Lessons learned...

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We had a few learning experiences ourselves~

First, Jacob learned that we don't put gum in hair! Additionally, we learned that peanut butter really does get gum out of hair.

Secondly, we learned that we don't lick the blades of a food processor, no matter how yummy the mixture seems. Again, we learned an additional lesson that even though tounges can bleed a lot, they heal rather quickly.

Thirdly, Levi is learning that he gets a better view from a standing position. His crawling is now limited to getting himself to a place where he can pull himself up.

And if the view from standing is good, how great must the view from the stairs be! This boy is getting fast!!!

Zachary Rocks Out!

For any of you who missed Zachary's stellar "YouTube" debut, here he is at a friend's birthday party:



ps - he's "Buddy #1 !

Husband Tag!

My sister loves to play tag! I've been tagged to tell everyone about my husband. It's an appropriate time of the year to brag on my man! So here we go...
Husband Tag
What is his name? Aaron Joseph Hall
How long have you been together? Let's start from the first kiss... He first kissed me in August 1994, so it's been 13 1/2 years!
How long did you date? 11 months from first kiss to the temple.
How old is he? 37
Who eats more? Aaron, no doubt
Who said I love you first? Aaron (he's always been better at saying things like that)
Who's taller? Have you seen us?!? Aaron's got a foot on me.
Who can sing better? I sound great in the shower, but I'll better Aaron carries a better tune.
Who is smarter? Aaron - Mr. High School Valedictorian, BYU Magna Cum Laude graduate, "I only got a B in that one religion class at BYU because it was too early in the morning and he counted tardies against my grade, otherwise I've never gotten anything below an A- in my whole scholastic career" - Hall
Who does the laundry? I do, and I hate doing it.
Who pays the bills? I do, except in times of complete stress where Aaron takes over. Although Aaron tracks everything with Quicken and makes sure we follow the (mutually agreed upon, although I don't stress about it as much as maybe I should) budget.
Who sleeps on the right side? I sleep closest to the door so that I am the first one the kids come to. Aaron sleeps closest to the bathroom. :-)
Who mows the lawn? Last summer, Aaron did. I'm hoping for a repeat.
Who cooks dinner? I do. I don't mind cooking (I love it if it's dessert!), but I hate cleaning up.
Who drives? I drive the mini van, he drives his Explorer, and when we're all together, I usually drive unless we're on a date.
Who's more stubborn? This is a hard one. Aaron can be a real hard nose on some issues, but when he is wrong or has hurt my feelings, he always figures it out and makes me feel better. I on the other hand, tend to avoid confrontation at all costs, but I'll stew on bad feelings longer.
Who kissed whom first? It was a mutual agreement
Who asked whom out first? Aaron was a great date planner. We did a ton together with a group of people the summer before we started dating, but the first official date was asked by Aaron.
Who proposed? Aaron
Who has more friends? I have a few really great confidants, Aaron has more aquaintences.
Who is more sensitive? I think I am
Who has more siblings? Aaron - he is the 2nd child of 9 (plus 5 step brothers and sister). I am the second of 5 children
Who wears the pants? One thing I love about our relationship is that I don't feel like either of us is "The Boss." I think we do a pretty good job at talking things out and compromising for each other. So I guess we share them. (And as Aaron reads this, he needs to wipe that picture out of his head!!!)

So there you go, Julie. I've fulfilled my "tag" assignment. Thanks for giving me something to blog about. I'm off to get Jacob out of the tub and the rest of my boys out of the cookie dough. (We're making sugar cookies today. Wish you were here to share them!)

Winter poem

I found this beautiful winter poem and thought it might be a comfort to you.
It was to me and it's very well written and I hope that you enjoy it too .

" WINTER "
by Abigail Elizabeth McIntyre

CRAP It's Cold
The End

Blog worthy clip

My sister said that this is blog worthy. I love it just because it's a reminder to not mess with Texas - even in the form of old Texas ladies... Thanks to Linda for forwarding it to me!

This happened in the Dallas - Ft. Worth area. It is a phone call from a man who witnesses a car accident involving four elderly women. It was so popular when they played it on CHUM FM that they had to put it on their website.
The guy's laugh is so contagious. If you close your eyes and picture what he is watching, it is even better than a video clip!
http://www.chumfm.com/MorningShow/bits/march24.swf

Time for 2008 resolutions!

Alright, y'all. I've been contemplating the numbers on the scale and how weak and tired I'm feeling, and thinking of all of the caramel popcorn, brownies, apple crisp, hot fudge, and ice cream I've consumed the last few days and it's got to STOP!!! Time for those new years resolutions to be put into place. I've always done well when I'm accountable to people other than myself, so here we go... Can you help bug me about eating healthy, and how to stop the incessant snacking on sugary sweets, and that I should get the exercise I need? I've got a plan, and it goes into place in the morning. (Today is the "throw out the garbage and plan menus and shop for good stuff" day.) I figure that I will weigh in tomorrow morning and let you know where I stand, then I can report each week how I'm doing (number of times I've moved my body to the point of sweating and if I've lost any fluff). If you have any good hints, recipes, or other general thoughts, let me know! I'm ready to feel better. According to the scale, I've got close to 20 lbs. to lose, but if I can gain some muscle, the number could be negotiable. I get a fitness assesment from the gym I joined (but haven't been to since my due date with Levi) that I've never done, so when I do that I'll make a few number goals. But right now it's just a goal of eating more healthy, and moving more. Wish me luck, and help me out!!!

Aunt Julie's visit

Last week was so much fun! We had my sister, Julie come and visit for a few days. Well, it was supposed to be a just 4 days, but thanks to the airlines, we got her an extra day. (Happy face for me, sad face for her husband, Justin.) Levi had a lot of fun checking out his cousin, Cohen, who is just his size. Cohen is a few weeks younger than Levi, but they weigh the same. (I try to feed Levi lots, but he just burns it off. He must have his dad's metabolism.) We were busy with Julie here, and on Sunday when they cancelled church because of snow, I was feeling guiltily relieved. Church is good, but all of a sudden, it was a little less busy and stressful. Of course, Aaron had a bunch of snow to clear, but thanks to our handy dandy snowblower, it really isn't that hard of a job. We had a superbowl party with Julie and my brother Chad and his wife Kristin and their family -- although not a lot of people watched the game, we spent more time just eating hoagies, wings, and visiting. (As a side note, however, I wanted the Patriots to win at first, just for the sake of breaking a record, but I have always loved the Mannings, and I was happy with the end result!) All in all, it was a great weekend!

Levi's first cookie

I'm thinking he takes after his mom, don't you? WE LOVE SWEETS!

Sledding!

Ok, we're back, but we're a little busy! Between potty training (which Jacob is finally getting the hang of, as long as we're home) and teething (Levi now has 6!!!! teeth which have broken through, 3 in the last 2 weeks), this mom has spent a lot of hands on time with her boys! Add to that a very slow computer - the computer and I must have the same virus - and you get no blog for a while!

We had a great Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. It was a snowy Monday, so after shoveling 8-10 inches and making cinnamon rolls (gotta have cinnamon rolls on a stormy day!), we went sledding with Aunt Laural and our cousins. Such fun! Officially, this was my boys first sledding adventure. I packed Levi in my front-pack carrier, put gloves on his feet and Aaron's coat over both of us, packed up the boys, and went to a school over in Draper which has a great hill. I wish I would have gotten more pictures, but I dropped the camera in the snow, which packed the lens full of ice, and with my hands full, I wasn't able to get it clean again until we got home. After sledding, Aunt Laural and Uncle Chris let us crash their dinner time, and we all feasted on taco soup and the cinnamon rolls. Thanks, Jeppsons! That is probably the most blog worthy thing we've done this week... Unless you count the potty training details, but poop and pee aren't nearly as fun to blog about...

Caeden on the hill

Aunt Laural and Jacob before a run!

We're back!

Well, we made it through the Christmas vacation! Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas! But sometimes the stress of December just wears me out. Our boys are off track in December, which means that if I'm not totally ready for Christmas before then, I'm in for a litte bit of a struggle. But all turned out well. The boys finished swimming lessons, Jordan had his piano recital, all shopping got done in just enough time to load up the trailer to head out to Texas to celebrate Christmas with my parents, and no one is sad because they didn't get everything! (I always worry about that!) Just know that we are working on our "New Year's Letter" instead of the yearly Christmas update...

Christmas in Texas was awesome! I so love being with family! The drive there wasn't as bad as Aaron feared it would be. Luckily, the boys spent a lot of time sleeping, watching videos, and playing games. Everytime we passed the "Midland, Texas - home of President George W. and Laura Bush" sign, I wanted to take a picture. My sisters took me shopping, which was a lot of fun. I sometimes forget how much I hate looking like a slob, and they remind me that I'm not as dumpy as I feel. I even got boots! It was great to see cousins play together - and share diseases... which is another story...

Then there was Christmas morning. So many kids, so many presents! We all opened presents at my sister's home, so it was quite the gathering. When I say "we", I mean our family, my brother Chad and his wife and 4 kids, Kelly and her husband and 3 kids, Julie and her husband and son, and my mom and dad. Santa was good to us this year.

We spent a day out riding atv's and motorcycles (thanks, Kelly and Larry!) and I only got stuck in the mud twice... (thanks, Justin for rescuing me!).

All in all, it was a fun time to remember. We came home with lots of presents, the family trailer (thanks, Dad!), a cold for Aaron, an eye infection for Levi, a stomach virus for Jordan, something wickedly intestinal for Jacob (Kelly has had to clean her carpet twice and replace some of the padding for because of those two), and a lot of fun memories - except for the throwing up parts.