October 2011

Most of these pictures are from my phone, so please excuse the poor quality!

My 3 girls! I still can't believe I have 3!

At the beginning of October we went to Wheeler Farm to celebrate fall. They had a wagon ride, a hay maze, and a pumpkin patch. We all chose pumpkins, which we carved later (no pictures of that). I did a spider, Hannah painted hers white and made a skeleton, and Grace just painted hers. Chad helped Hannah and Grace this year with their pumpkins.

In the middle of October, Chad flew to Virginia to interview at a school there. So the girls and I had a Girl's Weekend. We went to a paint your own pottery place...

the aquarium...

watched General Conference....

and played dress up!

It was a fun weekend, but we were all glad when Chad came home!

A few days before Halloween they had free Halloween Face pancakes at IHOP. Who could say no to free pancakes? Not us!

For Halloween this year, Hannah was a girl vampire,

Grace was a skunk,

and Clara was just cute!

September '11

So like I mentioned, I had a mishap with my pictures. Something happened and more than half (probably close to 1,000) of my pictures on my computer were deleted. There were so many and I was literally sick to my stomach about it. Luckily we have a external hard drive that Chad updated in August, so we were able to get all of the pictures back except from September, October, and November of 2011. I am still in the process of using a photo recovery program on my computer to see if I can get those back. It is sad, but I am glad I was able to get back what I did! I am continuing on with the few pictures I do have of those months and if I get more back I will add those later.

So sadly we don't have the pictures from Clara's birth, but luckily we did take some pictures on our phones.

Clara Kaye Hurd

Born: September 27, 2011 12:40pm

Weight: 6lbs

Height: 19inches

I was induced at 9:30am. We were shooting for a noon birth since both Hannah and Grace were born at noon, but 12:40 is pretty close! Everything went really smooth. We were so surprised how tiny and perfect she was. My mom was there two watch the two girls and to help me afterwards. I loved having her there! We love little Miss Clara and are glad she has been added to our family!

Those are all of the pictures from September that I have, but honestly that was the most important thing that happened anyways!

August '11: Part 3

At the beginning of August we went to the farm at Thanksgiving Point. We saw tons of animals, rode on the ponies, went on a wagon ride, and even milked a cow.

For some reason I can't get enough of my two little girls in matching/similar dresses! It just kills me. They are too cute!

Ummm....also...this one started 1st Grade. 1ST GRADE! Can you believe it?!? I can't. She was so excited that she got to eat lunch at school. What a big girl!

Grace thought she needed to get in on the action too! What a goof ball!

Of course we couldn't forget our traditional Back to School Banana Splits.

August '11: Part 2

After arriving home from California, we had one day to unpack, do laundry, and pack up again for our Wade Family Reunion! We were camping in the Park where my brother Chad is a ranger. The plan was to have two nights of camping, but the Hurd family only lasted one. I had picked up a chest cold and barely had any voice left, sleeping on a blow up mattress when big pregnant was not fun, and we were just exhausted from being away from home for so long.





While we were there though, we had a blast! We hung out with family, went on a nature walk, played games, sang campfire songs, and played in the water. Grace really loved the water. She even loved dipping her licorice in it before eating it (possible explanation for the VERY messy diapers for the next week)! There was a floating dock and Hannah was even brave enough to jump off!

Of course it wouldn't be the Wade Family Reunion if we didn't make shirts for the kids. They turned out really cute. I love spending time with my family and I can't wait until the reunion next year!

August '11: Part 1

August was a big month for us so I have divided it into three posts (also I have had a little (actually pretty big and I am sick about it) mishap with some of my photos and I am working on recovering them, so hopefully it will all be resolved by next week and I can move on to September.

In August Chad had just finished up his semester at school, I was super pregnant (at least I felt that way), Hannah was about ready to start school, and we just felt like we needed to get away. We had never had an official family vacation with just us before so we decided to plan one! It had been a very long time since we had seen Chad's dad, so we picked California as our destination.

We flew first to Los Angeles. Our trip was going to be pretty short and I didn't want to spend more than half our vacation driving! Hannah loved playing with the toys in her surprise bag and Grace watched Elmo on the DVD player and Chad's phone.

Our first stop was the Hollywood sign. Chad and I went to California on our honeymoon eight years ago (gulp) and we drove around for hours trying to get close to the sign. We were never able to do it, so we were determined to find it this time and we did!


Later that day we drove down to Santa Monica Pier. The whole time we were planning the trip I was so worried about dying of heat, so I was totally unprepared for the cold weather we experienced! We had to stop at a little shop and buy sweatshirts for all of us!



The next day was Sunday and we were able to go and visit Chad's dad and family. We went to church with them and just spent the day relaxing with them. Hannah loved her Aunt Mackenzie and Grace loved their dog, Lily.


We drove to San Diego next and went to some little shops along the beach. We even played a little in the sand and cold water. Again, it was chilly! Who would have expected that for August in California?!



Our next stop was Balboa Park. It was huge and amazing! We were able to see some beautiful buildings and landscaping.


That afternoon we put the girls in their suit and headed for the water. They loved it! Hannah was running from the waves and even got knocked over several times. Chad was so good to get in the water with them. I stayed back away from the water and protected the towels! On the walk back to the car there was a wedding on the beach. Grace kept yelling, "Princess!" It was pretty funny!

Our last day was spent at Sea World. Chad's sister Mackenzie was able to come and spend the day with us. She was so great, she was a buddy for Hannah and was able to go on the big ride with Chad that I wasn't allowed to go on. My favorite part was all of the shows. Grace was in Elmo heaven when we went to the Sesame Street Playland. She was able to take a picture with Elmo and Big Bird! It was an awesome day and I really wish that we could have had two days, because there was so much more to see and do!

This was a much needed and enjoyed vacation for our little family. It was fun to get away, experience new things, and enjoy just being together as a family.

July 2012

We had a great and busy summer.

July was full of:

Swim lessons for Hannah. She is becoming very confident and brave. I spent most of my time trying to keep Grace from jumping into the water!

A trip to the Planetarium. We saw really cool things about space and stars, but the thing Hannah remembers the most was the HUGE elevator we went on (bottom middle picture).

After the Planetarium we went to the splash fountain at Gateway mall. It was a blast! Definitely have to remember this for next summer! Grace didn't get very close to the water before running away. Hannah got too close to the water and was sprayed right in the face.

A little side story: I was sitting on the steps watching the girls play. When we were ready to go, we packed up all of our stuff, walked a long ways to the van, and headed back home. When we were about 15 miles away from the mall I realized I left my phone and Grace's sippy cup on the stairs! I had a panic attack! I flipped the car around and drove back, parked the van, and started the long walk back to the stairs (also remember I was 8 months pregnant at the time!). I was praying that my phone would still be there, but I was doubtful. Once we finally got there lo and behold, there was my phone with the sippy cup sitting on top of it! I was sooo relieved!

We finished out the month with our traditional trip to Logan to celebrate Pioneer Day with the Olsen family. It is always a fun day!

April 2011

This is what our April looked like:

Hannah had crazy hair day at school.

We went to Baby Animal Days with Angie and her family in Logan. We could pet and hold lots of cute little critters. Hannah was the "animal whisperer," every animal she held fell asleep in her arms!

We made a trip to Rexburg (I can't remember the reason for the trip, maybe Spring Break?) and went to see the ducks at the Nature Park. There were sooo many! Honestly they freaked me out a little, but the girls loved them!

Grace learned how to fold her arms and kneel down for prayers.

Hannah, Grace, and Chad planted some seeds in a makeshift garden. sadly most of it didn't grow, except for a few small tomatoes from "the plant that would never die!"

We celebrated Easter with a local egg hunt. There were soo many people! Even a few special guests showed up (as you can tell Hannah loved them and Grace loved them from a distance)!

The Easter celebration continued with baskets full of Easter goodies a visit from the Easter Bunny leaving lots of eggs behind.

And, of course, matching Easter dresses from Grandma Hurd.