Splishin' and Splashin'

We are LOVING this warm weather. A few days ago we decided to blow up the little pool in our backyard. It probably wasn't quite warm enough to go swimming, but we were willing to try!! The water from the hose was freezing but we still had a great time. Eli kept shivering and doing the sign for "cold", but eventually he got used to it. Ethan loved splashing in the water and even tried out his new diving sticks. I told him they would be more fun in a bigger pool, but he still had plenty of fun with them in our tiny little kiddy pool. Eli kept me totally entertained by his constant tripping over the side of the pool. Every time he tried to step in or out of the pool, he would catch his foot on the edge and fall flat!! It didn't phase him at all and I couldn't stop laughing! I always love to see my boys playing together. They are both little fish and love the water!!!

Ethan's Preschool Field Trip

Well, last Tuesday Ethan got to go on a field trip to Wheeler Farm. I went as a chaperone (I really just wanted to go along for the fun, too!!). He loves Wheeler Farm and especially loved being there with all of his preschool friends. Ethan really enjoys school and is learning so much. He especially loves his teacher, Ambree. There is one "student teacher" assigned to each preschooler, so Ethan gets some great one on one learning and attention. In one picture I was able to catch the moment when Ethan was telling Ambree, " I love you this much!" He is such a cutie! It was a great day and I was so lucky to be able to tag along!!!

Ready, Aim, Fire!!!

We fired marshmellow guns, that is!!! Well, we had a fun Saturday last week. Tim's best friend from childhood, Rob Meyers, came in town for a raquetball tournament and stayed at our house. It was great having him and his friend hang out with us for a few days. Wendy brought over some marshmellow guns and they were the hit of the party. Everyone was involved in this gun fight. Even Eli got the hang of it and tried to blow the marshmellows out of the gun - it didn't work too well, so he just ended up eating most of them. Our dog, Harvey, REALLY enjoyed this game. He was really good at cleaning up all of the dropped marshmellows. It was great to see all of the cousins running around together with their "guns." Rob even drew some targets and bad guys on our backwall with side walk chalk so the kids could have something to shoot. It was a great day to be outside and enjoy eachothers company!!

Easter Sunday!!!

Happy Easter!!! The boys sure enjoyed their Easter baskets and had a great time searching for hidden Easter eggs on Sunday morning. Church was nice; Tim and I sang in the choir and our boys ran the hall with our neighbor Jon! After church, we went over to Jon's house for their annual candy hunt in the backyard. We have done that every year for the past 3 years - Thanks to the Hirschi family. Then we had some nice Sunday naps and then over to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Easter dinner and more egg hunts! We loved all of the candy, egg hunts, family, friends and good food, but most importantly I love Easter because of what it really means. I am so glad we can celebrate the sacrifice and resurrection of my Savior, Jesus Christ. I know that Christ lives and that His life and gift of eternal life to all of us is the real meaning of Easter!!

Ethan and Eli finding Easter eggs on Sunday morning!!

Easter candy hunt at Jon's house


Easter pictures with Grandma and the cousins: Ethan, Eli, Kaya, Tanner, and Cole

The kids singing "Little Bunny Foo Foo" with their new bunny ears!

Pepperwood Easter Egg Hunt

On Sat. April 11, 2009 I took the kids to the Easter Egg hunt at Pepperwood Park. Grandpa was able to go with us and experience the fun! They had sectioned off the big park into different age groups. Ethan and Eli were in the 0-3 yr. old group where there were probably a couple hundred eggs all over the grass just waiting for the little kids to scoop them up. Ethan had been practicing his Easter egg hunting skills with the numerous egg hunts we have done in our backyard. He performed just as he had practiced - excellently. He left the park with an Easter basket overflowing with eggs. Eli also did well, but he had more of a strategy than most kids. When they opened the area for the young kids to gather eggs, Eli went the other direction to where the eggs were waiting for the older kids' hunt which hadn't happened yet. Eli had his own little private Easter egg hunt. We were pretty impressed with his ingenious plan until someone in charge came over to inform us that those eggs were for the older children. Oops - oh well, we all had a great time. Then we even got to top off the great Easter egg hunt with Krispy Kreme donuts. Pepperwood doesn't do anything half way!! The Easter Bunny even showed up for pictures. I love the picture we got. Mommy is smiling and both kids are looking very wearily at this large Bunny standing next to them. It was a great way to start our Easter weekend.

Swing the Day Away

We have this great tree swing in our backyard (I bought it at a yard sale last year for $3 - yeah for good deals!). The kids love it and so do I. The weather has been finally nice enough to play in the backyard, so I was able to push the kids on the swing for a long time. They just kept taking turns and asking for more underdogs and trying to go so high that they could kick the tree branches with their toes. I love to watch the pure joy on their faces as they swing higher and higher. Eli even started laughing hysterically at one point. How can you resist taking pictures of the simple joy that simple pleasures can bring!?! I sure love my boys and the joy they bring to my life.

Decorating Easter Eggs!!!

So I was really excited to decorate Easter eggs this year. I figured Ethan was old enough to enjoy it so here we go. We had Wendy and the kids over (we really like to hang out with them if you can't tell!!) and the cousins dove into dying Easter eggs. It was fun to be able to share with them some different dying techniques and ways to decorate. I LOVED dying eggs as a kid. I am sure my whole family did it growing up, but I have some special memories of dying eggs with my dad. We could do it for hours I recall. So, it was nice to share my little bits of wisdom - ha ha! Anyway, the kids did a great job dipping eggs in multiple colors to make new colors and holding the egg just right so they could make stripes. I was very proud of them and I think they were proud of their beautiful eggs too! Now we get to use their eggs for an Easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa's house on Sunday!!

The Hall Family Bowlers

Well, on Thursday we decided to have a fun day just because - I mean, why not it is Thursday after all. First, we went bowling with Wendy and her kids: Ben, Nathan and Riley. We had a great time. Ethan did really well - maybe because he had the ramp slide thingy and bumper walls to help him out a little. Eli also had a great time. He spent most of the time running away from Mommy and Daddy and trying to get to the lane. He made it one time and slipped on the oil - yucky, but very funny! It was probably a good thing that it was a Thursday and not many people were there bowling. You can see in one of the pictures Eli even got in on the action and tried to push a ball down the lane. Tim and I also did pretty well. I actually got a lot of spares, no strikes, but oh well - we just need to go bowling more - right Dad and Unc!?! I think our family is destined to be a bowling family - thanks to our legacy of bowlers: my Dad, Unc, Daniel, David, my Grandmother and Granddad - and now Ethan and Eli too!

Spring Time at Wheeler Farm

We had a beautiful spring day a few days ago. So, we took advantage of the good weather and went to Wheeler Farm with the cousins. Wendy and her kids, Katie and her kids, and us of course!! It was a blast. The kids loved seeing all of the new little animals, especially the baby chicks. Eli was even loving it and doing signs for "duck" and "cow." It is always fun to get together with the cousins and the sister-in-laws of course!!! The kids had fun climbing on one of the big tractors. Even little Eli and Ava got in on the action. I am so excited for more nice days so we can go on more outside adventures!

The Diaper Dance

So Eli LOVES to watch the "Signing Time" videos. He especially likes "Baby Signing Time." In one of the videos they have a song called "Diaper Dance." It is hilarious to watch all of the little kids and babies on the video dancing around in their diapers to this silly song. Well, it is even more funny to watch your own kids dancing around in their diapers. This is Eli's current favorite thing. Ethan also loves it. So I will often find them in Ethan's room with the "Baby Signing Time" CD playing the "Diaper Dance" song on repeat. They will be dancing and jumping on Ethan's bed in their diaper/underwear. It is very fun to see them playing and dancing together!!! Here is a picture of Eli doing a solo diaper dance.

Katie's Baptism

On Friday April 3, 2009 our family got to go to the baptism of our neighbor Katie. She is 11 years old and she was able to listen to the missionary discussions at our home over the last month or so. Her family is not active, but Katie had a desire to have the gospel in her life. About 3 months ago, she came over to our house asking me about taking voice lessons. I invited her to our young women new beginnings night and she was so excited about church. She then asked if she could come to church with us. We took her to church and then helped introduce her to activity days. She would often come over to our house and hang out with me and the kids. Her friends even started coming over with her. Very soon after that she was meeting with the missionaries in our home. It was a really neat experience to be able to be involved in her learning process. We are so proud of her and her desion to be baptized. I know that the gospel will bring her much happiness throughout her entire life. It all started by being good neighbors and friends with a sweet girl who lived next door. You just never know when someone is watching you and your family or when they are ready to have the goodness of the gospel in their lives. We must live everyday as an example of our Saviour Jesus Christ!!

Ethan's Tumbling Class

Ethan just started a 7 week class of tumbling and acrobatics. He is taking it with his friends Braxton and Graycee Wells. It works out great because then I get to see my dear friend, Emmilee, too!!! At first he was a little unsure about it. He heard they were gonna do handstands and he said, "that is too hard!" But I was so proud of him for being brave enough to try it. He was pretty proud of himself too. After he tried each new trick he would run over to me and say, "I did it and it wasn't even scary!" He said it in his super excited Ethan voice, which if you know Ethan, I am sure you can picture it. They got to do handstands, cartwheels, wheel barrel walking, front walk overs, and back walk overs. They had a blast and Ethan is so excited for his next class. I told him they might learn some new tricks and he told me, "I don't want to learn new tricks, I want to get better at the tricks I just learned!" He is so smart!!

Cousins Come to Visit

Last Thursday night we had some family arrive for the weekend. Chuck, Laura and their 4 kids came down from Idaho to play. We always love seeing them, and the kids had a great time together as usual. On Friday, we all went to the Discovery Gateway children's museum. We had a blast. I was sure glad we had 4 adults there to keep track of all 9 children. Wendy and her 3 kids joined us as well. It is really nice having so much family live close by. Ethan and Eli truly love playing with their cousins. Eli's favorite part was the water works area.

Eli riding a swan and playing in the water!

He kept trying to drink the water - yuck - and we wonder how kids get sick so often. Ethan loved playing with the balls at the very beginning of the museum. He would have stayed there the whole time if we let him.

Ethan playing with the balls!!!

Ethan riding the big horse - Riley waiting her turn.

On Saturday, I went to an audition in the morning for Oklahoma at Taylorsville city ( I am still wating on the results after call backs ). When I got back we all went to the indoor swimming pool at Gene Fulmer Recreation Center. Again, we had a great time. Thanks to brother-in-law Tim for keeping an eye on the older kids as they played wildly. I was kept totally busy following Eli around the pool. Yes, following him - not holding him. This time he didn't want me to touch him at all. He was so independent and content walking and trying to run all through the pool. It was fun to see him feel all grown up!!! He even went down the slide all by himself. It sure wore me out though. I don't have pictures of the kids at the pool, but I posted some of their bath time, which is almost the same right?! We love the adventures we have whenever family comes into to town. Thanks for the visit everyone!!!

Yeah for 5 kids in the bath!!!

A Snowman in March

Well, we had an Easter Egg hunt in the backyard 2 days before we built a snowman in the backyard - Ya gotta love Spring in Utah! Tim was in charge of our activity for family night so he decided we would make a snowman in the freshly fallen snow. It was a great idea. The snow was perfect for building a tall snowman and doing it really fast. That is always key when playing outside in the cold with small children. As you can see in our final snowman picture, Eli was done playing in the snow. He was fearless in grabbing the snow and "helping" with our snowman, so I think his little fingers got cold really fast. Ethan loved playing in the snow and stayed outside long after the rest of us had gone in to get warm.

Notice the eyes on the snowman. They are each half of a plastic easter egg that we found in the snow left over from the easter egg hunt 2 days earlier!!

The Curse of the Ear Infections!!

Our poor little boys have been cursed with chronic ear infections. Ethan had a ton of them before he turned one and then ended up getting tubes in his ears at 13 months. After the tubes, however, he was great!! He hasn't had anymore ear infections. Well, Eli came along and was doomed to have the same fate as his big brother. He also had numerous ear infections before he turned one and got tubes in his ears at 13 months as well. Eli's tubes, however, have not stopped his ear infections. Since he got tubes put in about 2 months ago he has had 2 more ear infections. But now you can see the infection drain out of his ears - yuck!! The close up picture of his ear tried to capture the yellow, oozing goo draining from his ear. He seems pretty uncomfortable for the first couple of days and then he is right back to his active self. He loves to be outside and I included a picture of him trying to ride Ethan's tricycle. I love my active, energetic and enthusiastic boys - I just wish those darn ear infections would stop bothering them!!