That's what it's "Hall" about!

Bound to Happen

2011-11-30T13:21:00.000-08:00

So ever since we moved I have had the same calling - Primary Chorister. What was a major fear turned into a major love and really didn't think that I was going to be changing any time soon. I finally knew what I was doing. That's when you know you're toast. So, 3 1/2 years later I got released from the best gig in the Primary to be changed to (hopefully) the best in the Young Women's, the MiaMaid advisor. Once again I am terrified, but the excitment is drowning it out. I loved Young Women's growing up so hopefully I can pass some of that on to our awesome girls. The whole leadership for the Young Women's is new as well as our bishopric (it happened the same Sunday), so we are all feeling a little lost, but we'll work through it and have a rockin' time. Last night was the first mutual night that I went to and it was an absolute blast! I love our girls already. But a LOT has changed since I've been in Young Women's. So if anyone out there has any advice about working in Young Women's, or any awesome activity ideas, I am totally ok with it if you share!

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T15:36:00.000-07:00

Our Halloween season lasted all weekend and then again on Monday. I think this was the most fun that the kids have had on Halloween all their short little lives. On Friday was Jaxon's class party that I got to help out at that was complete with fire alarm drill and parade. That night was the school's Halloween carnival and Jaxon was in his element. He loved playing all the games and was all about the giant inflatables. He was especially good at the giant inflatable obstacle course. We weren't even sure if he could do it, but he wanted to do it, so we let him, and he burned through that sucker. Sammi and Jill had a good time as well. Sammi was a little more hesitant to get involved, but had fun when she did. Her favorite was the donut walk and fish pond. Jill just was happy as can be to be in her pooh costume, watch all the craziness that was going on, and sneak candy whenever she could. On Saturday we went trick or treating to Grandpa Gordon and Grandma and Grandpa. On Monday we hit the truck-or-treat that was in a small little neighborhood in our ward, just perfect for such occasions. Then we proceeded to hit a few of the houses in our neighborhood and make visits to an elderly couple that we just love to visit with, as well as Granny and Grandpa and Katie and Mark. And it only took us about three hours! We came away with way more candy than I expected, but the kids were having a blast through it all. It was fun to see them having fun. Plus they were dang cute to look at. They loved their costumes and wore them today as well. That only lasted about and hour as they realized that wearing the costume does not atomatically get them more candy.

Happy, happy birthday Sammi, dear!

2011-11-01T15:14:00.000-07:00

Our little Sammi was ecstatic to celebrate her birthday. She proved that she was quite grown-up by keeping the bike that she helped me pick out for Jaxon and that was hiding in the back with a sheet over it when we picked the kids up for carpool a complete secret. She is awesome! Sammi is quite the girly girl so we spent her birthday morning doing exactly what she wanted to do - nails, hair, and coloring pictures of Rapunzel. She has been obsessed with Rapunzel lately even though we don't have the movie and she has only seen it a couple of times thanks to grandma. She wants to grow her hair out long like Rapunzel and is quite pleased with her progress. It's clear to her waist at the longest part when it's straight. Sammi wanted a Rapunzel cake and since I'm a little over making the whole barbie cake
(although I got quite good at them after doing it two years in a row), we did Rapunzel's tower as her cake. That sucker was tall! And miracles of miracles, it all stayed in tact! Whew! Sammi's birthday was actually quite a busy day as I was also trying to prepare some stuff for Jaxon's class Halloween party the next day, so I was more than happy to make her dinner request. Sammi's birthday meal was mac n' cheese. Bless you child. Just what a busy mom wanted to hear. Even though it was no surprise because she asks for it every night. Sammi is such a funny little girl. She is always making us laugh with her little comments and gestures. I think my favorite quote from her so far has been when we where having family home evening and she tried to whisper this observation to me as to not hurt our dad's feelings, "Daddy has the priesthood...he can't walk on water!". She is a very sweet girl and is just beautiful. She is going to make a great mom judging my the way that she mothers her dolls. We love her so much and are so grateful that she's a part of our family!

Jaxon is one year older and wiser, too!

2011-11-01T14:55:00.000-07:00

Jaxon had "the best birthday ever with the most presents ever." He had a pretty awesome day. When I went to wake him up for school, before he even opened his eyes, he put a big smile on his face and serenaded me with this little ditty, "It's my birthday shout hooray, wooh, I want to sing to me all day, wooh!". He was a helpful little six year old, too. As I was cleaning up from the disaster area that I made out of the kitchen when I was decorating his cake, Jaxon started cleaning the rest of the house and would not stop. "I just feel like I could clean all day!" Wait, what? Is it my birthday? For his birthday cake he wanted a pizza cake because, "I don't like pizza, I LOVE pizza!"
He actually wanted me to stuff the pizza-looking cake with pizza, but I convinced him that a separate pizza for dinner would have to suffice.
He had a great day and it was awesome to celebrate with all of our family that is around here (minus Emily and Jake, we missed you!). Jaxon is such a funny kid that keeps us constantly on our toes and amazes us with his memory and smarts. He's becoming quite the little reader and loves to speed around on his bike, excuse me, "motorcycle". He really is an amazing helper to me most all of the time and is such a good big brother. We love our Jaxon and are excited to see what this next year will bring.

Kindergarten!

2011-09-02T20:09:00.000-07:00

Jaxon on his first day at school. By the way, he's doing the letter 'K' in sign language for kindergarten, not the #1.

So, I remember once sitting in a Red Robin in Visalia next to a poster that said, "All I need to know I learned in Kindergarten" and then had a list of stuff that we learn in kindergarten that we use throughout our lives. Supposed to be funny, or ironic, or something. Well, I don't agree with it at all because, frankly, I feel I've learned a lot since that time in my life. But I digress. I feel like "All I need to know about myself I learned when my first child went to kindergarten". Ok, maybe not everything, but some pretty important things anyway. Let me explain:
1. I have learned that I'm slightly clingy. Ok, ok, really a lot clingy. I may or may not have been seen bawling my eyes out as the school bus drove away with Jaxon on it for the first time in his little life. But in my defense I did wait until it was driving away. (And I may or may not be a little misty now just thinking about it) But think about it - it's the beginning of the end. Blink and he'll be in high school, blink again, mission, again, married with 11 kids (hahahaha!!!). It's all going too fast! What's the rush? Slow down, isn't he still like 2 or 3 or something?
2. I have learned that it's almost easier to have more kids to entertain than less. It seems like every morning that I struggle to find things to thrill and excite (and educate of course) the girls. Where's a Jaxon when you need him? But it's really good for Sammi to get a little more attention. When Jill grants that privilege anyway.
3. I have learned in a whole new way what it means to be genuinely excited for someone else even though you feel bad for yourself. Jaxon is just jump out of his shoes excited to go to school each day and comes home absolutely glowing. I love that.
4. I have learned to absolutely appreciate this time that I have to be at home with my kids. I have been guilty at times of wishing and looking forward to the day when I can have a little more peace and alone time when someone wasn't crawling all over my personal space. But now I get it a little more - this is the best time ever, challenging, yes, but the best.

So, yes, Jaxon started school on Wednesday and is loving every bit of it. Especially the bus ride. Oh, and one other side note. The kids in our neighborhood that he rides the bus with - awesome. They are so nice to him, it just makes my day. Jaxon's teacher is Mr. Nielsen, no relation. Jaxon really likes him so far and he seemed really nice when I met him, although he is one of the few people in the world that have made my 6 foot self feel short. So here's to a successful start to many more years of learning!

The likeness is disturbing

2011-08-02T15:19:00.000-07:00

So is it me, or does Jaxon look like a mini-version of Elton John in the '80's?

Poor Jaxon needs a brother.
Don't think I'm announcing anything, I'm just sayin' someday)

Yah, Jill, I think it's funny, too.

I guess Christmas was a while ago...

2011-07-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

So, hello. Long time no blog. Life got a little crazy there for a while and something had to give, this was that something. Our life since Christmas has been full and awesome! Here's a little update of what's been up these last 7ish months.
Jill learned how to crawl just in time to get into everything at Christmas time. Awesome.

In January I did one of my months of teaching for the joy school that Jaxon was involved in. Let me tell you, I have a new appreciation for teachers and I pray for the soul that will have Jaxon as a kindergarten teacher. Not that I think that he's going to be particularly naughty, but just wow, the energy that kid gets when he's amoung his peers (especially his BFF Brody). Seriously, it should be examined and researched. Riley also turned 30 this month. He discovered it's not all that bad.
February came and I started looking after a couple of kids for a friend of mine. One was a little two year old girl and the other was a 7 month old little boy. Once again, I gained a new respect for mothers who have twins, what with Jill being just a couple months older than the little boy. Steph, I am in awe of you. But it was a good thing, and kept me busy, and I'm glad that I could help out.
Jaxon and Sammi were also involved in a dance class that my sister, Emily and a friend of her did for their dance major. They absolutely loved it and keep on talking about when they will be able to do it again.
Sammi also went to the dentist for the first time and was a model patient.

In some of March and April I taught for school again. Whew. Really, these kids were pretty great. So incredibly smart and funny. One girl could totally draw better than me. Don't know how I feel about that.
In April Jill turned 1 year old! It's very exciting, but I still think that she should be a little baby.

Shortly after her birthday Jill started walking and loving being mobile. It wasn't long until she started running. About a week after turning 1, Jill also started sleeping through the night finally!!! Words cannot describe my joy! Well, it lasted a while, but she's back to waking up to tell me how much she loves me at least once, but mostly 2-4 times a night. What a gal.
May came and with it my birthday and our anniversary with an awesome Staycation with Riley. BIG thanks to my parents and Mark and Katie who made that possible. Riley also went through a major transformation at this time.

We had a rocking Hall family reunion that was pirate themed. Barbara did an absolutely amazing job with it all.

June came with a whole lot of crazy. Jaxon learned how to ride his bike without training wheels. Big stuff. Sorry, no picture.
The kids stayed with Rick and Barbara and had a blast while Riley and I took a road trip with my parents and Mark and Katie to go to my Uncle Brent's wedding to his now lovely wife Melinda. It was fast and furious, but a serious amount of fun. Riley and I got to dance the night away at the wedding and pretty much made fools of ourselves. It was great!
Michael and Anne came with the kids to visit us crazies out in Idaho. It was soooo good to spend a lot of time with them. We went to the circus, the zoo, the museum, the spray park, out to the Hall farm, had 4th of July celebrations, and just played until we dropped. Well, we dropped, but the kids kept on going. I really hope they eventually make it out closer so we can hang out more. Like soon would be good.

So our life keeps on plugging along and we are just trying to enjoy the ride. Thinking back on the last little while has really made me realize how blessed that we are as a family. Hope your family is doing great as well!

Photographer I am not

2010-12-07T13:14:00.000-08:00

I have learned many things since becoming a mother, especially since becoming a mother of three. Some of which are: you can go without having a decent REM cycle for lets say oh, about a year, without going crazy...completely. I am capable of loading up a grocery cart with food storage and not lose a single child or have anything broken. I can keep my garden weeded. I can include my kids in chores (even though it's much easier to do it on my own). I can laugh at the hilarious things my kids do instead of want to lose my patience. One thing I cannot do though - purposely get a good picture of all three kids together. It just can't be done. I've tried on several occasions with very limited success. But if they are unkempt and Jill's sitting there in just a shirt and diaper, oh yah, they are all about taking on fantastic picture when they are all smiling. But it's like they know when I take effort to wash their faces and put them in coordinating outfits that this is one time when they can really get mom to lose her mind. Jaxon: "Ok, Sammi, first you put your finger in your nose, then refuse to look at mom, and I'll smile like I have a needle in my finger, then look plain bored from then on out. Jill, you be more interested in grabbing the camera and then get mad when you can't have it. Readyyyyyyyyy break!" This is one of those amazing pictures that I tried to capture this afternoon as I'm trying to get something that will work for Christmas cards (kinda late, I know). The other is me and pretty much how I felt after it was all done. Oh well, another thing I have learned: let it go, man, let it go.

All about Jaxon

2010-09-09T12:33:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of school for Jaxon. His birthday isn't until past the deadline for kindergarten, so he's doing something else instead. Five girls that I go to church with and I are doing a joy school for our preschool age kids. I'm way excited about it and Jaxon pretty much loves it as well. He especially loves the spiderman folder that he has to carry his papers home in.

Also, while he was at school I recieved a phone call from our dentist informing me that Jaxon won the "No Cavities Contest". The prize: a spinning toothbrush that has Walli (that disney thing) on it and his name in lights on the marque outside the office. He won a major reward! Can life get any better? I submit that it cannot...at least not to a four-going-on-five year old.

Sammi is so proud of her big brother.

Jill is also happy although she doesn't really need a reason like a spinning toothbrush and a lite up name to have such a disposition.

Lately

2010-08-30T20:01:00.000-07:00

Oh man, I love summer, and this one has been a good one. Pretty much every week flies by, and it's not that I'm particularly busy, but wow is life moving fast. It's been a little bit on the cool side the past couple of days and it makes you wonder how summer can be gone so quickly. Well, here's some of the things that we did to pass the time. It seems like a lot when you compile it all together, but really we've had many lazy summer days.
We've:
-had summer camp of fun days at our neighbor's house
-had swim parties and friends over
-been to two parades
-set off fireworks twice (much to Sammi's chagrin) and went to see some big ones too
-Jaxon had a summer romance with a nine year old neighbor girl but she's back East with her mom now
-had Mark and Katie move here from Oregon
-had a smore fest in our fire pit
-had a backyard campout
-went on a family vacation to exotic Utah (Riley had to go there for work) where we went to the SLC zoo, the dino museum, swimming, and to Whitney's house for some fun
-gardened and weeded (a lot)
-went to Mesa Falls
-had my grandparents and aunt, uncle, and cousins come for a visit
-went garage saling (I'm totally an addict)
-painted the kids bathroom with the help of my rad sister, Katie
-went to the IF zoo with cousins
-went to some family reunions
-chased chickens, rode horses, and took a wagon ride at the stake 24th of July party
-Jaxon tagged along with Katie and Mark and crew when they went to Bear World
-went and saw the "Beauty and the Beast" musical up at Playmill
-enjoyed getting tons of strawberries and raspberries in our garden
-caught up with some friends that we don't get to see very often (even though most of them do live pretty close)
-watched Jill get pleasantly plump and get cheeks that I just love kissing
-got baby food all ready for Jill from the produce in our garden
-rode bikes, took walks, and just generally enjoyed being outside

And now comes Fall. Also a good season. Jaxon is going to start a joy school thingy I am involved with about six other ladies in my ward. It's going to be a very good thing to get Jaxon a little more socially and emotionally ready for school next fall. Fall also means that Riley gets to travel a lot, but the middle of November will be here before we know it, and then this travel season will be done. Hope everyone's summer have been relaxing and wonderful! Here's to many more weeks of it!

A new baby and a wedding

2010-04-26T13:42:00.000-07:00

So we had a baby three weeks ago today. I know, I know, it took me long enough to post about it, but I have many excuses. Like the following: There was family in town, so I was hanging out with them, My sister got married, I've been sleeping, I've been busy holding my little baby because I know all too well how fast they grow up. So without further ado, I would like to introduce to one and all our little Jill Amy Hall. She was born on April 5th and weighed 7lbs. 13 oz. She's growing like crazy already and we love having her be a part of our family. I actually went in to be induced the day before my due date because I have and awesome doctor who let me. It was a rather uneventful day thanks to those lovely epidurals. This was me all day - "oh that was a big contraction, can I get some lime flavored ice chips now?" and I was pretty much rolling in my bed because Riley and I found this Dave Barry book at the DI a couple of days before and he was reading it to me. Hil-ar-ious. I kept on having to readjust the contraptions attached to my belly because I was laughing so hard. We got there first thing in the morning and Jill wasn't born until around 7:30 that night. I think she saw the snow storm outside and decided that she would wait it out to see if the weather would get any better. The kids and grandparents and aunts and uncles all got to see our little Jill right after she was born which was great because Jill was all sorts of interested in getting to know them. She was incredibly awake and alert, especially compared to Jaxon and Sammi. It was so fun to have her so bright eyed right when she was born. Jill has been amazing to have in our home. She's such a great baby and Riley and I both love being parents to a new-born again. Jaxon and Sammi both adore her and Sammi especially loves to give her kisses and bring her stuffed animals and such. Jaxon now likes to play dolls with Sammi much more which Sammi couldn't be happier about.
Next, my beautiful little sister got married to an amazing guy on April 16th. Seriously, my new brother-in-law rocks. Thanks to her, a lot of my family was able to all get together here in Idaho. It was so much fun to have them all around and it was great for Jaxon and Sammi to have many more people to provide them with some much needed attention. It was also great for everyone to see little Jilly beans while she was still so little. I loved having so much family around and am going through withdrawals already. But I can't complain because I am so blessed to be living so close to lots of family anyway. But I digress. Emily was a gorgeous bride and it was a fantastic day. When we were leaving the temple that day I asked Jaxon if he was going to get married in the temple to which he replied, "of course!" And then I asked, "Well, who are you going to marry?" He said, "oh just you and dad". We'll have to work on that one...
So that's what we've been up to. For now I'm going to go hold my Jill.

The Waddles

2010-03-09T15:14:00.001-08:00

I will spare you the picture for those of you fortunate enough not to have to view such a spectacle. I am officially great with child and looking forward to having this little girl on the outside of me. Oh yes, I've got the waddle. Oh yes, it's hard for me to bend over or to get into our car. Oh yes, I look awfully funny with my skinny little arms and legs surrounding a rather large mid-section. Oh yes, I wish my doctor would tell me that I'm measuring early rather than right on time. Oh yes, I've done all the laundry necessary and have all my baby clothes ready to go. Oh yes, I'm ready to have a baby again. I get more and more excited every day, and not just because I'm getting more uncomfortable, either. I'm excited to have a little baby again. There is just nothing quite like it. So everyone cross your fingers and hope that I at least go a couple of days early (that's not too much to ask, is it?) By-the-way, we're sort of settled on a name, but welcome any new ideas. We did have it all figured out a couple of years ago what we were going to name this child but blah blah blah and yada yada yada, things change. Hope every one is ready to welcome Spring in, I know I sure am!

Been a while

2010-02-20T14:01:00.000-08:00

So, I guess it's not Christmas anymore. Maybe I should give a little update to what is going on with our busy (?) lives.
January was a new start and also a new health challenge for our health insurance. For the months of January and February Riley and I were bribed to swear off desserts and sweets for 80% of the months by our awesome health insurance. It hasn't been too bad...but sometimes I just want a cookie! January was also Riley's birthday where he turned 29. Dun, dun, dun, he's knocking on 30!
February stormed on in and, can you believe it, groundhogs day snuck right past us without us celebrating in the traditional ways such as digging a huge hole in our backyard and popping out of it. Of all the rotten luck! Next year, groundhogs day, next year. I'm happy to report that our taxes are completely done and we are just awaiting the automatic deposit into our savings account - yay! Valentine's Day came with much excitement for the kids. They were all about making valentines for their dad and cookies for their grandma and grandpa (and Bailee!). And more importantly they were all about getting their little valentine from Riley and me! I don't know why we keep on giving them candy, they still have some from Halloween and Christmas. This past Monday Sammi started wearing her princess and "pixie perfect" underwear (Riley absolutley loaths the word "panties" so we avoid it at our house). She's been doing really great with only a couple of accidents so we are way excited about that! Other than that stuff these past couple of months have been busy with getting to know our new ward (they changed the boundaries, we didn't move), doing school time with the kids, having friends over (the kids friends, not ours, why is that?), trying to figure out what to do for singing time, trying to sneak in some naps, going to the doctors for check-ups (yup, still pregnant), and trying to wait patiently for my one-day-a-week allotment for dessert. It's been good, but we are very excited for spring when we can be outside a little more and see some family that are coming out for Emily's wedding, plus I'll have this little girl finally out of me. Always something to look forward to!

'Tis the Season

2009-12-10T12:10:00.000-08:00

So as we have already been receiving Christmas cards early this week, good on all of you organized enough to do that, I decided that it was time for us to take Christmas card pictures. I took some of the kids in the afternoon. This is pretty much how it went. Me: "okay you guys sit there. No, sit. Come on, sit. I'll give you a treat if you sit. Okay now big smiles! Say cheesy! Okay, you have to sit still. Now look at me, no at me, where are my eyes, look at the camera. Okay just a couple more. Now put your arm around her, no don't lay down, come on sit up, sit up, no sit up." And on and on. The kids thinking: "What great fun! I can actually see Mom's sanity slipping away. I know just what to do - laugh and run away from the pregnant lady, Mua-ah-ah-ah!"
So then after dinner McKenzie was a saint and came over to take family pictures where there was more of the, "no, you have got to keep your hands down. Look who's in the camera, is it Annie (Liam, Lenny, Cole, etc.)?" And general begging and pleading and yes, bribing for some sort of decent picture. Jaxon was actually pretty good through both picture sessions, but Sammi, oh Sammi. When Kenzie was over she went through a time where she was actually on the floor kicking and screaming. Awesome. But after all of that we actually did end up with some pretty good pictures, and a lot that need to be deleted after we get a good laugh out of them. Huge thanks to McKenzie for being an awesome (and free) photographer!
So I don't know if anyone else has had this problem this Christmas season, but I thought that I was all sorts of organized and ready for Christmas. My neighbor gifts have been done since October, the kids presents mostly taken care of by the end of summer (thanks to garage saling, of which I am totally addicted to), and everyone else's gifts all purchased and waiting to be wrapped. But the more I think of it, the more I realize that I have got a ton still to do! So much for being ultra-prepared and on top of things. Ah well, 'tis the season! Merry Christmas one and all!

Another one

2009-12-01T19:28:00.000-08:00

It's a girl! We found out almost two weeks ago that this sweet little thing is going to be our second little girl. We couldn't be happier. I think Jaxon is okay with it. When I went to go pick him up at my parents house after my doctors appointment the first thing that he said was, "Is it a girl?" I nodded and said, "yah". "Okay", he sighed , "I'll still share my dinosaurs with my new baby sister." What a guy. Everything is looking perfect and she is growing right on schedule. She's starting to be quite active and I'm getting more large and in charge everyday. Yay - we are so excited to have another little girl to spoil!

The blur I called October

2009-11-17T20:10:00.001-08:00

So October is always a busy month for us. Has been ever since Jaxon was born really. Between 6 birthday celebrations (two of them being Jaxon and Sammi, born 3 days apart), a Hall girl retreat, Riley constantly traveling (not really, but seems like it), and Halloween parties. Throw in sickness, preschool (which McKenzie and I do together), and a funeral and we were pretty booked. All in all it was a great month with lots of reasons to celebrate. To summarize briefly, we ate too much birthday cake and treats.
The kids had a blast going to the Hall Halloween party that we had at McKenzie and Cole's house where we played lots of fun games and generally laughed a lot. Jaxon's birthday was so fun. He's at this great stage in his life where he knows very very well when it pays to be good and to be a good host, such as at your birthday party when people bring you gifts. Sammi's birthday was great, too. She absolutely loved all the princess and dress ups that she got and is in one every day. Jaxon was a little jealous of the attention, but those are the breaks.
We sure love our kids and feel so blessed to have them in our lives. Every day is such fun with them around. They say and do the funniest things that make me laugh so hard, even if they are being a little naughty sometimes. And they are both so loving, just coming up and giving hugs and saying "I love you" in their sweet little voices that just makes your heart so fill with joy. So blessed.
And we are so excited to have a new little one coming into our home in April! I'm officially 1/2 way done and couldn't be happier to reach that little landmark. We have another ultra sound on Thursday and should be finding out if this little sparky is a boy or a girl. Jaxon was insistent on having another little sister because he was all the brother that we needed. So in an attempt to get him to see the good of having a brother I told him that brothers were fun because then he could play dinosaurs with them. Now he really really wants a brother. Time will tell I suppose! Enjoy the slide show! It's a bunch of pictures Halloween and the kids birthdays.

A whole handful

2009-10-19T12:49:00.000-07:00

Well, it's that time again I suppose. We're expecting our third baby the beginning of April and couldn't be happier that our little family is now going to number five! I'm 16 weeks pregnant and finally feeling somewhat normal. Everything is looking good so far and besides morning/afternoon/evening sickness, being crazy tired, and a bout with the swine flu and pleurisy a couple of weeks ago I've been fantastic! We'll be finding out the gender of this little gummy bear probably around Thanksgiving. Jaxon is so excited to have another baby because he, "just loves babies and I'll be such a good brother to the new baby". He's always telling me, "Mommy, I'm sorry that the baby is making you feel sick". Such a sweet guy! I thought Sammi didn't have a clue about what was going on, but the other day she saw the ultra sound pictures and said, "baby in mommy's tummy!" over and over again. So I guess I should give her more credit. Really, though, we are all thrilled and just hope that we won't get knocked down too much more this winter with sickness. I'm excited to finally have a baby not in October and to be pregnant during the holiday's instead of trying to loose baby weight during Christmas and Thanksgiving. So bring on the fudge!

1 and 1/2 down 4 to go

2009-09-15T20:10:00.000-07:00

Well, Riley is in Chicago. Number 2 out of 6 trips that he's taking for work between now and the first week of November. He just informed me that he was waiting for his genuine Chicago pizza. Tonight we had Little Caesars hot-n-ready. But that's ok that he gets to go to all of these cool places and see cool things while I'm at home trying to get my kids to eat their dinner and make the house not smell like stinking diapers. Because someday he is going to take to me to Hawaii. I live on that someday.

Oregon at it's finest

2009-09-02T20:08:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday afternoon my parents suburban was packed to the gills and we (meaning my parents, Emily, and all of our posse) headed for Junction City, Oregon. Why? Only to visit some of the coolest people in the world - Mark and Katie "whatchu talking about" Willis! What we thought was going to be a 12 hr. drive turned into 14, which is quite gruelling at 4am and you want to sleep so very badly. (Seriously, Oregon, what's with your 55 mph speed limits when it's flat and mostly straight and there is NOTHING AROUND?) But we made it and it was well worth it.
First things first, we put the kids right to work at Katie's store, Luxe. Plug: you should go there if you are in Eugene, such a great place! Jaxon now wants a job there.

The next day we went to some waterfalls, but as soon as we opened the car doors to start our hike, it started raining. Welcome to Oregon, right? So we waited it out by playing cards for a while in the back of the Suburban (crazy fun). And then decided that we might as well just go and see those waterfalls. I think the rain only added to it all, we had so much fun!

The next day was beach day and we thought that we lucked out because it was sunny and hey, no rain! We hiked up to a lighthouse first, picking blackberries all the way.

Next stop was to find a free beach to play on and have our picnic. By the time we found our "free" beach, which we had to pay to park, some major fog rolled in. Awesome. Couldn't even see the waves. But we hunkered down and played anyway. Jaxon and Sammi had a blast searching for buried pirate treasure that Mark was secretly stashing away for them. Jaxon was only slightly concerned when he started eating one of the pirates cookies, which looked strangly like the cookies that Katie made... Riley became a seagull whisperer and made them dive and catch crumbs of bread mid-air. He had tons of them around him, I swore up and down that if any one of them pooped on any part of me, he would be in some major trouble. But we all escaped unscathed.

Then we decided that we were going to find that water and play in it, fog or no fog. About forever later we found it. Jaxon soaked up being at the beach for the first time, quite literally. Sammi just laughed and laughed at Katie helped her scoop up water from the waves in a bowl. We all got a little wet, but Jaxon and Sammi got the brundt of it all, and they loved it!

The rest of the time was filled up with playing all sorts of games, laughing our heads off, taking walks, and eating fantastic food. All in all it was a fantastic trip, rain and fog and all. Made some awesome memories and I'm itching to go back. Mark and Katie, you guys are the best! Thanks for showing us such a good time - we owe you one!

Vacation!

2009-07-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

So our big family summer vacation this year consisted of us going down to Provo with Riley (he had to go to BYU for work) for a couple of days, overnight really. We left early on Wednesday morning and came home late Thursday night. The highlight for the kids was getting to stay in a hotel and go swimming. That night as we were trying to put the kids down to sleep this is what I heard:
Sammi - (grunting unhappily all the while) Mommy?
Jaxon - Sammi, are you nervous?
Sammi - (still grunting) Mommy?
Jaxon - It's okay Sammi, they are just right over there.
Sammi - Mommy?
Jaxon - Do you want me to tell you a story?
Sammi - Uh huh
Jaxon - Ok, once upon a time.............once upon a time..........
It was about then that they started whacking eachother with pillows and laughing hysterically. It was then my job to somehow stop laughing and discipline. They eventually went to sleep even though Jaxon was way offended when Sammi knocked off before him and he tried to wake her up.
I think the all around favorite was going to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Pointe. That is seriously such a fun place, there was tons that I wanted to do, but we only had time for one, so the dinosaur museum won out. We were not dissappointed. If you can go, I totally recommend it!

4th of July

2009-07-07T14:52:00.001-07:00

The fourth of July weekend was such a blast - tiring as it was. On the fourth of July eve we had a whole bunch of friends over that we haven't seen in a long time (eventhough some live sooo close by, pathetic, I know). It was so fun catching up with everyone in person instead of just through their blogs and such. Jaxon and Sammi decided that our party sounded like a drag so they took off to Ogden. We left to join them after the party. We had a major 4th party down at Kevin and (Riley's sister)Kelsi's house. We camped out on Friday night and the kids did awesome, so I'm told - thanks to aunt Bailee! The next morning we were awoken nice and early, 5:30am to be exact to the sound of the Hill Airforce base cannons. Then someone in the neighborhood decided to accompany it with the Star Spangled Banner played on their electric guitar. Then Rick's car alarm went off...I think someone wanted us up...

But I digress, so then we had a delicious breakfast of scones and fresh fruit then got all gathered up and went to the parade.

Here's Jaxon showing his patriotism.

After the parade we went back to Kevin and Kelsi's where we played outside all day because it was just so gorgeous outside! There was plenty of food, swimming, water balloons, sun, badmitten, fun, and fireworks.

Here's Sammi getting ready to nail someone with her arsonal of water balloons.
We left that night after the fireworks. So everyone was pretty much useless the next day because we were so hammered from partying over the weekend. We sure wish that Kevin and Kelsi live closer. Sammi keeps on asking to hold their kitty and Jaxon has found a new best friend in Kelsi. Maybe someday we'll all live close together, but for now we'll just have to have these whirlwind party sessions!

P.S. ~ Thanks Kenzie and Barbara for taking pictures for me as I was a bonehead and forgot mine - go me!
P.P.S ~ Happy birthday America - I sure love living in a land as free and as blessed as you are.

Signs of Summer

2009-07-07T14:45:00.000-07:00

Riley got a new wheelbarrow. So far this is the only thing that he's used it for. But he's prepared for when the time comes, just like a good little boy scout is! Summer can really take it out of a guy.
First day of getting to play in the water - we love it!

It has honestly come now...I think.

The Dentist

2009-07-07T14:39:00.000-07:00

Jaxon went to the dentist recently and was AMAZING! He first went to see Riley get the whole thing done and was so covetess of the free toothbrush, toothpaste, and floss that he decided that he wanted to make an appointment. So the big day came and he did perfect. And for all of you who know my son well, it's nothing short of a miracle. I was so proud that I was trying not to cry as the dental hygenist was sucking his spit. So now he thinks he's a pro and wishes he could go to the dentist more than twice a year because he got to go out to lunch afterwards, got a new movie, and a toy at the denist, not to mention the bag of tooth care items.

Happy Father's Day and Stuff! (it's never too late, right?)

2009-06-26T14:37:00.000-07:00

The weekend of Father's Day was nuts. Riley went white water rafting with the Priests all day and into the night. He's itching to go again. Jaxon had a Primary activity day where he went to the firestation and made a sweet tie for Riley and got to sit in the fire trucks and help wash them as a service project. So cool! I was bummed that I forgot my camera. My Granny and Grandpa came into town as well as Katie and Mark with Mark's brother Steve for a whirlwind weekend trip. Before Jaxon got Steve's name down he called him "Crazy Uncle Mark other Mark" for short. On Father's Day the primary sang again in sacrament meeting. Jaxon was all geared up and ready to go, or so I thought. He was the first one up on the stage and then promptly came back down because he didn't want to be up there all by his lonesome I suppose. And then once all the kids were up on the stage there he thought there was no room for him so he didn't want to go up there. So once again he stood by me while I led the songs and then burst into tears when we had to sit down because he didn't go on the stage to sing. It's hard being a little guy!

This is Sammi showing off one of Daddy's ties. Dad took care of himself for father's day and got himself some suits on ebay for on the cheap. Plus they came with a bonus tie. Of which I will not let him wear one because it's lavendar and pink. Uh, no. Sammi loves it though!

Here's Riley sporting his tie that Jaxon made for him at his activity day. All the dad's loved them; they were all beaming! On Monday morning Jaxon was eating breakfast with Riley when he asked, "Are you going to wear yours new tie to work, Daddy?" So hopeful. Riley informed him that it was a special tie that he could only wear on father's day.

Riley took Jaxon on his very first campout the weekend before Father's day. They both came back tired, but had a great time!

This is a picture I got of the four generations of women in our family. Granny Gene with her daughter and her daughter and her daughter. Kinda cool, huh? Like my white knees?

Explanation: Walrus day = Father's day. A few years back my family were all together for Father's day and decided that Father's day needed a mascot, if you will, for the holiday. Kinda like Santa or the Easter bunny. We thought that a walrus would be fitting for such an occassion. So happy walrus day one and all!

It was Emily's birthday on Monday. She's such a babe! We celebrated it all together over the weekend while everyone was here.

Here's the whole crew. Thanks Steve for taking the picture! Riley is missing because he was busy having an awesome time with the priests as was mentioned before.

So there's kind of a scattered run down of what's been going on with us. Sorry if it doesn't make much sense and is kind of disconnected, but Sammi has a stinky bum and it's really distracting, so I must go. Happy Father's Day!

Why, mom, why?

2009-06-10T15:50:00.001-07:00

So today I was sitting on the couch reading Jaxon a book, as I often do, and Jaxon asked me a question that I didn't have an answer to. "Mom," he said, "what holds up the sky?" Uh............ I told him to ask Dad when he got home. Jaxon is very inquisitive and very literal so I have to always be careful what I tell him! Kids are great, aren't they?

The Goings Ons

2009-05-27T14:18:00.000-07:00

So there has been a whole mess of stuff going on since I last posted. So sorry if I don't go into detail, but I will make up for the lack of info by having a whole photo montage if you will.

First, McKenzie and Cole moved and are now our neighbors again. Hooray! I'm already loving it - just today I abused their closeness by having Kenzie look after our kids as I chased after an escaped Lenny. But I digress, to see further info about their big move, just go to their blog!

Then onto Barbara's (Riley's mom) birthday - we were at a wedding in Draper, but celebrated it the following Sunday - she's amazing!

Next it was mothers day - yay for mom's! I led the primary kids in sacrament meeting. Jaxon sat on the steps of the stage and said repeatedly and very loudly that, "it's too scary!" until I finally picked him up and he helped me lead.

Then my birthday, wahoo, 26 and still alive, mostly.

Followed by our anniversary. Five years of craziness, but I couldn't have picked a better one to go through it with. We are too cheap to spend money on such things as professional photography so I did my own little photo shoot. I still think that we are a fetching couple...

kissy facenice.

Onto Bailee's (Riley's sister) graduation from high school. Talk about awesome - I owe her more than I could ever repay. But she informs me that there is no charge for awesomeness or atractiveness.

Yet another birthday - this time it was Cole's. He never saw such fancy wrapping from me as he did that day with a rake in a small bag with tissue paper. He totally didn't know what it was until he opened it!
And then last but certainly not least - Crazy Uncle Mark and Katie (my sister) came!

We had tons of fun with them. We went to the zoo, on a hike, played games, went shooting (well, not me, someone had to bathe the children for church), played mario kart, ate like there was no tomorrow, and laughed a whole stinking lot. We miss them already.

hiking at cress creek

yes, the picture is crooked. no they are not laying on their backs and shooting up, that would be dumb. forgot to fix the picture before I uploaded so you'll have to tilt your head. sorry!

while we were doing the above, the kids were doing the below.

So that's what's been going on with us - hope you're all having a wonderful spring!

Happy Easter!

2009-04-13T12:22:00.001-07:00

Yet another Easter has come and gone. Our little family did much more for Easter this year than we have in the past - which was essentially nothing. But I figure we make a big "to-do" about Christmas and pretty much celebrate the season from Halloween on, why not do the same for Easter. I mean, the only reason why we celebrate Christmas is because there was an Easter, ya know? Well, we didn't celebrate Easter starting on Valentines day, but we did do things for most of the week. Here are some pictures of the festivities. All-in-all it was a great Easter week, a time to remember all our Savior did for us, and that He lives!

We colored some pretty awesome eggs.

We decorated some scrumptious cookies that some of our lucky family and friends got to partake of...we had more than our fair share as well.

The Easter bunny left an easter egg trail from their bedrooms to this sweet Easter spread.

Jaxon was really excited to come out and see what the Easter bunny brought him - but also made sure that the Easter bunny was no longer present. The day before he was asking us if Santa turned into the Easter bunny, we told him no, they were great friends who shared a summer cottage though.
Hope you all had a great Easter as well!

We've moved!

2009-04-10T15:13:00.001-07:00

I guess I shoud say that we have helped someone move - my parents - from good ole Visalia, CA to Rigby, ID. Yes, Idaho. People have questioned their sanity and I'm sure crazy Uncle Mark thinks it's because they don't want to wash their cars anymore in order to be considered part of the "Rigby pig" population as he so lovingly puts it. Maybe it is insanity that drove them here, after living 36 years in Visalia, it could do it to ya. But really, they just wised up to the well-kept secret of Idaho. It's awesome here! Housing is somewhat undercontrol and you can't beat the summers, the people are so nice, temples are close by, conference is on ABC, plus no smog - bonus! Oh, and they did get an amazing offer on their house and in turn found a fabulous home here. Win, win. And I think their move here had something to do with two little people, I can't quite remember their names...

Love ya, Granny and Grandpa, we're sure glad that you are here rather than 16 hours away! I'm so excited and blessed to have both grandparents near for my kids to grow up with.

O the tangled webs we weave when first we practice to decieve

2009-04-01T09:53:00.000-07:00

So this past weekend we had a Hall party in celebration of Rick and Barbara's 31st wedding anniversary. We decided to make them a quilt, which was quite the task, but turned out really great. To do that without them knowing was a feat within itself, but somehow we did it. We had to do all sorts of cover-ups, though. At any moments notice we would have to shove the fabric into buckets or pantries or any place hidden. Kenzie had to hurry and bust out some humanitarian work in place of the quilt. And lies had to be told about where we've been and what we've been up to. By the way, it's hard to make a quilt when the person that you are making it for is the one you would turn to for help! I wish I had a picture of the quilt because I think it looks great, much to the expertise of Kenzie and Kelsi. I was mostly around for comic relief.

For our party we all met up at Rick and Barbara's house while they were gone watching Bailee give out awards and such at Junior Miss. All sorts of lies were told leading up to this night. Bailee was going to Salt Lake at one point and Kelsi was going to be coaching a regional church girls basketball game. So when they came home at 10:30 that night the whole gang was there in the family room all ready for a slumber party. Surprise! It was like Christmas! Despite the kids going to bed at such a late hour, we were all up and going early the next morning. After breakfast we decorated cupcakes and then we had an early easter egg hunt in the living room (let's remember that we are in Idaho and the weather wasn't exactly cooperating with us for an outside hunt!) We gave the quilt to Rick and Barbara and I think they liked it pretty good. Each kid and couple had a big square. Jaxon's was a picture of him reading in a tent, Sami's was a lady bug, Riley and I did a family of giraffes. There was also a whole bunch of quotes from the family that were embroidered stuck here and there. As Riley put it, "After all that work, mom doesn't even like it - look, she's crying!" Then we made a load of food and headed off for Green Canyon - the hotspot for swimming. The kiddos all loved splashing around. I wish I had some pictures of that, too, especially that little Ashley. She loved that water and had no fear whatsoever! After we all got out and dried off we had a hot dog roast and stuffed our faces with s'mores. It was a ton of fun being with the whole family and making more memories together - we sure love them all! Hopefully the next time that we all want to surprise them we won't have to lie so much - it can be quite exhausting!

Decorating yummy cupcakes.The hunt is on!

Sami sometimes missed her mouth when eating the s'mores.

The Biggest Loser

2009-03-24T09:40:00.000-07:00

So our insurance company has these health and wellness challenges every couple of months (with a cash incentive, wahoo!). I found out about this cool thing half-way through the last challenge. The last challenge was to stay away from desserts and sweets. Riley failed to tell me about because he didn't want to be deprived from such wonderful things. So this time I made sure that I was aware of what was going on so we could actually participate. For March and April it's all about exercising, you know getting that heart rate up and building/toning some muscles. I was telling my sister-in-law McKenzie about it and she said that she found this great website that would be great for what we needed.

http://www.hulu.com/jillian-michaels-mini-workouts

She was totally right and this link is great if you want to be sore. Well, I usually exercise once in the morning and once at night when Riley is home and the kids are in bed. About a week ago I was already really sore from doing the "But-of-course" workout in the mornings, and that night we decided to to the "Top-to-bottom" workout. Talk about kicking my trash. Well, we finished that workout and still had some time that we needed to fill up so we decided to do an 'easy' one, the "Upside down abdominal" workout. Everything was going great...until we had to do high knees. We both did three steps and Riley stumbled and almost ran into the wall and I crumbled and fell on my face. As I was laying there I declared, "I think that's enough for tonight". I think it would have been really funny to see, but unfortunately my face was in the carpet. Truly the biggest loser. It was a pretty weird feeling to have my legs give out on my like that, but for anyone who wants to have that experience, I highly recommend going to this site.

Just call me cheater pants

2009-03-02T11:53:00.000-08:00

So there's no turning back now. As I was doing my singing time with the senior primary this Sunday, one of the primary leaders was looking after Sammi for me. She went in to check on the nursery and set Sammi down. And the rest is history. Sammi wanted to play, so she stayed. The same primary leader went to check on her again while I was doing my singing time with the junior primary and she was still doing great. When I went into sing with the nursery she came bolting toward me and sat with me the whole time. I took her back to primary with me because, well, I just did. But then this great nursery leader came two seconds later and snatched her back for snack time. So I guess Sammi is now a nursery-goer! She's only 16 months, but they were going to have her come in at the beginning of April, so I guess she's not terribly early. But I kind of feel cheated out of my week or two of stressing and anticipating her first day in nursery... What am I thinking? She's going and it wasn't traumatic - let's hope it stays that way!

Sammi on her unanticipated first day of nursery. (Try as we might, we could NOT get a picture of her standing, she would just run and run)

And not to be left out, Jaxon is quite the shnazy dresser, don't you think?

Bye Bye Binki, parting will be such sweet sorrow

2009-02-27T13:20:00.000-08:00

Well, it's time for me to buckle down and be tough. Sammi is now 16 months and it's time to throw that binki in the trash.

Jaxon was a dream. I just decided one day that I would try putting him down for a nap without his binki just to see what would happen. Well, nothing happened, and that was that. I have a feeling that it will be not so with dear Samantha. She seems to be rather attached to the sucker. Mostly she just has it at nap time and when she goes to bed for the night. But oh it's nice to have when she seems to be inconsolable, because she just calms right down. I do let her have her binki when we are at church - just to keep her quiet, she can be a chatter box if she's feeling like it. And I also let her have her binki whenever she wants it if we are at someone else's house just so I can enjoy myself a little more. I'm weak, what can I say.

Sammi really is a great little girl and a really easy keeper so far and I would like to keep it that way if at all possible. So I ask for your help! If you have any suggestions of what the heck to do to easily get rid of such a habit, please, PLEASE, give me your ideas! I welcome them all!

Sammi is now desperately trying to type as I do, I think it's a plea for you all to keep your mouths shut and to tell me to let her keep the bink. Don't let her win - we must prevail!

Sharing, Snow, and Scary Books

2009-02-17T10:46:00.000-08:00

Sharing: As Saturday was Valentines day Riley and I thought we would celebrate in the traditional way that most people do - we took our kids and cleaned the church! Jaxon loved that carpet sweeper and I have now vowed to be much more careful with my church snacks as I had to vacuum about a million pounds of cheerio crumbs out of the pews. Jaxon, Sammi, and I all made Riley a card with a bunch of pictures on it that said, "I love Daddy, he loves me...we are a happy family!" Jaxon had a blast making it and was very proud of his work. We gave it to him Friday night. Saturday morning came and Riley and I wake up to Jaxon singing "I love Daddy, he loves me. We are a happy family!" Then he comes in on our bed and said "I was singing what was on Daddy's card!" We sure love him! He was all about making Valentines, he even shared a Valentine's day sucker with "Sweetie" (what he always calls Sammi).Snow:Riley had Presidents Day off so we went to his parents house and took advantage of their snow mobile. It was tons of fun! I loved it, Jaxon loved it - Sammi hated and then tolerated it. We also played around in the snow and pulled them on a sled. We even said hello to the horses and calfs. Now that Sammi liked.

It snowed again this morning and our driveway had a bunch of snow on it, so I bundled up the kids (which takes a while!) and took them outside with me to play while I shoveled snow. I had to hurry and get on the ball with shoveling my snow because if I let any snow sit in my driveway much past 10:30am, my wonderful neighbors will come and dig us out. We have such amazing people surrounding us! Anyway, we all played together for a little while before I got to work. Sammi decided that she actually does like the snow and to go down little hills in the sled. While I was shoveling some snow the kids were sitting together in a snow bank and throwing snow at each other. Jaxon is a great older brother and kindly threw snowball after snowball into Sammi's face; Sammi is a great younger sister and laughed hysterically each time he did.
Yummy snow!
Sammi getting ready to go down the little hill. I'm about to get a snowball from Jaxon.
Smiles in the snow.

Scary Books: Another random thing that I think is hilarious. Jaxon is in the phase where he loves "scary" books. Whenever we read one he half-way covers his eyes as protection. I think it's so funny

28 and still great!

2009-01-29T12:40:00.000-08:00

Riley's birthday was yesterday. Let the festivities begin! Last night we had all the fam out to celebrate the occasion. We had "Christmas breakfast" for dinner. The Hall's for Christmas breakfast always have orange juice, eggs, hash browns, sausage, toast, fresh pineapple, apples, and raspberry filled powdered donuts, plus other goodies that I'm sure I'm forgetting. It's quite the spread and it's Riley's favorite meal ever. We didn't have it this year because we were at the Nielsen's for Christmas. Riley would have none of that, so we had to have it for his birthday! Riley told me to just make a plain ole boring cake, but I would have none of that. Everyone secretly wants a fun cake. So we decided to remake the "Proud Walberto" aka, the ship that he made to compete in the First Annual Mayflower Power Tournament of Champions at Thanksgiving.

Jaxon really knows how to treat a guy on a birthday. He "wrapped" up one of his toy cars in this clear box that he had and gave it to Riley. He didn't ever give away what we had wrapped up for Riley's birthday so the surprises remained surprises, which I definitely appreciated. Last night after everyone had left we put the kids to bed. Riley poked his head in a couple of times to see if Jaxon had fallen asleep and every time that he did Jaxon would wave his little hand and whisper, "happy birthday, daddy". What a guy, we sure love him! And we sure love our dad! He runs around the house and plays with the kids and still treats his wife like a queen - what more could anyone ask for?

I sure laugh a lot

2009-01-15T14:05:00.000-08:00

My kids are the greatest. They make me smile and out-right laugh a ton every day.

Today as I was reading to Jaxon, I glanced down at him and saw some dead skin on his face. So, being a mom, I picked it off. Jaxon was somewhat mortified by my actions and said, "Mom, please don't do that! That's how Heavenly Father made my face, don't scrap it off!" I apologized, of course, and then I laughed.

And then there is Sammi. The cutest little girl that I've ever known, though I am quite partial. She is such a little toddler now. I've never had a toddler in the sense that the child actually toddles around. Jaxon was a sprinter from the get-go. Sammi, now she's different. She toddles and it is so cute to see those little pigtails bouncing around as she walks. She's starting to say more things now. Like Mom, Dad, Jaxon, car, horsey, ball, thank you, no, book, Jesus. Well, variations of such words that I understand at least. She also nods her little head when she wants something and shakes her head and says "eh uh" when she doesn't want something. It's really quite cute and it's nice because we can actually communicate a little more clearer. The other day I was sitting on the ground and she comes toddling up to me with a little book and grunts which basically mean, "please read this to me." Well, I was talking to Riley, so I just put her on my lap. She was not impressed, the woman wanted to be read to. So she put the book in my hand and said, "tane tue" (which means thank you). I think she figured if she said thank you in advance, then I would HAVE to actually do something worth thanking. That's one smart cookie. Kids - totally worth having!

Christmas recap

2009-01-09T13:12:00.000-08:00

Christmas was incredible! We crammed in as much Christmas activities as we could here in Idaho before we went to California on the 16th. The drive down to Cali was pretty awful weather wise, but our kids were the ultimate champs and were great in being stuck in the car for 16 hours (we only had to turn on 1.5 movies, too!) Once we got to my parents house, we shucked off our winter coats and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.

Riley thought it warm enough to go swimming. It was nice, but not that nice out.

There was some pretty intense games that went on.

Dad got a Wii, so pretty much a lot of time was spent playing each other bowling, tennis, golf, mario kart, and other games. (We also did some real bowling, which I am MUCH better at on the Wii! But Riley got a turkey - 3 strikes in a row, very impressive.)

The kids loved playing with each other, dancing, running around outside, having wrapping paper tube fights, reading books, playing with the dogs, making cookies, and all that other fun kid Christmas stuff. It really was fun to see them all play so well with each other. I really wish that Jaxon and Sami could be closer to all of their cousins.

Santa scored big this year, as the kids were feeling extra generous and gave him not only cookies, but cheese, a ham sandwich, and pictures and notes from everyone. Santa was grateful to say the least and left a load of goodies for everyone.

Christmas morning was great, Jaxon and Sami were so excited to see that Santa had come to leave them presents. There's nothing better than seeing an excited child's face with the Christmas lights shining in their eyes!We came back home on the Sunday after Christmas and found that our awesome neighbors had plowed our driveway because, as they put it, we "missed the storm of the century". There was a ton of snow, and it really was nice to not be snowed out of our house when we came back! That Monday night we had our own little family Christmas where the kids opened even more loot. After each present Jaxon would proclaim, "Just what I always wanted!" It really was a lot of fun, and they did the traditional toy swap where all they wanted to play with was the toys that the other sibling got.

On New Years Eve we had the Hall party. Kevin and Kelsi and gang came up from Utah and we had a bunch of food to eat, opened some more presents, watched the kids chase each other around and played a bunch of games. Rick and Barbara gave all the grand kids matching hoodies with their names on them. They are so fun! Jaxon loves his to say the least. All of his clothes are folded up in a dresser, but his sweater he must hang up if he's not wearing it. So his closet is full of toys and one hoodie hanging up.

So all in all, everything was perfect. I just love being around all of my family. They aren't just people that I HAVE to be around, they are all awesome and totally people that I would choose first to be with. Thanks for making our Christmas and New Year the greatest ever!

Sick of the Sickies

2009-01-08T14:53:00.001-08:00

So I don't know about every one else. But Christmas was really incredibly fun for us and we loved having an extra long relatively warm holiday, and now we are paying the price for it. Our kids have some great sickies going on. Jaxon got a little cough a couple days after Christmas and we just thought that it wasn't anything big since he didn't complain about anything else and no fever and such. Well, we finally took him to the doctor on Monday because it just wasn't going away. A double ear infection, a prescription, and some cold and cough medicine later we were doing fine. Then on Tuesday Sami decided that she wanted to have some special medicine too. So she started having a runny nose. LOOOOOOOOOONG story short. She couldn't breathe last night ergo I didn't sleep. Went to the doctor yet again and you betcha, a double ear infection, a sinus infection, a prescription, and some cold and cough medicine later, hopefully we've got this thing under some sort of control. I promise to post some pictures and talk about Christmas as soon as I'm done wiping noses and monitoring breathing. Thank goodness we have two humidifiers! Hope you and yours are healthy and happy!

Been in Idaho for awhile

2008-12-09T18:33:00.000-08:00

Yesterday it snowed. It wasn't tons, by any means, but enough to play in . . .or to shovel depending on who you are. Jaxon was looking out the window yesterday morning and sighed forlornly and said, "Mom, I miss my green grass." Truly his mother's boy. He was also all sorts of concerned that the snow would cover up all the neighbors pretty Christmas lights. He was pleased to see that the Christmas lights were not harmed by the white stuff.

Despite the fact that I hate driving on icy roads, I am sorta glad that we have snow. It just kinda adds to the whole ambiance of the Christmas season. Way to go Universe, you win, I am now a true Idahoan.

The snow from our back deck. No need to just dream of a white Christmas 'round here.

Although Jaxon missed our green grass, he still liked playing in the snow.

Jaxon begged and cried to shovel the snow. May he always have that attitude.

Last night we made a gingerbread house for our Family Home Evening activity. Jaxon absolutely had a blast and every time he sees it, he says "I just love my gingerbread man house!"

Sammi was really tired when we were making our gingerbread house, so she just enjoyed a nice healthy beater covered with icing. I'm a really health conscience mom.

I Am Glad For Many Things!

2008-12-01T15:08:00.000-08:00

Wow, do I have a bunch to be thankful for! I am surrounded by evidence that my Heavenly Father loves me and our little family - how grateful I am to Him!

We spent Thanksgiving with the Hall fam, plus Emily, and it was a blast! Not only were there tons of good food to eat, but we also had (drum roll please) "The First Annual Mayflower Power Tournament of Champions". Let me explain. As I was lying in bed late one night waiting for Riley to get home from a trip to Utah, I had this stroke of brilliance! As a fun activity we could borrow Kenzie and Cole's kid pool (which I am informed that they keep blown up at all times, "because you never know when there is going to be a heat wave, this is Idaho!") and make little boats and race them across the pool by blowing them. So since Riley's family are good sports and humor a girl who basically talks to toddlers and babies all day, they went along with it. We made boats out of cereal boxes and dixie cups and straws. Rick judged them on their style and picked Jaxon's as the winner, but I think he was being biased! Bailee's ship, La Hispaniola, won by a nose with Barbara as a close contender. It actually turned out to be a lot of fun. Another thing I'm grateful for: a family that doesn't think I'm terribly weird with all my crazy ideas.

We made Indian hats for Thanksgiving...Jaxon has worn his hat every day since.

Riley's vessel: The Proud Walberto

Riley and I giving it a go.

The final show-down, as you see it was pretty darn close.

Here's Bailee, boasting her new crown of first ever champion of the "Mayflower Power Tournament of Champions"

Now on to Christmas!! I am so excited! Our house has been decorated since a week before Thanksgiving, breaking all rules, I know. But here is our rational: we are going to be in California for Christmas and leaving on the 18th or thereabouts and so we had to decorate our home early so we could enjoy it a good amount of time before we have to take it all down. Okay, plus we were really excited because we bought a Christmas tree...

Something that I'm extremely thankful for is my Savior. What a gift our Father gave to us!

Tagging - a serious offense

2008-11-19T19:42:00.000-08:00

So I'm sure that you all have played Scattegories with family/friends at some time in your life. I hope that it's not just our family that has this problem, but every time that we play there is usually some sort of argument that ensues (playful...mostly). Dictionaries get busted out as the debate begins on whether or not a particular word really exists or if a person should get double points or not. Emotions run high as the banter and throwing of pencils continue, but somehow we all walk away having a great time and itching for the next time we all can argue, I mean play a game together. So why all this talk about Scattegories? Well, I've been tagged by my dear sister, Katie. I suppose it's because she likes to play games with me so much even though I kick her trash!SCATTERGORIES...it's harder than it looks! Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following. They have to be real places, names, things. Nothing made up! You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl name question.

WHAT IS YOUR NAME: Sarah

BOY NAME: Santa...what? it totally is!

4 LETTER WORD: Sock

GIRL NAME: Sacajawea

OCCUPATION: Sanitation Specialist (it's what they prefer to be called) Double points, cha ching!

COLOR: Salmon

SOMETHING YOU WEAR: sweat shirt - another double whammy

BEVERAGE: Sarsaparilla

FOOD: steak

SOMETHING FOUND IN A BATHROOM: scissors

A PLACE: Sacramento, CA

REASON FOR BEING LATE: sleeping

SOMETHING YOU SHOUT: Short people in the front!

So there you have it. I'm now officially "not it" as I have fulfilled my taggily duties(I know it's not a word, but you know what I mean). I now tag McKenzie, Jessica, Whitney, and Bert. Plus whoever else wants to play!

Getaway w/o the kids, this brought to you by grandma and grandpa!

2008-11-09T19:24:00.001-08:00

Hooray! Riley and I were able to go down to Utah overnight just the two of us. It was really nice and the first time that we have been able to get away like this since before I was pregnant with Jaxon. Don't get me wrong, we've ditched the kids before this, but it seems like whenever we did have the chance to get away I was pregnant (so really we still had a child with us, doesn't count.) So thanks to grandma and grandpa for looking after the kids and making our trip possible. Riley was able to score us some tickets to the BYU vs. San Diego State football game through work. Yah, BYU slaughtered them. But are we really surprised? It was a good time, the place was packed, but I took pictures at half time, so that's why you see some empty seats. I thought of my brother-in-law, Mark, a lot. I would some day like to go to a football game with Katie and Mark, it would be crazy fun. A bigger BYU cougar fan than Mark I have yet to meet. Here's us, kid less and enjoying the sunshine. It was such a perfect day! We even got a little burned. I called it "our last love affair with the sun this year". A burn is a fitting way to end it.This one's for you, Mark and Cole (another brother-in-law BYU fan), wish you would've been there with us!

Oh yah, I have to put these pictures of the kids in their church duds. They are just so dang cute, so I must show off.

Woody and "Bzzz"

2008-11-04T09:56:00.000-08:00

Halloween this year was a lot of fun. Jaxon ran around singing his Halloween song which consisted of the following " Oooo oooo oooo, happy Halloween!" Over and over again. It's quite the catchy tune and he demanded that I join in regardless of what I was doing. Riley got home just in time from yet another work trip to play with the kids a little bit before getting ready and heading off for trick or treating. We did the whole trunk-or-treat thing that was in a subdivision right next to ours, and as if that wasn't enough, we took the kids up and down our little street to get even more candy. Jaxon had a great time being Woody and saying such things as "howdy, howdy, howdy!" and "stick 'em up". Sammi was just happy to play with the candy. I thought she was going to work through the wrapper of some of them, but she rotated enough that no candy was actually ingested. So all in all it was a pretty great time. Although something very confusing happened to Jaxon. There was a kid that dressed up as Santa and Jaxon would not talk to him, he just looked at him with this confused look on his face that seemed to say, "hey, wait a minute! You've got the wrong holiday, pal - you're not supposed to be taking candy from everyone, you're supposed to be giving me presents here in a couple of months!". Ah well.

Birthday Palooza(s)

2008-10-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

Wowzers, what a weekend. Did we ever party! It all started off with a bang on Friday with Jaxon's birthday. This kid was all sorts of stoked to be three (and so am I, good bye 2!). He woke up to the living room all decked out with balloons along the banister and on the walls and book shelf and a "happy birthday" sign. Magical to say the least. He was so excited all day for his party that night when all the family was going to be there. I put him and Sammi down for naps so I could get some work done (like the cake, but that's no biggie for a birthday is it?) and periodically I would here from Jaxon's room "Mom, I'm awake. I'm ready to get up and have my birthday party". I repeatedly told him that he was not, but he stayed in his room like a good boy. Jaxon loved having everybody over for presents and cake and ice cream. He can put on quite the show when he wants to. We can't believe that Jaxon is three now, it seems like it wasn't that long ago that get was bruising my ribs from the inside with his constant movement (a testament of things yet to come). But it also feels like he has always been a part of our lives. We love him so much and he makes our lives so happy - plus he says some hilarious stuff which makes us laugh!

We are all singing Jaxon "Happy Birthday" plus we had Katie on the phone, which was fun.

Jaxon on his new "motor bike" and his woody costume, which he looks so great in! Liam especially loved it!

Next was little Sammi's birthday. It was officially Monday, but we celebrated it on Sunday because Riley was going out of town early Monday morning. We all congregated at Grandma and Grandpa's for the celebration. Sammi wasn't so much into opening her presents, so I had a great time opening them for her! She kept on looking for the presents that were already opened because she wanted to play with them instead of opening more presents. She loves all the soft, cuddly and shiny new things she got! When we brought the cake out and set it in front of her, she couldn't wait to dive in and waiting through the traditional singing of "happy birthday" was a little too much for her. She wanted that cake! So I stripped her down and gave her a piece which she promptly mashed and threw everywhere...and then she ate all my ice cream. So all in all she had a great birthday, too! Sammi is everything we wanted in a little girl and more. She's so sweet and such an easy keeper, but she's got some spunk to her too...I wonder where she got that from? We've loved having her this year and seeing her grow and learn and laugh. She brings a lot of love into our home and we are excited to see more of the beautiful girl that she will continue to be.

Here's Sammi girl getting excited that we would put so much sugar in such close proximity.

"Now where's the ice cream?"

Thanks to all who came and ate some cake with us and celebrated like crazy. We love having you all in our kids lives - and they sure love it too! And to all those who are close enough to us to come and visit, please do...I still have tons of cupcakes!

The first of the birthday cake...

2008-10-14T12:07:00.000-07:00

So October in our family is the month of birthday-walla-palooza-cele-ganza-bration time. The entrance of little Annie Hegsted on the 5th got us all in the mood for the slew of birthdays that were to come. Yesterday was Liam's 2nd birthday, and boy does that kid know how to party! He started off by giving every one of his cousins (that were present anyway) a present - what a guy! (by the way, Kenzie, giving all the kids a ring pop to keep them entertained was genius and worked brilliantly) Then the opening of presents ensued with appropriate "oohs" and "aahs" and reverenced "wow's" given by Liam. His cake was pretty much amazing, a tractor to make the calmest of two year olds get all worked up. So here's to you Liam - we're so glad that you are our "Cousin Memur"!

Our sojourn to California

2008-10-03T14:48:00.000-07:00

How lucky we are that Riley has the job that he does. Because he has to do firesides all over the United States, he just happened to have to do a fireside in my old home-town, Vi-smell-ya. I mean, Visalia. So, there was no way that I was going to let him go without me and the kids...and no way that my parents would let him stay at their place without the grandkids (to heck with me). So for an awesome week, we were able to stay with my parents and play...oh, and Riley did do some work.

The first major thing that we did was go to King's Canyon and Sequioa National Parks. It was sooooo beautiful up there and we loved spending the day there. We were able to eat lunch at the camp ground that my family used to always camp at and see some big ole whompin' trees. There was three forest fires going on in the Sequioa's, so we didn't stay long there, but it was still a ton of fun.

We also went to the zoo in Fresno. It is the perfect size; only takes a couple of hours to go through but has some of the bigger animals that we don't have at the zoo in Idaho Falls. We even got to feed a giraffe - a totally awesome experience and well worth the 2 bucks it cost!

We also went swimming and tried to spend as much time outside as we could. It was great! Riley tried to perfect his dive, I really think he's almost there. Watch out Yo Min, or whoever that really famous Chinese diver was.

We also went bowling, had a picnic, and just took it easy. It was a blast and we were sad to see our trip come to an end, but it's good to be back home where we can be with even more of our family. We are excited to go back at Christmas and be with the whole gang. Hopefully by then our children would have recovered from the excitement!

Officially Cool

2008-09-10T14:14:00.000-07:00

Here we go. I hope that the internet world and those of you who are brave enough to read such a blog are ready for a shocking peek into the lives of the Riley and Sarah Hall family. Riley and I make up a pretty crazy couple. But we unabashedly admit that we have some darn cute kids, which is the real reason why we are even doing a blog...and let's face it, the real reason why anyone would look at the blog. It's all about Jaxon and Sammi; Riley and I are just old has-beens.

We just moved into a new (to us anyway, it's about 7 years old) home this spring and are loving it. Admittedly we miss "our house in the middle of our street" that we moved away from in Annis, but are stoked to be where we are.

Summer has treated us kindly. I say HAS because as you all know, we are in Idaho and summer is on it's way out already eventhough winter and spring took their precious time getting the heck out of here. We had the experience of having our own garden, instead of sharing one with Kenzie and Cole. I missed having someone else to do the weeding for me!

Besides weeding, we played a lot. Granny and Grandpa Nielsen came a couple times with Emily. And even Aunt Katie made a grand appearance for a few days when the folks brought Emily up to go to BYU-I. That was some great times. So great that the kids are still recovering from loss of naps as you can see.

We've been to the zoo, Bear World, down to Utah and back again, Green Canyon, the Riot Zone, swimming outside, having hot dog roasts in our fire pit, on some day hikes, attended parades in which we obtained WAY too much taffy, and watched way too much Olympics.

All in all, it's been a full summer, but tons of fun! Thanks to all those who had fun with us! And to all of those who didn't have fun with us...well, where the heck are ya? Come on over!