Everlee's 4th Birthday

Last Saturday we drove up to Modesto to help celebrate our niece Everlee's 4th birthday.  What a party!  Our sister-in-law went all out with a mermaid theme, complete with mermaid tails for all the party guests.  Princess Ariel even made a visit!  

Tahoe Vacation 2014

We are so grateful for our family place up at Northstar California (North Shore, Lake Tahoe).  Last week we were able to get away for about 4 days for a short family vacation with Chad's parents Paul and Barbara and our nieces, Elise and Everlee.  Tess sure enjoyed the extended play time with her cousins, and they were equally enamored with baby Kate.  While we didn't have any huge adventures, we spent plenty of time having fun -- at the beach, by the pool, and on the back patio.  Below are the pics from our trip and a video of the fun little "show" that Elise coordinated for us.

And P.S...A sweet little video of our niece Elise singing to Baby Kate!

Happy Easter 2014

We had a lovely Easter this year, and how FUN it was to have two darling girls to dress in matching outfits!

 

We attended church with Chad's parents Barbara and Paul, and then headed out to American Avenue in Reedley for an afternoon lunch with lots of family: my parents Cliff and Melody, Barbara and Paul, Chris and Kristi and their daughters Elise and Everlee, and my Uncle Randy (visiting from Thousand Oaks).  The girls enjoyed an impressive, color-coded Easter egg hunt and filled their baskets to overflowing!

 

Speaking of Easter egg hunts, some of the pics in the slideshow below are from a MASSIVE Easter egg hunt we attended at The Southgate Church in SE Fresno.  Pastored by my aunt and uncle Dave and Gloria White, The Southgate puts on this 2,000+ egg event for families in the surrounding communities. We were blessed to get an invite this year and Tess brought home lots of little treasures! 

Christmas 2013

Here are some slide shows from various Christmas-related events this Holiday season! 

First up...decorating our Christmas tree.  Since it was our first Christmas in our new house, we weren't sure exactly where we would put our tree (and where it would fit best). On Thanksgiving I managed to score a really skinny artificial tree for about $50 that I knew would work until we had some experience with our new space.  Tess had a blast helping decorate it, and true to toddler form, most of the ornaments she hung ended up on just one or two branches of the tree.  It was a joy watching her open each ornament and exclaim, "Oooh, this one's SO pretty!"

Next... our Holiday gathering with Chad's extended family, the Drydens.  The majority of the Drydens live in Hollister, and the whole clan came to Fresno for a party at Chad's parents' home.  Tess had so much fun playing with all of the cousins and it was wonderful to spend time with everyone!

 

 

Below are some pics from our Christmas Day.  Tess awoke to the special present Santa had brought her: a play kitchen!  After getting ready, we headed to Reedley for our traditional family breakfast (stuffed blueberry French toast casserole) and opening stockings and presents with the Unruh/Haas family at American Avenue.  From there we headed to River Bluff Drive, where Chad's parents Paul and Barbara joined the Unruhs and Haases for Christmas dinner.  Tess enjoyed watching Grandpa's model train circle around the Christmas tree, and listening to us sing carols around the piano.  In the early evening as we headed home, we stopped to visit Chad's parents Geoff and Toni and open a few last-minute gifts there.

 

It was an exhausting and wonderful day!  In all of the excitement and busyness, we totally neglected to take a family picture...at least not one I can find in any of my saved photos anywhere.  I'll keep looking!  Hope everyone had a blessed Christmas this year!

 

 

Goodbye, Grandma Vida

Grandma Vida on her last
birthday - St. Patrick's Day 2013

In April, we said goodbye to Chad's wonderful grandmother, Vida Lee Hayden.  What a wonderful woman she was!  We were so glad that she could spend the final few of her 92+ years here in Clovis (after years and years of trying to convince her to relocate from Bakersfield).  We had a small family memorial service for her at Belmont Gardens in June, attended by just a handful of family and close friends.  It was a nice time of remembrance, and Chad was glad he could assist with putting Grandma's ashes in their final resting place.  We will miss Grandma but we know she is in a much better place!  I'm grateful for all the wonderful heirlooms given to me over the past few years, which will remind me of her sweet and spunky spirit.  We love you, Grandma Vida!

 

      
 

 

 



Easter 2013

I was excited about Easter this year, since Tess is now of the age where Easter baskets are more exciting and the Easter-egg hunt is a viable source of entertainment for her. (Well, let's face it, it's really more for us.) We had a couple of Easter celebrations this year, given our extensive family tangle....we started with pre-Easter dinner in Reedley with my parents and Aunt Debbie/Uncle Dick, where Tess did a "dress rehearsal" of the big hunting event. What a hoot! Grandma had made real, dyed Easter eggs which Tess was able to run around and pick up with her basket. However, whenever she bent over to pick up one egg, another toppled out of the basket. For a bit, we thought the hunt would go on forever! It was quite funny. Next up, she modeled her Easter dress for the family and we attempted to take some backyard pictures. 

 

On Easter Sunday we drove up to Modesto with Paul and Barbara to spend the day with Chris, Kristi, Elise and Everlee. We joined them for church at Calvary Chapel, and then had a delicious lunch while the babies (Tess and Everlee) napped. In the afternoon, Kristi staged a MASSIVE Easter-egg hunt, which included a few dozen "real" (dyed) eggs and then about 10 dozen plastic eggs filled with candy. This didn't work so well for Tess....every time she came across an egg, she plopped onto the ground and wanted to open it and eat its contents. OR she wanted to run off with it ("put it in the basket" was like speaking Chinese to her) OR chase after the neighbor's dog.  This REALLY was the hunt with no end in sight, so after about 15 minutes of trying to get her to comply we decided to just take the little ones inside and open Easter baskets.

 

Here's a big "thank you" to the Grandmas (Melody & Barbara) for making sure Tess is always the most beautiful/adorable baby girl in sight....I absolutely loved both of her Easter dresses!  Below are pictures and video of our fun family day.
 

Happy St. Pat's!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! We celebrated the weekend of my most favorite holiday with an Irish-themed dinner party with friends, complete with a Guinness roast, corned beef and cabbage, roasted potatoes and carrots, and lots of Irish liquir (car bombs included!. On Sunday, we had a family gathering in honor of Grandma Vida's 92nd birthday. Chris and Kristi came down with their girls for the day and Grandma was able to really enjoy her celebration. It was a fun-filled weekend and a great start to an adventurous week!

Happy Holidays 2012

As usual, the Haydens enjoyed a busy holiday season full of gatherings with family and friends.  I have always felt like we were light on tradition, but as I wrote this I realized just how many holiday traditions we do enjoy each year.  We are certainly blessed as we head into 2013!

December 3 - Junior League Holiday Social at Piazza Del Pane.  Below is a pic of me with the rest of the 2013-2014 Board of Directors.  Next year I take on the role of Board secretary!  This was a fun little social designed for girl time, cocktails, and a "favorite things" gift exchange.  A great way to kick off the holiday season!

I'm in the back row, second from left, in red!

December 7 - PrideStaff Christmas Party at Fort Washington Country Club.  This is our favorite holiday party every year -- PrideStaff never disappoints!  Somehow I missed getting a picture of Chad and I together, but I got a few with the girls and PLENTY with our special entertainment: Elvis!  Local Elvis impersonator Jeremy Pierce has been a regular at the PrideStaff holiday parties for at least 10 years and he never gets old (literally and figuratively)!  He's also an old debate buddy of Chad's, so it's fun to say "We knew him when...."

Sarah & Dani. Love the dress she loaned
to me...and then GAVE to me!

Elvis in the house!

December 9 - Gingerbread Houses with "the cousins."  We are really enjoying this holiday tradition that we've graciously been included in!  Each year we get together with my aunt/uncle/cousins (and their spouses/kids) to decorate graham cracker "gingerbread" houses.  It's super fun despite the fact that our structural integrity and artistic flair are devolving as the years progress.  Year one we had the standout house, year two our roof collapsed, and year three I spent so much time working on a house that would stand up that we lost precious decorating time.  OH WELL!  Although next year I'm going to suggest that we all come with our houses pre-made, blank on the outside, so that we can concentrate on eating candy decorating them to the hilt.  Here's a pic of this year's masterpiece, omplete with half-marshmallow pseudo-snow tufts on the roof.

December 14 - PrideStaff RiskManagement Department Christmas Party at Nathan and Trish's.  Since our department has gotten so big in the past year, we thought it would be fun to have our very own Christmas party.  Nathan offered to host it at his place, so we made it into a potluck.  His wife, Trish, planned out some very fun games and prizes for us and when we finished "Christmas Pictionary" we were all sore from laughing so hard.  It was a really fun night and we came home with a super plush "sherpa" throw for our couch that matches our living room perfectly.

Clockwise from top left: Nathan, Danielle B., Danielle H. (Dani),
Beverly, Me, Shirley, Maribeth, Rachel.

December 21 - Forensics Christmas Potluck at Christiana's.  How do you know you're a fantastic teacher?  When your students still want to hang out with you over the holidays and/or long after they graduate!  This has turned out to be a new holiday tradition for us -- a get-together with all of the forensics students from class of 2011 (those who graduated and also those who were on the team with those who graduated). This year instead of going out to a restaurant we had a potluck and white elephant gift exchange at the home of one of Chad's favorites, Christiana.  She's a sophomore at Duke this year.  (This is a totally separate topic, but MAN these class of 2011 kids are SMART.)  We had a great time catching up on their latest college adventures and I brought home a Mr. Potato Head for Tess!

The group, minus a few who couldn't make it.

With Christiana ~ she captioned this photo "Two people I really
look up to." Aww! She's about as great as they come!

December 23 - Holiday Open House In Hollister.  We had a last-minute opportunity to spend the Sunday before Christmas with Chad's extended family (the Drydens) in Hollister.  We enjoyed great food and great company, got to hang out with some of our favorite cousins, and Tess got to see her great aunts/uncles and great grandpa.  (On the Dryden side of the family we are up to 6 great granddaughters and 2 great grandsons!)



Here's Great Grandpa ("Pop") with 5 of his 8 great grandchildren.



 December 24 - Christmas Eve Cookie Baking.  Holiday sugar cookie making/decorating is slowly becoming an annual tradition with my Mom (Grandma Melody), and this year we got together at my house along with her sister (my Aunt Debbie) and cousin Valerie.  Tess enjoyed eating the dough and playing around with all the supplies....at one point her hands and mouth were completely red from getting into the sprinkles!

Tess wearing her first little apron and helping
press out the shapes with the cookie cutters. 

December 25 - Christmas In Reedley.  Another Christmas tradition for us is spending Christmas morning in Reedley with the Unruh parents and Uncle Dick, Aunt Debbie, and cousin Valerie.  We typically open our stocking stuffers first (all individually wrapped!) and then have breakfast before opening gifts.  Each year Valerie makes a delicous "stuffed blueberry french toast casserole" with homemade blueberry syrup.  YUM!

All dressed up for Christmas Day.

A tired Christmas Tess enjoying one of her favorite gifts.

December 28 - Christmas With The Eastons.  Our dear friends Michael and Sara Easton were in town for the holidays, and they threw a fun little holiday get together that included a variety of mutual friends we've met over the many years we've known them.  Many guests were people we hadn't seen in years so we thoroughly enjoyed catching up.  We had a delicious dinner, played "tele-pictionary" (hilarious!) and took turns sharing about 2012 highlights and 2013 hopes.  I took my camera but was having too much fun and forgot to take pictures!

December 29 - Christmas Tea At American.  Cousin Valerie just returned from about 3 months in Germany, and a few weeks ago she mentioned she was having a tea party with some of her girlfriends.  I thought it would be fun to put on a tea party, too, so we decided to have one with our mothers and picked the Saturday after Christmas to do it.  The table was set with china and serveware that is full of family history and while we ate we talked about where each piece came from and why it was special.  On the menu: salad with a variety of flavored balsamic vinegars and olive oils, homemade yellow split pea soup, homemade cranberry scones, lemon curd and clotted cream, and Christmas tea from Germany.  Tess was with us and managed to make it through the meal without breaking anything, and ate almost an entire scone by herself!

Table set for beautiful Christmas Tea.

December 29 - Christmas With The Haydens.  Chad's brother, sister-in-law, and our nieces came down for the weekend so that we could celebrate Christmas with the parents on that side.  Although I couldn't make it to breakfast at Geoff and Toni's, we did share a meal with Chris, Kristi, Elise, and Everlee at Paul and Barbara's.  Whenever we do Christmas dinner at the Villescas home we spice it up with Mexican food!  This year was delicious taco salads.  Tess got to play with her cousins and open presents with them.  It was a fun night!

Tess in her Christmas outfit from Grandma V.

The little cousins having dinner together - so cute!

December 30 - Christmas With The Suiches. Our Fullerton family made a day trip up to Clovis to share a holiday meal with us and exchange presents.  Chad and I made a delicious pot roast, mashed potatoes, green beans and garlic bread for dinner and we had an assortment of holiday goodies for dessert.  We had a quiet day around the fireplace television and enjoyed each others' company. Thank goodness for low-key holiday events, because we were approaching burnout!

December 31 - New Year's Eve With Friends.  It's been several years since we went to an actual NYE party where we could cut loose and count down with other people.  This year we marked the occasion with some dear friends made through PrideStaff, whose daughter is also Tess's favorite babysitter.  We ended up staying night at their place (all three of us) and spending a relaxing New Year's morning recovering together.

Happy New Year from the Haydens!

January 1 - New Year's Day With The Unruhs.  Each year the extended Unruh family (all 30+ of us) gets together on New Year's Day to eat up the last of the holiday goodies and do a name-draw gift exchange.  We started doing this many, many years ago when we got too big to get together on Christmas Eve/Christmas day due to other family commitments.  It really works out well because it guarantees we all see each other and is a nice finale to the holiday season.  This year we got together at my Uncle Dave and Aunt Gloria's new home in Sunnyside, and every single family member was present (a rarity!).  We managed to get a group picture without too much trouble, but we're so big now that it's hard to get time with everyone in just a couple of hours.  Even so, it's a wonderful way to start the new year.

This is ALL OF US!  Wow.  Shocking we fit into one pic, and we didn't have to use the wide-angle lens!

Tess has a thing for hats...so cute!

Happy 6th Birthday, Elise!

This past weekend we headed up to Modesto for our niece Elise's 6th birthday party (where do the years go?!). This year's theme was "Sweet Treats" and featured a candy shop, cupcakes, an ice cream sundae bar, and of course SWIMMING! 

We were so excited about our very own special guest at the party: TESS!  It was her first opporunity to don an adorable baby swimsuit and sun hat and experience the pool for herself.  After about 10 minutes of crying in Daddy's arms, she finally figured out that the kiddie pool was just like a big bathtub, equally suited for splashing and squealing. 

It was a fun day spending time with family (Tess got to play with her cousin Everlee) and celebrating Elise.  See below for pics and a super cute video of our girl!

Everlee's First Birthday

Last weekend we headed up to Modesto for the day to help celebrate our niece Everlee's first birthday (she was born on Valentine's Day last year).  It was a smaller party, just us and the grandparents, and we had a lovely time with the three cousins together (Elise, Everlee, and Tess).  Little girls are so much fun!

2011 Family Christmas Photos

Better late than never, I finally had the opportunity to look at, and then post, these pics from our family Christmas "photo shoot" with Kimi-G Photography on December 26th. (Kimi-G did my maternity photos and Tess's newborn pics -- she's great!) Kimberly did SUCH a good job of corraling 3 young kiddos into looking at the camera and snapping the shutter at just the right times.  It was quite a circus, all of the "adults" behind her, clapping and making silly noises to get all the girls' faces pointed in the right direction.  Elise (age 5) was a big help with her little sister Everlee (10 months), and then of course there was Tess (4 months old at the time).  The matching Christmas dresses were a generous gift from Grandpa Paul and Grandma Barbara.  The girls looked so pretty!  What a fun memory.  I think we got some great candids.  Oh, and that's Chris dressed up like Santa. 

Baby's First Christmas

Our Christmas this year was quite extended, which is to be expected, I guess, when you have an adorable "first Christmas" baby to show off! We spent five straight days celebrating with family, the good news being that we were able to spend each day in one place. The pics below are from Christmas morning and were taken at my aunt and uncle's place in Reedley.

One of our first "family" Christmas photos

 

Tess in her Christmas finery ~ one of her two special "first Christmas" dresses.

On Friday, December 23rd we drove over to Hollister for a Christmas gathering with Chad's extended family.  His Uncle Ted and Aunt Diane hosted, with a special appearance from Santa Claus. It was great to see everyone and take pictures of all the great-granddaughters together.  (Yes, all 6 great-grandchildren are GIRLS!) This was also Tess's first time meeting her extended Dryden family.  We had a great night!



Five of the six great-granddaughters (Everlee was missing)

Tess with Santa (aka Uncle Ted)

On Saturday (Christmas Eve), the Suich family (Ron, Meg & Uncle Richard) and my Uncle Dan all came up for a visit and present exchange.  It was one of those relaxing days where we all hung out at home in comfy clothes, and so Tess didn't get a special outfit OR much camera time!

We spent Christmas Day in Reedley.  It started with a wonderful breakfast (our traditional stuffed blueberry French toast casserole ~ thanks, Valerie!), church at Reedley MB with the family, and then presents and Christmas dinner at American Avenue (my aunt & uncle's place). 

The day after Christmas, Chris, Kristi and the girls (Elise & Everlee) came down from Modesto and we spent the day at Paul and Barbara's.  We also arranged for Kimi-G Photography (who did my maternity photos and Tess's newborn photos) to come out and take portraits of the girls (Elise, Everlee, and Tess) in their matching Christmas dresses. 

On Tuesday the 27th we went over to Geoff and Toni's (along with Chris, Kristi, Elise & Everlee) for a belated Christmas celebration with Tess's Great Grandma Vida and Toni's family (Michelle & Kevin, kids Toby & Kyra, and Melissa and daughter MiKayla).  It was really special to have Grandma Vida there and get pictures of her with Tess. 

By Tuesday night we were exhausted and I was coming down with a cold that lingered for most of the week!  It was great that Chad was still on vacation so that we could relax and recover together.  On Friday we got to see our friends Brian and Colette (visiting from San Diego) and on Saturday our friend Susanna (visiting from Israel) came over for a visit.  SO many people got to meet Tess over the holidays, and we had a great time showing off our precious girl!

Below are some pics of the various festivities.  The formal pics from Kimi-G Photography will be posted as soon as I have them!

The Nieces...

Here are some recent pics (studio proofs, sorry) of our lovely nieces, Elise (age 5) and Everlee (age 8 months).  They are such sweet and beautiful girls!

Happy 35th Birthday, Chad!

We had a whirlwind weekend! Not only did Tess get a visit this weekend from Grandma Meg, we had LOTS of family visits for Chad's (and Chris's) 35th birthday.  On Saturday we celebrated at Nana & Papa's (Geoff & Toni's) with Chris, Kristi, Elise, Everlee...Great Nana (Lillian)...Alicia & Linda...Melisssa & MiKayla...and Kevin, Michelle, Toby & Kyra.  The house was jam-packed with family and presents!  Then on Sunday we celebrated at Grandma & Grandpa's (Paul  & Barbara's) with just our immediate family (Chris, Kristi & the girls).  It was great to see the respective grandparents with all of their grandchildren, and to see Tess with their cousins.  We are blessed!

Happy 5th Birthday, Elise!

Today we drove up to Modesto for Elise's 5th birthday party, which was themed "Under the Sea" (and of course included Disney princess Ariel). We had a lovely time enjoying the sunshine, eating yummy food, and catching up with family while the kiddos swam and played games and jumped in the bouncehouse. It was a great party, and much more low-key than last year's extravaganza. And this year we had the blessing of having our niece #2, little Everlee Joy, with us for the festivities. I've got to hand it to Chris and Kristi -- they really and truly know how to throw kids' birthday parties!

Memorial Day Weekend In Tahoe

Well, this is a first, and I blame it on my pregnant brain! In the process of trying to download pics from the camera and upload the photo album for this post, I accidentally deleted all the photos from this trip. And yes, they were taken with my brand new camera and yes they were good! Nice. At least I had a few measly pics from the weekend on my iPhone! I will try to borrow and add pics from the others who were snapping away with me all weekend...in the meantime, my meager photo offering is below. And now begins the post!

Over Memorial Day weekend we traveled up to Lake Tahoe to spend time with "the cousins" on Chad's side of the family (the Dryden side). Grandpa ("Pop") has a house at Northstar and for 15 years it's been a fun place for the family to get away to. This time it was just us youngun's! There were four couples and five kiddos (all girls, all age 5 and under).

One unexpected guest for the weekend was SNOW -- and lots of it! We spent much of the time indoors, talking, eating, or playing games and enjoying a fire. On Saturday some of us ventured into downtown Truckee for some shopping and eating, and on Sunday the whole group took a short trip to the Village at Northstar to see if there was anything exciting going on....nope. Just lots of snow!

Turns out, for me, it was a great weekend to just relax and enjoy being around people I really like, and watch the little ones play together. And of course I am always thrilled to see my beautiful nieces, Elise and Everlee.

The photos taken with my phone, and a few "borrowed" from Facebook...

L to R: Chad & Sarah; Kristi, Chris, Everlee & Elise; Dan, Sarah & Lindsey (their other daughter, Lauren, is standing next to Elise); Jayme, Greg & Olivia.

Everlee's Birth Announcement

Getaway Weekend In Berkeley & Meeting Baby Everlee

This past weekend we took one of our semi-annual "getaways" to the Claremont Resort in Berkeley, CA. Thanks to Living Social, we got 50% off our stay and 2 free bottles of wine (too bad I couldn't drink them!). We had a wonderful stay! The weather was gorgeous on Saturday and we enjoyed breakfast overlooking the SF Bay, and spent the afternoon walking around Berkeley and the school campus. We also had a delicious late dinner at Rivoli Restaurant -- Asparagus Risotto for me and Lobster Ravioli for Chad. On Sunday we took our time heading home and stopped at Ikea to see if they had anything we might like for the baby's room. Below are some of the few pics I took over the weekend. I just didn't have it in me to take any more, which is unusual! Chad and I have been so busy, I was more interested in looking at him vs. thru a camera lens.

On the way home from Berkeley we stopped in Modesto to see our beautiful new niece Everlee Joy Hayden, who is just 2 weeks old and (of course) a total doll! Below is a slideshow to some of her newborn pics. We're hoping this is a good indication of how beautiful our little baby girl will be, and we anticipate that she and Everlee will be great playmates!

A Sweet Baby Girl For Valentine's!

We were blessed with a wonderful Valentine's Day gift this year -- a new niece! Everlee Joy Hayden was born February 14th, weighing 8lbs 4oz and measuring 19 inches. We are rejoicing with Chris, Kristi, and Elise over the addition to their family!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day Pics

Below are some pics from Christmas Eve (spent in Modesto with the Hayden side of the family) and Christmas Day (spent in Reedley with the Watson/Unruh side of the family). As you can see, our niece Elise is growing up -- she is 4 1/2 now and excited about having a little sister arrive in February! Our Christmas dinner in Reedley was delicious and topped off with the traditional Watson family Cranberry Pudding dessert. On Christmas night Chad and I welcome the "Fullerton Parental Unit" plus 3, and enjoyed their company until they left for home early this morning. Milo especially loved all the activity in the house! I guess I got a little lazy with the picture taking on Sunday...just "picture" us having a great time relaxing and enjoying our post-Christmas bliss together!