Vyla at One Month

Our prima ballerina is already one month old. Our time with her has flown by!

Vyla is a sweet and content baby. When she's awake, she's attentive and alert. She's weighing in around 10 pounds now.

V loves to snuggle, but is fine to be put down every now and then. Her eyes are still newborn hazy silver. Her hair has a tinge of strawberry. She has long dainty fingers and has grown so much she's already filled her 3 month jammies.

Hinder adores his sister. He is constantly going to "check on baby sis". Riley is enamored by her. He'll kiss and cuddle her whenever he's home.

We haven't seen her first, legitimate smile yet. Vy's such a sweet heart that I'm not in too big of a hurry for her to grow up and reach milestones.

So far (knock on wood) she's been a sleepy newborn, usually only waking up once per night. For the past three or four days she's actually slept the whole night through. This is completely opposite from what we were used to with Hinder, so I couldn't be more GRATEFUL for a baby that sleeps.

Beautiful baby girl!

BIG thanks to Katy Wilson for taking a few, impromptu shots of Vy on Christmas Eve morning. This girl has serious skills!

Christmas in the Hurst Home

This is what our Christmas weekend looked like...

Christmas Eve

9 a.m.- Everyone is up and at 'em!

10:20- Christmas beef is in the oven

10:30- Sister Killian calls to wish us a Merry Christmas. Having a brief convo with her was definitely one of my most favorite Christmas gifts this year! (only 7 more weeks!)

11:00- Quick photoshoot of Vyla with our favorite photographer, Mrs. Katy Wilson.

1:00- Hit up Broulims for last minute dinner items

2:00- Christmas Eve feast. On the menu was beef rib roast, potatoes and gravy, snap peas and tomatoes, winter vinegrette salad, and whole wheat rolls. Let the gluttony begin!

3:00- Sat down to listen to the 1st Presidency Christmas Devotional. I loved their Gift to the World.

5:30- Showered and changed for the evening

6:30- Party at the Wilsons! Delicious appetizers, games, and watching the cute kiddos bouncing about in excitement. They were pretty darn cute opening their Christmas p-jams.

12:30 - Finally, everyone's asleep and Christmas is ready!

(Christmas PJs!)

(Ava, Archer, Hinder)

(Riley)

Christmas Day

7:00- Riley and I wake up before either of the kids. We were too excited to sleep

7:30- Baby girl joins us in our bed. Vyla gave me the best present EVER! Seven glorious, consecutive hours of sleep.

8:30- H is awake and ready to go! Watching his precious face sneak down the hall to the Christmas tree was a total parenting pay day.

9:00- Wrapping paper is flying as Hinder gets into the spirit of Christmas morning.

10:30- Riley's Christms request= Sausage and egg strudels for breakfast

11:30- Dress and ready ourselves for church

1:00- Beautiful sacrament meeting full of our favorite music. I decided that "O Holy Night" takes the cake for me, as far as Christmas songs go.

4:00- Skype with the Hursts in Boise while hanging H's new bedroom decor

5:30- Christmas dinner with the Wilsons. They are the most gracious hosts and treat us to steak, fettachini, shrimp, sauted asparagus, and buttermilk pie. Divine. And a giggly game of Dice-capades!

8:30- Swimming and hot tubbing to end a perfect day!

(new scooter from uncle Drew and aunt Lara!)

(I want to always remember how Hinder had to get every stitch of paper off the package before opening. I love this kid and his quirks!)

(searching around the tree for moe presents marked with an "H")

(spoiled much?)


(My sweet babies all dressed for church! Christmas sweaters on toddlers kill me)

Hope your holiday was merry and bright!

Gingerbread

Creative juices were flowing for our annual gingerbread house decorating! So festive and fun.

We were not lacking for supplies, and with my parents visiting, it made the party much more special. Here are the results...

This house wins for best yard

Riley fancied up this ginerbread train, complete with hard-core gangsta graffiti.

As usual, Dustin reigned supreme with a balcony and hedges.

This house looks like it has a face, right?!

Hinder telling Santa his Christmas wishes.

("Dinosaurs that roar and a truck that moves by itself")

Only one final week of our countdown to Christmas!

Tis The Season

Christmas is rapidly approaching. How is it already the 13th of December?! In between nursing, diapering, and burping, we're tried to have a little holiday fun around here.

We started with decorating a giant sugar cookie man.

I didn't want to tackle gingerbread, so I went with my old standby Danish sugar cookie recipe. It was perfect...until I accidentally decapitated the cookie. Hinder wasn't too heart broken.

With my sister Devon's help, our Christmas cookie turned into an Elvis cookie.

Hinder had no problem piling on the marshmallows and gummy bears.

The next weekend, we spent a few hours with Aunt Natalie and cousin Archer at a local Christmas festival. The horse drawn sleigh rides were the highlight for Hinder. The gourmet hot cocoa bar was the highlight for Riley. Personally, I enjoyed watching every toddler burst into frantic hysterics when placed on Santa's lap.

They even had a photo booth.

What cute little boys!

One Week Later

Vyla Leigh is already a week old!

A week has already flown by since this little butter bean made her appearance. She's as cute as a button. Her agenda each day includes eating, sleeping a lot, and defending herself against her over-eager brother.

Newborns are the sweetest thing. I love her little frog legs and the funny faces she makes

all day and night.

Hinder adores Vyla and is excited to share everything with her. For the most part, he does an excellent job controlling his self and just touching her toes or hands.

Our first photo as a family. In all the rush and craziness at the hospital, we neglected to ever take a photo of us four together.

The new and improved Hurst family!

She's Here!

Vyla Leigh has joined our family! We're so thrilled.

She was born Sunday, November 27th, at 7:40 in the morning.

She was 7 pounds and 14 ounces.

Madison Memorial Hospital is where she was born.

Dr. Harling delivered her.

Hinder loves Vyla and is a very careful big brother.

I love seeing Riley with a little girl. It's a totally different dynamic.

She has blond hair and Killian ears. Her hands and fingers and long and slender. She has the same nose and mouth that Hinder had as an infant, but her eye shape reminds me more of Riley's.

Vyla has already brought us so much joy.

We just cherish her.

Three More Months!

My little sis is due home from Bulgaria in less than three months. I'm so thrilled!

She's been an awesome missionary and glows in all her photos. It makes it easier to have her gone, knowing that she's so happy there!

So proud of her and her service!

Hearing about all her Bulgarian adventures is going to be awesome!

Eleven Thoughts

Eleven random thoughts to brighten your day!

1. Today's special. Eleven has been my lucky number for ages. It was my number in school sports and always my go-to number for "pick a number between..." There was 11 people in my family growing up. And if it wasn't so gosh-darn-many, I would have 11 kids. I'm happy to be alive today to experience an 11-11-11.

2. Just a word of advice- It's a BAD idea to look through old high school pictures when you're 9 months pregnant. Not only do I miss being agile and able to play this sport, I miss being able to fit into a normal t-shirt. And I miss having a proportional figure. And I miss having fingers that didn't resemble hot dogs. I should have looked up People of Walmart instead.

3. Speaking of being pregnant, I had a doc appointment yesterday. I'm so done with this pregnancy thing. Let it end. I decided I should write a book called "What NOT to say to a Pregnant Woman". It would include phrases like, "my, you are a puffy one!", "You STILL have 4 weeks left?!", "Wow, you're HUGE!"

4. It's Veteran's Day. We don't have any stellar Veteran's Day traditions. I'll have to work on that. Regardless of our lack of festivities, I'm grateful to Veterans. I admire them and their families. What a selfless service they perform!

5. Mr. H has been way into imaginative play lately. One favorite game is to pretend to be a tiger. I abhor this game. It involves a lot of pouncing and growling and clawing. If he's not a tiger, then it's some sort of sharp-toothed dino. Equally rough. Boys will be boys.

6. My sweet Great Aunt Geneva passed away about a week ago, and we've been celebrating her life this week with the funeral services. She was the most beautiful woman, as was evident by the huge numbers of people who swarmed her viewing and funeral. Even though we only saw her on occasion, she was the type of person who made an impact on you in the few seconds you had with her.

7. It also was my grandma's birthday, and because of the funeral services we were able to spend her special day with her! I love this woman. She makes all the difference in our family.
8. Today is the last day we can jump on our trampoline for the season. When Riley gets home from work, he's determined to take it down. Sad, sad day. We depended on that tramp as a quick way to get H's energy out. Any ideas?

9. My dad came down to Eastern Idaho for the funeral and we spent most of Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with him. Hinder loves his Papa, and so do I. Daddy's always up for a good time, and we took advantage of his stay with lots of yummy food, cards games, laughing, and good conversation. It's always sad to see him go.

10. We had our first big dump of snow last weekend. Luckily, most of this week was temperate and a lot of the snow melted, but I think we're going to get round two starting tomorrow. And I bet this time it's here to stay. Welcome again, winter!

11. Along with winter, tomorrow brings much needed girl time at my open-house baby shower. So excited to hang with adults, and so grateful for a few good friends who threw this together. I'm excited!

One step closer to welcoming Baby #2.