The Hall Gang

Christmas Morning!!

2009-01-24T18:46:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas! We spent 9 (very too short) days in Idaho Falls with my sister, Monica and her family. Everyone had a wonderful time! The cousins especially loved being together. Next year we will have to convince Matt and fam to come join us; then we will make it a tradition ;)

(Birthday Cont'd) Read the One Below First :)

2008-12-15T19:50:00.001-08:00

Sharon treated me to a yummy Chicken Marsala at Olive Garden.

Natalie N. texted.

Hubby called.

Mom & Dad called.

Picked up Tanner and brought him and Roman to our house to play.

Melly dropped off a gift (forgot to take a pic, so here is their fam's Christmas pic from 2007)!

Took Tanner and Roman back over to Katie D.

Kris B. saw me dropping off the kids and told me Happy Birthday!

I got to read with Courtney at school & the rest of her class! One of my favorite things to do ;)

Stopped by Mrs. Tenney's class of '07 Christmas Party! Jaden had fun.

Took carpool home. Christy R. wished me Happy Birthday!

Glade & Marilyn called.

Family had a quick quick dinner.

Jake R. called.

Took off to take Jaden to her choir performance at the Mall. Five car accident on the freeway, we were late. Talked to Matt while waiting. . .waiting. . .waiting for traffic to clear.

Choir gave a great performance (she only missed two songs) then the fam played at the mall.

Rich W. texted.

Saw beautiful Christmas lights on the way home.

Mitchell's came over for Birthday cake.

Opened gifts: letters, $, gift card, clothes, jewelry, birthday platter, olive oil dispenser (Jonathan's fave - HA!)

Monica W. sent me birthday wishes on my blog.

Christy B. emailed me.

Tina C. emailed me.

Carrie N. sent me smiles on my email.

Lights Out!!!

I got a good jumpstart to a new year. Gonna be hard to top this one for next year! Everybody start preparing now to help celebrate the big 3-4!

Thanks friends and family for helping me celebrate. I really had a wonderful day!!!

Love,
Mel

A Day in the Life of Melanie - MY BIRTHDAY!!!

2008-12-15T18:01:00.000-08:00

So I documented my birthday this year! Mindset of a blogger I guess. My Birthday was Dec. 10th. I need to say that my Day was the best. I am now 33! Jonathan's basketball number ;D

I woke up to a delicious sign on the kitchen island with candy, balloons, and party hats. Compliments of my adorable husband.

Jasmine W. texted and then called.

Sharon M. texted.

I took Tanner to Katie D. for the morning to play with Roman.

I picked up carpool kids and took them to school.

Ran into Christy B. she wished me Happy Birthday!

Jake R. texted.

Monica W. called.

Matt B. called.

Picked Sharon M. up for a morning on the town. I convinced her to go, even though she had major jetlag from just gettting back from California the night before. What a friend!!

We did some Christmas errands and fun shopping: Target, Dollar Tree, Hallmark, and Ross.

PEANUT BUTTER TEMPTATIONS

2008-12-03T13:11:00.000-08:00

Here is a cookie recipe I really enjoy; thought I would share!!! ;)

PEANUT BUTTER TEMPTATIONS

1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
54 miniature Reese's peanut butter cups, unwrapped
semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted (for drizzle - optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Beat together peanut butter, butter, and sugars. Add the egg and vanilla.

Stir together flour, and baking soda; add to the peanut butter mixture.

Shape into 1-inch balls. Place each ball in a mini muffin pan cup.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 8 minutes.

As soon as the cookies are removed from the oven, press one unwrapped peanut butter cup into each cookie. If desired, drizzle with melted chocolate.

Makes 54

Two New Things - Both Happen to be Silver

2008-11-22T13:13:00.000-08:00

So we recently acquired two new things that both happen to be silver. Our Christmas tree is new this year, I thought it was time for a new tree. We have never had a new tree and our old one was a garage sale purchase, who knows how long they had it before we did! Anyway, this 12 ft. tree makes up for the past 13 years. We had a fun time decorating it. Jonathan is tall, but even he had to stand on a ladder.
Our other new thing is more for me. I needed a different car and went shopping and we found one we both liked. Now I hope to be able to make it up our street come the winter; last year was a little iffy in our mini-van. It is a Chrysler Aspen and I really love h0w it drives.
Now, if only I can figure out how to convince my husband that we could use one more silver thing - say a platinum diamond ring. Best things come in three, right?!?!

Reflections

2008-11-22T13:09:00.001-08:00

We attended an awards assembly for Jaden and Courtney Thursday night where they received trophies for their participation in the school's reflections contest. They were so excited!!

The Wait is Over

2008-11-22T12:47:00.000-08:00

Twilight came and went way too fast. I can't believe this old body was able to stay up for the midnight showing, but once the movie got started it was really quite easy. I thought the movie was fabulous and am going again with Jonathan and anyone else who wants to join. Thanks for the fun company friends. Thursday happened to be a birthday for Shauna, so we went to dinner before and sang to her. Happy Birthday Shauna!!
I got two words for all y'all: BITE ME!! (Sorry about the red eye, still figuring out my camera, looks kindof vampirish!)

Happy Birthday Sharon!!

2008-11-09T21:56:00.000-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHARON

Our friend and neighbor celebrated her birthday on Saturday. We went on a double date to dinner to celebrate. Thanks for sharing that brownie. Yum Yum!! Today we continued the celebration by eating the most amazing ice cream pie I have ever seen or heard of. I WILL post a picture soon! Sharon, thanks for being a great friend!! Hope you made memories this year.

The Three Witches

2008-11-09T21:50:00.000-08:00

So all three kids wanted to be witches this year. We kept telling Tanner he was a wizard; but he insisted he was a witch too. Oh well, whatever makes them happy!!

Tag! You're It

2008-11-01T13:22:00.000-07:00

So this is my first Tag! experience. I really didn't even know what that meant until I was tagged and took the effort to look at other people's tags. So my hometown friend, Jeri, tagged me. She, like my sister, were probably tired of visiting my blog and seeing no change. So here is my fourth picture in my fourth folder:

What's funny about this picture is that I rarely wear an apron because I rarely cook. (Though I am really trying to have a better attitude about that!) Don't let the apron fool you, NO, I was not cooking here either, we were dying Easter Eggs. I love holidays, especially the ones where you go all out and get to do fun stuff, like dying Easter Eggs. I do have Halloween pictures to post; but that will have to be another day. Thanks, Jeri, for letting me experience another first!! You were always good for that; helping me burst out of my bubble!
I tag Jessica, Sarah, Sawyer, and Katie (Sorry, Katie's is by invitation only :( So what is your fourth picture in your fourth folder!!

Scarecrow Festival

2008-10-18T16:29:00.000-07:00

We visited Thanksgiving Point this weekend. We had a blast at their Scarecrow Festival. The kids had fun going through the Haunted House, bouncing on those blow-up things (they had 7 or 8), and 'fishing'. I really wanted to go rock climbing; maybe when the tots are older they will want to wait in line for that one. Jonathan really wanted to ride the mini-train; maybe when Jonnie gets grandkids the little ones will want to wait in line with their grandpa - our kids weren't really interested!! Happy Halloween!

Another Sawyer That Inspires

2008-10-15T08:31:00.001-07:00

2008-10-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

Grateful for the Ward Trunk O Treat!!

First Snow

2008-10-13T21:47:00.000-07:00

Our first snow of the season was yesterday. The kids begged to go play in the snow as soon as they woke up. That, of course, did not happen because we have 9 am church and dad is gone to meetings so mom is the sole person getting three kids ready and mom HAS to be to church on time because she leads the hymns in sacrament meeting - a calling that would notice a late-comer!! SO - I promised them that after church we would play in the snow. But after church I lead choir practice for 45 minutes so we did not leave the building til 1 pm. When we walked outside the snow had melted and boy did I have some sad kids. By the time we made it up the street, however, to our surprise (I don't know why we are surprised anymore, we live in our own little country with completely different weather up here in our neighborhood) we STILL had snow!! YIPPEE!! And so, yes, after a quick lunch, we took off to the outdoors and made snow angels, threw snowballs, and ended up sledding with the neighbors in their awesome-perfect-for-sledding backyard. And believe it or not I did not take one picture. I have to remember that I am a blogger now and pictures are cute additions; I'll try and do better. Anyway, we did have a great day - even if I don't have visual proof. The kids were freezing afterward and took looooooong bubble baths and enjoyed hot chocolate. They begged for snow cream, but I really could not deliver on that one. Two or three inches of snow ain't gonna cut it for snow cream. O well, can't have all the fun in one day, gotta spread it out a little, gotta have something to look forward to.

Bear With Me

2008-10-10T12:54:00.000-07:00

Bear with me! I was curious so I tried a couple more. Those that know me aren't surprised by this. So it matters a bit what picture is used; still way fun. If you decide to try this at home; don't take the time to crop your pictures (I almost did, but then decided not to - Phew!) the website does all that for you.

Hall Look-alike Meter

2008-10-10T12:45:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Geneology - Family name origins

Hall Look-alike Meter

2008-10-10T12:38:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family heritage - Blank family tree

Do You Agree?

2008-10-10T12:27:00.000-07:00

Kudos to Lori for this fun idea of the Look-alike Meter!! So if a computer decides it; is it final? I have to admit that I was a little surprised by our children's results. Not disappointed; but surprised.

Hall Look-alike Meter

2008-10-10T12:21:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family pictures - Roots

Hall Look-alike Meter

2008-10-10T11:53:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Hall Look-alike Meter

2008-10-10T11:35:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Genealogy software - Free family tree software

*Names Have Been Changed to Protect the Innocent

2008-10-09T09:51:00.000-07:00

So, Clair*, my sister-in-law, had her blog flagged for inappropriate material. What is funny about this is the images on her blogspot were of her family on the beach. She and her husband, Steve*, had clothes on. Just the boys were shirtless! This allegory along with my son, Adam's* concern about his stick figure in our family picture prompts this post. Adam* was distraught about the fact that every member in the stick family below had 'something' next, on, or around them except him. I did think through his attire, honest! Adam* always asks for his 'long soft pants' and so I made sure his stick figure had long pants on. He won't wear jeans. All summer long the only shorts he wore were his swimming trunks; and he insisted on wearing his swim shirt everytime. So maybe if Clair* had a son like Adam* her blogspot would not have had a warning to viewers!! Ha! You were innocent and I love you Clair* and I am glad your blog is no longer a threat!!! (In the picture Adam* is the boy with the green swim shirt) Please no one flag my blog, this is just an innocent picture of the family after a rafting trip.

Halloween Humor

2008-10-08T10:49:00.000-07:00

So after a frustrating day yesterday; I came home to an email with Halloween Humor. Lightened the load a bit. Here was one of my faves. Enjoy!! Happy Halloween!!

In the Beginning. . .

2008-10-08T09:13:00.000-07:00

Hi there to all fellow bloggers! and friends. This is our first ever entry on our new blogsite. My nephew was my inspiration to begin. I have many little inspirations and he happens to be one!!!