Camping Trip

Getting ready to go hiking
The kids had been so excited all week about having "white donuts" for breakfast when we go camping.
This is Landons version of Smores. Put three uncooked marshmallows on a stick and eat.

Last weekend Mike and I decided to take the kids and go camping. We didn't leave until 5:00, but the campsite was only 30 minutes away. We had a great time hiking, making smores and watching a movie in the tent. The kids didn't fall asleep until around 11:00, and for Landon that was only after some much needed Benadryl. I mean don't get me wrong, it was fun, but not as much fun as watching Mike, Aaron and Erik try to kill the Raccoons. We definitely prefer to go with friends.

Off Line and Out of the Loop!

So, we have not had phone or internet for the past 2 weeks (thank you Qwest) and I have really been struggling not being able to get any email, or check any blogs. It's been torture let me tell you! Now we're back on line and here's what we've been up to!Landon was busy at wotk one day. He came in and was yelling "I show you, I show you." This is what he wanted to show me...that he had put all of the letter magnets with their coordinating colors. He was very proud and even posed for a picture.
Landon was invited to his first Birthday party on the 10th of May! It was for a mutual friend of Abbie and Landon's so Abs got to go too. We went bowling. Of course Abbie is a pro, but it was Landons first time. It was pretty cute!

The kids and I on Mother's Day. I think I had just woken up from a nap! This is my delicious chocolate cake that Abbie picked out for me at the store (complete with candy sprinkles) and that Mike made. Mike on Mother's Day. He looks pretty tired huh? The kids and I have been spending a lot of time outdoors, especially at the local parks. It really makes the time pass quickly and it's something that they can do on their own. I just have to drive them there and then sit in the sun!
And finally, Abbie has been working towards the ultimate goal of getting to buy Alvin and the Chipmunks. She had to earn 100 stickers by doing things "Happy and Fast" when we ask. It took her about two months, but she finally did it! It was a very exciting day and I was so proud of her.

What Erin Means

You are friendly, charming, and warm. You get along with almost everyone. You work hard not to rock the boat. Your easy going attitude brings people together. At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together. You are wild, crazy, and a huge rebel. You're always up to something. You have a ton of energy, and most people can't handle you. You're very intense. You definitely are a handful, and you're likely to get in trouble. But your kind of trouble is a lot of fun. You tend to be pretty tightly wound. It's easy to get you excited... which can be a good or bad thing. You have a lot of enthusiasm, but it fades rather quickly. You don't stick with any one thing for very long. You have the drive to accomplish a lot in a short amount of time. Your biggest problem is making sure you finish the projects you start. You are very intuitive and wise. You understand the world better than most people. You also have a very active imagination. You often get carried away with your thoughts. You are prone to a little paranoia and jealousy. You sometimes go overboard in interpreting signals.

What's" Your Name's Hidden Meaning?

What do you think? Is it me? Try it out!

Rainy Day Fun

So when the weather outside looks like this.........



Here is something fun to try!


My kids LOVE to jump, and since we couldn't go outside and jump off the slide yesterday, we jumped inside! We took all the cushions off the couch and jumped our little hearts out. Well, I didn't but you get the idea. I highly recommend this entertainment (if you don't mind your couch cushions being jumped on). My kids were entertained for a long time. This is actually something they do a lot. Don't worry Grandmas...no broken bones yet!

One month later

So, here we are one month later (or present day) and look at my green lawn! Landon decided a few days ago that he was gonna play hockey, so he found one of Abbie's headbands, and started playing in the kitchen. It was hilarious! (The little boy in the picture is the one I babysit)

This past month has been VERY long and hard. Mike has been on a rotation that is pretty good schedule wise. He has been on Cardiology and has had the weekends off which has been awesome! It's been hard for me because as some of you know and others won't be shocked to

find out that I am pregnant! I am almost 12 weeks along and due around the 6th of November. I have been sick for the past six weeks and hating every minute of it. Hence the slacking in the blogging world! I am starting to feel better now and it is getting warmer everyday and I feel like the worst is behind me. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and support. I love you all! Yea it's SPRING!!!!

The day after Easter

We had our last and final snow storm come in on the day after Easter. It was a Monday and for family night, Mike and the kids went out and made a snowman. The snow was literally blowing sideways, but they did not care. They were out there for an hour and would have stayed longer if I hadn't made them come in and get warm in the tub. They built a great snowman which actually melted within a few days. Mike is such a great dad to do stuff like that with the kids!Those conditions were a little too rough for me.

Easter

So, I thought I'd post a picture of the kids on Easter, because they looked so darn cute! This year, I splurged (with some help from my mother-in-law) and got Landon an actual Easter outfit. Every other year, he has just worn khakis and a white shirt, but this year, I really wanted him to look cute! Abbie was lucky enough to still fit into her Easter dress from last year, so that was nice. We did an Easter egg hunt (inside of course) taht morning and ate tons of candy and hard-boiled eggs for breakfast. It was a great day!

Ok, so if the photobucket slideshow is taking FOREVER to load, just hit view all images. Sorry. I t's really slow and it took me forever to create because i'm just learning, so I'm not deleting it. Hope you all get to see the pictures.

Trip To Utah

It's Not My Fault!

Ok, so here I am sitting down at the computer ready to blog and I can't find a cord that fits my camera. Mike gave me a new camera for my birthday (3 months early) so that I could take it to Utah and I have a ton of cute pictures on it, but it looks like we need to buy a new cord to connect it to our computer to download pictures. I didn't figure that out until right now. Nice! I guess I could blog anyway.

Abbie was on Spring Break last week and it turned out ok. I was dreading it because I really don't know what to do with her at home these days, especially when we can't go outside. Well, we went to the mall, I had a few doctor's appointments so she got to play with some friends and it actually was nice enough to play outside a few times. Saturday was gorgeous. It was 63 degrees and sunny. Mike was home so we took the kids to a nearby park for a few hours and then played outside the rest of the day! We even grilled and ate dinner out on the back porch. It was awesome. I love days like that. It's a little colder today, but I definitly think we're out of the woods as far as snow and ice go. Abbie is back at school today and I am loving the quiet time. I love my daughter, but she definitly thrives on having something really stimulating and something that's her own to do. She can't wait for Kindergarten to start in September. Landon, of course, is just watching Cars.

Slacker!

Ok, Ok I know that I have been a big time slacker at blogging. The kids and I got home from Utah two weeks ago and I just can't seem to compile all the pictures and sit down and blog. I know this has been really hard for you all because you check my blog religiously right? I promise I'll get there. Stick with me. Love you all!!

A Little Piece of Home

Last night Mike and I went to the Minnesota Timberwolves game. They were plauing the Jazz and Mike really wanted to go, so since we didn't get to go out for Valentines Day, we decided to make it an evening. We got a babysitter last minute and went to Hard Rock Cafe for dinner and then on to the game. We were two of about five total people that were rooting for the Jazz, and our enthusiasm wasn't enough. They lost to the Timberwolves, but it was still fun to get to see them play. (Much more fun than watching on TV). I was so glad to get to spend the evening with Mike. He starts a new rotation on Saturday, and we won't be seeing as much of him. We always have a good time when we go out (after, of course, the initial fight). Love you hunny!

This one's for Dan!

Cookies Anyone?

For Family Night on Monday, we decorated Spring/ Easter cookies. Of the course the kids were really into it. Here are some of their creations. Don't they look appetizing?

Wisconsin Dells

We got back last night from spending two days in Wisconsin Dells which is about 31/2 hours away. This place is a resort-type town with a lot of indoor (and outdoor in the summer) waterparks. We went with two other couples in our ward and we had a great time. As you can see, the kids loved watching movies on the drive and had a great time at the waterparks. The parks were really geared toward kids, but there were adult slides too. Landon actually ended up getting sick (surprise surprise) and didn't have that much fun on the second day. The bottom picture is one of the windows showing how much snow was piled up outside. But we were nice and toasty on the inside! Hope everyone else had a great weekend too. Love you all!

Silly Silly Landon

My son is so funny! He is constantly making Abbie, Mike and I laugh. All day long, he follows Abbie around and does everything she does. It is so funny to watch him try to do jumping jacks, dance, do cartwheels and whatever else Abs is attempting at the moment. Today it was dressing up. Abbie had a friend over and they were playing up in her room (of course Landon was up there too). After awhile they came down and Landon had stripped off all of his clothes (down to the onesie) and had on the cowboy hat and commenced to do a dance in the living room. It was hysterical. Abbie and I were laughing so hard. I am so grateful for this little guy. He really brightens my day. Love you buddy!

The New Van

Oh, yes...The Hales stepped it up a notch. We have a DVD player in the car. The kids sure think that we have to watch a movie everytime we go somewhere. I'm gonna have to put a stop to that. Half the time the movie doesn't even have time to start before we get to our destination.

This isn't the greatest picture because it is so hard to keep the car clean with all the snow, ice and salt. It looks exactly the same as the other van, just a different color. Thanks for all of your prayers and support through this stressful time in our lives. We are so happy to have found a van that suits us and to eliminate a little bit of the headache that I have everyday in dealing with insurace people, doctors appointments and the overall pain from my injuries. We really are very blessed.

Foiled Again

So Here's the story...for some reason, Mike and I really wanted to go to Benihana on Valentines Day the first year that we were married. Well, I called several days before to try and get a reservation and the lady almost laughed at me over the phone. She said there were no tables left and that I would have to call weeks in advance next time. Well, the next year we wanted to try again, but couldn't go for some reason and it just kind of became an obsessin. The next year we had just had Abbie and I couldn't leave her for that long and the following years we were in Ohio and I don't even know if they had a Benihana there. Anyways, we move here to Minnesota and there is a Benihana literally two miles from our house. Well, as a good wife should, I got on the phone about two weeks into January and made reservations for us to go on Valentines Day. I got a babysitter from the ward the we've had sit for the kids a few times. We were defiitely going this time...7 years later mind you. And then come Wednesday night, I got a phone call from the baysitter telling me that she had been sick all week and that she could not babysit the following day. I was very understanding, but we had no other options. I was not going to ask any of our friends last minute and besides that, they were all probably doing something either by themselves or with their kids. Mike suggested that we take the kids and go out to eat, but I just couldn't picture Valentines Day fighting with my children over dinner...I mean we do that every other day of the year. We opted to stay in and cook dinner and save Benihana for another time....maybe next year! I guess we'll get there eventually. Hope everyone had a great V-Day!

Tagged by Breezy-D!

Full name: Michael Aaron Hale

How long have you been married: 71/2 years

How long did we date: We dated for 6 months and were engaged for 3months

Who said I love you first: Mike

Who is taller: Mike

Who sings better: That's a toss up.

Who's smarter: Mike. But I have more common sense!

Who does the laundry: Me. Every d--- day

Who pays the bills: I do now and I HATE it.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed: Mike. and my side of the bed is really close to the wall

and I have to shimmie along the wall everynight to get into bed. It's really annoying!

Who mows the lawn: Me

Who cooks dinner: Me

Who drives: Me. It is a source of contention otherwise.

Who's more stubborn: I would say it's about equal.

Who kissed who first:Mike kissed me first after several failed attempts.

Who asked who out first: Mike. We had actually never met fomally, but had seen each other and he just called and asked me out.

Who proposed: Mike

Who has more siblings: There are 5 kids in each of our families

Who wears the pants on the family: Definitely me and Mike will be the first one to admit it.

I tag: Mom, Dana, Amy, Camie, Gaby and Laura!

Catching Up

Ok, so this is waht's been going on with us....my sister came to visit two weeks ago and we had a blast. We played with the kids everyday and went out and did things almost everyday. (to see pictures please visit Jenny's Blog as I did not take one picture while she was here. www.jam2722.blogspot.com) Anyways, on the day before she had to go home, we were driving home from being at the Children's Mueseum for like three hours and we were in a car crash. I was turning left at a green light (I had two witnesses that stopped and confirmed that my light was green) and some lady ran a red light and just plowed right into us. She hit us on the front drivers side. We were all ok. I hit my head on the window really hard and got some pretty serious whiplash. Jenny got caught by the seatbelt and is pretty bruised. The kids are both fine. Abbie was scared at first and was crying, but we talked about seatbelts and this is why we wear them. I ended up going to the emergency room in the ambulance and Jen took the kids home with the help of my friend Rachel. It has been a week now and we are just getting word that the van is totalled...so we are back to van shopping. We've only had the van for two years. I'm really sad. Abbie cried when I told her we were not getting it back. Hopefully we'll get something that is equivalent and not have to settle for something less. I'll post pics when we find something. We are actually in pretty good spirits. We know that we were so blessed by the Lord to not be seriously injured or killed in that accident. What we're going through now is small potatoes compared to what could have been. I told Jen that she wasn't invited up here aymore. Last time she was here, the bridge collapsed! She's cursed I tell ya!