Hayley: Three Years

It's kind of hard to believe that this little girl has only been in our lives for three years. It feels like much longer, in a good way. I love our little Hayley bug and seeing learn and grow is so much fun!

Hayley is my brave little girl, most of the time. I am glad she came first because I think she will be at encouraging her siblings to do scary things. She likes to try new things and acts like she is a big kid.
Hayley is really smart. She amazes me with the things she notices and picks up. Dan is really good at teaching her new things and she constantly impresses me with what she remembers.
Hayley likes to have her finger and toenails painted. She loves the colors. And she likes to wear my high heels around the house.
Hayley loves her sister. She is pretty good at helping out with her. She definitely picks on her and annoys her, she is a normal sibling ha, but she loves to be around her and play with her. They sleep in the same room and I can hear them up giggling way past their bedtime most nights, but it makes my Mama heart happy. I hope they always stay best friends. She can make Evelyn laugh harder than anyone.
Hayley still loves to swim. Every time she prays she thanks Heavenly Father for swimming (and whales, which I still have no idea where that came from because she doesn't watch whale movies or have a whale anything). We love going to Cherry Hill with Aunt Nikkole during the summer. She also loves to jump around. Ever since we went to the trampoline park in Lubbock she always wants to go jumping. And she pulls the cushions off the couch, stacks them up, and jumps around on them. We also got her her own slide because she would get creative in making her own.
Hayley enjoys watching movies and shows. It's nice when I need to sleep after work, while Evelyn naps. She goes through different phases of what she likes to watch, but The Incredibles, Monster's Inc., PJ Masks, and Mickey Mouse seem to be constant favorites.
Hayley still isn't a super picky eater but it has become a chore to get her to eat enough. She takes forever sometimes ha, and it can be painful to get her to eat. She used to think yogurt was ice cream, I thought it was a good idea to roll with that but Dan has since corrected her. She loves treats and candy. She would probably eat fruit snacks and a granola bar for every meal if she had it her way, or mac and cheese. She also loves popcorn.
Hayley is good at keeping herself entertained and has a good imagination. She definitely keeps us entertained and is super funny. She came with her own personality.
Hayley still takes naps, usually 2 hours every afternoon, and I'm hoping that lasts another year while I'm still working nights at the Temple. She is rarely happy to take naps or even go to bed at night but is usually more compliant after she's had a story. She likes having her back scratched to help her fall asleep.
In her three short years of life, Hayley has now been to 7 states (not including layovers) and Canada. She has been on an airplane 4 times, 1 road trip, and 1 cruise.

They have an arranged marriage.

She got smart and figured out her stool could help her get to the cookies.

She loves wearing my heels.

I came home from work at 2:30 AM and she was in the living room asleep on the floor.

Stuck in the fridge handle.

Mummy hot dogs for lunch.

Princess Poppy for Halloween.

The cake she chose after winning the cake walk. She loves sprinkles and will ask to eat them plain.

She also loves to eat snow.

She is good at and so sweet when saying her prayers.

Disney On Ice.

Working out with Mom.

She LOVES popcorn.

We celebrated Hayley's birthday on Sunday, July 15 at our home. Her theme was "Under the Sea." Her cake was done by the amazing Kiss Me Cake (Jessica Francis). We did a Mermaid pinata and enjoyed visiting with friends and family. Hayley is so loved!

Side note: Hayley weighs 30 pounds and is 37 inches tall.

Five Year Anniversary

About a month ago Dan and I planned on going to Park City for our anniversary. We were looking into going out of state, but it was getting a little pricey and we have med school applications and hopeful interviews to pay for in the coming months. Park City ended up being perfect though, it was nice to not be tired from traveling and we did several fun things in our 4 days away.
We got to our hotel early Sunday evening and got settled. We watched some TV and talked a little that night before going to bed.
Monday we went to the Utah Olympic Park. There were some ski jumpers practicing that we watched for a minute before doing our own activities. We bought the Summer Gold Day Pass, which included unlimited use of Extreme Tubing, Extreme Zip, Alpine Slide (which was actually closed so that was a bummer), Discovery Course, Canyon Course, Summit Course, Drop Tower, Stunt Bags (also closed), Mountain Challenge + Scenic Chairlifts. It was really fun! We started with the smaller zip line and it was over pretty quick and not that exciting so we did the big one next and it was great! We did that several times. We also did the extreme tubing a few times. We got to tube down the Olympic jumps. You go really fast so it's over quick but it is quite a thrill. I was a little nervous to do the bigger jump but I'm glad I did. Dan did one of the courses by himself because I knew my anxiety would be through the roof if I tried it. I would totally recommend going to the park if you haven't been. We ate lunch at Cafe Rio (we had a gift card there) in between playing at the park. After we were done at the park we went back to the hotel to swim/hot tub. Then we went to the outlets and looked in a few stores before heading to dinner around 8:15 at Baja Cantina. This has been a Hayward family favorite for years and I love Mexican so it's becoming one of mine too.

Tuesday was our actual anniversary. We went and did more shopping in the morning at the outlets and ate some leftovers for lunch back at the hotel. We both took a quick nap and then headed to Main Street to look around at the shops there. We had dinner at Fuego, an Italian restaurant, and it was really good. Then we saw Jurassic World. I could not remember the last time Dan and I saw a movie, it had been years, no joke. It was nice to go see a movie at night. I know that sounds silly but we never go see movies together. We went to bed once we got back to the hotel.

Wednesday morning after we had breakfast we took another nap/watched the World Cup and then got ready to head to Midway. We swam in the crater at The Homestead. It was really cool! Definitely one of those things you should do at least once if you're in Utah. The water was perfect and I could have stayed there all day ha. Since Dairy Keen wasn't that far away I convinced Dan that we needed some shakes, so we got those and then headed back to Park City. We cleaned up and then went to Five Guys for dinner (another gift card we had), and then did some more shopping at the outlets. It was really nice to be able to shop over a span of a few days instead of making sure we hit all the shops we wanted to in one day. And I actually found some new clothes, usually, it's just Dan walking away with the shopping bags. We headed back to our hotel after and just hung out until we went to bed.

Thursday morning after breakfast we packed up our stuff and checked out. We went to Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory so we could get some treats to take home. We made it back to Kaysville around noon. And back to reality, it is.
A huge THANK YOU to my parents for watching our girls while we were gone. We couldn't have enjoyed our time away as much if it weren't for them. It was fun to get pictures of the girls doing fun things with Grandma and Grandpa while we were gone.

These past 5 years have been wonderful with Dan. We have definitely had our struggles, but overcoming them has strengthened our love. I am so grateful he is the man by my side as we go through this life together. We are always learning and adjusting as new things come along.
In 5 years we have moved 3 times, 2 different cities. We have had 6 different cars and a motorcycle (including the ones we now have). We have 2 beautiful daughters. I don't even want to count how many jobs we've gone through. Dan has had 3 surgeries, all on his Achilles'. We have been to 7 different states together.
Here are 5 things I've learned about Dan in our 5 years together:
1) He likes the bed to be made.
2) He is all about being logical and using logic. (Don't get in a debate with him.)
3) He will not spend more than $15 on clothes unless they're shoes.
4) He can sleep through practically anything.
5) He is good at pretty much everything he tries.
I love the life we are building together and all the memories we have made thus far. Here's to eternity with you, love!