haylie b photography

confessions of a mother of twins who doesn't get out much.

I secretly like baby rice cereal. I really think it's yummy, especially when it's mixed with formula. I sneak bites of it while Lynn is taking pictures of the boys during their meal time.

genius.

Alright, who was the genius who tried to drive through the ginormous snow drift without turning on the 4-wheel drive and got their Tahoe high-centered??

So glad my Valentine saved the day!

President Hinckley's viewing

We went to President Hinckley's viewing yesterday.

After speaking to a few people who went on Thursday, we thought we would be able to go through and leave in about 2 hours.   Me, Addie and Hollynd went with the Turner Family. The twins stayed home with my dear friend, Shalynn Nelson, and her girls went with us. It was a good trade. We got there at 3:30 to see this:

That was only the beginning. Then we saw this:

We left at 8:30p!

When people discovered we went, we were met with various questions like "was it worth it?"

Yes, actually, it really was. Seeing President Hinckley laying in state in the Hall of the Presidents for a but fleeting moment compared to the time we spent standing outside (2 hours), then inside (1 1/2 hours) then sitting in the hall (2 hours) was well worth it. I can't exactly put my finger on it but we are definitely a better people for doing it. I'm glad we went. I think Addie and Hollynd will remember it forever and that makes my heart smile.

my lucky day?

I got this fork today at Target as I was sitting down to eat my salad.

Have you ever seen such a fork? No, it wasn't broken. It was just molded that way. 1 in a million I bet you, and I got it. Yep, it's pretty much my lucky day so I treated myself:

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ORDER INFORMATION

QUANT.	ITEM	UNIT PRICE	SUBTOTAL
1	Preorder: PhotoFreedom	$19.95	19.95

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SUBTOTAL:	0.00
SHIPPING METHOD:	U.S. Standard Shipping
SHIPPING:	0.00
TAX:	0.00
ORDER TOTAL:	0.00
Payment Method:	VISA

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Yah, I'm pretty much a sucker. The sneek peek pushed me over the edge. Happy Valentine's Day to me!

I looooove the Big Picture so I'm pretty sure I'll love Photo Freedom.

In other news, the boys turned 3 months yesterday and Addie turns a whopping 6 years old tomorrow! I hope I get around to posting some pictures tomorrow. I'm such a proud mama!

an old friend.

Haven't seen him in a long time.

We didn't exactly run to each other & embrace.

10 years ago.

(Sorry about the picture quality. Scanner is in storage at the moment). Can you guess what I was doing 10 years ago? Same thing I'm doing today: serving toothless people. OK, OK. I'm just joshin'. An entry on Kristen's blog caused me to reflect upon what I was doing 10 years ago.

It was Fall 1997. Mexico. Nealtican to be exact. I lived with Eva Xaltepec, Erik (her son) and Silvestre (her very toothless, very deaf father). See, I was going to University of Utah studying Spanish. Unfortunately, they didn't have a study abroad program that suited my fancy so I looked elsewhere. BYU had an internship that was very attractive to me. Instead of going to a different country to study Spanish in a classroom (yaaawwwwwwnn), their program offered something a little different: go to the middle of nowhere in Mexico (i.e. lucky if you get plumbing and a refrigerator)  and teach people how to read and write (in their own language). There are thousands and thousands--check that--millions of people in Mexico, especially in the rural areas that are illiterate. So, their government program, INEA, hooked up with BYU somehow and allowed students to come down and volunteer teach. The LDS instructor from BYU had a sister that lived in Puebla--hence the convenience of living with a trusted LDS family. She got us down there to her sister's house and said, "this is where you go if you need to get a hold of me", introduced us to the Stake President who then introduced us to families who were willing to give us shelter and feed us, then, BYU instructor said, "see you in a few months!" Oh yes. Now that was good times.

I really miss that place and those people. They are the most humble people I have ever met in my whole life. I can't believe it was 10 years ago.

Stories behind pictures:

The family in the first picture was one of the most interesting. I told them in advance that I was coming to take their picture so that they would be dressed. Everytime I showed up to teach the older couple, there were naked children running around everywhere. No pampers, no huggies. The Dad/Grandpa never ever ever wore a pair of pants that had a working zipper. Oh wait I think he only  had 1 pair of pants. He hurried inside his house right before the picture was snapped so he could get his guitar. I don't think he knew how to play it. Kinda' like the Mexican version of George Strait. Always has a guitar on stage but NEVER seen him play it. I'll always remember the gal to the right of me. She was 19, a couple years younger than me. She refused our teaching services but she would still hang out and visit when I came to teach her mom and dad. She didn't know how to read and write and she had 4 kids.

Photo number 2 was at a wedding reception. That big thing in the background was a big vat of Mole. I loved the weddings down there. Those people really know how to party. I searched high & low for a Mariachi band for my own wedding when I got home--but to no avail.   

They're here!

Sorry I haven't posted in a couple weeks. Here's a quick update:

After 4 weeks and one day of hospital food, I am home.

The babies were born 10-23-07

Randy McKay (baby A--on the right) born 8:07 am -- 6 lbs. 11 oz.

Jackson Tad (baby B) born 8:08 am -- 5 lbs. 4 oz.

I'm doing fine. Just resting so I can heal up.

Jack is doing great. After a week he is back up to his birth weight. He's really taking after his dad. Not only does he have some very cute dimples, he also likes to party at night, flirt with the girls and eat, eat, eat. OK, maybe not so much like Lynn but he is cute. He looks a lot like Addie when she was a baby.

McKay is still in the NICU. He has been in there since he was born. He had pneumonia. Not sure if he had it en utero or if it was from swallowing fluid during birth. He's done with the antibiotics and we are now just waiting for him to get off the oxygen. He is doing well and showing signs of improvement everyday. His favorite things to do are eat, eat, eat and smile while he's asleep. He looks a lot like Hollynd. I am very anxious to get him home. Lynn and I (aka Winder Dairy) try and visit him as much as possible. Thanks for all your prayers for him!

We feel tremendously blessed to have these little tykes with us. We are very excited to watch them grow and of course get into trouble.

Addie and Hollynd have been a great help and are very excited to have their brothers here and their mom at home finally (me too).

Thanks very much for all the help we have received. After having this experience, it has become very apparent at how blessed we are. We have so many wonderful neighbors, friends and family. I have also been under the care of many wonderful doctors and nurses for the past month. Thank you, thank you! Lynn is especially grateful for all the help he received while I was in the hospital. There's no way we could have pulled that off without all the great people around us.

YES SIR! I DON'T WANT ANY TROUBLE!

First--some pictures since my last post (taken by our personal photographer, Addie):

OK, so, nevermind about the gun safe. I keep forgetting to get the camera out of Lynn's car. And then I don't blog because I think I need that to do my next post. I figure it's just more important to update my  blog. You guys OK with that? Don't worry, I promise I'll show the gun safe eventually!

Moving on...

Our new adventure is Tae Kwan Do. I still don't know if I'm spelling it right. But I'm loving it. More importantly, Addie is totally loving it. I'm finding out, through a little research, there are a lot of benefits for kids who study martial arts. Among the obvious benefits such as physical fitness, added flexibility, etc. are my favorites:  being able to kick somebody's trash if they're giving her a hard time, respect to elders (like her mom), confidence, problem solving skills, INCREASE HER FOCUS and did I mention kick really hard?

After 2 classes, she has learned a great deal that she is really excited about. Although she is taught not to practice on anyone at home, she loves "showing" Lynn her new moves. My favorite is, "I don't want any trouble"!  She's the one in the back row on the far left. As you can see, she doesn't quite get her hands up in the "watch out, dude, because I'm about to clean the concrete with your face type of threatening position" like everyone else's. She's still cute even when she's trying to be tough. (sorry about the bad angle. I'll try for a better one next time. This will have to do for now)

She loves doing her kicks. One of her best friends, Mariah, is on the left.

K, this is exciting because of what she says at the very beginning. See if you can catch it. (She says "yes sir" when he asks her to come up in front to demonstrate blocks).

For right now, Hollynd hasn't really shown any interest in Tae Kwan Do which is just fine with me. However, I'm hoping she will be a little more interested when she gets closer to her next birthday. For right now she is just content being 3 and hanging out in the pool with her sister a handful of her closest (naked) friends.

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puppy paparazzi.

Hollynd wanted an excuse to put on her swimsuit so we gave him a bath.

another favorite

Is it possible to have a gazillion favorites? I'm one of those people that changes their minds, then adds, subtracts, then compiles a list of favorites that ends up being pages long. On top of that, I have a passion for photography. Not just any photography, the kind that really shows how true life is. It makes me get all excited--isn't that funny? I came upon this photographer through Kristen's blog and I just love it. I think the artist does such a great job. They have a blog too. Check it out if you're bored on this breezy Pioneer Day.

Question: why do all these great photographers live outside Utah? Does anyone know of more UNIQUE photographers that I could get really excited about within driving distance to my house? There's got to be more out there. This is Utah for goodness sakes. I'm having twins pretty soon darn it. And, yes, I personally will be taking a gazillion photos of the pair but I must say there's just something about having a someone else kind of a photographer take the wheel.