Kentucky

As most of you probably know, we were fortunate enough to visit Trevor's mom and step dad in Stamping Ground, Kentucky this last week. It was so much fun. We were able to do a lot of fun things, and see some sights. While we were there I did have a conference to attend, and it turned out to be quite informative, which actually surprised me. Hailey was so excited to see her "Nana Taffy" and "Papa Roy". This was a great vacation for us all.

Hailey on the plane to Kentucky

Just a few of the many acres that Cathy and Roy have, just beautiful rolling hills

one half of the front of the house

the other half of the front of the house, just big and beautiful

Sooooooo excited to ride on the 4 wheeler

on the 4 wheeler with daddio

just running around

Uh... don't tell Paul... this is probably legal in hick-ville anyway

Nana "Raymell" and Papa Scuz surprised Hailey and showed up at Nana "Taffy's" house

one of the best parts, going up and down the stairs

What a pretty girl!

just hanging out with grandpa

playing on the 4 wheeler with Leanne "Oooo Hooo, this is fun"

throwing the ball for Stu, Leanne's ball-crazy dog

Keeneland race track, said to be the most beautiful track in the world

Walking with Nana

Where they parade the horses before a race

The track

Checking out the track and shaking her booty

Hailey's two Papa's

Hailey and Gumun

Pretty girl

Keeneland Horse Crossing... "silly daddio"

Papa's girl

Petting some winning race horses

Watching horses get shod

Giant porch to fit all the family

Trevor and Leanne looking for places to jump the 4 wheeler

Time to say bye bye to Papa, they have to go in the motorhome to their next destination

Bye to Gumun

Loves to Nana

Playing at a park by Nana's house

Feeding the ducks and geese at the park

Grandpa reading to Hailey

Louisville Slugger

Holding Rod Carew's bat

The ceiling at Louisville Slugger

Down town Louisville

The Govener's mansion at the capital in Frankfort

The capital building in Frankfort

The Buffalo Trace Distillary in Frankfort

Silly Hailey

Hailey playing with our souvenir Louisville Slugger bat

Watching grandpa play pool with Nana Taffy

Snuggling with grandpa

Saying bye to grandpa

On the way to the airport to go home

So early, but in a good mood

She couldn't stand it anymore, fell asleep on the plane

Sooooo comfy with daddio

Some Pictures that Missed the Blog

These are just a few pictures that should have made the blog, but slipped through the cracks. Of course they are of Hailey Adelle. Enjoy:

Hailey with her hair up like a big gril after her bath

Hailey's rings, we made a countdown to Nana Taffy's house, and she ripped of a ring everyday until we went to her house. She loved it. You remember doing this at Christmas when you were in school, right?

Learning to Dress All Alone

In Hailey's quest to be a "big girl" she is learning all kinds of things, such as lyrics to songs, nursery rhymes, opposites, and in this case how to dress herself. Hailey decided to put her jammies on all by herself. She actually did a really great job. She didn't really know how to put her 2nd leg into her jammie pants all alone. She actually did get the shirt on all by herself, but I didn't have the camera just yet. I was just so shocked that she could get dressed all alone. Here are a few pictures of our big girl doing it "all by myself"

And to finish it off an extra story with mom for big girl stuff--raise your hand if you remember the story Love You Forever

"I'll love you forever,

I'll like you for always,

As long as I'm living,

My baby you'll be"

4 Generations

We were fortunate enough to have my grandma (my "gumun") come visit us here in Oregon. She is 82 years old, and still as feisty as ever. And best of all, she adores my little girl, and Hailey adores her right back. It is so neat to have all 4 generations together, especially 4 generations of girls! Here are the pictures we have of our 4 living generations. Hailey always needs to see the pictures after we've taken them, that's what the last picture is all about.

The Scuzzy's & Gumun on Vacation

Here are some pictures of my parent's vacation. They left in the motorhome with my grandma on August 16th. They are traveling to all kinds of places. Tonight they will be in Illinois to visit with my dad's family. Then they head to Michigan to visit with my dad's old Marine buddy from Vietnam. After that they are off to Lexington, Kentucky to visit with Trevor's mom and step dad, while Trevor, Hailey and I are vacationing there for a week. Then they head back toward California for a little while. Oh what fun they must be having on their travels. Here are some pictures from emails that they sent out, if you haven't seen them yet, they are beautiful!



Here is a little sample of our vacation. We are having a great time, we took lots of pictures. First in Glacier National park, so pretty. Then of Mt. Rushmore & Crazy Horse........

Here are some pictures from our visit to Bear Country USA. It's like Lion Country Safari was. It's been twenty five years since we went there, Tina was two years old, about Hailey's age now. The animals just roam free...

Our New and Improving Backyard

Our backyard has come a long way. When we moved to this house, we were excited just to have a fenced yard, but a year later we've realized that we want more for our family than just a yard with a fence. We want a place to spend time and enjoy. We found an online company http://www.directgardening.com and http://www.michiganbulb.com. We only have one nursery here and Wal-Mart to help us with our landscaping needs. Unfortunately, Wal-Mart hires anyone who applies in their nursery department, so they have little or no knowledge of plants. The other nursery charges way too much money for what they offer. So we turned to the Internet. Turns out they have the same plants for a LOT less. Your plants come to you in small sticks or twigs, but with a little love, water and time they will grow into big beautiful plants. Just to give you an idea, we went to our local nursery and were quoted $100 for 4 plants. We went to direct gardening we got:

2 - lilacs
2 - burning bushes
2 - royal empress trees
6 - honeysuckles
1 - lavender
1 - butterfly bush
3 - festuca (a ground cover)
and a couple random flowers

We paid $45.00, which included shipping. Anyway check out our before and after pictures. They will get better and bigger as time goes on. I'll have to update our front yard pictures later on.

Before

After

These Hostas were there when we moved in, but no one had watered them, so they were dead. Beautiful and big this year. We created a new boarder with bricks this year for them.

Do you have an elbow on your leg???

This is such a cute story, I just had to share.

Hailey learned all of her body parts when she was a year old (eyes, nose, hands, feet... etc). She has since learned a more detailed list of her body parts (fingers, toes, eyebrows, dimples, mustache, etc.) Apparently there was one body part we failed to teach her, and we didn't even realize it.

The other night Hailey was in bed, and she called for me. I reluctantly went into her room, normally we don't go into her room after the night time routine is finished, it's bed time and that is that. This night I just decided it would be better to go in and see what was going on. The following dialog took place:

Me - "What's going on?"
Hailey - "I have an owie"
Me - big sigh "Where's your owie?"
Hailey.... wait for it......

"On my elbow on my leg"

So, we apparently forgot to teach Hailey that her elbow on her leg is not called any elbow, it's called a knee. I tried so hard not to laugh. I kissed her knee and it took every part of me not to bust out in laughter. I closed the door, and bust into laughter. I tried for about 2 minutes to tell Trevor the adorable story, but I just couldn't stop laughing.

Now the debate is whether we teach her that it's called her knee, or leave it to be "my elbow on my leg" because that is so stinkin' cute!

P.S. she also calls her big toe the mama one, and the other toes are the little ones... cute kid!