Pumpkin Carving & Halloween Party

We had such a great time at Joni's Halloween party for FHE on Monday night. There was lots of good food, lots of GREAT COMPANY, and some fantastic pumpkin carving!

I love to look at pictures on other blogs and I love to take pictures. This usually leads me to include pictures with most of my posts too (sometimes too many). Here are just a few of the fun pictures I ended up with from that night.

Some Gardner & Roberts kiddos


Courtani and her cute friend Tobyn


Gardners working really hard to carve
a GREAT looking pumpkin


Courtani & Tobyn AGAIN!

Kami Kerby and her kute boys

Whenever Courtani & Tobyn are around, they are ALWAYS together! It is so cute! I catch them playing peek-a-boo during church and sharing a chair almost every Sunday in Primary. Their poor Primary teacher sits in one of those tiny little primary chairs so that Tobyn & Courtani can share the one big chair! It really is cute to watch them play together!


Courtani couldn't wait to dig into the pumpkin guts!


Trevor was also anxious to get his hands into the slime

By the time everybody was done with their pumpkins I still only had an eye and a nose done. I was determined not to go home and throw out my pumpkin (despite my strong urge to do exactly that) but to actually finish it. It took me an hour once I got home, but by gosh, I FINISHED IT!! I have to say I was pretty impressed that it actually looked like a witch when I was done!!

Thanks for a great party Joni. We had such a good time! You really know how to throw a

fun party!

HALL GIRLS LUNCHEON

Emily & Christi

(Emily is beautiful even when her eyes are half closed!!)

Katie & Melissa

I absolutely love listening to my grandma cracking
up as she tries to tell a funny story!!

Heidi, Tiffany, Katie & Emily

We had our annual Hall Girls Luncheon on October 25th. This party is very similar to the Tate Girls Luncheon we had a few weeks ago. We have so much fun with my mom's side of the family with this tradition that a few years ago my mom decided to host the same kind of party for the girls on my dad's side of the family.

We had so much fun! It of course started off with lots of yummy food followed by funny stories from each person. This is my favorite part of the party. This year telling funny stories took up a bulk of the party time. Nothing beats a funny story being told by somebody who can hardly tell it because they can't stop laughing. By the end of it, we are all laughing to the point of not being able to breath and we usually haven't even reached the funny party yet! Grandma has got some great stories! I dare not post them for fear of either her disowning me or even worse......retaliation! For the sake of me remembering in the future I will just say this....always check to make sure the can doesn't have a hole in it before you use it and turn the lights on when you get out of bed to use the bathroom! Following the funny stories we amused ourselves with the gift game. This year, as always, there were some fun gifts. Tiffany decided that the gift she brought was just too cute to give up so she started off by picking her own. Unfortunately for her, she was right, her nice fall dishes were way cute and ended up going through the three owners really fast and were gone. Becky always brings a GREAT gag gift. One year I remember her bringing some large black "granny panties". This year....STRETCHY PANTS straight out of the 80's. I'm not sure who ended up with them but I'm sure there is a good chance we'll see them again next year. It was pretty funny to watch Grandma and Shelbi fight over the lava lamp. Who knew my 85 year old grandma could physically over take Shelbi to get the lava lamp from her. She is one tough cookie!!

The party was great! We all look forward to it every year! I love being able to spend time with my cousins. It's fun when we have some time together with no kids around so we can just focus on each other and act like kids again ourselves.

I love you guys!!

Happy Birthday Brittani

New purse

Charm bracelet kit from Gma & Gpa Hall

Leading "Happy Birthday"

Camp Rock CD
It's all about Camp Rock this year

Easy Bake Oven from Gma & Gpa Roberts

This post is LONG overdue!

Our Brittani turned nine on October 18th. Since her birthday was on a Saturday Dan surprised her at school on Friday. He called her out of class and took her out to lunch. This is something he likes to do with each of the kids for their birthday. He will either show up with take-out and then eat in the cafeteria with them or just take them out to lunch. They look forward to this just as much, if not more than the festivities for the rest of the day. After lunch they went and bought cupcakes for her to share with her class.

Another tradition we have is that they get to pick anything they want for dinner. Brittani wanted Chicken and rice Saturday night so Chicken and rice it was. Following dinner was her choice of birthday cake which this year was lemon cake with chocolate frosting. During dinner the boys decided we should each say what we love most about Brittani.

Braden -"she is really nice and pretty".

Trevor -"she is a great friend and helps me with my homework and cleaning my room".

Courtani -"she plays with me and is a lot of fun".

Mason can't talk but I'm sure he would have said something about the fact that Brittani is like his second mother! Always watching out for him and taking care of him.

Dad -"She is one of my special little girls that I love very much and that I am SO proud of."

Mom -"She is a good friend of mine and I am so proud of how she is always thinking of others before herself."

We are very happy to have Brittani in our family. She is such a sweet girl by nature. She is always concerned about how other people are doing and trying to do anything she can to make them feel better. I got a call one day from a mother of one of Brittani's classmates. She wanted to let me know that she was so thankful for Brittani. Her daughter had been being teased on the playground because of something with her appearance. Brittani stood up for her and told all of the kids, "it doesn't matter what people look like, it matters how they treat people!" I have heard her say this a number of times. She truly lives her life like this and looks for this in others as well. She has such a fun sense of humor that keeps us all laughing. She can dish out a good prank but can take it with just as much fun when it's dished back. She is just such a fun girl!

Brittani, you are such a very special part of our family. You are such an important part of our family! We love you baby doll!

Braden's surgery

Watching Star Wars on Mom's IPod before surgery

in the recovery room


Braden's new bed for the first week


Like any other boy, he sure is proud of his battle scars!

Well, it's been more than two weeks since Braden had his knee surgery. Everything went good. We had to be at Phoenix Childrens Hospital by 5:30am. that morning and his surgery was at 7:30am. He was pretty scared, as was expected, but held it together and did fantastic before the surgery. When it came time for them to take him back to the O.R. the anesthesiologist asked me if I wanted to suit up and come back and stay with him until he fell asleep. OF COURSE! I have asked if I could do that all three times Courtani had surgery and they would never let me do it. I was surprised when they asked me with Braden. Thankfully he fell asleep quickly and calmly.

The doctor told us that the surgery would take an hour and a half but they reserved two hours just in case they ran into problems. Imagine my panic when he was still in surgery and I hadn't heard anything at 2 hours and 45 minutes! The nurse finally called the waiting room and let me know that everything was okay and after 3 hours and 15 minutes they were done. They ended up having to re-break the area on his leg that he broke last December and then putting a screw in to hold down the bone and to tighten up his ACL. The surgery went well but he had a really hard time in recovery. Normal stuff like throwing up and just being in a lot of pain. After another hour and a half in the recovery room we were on our way home.

The first three days at home were pretty rough. He was in so much pain and he couldn't sleep for more than an hour at a time and then he ended up having an allergic reaction to his pain meds. The poor kid, it broke my heart. I very much underestimated what to expect following his surgery!!

After missing a week and a half of school, he is doing really well now. He has a big brace on his leg from his thigh to his ankle so he will be on crutches for a few weeks. He is supposed to lay down with his leg in a CPM machine for 8 - 10 hours a day. However, because of school there just isn't that many hours in the day so we do the best we can. He is a trooper and has maintained such a great attitude about the whole thing. His school teacher and classmates sent home a really sweet card that they all wrote messages in and a stuffed animal. Once he was back in school he asked his teacher if he could say something to the class. She thought he wanted to stand and give gruesome details and tell about the surgery so she had him wait a few days. When there was finally time for him to stand and say something to the class, she said that all he wanted to do is tell the class thank you and that he really liked all the messages they wrote. I don't know what all he said but I guess it really touched his teacher and I was proud of him.

Thank you to those of you who helped me pick up the pieces when I was falling apart during that week. I appreciate you lending me your shoulder to cry on when I was so stressed and had such a major lack of sleep! I am grateful for good friends!!

2 BREAKS - now we're BROKE!

At the end of it all, Trevor kind of likes his new black cast

Yep, another broken bone! Why is it that kids decide to need the really expensive doctor visits two months before Christmas shopping starts?

Last December Braden broke his leg pretty bad. After a year of MRI's, two casts, many doctors, many x-rays and physical therapy we are STILL dealing with it. We went to another appointment with a specialist this week and Braden is actually scheduled for knee surgery on October 14th. Hopefully this will correct the problems.

Tuesday night, September 30th, I heard a loud crash in the kitchen. Trevor was whining a little bit to Dan saying he fell off a bar stool and hurt his shoulder. I was listening from the bedroom as he talked to Dan. I heard him ask two or three times for a drink of water between explaining what happened. I know from too many experiences that this is the first indication that he might be about to pass out. I ran in there and got him a drink. I then noticed that his face and back were covered in sweat all of a sudden. This is usually my second indication that I am about to pass out. I had him sit down and tried to get him to put his head between his knees. He then said he felt like he was going to throw up. Always the third feeling I get when I'm about to kiss concrete. I hate that feeling!! I tried to calm him down and cool him off. We checked his shoulder and his collar bone since these were his main complaints. Everything was still intact and moved like it was supposed to so Dan told him to go lay down on the couch and we'd get him an ice pack because he was fine. He took a few steps and then turned back around toward us. He was holding his arm at his eye level and calmly said, "if I'm fine....why is my arm bent like this?" HOLY CRAP! His arm was in the shape of an "S". Now I was instantly the one that needed a drink, broke out in a sweat and felt sick to my stomach. I calmly went and put my arm under his for support and told him it was okay and looked up at Dan. In a panicked yet somewhat controlled whisper I said, "Dan, go get your shoes on! You need to take him to urgent care. His arm is broken!"

Sure enough, he broke both bones in his arm. The ulna (smaller bone) just buckled but the radius (larger bone) snapped clean in half. I took him on Wednesday to the orthopaedic surgeon who reset it there in his office. VERY PAINFUL! Trevor was a trooper though and didn't make a sound. He always has been a pretty tough little guy but when the doctor told us he usually has to put older kids to sleep to do what he did to Trevor, and Trevor didn't make a peep, I was impressed. I asked Trevor later what it felt like and he said he could feel his bones grinding together and it made them feel like they were vibrating inside his arm. He did say it hurt pretty bad. This kid definitely doesn't get his pain tolerance from his mom that's for sure!!

He is now in a cast for 8 - 10 weeks. Poor kid. He told us later that he thought he broke the leg of the bar stool because he heard it break when it fell. The stool was fine, the noise he heard was his bone snapping. Brittani heard it too and said it sounded like somebody cracking their knuckles REALLY LOUD. When she realized that it was his bone breaking, you guessed it.....she instantly needed a drink of water!

Tate Girls Luncheon

Aunt Jolene with her new set of cow decorations

Mom's yummy brownies

Shelbi's new fall decorations

Julie's Deal or No Deal game

Julie, Mom, Shari & Aunt Diana

Watching Julie watch her gift being opened was a crack up!!

She couldn't stop laughing! It was so funny!

We had our annual Tate Girls Luncheon once again. My mom has always had a close family who loves to get together for a fun party. Growing up we, as the kids, were never able to go. It was just for her sisters, girl cousins and aunts. Hearing what these parties were like always made me wish I could be there. About four or five years ago my cousin Shari decided to continue the tradition and have one of these parties for our generation with a spin of her own, a white elephant gift exchange game. Every year around this time we get together for a luncheon and party. It is so much fun. We start with a yummy luncheon and then head straight into our white elephant gift exchange game. This is always a blast. Some years women fight over homemade rolls. Some years they fight over chocolate. There is always a super cute craft made by one of the cousins that is a hot commodity. And of course there are usually some gifts that are just hilarious. We always come away with something happening that just "makes the party". This year it was my cousins wife Julie! What a crack up. She went to get her gift at Savers. She came to the party with a box full of the most hideous decorations I have ever seen. She went through the store trying to find the ugliest cow decorations she could find. Now it wasn't the gift that had us all holding our sides, wiping tears and not being able to breathe because of laughter. It was watching Julie as the gift was being opened. She was laughing so hard! Literally stomping her feet and constantly yelling, "open it", "oh just wait for the really good one", "look at (this)", "look at (that)". I have NEVER seen her act this way before! There is no way I could convey just how side-splitting, "UDDERLY" hilarious it was. I don't think we have laughed that hard at this party before, and that's saying a lot because we are usually laughing pretty hard.

I love this party. It is something I look forward to every year. I have been so blessed to have some of my cousins as my best friends. We have grown up having numerous get-togethers that are some of my favorite memories.

Thanks once again for a great party Shari. It was a lot of FUN. Thanks for the laughs Julie! My sides and my cheeks still hurt!

9 teeth pulled

Braden had to get nine teeth pulled the other day. YES NINE!! Luckily we have a great dentist! My brother-in-law, Jonathan Staker, is a pediatric dentist in Gilbert. Their office is FANTASTIC! Pediatric Dental Specialists (yes, that is my plug Ü).

Braden hates to wiggle his loose teeth so the result was his adult molars coming in before the baby teeth were out. This forced the baby teeth to flip on their side. He never even told us any of his teeth were loose and since they were all back teeth we had no idea until the night before we were going in for their annual cleaning. When I looked in his mouth it reminded me of a shark with his rows of teeth!

We expected to be told that Braden needed a couple teeth pulled but I was shocked when they told me that it was recommended that they pull TEN! Would he have any teeth left to chew? Four of them already had adult teeth breaking through so yes, he would still have some left to eat with. Luckily before his appointment he pulled one on his own so that was one less for them to pull.

My plan that day was to just be in there with him while he got numbed up and not while he got them pulled. However, once he was numb, they just started pulling them! When I saw them pull the first tooth I got sick to my stomach and really light headed. I almost sat down on the floor right there in the exam room and stuck my head between my knees. To those of you who know me well, I'm sure this comes as no surprise to you at all!! Thankfully, I pulled it together without hitting the ground. I was so amazed at how fast they had all nine teeth out. I'm pretty sure it was less than two minutes! SO FAST!

I knew it sounded like a lot when I would tell somebody that he had to have nine teeth pulled but when I actually saw what nine teeth looked like in his hand.....that's a lot of teeth! He did good. Trust me when I say it hasn't affected his eatting at all! He is very happy that he doesn't have to deal with anymore loose teeth ever again! Thanks Uncle Jonathan!!

Hall Family Reunion

Braden's and Trevor's message they wanted to leave behind at the camp when we left

Melissa, Emily, Heidi, Anna & Riley (some of my cousins)

Aunt Shelbi & Great Grandma Hall

Brittani & Dad - She is such a daddy's girl!!

Grandma Hall & Mason

Mason loved being up high and looking down from the cabin porch

Grandma Hall & Cora

Aunt Shelbi & Grandma Hall kickin' back

Nellie & Brittani

Mason

Uncle Denver grilling - YUM!

Trevor, Braden, Grandpa Hall & Mason at the campfire

Mason, Courtani, Brittani and Nellie

Mason

We were able to have our first Hall Family Reunion this past weekend. We've had family reunions as long as I can remember. My Grandma Hall is the 13th of 14 children. Each year, (with the exception of one due to fires) for the past 50 years, there has been a Nielsen Family Reunion with her family up at their ranch in St. Johns/Springerville area. The house they lived in when my grandma was just a little girl is still standing. We all pitch tents around the old house and camp out for a few days. It is, and will always be, one of my most favorite childhood memories.

Many people have the chance to hear neat stories about their ancestors. It is such a neat thing that growing up we got to hear the stories and then actually go to where they took place. It literally felt like we got to step back in time. Inside their old house is still the stove where my great grandma used to cook, there are still beds upstairs and little shoes (the kind you need a button hook to fasten) upstairs on the floor. You can see their old covered wagon actually there still on the ranch. The feeling really is incredible. It gives me a sense of what they might have been like. It has helped me feel like I actually knew them, when most of them I have never met. I cherish the memories I've made up there with my cousins all these years. I'm sad to see it all come to an end as the family has just gotten so big and other circumstances have come up that we are unable to have our family reunion up at the ranch anymore. I love that place. Even just the way it smells after the rain or late at night after the campfire. I love the memories I have there. I love the stories. I am excited to meet the ancestors I have grown to love and have heard so much about. I am heart broken that we will no longer be able to go up there every year.

We started a new family reunion this year with just my Grandma & Grandpa Hall's family. My dad and his three sisters with all of their families. We were able to go up to Strawberry and stay in cabins at Camp Lo Mia for a night. We had such a great time. I was so amazed at how much we were able to create the same feelings in a total different place just by keeping so many of the same campfire traditions we had at the Nielsen Family Reunion that we have all grown up with. We had the family campfire/meeting Saturday night and a great family devotional Sunday morning where many of the cousins were able to stand and share their thoughts and feelings. It really was pretty awesome and I loved it!

We will continue to have our Hall Family Reunion every year now. I'm so lucky to live so close to most of my cousins. We are all pretty good friends and have some great memories together. It doesn't matter where the reunion is held as long as we are able to have the reunion and keep our relationships strong, that is what matters.

Playing catch up!!

I know I haven't posted anything for quite a while. This isn't due to the fact that we have just been sitting around with nothing to post about, but more because I have found myself feeling so busy that I haven't had time to think. When things happen, I type up some thoughts and leave them as drafts in my "postings" so that I won't forget them. Problem is, they just end up sitting there for a while. I decided to actually stay up late tonight (it's about 3:00am) and finish some of the drafts that have been sitting there and post them. So, here are a few and I will be adding more posts and updating the rest of our "happenings" soon......I hope.

Are you kidding me? Another pair of glasses!

When Courtani was born one of her eyes would turn in slightly causing it to appear that her eyes were crossed. I asked different doctors about it but always got the same answer. It was just how babies eyes were at this age and nothing to worry about. Now I'm not claiming that I know more than the doctors, however I was never satisfied with that answer because she was my fourth baby and I had seen what they were talking about and I knew this was different. Finally at her nine month well visit her pediatrician was able to see what I was talking about and sent us to a pediatric eye specialist. After seeing the specialist for a year, he too wasn't able to ever see what I was talking about during her visits and I was very frustrated by this point.

Around the time that she was three years old I was talking to a friend of mine who told me not to give up but to keep pushing for what I knew was going on. She told me that kids with this type of problem end up having double vision. The way the brain deals with this problem is to shut the vision off in one of their eyes and once that happens, there is nothing they can do. Needless to say, I took her right back to the eye specialist and luckily, since she was older now, he was able to see what I had been seeing for the past three years. Whew!

Fast forward....It ended up being a muscle problem that was making her eye turn in. She was actually already shutting the vision off in her right eye and in fact, couldn't really see much past about eight inches from her face. We patched her good eye for a while hoping it will cause her bad eye to get stronger and the vision to come back. Once that was accomplished she had surgery on her right eye, then five months later on her left eye and finally ten months later, which was this past June, another surgery on both eyes at the same time.

She is now in glasses even though she has 20/20 vision at this point. The glasses are to help the muscles relax so her eyes can learn to work together. She has been in the glasses since February of this year and we have gone through FIVE PAIRS OF GLASSES!! Not to mention the countless times we have taken the glasses in for minor repairs. I don't know what she does to them or how she keeps breaking them but I hope we can figure it out soon. I'm about done with this. I know she is only four years old and, because she is so young and such a tom-boy, I was up for a few repairs... but this is crazy! I'm hopeful that after having yet ANOTHER talk with her about being more careful with her glasses it will sink in. However, I won't hold my breath.

Grandma's 85th Birthday

On August 23rd my Grandma Hall turned 85 years young. She was able to have her children, most of her grandchildren and most of her great grandchildren meet at Peter Piper Pizza to celebrate. My grandma is an amazing lady! She still mows her lawn when it needs it, has been known to cut down trees she doesn't want around anymore, and at times we have to fight her to stay off her roof for various reasons. She is one spunky lady. I have very found memories of staying the night at her house with my sister Evi. Grandma would put us to bed reading the story "Little Black Sambo" and would fix us homemade scones for breakfast. The days were spent playing cards and other activities. She has raised such a strong and very close family. I love you grandma! You are the best!

first day of school

I know, I know I am a slacker! I haven't updated for a while now. Things just got so busy all of a sudden. It seems school started and we jumped right in with both feet into all the things that come along with it. School stuff, primary stuff and just life stuff all got a little busier all of a sudden so I have had a hard time sitting down at the computer when I have so much I need to get done. I'm hoping to play catch up here for a bit and post about some of the happenings we want to remember.

Our kids started school on Monday, Aug. 11th. Braden is in the 4th grade, Brittani is in the 3rd grade and Trevor is in the 1st grade this year. The kids all had a great first day of school. They all have great teachers whom they love and were able to find friends in their classes. Its so fun to hear their excitement when they get home on that first day.

(update: since my draft of this post Brittani has been pulled from her class and put into a combo class of 3rd & 4th graders. It will be a little more challenging for her which will be a good thing. She was pretty upset at first because she loved her teacher, but has since adjusted to the change and is enjoying her new class.)

I don't know why, but this year was particularly hard for me. Especially on Sunday night and the morning of the first day. I usually dread the first day because it's undeniable proof that they are each getting older. I am excited to see them learn and grow and become the people they want to become but it is also a reality check that time flies too fast. For some reason this year it just hit me harder than other years. I'm not quite sure why because we didn't have any major changes. I do like having all of them at home with me and knowing what is going on with each of them. It seems I loose a bit of that when they are at school with friends all day. It is just Courtani, Mason and I at home in the morning and then Courtani goes to preschool in the afternoons. She goes Tuesday - Friday from 11:00 - 3:00. The bus picks her up at our front door and then brings her back which is nice. She loves it. Mason takes his nap for most of the afternoon. So, even though I am tied to the house most of the day, it is still pretty darn quiet. However, this new found quiet time has left me with a dilemma each day. To clean or not to clean. My sister Evi, would jump right into it and have her house spotless each day. Me....not so much. It's definitely not one of my strong points. Whatever I decide to do, as much as I miss my kids when they are gone, it's nice to enjoy the few hours of quiet that I have to myself to do whatever I want.