Cutting the Christmas Tree pt. 2

It was pretty cold out side so we were glad to get back in the car!

Here is everyone who went with us: Grandma Hickman holding Alyson, Camille holding Brooklyn, Anne holding Talia and me (Preston was taking the picture)

Cutting the Christmas Tree (Dec 2007)

Here's Preston and Talia ready to go. On the hunt...I think we spent far too long hiking for my taste but it was fun.
My sweet Talia was so exhausted. She is so good natured that we didn't even know she was really sick. :(
Success!

A Tid-bit of Talia

Early December 2007

Here is a cute little clip of Talia blowing raspberries or zerbits. This is a skill that she mastered at an extremely young age. When she was around 6 months she would wake me up in the morning with a big wet on on any piece of skin she could find. Once she saw the camera she was done but it is still really cute. :)

Update

So here is the deal... my computer is ancient and it takes me a year and a day to publish a post plus I can't find my cord or where to plug it in on the computer to upload my pictures from Christmas. I also find it increacingly difficult to even find the time to sit down at the computer with my active little girl and when Preston is out of town (which is averaging around 2 weeks every month) it is nearly impossible! I am barely showering and when I do I give myself a big pat on the back. With all that said here is an update on my life...

Um...I'm Pregnant!!! Yes that is right, pregnant. We are so excited and I have been extreemly blessed to have a wonderful pregnancy so far. I think it would break my heart if I was sick and had a hard time taking care of Talia. I am due middle of August and I am definately in for it because my two babies will be 17 months apart. Pretty crazy but so exciting!

Talia keeps me busy and smiling! She is an amazing walker and has just recently mastered going down the stairs independently. Now I don't have to buy that baby gate I have been putting off purchasing. :) Her vocabulary keeps growing every day she now says and/or signs over 20 words. Some of her favorite signs are phone, cheese and water. At the grocery store she was so cute when she signed cheese at the check out because she saw the string cheese and was so hungry! Talia has an adorable way of saying bye and hi, it is almost with a southern accent and the bye is usually followed by blowing kisses. Something that I love about Talia is that when she has slept well she wakes up talking and laughing at herself. I feel so blessed to have such a sweetheart for a daughter! I can't believe that she will be a year old next month!

Preston and I keep busy with callings (bishopric and young womens) and try to find time for each other in between his business trips. Other than that things are going well and I promise to make a concerted effort to figure out how to get some pictures on here.

My long absence!

I thought I should let all of you know....first of all that I am in deed alive and I have not forgotten about the blogging community. Over the last month Blogging has fell low on my list of priorities. I think the wind was really taken out of my sails when my computer with pictures from the last 3 years crashed! We spent $100 to find out that our hard drive had crashed, which we already knew, and the information was not recoverable, which we suspected. I am fortunate that I have blogged excessively the last year so I have most of the pictures from Talia's first year of life. Besides that I went to my Grandma Nielson's 100th birthday and tagged along on Preston's business trip. For the holidays we had lots of visitors, in fact all 8 Hickman kids and all the grandkids came for Christmas which was crazy and fun all at the same time and Preston and I had Gavin for 10 days during which I got a nasty flu and proceeded to throw up for two days! Ahh! In addition Talia decided she had had enough of this crawling business and decided to walk just before Christmas (9 1/2 months old). I have been on my toes ever since and she just keeps getting faster. So to sum up...I have a bunch of pictures on my camera that I am not quite sure what to do with but when I do you will have many posts to catch up on. In the mean time, I think I am on Marenda's blog a couple of times if you are in need of new pictures.

Until I blog agian...

We Need a Little Christmas!

Preston's Buddy

Feeding the Ducks

In the beginning of November we went to my favorite park to feed the ducks. Last time we went Talia was only a few days old. :) It was so fun to see her get excited about the ducks, geese and squirrels. Some of them will eat right out of your hand! Here I was signing "duck"

I have to say this is one of my most favorite family dates and it hardly costs a thing!

Bum Sweater

I made a pair of wool longies (diaper cover) out of a sweater that I found at the thrift store because I have been trying to find a better solution for a night time diaper. (I have been doing cloth diapers if you didn't know) I think they look absolutely adorable and they didn't leak. We will see...they still smell like moth balls when they get wet...I will have to fix that if I am going to really use wool at night. I was proud of myself because I sewed them without my mom's help. :) I had to sew them by hand because I don't have a sewing machine but I have always felt like I didn't have enough skill or desire to sew to deserve a sewing machine. Maybe I deserve my own sewing machine now?!?
Lorrin...what do you think about my bum sweater???

Hickman's Haunted House

We had a blast hosting a Halloween party! Lots of our favorite friends came with awesome costumes. Unfortunately while I was busy bustling around I forgot to take more pictures of all the great costumes. I had a much better version of my rain costume but I forgot to get a picture! Oh well...we had a blast! Thanks for coming everyone! And HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Even more from Arizona

One of Trenton's favorite things to do was steal my camera every time it was within his reach. I deleted probably 30 pictures and several short movies. What a rascal! I finally started hiding my camera in very high places. I thought this one was a sweet profile of Talia so I kept it. Maybe he has a future in photography. While Kendra and Barry were at the hospital, I helped Kira and Trenton make these shirts for the long awaited trip to the hospital to meet their new little sister. We also made a pink onesie for the baby. Check Kendra's blog for all the details on the birth of Tessa. The big news is that Tessa has brown hair! :)

More from Arizona

Halloween Round 1

Saturday night we went to our ward Halloween party. Even though my costume isn't done I did my best to put something together. Can you tell what we are??? Well...Preston is the sun (complete with gold glittery hairspray), I am the rain (the finished product will have sequins for raindrops) and we help the flower grow! I am pretty proud of my home made costumes!

Here is the flower pot with Tinkerbell! AKA - Talia and Hallie
After I took Talia's pot off, Hallie's mom, Michelle and I put our girls on opposite ends of the very long hallway and watched them race to meet each other in the middle. It was so cute because Talia got so excited the closer she got to Hallie. They are such good friends! I would venture to say that Hallie is Talia's favorite right now!

Halloween Fun

I just had to have Talia try on some of Kendra's costumes from Halloweens past. I think she makes a pretty perfect pumpkin and a lovable lamb!

Crazy Talia!

Cousin Trenton likes to use the camera and these are some of the more artistic shots of Talia. I actually see this view quite often. It is the "I want to eat you" face.

Talia is such a busy girl! It seems like she is doing something new everyday! Yesterday (7months & 1 week old) Talia just took off up the stairs. It was only a few days ago that she learned how to climb small boxes! I thought she would get distracted or give up a couple of stairs into the journey but she was quite determined to climb all the way to the top. Once there all she wanted to do was take a neck-breaking dive down the stairs. Crazy girl!

"Mama"

Here is a short video of Talia saying "mama"

Some Pictures for Daddy!

Talia and I are in Phoenix visiting Kendra while Preston is out of town for work. Talia misses her daddy so much so we had to post some pictures for him to see. TALIA UPDATE: At just over 7 months Talia is a speedy crawler, she has mastered the art of pulling to standing and then getting back down to crawl around. She is still proficient at zerbits or raspberries and makes me smile everyday! Recently Talia learned how to climb on boxes and has begun to climb stairs. She is a pro at self feeding with small foods like cheerios and has really started experimenting with talking. She says "Hi" and "MaMa or "AhhMa" I am not sure she has figured out what Hi means and when to say it but she says it just like I do to her. She just started to say mama but uses it when she wants me to hold her. It is so fun to see her grow and change!!!

Cute in a Hat!

Crawling and Standing

We went to my in-laws house last night and finally got some video of Talia crawling. I had no idea Preston was filming but I still think this one is cute.

Here she is standing up. She really does this all by herself.

Another crawling video.

Pickles!!! YUM!!!

Sleepy Talia

I couldn't resist this photo because I love her ruffle bum!
I thought this was a creative choice for a sleeping position. I just love this little girl!