January

Hayden is such a good little baby. He hardly ever cries and when he does, it's more like a whimper. He has been sleeping through the night since December 31and started smiling in January. He is always happy! I heard on the radio one day that a baby cries on average 112 minutes per day. I was so shocked! That's almost 2 hours!!! I think Hayden's whimpers are less than 30 minutes a day.
Paige loves to have him all to herself while Carter and Hali are at school. (Paige's boy doll is wearing one of Hayden's preemie outfits! He was so little!)
Carter and Todd started working on Carter's Pinewood Derby car about 3 weeks before the race. It turned out to be quite a family affair. Everyone was full of ideas for his car. Carter designed the shape, sanded it, helped tape off the tires, painted the undercarriage and helped put the decals on. Todd spent a lot of time on the paint, while Carter "supervised". They put a lot of time into it and had a fun time together. We all wore our BYU Basketball shirts to the race to cheer him on! (Thanks, Dad for the shirts!) We didn't bring him any luck, but we all had fun.

December

One of my favorite traditions is decorating gingerbread houses. Our little family has done it for three years now. We got together with some of the Sanderson cousins and had a lot of fun.
On Christmas Eve, we went to visit Grandpa Durney (Todd's grandpa) who is 100 years old. He is an amazing man! The kids always love to go visit him and look at all of his wooden toys and trinkets he has made. 4 generations
For Christmas this year, Louise, Brad, and Julie came over. They stayed the night Christmas Eve and it was really fun to have them with us all day. The kids were really excited to see what Santa left for them. (Paige loves her candy!) Carter got an Air Hogs remote control helicopter and Beyblades & a stadium.

Hali got Bop-It Bounce (and something else the camera didn't catch). Paige got a guitar with a microphone and a Strawberry Shortcake remote control car. Trying out her sled....Hmmmm. Hayden got a turtle stuffed animal and diapers.

Hayden's Blessing

Our baby was blessed and given the name of Hayden Rodney Pingel on December 5. Hayden comes from his Great Grandpa Sanderson's middle name and Rodney is his Grandpa Pingel's first name. Todd really liked a different name (Rockwell) and I was pretty sure he was going to change it during the blessing, but Hayden stuck. Phew!

We love our little guy! He has added such a wonderful spirit to our home. He is very content and loves his brother and sisters. It has been fun to watch Carter, Hali and Paige interact with Hayden. They are so gentle with him and very helpful. Todd and I are very blessed to have these 4 wonderful children in our lives!

We had great family support and thanks to everyone for being a part of our busy weekend!

Hali's Baptism

Hali was baptized on December 4. She ended up waiting an extra month so she could be baptized the same weekend that Hayden was blessed. She was excited and memorized (pretty much word for word) the covenants she would be making with the Lord when she was baptized. She wanted to be ready for this big step. We are so happy that she chose to be baptized and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

We had great support from our families, making the day that much more special to Hali.


It was fun to all be together. The afternoon was filled with a little bit of everything.

Christmas Party

We got together with the Sanderson's for a family Christmas Party on December 3. We ate yummy snacks and had a lot of fun! Mom & Dad were here and Blaine flew in from California to be apart of all the weekend activities. It was great to be together!
Hali, Brooke, and Kari moving M&M's with a straw.

We played a crazy game of pictionary! Here Kreed is drawing for Dad, Tatum, Dave and Kari. It was fun to see the kids draw. They are good little artists!
And you can't have a Christmas Party without White Elephant's! I love Hali in this picture! At this point, she still wasn't sure what hers was (year subscription to Western Horseman). Carter loved his CD player! We should have just wrapped it back up and given it to him for Christmas. Paige ended up getting the same present she took. She wanted the glasses so bad that she was willing to go take them from Kent during the game!

Dad, Koy, Kent, Brooke and Paige modeling their stuff! We had a fun time!

One Month Old

I am attempting some major catch-up....again! As I was going through pictures, I came across a few that reminded me just how little Hayden was. I can't believe how much he has grown! These pictures are at 1 month old. His onesie is way to big, he has little bird legs, and is still so cute! He loves to snuggle in, hardly ever cries, and has advanced to a "big baby" carseat. I love how my hand covers his back. He was such a little guy!

About Hayden

Before we could leave the hospital, we were informed that we would need to buy a special car seat for Hayden since he weighed less than 5 lbs. The bad thing was that he would only need it for a few weeks. It's the weirdest looking thing. Not sure how it's more safe, but what do I know!
We had our first experience with jaundice the day after he got home from the hospital. He had to be on the bililight for 4 days. It was a perfect excuse to just sit and hold him all day!
Hayden got down to 4 lbs. 11.5 oz. At his 2 week check-up, he was up to 5 lbs. 3 oz. His clothes are all so big on him. But I love that he is so little! The little newborn stage will just last that much longer and that makes me happy.

Life is good! Really good!!