Michael and Taylor

Peyton Growing up so fast!

2011-03-05T12:59:00.000-08:00

Peyton has been growing up so fast. This past week she's been learning how to roll over. She really is becoming such an active little baby. Always moving. I set her on the floor yesterday and went to finish my makeup, when I came back she had completely rotated and moved about 3 or 4 feet.

Previous to this week she HATED tummy time. Anytime I put her on her tummy she would just scream and scream, but finally this week we have turned a corner. She'll do it for about 10-15 min. without screaming or crying. She lifts her head up so well. I can't believe how quickly she's developing.

She loves holding burp cloths and rags.

She's really starting to like playing with toys!

Peyton Dancing around :)

2011-02-27T20:31:00.000-08:00

Peyton Chilling on the Bed

2011-02-27T20:27:00.000-08:00

Here are a few videos of Peyton :)

2011-02-27T14:12:00.001-08:00

These videos I'm posting for my mother, because I know she loves to see Peyton :)

Ragnar Relay

2011-02-27T13:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Michael ran the Ragnar Relay. His team ran 200 miles total. They ran from Wickenburg and looped around some places and ended up finishing at the Tempe Arts Center, near Tempe Town Lake. Michael had to run 5.4 miles, then 3.2, and then finished with a 6.1 mile. I'm so proud of him for doing it and completing it :)

Here are some pictures I took on my video camera :)

Peyton's First Four Months

2011-02-26T23:21:00.000-08:00

These are pictures from Peyton's first 4 months. I accidentally put them in the wrong order. So it starts from the most recent pictures to the older ones. I can't believe how much she's already changed, and how quickly. I thought she was beautiful when she was born, but my goodness she just keeps getting prettier and prettier :) She brings so much joy into my life, and I can't believe 4 months have passed already....time has flown right by!

Peyton Lyn Hale - Birth Story :)

2011-02-26T23:07:00.000-08:00

So I'm writing this ridiculously late...especially since Peyton is going to be 4 months old tomorrow. But I wanted to be able to share this with anyone who reads my blog. Or for future reference for myself.

When I was 29 weeks I was put on bedrest until I reached 36 weeks along. When I was 33 weeks along I ended up getting a kidney stone that would not pass, because Peyton was blocking the exit. Needless to say I was pretty miserable. But when I reached 36 weeks, my doctor told me I could start getting up again. Although I was in so much pain from the kidney stone I didn't.

It was Thursday, October 28th. I had been having contractions since I was about 22 weeks along, but the contractions that day were different. They were a lot more intense and I could not sleep through them. I had a doctors appointment later that day so I thought I would just hang out at home and go to the doctor and see what he told me. Michael's grandma picked me up and took me to the doctor, when I told her I was very confident I was in labor she was so excited. She kept saying how she hoped she would get to take me to the hospital, and how much fun that would be. The contractions slowly started getting more painful and more intense, and had shorter time apart. By the time the doctor saw me I was 5 almost 6 cm dilated and 100 percent effaced. So he said you need to go to the hospital and I'll call over there and have a room all ready for you. I called Michael, and told him he better get to the hospital. Michael got there right when they took me to the labor room. I was at a 7. They broke my water, gave me an epidural, and about 10 min. later I was ready to push. She came about 40 min. later. She was born at 9:20 pm. on October 28th. And labor was one of the most incredible experiences I have ever had. Seeing and holding my baby girl for the first time was just amazing, all the hardships of the pregnancy were 100 percent worth it.

It's a Girl!!!

2010-06-25T14:16:00.000-07:00

Full body view :)

You can see her eyeball!!

This is the view in between her legs...there is no penis...and she has the three lines indicating GIRL!

The baby!! The little bubble above her is the umbilical cord.

Yesterday my anticipation to go to the doctor was nearly unbearable. I just wanted to go and find out if I was having a boy or a girl. Honestly I don't think I've ever been so excited to go to the doctor...ever. In my mind I'm about 70 percent sure I'm having a boy...because I had a "feeling." So we're at the ultrasound tech and my baby decides to have its legs crossed...tightly, but the ultrasound tech reassured us that we would know the sex before we left. So she went on to show us the spinal cord and the brain and honestly it was extremely cool to see how our baby was developing in such detail. And our baby was such a trooper they saw everything they needed to and gave us a 100 % as far as a healthy baby and mommy goes. And then finally my little wiggle worm baby (its an active little one), opened its legs and showed us that it's a GIRL!! I was wrong, but I was SOOO happy. Because the minute I knew it was a girl all these nursery designs and girl clothes came flashing into my head, and I was so happy. I honestly couldn't stop smiling the entire day. I'm excited to have a little girl!! It'll be so fun when she's born because then I can put a face to this little baby that I already love to pieces :) I'm so excited to be a mommy, I wish I could hurry the process along a little bit. But she needs all the time she can get inside of me and I want her to be super healthy :)

Ultrasound Photo of 10 weeks

2010-06-23T11:22:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow I'll post the 19 week photos but I thought it would be good to have my first ultrasound pictures and the video on my blog too :)

Los Cabos

2010-06-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

2 weeks ago we went on a trip with my family to Cabo San Lucas. It was so fun to be able to spend time with my family and go swimming all the time. Michael went fishing and caught a HUGE fish!

He loved going fishing and I think it even made it more fun for him that he caught the BIG one of the day. The Mexican guys on the boat were all running around saying that they thought it could be a record for the biggest rooster fish caught of the Cabo San Lucas coast. It was about 80 lb.

Pregnant!!!

2010-06-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I find out whether I'm having a boy or a girl. I'm so excited to finally know and to be able to go buy a few outfits and maybe just bond with my baby a little more, so I don't have to call it an it. Previous to this week I wasn't showing AT ALL. I sort of looked like I had a little gut, but definitely not pregnant. But yesterday I woke up and put on some clothes and I looked at myself and I can actually tell a little bit now. So I'll have to post some pictures in a few days.

Originally when I found out I was pregnant I was so so SO excited. Kind of scared, but relieved that I still had 9months to prepare. Now that I'm 19 weeks into it I'm not scared anymore, I just want the baby. I feel mentally prepared, and now I want my little munchkin, and I want to be a mom.

A year ago when I moved here I was pretty miserable, just because it was such a huge change and it just felt too overwhelming. But now almost a year later from when I moved here, it feels like home. I couldn't imagine ever leaving, I love the area, I love the people, and I love being so close to Michael's family. I wish I could be closer to my own, but being close to his side is wonderful. They are all so helpful and I keep feeling closer and closer to all of them and I love it. It's funny to me when I hear people rant and rant about their in-laws, because mine are incredible and are definitely not stereotypical. I just feel so blessed to have married such an incredible man and to have married into such a terrific family.

Our puppy and our house

2009-11-09T19:37:00.000-08:00

So we are practically all moved into our house. We still have about 15 boxes completely full of our stuff in the garage, but everything we need to live is now in its place in our house :) We LOVE our house!! It's truly just perfect, with it's front room which serves as a music room and a second living area, which we can use as our t.v./living room. We Love the open layout, truthfully everything just came together. I remember my mom telling me, "Taylor the house that you're meant to have you will." So after all the months of searching we truly got the perfect one. The ward is great, we already fit in and are meeting so many new people and making so many new friends...we just love it :) We spoke in church last Sunday, which I think both of us enjoyed.

This is what we were for Halloween :) Unfortunately I got really sick and we didn't end up going anywhere...but we did dress up and we looked awesome!!

Suka looks a little demonic here, but in real life she's so cute :)

Suka and Michael playing tug-a-war

You know those people that take there dog everywhere and spoil there dog ridiculously and almost replace their dog for a child...ya I think I'm one of those people

Suka again :)

This is on one of our walls, we decided that it was a sign. I intend to put a big wedding photo underneath it, but I have yet to do that.

We love our kitchen. This isn't that great of a picture, but it's a very open kitchen and we replaced all the appliances with black ones and I replaced all the kitchen handles and I think it all works together really well.

(Below) This is our front room :) It has my harp and grand piano and there is still room to move, if this isn't the best house ever...I don't know what is :)

Our Dog :)

2009-11-07T16:58:00.000-08:00

Meet Suka, the newest member of our family

Our House!!!

2009-09-02T17:19:00.000-07:00

Michael and I have been looking at houses to buy for probably 7 months. We put in quite a few offers, but nothing really seemed to work out for us. In about April we found this house that we both LOVED. It had two living room/family room spaces, which we thought would be perfect. We could use one as our music room and the other as our T.V./fun room. The only problem with the house is that it is a short sale. Short sale is kind of the word that buyers here and they turn around running. Getting involved in a short sale means that you can put in an offer, but you better be ready to never hear back, because the sellers have to accept the offer and then so does the bank. But the bank will be agreeing to lose money when they accept the offer, so it basically takes a LONG time. So we started to put in an offer for a short sale in May, then with some confusion walked away and then we decided to go for it again after they seemed willing to work with us again. We had everything turned in and ready by June 9th. We waited and waited, and nothing really seemed to be being done for it. But about a week and a half ago, Valerie our real estate agent got a call and it was the bank's realtor saying that we could have the house. They countered with more than we had offered, but we decided it was a good deal. So we're going to be closing on it September 29th and we're so excited!!! The inspector is coming out to look at it this weekend, and then we have an FHA inspector coming to look at it sometime next week. And once that happens we just have to wait till September 29th and then it's OURS!! The best part about this house is it's in a great neighborhood, and we stay close to all of our friends and family. It really seems to be working out just perfectly :)

Our life

2009-08-22T00:26:00.000-07:00

Michael and I are now living in our own apartment. It's been really great to have our own place. Every single night feels like a date, we spend tons of time together, and I'm loving the fact that neither of us ever have to leave the state where the other is, I'll never take advantage time we get to spend together ever. I think our whole dating/engagement experience taught me that.

School starts on Monday for us and we're excited to get more credits done and get a little closer to graduation :) Currently I'm teaching 21 students piano/vocal lessons and I'm LOVING it!! Michael is working at Insight and is very busy working and going to school full time.

Life is good and everything seems to be going really well for us. Yesterday we were told by the bank that the house we had put an offer on in June could be ours as long as we agreed to a certain amount. We agreed and now we'll probably be moving in about 5-6 weeks. We're very excited that we're finally getting into a house. We've looked at lots of houses and put offers on quite a few also. None really seemed to work out, but we're very, very excited that this one is. This one was always our favorite. Everything seems to work out for a reason and we're really grateful for that.

Our Wedding

2009-08-22T00:07:00.001-07:00

May 22nd we got married :) We got married at 10:30 am in the Mesa, AZ temple. Usually in Arizona it is very hot at the end of May but lucky for us it stayed in the low 80's, high 70's and was a little overcast. It ended up being a perfect day for a wedding.

The day turned out perfectl

y. After we got married we had a luncheon at the church. Andrea decorated it adorably and it looked awesome. The food was also so delicious. Kim and other people of Michael's family made lasagna and salad and breadsticks and it was so delicious.

I thought it was so great how many people came to support us that day. Four of my roommates from BYU came down as my bridesmaids. One flew from Seattle and the other 3 drove from Sandy, UT (near Salt Lake). They left early the day before to try to get to Mesa by the early evening. They ended up having really bad car trouble, they destroyed a tire and hubcap by hitting a huge rock. So they didn't end up getting to Arizona till 1 am. But they did get there and I was so grateful to have them there with me.

The reception ended up being so beautiful. The Wrigh

t House where we held it did a great set up job and it ended up turning out so beautiful.