Mr. and Mrs. Hall

What a fun wedding! I mean, it's ALWAYS fun when all of my brothers and sisters and the millions of kids get together, but this time it was such a special ocassion. Jon is a very important person in my life. He was the only one I ever got to pick on. (: We were actually very close. We spent A LOT of time playing video games and being silly and... just talking, I guess. I can't even say how much we enjoyed the year that Jon lived with us before his mission. He made our house so full of life and Mase and him created a bond that will last forever. Anyway, I feel so happy that he has found the girl that he wants to spend forever with. Just seeing the look on her face during the wedding ceremony was enough to know he picked exactly the right person. My dad was able to perform the ceremony and it was so beautiful and touching. We are excited to have you in our family, Lisa! Now let me borrow some shoes... (:
I didn't get the best pictures of the happy couple, but I will post a few just so you can see how beautiful they looked. And then I hope to post more when they send me some of their professional pictures. (Because I am the WORST photographer on the planet.)


Lisa looked stunning with that beautiful hair, and under her dress are the cutest pair of funky red shoes. I have to admit I am jealous of her style. Maybe I can learn a little from my new sister-in-law. Jon didn't look too shabby, either. But the real pictures are fabulous, I'm sure.


Once again, bad picture... but these are the centerpieces I made for the open house. I took this at home before we took off to Mesa. They looked much better on a real tablecloth instead of a dress and a mousepad, I promise. The boxes were full of red and white striped mints.


This is my FAVORITE pic of them, just because it tells the story of the REAL them. I snapped this at the open house when they were just alone in a corner laughing at something. Look at how Jon is playing with his new ring and how natural they are. Adorable!

Can you believe they married us ALL off???

Just a quick shout-out to my single-for-one-more-night little bro and his adorable girl Lisa. We love you guys! More photos to come...

I can do it MYSELF! (:

I know you have all heard about how much Mase is growing up, but I HAD to cite another example. (Partly because it was so cute and partly just to get my big face not to be the newest post...) We had lunch and Mason wanted to watch a movie instead of take a nap. I put on his movie and came up to check my email and after a few minutes went back to check on him. He was lying across his skateboard with a big smile on his face and eating something. "What's that?"
"Mom", came the reply, "I made myself another sandwich." He had gone into the kitchen, found a knife, got out the bread and peanut butter and jelly, and made himself a sandwich. When did this kid become so self-sufficient? And the best part is, he put everything away! I was so proud. Now that the boys in my house are showing me so much talent in the kitchen, guess I won't be cooking anymore!

First impressions

There is a reason I put this very unflattering self portrait of myself of this blog. If you look oh-so-closely, you can see that something is wrong with this picture. Yeah, that's it, look at the ears. Nice... one brown earring and one red. Silly me, I put two different earrings on yesterday. That wouldn't be so bad, except that yesterday was my first meeting at my new job. That's right- I have decided to return to work (part-time, doing my favorite thing in the world, recreation for seniors...) and I was at a meeting where I had to MEET everyone and give a little presentation about my new recreation program. I failed to notice the earrings until I got home. Nobody said anything to me, but how could they not notice? I had on a big red beady necklace that matched ONE of my earrings. Hee hee! Anyway, I'm sure I already have a dorky reputation to live up to at my new job. That shouldn't be too hard. Next time I'll do mismatched socks and see if the old people notice. (:

A milestone

Mase grew up today. And I freaked out a little. Today was his first day of preschool. He was very excited about it this morning and did not even complain that his bath only lasted 5 minutes. That's HUGE. My freakout wasn't really visible, it just happened on the inside. I wasn't nervous for him, and I knew he would love it. It all comes from the fact that he is almost FOUR and getting so grown-up. Pretty soon he will be in regular full-time school and then he will move out forever! Okay, so I'm overreacting... But to see him with his little backpack on... and then when he was so brave when I left... and then to hear him talking about his new "friends" that I don't even KNOW! (: It's all very new to me. And new to him... And I'm just glad he is not prone to the same freakouts that I have. I love my little well-adjusted happy person. Hopefully, he still thinks I'm cool for a little while longer.

Kid Humor

Just wanted to record some funny things these guys have been saying lately.

When Ava gets something she wants, like to eat a banana or go down the slide, she says, in the most hilarious tone, "WU-CKY!" (Lucky.)

I put her in her booster for lunch the other day and a salad was sitting there for her (she loves salad but not many other veggies) and she said, "Oh my doodness! Sawad!"

Ro was cooking for me the other day (again) and he told Mase he felt like Ratatouille. Mase looked at him and said, "Try FATatouille!" and started cracking up. I am STILL laughing as I write this one, by the way...

We were walking through the toy aisles at Walmart and Mase said, "HOLY GHOST! More superheroes!"

Interview with the greatest almost 4-year-old on the PLANET!

Me: Hey Mase, can I ask you a few questions?

Mase: Bout what?

Me: Just want to know a few things. How old are you?

Mase: Three.

Me: Who is your favorite person to hang out with?

Mase: You.

Me: What do you like to do best?

Mase: Play with my superheroes.... Hey mommy, I love you.

Me: You too, buddy. If you could pick anywhere to go today, where would it be?

Mase: To Target.

Me: What would you buy?

Mase: Some more crayons and fingerpaints.

Me: What is your favorite food?

Mase: Carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, pineapple, cantaloupe... and french fries and cake!

Me: What did you learn at church on Sunday?

Mase: Prophets... I just learned those. I'm thinkin about somethin that rhymes with somethin else. OH! Cat, hat, FAT!!! (Crazy laughter)

Me: Nice. What city do we live in?

Mase: Portland... I mean Arizona!

Me: What do you think about Ava?

Mase: Mmmm, she likes to watch Elmo.

Me: What is your favorite movie?

Mase: Surf's Up. Cuz I like when Cody falls when he's surfing and the big wave hits him and he goes underwater and he gets hurt... but he was SLEEPING! Mom, can we be done? I gotta think about somethin... What rhymes with Capital???

Chef Roland

The alarm clock read 9:40 when I opened my tired eyes this morning. Bonus! I got to sleep in. The sound of feet coming up the stairs is what woke me and I could see my cute husband holding a plate and coming toward me. Breakfast in bed! Double bonus! As I eagerly awaited my cold pizza or even peanut butter toast, if I was lucky, I saw this:



WHAT?! I squinted to see if this was some leftover lasagna, but no... It was made-from-scratch banana crepes with fresh blueberries and strawberries. I had to take a picture before I ate it because it was just so... so... well, pretty! Delicious, too, once I finally got around to eating it. Anyway, Crystal with the chef hubby, you might have this done for you EVERY morning, but this is a much-appreciated change in the kitchen from Ro's delicious egg sandwiches. They ARE good, too, though... maybe starting this Master's in Accounting thing wasn't the best idea after all. I have a chef on my hands! (And he BETTER appreciate this post and make me lots more samples!) Love you, babe!

Cute protective brother

If you can look beyond the crappy phone pic, you may see one little boy who REALLY loves his baby sister. This didn't even capture the moment very well, but this made me smile. I met Renelle on the canal bank for a bike ride and both of our kids were in the trailers. The moms got to talking, of course, and didn't pay much attention to the little ones, but when I looked back, this is what I saw... She was tired and almost falling asleep and her big bro had taken it upon himself to put his arm around her and was talking to her softly. I like to take the time to document these times for them just in case they are not as "friendly" when they get older and start yelling at each other about who gets to use the phone (remember, Jeffrey?). Wait, I guess in the current day and age they will each have to have their own cell phones by the age of 8, so maybe we will have peace after all! (: