October

In October we took Lexi to the Sand Dunes (Little Sahara Desert) to play in the world's biggest sandbox. It was my first time going there in almost 6 years, and it was just as fun as I remembered it.

We spent a lot of time riding on 4-wheelers. Lexi even got her own helmet. Isn't it cute?

If you know me well, you know that I LOVE Mater. My mom found these super cute Mater teeth and we just had to take a family picture. (Wouldn't this have made a good Christmas card?)

Don't they make her look so cute?

Lexi found a big hole whole while we were out exploring. It looked like a giant dinosaur foot print so we took a picture to show cousin Ryan.

In the middle of October, Lexi's Friend Nicholas had a birthday. Here are a few pictures of her from their celebration:

Alexis also found out that she REALLY REALLY REALLY likes to eat Spaghetti-Ohs. They are super messy and make her look like an Oompa Loompa afterwards, but we don't mind.

For Halloween, Alexis was the most darling little lady bug.

Chris dressed up as Gru from Despicable Me to take her Trick-Or-Treating

September

It's been a little while since we've blogged. Explanations will come later, but for now I'm going to try to catch up our life from the past little while.

On September 1st (2 days after Lexi's first birthday) she started walking and has been running ever since.

We celebrated Lexi's first birthday with my family. She got her own smash cake and loved it! (I tried to post a video, but blogger isn't really liking me right now. If I can figure it out, I'll try posting it later).

Sadly, we only have pictures of the cake because Chris took video instead of pictures... boring, I know.

I also learned how to make this super cute owl hat for her. Here she is modeling:

That's it for September!

Signs

A sweet friend of mine just posted the most touching link on my Facebook page. I read it and my heart was instantly touched so I thought I'd share the link with all of you here.

Click Here

Be prepared to start crying! Don't say I didn't warn you because this one is a tear jerker!

And really, if you haven't clicked the link... do it. It's a very humbling story, and the words I've been searching for. Here's hoping I can be a better influence in people's lives and that I can be in tune enough to help them when they struggle.

Enjoy! Happy Thursday!!!

One Year

One year ago we were blessed with this sweet angel:

One year later... we have this little darling:

We have been so blessed to have her in our family. She is full of smiles and giggles and all the joy in the world. She has grown up so much and it's fun to see her start to have her own personality. She loves to eat macaroni and cheese, hot dogs, and pizza (I know... I'm a great mom). She knows what she wants, when she wants it... and she's starting to want things NOW! We'll see what the next year brings us... hopefully not too many tantrums.

Alexis Grace Hudson, we love you and are so proud of the young woman you are becoming. We love having you as a part of our family!

Love, Mom and Dad

Oh... and we've had some fabulous birthday parties for the little queen. Pictures will be posted later this weekend (as soon as we finish the last one!)

Life Moves Fast (Summer's Update)

Man! Recently I've learned how fast life really moves. When I was pregnant with Alexis it felt like time slowed down and she would never get here. People would say things like "Enjoy her while she's little because time really flies!" and sadly, I never believed them. I've since learned what a true statement that is. Time goes so fast so we need to enjoy it while we can. That is exactly (almost) what we've been doing this summer. Here's our little update:

Chris and I decided to try out summer school to see if we could finish faster... Note to self: Don't EVER do that again! Summer went too fast and we barely got to enjoy the sunshine.

Alexis grew so fast! She's still as smiley as ever and loves playing with friends.

There were a lot of firsts for her this summer!

Her first S'more... (one of many she had this summer)

Her first concert... (We went to Diamond Rio for 4th of July)

Her first fireworks

Her first trip to Bear Lake

Her first time bowling (for daddy's birthday)

Her first extended stay in the hospital. Sad as it may be, our sweet baby girl got some nasty virus. She got super dehydrated and lost too much weight so she got to spend a few days (4) in the hospital recovering. Even though she was hurting, she had a big smile on her face the whole time.

Her first trip to the hospital led to feeding her anything we could to help her gain back the weight she lost. This led her to her newfound love: Pizza... and pizza SAUCE even more!

We tried to fit in swimming in her pool and playing at the park as often as we could.

All in all, it was a pretty successful summer (even though there was WAY too much homework involved). We sure hope you had a fantastic summer. School starts tomorrow.... so blogging may be lost for a while, but we'll try to keep you updated as often as possible.

Love to all!

HELP!

We're in need of your help. We've entered a contest to win a $500 photo shoot and we need your votes. This contest takes place on facebook. First you have to "like" the Dating Divas. Then "like" our picture (#28). The person with the most "likes" on the 15th of June will win. Thanks in advance!

Here's the picture you'll be looking for. I entered this one because I love watching the interaction between my husband and our sweet Lexi. It melts my heart. I love watching her face each night as he comes home. He has a special connection with her. I know she loves him, but this picture shows how much he really loves her.

(Laura... thanks again for taking this!)

Happy Mother's Day

Today got me to thinking a lot. This is a day we celebrate the mother's in our lives, but it's often a difficult day for many, for many different reasons... but today is a day to make me grateful!

Mother's Day has a new meaning for me this year. I sure love my darling daughter. The world is never going to look the same to me. My perspective on life has forever changed, and I'm okay with that.

I don't know how I got to be so lucky. Heavenly Father blessed me with a baby... something I never thought I'd have. Not only did I get a baby and a fabulous husband, but I was blessed with the most AMAZING mother and mother-in-law. Seriously! They are both darling. I was also blessed with wonderful sisters and sister-in-laws who are also darling! I'm so so grateful to have so many wonderful things in my life.

A BIG thanks to ALL the women in my life who have helped me as I put on my own mommy shoes. Thanks for helping me transition. I couldn't have done it without you.

And Mom, I love you! Even though I don't get to see you today, my thoughts are with you. You are the one who gave me life, and I can't thank you enough for that. You watched me grow up, and allowed me to make choices, but most importantly, you taught me about my Heavenly Father and His son, Jesus Christ and for that, I'll be eternally grateful! :)

Oh.... one last thing. If you made it to the bottom of this post, I thought I'd share this. It makes me smile on days that I struggle, and gives me hope. I hope it will do the same for you.

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Happy Easter

Wishing you and your family a very Happy Easter! What a beautiful day it was, to remember the Christ, our Savior, has risen and that one day we can all rise again. Lots of love, from our family to yours!

When Mommies Get Bored

When mommies get bored we tend to do things like this...

I'm sure the fact that we dressed our children up as Peter Pan and Tinkerbell... not for Halloween... will make them hate us later on in life... but what teenager doesn't hate their parents. Right? At least the look cute!

Actually, we made the Tinkerbell costume for Lexi to wear when we went to Disney on Ice (and Aneva made Nicholas a Peter Pan one for fun). Disney on Ice.... Here we come!

Dear Mother Nature,

Dearest Mother Nature...

Earlier today I went on the most enjoyable walk to the library. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the ducks were quacking and our children were smiling. Just look at how happy our children are in these pictures....

We had such a great time and our children were so well behaved. They each took great naps, and life was fantastic!

Fast forward 5 hours....

Now, I don't mean to complain... but wasn't spring supposed to come soon? I'm not sure if you noticed, but earlier today I was wearing flip flops. Now I have to dig out my snow boots. :( I really loved having the warm sunshine accompany our daily walks. Lexi just loves her stroller but now...

You missed me breaking the news to her that there would be no walks for a while. She cried and cried and cried and cried and... well you get the idea. How about this... If you could just do me a favor and let the sun come out again I promise that we will be there to enjoy every moment of it. Please just turn the sun back on. I'll get out my flip flops again and we will continue our daily walks. Yes? Oh, I sure hope so.

Sincerely Yours,

Heather