Homeward Bound!

So, As most of you know, about a month ago Ryan and I decided to find a new home for our dog, Charlie. We found a family, that was a great fit for Charlie. They had a yard and kids. Marissa and I brought Charlie over one night and that was the last time we saw him. The family that took him sent me a text message about a week later, just letting me know that he was adjusting well and seemed to really like it there.
Well today while eating lunch with Hayden, I got a phone call from an unknown number. I ignored it. There was a voice mail. I listened to it and the person left a message saying they were from A.V.I.D. (the microchip company, that we registered Charlie with in our names when we got him) and that someone had found Charlie and wanted to get him returned to us. I figured he got out and someone picked him up in the Provo/Orem area. I was just going to pick him up and take him back to his new family....
I called the guy who found him. He described Charlie to me, said his daughter found him digging through a trashcan on the street (that's so Charlie). So I just said well just let me know where you're at and I'll come get him. What he said next kind of threw me for a loop. "I'm in Buffalo" uh... pretty sure the only Buffalo I can think of is across the country in New York. So I say "Excuse me?" I heard right he lives in Buffalo, NY! He said "So I take it you aren't from around here?" When I told him where we lived, he was just as confused as I was. He was so nice though, assured me that Charlie was fine, and that he had already taken him to the vet and checked out fine, was just really hungry. That made me feel a little better. He then asked what should be done with him... I explained to him that technically Charlie wasn't mine, that we had given him to another family a little while ago, but I no longer have their email address or phone number, so didn't have anyway to get a hold of them. He then asked if it would be O.K. if his family kept him. I don't really see any other option. He also told me that they had 2 dogs already, they had 3 but their black lab, which they had for 13 years passed away about 6 months ago. Anyway, to try to make this short...Charlie went Homeward Bound Style and ended up in New York. :) Kind of Crazy

Worthless :)

So there is my update for now. Sorry I am so worthless, and the posts are a little out of order. Had a lot to talk about. I hope you enjoy. :)

Horseback Riding

At the end of January my mom and I took a little trip to Idaho for a surprise party. It was a quick trip, Friday through Sunday. Hayden had a good time, he got to ride a horse, I think it changed his life. It was so cold while we were there. Saturday morning, it was -4. We are going to plan a trip this summer when it's warmer.

Christmas #3

After St. George, We headed to San Diego to spend a week with Ryan's dad. Scott rented a house out for a week for all of us to stay in. We had such a great time. We were able to go to Sea World, the San Diego Zoo and the beach. We spent 2 days in Sea World and I can not believe how much he loved it. Shamu or in Hayden's words "Shambu" was amazing. He got a stuffed animal of Shamu and didn't put it down for like a week. The Zoo was also a good time. Started off kind of bad, cause Hayden was in a bad mood, but he slowly made it a better day. It's a huge zoo! When we went to the beach the first day there were seals laying on the beach sleeping, there were tons of them. It was really cool to see them. The next beach day was great, Hayd is a beach bum. He loved running into the water and through the sand. He didn't want to leave. We spent the New Year in San Diego, we were all pretty lame and I'm pretty sure most everyone was asleep before midnight. It was a great trip, it was so nice of Scott to do that for everyone for Christmas.

Christmas #2

Hayden's next Christmas was spent in St. George with Ryan's mom. It was a lot of fun. We spent 4 days there with all his siblings. There was a lot of eating, and we played a ton of games. On Christmas Eve, Judy had planned a night of competition. We did relays, races, puzzles, all for prizes. Ryan and I somehow managed to win all the food gift card prizes. Applebees, Subway and In-N-Out Burger. Christmas morning was nice. Hayd woke up around 730, but we kept him in our room until 9ish until he couldn't wait anymore and we went to wake everyone up. We drug everyone downstairs to open presents. Again, Hayden got a lot of great stuff. He got a remote controlled dinosaur that walks. It's about as big as he is. He was a little scared of it at first, but warmed up to it. All in all it was a wonderful Christmas. It was my first Christmas away from home, but I made it :)

Like every other holiday, Hayden usually celebrates it at least twice. Since we were going to be spending Christmas in St. George this year, we did an early Christmas at my parents house so that they could give Hayden his gifts from them. He got a lot of nice things from everyone, including a big art easel that he loves.

Christmas #1

Christmas Tree

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving at my parents house this year. It was a really nice relaxing day. A lot of food, sleeping and football. What could be better?

HaLloWeEn!!

Yes I know this is a little late, but I am awful at this. :) Hayden was a puppy for Halloween. He loved trick-or-treating. He caught on very quickly that all he had to say was "trick-or-treat" and he got more candy. We went to Ryan's office to do a small walk around and trick-or-treat, we also took him a couple other places around town and to a few friends houses. He ended the night in a water fight with Steve Russo. It was a fun day.

Update :)

It's been a long time since I've had the chance to get this updated. Life has so super busy the last few months. I am going to do my best to get everyone up to date on what we've been up to. In August my little sister got married. They did the wedding and the reception in Lehi. The Saturday after their wedding there was an open house for them in Phoenix, so Hayd and I went to that. Ryan stayed home to be able to go to his dad's wedding (which was the same day as the open house.) I didnt have any pictures from Scott's wedding to post, but from what I've seen it was very nice.
Ryan and I had the chance to go to Houston to see Real Salt Lake play in the middle of September. We were at an MLS All Star party a month or so earlier and entered a raffle and won this trip from the MLS. It was all paid for flights, hotel and game tickets. Ry and I were able to take this trip by ourselves and his mom came and stayed at our house with Hayden over the weekend. It was really strange to go somewhere overnight without Hayd. Nice, relaxing weekend :)
A few weeks later Ryan's good friend from college, Kellen, got married in Minnesota. Ryan took Hayden on that trip, while I stayed home. Scott and his new wife Marsha met them there for the weekend and got to spend a lot of time with Hayden because Ryan was a groomsmen in the wedding. They took him to the Mall of America and had a great time.
The next venture was the 1st of 3 birthday parties for Hayden. Grandma Judy and Papa Shan came to visit for the weekend and had a little party at the Russo's house. We did pizza and presents and cake, of course. Hayd wasn't very into opening his gifts, but he got a lot of nice things. It was nice to have them here for the weekend and for them to be able to have a birthday party with him.
Disneyland was his 2nd bday party. We spent 3 days there and it was a blast. Hayden was absolutely amazed by it. He loved the rides (not so much waiting in line). It was so fun to experience Disneyland when you have a child. To see how happy they are and the excitement they get from the smallest things. It was awesome. We were able to go with my entire side of the family, I think there were 13 adults and 2 kids. Everyone had a great time. I was sad to leave.
His 3rd party was small....We just got together at my mom's house for dinner and did another cake. He hadnt had the chance to blow out his birthday candles yet, so we wanted him to be able to do that. He actually really liked blowing the candles out, so we had to do it twice.
We also carved pumpkins and made Halloween sugar cookies. Hayden LOVED carving the pumpkins. He wanted to help do it all. So we would carve the pieces and he would pull them out. he thought it was so cool to see the designs in the pumpkin. We made the cookies with Aunt Bri and Uncle Chris. Hayd's favorite thing was eating the dough...he didnt like decorating them as much as I thought he would, but we still had a lot of fun.
Well I think that pretty much sums up the last few months. Hopefully I can update more often so these arent so long. I posted a million pictures so enjoy. Halloween is this weekend so more pics should be coming soon.