Rock On- Love, Hals

No, this is not posed. Hilarious, though, right?!

Also, since Meghan won't leave me alone, (just kidding Meg), here are 10 honest things about me. I know I just did 25 random things, but hey, you all love learning more about me, right?

1- I have a really hard time dealing with change. Although I may seem to be fine with it, in reality, I long for days past and miss old friends that I haven't kept in touch with. I secretly still get really sad about not working at LAWL anymore, for example, even though I nearly hated that job at the end. I get very nostalgic very easily.
2- I still sleep with my baby blanket. Poor Devin. Enough said.
3- I sometimes think that Hallie got switched with another baby in the hospital that was actually ours. I just look at her and think there is no way that we could have created something so beautiful. She just doesn't resemble Devin or I really. She has such gorgeous blue eyes, and she certainly didn't get those from either of us brown-eyed parents of hers. Her hair also seems to have a reddish tint to it and curls at times. Weird.
4- I have very sensitive feelings about infertility. I know I am not infertile myself, but working with people who are makes me very sensitive to the issue. I get really riled up about it when I hear people make dumb comments and I get really sympathetic when I hear of people who have infertility issues.
5- I knew I was going to marry Devin very close to when I met him. We didn't even date until after his mission, but I knew.
6- I have a one track mind sometimes. When I want to accomplish something, I have to dedicate myself completely to it or it drives me crazy if I have to quit and come back to it later. For example, I have been wanting to make our wedding album and found a great deal on a book and some supplies yesterday at a craft store. I started the album in the morning and finished it last night. That's pretty much all I did all day long.
7- I wish I hadn't been so unsure of myself in high school. I never thought I was good enough and I constantly worried about what others thought. I wish I could go back and tell myself, "who cares what other people think?! Be yourself and live it up!"
8- I had a LARGE obsession with the band NSYNC when I was in Jr. High.
9- I take great pride in being a good, loyal friend. It means a lot to me when people feel comfortable enough to confide in me. I have a large variety of friends, I think, and it is important to me to maintain my friendships.
10- I have never gotten over my nail-biting habit. I have ALWAYS been a nail biter, bad. I know it is disgusting, I know. But I just can't help it. My grandma even paid me $10 to stop when I was in 3rd grade. Of course I took the money and ran, but did I ever quit? Nope.

Well, that's all folks.

Updates

We have been really busy around here. As I mentioned in my last post, I went up to Idaho twice last weekend. The first time was to meet up with some of my friends from high school, which accomplished #93 on my list. It was so great to meet up with my friends and catch up with them. We talked for about three hours and enjoyed some of our old favorite snacks- salsa conqueso, oreos, doritos, and of course cookie dough. Yum. I know I have said it before and I know I will say it again, I am truly blessed with the amazing friends I have had throughout my life. Love ya ladies!! Here are some cute pictures of the get together.

We lined the kids up to take pictures with them. Since Hallie can't sit up on her own yet, Mary was propping her up. Their cuddling was quite cute. (Oh PS. Mary is 3 months older than Hallie and she and Hallie weigh the same amount!! Oh dear...)


All the kiddos. Jackson (Haylee's son), Hallie, Mary (Emily's daughter), and Jerika (Heidi's daughter).


Hallie met her future husband, Jackson. Can you tell it is love at first sight? (Thanks Hay for the cute pictures!)


Here we all are: Emily, Jill, Heidi, me, and Hay.

Secondly, Hallie is growing up so fast it is crazy! I told Devin yesterday that we better start referring to her as a toddler soon. I am just kidding, but she has seriously changed so much, it's like she isn't my little baby anymore. We are now playing in this thing, which I thought of as a big baby toy.


She prefers to either sit or stand now. It is funny. If she is laying down, she will pull herself up as far as she can to indicate that she wants to sit up. It's like she is doing sit ups. She is one strong girl. I will try to get a picture of it sometime.

Also, she has been sleeping like a champ! Last night she slept 12.5 hours straight! It was crazy. I ran in there this morning fearing the worst, but nope, she was just sleeping away. Just a while ago too, I was sitting paying the bills and she was sitting on my lap. I looked down and she was OUT! Just so you know, that NEVER happens, not once in her life has she ever just fallen asleep. She is more like one of those babies who has to be patting, rocked, rubbed, swung, vibrated, etc. to even fall asleep. We will cross our fingers that she is turning over a new leaf!

Anyway enough of Hallie. The third thing is that Jennifer and Chris are experiencing some very difficult things right now. I wanted to ask you all to pray for them. You can read more about it on my sister's blog, but Chris' doctor called the day that Jennifer got home from the hospital with the new baby to let her know that he thinks it is best to stop Chris' cancer treatments. Chris has been such a trooper and has been through so much in the year and a half since he was re-diagnosed with his brain tumor. He has held on for so long and has been such a great person and example through it all. However, he has come to a point where he has little quality of life left. I just want what is best for him. I hope that you can all remember them in your prayers. I will be going up again this weekend to spend time with them. Thanks for bearing with me for this long post!

It's crazy what three months will do to ya...

If that isn't the cutest thing you have ever seen, go here to see more pictures of my brand new niece, Sadie! She was born today, 10 days early to my sister Jennifer and her husband Chris. I was in Idaho Falls this weekend to see my best friend, Haylee, who was in town from Tennessee. I left Friday morning and came back Sunday night, only to hear this morning (monday) that my sister was in labor! So Dev and I drove up there again this morning and back this evening. I have certainly had enough of that drive! But Sadie was surely worth the drive...

Family Home Evening Packet exchange

So Jennifer and I were thinking that it might be fun to do a little Family Home Evening packet exchange. It would be like the one that my mom and my aunts did when I was growing up (some of you might be familiar with that). Each person will make a certain number of the same family home evening lesson- depending on how many people want to participate. We are thinking that they should be geared toward younger children. Then, Jennifer and I will coordinate distribution of the packets to everyone so that in the end, you will receive 10 different FHE lessons (or however many people choose to participate). At this point, we are wondering how many people are interested in participating. Please post a comment if you would like to join in. The packets should be completely finished by you- colored, cut, glued, laminated, etc. so that when you recieve the other packets, you don't have to do any work on them. I remember having these FHE packets growing up and they were so useful and fun. We used them all the time for FHE lessons and now my mom uses them for teaching Primary.

Let me know if you have any questions!

You KNOW you want to win!!

I commented on my friend Ashleigh's blog...this is super fun, I can't wait to use my creative juices to make YOU something extraordinary!

The first FIVE people to respond to this post will get something made by me! My choice. For you. This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!

2- What I create will be just for you.

3- It'll be done this year. (might be a little while)

4- You have no clue what it's going to be.It may be a story. It may be a joke book, autographed picture of myself, handmade bag, or a little invention of my own! I may create you a blog header or paint something for you with my food. (That would be scary). I may bake you something and mail it to you. Who knows?

5- I reserve the right to do something extremely strange. Believe me... it may blow your mind!

The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog. The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it! Sounds like fun, right? So, let's play!

What a Physique!

This post is dedicated to my cousin Che'- who so kindly babysits Hallie for Devin and I every Friday afternoon. Che' loves Hallie's chubby body, and who wouldn't? Check it out.


All I have to say is, Hallie better enjoy it while it lasts. This is probably the only time in her life that people will think chub is "cute."

#68. Go to a BYU Basketball Game

Well, I accomplished something on my list of 101 things to do yesterday. Devin's family has an annual tradition of going to the BYU basketball game on "Family Day", which also means it is $1. So what if the seats aren't great? We had a really good time. Here are some pictures to prove it!










I learned two things I didn't know before at the game:
1) Hallie hates booing. She cried every time the crowd booed. How is that for one positive little girl?
2) Hallie is packing on the lbs. She now outweighs her cousin Ryder (who is two weeks older) by A LOT. I don't know how much, but A LOT. I picked him up and almost died at how light he is. I think she is storing most of it in her cheeks and in her legs as they most definitley have some ROLLS!

We had a great time with everyone! Thanks for letting us come. Oh, and if you are wondering how I am doing on my list...click here to see it!