6 month check in

Our little guy is 6 months! We just got back from his check up and here are his stats:

19 lbs 13 oz
28 1/4 inches
... HEALTHY AS A HORSE!!!!

I cannot believe it has been 6 quick months. I have enjoyed every little second of being a new mommy. Here is a little list about Connor:

* LOVES food :O) He is still nursing and eats 3 times a day. So far I haven't found a food he doesn't like, prunes included.
* He sits up like a champ!
*Still hasn't rolled over yet, but enjoys tummy time.
*Sleeps 12-13 hours every night. He started sleeping through the night @ 3months. It took about a month after that to get it totally down.
*He started rubbing his little fuzzy head while nursing. I love it :O)
*Loves to bite/chew/suck on his toes
*He is a total boy... enjoys watching sports with Dad and Grandpa Jeff, flying remote controlled helicopters with Dad, and did I mention he LOVES food!
*Sips through a straw
* Has 4 teeth poking through. His first teeth came in about 3 weeks ago. And he didn't do it like all other babies... he got his FANGS first.
* Teeth # 5 and 6 are not far behind (I found out last weekend that Zack had 8 teeth by 8 months) he is following in daddy's footsteps
* He has a crooked little head!! His doctor was afraid his sutures were fusing too soon so we had a CT scan done about 2 weeks ago. Everything looked great.... now we just are focusing on fixing that crooked noggin.
* He loves when we sing to him and dance with him.He gets a kick out of it.
* Has outgrown his infant carrier and is moving to a convertible car seat.

How does it happen.... they just get so big so fast. We sure do love him though.

(The cute little pic of Connor was taken by ever so talented SIL Sammy :O) Thanks Sam!)

The big day...

Saturday August 20th was just another Saturday. Zack had appointments in the morning but made it home quite early. We had a lot to get done around the house so we hit it hard! We worked outside on the yard trimming bushes, pressure washing the house and windows and making them sparkle. Then we went to work on the inside. We finally finished the nursery, cleaned more windows, shampooed the carpets and did a little grocery shopping. We had decided to go on our last little date that night. We figured our little guy would make his appearance sooner than later, so we took our chance and enjoyed the evening together. After dinner and a movie we came home and just chatted till about 1:30. We crawled into bed and about 30 minutes later I felt something a little discomforting.... did my water just brake?!?! I didn't know for sure so I sat at the edge of the bed for a minute. As soon as I stood up I felt another gush. I cleaned myself up and then snuggled up to Zack and said, "I think my water just broke!" He turned over and said... well I honestly can't remember what he said but it was along the lines of, "REALLY!?!?" I didn't know for sure because I couldn't feel any sort of contractions. Was this for real? We stayed in bed and not long after that I felt another gush. Yup, this is totally for real! I called my mom and told her this was it. Head on down. Zack had the downstairs tore apart from cleaning the carpets. He couldn't sleep after that so he went downstairs to get things put back together. I wanted to take a nice long shower and wash my hair. I knew the clock was ticking, but I didn't want to get to the hospital too soon. I was planning on doing a natural birth and the last thing I wanted was to be stuck in a hospital bed. After we finished our little projects we decided to lay in bed and see if we could get a little rest. At this point I was finally feeling some contractions. They were very irregular and tolerable, so I just tried to ignore them. At about 5 am we got in bed and Zack fell asleep. I got a little rest in between contractions which were becoming a little more regular and a little more painful. At about 6 they were about 6 minutes apart. So I woke up Zack, we got our stuff ready and loaded and headed to the hospital. By the time we got to the hospital my contractions were about 4 minutes apart and getting VERY uncomfortable. I had to stop a couple times walking in just so I could breathe through a contraction. Once we got in they took me right into a room and we got settled in. At this point Zack left to go get some batteries. We were a little unprepared. I got settled in, and in no time he returned. At this point things really took off. They checked me and I was dilated to a 6. My nurse, Stacey, was awesome. She was all for me doing a all natural birth. She went out of the room to call the doctor to let her know that I was in labor. When she came back in she told me my doctor wasn't on call this weekend, and that the doctor that was wanted me to have an I.V. I didn't really want one, because I was afraid they were going to drip pitocin in and I did not want any kind of drugs. But Stacey assured me it would just be fluids. For a couple of hours we just got through it one contraction at a time. I went from kneeling on the bed to standing next to the bed leaning over. I couldn't go too far because of the I.V. At one point a cute older nurse came in while I was standing next to the bed and gave both Zack and I a few pointers. She helped me to breathe right, and she helped Zack rub my back in just the right spot. Stacey told me I had to get back into bed because she needed to check me again. She didn't even tell me what I was dilated to... she just said I was going to start pushing soon. I pushed probably for about 30 minutes before the doctor came in. Once he got there I probably pushed for another 15-20. They were telling me how I was going to feel a lot of pressure and a burning sensation. The doctor asked me if I wanted a shot to numb me up a little so it wouldn't hurt so bad. UM.... HECK NO!!! So we pushed on. At 9:30 on the dot our little guy entered into this world. It was such a surreal moment! He weighed 8 lbs even and 21.5 inches long. We still didn't know what we were going t name him. Once everyone left us alone we weighed the 2 options we had and decided on Connor. About an hour after that they took me to my new room. I walked from my delivery room down the hall. As I was walking my mom was behind me in the hall. She was so shocked I was walking so soon.

Zack did such an amazing job. He would tease me all the time that he would just be waiting in the hall until he was born. But with only one nurse taking care of me he was pretty hands on. He told me he just focused on my face so he didn't see anything that he wasn't prepared for. He did great and was so amazing through the whole process.

I was sad that my mom didn't make it in time for his birth. I could feel her love and excitement whenever I talked to her on the phone. I know she wanted to be there just as much as I wanted her there. There is always next time.

My mom stayed with us for a week. We called her a work horse because she NEVER stopped. She was so amazing. And it was just a relief to have my mom with me and teach me the ropes of being a mommy. I have the best example to learn from. I just hope that I can be as amazing as she is!! My dad made it down on Friday and stayed for the weekend. He was just as helpful. And it was just so nice for us to be surrounded my family. I don't know what we would have done without their help and love.

Our little Connor is AMAZING!!!! We cannot imagine life without him. He has definitely flipped our world upside down, and we are loving every second of it.

Here a little... There a little

It has been brought to my attention that I am a blog SLACKER... thanks Penn :O)

Not much has gone on. I think the biggest news is that I turned 25!! Yikes... a quarter of a century. I really do feel old... I am 25!!!! Halfway to 50 and I couldn't feel better. My birthday weekend started out with a letter from my niece Summer... this was my gift from her (and Landon and Sammy of course)

ISN'T SHE THE CUTEST THING YOU HAVE EVER SEEN!!!! I haven't seen her since Christmas and she has changed so much.

Also when I got home on Friday Zack had cleaned the WHOLE ENTIRE HOUSE. I mean he did ALL the cleaning. ALL THE CLEANING!! He is so sweet. He wanted my birthday to be relaxing. He is so sweet. Saturday morning we went to the temple, did a little shopping, and RELAXED the rest of the day. It was absolutely the most wonderful day ever.

The only other news that I have is that I am changing positions at work. I am going to be the receptionist. I am so excited for this move. It was something that I needed. I was looking for something different and I was lucky enough to be able to stay with the company. I am really excited for the move because now I will have some accounting responsibilities. Which I am totally exited about. I start my new position this Monday... :O)

Now, these next pictures are just cuz I like to have pics in my posts... so they are just here for your enjoyment :O)




My o-so-cute puppy... Boomer

THE BOYS!!! These boys are the greatest. I love them lots :O)
This picture was taken during the elk hunt.

R.I.P Mitch..... This was my brother-in-law's pet snake Mitch. I am glad that we got pictures of him... because just a few weeks ago he died. I never would have thought that I would hold a snake like this. But it was just fine.. he was a really nice snake. That is until I looked down with him and his mouth was WIDE open. I wanted to just throw him across the room. But I held my cool (surprisingly) and then he closed his mouth. He was just yawning. Silly snake!!!! I really thought I was going to be snake food.... lol

Zack and Mitch :O)

Since it is oficially 2010 I thought i would sum up the last 3 months of 2009 with a few pics. Starting with December and ending with October.

All I wanted for Christmas was a White Christmas... well I got it and I was so happy. It was freezing cold, but it just felt like Christmas.

Christmas breakfast... PULLAPARTS. My most favorite Christmas Tradition. It makes me smile just thinking about them.... yummy

This cute girl was so much fun!!! I loved being there for her first Christmas.

The whole Hallows Clan at Grandma and Grandpa Hallows'.

A few weeks before Christmas Landon and Sammy came down to visit. We took them to the Christmas display at the Belagio, along with Drew and Loke and their cute kiddos.

At the Belagio... loved having these two, plus summer, at our house! They are always so much fun to be with.

Us with the Phillips Fam

Us at the best Christmas Party EVER!!! Merry Christmas....

This is the first weekend in November. Landon and Sammy had Summer's baby blessing in Aurora. The whole family got together. I think it was the first time since our wedding we were ALL together. Good times.

All of the Grandkids... they are a cute little crew!

Happy Halloween! We had our first annual Family Christmas Party. We all dressed up, ate some good food, played some fun games and then later we went on a Denny's run with some of the cousins.

The whole fam, minus Rhett and Shauna's girls. We had lots of fun getting dressed up, or down in my dad's case, for our party.

Well, thats about it for the last part of 2009! It has been a great year for us. We hope that you all have a wonderful new year!!!

1/4 of a century

To my wonderful hubby….

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! Yes it is true today is my wonderful Hubby’s Birthday… he is officially one quarter of a century old! :O) Wow, where did time go… I swear yesterday we were just 18 and high school sweethearts! Even though he will never read this, I just want to tell him he is the bestest in the westest! He is so good to me, such a hard worker, and makes me laugh EVERY SINGLE DAY! I am pretty sure I tell him he is crazy at least 25 times a day…. Cuz he is cRaZy!! And I love him for that! I hope you have a wonderful Birthday babe… you deserve it!

Just one of those Days....

Why is it that Satan works in such tricky ways?? I have had a lot on my mind lately, and so has Zack. So we decided that a trip to the temple was needed. We have many questions, and have spent many days praying for help. So what better help than to be close to our Heavenly Father? And then it happens…. I have a HORRIBLE day at work. Things happened that made me think and even speak not so nice words. And as I was thinking about the events that transpired at work, and my reactions to what had happened… it hit me! Of course it happens today! Satan is so tricky. It is the small things like this that make it hard to feel the spirit, and to be a good person! We are tested! So I sit here, taking deep breaths, trying not to let what happened at work affect me so emotionally that I cannot control the thoughts that were raging inside as my blood was boiling. And I am grateful that we are all human, and we all have these moments. And grateful that our Heavenly Father understands that we are only human! The blood has cooled, and the thoughts are a little more humane! Good thing work is almost over :O)



O and PS.... I'm an aunt to a BEAUTIFUL Summer Gracie :O) HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

Yesterday... Takes the Cake!

A friend of mine at work had a baby shower yesterday, and her mom had asked me to make a cake for the shower. I was so excited, because I love to bake. And I am always looking for a reason to make something sweet :O) My good friend Loke graciously offered to help me make the cake. I was so excited because we always have so much fun together, and I am always grateful for another person's opinion. Well, Friday night we started our adventure (it was the first time either of us had attempted to use fondant and the first time either of us had tried to tackle a two tiered cake) Well, after 8 hours of hard work we were done....

This is the cake minus the cute umbrella on the top because it still wasn't dry

These are the super cute 3-D flowers that Loke made out of the fondant

We were both so excited because for first timers we thought we had done a pretty good job. We went to sleep very satisfied with ourselves!

Then at 8 am Saturday morning I got a phone call.... Loke?

Groggy and a little incoherent ( the phone call woke me up) I can hear the uneasiness in Loke's voice. "Tori you will never believe what happened! I woke up this morning and McKayla -her 4 year old daughter- snitched in the cake. I need you over here for damage control!"

I was still trying to wake up, and was a little unsure if I heard her correctly. We talked for a minute, and I was on my way back over to her house. We kept the cake there because I didn't want to try and transport the cake from her house to mine all by myself and at 2 in the morning. With my tool box (cake decorating supplies) and Kitchen Aid in hand I walked into the house. Loke answered the door with tears in her eyes, apologizing for what happened. I really didn't think it could be that bad!! Her daughter is the best behaved 4 year old I know!!! I was assuming she stuck her little fingers in the icing to take a little taste... totally fixable, right? So I went into the kitchen, reluctantly, afraid of what could have really happened. And this is what I saw..........

This is the picture after I had started "Operation Fix Baby Cake" I took off all of the fondant pieces and the green dot borders before I realized I should take a picture... eventually I would laugh about this, right? She had taken about 4 big chunks out of the cake just like this one, a few smaller ones, and added some extra fondant dots and flowers. We had also made some cupcakes to go on a cute cupcake stand. She had managed to touch every single one of those as well. How, I have no idea. She is always so eager to help whenever we get together to do little projects, and I have a feeling she thought she was just trying to help on this one as well.

Well after another 3 hours of adding another layer of frosting, and adding the decoration back on we ended up with this......

Not too bad, eh?!?! I can't tell you how happy I was that we were able to fix the cake. And how glad I am that Loke was able to help! We learned a few lessons tho...

1. Keep cakes (no matter how well behaved your children are) up up up and away! Those little fingers, and adoring eyes can't help but "snich" a little taste

2. Frosting can do, and cover, about anything!

3. After all is said and done, you will laugh about what happened :O)

ITS FRIDAY

ITS FRIDAY!!!!!! WOW THIS HAS BEEN THE LONGEST WEEK EVER!

hope you all have a great weekend :O)

Baby Shower and Family Fun

This last weekend Zack and I were able to go to Aurora.... ah Home Sweet Home!! We had a baby shower for my sis-in-law Sam and Baby Summer (hopefully she gets here soon! Can't wait to meet her:O) It was so nice to be home. And even better because I could feel the start of fall in the air. It was wonderful. Here are a few pics from Saturday. We were able to have almost our whole fam together. We were only missing Landon, who was driving back to Utah from D.C, and Alex, she was in SLC doing some soccer stuff. And it was so nice for us all to be together. We had a great time.

This is Sam and the nieces hands on her cute belly. We are all so excited to meet Summer (she is due to be here in about 3 weeks... we hope it is sooner)

The Girls with Sam again

Of course we ate... its just what we do. Nathan is pretty good at it too!

Like father... like son! Austin was going to town on the corn. He told Zack "The corn is the best part!" I think he ate 2 or 3 ears of corn without touching his burger.

Zack and Lindsay... They were twinners in PINK :O)


We played a mean game of kick ball. All the girls played without our shoes on.. and we paid for it. We all had huge red welts on our feet. It sure was fun tho!

The Boys playin a little kick ball. I think my favorite part about this is just the green grass... I could have just sat on the grass forever.

All the girls, - Alex~ Sammy, Lindsay, Me, Shauna, Tana, Mom, Kiara, Kaitlyn


All the Boys, - Landon~ Zack, Nathan, Rhett, Dad, Jackson, Austin

3's of You Tag!

You've been tagged; so you are supposed to fill in the 3's of You.
At the end, choose 3 people to be tagged.
If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you. Have fun!

Three names I go by:
1. Victoria
2. Tori
3. Sis

Three jobs I have had in my life:
1. Paralegal for KSSJ Attorneys
2. Turkey Plant... need I say more! YUCK!!
3. Cal Ranch.... wootwoot

Three places I have lived
1. Aurora, Ut
2. Cedar City, Ut
3. Las Vegas, NV

Three favorite Drinks:
1. H2O
2. Diet Mt. Dew
3. Hot Chocolate

Three TV shows that I watch:
We don't have cable... No TV for me, happily :O)

Three top places I have been:
1. Cancun
2. St. Thomas/St. Maarten/Bahamas
3. Aurora, Ut... LOVE that place

Three of my favorite restaurants:
1. Sushi Mon
2. Cafe Rio
3. Big Island Bouba... shave ice baby!!

Three things I'm looking forward to:
1. Having a few kiddos :O)
2. Going back to school to be an esthetician
3. Maybe some day moving back to Utah... doubt it will happen but I can wish, right?

Three people I tag:
1. Monica
2. Melanie
3. Chelo

O HOW I LOVE THEE....

I have always enjoyed a good snow cone, or shave ice. But this last weekend I was able to have THE BEST SHAVE ICE EVER. I had been craving a shave ice for the last week or so. I asked everyone I knew if they knew of a good place to get a shave ice. Well, I remembered that while driving down Eastern I had seen a little shop that had shave ice. So we invited our friends Drew and Loke to come with us. Loke is from Hawaii and grew up having shave ice. And it was a good thing she came because she told me the best way to get my shave ice. At first, I will admit, I was a little sceptic. I was just used to some good ice with the wonderful flavored syrup. But I was turned on to a whole new treat... you ready for this? Shave ice (with tigers blood syrup- its my fave), vanilla ice cream in the middle with sweetened condensed milk drizzled on top. Who would have thought?? But let me just tell you... it was AMAZING! And it was GINORMOUS!!!!! It took both Zack and I to finish the treat off. Don't worry we didn't let any waste :O) I wish I had my camera so you could see how wonderfully delicious this sweet cold treat was. Don't worry, I will be going again. And I will take pics I promise!



This is just a pic I found that was similar to what I had... but the one I had was at least twice as big :O)

Hallows Family Reunion... Duck Creek, Ut

WARNING... lots of pictures!

This last weekend Zack and I were able to go to Duck Creek and go to our Hallows Family Reunion. We had so much fun and just want to say THANK YOU thank you to my parents for all that they did for us. And for all the hard work they went through to prepare and make the reunion AWESOME!!!! We all had so much fun.

Zack and I left right after I got off work on Thursday. We arrived in Duck Creek @ 10ish and made it just in time to play a little Signs... The funnest camping game!

The next morning we got up, had some super yummy breakfast and got ready to go for a wheeler ride. My parents let us use their 4-wheeler. We went on some beautiful trails! The ride lasted a good 4+ hours. But it was so nice to just be in the outdoors. We don't get much of the outdoors (if any) in Vegas!

My Mom and I waiting at the 4-wheeler corral before the ride.

About an hour into the ride... stopping for a little snack :O)

My Dad, Mom and Zack

Us during the ride. We had so much fun!

Us after the ride.... it was a little dusty the whole time, but not bad at all...... UNTIL about the last 10 minutes. It was just crazy! We got so dusty. I could barely see through my sunglasses. We were big dust balls... it was hilarious!

The whole gang (minus Lori- taking the picture and my cousin Tanner and Bailey- they got pulled over by the "quad cops" for not having helmets on because they weren't 18 OOPS) We were all so dusty, we couldn't stop laughing at each other.

After the ride my mom had planned a fun Cowboy Chuck Wagon Dinner. We all wore bandannas. The bandannas were a hit with everyone! Especially my cute nieces and nephews....

My youngest nephew Jackson- Doesn't he make a cute little cowboy?!?!

Kaitlyn, Austin and Lindsay. They are all just too cute.

The Hallows brothers and their wives, and of course Grandma and Grandpa Hallows! It was so fun that they were able to make it up for the evening.

Grandma and Grandpa Hallows

We also had a little visit from a snake... The little kids were too funny. They stood right next to the snake so they could take a look.

After Dinner we had a Pinata. The kids LOVED IT of course! Great idea mom!!!

My brother Nathan getting the kids ready to take their turn bashing the cute little horse.

After dinner we had a HALLOWS vs HALLOWS kick ball game. It got pretty serious! I asked Zack if he wanted to play and he was like sure. I said "well its just going to be a fun game of kickball" and he said "yea right! Hallows' just don't do a "fun" game of anything. You are all so competitive" He was right! It turned out to be a very serious game of ball....

My Uncle Trent, Cousin Erica and Zack- Getting ready to play some outfield

I was the pitcher. It was a lot of fun, even though our team lost. It was so close, then we just let it go. We finally had to stop because the sun was going down. All we needed was a few lights and we could have gone all night long :O)

The next day we just relaxed and had a good time. My mom had some activities planned for the little kids. They did a little craft frame and then we all made some home made ice cream. It was so yummy!

My Dad and his ice cream... we each made out own ice cream.

After the ice cream the heavens decided to open up and it rained a little bit. It was so beautiful to just sit there and enjoy the rain. A bunch of us just sat under the canopy and waited for the rain to stop. It got a little chilly as well.

We hadn't eaten lunch yet... But that doesn't really matter when in the mountains. We sat under the canopy and ate all sorts of treats! I love camping :O)



After lunch my mom got out the marshmallow shooters.. they were a hit! Especially with my mom!! She was by far the fastest marshmallows shooter-.she was dubbed the semi-automatic!

We were all surprised how far and fast those little mallows would go.



The boys got into a very serious (once again the competitive Hallows) game of Washers...

No worries... the May/Hallows team beat the Hallows/Hallows team!!! WAHOOO

Our last night @ camp... my dad was just tuckered out! He fell asleep in the chair sitting by the fire. And for those of you who know my dad aren't surprised at all- he can fall asleep ANYWHERE :O)

The end of the night. We had so much fun.

THANKS MOM AND DAD!!!! YOU TWO ARE THE GREATEST! WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!