”. He had to be in his 50’s and he was nasty!!!!!  At first I just kept thinking how repulsed I was at this man, but then I realized that the girl WANTED the men to look at her like a piece of meat. So…stupid man, stupid girl! Okay now I’m off my soap box.

Hallie was out on the drive home. She was such a good sport. LOVE her hand under her chin. So cute!

This weekend we also went for a bike ride with Hallie. (Thanks Lee and Stacey for letting us borrow your wagon!!)  Hallie loved it. She is seriously so cute!!

What a great weekend. I love my life!!

When we moved from our little apartment into our townhouse I got crafty. I mean with all our room and no T.V. what’s a girl to do? Answer: CRAFTS!! 🙂

Here are a just a few I’ve been working on the last couple of months.

This is our $25 Craig’s list dresser (give or take a few drawers that were being painted). I wanna say it was made around the 1940’s?

The knobs before I spray painted them.

The finished product. I love it!! It seriously looks so much better.

Another project I did I found on a craft blog (love those!) Our landlord left a bunch of plain lamps and said we could have them. I went and bought a new lamp shade, printed off a silhouette and traced it on the lamp shade with a black SHARPIE. I know….how cool is that.  (I did two of them and also painted our night stands black to match the dresser.)

This is another thing our landlord left behind. I decided to paint a castle on the side and buy baskets for the shelfs. It fits perfectly into Hallie’s room.

So far I am very happy with how all my projects have turned out. I have SOO many more to finish. I’m sure Ben wishes I would hurry up already because they have taken over our dining room. haha

Spending all day at home with Hallie gives me lots of opportunities to take pictures. Lately she has been doing some pretty cute things.

My favorite: My friend Stacey made this super cute purse for Hallie for her birthday. (She even made it pink and green which is my favorite combo.) Anyway, Hallie LOVES her purse! I have never seen her get so attached to something. First thing in the morning she finds her purse, puts it over her shoulder and carries it everywhere. She even stuffs things in it. I’m confident that she got a shopping gene from my side of the family.

Like Grandmother, like Mother, like Daughter.  We love to shop!

Cutest pictures EVER!

Now if I could just catch her with her cell phone up to her ear and her purse strapped on at the same time. 🙂

Something else that Hal has loved doing lately is watering our plants (and herself at the same time). This has become almost a nightly occurrence. If we turn on the hose she INSISTS that she do it! Which means taking off her clothes and just letting her play. (Boy can she can throw a fit-I swear she’s supposed to be 2 before the terrible two’s hit!) Ahhh, but just look how cute she is and besides she does a pretty good job.

This last picture is hilarious. Hal woke up early and I was really frustrated with her sleeping habits. I mean she’s ONE!! Anyway, she woke up early and I decided to just let her hang out in her bed until the normal time I go and get her. When I went to go get her this is what I found.

She had gotten one arm out of her P.J’s. What the heck?!

Oh and her 12 month stats:

Height: 36%

Weight: 34%

Head: 62%