cat lady

I left layla on the potty to do her business. while I was gone she took the pen from her potty chart and drew whiskers on her face. This is the happy little kitty face I came back to find.


What would I do without my Layla to keep things light and playful around here?

end of summer olympics party

At the beginning of summer the kids and I made A summer calendar. We carefully planned all the activities we wanted to do. Here is an idea of what we had:
Garden Day, treasure hunt, camping, car wash, kite day, pajama day, water day, visit Dinosaur park, camp out in back yard day, Art sale, picture treasure hunt, fishing, American idle with the video camera, rock collecting hike, flower collecting hike, scavenger hunt, float the river, swimming, cupcake day (I liked that one), Theme picnic, go to the drive in (I didn't know it closed 4 years ago. opps), Talent show with friends, Project runway home style, and last but not least summer Olympics party.
We filled the days in-between those days with: Craft day, chef Day (the kids got to do the cooking), Make a fort day, game day, symphony at the part, visit farmers market, cousin day, cleaning day (not their fav), and stuff like that.
Every day the kids would look at the calendar we made and ask me what we were doing that day, they loved it. Some things didn't work out on the designated day, so we just switched things up when we had to. Our Olympic party kept getting pushed back, but we finally got it in at the very last weekend of the summer. feeeewwwww

new family pics

We have this friend named Nema that is an amazingly talented photographer. She is the one that took Bensons baby pictures, and the swim suit pictures for panga swim wear. She just did our family pictures this week, and they came out so fun. I love them. It's fun to see how our family changes from year to year.

Mystery Girl

Yesterday was Craig's day off work, and he worked his cute little booty off at home. We have had these three big ugly tree stumps IN our front yard since we lived here, and this week we finally had them removed. right now we have three BIG, UGLY, tree stumps ON our front yard, which isn't an improvement at all. It will be nice when we clear them out.
After a long hard day I thought Craig deserved a nice yummy dinner. I made a super really good meal if I do say so myself, and used almost all produce from our garden. Plus, these delicious blueberry bars from scratch. Yum. As we were all at the table enjoying our food we heard a little knock at the front door. Craig went and opened the door, and in walked a tiny little girl with her teddy under her arm. We greeted her warmly, and looked at each other. "who is that?" I finally asked Craig, "I don't know" he said, "I thought you knew who it was". We all had to laugh at this mystery girl that decided she wanted to come visit our home, but where did she come from? We went outside expecting to find a worried mother calling out for her girl, but were surprised to find no one. Our street was empty. When we got outside the little girl took off running down the road, so Craig followed behind her. He thought she knew where she was going, turns out she didn't. Suddenly, there was some guy running after them from the other direction. He grabbed the girl from Craig and said "um, thanks" and disappeared back where he came from. We made sure it was her father, and it was...random.

help me choose

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We just got the disc of all Baby Benson's pictures, and we are having a REALLY hard time choosing our favorite for his announcement. Please help! vote for your favorite to help a sista out. Thanks.

8 years

8 years ago I was on my way to the Idaho Falls LDS temple. I was riding in the car with Craig L. Hall, and my stomach was doing flips. I was nervous, but excited. I knew he was the man I was supposed the spend eternity with, the man I wanted to spend eternity with. I sat in the brides room with my Mom, she took one last look to make sure everything was perfect...it was. Our families were all there, and the ceremony was beautiful...even though I honestly don't remember a word that was spoken. I was far away, floating on cloud 9.
Fast forward to now. We have 3 beautiful kids, 6 chickens, a cute little house with a cute yard and little garden. We don't have lots of expensive things, but we are so rich. We still have each other, and I still want him for eternity. We have all the important parts to a happy life.

last Wednesday Craig was riding to mutual on his Honda ruckus, and it was raining. He tried to slow down when the car in from of him did, but he couldn't stop, he crashed, and skidded for 45 feet...he wasn't wearing a helmet.
He walked in the door, clothes all torn up and bloody, his hands and side of his face were hamburger...I wanted to cry. He scrubbed all the rocks out of his leg, hands, and face, and that's when he looked like he wanted to cry..but of course he didn't. he was so blessed not to have sustained any serious injuries. He did hurt his shoulder, but for the most part he is OK.
The accident made me really think about how grateful I am for him, and what he means to me. The world. That man means the world to me, and I truly do love him with all my heart.

I wrote him this little poem for today, but I have to leave out a couple lines, because they are just for my Man to read:)

Like Love birds you and me,
Plus baby that made three.
soon we wanted more,
plus baby that made four.
a bigger car to drive,
plus baby that makes five.
your hair has gotten thin,
but my heart you still win.
My life with you is great,
I look forward to the next 8 (years).
Use this gift each day,
be safe, my love, I pray.

Can you guess what I gave him?

Bensons Birth

On July 20 I went to the Dr. and he said I was dilated to a 3, 50% effaced. He stripped my membrane, and told me to go be active, and he would see me in labor and delivery that night.
I went and got Craig and the kids...and we went four wheeling. It was lots of fun, but didn't put me into labor. We tried everything we could think of to no avail. The next morning, July 21, Dr.C texted me to come to his office. You see, I wanted to have a VBAC delivery, and he is the only Dr. I trusted to do it...also the only one willing to try. He was leaving town for 2 weeks the next day, so we were down to our last day, last chance to avoid another C section.
I went to his office, I was now a 4, so he stripped my membrane again, told me I had until midnight to have my baby, and wished me the best.
I went and got a gyro from my Moms favorite Greek food establishment, because that's what she would have done.
I picked up the kids, picked up my seeester Judy, and went on a little hike up to the pillars (you only know what that means if you have ever lived here), and around the hill. Judy and I spent the afternoon trying to get my little guy to come. we ended up going on a walk at about 6:15, we walked to the hospital, and I felt like my contractions were getting harder, and closer. We decided we would just go in and see if they would keep me. It was now 6:45.
My Dr. had just finished another delivery, so he came in to check me..I was talking to my father in law on the phone.
The Dr said I was a 5 now, and my contractions were 2 minutes apart, he broke my water, I was still on the phone. I asked my Father in law to "please send Craig to the hospital..my water just broke" and ended my conversation. Craig came, Karen My Mother in law came, Judy was there...and my Mom was there too.
At 8:45 Benson was born...perfect.