Chris and Emily Evans: My Birthday, Christmas 2014, and Hadley's Blessing

Christmas was quite an adventure this year. It was the first year where we had someone to worry about other than ourselves. Christmas was great and it was so fun spending time with both families. Hadley had a hard time adjusting to being passed around so much and traveling in the car for many hours, but she handled it well.

Chris and I celebrated my birthday this year the best we could with having Hadley. We went to lunch at Joe's Farm Grill and then had dinner at Zinburger which has become a new favorite. Chris gave me a Wii which I have been asking for for years! We have already spent a good deal of time battling each other in Mariokart. I was so excited to get my beloved Nintendo.

Traveling up to Salt Lake for Christmas ended up being quite easy. Hadley slept pretty much the whole time and we stopped in St. George as usual. We went to the Bear Paw with Tahnee and Tyler Gregory before we made the trip up to Salt Lake. Our break consisted of a lot of fun outings with friends and family. We enjoyed the candy windows at the Grand America, playing Just Dance on Christmas with my nieces and nephews, Chris went skiing with his dad, celebrating my birthday with my mom and sisters, getting two baby showers from families on both sides, and spending a night at Jump Around Utah for Afton's birthday. We are so grateful to have families that enjoy spending time with us. We also celebrated my mom's 70th birthday where we all wrote letters and put them in a book just like we did for my dad last year. We even had the grandkids do a little program and my mom loved being the center of attention even though she denies it.

We blessed Hadley while we were up in Utah. Chris gave a gorgeous blessing, and we had it at my parent's house so both our families could be there. We had a lot of friends and family there, and Hadley was perfect. She wore Addelynn's beautiful blessing dress.

Christmas was great. We got great things from family and from each other. I gave Chris some shoes and belt that he really wanted, and Chris got me a new Macbook Air computer! It was a wonderful surprise, and I love having a nice computer to myself. I definitely scored this birthday and Christmas. Hadley was spoiled by her Grandma Evans as planned, and we are very lucky to have two sets of parents who adore her in every way.

I received two baby showers while I was home. The Giauque side of the family and the Evans side. Markae and Whitney threw me a book shower where all the food coordinated with books and people brought books as their gift. It was such a good idea and I loved both showers.

Although the break was very fun, unfortunately many people were very sick with the flu and all sorts of viruses. Somehow I did not get sick, but Chris got very sick as well as Hadley. On our way back to St. George, Hadley got a fever that night. Being a new parent, I was terrified and took her into the ER. She ended up being ok, but they did suction out her nose and I couldn't bear to listen to her scream. It was heart wrenching. We stayed in St. George for the day to give Hadley time to rest. The drive home the next day was unbearable. Hadley couldn't get comfortable and screamed most of the time. The poor thing didn't feel well, and Chris and I felt helpless. The past few days have been hard trying to get her back to feeling well. We are still trying to get her back on some sort of schedule even though she is still sick.

Life with a baby is very different, but I really love being a mom. I am glad Chris and I waited a while to have kids because I felt very ready to take the next step after spending quality time together. 2014 was a wonderful year with Hadley being born, and 2015 will be just as great if not better. We are so excited to watch our baby grow up.