Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Dakota Lynn Haynes

Kodee knows her full name and there is a reason for this. She runs our household!!! This is what she has been known to do quite frequently:
She probably peed her pants and took them off. But she is actually playing with the nativities on top of the piano. Now you know why she is our last. We just can't handle anything else.
This was after going to Temple Square. It's a good thing that not only does she have a cute bum, but she has a cute face as well.
Dakota you make my life more interesting every day and I am grateful that Heavenly Father is wiser than I am and knew that we needed you in our lives. I love you baby girl!

Monday, December 27, 2010

Goodbye 2010

It seems like every December just comes and goes so quickly. This one was especially so. As my kids get older I feel like I am able to simplify so much more because they know the true meaning of Christmas and it is nice to just be together as a family and enjoy it. We were late again getting our letter out, but it was nice to be able to send a picture with Jordan in it since she flew in Christmas Eve. She missed her flight (I don't blame Kevin a bit, since this isn't the first flight she's missed), but still came in around 4. I guess I should back up a bit....

Jordan got engaged on Dec. 18. The same day her cousin, Beth, got married. Jordan and I had been talking a lot the previous month. Why didn't I tell her to run away and come home in March and stick with her plan. The first time I talked to Kevin on the phone for some odd reason, I knew it was going to lead to this. Heavenly Father knows me personally and knows my needs. I needed to be prepared for this so I could let go of my baby and help her to be able to let go of us. I have been more prepared for it because of the promptings from Him. What a comfort it is to know that Heavenly Father loves each of us in such a unique way. Congratulations, Jordan and Kevin!!!!

Pictures from Christmas:


We say that Jordan is pulling a Kevin in this picture!!!!
The day after Christmas (which is also Kodee's Birthday, but she needs her own post!) and Temple square:
I just love my girls.
And my boys, too!

This is what we do best:




Cute pic of Gary and his baby girl!
Our Christmas Letter:
Hey Everyone, December 2010
Well, this is Dakota. I guess my parents are too busy keeping an eye on me and cleaning up after me, that apparently they don’t have time to write a letter. So while my dad was cleaning up after me today, he said, “Why don’t you go write our Family Christmas letter?” So, here it goes…
Lets start with me! I am almost 3, which means I still have complete control of the day-to-day operation of what goes on in our house. I do not plan on relinquishing that power anytime in the near future. I am extremely cute, which makes it easier to do my job. I have become quite a good scooter rider and I am completely comfortable going just about anywhere I feel like, anytime I want, and wearing whatever I want. I have really enjoyed my nursery class at church and I am excited to go to Sunbeams in January. I am also quite an accomplished singer and I sing along with almost every song.
Now I will share a little about each of my siblings, or as I like to refer to them as…all of my Moms and Dads! McKenzie is a fun big sister who tolerates all of my antics very well. She is 6 and loves her kindergarten class. She is so pretty and has long curly hair. She is in a dance class and seems to really enjoy it. She is very easy going and is fine with just tagging along wherever the family goes. She has a great imagination.
Blake is now 9 and enjoys school. He is kind of a computer geek and will play on a computer, phone, iPod, or any other electronic device as much as possible. He also enjoys his skateboards and bikes and likes to pretend he is a daredevil. He has no fear. He has really enjoyed scouts. He likes to tease me as you would expect from an older brother, but I don’t back down to him.
Trevor is now 12 and is as tall as my mom. He has really enjoyed his second year in the A.L.L. program at his school. He is a good big brother and is very kind to everyone. He has been hard at it with his competition soccer and his team took first place for their division this past season. He loves playing all sports and is very social like his Dad. He really likes his scouting group and loves to camp and hike. Trevor is the Deacons Quorum President.
Sadie is 14 and is still 100% into soccer. She enjoyed a great season playing on the high school team and is looking forward to playing with her club team again during the winter and spring. She is working very hard to achieve her long time goal of earning a scholarship to play soccer while still maintaining her straight A’s. Sadie is a fun big sister but kind of motherly. She loves to go to the temple and tries to go every week, usually at 5:00 in the morning. Sadie is friends with everyone.
Brooke is 18 and a senior in high school. She is working at Costco and still enjoys soccer and weight lifting. She is now up to 445 lbs. on her dead lift and can out lift most of the boys. She is still trying to decide on where she wants to go to school next year. I like hanging out with her and she likes to do things with me.
Jordan is 20 years old and after spending a year in college and completing a 7-month internship at Disney World in Florida, she decided she wanted to go back to the East Coast and be a Nanny. She has been in Maryland since March and really enjoys it. Mom and Dad went out to visit her in October and enjoyed the sites and time with Jordan. She met a young man out there named Kevin and they are going to get married in April I think. I am really excited for her and to go to DC for vacation and a wedding. My parents cry a lot when they talk about her. I am not sure if they are happy or sad or both? Parents are so confusing! I miss not having Jordan around as much, but she will be home for 10 days at Christmas.
Mom practically lives in the car. It seems like we are always headed to or from something. She was released last February from being the Cub Master in our ward and now teaches the 16-17 year old Sunday School class. She is trying to fit crafts back in to her life and tries to keep up with our family blog.
Dad is still the High Priest Group Leader, which proves that he is old. We are praying that he doesn’t have another heart attack as we prepare for Jordan’s wedding and Brooke’s graduation! He still keeps busy at Costco, but loves to make DVDs in his spare time along with playing and watching sports.
We had a great year and hope you did too. May the Holidays find you and your family well and may you be blessed during the Christmas season and in the New Year. It’s crazy how time flies and how busy we all get but we sincerely hope to cross paths with each and every one of you again in the future!

Haynes Family

E-mail- luandgar@aol.com

Blog- hectichayneshouse.blogspot.com

Face book- Gary Haynes (Jordan – Brooke – Sadie)

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Christmas...

is coming whether I like it or not. I am having to do my own decorating for the holidays. Jordan usually does a lot of it. Especially this:
Only she makes is look tons better.


Our tree stood naked for a week. No one seemed to mind. I bought some stuff last year for like 75% off and when I started to open boxes, I got so excited because I had forgotten about all of it. I love surprises. So my tree is rather simple, because no one else felt like doing anything. I didn't even get any of my older ornaments out. I am really simplifying everything, because I have tons of nativities and only got out my favorite. I would rather spend my time finishing a couple of Christmas crafts I've had on my to do list for the last couple of years and making all of the goodies that my kids love so much. They love to give out treats, but I know that they always look forward to having some of the extras also. It makes me happy when we have traditions that they can count on. I even mailed recipes to Jordan so she could make some. I am really looking forward to Christmas this year and just having my family together.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

New Appliance

Gary bought us a new toaster. I know so silly to make a big deal, but it was a win/win for us. I don't like to buy something if we have one that still works, but it was rather old and he considered it a fire hazard. I liked the price. Love those Costco markdowns and I'm glad he keeps his eye out for things we can use.
Don't mind the mint cookies next to it they are yummy and gone!!!

Another of Kenzie's Projects

A cute little gingerbread man.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Gary's a little concerned...

They have taught Trevor how to crochet at school. He has finished one scarf and is working on his second.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Kodee....Man, She is silly!

I'm actually going to combine of few things about Kodee that have happened lately. On Sat. Gary was at a shop night dressed up as Santa and when he came home, she totally freaked out. So on Sunday evening Gary got dressed up again and she sat there and watched and still didn't think sitting on his lap was such a good idea. Sadie tried to tell her to close her eyes if she was scared, but she had to keep her eyes open so that she would know where he was at all times. He will probably dress up again, let's see if it gets any better.

And the other day she came out of her room naked again. This is how the conversation went:

Me: Did you pee in your pants again?
Kodee: No.
Me: Then go put your pants back on.
She then goes back into her room and puts on her underwear and pants which were, of course, wet!!!
Me: Kodee, take those off. You peed in them.
Kodee: You don't need to spank me, mom, I already did!
Me: Show me how you spanked yourself.
She then give herself a little pat on the bum. I just thought it was so funny. Not only will she put herself in the corner, but now she will spank herself. Apparently, those are not going to be very effective methods of discipline with her. There is a reason why she is the last. She makes us absolutely crazy at times.
This is a picture of her after she put beautiful sparkle gel on her face.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Improvise...Sometimes

So last night we were going to watch Mr. Krueger's Christmas but I couldn't find it. As I was looking for something on lds.org I found a couple of youtube videos about Thanksgiving. We watched them and then we started with the youngest and we each said a few things we were thankful for. It was very sweet as we realized how blessed we are. Sometimes the improvised FHE's turn out the very best. I'm grateful for my family.

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Thanksgiving

So every year at Thanksgiving the school does a Turkey Trot. Kenzie was so excited to participate.

And being in Kindergarten, they got to dress up as Pilgrims and Indians and have a feast. I get sad realizing that these occasions go so quickly. I remember the other kids getting to do these kinds of things and I can't believe that I still get emotional when I am able to savor these moments in my children's lives.


Kenzie also had to decorate a turkey so that it would be able to hide and not get eaten. In FHE we all gave suggestions of what she should do with it. This is how it turned out:
Pretty Cute little Santa Turkey!!!!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Funny, Funny, Funny...

So this morning a lady was cruising our neighborhood wanting to ask questions. I'm assuming she is looking at the house on the corner. She was asking how many kids were on the block and if there were teenagers and dogs, like that one down the street that was wandering. Yeah, that would be MY dog that I was calling after in my pajamas. Impressive, huh? She seemed really nice so hopefully I didn't creep her out and scare her!!!


And Brooke took the girls down to have lunch with Gary and were sharing an ice cream bar. Well, Kenzie took a bite and then Brooke took a bite and they both had weird expressions on their faces. Brooke started grossing out as she realized that Kenzie had just lost her other tooth in the ice cream bar and it was now in her mouth. Way nasty, but hysterical!!! Gotta love those moments!!!
Random Silliness:

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Kenzie lost her first tooth!

It was just hanging there for a couple of days and Gary was finally able to pull it out on Thurs. Kenzie was so afraid it was going to hurt that she told him to stop, but to her surprise it was already out.

The morning after:
The Tooth Fairy brought her a gold dollar! She should lose another in the next couple of days.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Halloween

Just a few pictures of what goes on at our house.







And yes, we did grow all these pumpkins in our garden!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Trip to D.C.

We went to D.C./Maryland for UEA break. It was so nice to spend time with Jordan and meet the people she has been working as a nanny for. She asked me what my favorite thing that we did was. Mostly it was just spending time with her, because I know that our time with having her as just ours is running out and one day she will belong to someone else. I know that is what we want for our children, but letting go is hard. Enjoying them as adults is easier though. The pictures are from the many sites we went to. I have to say the FDR Memorial was definitely my most favorite. I was able to see a bit of the man and president that he was, very touching. Jordan also took us to Cirque de Soleil. We decided it was an adult circus, even though that sounded like it was kind of a naughty show. Thanks again, Jordan, we had a blast. And we went to the Temple with her neighbors across the street. It was comforting to know that my kids were in good hands at home. Thanks Niki for taking time off of work for us to take this trip.

On the plane:
National Archives:
WWII Memorial:

Jordan at the WWII Memorial:
The Star Wall representing those who died in WWII:
The Washington Monument from the Lincoln Memorial:
Gary & I at the White House:

D.C. Temple
Gettysburg:
Jordan & FDR:
Jordan feeding the squirrel:

Iwo Jima Statue: