Gavin, Katie & Mack Hall

Christmas

2012-01-02T14:28:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas. Mack was excited although very tired Christmas morning. He slept all through church to make up for it. On Christmas Eve we got to announce that Mack is going to be a big brother which was a lot of fun. Our baby is due June 30th. We got to see both sides of the family Christmas Eve and Christmas day so that is always great.
He really loved that he got to spend Christmas with so many cousins. He was pretty sad when they all left. It is fun to watch him trying to be one of the big kids running around with everyone.

He had the art of unwrapping presents down this year.

He got some fun toys. He hasn't let Lightening McQueen and Mater out of his sight since.

He also went sledding at the cabin this year.

He lasted about one trip down the hill and then he was done. Maybe next year he will like it better. We hope you all had a great Christmas and a happy new year.

Once their was a snowman TALL TALL TALL

2011-11-18T14:02:00.001-08:00

We had our first run of snow removal at the apartments last week. Mack was a good sport. He couldn't even move in all of his snow gear, but he stood where ever mom put him and watched us shovel snow. The owner of the building also bought us a new snowblower and that made things go so much faster.
And of course we had to take a few minutes to build a snowman. Mack kept singing "tall, tall, tall" while we were clearing the snow. It's the only part of the song he knows well enough to sing. So when we were all done we made a very little snowman, a little pitaful for a snowman I know, but Mack thought it was the best thing ever.

Halloween

2011-11-18T13:54:00.001-08:00

Halloween was tons of fun. We had a few friends over for a Halloween costume party, just treats and a game or two.

My little sister had quite the costume.

We didn't do a whole lot of trick-or-treating, just the grandma's and grandpa's and Carli and Justin. Cute cousins in their Halloween costumes. Mack loves Mater, but didn't exactly like wearing him.

Our pumpkins

Mack carving his pumpkin.

Mack and Dad.

Pumpkin Walk

2011-10-28T14:38:00.000-07:00

Last week we went to the Cache Valley Pumpkin Walk with cousins and Grandpa & Grandma Hall. It was a lot of fun. They make several different scenes out of pumpkins. The kids had a blast.

Pumpkin Zoo animals.

Mack and Dad looking at the forest animal pumpkins.

One of our favorites the angry bird pumpkins.

Mack liked to touch all of the pumpkins lining the walk way.

Winnie the Pooh.

It's always funny to me that by the end of any trip Mack is pushing the stroller instead of sitting in it.

They had at least a dozen cut out things like this. I think the kids had the most fun here. They wanted their picture taken at every one.

Bob the builder

Yoda

Clifford the Big Red Dog

Before the pumpkin walk Mack and I made Halloween cookies. We had a blast and he was covered in flour by the end of it.

We came back and ate the cookies and pizza after the pumpkin walk. Fun fall times!

Fun Fun Fun

2011-09-06T19:08:00.000-07:00

We had ton's of fun at the pool this summer. Mack loves the pool. We got to have some fun with Jessica, Reve, Lexi, and Grandma & Grandpa Hall.

Mack loved going to the County Fair this summer. He liked the animals, but I think that the big boy toys were his favorite.

He liked making animal noises at the animals. "Ba"

Mack has a hilarious pig noise as you can see below.

It wouldn't be summer in the Hall family without water skiing. Grandpa still has it!

Mack liked to watch Gavin wake board.

Mack watching Grandpa

Mack loved riding the tube.

Mack's oink, and several other noises.

Hall 'in the Loop

2011-07-24T21:18:00.000-07:00

The Hall's started a new family tradition this year called Hall'in the Loop. It's basically a little family run inspired by the RAGNAR. Mack got to start our team off by running down the driveway of the cabin.

Mack and Dad ready to run.

Cheering on Grandpa during his portion of the run.

Mack really liked the medals.

After a run like that we all needed a little R and R at the beach.

Floating with Dad.

All the grand kids. We're getting to be quite the rowdy bunch.

Fun Summer Activities

2011-07-24T21:07:00.000-07:00

We love getting in the pool. Mack absolutely loves the water and would spend alot more time out in the pool if he got to choose.
Mack and Mom floating on the noodles.

Chilling in his froggy floater.

I hope that I haven't turned my child into a total neat freak by managing apartments. He loves the vacuums and he knows what all the parts do.

Mack wants so much to be like his dad. While Gavin was going to school he would often find this bag and need to use it as his back pack.

We borrowed this knight outfit from my mom for something we needed to dress up for. Anyway Mack found it and thought it was the best thing ever. He wore it for a long time and didn't want to give the sword up for anything.

My little knight in shinning armor.

Mack loves hanging around with cousins. Especially in their cars shirts. He has become quite obsessed with cars lately. He wants anything that has to do with cars and pick things out from a mile away if they have lightening McQueen on them.

Camping Trip and some fun pics of Mack

2011-07-24T20:59:00.000-07:00

Camping is always one of our favorite summer activities. We planned a camping trip in Idaho with our friends the Picketts. Mack loved it. It was his first time camping.
Braiden and Brittany. Britt was such a good sport to come camping even though she's due to have a baby in August. (We're so excited to see her!)

Family Photo.

Mack and Dad making s'mores. Mack loved both eating them and making them.

Memorial Day

2011-07-24T20:52:00.001-07:00

Memorial Day is always a fun weekend. This year we went to the Hall family reunion on Saturday and forgot our camera, so sorry no pictures of that. But a fun time was had by all at the pirate party. Then we went to the Ward family reunion on Monday. We all get together for lunch and then we go and place flowers on the graves. One of my favorite parts of Memorial Day is arranging the flowers. It always makes me think of Grandma Alice, it's one of the days that I miss her most.

Placing flowers on the graves.

Mack loved getting together with the cousins and playing basketball with dad.

Grandma and Grandpa Capener.

We always are quite the crowd.

Graduation

2011-07-24T20:45:00.001-07:00

Gavin graduated this spring with his MBA. I'm so proud of him and so glad that we're done with that. The last month was a killer, late nights early mornings, tenants moving in and out of the apartments and Gavin working full time with classes five days a week. We got through it though and we're so greatful that we had the opportunity to further his education.

The proud wife and son.

Walking at graduation.

Being hooded. I didn't know that they did this, but the professors put on each graduate's hood before they walk. I thought it was neat.

Easter & Mack's 1 Year Pictures

2011-05-16T22:22:00.001-07:00

So I'm a bit late posting pictures. Oh, well here are some fun ones from Easter. We had an easter egg hunt at Grandma and Grandpa Hall's house.
Mack loved playing in the sand, it was his first time in a sand box and he was on cloud 9.

The Easter bunny left us some fun stuff.

We went up on the hill to throw easter eggs with the Capener side of the family.

Mack liked to hold on to his eggs. It took him a minute to catch on to the throwing part. Then the next morning when we tried to hunt easter eggs at our house he just wanted to throw them instead of putting them in the basket.

He really liked playing at the park after the Riverside easter egg hunt.

He had fun picking up the eggs too.

He got to see the Easter bunny.

He thought coloring easter eggs was great fun. He was so suprised to see them change colors it was cute.

MACK'S 1 YEAR PICTURES

We had a friend who does photography take Mack's pictures and they turned out so cute. These are just a few of my favorites.

I think he looks like such a big boy in this one. I can't believe my little baby is growing up so fast.

Mack's 1st Birthday

2011-04-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my little baby is already one year old. They grow up too fast. He is getting such a little personality and we are having so much fun watching him grow and learn new things. I made him an Elmo birthday cake because he loves Elmo. I think it's the only thing he will sit in one place for.

I made cupcakes with the other sesame street characters on them so we could let him dig into one and still have a cake to serve everyone.

This is what they looked like by the end of the party.

Mack got some fun presents for his birthday. Grandma and Grandpa Hall gave him a little turtle that he can sit on and bounce. (Hard to describe, sorry I don't have a better picture.)

I made him a car town mat to play cars on. He's still a bit young for it, but were working on learning how to play cars.

Grandma and Grandpa Capener of course added to his John Deere collection with this big John Deere truck. Mack likes to sit in the back and have me push him around in it. He also uses it to haul his toys around while we clean the at the apartments.

Surprise Dad!

2011-03-14T19:59:00.000-07:00

So Gavin gets home from Italy in about two hours. I thought it would be nice for him to come home to a clean house and a dolled up wife. Things were going that way this morning. I cleaned our apartment really nicely and I had just gotten the cleaning down out in the apartments when I came home to find water running out of the ceiling in my kitchen and bathroom. So now he gets to come home to this....

(yes, I know this picture is side ways but that's just the kind of day it's been. I tried three times to turn it and then gave up, so sorry you'll have to tilt your head to the right.)

... and likely a wife in a t-shirt and jeans with her hair pulled back in a messy pony tail because I'm too tired to get dolled up now. Hope he had a good trip ;) All in all though the situation didn't turn out that bad. I have amazing family and friends who were here right away. My dad and brother came even though I told them they didn't need to. And Braiden spent his afternoon helping us pull up carpet. I am so blessed to have such wonderful caring people around to watch out for me especially while Gavin's been away. Not just today, but so many others have helped in other ways. Thanks everybody!

Just an Update

2011-03-07T20:18:00.000-08:00

I was just downloading the videos off our camcorder and realized that we had a bunch of fun random videos and pictures so I thought that I would share what we've been up to lately. Right now Gavin is in Italy on a business trip with the MBA program. It sounds like he's got some really cool pictures, so stay tuned for pictures from Italy in the near future.

I still can't believe that I was brave enough, or maybe the correct term would be cheap enough to give Mack a haircut. Anyway it didn't turn out all that bad, so he won't be scared for life or anything.

Gavin got me a keyboard for my birthday so that I could try and revive what piano playing skills I once had. Mack loves it. He has figured out how to put it on the sound effects setting and have it make animal sounds.

We went sleding for family night last week.

However, I think Mack enjoyed blowing the tube up more then riding it down the hill.

Tricks from Mack and Dad

2011-02-06T16:14:00.000-08:00

This is at Grandpa and Grandma Boehme's. We went up around New Year's. And well here's what Gavin did while we were there.

Mack takes after his dad in both his looks and his mad skills. He just learned how to clap and does so quite often. Every time he claps we are expected to say "yea Mack". He thinks he's pretty cool.

Just a pic of Mack

2011-01-29T20:02:00.000-08:00

Nothing much to post lately. However, our cute little Mack is getting bigger every day. He loves to play in the pots and pans.

Christmas

2010-12-28T12:49:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas! My pictures are a bit out of order, but oh well, I'm too tired from celebrating to change it.

Mack liked the presents, but didnt' always know how to open them.

He got some fun toys for Christmas. We had a hard time getting him to stop playing long enough to open the next present.

My cousins got these nurf guns for Christmas, I guess I got Gavin the wrong toys for Christmas. He sure had fun playing with the boys.

Mack got a little steering wheel for Christmas.

He liked opening presents when we could get him to notice them.

Hanging out with Dad. Christmas comes pretty early.

We went to Grandma and Grandpa Evans' for Christmas Eve. Mack likes to pet all of my Grandpa's animals.

This was a few days before Christmas. But just a little reminder that the box can be every bit as fun as the gifts. This is actually a diaper box, we like to get our money's worth out of the things. Mack thinks they make pretty great cars.

Mack also enjoyed pulling half the lights off of the Christmas tree. It's amazing what he can do in about ten seconds.

Mack with Santa. He liked Santa as long as he could just hear him and not look at him.

Santa and his buddy Braiden. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year.

Christmas Wishes

2010-12-18T13:31:00.000-08:00

We recently had family pictures taken. Here are a few of my favorites.

Cousins are so fun!

Mack loves his winter hat...

...and riding on dad's shoulders.

Our Christmas ornaments are only safe if they are about two feet up.

Mack loves to watch dad use the snow blower.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Happy Halloween

2010-11-01T18:35:00.001-07:00

Mack was a Lion for Halloween. I was so proud of him. He didn't seem to mind wearing his costume even with all the loops around his head. However, I think he may have eaten some of the tail.
Gavin's scary pumpkin.

Mack's pumpkin. We made it say Boo because he loves peek-a-boo so much.

My pumpkin.

We got together with our friends Braiden and Brittany Pickett for Halloween. We carved pumpkins, ate spider cake, and watched Hocus Pocus. It was a great little party.

The pumpkin carving.

Mack loved his little pumpkin.

When I got out a few Halloween decorations for our party I found this pirate stuff. So I dressed Mack up in it. Who knows maybe he will be a pirate next year, I thought he made a pretty cute one.

Mack playing with our pumpkins.

Party at the Hall's

Mack loves to cuddle with Grandpa Hall.

The smallest of the cousins had fun together while everyone else...

...played minute to win it.

Fun for all.

H.A.L.L.S

(Hall's annual ladies leisure siesta... or something like that.)

The women of our family and Mack.

Grandma playing minute to win it.

The mess made by the Kleenex game.

Melanie and Grandma playing the mummy game during minute to win it.

Who is soooo Big?

2010-10-07T11:05:00.000-07:00

Mack is soooooo BIG that's who.

He has learned how to sit up pretty well now.

He likes to play nintendo with Dad and Braiden.

He is getting a little personality and loves to play with Dad.

I love to hear him laugh and think of any way I can to hear that sweet sound.

Family, Friends,& Fun

2010-08-25T10:39:00.001-07:00

Friend Reunion

Recently a bunch of our friends from high school got together for a little reunion. It was so fun to see everyone. We had dinner, played a few games, and made a few predictions for our next reunion. Gavin and I got voted most likely to have the most kids, with an average of nine children. I can tell you that that prediction will not be coming true.

Willard Bay

Mack loves playing with Grandpa Hall in the water

We loved getting to visit with Marshal, Jessica, Reeve, and Lexi. Mack was excited to play with cousins. I'm not sure if Lexi felt the same way.

Some of Mack's Favorite Things

Mack loves playing toys in the chair we barrowed from Braiden and Brittany.

He loves that he is finally getting to try some real food and grabs at anything he thinks might be eadible.

He loves surfing the web with dad, but gets frustrated when he can't push the buttons.

Mack loved hanging out with Granny Jan. She was one of the summer citizens that lived in our building. We miss all of Mack's "grandparents".

Baseball

A while back Gavin's parents took us to a baseball game. It was great fun.

Talmage and Grandpa

Mack enjoying his first ball game with dad. He even wore his baseball outfit.

Grandma and Elle

Talmage shared his baseball cap with Mack. I thought it was pretty fun.

Some of Lifes Recent Happenings

2010-07-18T13:54:00.001-07:00

Here is Gavin and Mack just swinging out on the deck at Bear Lake.

Mack loves to cuddle and feel loved.

We were so glad that Grandma and Grandpa Boehme got to come visit us at the cabin as well.

Mack just loves his Grandma Boehme so much:)

Mack was super brave when it came to manning up and putting his toes in

the freezing cold Bear Lake water. I think he liked the feel of the sand most.However he did spend a lot of his time on the beach taking naps.

We have a swimming pool at our new apartment as well so Mack got his

very first try at swimming even though he had to stay in his froggy tube.

Another one of Macks favorite things about the new apartment is
the big mirrors all around. He thinks standing on the counter and staring at
himself in the mirror is just the funniest thing.

Lastly, we have included a little tour of the new apartment
for those of you who can't make the trip to visit as often as you would like.

Family Pictures

2010-07-18T12:57:00.000-07:00

So we recently got our family pictures taken and these are just a few of the highlights:)

We're moving

2010-06-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

We just got a job as apartment managers, which means we will be moving on July 7th. We will only be moving about two blocks up the street, but we are way excited. The complex that hired us has two couples manage and the other couple just happens to be our best friends Braiden and Brittany. This will be a great opportunity for us as it will allow us to get through Gavin's masters degree without going into debt and it will allow me to stay home with Mack. This is truly a great blessing for us.

Greetings from Mack

2010-06-14T17:21:00.000-07:00

Grandpa and Grandma Capener got Mack this cute little John Deere hat. It fits him perfectly and I think it is adorable.
We finally got a picture of Mack and Uncle Jed in their matching overalls. Mack is all ready for work on the farm. Now all we need to do is convince Jed to change diapers and he will be set to go :)

Mack has started to babble about all sorts of things. It is so fun to have little "conversations" with my little man. He says hi to family and friends. And a special welcome to cousin Claire (not sure if that's how you're spelling her name, sorry if it's wrong.)

Family Reunions

2010-06-07T18:21:00.001-07:00

THE HALL FAMILY REUNION

We had two family reunions over memorial day weekend. We started off with the Hall's on Saturday and treked up to Idaho for a Rodeo. It was the furthest Mack has ever been away from home. It was quite the rodeo with plenty of cowboys and cowgirls and even a rodeo clown.

This was a fun "horse race" game we played. You get a peice of newspaper which you are to find your horse's name on. Then you race the other horses by ripping your peice of newspaper down the center without running off the track by ripping it apart before getting to the end of your paper.

Our rodeo clown and the little cousins.

THE WARD FAMILY REUNION

We started out meeting for Sunday dinner each week at Grandma Alice's house. We have since grown in numbers and meet each memorial day for a picnic.

Just to get an idea of how fast we are growing here are the babies born in the last year. (Mack is the youngest one on the end.)

Just a picture of Mack. He loves this little tag blanket that aunt Jessica made him. He loves to cuddle with it, Thanks aunt Jessica!

I can't believe how fast my little guy is growing, he keeps growing out of all his cute little outfits. It is so much fun to get him to smile and laugh. We just love him so much!

Graduation!

2010-05-08T18:39:00.000-07:00

Gavin got his bachelor's degree today! Way to go Gav! We had joked around about dressing Mack up in a graduation outfit and having him walk with Gavin, so last night at about 8:30 or 9:00 we decided that we should go ahead and make him an outfit. So we whipped him up something quick, don't look too close at the outfit, remember this was a last minute put together, but it sure was fun.
Woo Hoo! There's my graduates!

When the dean handed Gavin his diploma he stopped him and pointed out Mack to the crowd, it was pretty cool. Mack got to be a recognized graduate.

My cute little guy.

Daddy and Mack

Here's hoping that Mack doesn't use this picture in the future as evidence that he doesn't need to go to college, because he already graduated once.

Mack sleeping while running errands between graduation ceremonies. (They had one for the university and then split up into the different colleges later on in the day.)

Mack is starting to smile and we when he does we take about a million pictures in hopes of actually catching him smiling in one of them. He probably thinks he was born into the paparazzi sometimes.

He was all smiles playing peek-a-boo with his daddy the other night.

Mack's Baby Blessing

2010-05-05T12:14:00.000-07:00

We blessed Mack this past Sunday. He was so good for his baby blessing and slept all through sacrament meeting.

By the end of the day he was a little tired of getting his picture taken though.

Great Grandpa and Grandma Evans

Great Grandpa and Grandma Capener

Grandma and Grandpa Capener

Three generations

Grandpa and Grandma Hall

Mack can't wait until he is old enough to play with cousin Talmage and all the other cousins too.

These are just a few more pictures of Mack hanging out at home. He loves his swing and usually ends up falling asleep when he's in it.

Mack taking a little nap, one of his favorite things to do.

Mack playing on his blanket. He doesn't like tummy time, but he is getting better at lifting his head up and is starting to reach for toys. It's so much fun to watch him grow and learn.

Shopping with Mack

2010-04-21T10:51:00.000-07:00

So today was my first time running errands with Mack on my own. Up until now either Gavin has gone with me or one of us has stayed home with Mack while the other went out to run errands. It didn't seem like it would be too hard to do by myself, because every time I've gone with Gavin Mack has simply just slept in his car seat. Today was a different story.
First we went to get the oil changed in the car. Mack cried all the way to Jiffy Lube. When I got there and took him out of his seat to calm him down another lady in the waiting room asked "Do you know that you're baby is crying so hard he is turning red?" I smiled and refrained from saying something smart like "No, I didn't that is why I'm trying to calm him down." In the middle of all this I noticed that I had forgotten to put my wedding ring on, partly because the lady was looking at my hand and giving me a dirty look. (New found appreciation for single moms.)
He calmed down and started to fall asleep, so I thought "good we can make a quick stop at the bank and pick up a few groceries." (Mack thought "think again mom.") So we put the checks in the bank and began grocery shopping and he started screaming again. So I took him out of his car seat. I'm sure we looked like quite a sight as I tried to calm him down, push a cart, and avoid getting frustrated by all the people staring at us. As I got in the car a nice woman in the parking lot said "Don't worry you did a good job." It's funny that when she said that I felt like I had just made a great accomplishment. Never thought shopping could bring such satisfaction. Of course Mack fell asleep on the way home and has been perfectly happy since arriving at home.

Mack's 1st Easter

2010-04-11T15:00:00.000-07:00

We of course went to the annual Capener family Easter egg throw.
Congratulations to this year's winner cousin Cade.

This is what Mack did during the big Easter egg throw (sleep in Grandpa's truck). Maybe next year he can join the competition.

Mack got to have a personal photo shoot with the Easter Bunny. Thanks Easter Bunny!

This is his camo outfit. Gavin picked it out for him. I really didn't like it when we got it, but seeing it on Mack has made it grow on me.

All ready for bed in his cute shark PJ's.

Family photo, smile.

Mack and Grandma Barbara. This moment made me think about wishing life by too fast. Just enjoy the present, because far too soon it becomes the past.

Mack coloring Easter eggs with Dad.

Mom helped too.

Our beautiful Easter eggs!

Coloring eggs is hard work, Mack needed a little nap in the middle of the festivities.

We hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

ESPN Champion

2010-04-08T17:02:00.001-07:00

For those of you who will be very confused by this post here's a little background info. Every year Gavin's family has a little competition. We each fill out a bracket for March Madness and those of us who know nothing about college basketball pretend to become experts for a few weeks. It is also said that this is the #1 reason to have children in the Hall family, because you get to fill out a bracket for each child. (However, let it be noted that this was not the primary reason for welcoming Mack into our home.)

Anyway to make a long story short I am the champion! Although I haven't been saying it in my sleep like some previous champions we may know, wink wink, Gavin, I do intend to claim full bragging rights for the year ;) even though my win may prove that it takes absolutely no former knowledge of basketball to become the ESPN Hall family champion.

Proud of My Guys

2010-03-27T15:30:00.000-07:00

I'm just so proud of my guys. I can't believe that Mack is really here. I just keep looking at him and thinking I can't believe you're mine. It's amazing how much time you can spend just staring at the little guy. I also have to be proud of Gavin. Not only has he proven to be the best dad ever, he also got a job as a finacial planner at Allegis this week. He will start the job next year after finishing his MBA. They liked him so much they gave him the option to hold the position for a year while he finishes school.
Just a fun picture of my little Mack.

Mack and Grandma Boehme.

Mack getting yet another change of clothes. In about a 10min. time span he wet through his clothes, we changed him. Then he threw up all over himself and Gavin and we changed both of their clothes. He will definitely keep our laundry basket full.

Mack is Here!

2010-03-24T19:22:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the World "Mack Gavin Hall"!

Mack was born Tuesday the 23rd at 11:40 am. He was 6 lbs 3 ozs and 19.5 inches long.

Katie did an excellent job and we are so proud of her. We were surprised that he came out

with the hair he did because we thought he would be bald.

Mack is definetely his fathers little boy because he loves to get his scalp scratched
(which is Gavin's absolute favorite thing!)
This was part of his very first bath.
Here is our new little family picture. We are so happy that Mack is a part of our
family now and we love him so much!

Nesting Birds

2010-03-07T13:11:00.000-08:00

So we are just counting down the days until Mack arrives (hopefully a bit early during spring break). I got into a bit of a cleaning spree Saturday, thinking I needed to get the house all cleaned up before he got here. Anyway to make a long story short, in our house daddy birds get way more into cleaning out the nest then mommy birds do.This is Gavin vacuuming out the utility closet... YES the UTILITY CLOSET! Hopefully Mack won't be going in there any time soon, but it's clean now just in case.

This is Gavin getting mad at me for making fun of him. However, I can't make too much fun of him because I really appreciate all his help with the cleaning and I've become a bit of a ditz lately as well. I keep telling Gavin that Mack better be smart because he is stealing all of my brain cells.

So now I think we are ready. His room is all set up and ready to go...

We have an abundance of diapers (this cute diaper cake thanks to Brittany).

And I certainly feel large enough. Now all we have to do is wait for him to decide he's ready to come join our family.

Blessed

2010-02-15T11:16:00.000-08:00

Every once in a while I actually have a moment when I realize how blessed I am. Today is one of those days. We just celbrated my birthday and Valentines day and more than one person every year tells Gavin how it's nice that he can bunch those together. However, I have a wonderful husband and he never misses an opportunity to spoil me. Love you Gav! I've had a weekend filled with loving friends and family. Thank you all for the phone calls, text messages, and gifts.

Despite being spoiled by family, I have some wonderful friends too. Braiden and Brittany took some time out of their Valentine's Day celebrations to come and wish me happy birthday and even brought some delicious cup cakes. It always amazes me how selfless they are. Even in difficult times they go the extra mile to serve us. I am truely blessed.

Holiday Fun

2010-01-04T14:18:00.001-08:00

We've had some fun as we've had time off of work and school. We went to see Avatar in 3-D with some friends, went to Gavin's work party at Tepanyaki's, spent time with family, and a whole bunch more. Therefore I thought that I would post pictures of our fun events on the blog. Enjoy.

We got together with a few friends for New Year's Eve. My aunt gave us some fun new years stuff for Christmas. They were enjoyed very much...

...until Gavin decided to get a bit too creative with the noise makers.

He also seemed to thoroughly enjoy the confetti.

Earlier that day we went ice-skating with Braiden and Brittany. They had free passes and were kind enough to invite us along.

Being seven months pregnant I did more picture taking then skating, but we had so much fun.

Gavin took me around the rink a few times, so I could do more than just take pictures.

Braiden and Brittany

Braiden, Brittany, and Gavin having a little race around the rink.

We also had a great Christmas this year. We spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at the Hall's. Grandpa Hall got a train set from Santa, which was enjoyed just about as much by the grandsons as grandpa.

Then we went to the Capener's for the rest of Christmas day. We got to talk to my brother Josh who is serving a mission right now and had a great time with family members.

Gavin lookin' good in his new hat.

We went up to the cabin over Christmas weekend too. While the boys went off on their adventures the girls made necklaces.

Graduation!

2009-12-14T07:49:00.001-08:00

I finally did it! I graduated Saturday. It was a great feeling to finally be done with school. It took me long enough, but I finally got there.

I also wanted to say thank you to all who celebrated with me and those who helped me out along the way. There are few things we can accomplish in life without the support of friends and family and I have the best support system anyone could ask for. Many of you aren't pictured here, don't think I forgot about you, I just didn't have a picture. Thanks to you all!

Holiday Fun

2009-12-09T11:35:00.000-08:00

We've had some Christmas type fun lately, so I thought I'd share what we've been up to.

We decorated for Christmas right after Thanksgiving. Gavin always teases me that I've filled every storage space in our apartment with Christmas decorations that only get used once a year, but I think it's worth it.

I am a bit of an over-excited expectant mother and couldn't help but wrap a gift or two for Mack, even though he won't be here to open them yet. Nothing too exciting, just necessary baby items, but it's still fun.

We went to a little Christmas gathering with some friends and made gingerbread houses.

Our cute little house.

And this weekend I just happened to spot Santa Clause at the Elwood ward party.

Say Cheese!

2009-11-10T15:55:00.000-08:00

So we got some good pictures of Mack. He managed to cooperate well enough to get some of these fun ultrasounds.

And here he is doing his thinker pose.

It's a BOY!

2009-11-05T20:32:00.000-08:00

For those of you who haven't heard we are expecting a cute little baby boy. We are so excited! We are going to name him Mack Gavin Hall. He will be named after two of our grandma's and his dad. We got the name Mack from my granny's maiden name MacKenzie and it also works for Gavin's grandma's maiden name McGavin, where Gavin got his name. So sorry to bore you all with the family history, but that's how his name came about. We got some great pictures of him at our ultrasound. However, I don't have a very good internet connection right now so I'll post them later. We are so excited!!! We just can't wait for our little Mack to come.

Don't Forget to Vote

2009-10-27T17:44:00.000-07:00

We find out whether we are having a little boy or a little girl one week from today. We thought it would be fun to see what everyone thought we were going to have before we find out, so go ahead and cast your vote. We'll see who guesses right.

The First Snow

2009-10-27T17:36:00.001-07:00

So, this is the scene out my front window today. I always get mixed feelings when the first snow starts to fly. I love that this means the holidays are just around the corner, hot chocolate will be a frequent treat, and I can finally get out all of my warm sweaters. However, I can't help but think that it also means scraping my windows in the morning, and driving in the snow. Well I guess I should just focus on the positive because like it or not the snow is here!

Witches Convention

2009-10-27T17:29:00.000-07:00

Every year one of the teachers at my school gets a bunch of her friends together for something called the witches convention. Basically about forty women dress up like witches and have a little party. This year the party included eating hot dogs at Sam's club, singing halloween songs at the entrance of Macey's, and going back to her house for dessert, dancing, and kareokee. My cooperating teacher Becky and I show off our cool witch attire in the photo above.

Some witchy friends.

We really are quite a sight. People stopped to stare at us everywhere we went. I probably would have too had I seen forty witches hanging out at Sam's club.

Yay, Pictures!

2009-09-02T16:39:00.000-07:00

We had our first ultrasound today and everything looks great. It was so fun to see and hear the heartbeat. Our due date was bumped up a week though so now we are due on March 24th. Hooray for the wee little one!

Check it out

2009-08-30T18:50:00.000-07:00

Notice anything new about our blog?! Just thought we would see who actually looks at our blog. I wonder how long it will take for word to get out.

Bloomington Lake

2009-07-31T19:15:00.001-07:00

So the Andersen's made Bloomington Lake look so fun we had to copy them and spend a day up at the lake. After all the stories of how cold the water is up there I was pleasantly surprised to find that it really wasn't all that cold. It really is a fun little get away for anyone who hasn't been.

Gavin jumping off the rope swing.

The view of the lake from where we ended our little hike.

Our Summer Fun So Far.

2009-07-13T13:57:00.000-07:00

So we have loved being out of school for summer and it is nice break to only be working full time. It is great to be able to come home from work and just be done. Here is the readers digest version of what we have been doing most this summer.

We have been riding the four wheelers up at the cabin. (Katie always seems to end up with a dirt moustache.)

Katie survived a spout with the Swine Flu. (Dramatic music plays) Neither of us enjoyed wearing face masks for three days.

We also loaded the Expedition with our friends and have been camping lots. (Camping is "intense") Braiden and I put up the massive 11 x 11 ft tent,
while Katie and Brittany started a fire.

We hiked up that mountain in the background.And of course being the men that we are we had to chop down a big dead tree. We have done a bit of waterskiing.

We watched the Logan fireworks with the Capeners from our front lawn and had some pyrotechnics of our own in the back parking lot. With the holiday season Katie loves to make more decorations so we couldn't have gotten past the 4th without a cute new firecracker.
And then we just couldn't get enough camping in our system so we had to go again and will continue to go all through the summer. Yay!

Guayaquil- The Start of Our Trip

2009-05-28T17:42:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a wonderful trip to Ecuador, where Gavin served his mission. We started our trip in Guayaquil so that we could visit the temple there. Then we started our journey northward stopping in all the cities Gavin served in.

This was a really neat park in Guayaquil. It has hundreds of iguanas roaming free in the park.

We got to pet them.

Can you find all the iguanas in the tree?

We fed them crackers.

After visiting the park. We climbed 432 stairs through the old part of the city to a light house looking thing where you can look over the entire city.

After attending the temple Gavin's mission companion took us to an institute dance. They all dance the samba very well. We weren't very good at it despite all of their efforts to teach us. So, when they put a song on that we could swing to, we started swinging. To our surprise they all formed a circle around us. They had never seen swing dancing before and thought it was pretty cool.

Everyone in the picture served with Gavin on the mission, well except me.

More friends from the dance.

The beautiful Guayaquil temple.

This is a hotel that they have right next to the temple for people to stay in when they travel to the temple.

We got to meet Gavin's mission president, President Lara, for lunch. It was a nice surprise. We didn't think we would be able to visit him, but he just happened to be visiting Guayaquil the same time that we were.

The little girl is President Lara's daughter, Michelle. She didn't let go of me the entire time we were there. She was so cute. She didn't understand that I couldn't speak Spanish and kept whispering secrets in my ear. We got her to tell Gavin one of the secrets and it was "Tomorrow we are going to the farm to see the cows." She was my cute little friend there; I miss her.

Ambato

2009-05-28T17:37:00.000-07:00

These are some of the banana trees on the road side on our way from Guayaquil to Ambato.

Every now and then people will get on the bus trying to sell something. We bought an orange from one of them. They cut off the outside layer, cut a whole in the top, and then you suck out the juice while squeezing the orange.

This is how they farm in Ecuador; uphill all the way.

This is a family that Gavin knew from Ambato.

This is a volcano named Tungurahua.

Overlooking the city of Ambato.

This is a park we went to in Ambato.

Some of the members in Ambato.

We took the Bishop and his beautiful family out to eat while we were there.

Banos Waterfalls

2009-05-28T17:27:00.000-07:00

In Baños we went on a tour of the waterfalls.

This is what we rode around on our tour. It's called a chiva.

We rode this little green cart...

... across this ravine.

These are some people from Germany we met.

At this little spot you can catch a fish and the people will cook it for you while you hike down to see the last waterfall on the tour.

Hiking to the waterfall.

The waterfall.

We got to wade in the water at the bottom of the waterfall.

This is a bridge on the tour.

This is Gavin jumping off the bridge on the tour.

You step off the bridge on the left and the ropes are connected to the bridge on the right.

This video is of Gavin jumping off the bridge, which was 35 meters off the ground. This little event proved what a whimp I am. Of all the people in our tour group only the nun and I did not jump off the bridge.

Banos Zoo

2009-05-28T17:19:00.000-07:00

This was the most amazing zoo I have ever been to.

We got to pet some of the animals. This is a tapier that I am petting.

Gavin liked feeding the Toucan and trying to grab his beak when he stuck it through the fence.

This is the largest rodent species on earth.

We got to feed some of the monkeys, which was one of my favorite things.

These are the spider monkeys.

We saw many large snakes, which was definitely not my favorite part of the zoo.

I enjoyed the flamingos much more than the snakes.

This ostrich kept trying to bite us through the fence.

Santo Domingo & A Few Random Photos

2009-05-28T17:12:00.000-07:00

This is one of Gavin's favorite foods in Ecuador. It is called encebollado. It is a fish soup that has a citrus juice, red onions, tomatoes and other stuff in it.

Gavin named this dog on his mission. He was just a puppy then, but they still call him Buddy.

This is a family we visited in Santo Domingo.

This is a park in Sangolqui.

This is a statue of Ruminahui, the indigenous people's war hero.

There are statues like this built in most of the roundabouts in the cities.

They paint the bottoms of the trees white to keep the bugs off.

There are armed guards in many of the stores, because there is so much theft there.

This is one of the families Gavin baptized on his mission. They are originally from Cuba and an amazing family. We are here eating at their fast food restaurant.

Old Town Quito & Panecillo

2009-05-28T17:06:00.000-07:00

This is the old part of Quito. It has a lot of the Spanish architecture.

Most of the buildings are either government buildings or Catholic churches.

This is at Panecillo, which is a huge statue of the Virgin Mary on the top of a hill. We are with the Baquerizo family who were kind enough to let us stay in their home and drive us around to see some of the sights.

It was too foggy to see the statue while we were there.

So, we took some pictures of it later.

Basilica & Teleferico

2009-05-26T16:07:00.000-07:00

This is the Basilica. It is Ecuador's Notredame, although much smaller.

These are the doors to the catacombs, where they bury people when they die.

There were pigeons everywhere.

This is where they bury their presidents. We weren't able to go inside, because it was closed while we were there.

The stained glass windows were gorgeous.

So was the church.

A view from one of the towers.

To get to the towers you cross this bridge...

...and climb a few of these ladders.

In one of the clock towers.

This is the last level in the towers. I am standing on the level below taking the picture.

Gavin on top of the towers hanging out of a window. (See the movie at the bottom of the blog)

The tower on the back of the cathedral.

The cemetery

Gavin "confessing" all his sins.

We are now at Teleferico, which is basically a large ski lift that takes you to the top of a mountain that overlooks Quito.

The view.

This is a movie from the top of the tower. They really don't have many safety regulations there, so Gavin is sitting just outside of a window in the tower taking this movie.

The Middle of the World

2009-05-26T15:56:00.000-07:00

We are at the fake middle of the world right now. Before they had GPS they figured out where the equator was using the stars. They were pretty close (about 100 yards off). They have a museum at the real one now that they have GPS, which we will see later.

Kissing across the equator. How many of you can say you've done that?

Now we are at the real middle of the world. Here they do several experiments to prove that it really is the equator. One of these tests was to balance an egg on the head of a nail. We each balanced an egg and were given a certificate for doing so.

The equator.

They do a test where the tour guide tries to pull Gavin's arms down just two feet off the line and is not able to do so. However, when they stood on the line she did so rather easily. I'm not sure exactly why, but for some reason you have less resistance on the equator.

They have several little huts where they tell you about the cultures of the many different Indigenous people in Ecuador. This is one of the huts.

The flowers were all so beautiful!

Here she told us about some of the creatures that live in the Amazon. The skin on the very top of the picture is the skin of an anaconda snake (the one that doesn't quite fit into the picture).

This creature lives in the water in the Amazon. When it is small it will swim up inside you while you pee in the water and it will grow into this massive thing.

A creepy large spider.

This is a real shrunken head. He was the son of the King and died when he was about 12 years old. He died 180 years ago. They shrink the heads because they believe it keeps the person's spirit with them. They no longer practice this with humans...

... but they do with animals. This is a sloth's head.

This is another hut made by a tribe that lives in the Amazon Jungle.

This is how they weave the tapestries. They say that the patterns are memorized and passed down from one generation to the next.

This is a picture of the entire museum.

Otavalo- The End of Our Trip

2009-05-26T15:29:00.000-07:00

I got to meet a guy named Chuquin and his wife. He helped the missionaries translate when they were teaching people who spoke Quichua (The language people speak in Otavalo).

A whole pig. We didn't eat any, Gavin said it wasn't safe. Not that I was disappointed.

The market in Otavalo.

The stake president's booth. All of the things you see are made from llama.

The waterfall in Otavalo. It's called Peguche.

The water behind Gavin is where the water falls. He is about two feet away from the edge of the waterfall.

You go through this little tunnel to get to the spot seen in the picture just above this one.

We met this couple at the waterfall. Their names are Greg and Brooke. Brooke served her mission in Ecuador and they offered us a ride to everywhere we had planned to go in their rental car. I was grateful to meet some new friends who spoke English and to ride in a car instead of a bus.

We are at a lake called Cuiococha. It was formed when a volcano exploded out the side of the volcano. The two islands in the middle are formed from magma pushing upward.

This is the stake president's wife. We are in their shop where they sell many very interesting things like the tapestry Gavin brought home from his mission.

Many of the world's flowers are grown in Ecuador. Gavin talked his way into letting a security guard let us into one of the green houses after hours, so we got to go see where they grow them. They export to 15 different countries.

We got to see rows and rows of beautiful roses.

Gavin and Greg decided that they wanted a picture at a lookout point, but the only decent place to get a picture was fenced off. Needless to say that didn't stop them. They jumped a fence while Brooke and I kept watch. It was a good thing we were watching because a little old Indian woman came running down the hill screaming and taking off her sweater. They jumped the fence and we made a clean get away in the rental car before she got to us.

Speaking of the rental car, here it is.

Easter Fun

2009-04-13T12:52:00.000-07:00

HOPPY EASTER!

Every year my mom is in charge of the Riverside Easter Egg Hunt. Although Riverside is just a small little town you'd be surprised by the celebration they can throw. Anyway for the past few years the Easter Bunny has shown up to the egg hunt. Gavin happened to get a picture with the bunny. (Who know where Katie was during the hunt?)

My mom and the Easter Bunny.

Every year the Capener's go up to a hill on the farm and have an Easter egg throw. It's been a tradition since my dad was a little boy. However it has evolved over the years. It began as a picnic and letting the kids roll a few eggs down the hill. It has since turned into a full blown out competition complete with bragging rights for the year. Mostly just the boys compete to see who can throw an egg furthest. I must say they throw pretty far. Congratulations to cousin Cade this year's winner.

I always like to look for the flowers that grow on the hill.

They seem to say spring is finally here!

Gavin watching to see wear his egg is going to land.

For those of you who have never heard of an egg throw and are wondering what this crazy event looks like, I've included a short video of the crazy tradition.

Tax Returns are Great!

2009-03-28T10:01:00.000-07:00

So we got our tax return the other day and not thinking very well I told Gavin "Ya know we've got enough to buy a lap top here." So immediately he jumped on the idea and we ended up going to Best Buy like three different times within a twenty-four hour period. The employees started to look at us a little funny, like didn't we just see you. Needless to say we really did need a reliable computer and we happened to find one that fit our needs just right. We've spent a great deal of time on our laptop since we bought it. Although I must admit that we've probably spent as much time playing games on it as we have doing homework.

Graduation & March 4th!

2009-03-04T13:11:00.000-08:00

So I have two small things to blog about today. I rarely if ever blog without a picture, because few if any things we do are blog worthy without also being camera worthy. Anyway to all you Hall's who celebrate March 4th, Happy March 4th. For those of you wondering what sort of celebration is missing from your calendar, don't fret. March 4th is a holiday invented by the Hall family. I'm sure if I tried to explain how to celebrate I would miss some important piece of information, so I'll let Gavin explain later to any who wish to join in the celebration.
My second piece of half worthy blog news is I finally applied for graduation today. JOY! It's not quite as good as actually graduating, but it means that the light is beginning to show at the end of the long college tunnel. I'll do my student teaching in the fall and graduate in December. It's crazy how fast life flies by. Even things that you think will never come close to ending do. What's is even funnier is that no matter how long you've waited for a certain day to come it always seems to sneak up on you in some way or another. Well anyway all is good in Logan. We hope that everyone has a stupendous March 4th. (Whether you consider it a holiday or not ;)

I Am So Spoiled!

2009-02-20T15:37:00.000-08:00

So I just wanted to take a minute to brag about what a wonderful husband I have. Last weekend he got hit with Valentine's Day and my Birthday and well I definitely got spoiled. He often gets teased that he lumps my birthday and Valentine's day into one celebration because they are back to back. So, I thought that I would defend him a little and say that he really did spoil me rotten. Although he did like reminding me that I'm older than him.

Gavin got me Bohnanza (a really fun game), some earrings, towels, and don't forget those super comfy socks. (When people asked what Gavin got me for my birthday he would always remind me to mention the socks.) Then he turned around the next day and did the whole Valentine's Day celebration, complete with a coupon book for a bunch of my favorite things like going out for ice-cream and such.

I had a great day filled with wonderful gifts and thoughtful messages from family. Not to mention all of the wonderful birthday songs I received throughout the day. I have to admit I that the Beasley's could probably win American Idol with their version of Happy Birthday. If you haven't heard it you should. I am really so blessed to have such a wonderful family. Thanks for making it a special day!

Picture Tag

2009-02-04T16:06:00.000-08:00

My sister-in-law Chalyse tagged me like a week ago so I thought that I would finally respond to her tag. For this tag I was supposed to post the 4th picture in my 4th file. We don't have quite four files of photos, so I posted the fourth picture in my last file and I can honestly say that I didn't cheat as much as some people did on this tag (: Anyway this was a fun little tag.

The 4 people I tag are: Kami C. , and well I'm not sure who else looks at our blog that hasn't been tagged already. So, anyone else who reads this and hasn't been tagged yet, consider yourself tagged. Post the 4th picture in your 4th file. Hope to see some good pictures!

Chirstmas

2008-12-29T14:53:00.000-08:00

We had a great Christmas and we hope that everyone else did as well.

We spent Christmas Eve with my Grandma and Grandpa Evans. We had a great prime rib dinner and opened presents.

The boys all got emergency flashlights that have a cell phone charger and a radio built into them.

The girls got lotions and other fun stuff.

And everyone got tickets to go to the movies.

Gavin would have liked to take home my grandma's Yorkie for Christmas, but we live in an apartment. I know exactly what to get him the first Christmas we live in a house though.

We spent Christmas morning at the Capener's and had a great deal of fun. The snow was crazy so we were glad that we had spent the night and didn't have to travel far in the bad weather. This is us in our new Christmas outfits.

Gavin got a portable heater to take to work with him.

And a few other things.

Us just being cheesy as usual.

I made a poor attempt at making my Great Grandma Alice's homemade chocolates. I used to help her dip them every Christmas so it brought back a lot of memories. I just wish Grandma could have stuck around a little longer to share her secrets with me.

Some of us at Grandma Capener's house.

We didn't take many pictures, but we also had some fun at the Hall's over Christmas. I did happen to take one video that I thought was quite funny. The Hall's got a new winter sports game for the wii. Gavin was especially good at figure skating, which I found rather funny. It is a bit long so feel free to watch the first few seconds, it really doesn't get any better.

Christmas Party

2008-12-20T14:17:00.000-08:00

So we got a turkey from Gavin's boss for Thanksgiving and we inherited one beautiful dinning room set and some ugly green goblets from my great grandmother. Having these things we became inspired to host a small Christmas party. So I bravely took on the task of baking my first turkey and preparing dinner for a few of our friends. All things considered it turned out alright and we had a lot of fun!

Playing cards after dinner

We watched Elf while we played cards and then drove around and looked at Christmas lights. We are grateful to have such wonderful friends, even if some of them don't like to have their pictures taken. (P.S. I told you I would put your picture on my blog like that Mark)

Ho Ho Ho

2008-12-20T14:12:00.000-08:00

"Santa" came to visit while we were at Gavin's parents home. We had a lot of fun with that!

Snowmobiling

2008-12-20T14:03:00.000-08:00

This weekend has brought a great deal of snow. So while we were at the Hall's we went for a little snowmobile ride. It's great winter fun!

Temple Square

2008-12-08T10:15:00.001-08:00

We had a great weekend. We spent Saturday in Salt Lake. First we spent a few hours doing some Christmas shopping at the Gateway. Then went to the BYU vs. USU basketball game with James and Melony. It was alot of fun. After that we met Gavin's parents at temple square.

I love Temple Square at Christmas time, I can't think of many other places that get me in the Christmas mood like Temple Square does.

Just us being cheesy!

I wish we would have gotten a picture of James and Melony, but we just weren't thinking. However we got a kick out of the number of people who stopped and asked if they were taking engagement pictures.

We thought that this new Nativity set in the reflection pond was absolutely gorgeous! It just looks so peaceful.

Gavin's mom singing with the reflections group in the South visitor's center at Temple Square.

The Reflections group singing beautiful holiday music. Nothing brings the Christmas spirit like some festive tunes.

Our Holiday Break

2008-12-02T10:57:00.001-08:00

Well I hope you're up for a long blog. We tend to put off blogging for too long and when we finally get around to updating again we find that we have about a million things to put on the blog. We had a great Thanksgiving. We spent the day with the Capener's as the Hall's were in Kansas visiting a beautiful new grand-daughter. We stuffed ourselves silly and had a great time with family. We truly had so many things to be grateful for. There are times that we tend to day dream about the future and wish we had a house, kids, and a puppy. It's sad that it sometimes takes something like Thanksgiving to help us realize that we are so blessed and that life is good right now. There is always something to be thankful for, even in times of trials. We have been so blessed !
Anyway so after Thanksgiving I decided to brave the shopping crowds and go out looking for the good deals Friday morning. I ended up at Home Depot at 6am. crazy I know! Well I'll tell you if you really want some attention go to Home Depot as a clueless girl on black Friday. All I had to do was ask for an item and I had four employees trying to help me find it. I must have looked pretty stressed out. Well anyway it was fun and I got some good deals.

After braving the crowds Friday morning I decided to get out the Christmas decorations. It always makes me happy to get out all the trimmings.

Gavin had fun helping decorate too.

Our Christmas tree.

Congratulations to James and Melony!

2008-12-02T10:53:00.001-08:00

We wanted to say congratulations to James and Melony. We are so excited to have Melony in the family. (These are some pictures we took about a month ago when we went on a little triple date to the temple.) We are grateful to have such a great family. It just keeps getting bigger and better!

Painting

2008-12-02T10:41:00.000-08:00

So we finally got some paint from our landlord and went to town on our apartment, which happened to be desperate for a paint job. We painted the bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen over the break. This may seem like quite the chore, but we were excited to fix up our apartment and actually had alot of fun doing it.

Gavin got a little creative with the painting. Maybe it was the paint fumes.

Here is for any of you who might be under the impression that I am incapable of using a power tool. I may not have been a pro at Home Depot on Black Friday, but I am Harvey Evan's grand-daughter. I may have picked up a few of his woodworking genes.

Gavin had to do most of the ceiling, because well it just doesn't turn out well when someone who's 5'2" tries to do it.

2008-12-02T10:01:00.000-08:00

We decided to include some before pictures to help you appreciate the after pictures.

Before

After

Voting

2008-11-06T10:30:00.000-08:00

So, we are kinda corny and like to take pictures of random things like our voting stickers. However, we were grateful that we had the opportunity to vote. And although the results aren't always what you'd like them to be you can always be grateful to live in a country in which we have the right to vote.

Creative Cookies

2008-11-06T10:21:00.000-08:00

Well if it weren't for the Pickett's we would never have anything to blog about. We went over to their house last week for a little party. We made cookies which were intended to resemble our spouses and played games. It was a fun little get together.

Gavin and Katie in cookie form.

Our creative cookies!

Braiden and Brittany made some great cookies too...

but somehow Braiden ended up face down on the floor during our picture taking spree.

Carving Pumpkins

2008-11-06T09:48:00.000-08:00

So I'm a bit late posting this, as Halloween has come and gone. I thought that you might enjoy the pictures anyway. We got together with our good old friends the Picketts to carve pumpkins this year. We had a fun Halloween. We went to the haunted forest at Sherwood hills on Halloween. It was great fun, but perhaps not as scary as it may have been had we not known the goblins. The Picketts got a job haunting the forest this year. And although they did a wonderful job, it's just not as scary when you know who's behind the mask.

Well I knew that my pumpkin was very large, but I was still a bit surprised to see how thick it was. Perhaps this will give you a better appreciation of my carving efforts.

Well Gavin gets pretty into pumpkin carving. Although this may look like a Halloween costume, don't be mistaken. This is merely Gavin's pumpkin carving gear.

Braiden's pumpkin, which I might add he took ample time on. He was still carving when the rest of us were finished and had been through a few games of walk the dog.

Brittany made a scary vampire on her pumpkin, which I must say looks much better than my pumpkin. Perhaps this is what Edward from the Twilight series looks like.

Katie's pumpkin. So if you can't tell this was supposed to be a witch silhouette inside of an apple. I saw the pattern on the internet, but my pumpkin was so big that I had to just kinda free hand it. Well I had fun carving it anyway.

Gavin's pumpkin. Alright you may say that it's the wrong team, but we live in Logan and we really didn't want to have any true blue aggies egging our house on Halloween night. You must admit even though it is a USU pumpkin, it took some talent.

Only in the Hall family do you need protective eye wear while carving pumpkins.

GO BYU!!

2008-10-06T13:50:00.000-07:00

We thoroughly enjoyed going to the BYU vs. USU game on Friday night. We really enjoy the fact that we got into the game for free and thought we'd rub it in a little. Well you may call us traders seeing as how we are Utah State students, but we cheered quite loudly for BYU. I guess USU gave us good enough scholarships to attend their school, but not quite enough to cheer for their football team. Needless to say we cheered on the winning team and went home happy.

Cartwheel Contest at the Cabin

2008-10-06T13:44:00.000-07:00

After a great game we went up to the cabin to watch the Saturday sessions of conference. Of course when any of the Hall brothers get together there is bound to be some sort of crazy contest. However, I found this one to be very entertaining and even joined in myself. I thought I'd share the fun.

Weekend at the Cabin

2008-09-27T13:19:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend. Our friends Braiden and Brittney Pickett came up to the cabin with us to participate in the Elwood 2nd ward laurels retreat. Brittney and I got to do a little hair do class and then all four of us got to be on a dating panel. We had an amazing dinner and had fun hanging out with the young women.

2008-09-27T13:15:00.000-07:00

The all so wise dating panel. Well I don't know how wise we were, but we had fun offering our two cents on dating to the laurels. If nothing else it made me very grateful to be out of the dating life.

2008-09-27T13:13:00.000-07:00

The young women sporting their brand new hair dos. They were all really good sports and let me and Brittney do just about what ever we wanted to their hair.

2008-09-27T13:12:00.000-07:00

The boys playing Yahtzee while the girls had their hair done.
P.S. Gavin wants everyone to know that he won both games.

2008-09-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

Of course because life has such impeccable timing my straightener broke right before I left to go up to the cabin and teach the young women some new hair dos. Gratefully every girl in the world seems to have one of these marvelous electrical devices. Therefore there were an abundance of straighteners at the cabin and our lesson went on without even a slight disruption.

And well you can guess from the pictures what happens to broken electronic devices when you're married to an electrician. Once Gavin gave up on trying to fix the straightener he decided it would be fun to take it apart and see how it worked. Of course I made him promise to buy me a new one before I handed it over. So if any of you have ever wondered what's inside your straightener, here it is. However, if you want to know how it works you'll have to ask Gavin, because I didn't listen so well to the explanation. Oops!

2008-09-24T12:18:00.000-07:00

Well this is just another example of how uneventful our life really is, but we went to Macey's caselot sale and stocked up, which is something different from school and work. Therefore I deemed it blogworthy.

2008-09-24T12:16:00.004-07:00

I was glad to have Gavin around to carry all the food in the house. He would want me to mention that this is one more way to prove that he is the strongest man in the family. We really ought to stop filling his head with such thoughts though.

2008-09-24T12:16:00.001-07:00

Let's hope that our shelves are as strong as Gavin, because we loaded them!

2008-09-24T12:10:00.001-07:00

Well when we ran out of space on all of our shelves we started shoving it under our bed. We felt like chipmunks storing up for the winter.

Fun at the Cabin

2008-09-06T14:50:00.001-07:00

We spent labor day at the cabin. It's always fun to get away

to Bear Lake. It was especially nice after a crazy first week of school.

Don't get us wrong we're greatful for the opportunity to go to school, but well sometimes there can be too much of a good thing.

Fun and Games

2008-09-06T14:45:00.000-07:00

We had a lot of fun at the cabin just hanging out, playing cards, and eating way too many treats. It's always fun to play with the children, although at times it's hard to keep track of Gavin as he blends in with the neices and nephews quite well.

Skiing

2008-09-06T14:36:00.000-07:00

Of course no summer in the Hall family is complete without a little time on the boat. Gavin does some pretty fancy tricks, so we'll post them to the world. However, I am not such a natural and all you would see is some pretty cool crashes. Therefore we will make this blog accurate to real life and show Gavin skiing and me being content just hanging out on the boat.

Boys playing on the beach

2008-09-06T14:32:00.000-07:00

The boys got a little crazy with their games on the beach, but when don't they. We had a lot of fun watching all of them run through the water and try to prove that they are the biggest, strongest, fastest man in the family.

Camping

2008-09-06T13:57:00.001-07:00

We had a lot of fun camping trips this summer. Most of them about two miles from our apartment in Logan canyon. Not too much of a summer get away, but hey it's still great fun.

2008-03-18T18:03:00.001-07:00

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

2008-03-17T17:36:00.000-07:00

Gavin and Katie Hall