Haven's First Birthday

Haven turned one on Saturday. I can't believe how fast my baby is growing up. We decided to take advantage of this special occasion to take ourselves to Lava for Thai and Tubs. at the restaurant we had a blast trying to get Haven to wear his birthday crown and then he had a blast trying to eat the lighted candle while we were singing Happy Birthday. And then of course he devoured his cupcake in one fail swoop. He never ceases to amaze me.

Haven's First day of School

So today was Haven's first day of school. He is going up to the Partnership school at ISU while I finish my last semester. They have the best program.
I have known for a while that Haven would have to go to daycare this semester. It breaks my heart to realize that someone else gets to spend the day with my happy little boy while I work and sit through pointless classes. For the Baby U Club I did a huge project on the daycares available in Pocatello. Luckily, and at the last minute, a spot opened for us at the ISu Parntership School. They are located up in the education department and all of the teachers are childhood education majors. Its the only fully accredited school in Poky too. So you would think that I would rest assured that he will be well taken care of. And he is. But I couldn't even sleep last night I was so worried about the idea of putting my baby in daycare. I tossed and turned. I think I checked on him at least twice (of all the nights for him to actually sleep through the night).
When we showed up this morning, he got all excited at the new toys and the cute little girl sitting on the floor. The second I set him down he was off crawling after her and laughing at himself in the mirror. I signed him in and slipped out. Then I almost started crying. Talk about attatchment issues. It was so hard. Its one thing to drop him off with my mom or dad, but its hard to leave him with complete strangers no matter what their education. I am sure I will get use to this, and one day I will be glad that I finished my education. But for now, I miss my baby.

New Years Eve Party

Katie and Kyle arm wrestle.

Food!

Chilling in our tiny yellow house.

trying to teach Haven to walk.

Creepy Taylor.

Cam and Tyler.

My boys.

We were excited about this one cause Taylor matched our kitchen.

So Kendall and I have had a little communication problem as far as plans go during our Christmas Break.  One day we are doing something and the next day we are not.  So when new years eve came around I still hadn't heard from my husband as to whether or not we were having a new years party, I decided to take matters into my own hands and make on happen.  I was al little worried cause I figured that everyone already had plans.  But come to find out, as you will see by the sheer number of people crammed into our house, no one actually did.

Danson Performance

Dance had aways been a huge part of my life. I started dancing when I was 11 and have loved it ever since. Especially when my life is filled with necessary stresses (school, work, family (that one is a blessed stress)) dance has been a release. There is nothing that destresses me more than an intense and cahllening technique class.

Last weekend I had the opportunity to perform with Danson, ISU student dance concert. It was my third time participating, but due to massive time restraints (i.e. Kendall and Haven) I decided to do a solo, that way I could rehearse and choreograph on my own time.

I have to say that it was amazing. I am sorry to brag, but this has to be one of the best performances of my life. I was really worried about my choreography, but when I put it all together with the music and the lighting it felt perfect.

The piece is called Safe Haven. About a month before Haven was born a girl I went to the singles ward with lost her three month old son to SIDS. This was really hard for me because my son was only weeks away from being born and I was already worried about so much. Then I heard the song Autumn's Child by Decvandra Barnhart. It stuck with me so much and I realized that it would make the perfect dance. I wanted to show my perception of what it would be like to loose a child. As the piece progressed I decided that it needed to be more of a prayer mourning the loss of her child, and asking for the safety of mine. Hence Safe Haven.

This was the first time I really felt personally connected to one of my own dance pieces. I owe that all to my inspiration, Haven. It is the most amazing feeling to be a mother and to wake up each morning to my son.

This is a video that Victor posted on Youtube of the dance. It is not a very good angle. I will try to get a better one posted soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U2NpevescY

Scott let Haven try on his wig. He looked so cool

One in a million shot.

Our little dinosaur.

Halloween was s little different this year without everyone here to carve pumpkins with and decprate cookies and stuff. We decided to have a Halloween BBQ at our house. K made baby back ribs that were amazing and we had so much food that we had a repeat party Saturday night just to finish off all the food.

Catching up from the summer

Haven and Grandma Strang.

We hit up six flags with Jordan and Gabby.
Rehobeth Beach Delaware.

Our trip to New York!


We hung out at the pool alot!
Haven loved his little boat.
Alexandria Virginia
Diaper blow outs in random places.

Baltimore Harbor

We took lots of naps.
The amazing duck
BBQs were a favorite past time
Not sure why this is sideways.
Havens first meal of real food.
This summer was a ton of fun. We were in Washington D.C. installing security systems again. D.C. is cool ,but there is so much to do around this area that we didn't even touch the surface.

So I was filling our scholarship applications for Kendall yesterday and I needed to find his statement. So I was browsing through his documents and I found a poem he had written called When Deanna Come Around. I did n't recognize it so of course I had to read it (Sorry for snooping honey). I won't tell you what it said, but it was so cute. It reminded me of how lucky I am to have the most amazing husband in the world. I truly am so lucky and so blessed to be married to my best friend. Kendall is absolutely the cutest dad to Haven and I could not have asked for a better companion. He makes me think about things from a whole different angle, even when I don't want to. He makes me a better person. I cannot thank him enough for supporting me through all of the maddness and all of my silly things that keep coming up. I love you Kendall.