Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! I just love seeing and hearing the kids expressions as they see all the presents that Santa left for them, and realize the milk and cookies left the night before are now mostly gone.

It warms my heart to see their smiles and hear their laughter. It is such a joy to celebrate Christmas with children. It's as if you get to relive it all again through their eyes, and remember once again what it was like to believe. I guess the best gift though is believing the true gift of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ.

I spent a lot of yesterday thinking about Mary, and what it must have been like for her as she went into labor. I remember the joy and anxiousness I felt when I was in labor for the first time with Ava, and I was in the comfort of my home and then the hospital. I wonder what she thought when that first contraction hit. Did it happen along that long, bumpy, uncomfortable ride from Nazareth to Bethlehem? What were this young girl's thoughts when she realized the place of His birth would be in a stable. And then what did she think, what did they say when they first laid on eyes on our savior. This precious baby sent to save us all. So perfect, new, and wonderful laying in a filthy manger. As she looked in his eyes and rocked him, did her heart burst with love, not knowing it would break to see him crucified on the cross so that we would all be saved?

As a mother, I just cannot fathom something so huge. It is such a great task to carry a baby and give birth. You are filled with thoughts of wondering "Are we ready"?, "Will he/she be healthy?", "Will they know how much we love them?" "Can we give them what they need?" For Mary, who was so young, not yet married, and told she had be chosen by God himself to carry and give birth to Jesus. It just leaves me speechless, and full of emotion.

It makes me full of emotion today watching my children, and making sure they know that this day is not about Santa, presents, good food, or decorated houses, but it's about that tiny baby laying in that manger sent for all of us, for our salvation. Thank you Lord, that you love us that much, that you love us enough to send your son, only to later watch Him die, so that we will live. I honestly don't know if I would be able to do the same thing with my own children. Thank you for the best Christmas gift. We love you.

Here are some Christmas Eve pictures, the kids with the cookies they made for Santa and them watching him move on google earth (they loved this).

Guitar Hero!

Okay so we are a bunch of dorks in this family. We love guitar hero, it makes for fun times. Steve's friend was nice enough to let us borrow it and now the whole family is hooked! Mateo loves the guitar and often plays it while Ava dances, it's too funny. Here is my sweet little man rockin it out!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Guess What? It's snowing!!! It's not sticking, but it is snowing! I love this kind o f weather, it makes it all the better for Christmas decorating. I love love love did I mention love decorating the house for Christmas. It is one of my favorite things to do. Right now we are just debating where to put the tree. I have always wanted a bay window to put my tree in front of and right now our living room sits in the back of the house and the kitchen and playroom are by the windows in the front so that won't work.
Now we don't do a pretty Christmas tree like the department stores, ours is purely made up of ornaments from our childhood and the ones we get for the kids each year. Each ornament holds a different memory of Christmas and I like that.
So anyways off to figure out where to put the tree. Here is a little digital scrapbooking I did real quick today. Hope everyone is staying nice and warm!

Thankful For I have Been Truly Blessed!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!
I love Thanksgiving there is nothing better than getting together with family and friends, eating good food and being reminded of how greatly we are blessed. I have so very many things to be thankful for this year

Here are a couple of facts that prove just how blessed I truly am!

You are blessed if you own a Bible. One-third of the world does not even have access to one.

If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof overhead, and a comfortable place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of the world


If you have money in the bank, in your wallet, and spare change in a dish some place, you are among the top eight percent of the world's wealthy.

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive the week.

If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are ahead of 500 million people around the world.

If you attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest or torture of death, you are more blessed than almost three billion people in the world.

If you can read this message, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world that cannot read anything at all.

I thank God so very much for my many blessings!!

Here are some fun snapshots from today!

My Baby Girl is Four!

Time has really flown by. Four years ago today (when we thought that $1.40 for a gallon of gas was high!), Ava and I looked into each others eyes for the first time. I still remember holding her and looking at her perfect fingers and toes, thanking God so very much for this perfect little baby that he had blessed us with.

We can not imagine our lives without her. This past year has been a blast with gymnastics, ballet lessons, lots of dress up and tea parties. She loves to put on shows for us and makes up songs all the time, she enjoys musicals (like her mommy and aunt).

Her favorite Disney princess is Aurora, her favorite colors are pink, purple and blue. She loves to draw and paint, her favorite meal is hot chocolate/chocolate milk and cereal. She likes to eat her donuts and cupcakes by eating all the icing off, then giving what is left to Daddy or Mateo. She loves her little sister and thinks she is a live doll. Her brother is her best friend, co-conspirator, live canvas, scapegoat and I think she would be lost without him. She changes outfits about 12 times a day. She could swing for hours, loves to play outside, climb and jump. She is strong willed and often thinks that she is the mommy.

Here's to another fun filled year and great moments.








On Saturday, Ava and her best friend Sydney had a girls day getting their nails done, painting some pottery pieces and eating cupcakes. Unfortunately, I didn't check my camera settings and messed up most of the pictures, but here are the ones that came out alright.

Sunny Sunday!

It has been nice and sunny this weekend which is nice but it can be hard to take pictures in as well. Since we live out here in the desert though I guess it is probably best to try and learn how to do it better. Yesterday I was lucky enough to take practice taking some pictures on a great family, and today my sweet little man gave me a couple shots too (it is sooo rare to get him to look at the camera) herare his pictures!

Playing In The Leaves!

This past week I haven't been feeling good. Steve took me to the ER last Thursday night because I was having really bad chest pain and pain in my left arm. Thankfully my friend Christina was able to watch the kids. It turns out I have Pleurisy and bronchitis. They gave me the infamous Z-pack and and thats it. It has not been fun at all, that's for sure. There's nothing like feeling like you are having a heart attack all the time.

Before I started feeling terrible on Thursday evening, I rented a fixed 85mm f/1.8 lens. I haven't really been able to play with it, so I dragged Ava out in the back yard to play in the leaves for 15 minutes today and got some pictures, so enjoy!

It's November Already?!

Wow I can't believe how fast this year is flying by. It seems to be really picking up speed. Christmas is around the bend, and Ava's fourth birthday will be here in 3 weeks! How in the world can she be turning four already? I need to start planning her party, and right now I have no idea what we are going to do! Well, I have to get our room organized today it's been a busy couple of weeks and so our room is a disaster.

Here are two pictures I took this morning.

Trick or Treat!

Happy Halloween from the Hays family! We had a great halloween, and although trick or treating is fun, our kids love handing out the candy best!!

Pictures from Today!

Today for school they had to be community helpers so Ava was a doctor and Mateo a firefighter!





At night they went out as Buzz Lightyear and Snow White (Ava decided to wear an old costume, although she does promise me a photo shoot in her way cute witch costume tomorrow!) Gianna was the cutest fairy around!