Jeepers, Martini's & Dinner in a Pumpkin?

 No we didn't buy a jeep. :) 

A few days before my surgery, Weston's car was in the shop being repaired and 

I took the boys for a fun cruise in our rental. 

I wanted to squeeze in a date with them before the big day.

We had a blast! 

 Warren has always been a pretty serious kid but the older he gets the more his sense of humor and playfulness shines brighter. This was one of those moments I accidentally caught on video.
He makes me smile.
(Video only available on the blog)

 We drove around for over and hour and a half rocking out. Then, 

went through the drive through at Chik-Fil-A for ice cream. :) 

Just before my surgery Weston snapped this picture just in case I died. 

Nice, huh? 

Even though I passed my stress test prior to surgery we were both pretty nervous to say the least. 

I am smiling only because he was being a goof and told me he thought 

I looked hot in this hospital gown. 

I am so grateful for all his support through everything! 

Speaking of cheerleaders? This 3 month old little boy has been an ANGEL sent from heaven! 

I think I gave him about 1 million kisses this day. :)

Getting surgery is a funny thing. I have had three c-sections but was always awake during each. I had never been put all the way out before. I was way nervous of course because of all my heart stuff but man once the anesthesia set in..... life was AWESOME!! The anesthesiologist said he was going to give me a little martini and then they'd roll me into surgery. Well, that is the last thing I remember! They claimed that I was talking and moved myself onto the surgical table and all...but I don't remember any of it! I just remember waking up in recovery with the most peaceful feeling EVER. It was fantastic! 

I have actually dreamed about that moment, since. Is that bad? ha ha

Well Dr Quast, my 79 year old surgeon, said the surgery went well although it did end up taking about an hour longer than he had expected. He said that my gallbladder had many adhesions from having MANY gallbladder attacks therefore he had to do a lot more cutting to get the darn thing out! Well, all I can say is I think that thing was acting up for a long time and it was sucking the life out of me! I also didn't have any bradycardia (heart rate dropping) issues during the surgery which is a HUGE relief! All I can say is I feel SO much better since having that darn thing out! My back pain is gone and my energy has quadrupled! I am so grateful for a healthy body! 

This is where it gets ridiculous. You know how they say trouble comes in threes? Well, the day after my surgery Warren ended up at the ER getting stitches from cutting the bread that we asked him not to cut. This was the picture Weston texted me as I was trying to figure out how I would pick up Benjamin who had just cried "mommy I'm not feeling very good"....

This was him for the next two days. I have never seen him so sick. 

I guess it was a blessing?  Despite the continual fever and vomit, he was more subdued than usual those days. Weston was back at work and I just sort of hobbled back and forth with the bucket. 

We were a pathetic site! lol I am so grateful this is all over! 

Speaking of gratitude, over the last 4 months my life has been filled with blessings and many angels around us to help us through a physically and emotionally exhausting time. My husband to name the first, a few family members and lots of wonderful friends. 

The Lord has taken care of us. I worried before I had the baby about having the help I needed, when I needed it. As people have visited, baby sat, brought delicious and creative meals, smiles, hugs, a listening ear, baby gifts, flowers, encouragement, yummy bread & elbows ready to clean....I have been absolutely filled with gratitude. Each time I have a baby I keep a "Thank You" list so I don't forget to send off a note to each person. It is humbling to look at the list as it grew...day by day. I had a large box of Thank You's and ran out of cards! I am so grateful for the wonderful examples of integrity, unconditional love and support around us. It is these Christlike examples I want to follow and pay forward throughout my life. We are blessed.   :)

Kia Kaha!

The past four months have been a bit of a whirlwind. Just as I was starting to finally kick the "greenie" Primary Music Leader jitters I received a second calling as the assistant stake camp director. Our stake split recently and they lost the current assistant in that split. Well, if you know me, you know that I LOVE the YW and I especially love girls camp! I was elated to receive this call and had such fun planning camp this year with the director, Chris Sanders.  It was such an amazing experience to prayerfully plan & see God's hand pull it all together. I was SO blessed to have had this opportunity to work with such amazing women and young women throughout the process. There were so many awesome experiences at camp and I wish I could tell you about them all. Here are a few of the highlights.

( #1 A VERY sleep deprived Sister Hall arrives at camp and gets mobbed and run down by crazy KW1 Young Women everyday.  ;)

Our Theme evolved. Our brainstorming began using the talk Hold On (Ann Gibbs) which Chris had selected. We loved the story from it about the workers who clung to the side of a bridge after the scaffolding they were working on broke. In the story the workers were just one week from completing a bridge they had been working on for a year. About half the workers died. After the accident, the question was posed by locals why those who had died did not have any safety equipment. Sister Gibbs quotes, "The answer was simple. They had the equipment, they just chose not to wear it." We then focused on 5 pieces of "safety equipment" that we wanted to emphasize throughout our week at camp. We wanted to give them the "equipment" or tools they need to Hold On to the Iron Rod and Be Strong!

 (Thank you to my friend Nan who got my creative juices flowing and shared many of her camp director ideas with me!)

1. Stand Strong - The power of one. You are a literal daughter of God. Be true to yourself. Listen to the spirit deep inside you. Stand on your own. Know who you are. 

2. Believe Strong - The power of two - You can do anything with God by your side. 

3. Love Strong - The power of friends. We are literal daughters of God which makes us sisters of divine inheritance. We must put our trust in each other. As a society of sisters you can depend on one another, serve and help each other through. A skill that will strengthen you and others throughout life and living the gospel. 

4. Hold Strong - The power of action. Give your heart to Christ. Live the gospel with honor by doing what the spirit deep down inside you guides you to do. Doing requires integrity and discipline. 

5. Be Strong - Kia Kaha! - The power of Promise. If we stay true to ourselves as daughters of God, believe strong by strengthening our relationship with God, strengthen our sisterhood by loving strong and DOING what we know is right and hold to the iron rod continually...we will overcome the world and return to live with our Heavenly Father! 

1 Nephi 15:24 - 

"And I said unto them that it was the word of God and who would hearken unto it, would never perish; neither could the fiery darts of the adversary overpower them unto blindness, to lead them away to destruction." 

****

I loved the phrase Kia Kaha I had heard in the movie Forever Strong and I grabbed onto it. The word Kia Kaha is a Maoran word and the literal translation is "be strong!" Our theme took wings and we had so much fun with it. Since maoran is a polynesian culture we had fun decorating with tropicals, tiki's, flowers and lays. We also gave each group a Maoran camp name. Kauwhata (1st yrs) which means Legacy, Tiki (2nd yrs) which means Purpose, Mana Motuhake (3rd years) which means Destiny, Awhero (4th years) which means Hope and Wakapono (Stake Leaders) which means Faith.  

When it comes to the youth I am ALL about being spiritual and having lots of FUN! Therefore, each day the themes were introduced spiritually and then reinforced enthusiastically!! ;) 

We really wanted to create unity among the girls and so we had each age group write and perform a Haka to be performed at each AM & PM flag ceremony, daily. Here you see the stake leaders performing ours for the first time for the girls. I was the lucky one who got to write and choreograph it so since this was the first time doing it, they made me stand in front so they could watch me. It was really embarrassing but I let my hair down and had fun with it.  I pretty much mastered the stank face. lol  

"Wakapono, Kia Kaha!" 

All the girls wrote amazing Haka's. I was very impressed. Here the YCL's perform theirs. "Beat the book on your chest, beat the book on your chest. Read the book, read the book - pray pray, read the book, read the book - pray pray. The fields. The fields. The fields are white and ready for harvest! Beat the book on your chest! Beat the book on your chest. Kia Kaha!"

We performed our service project on site at Camp Arrow. Arrow Ministries is non profit organization that sponsers foster children all across TX to come to their camp for free and have an amazing team building and spiritual experience. The girls picked up trash, washed windows, folded linens, cleaned buildings and worked their hearts out. The biggest part of our service project was mulching a HUGE play ground. We ran out of time the day of the service project and the mulching was still not complete. Our awesome 3rd years went back the next day on their own and finished the job! Amazing girls I tell you! 

I can't say how grateful I was for all the example of all the leaders who sacrificed their time and energy to come and work at camp. We had two full time cooks in the kitchen, the entire Stake YW Presidency there and many ward leaders who came, supported and enhanced camp with their talents. It was wonderful to see their testimonies shine through their commitment and service to others.  

Stake Leaders performing our Haka on Skit Night. Yes, they are totally using cheat sheets! lol

"Strong as Iron, we hold, we hold. Daughters of God, we know, we know. We will love with all of our might, helping Gods children feel of his light. 

"We are the hens who gather His chickens, show them the path to the tree not the kitchen!" 

"Follow the path, hold to the rod, we are his children the daughters of God!" 

 I regret we did not catch this on video. At least, I don't think we did. :) 

Stake Leader Skit

Since we went with the Maoran vibe - we choreographed a classicly awesome maoran stick dance to some fantastic maoran tribal music. Complete with all kinds of warrior dance & fighting skills of course. 

Maoran stick double dutch.

We even Limbo! Ok, that's not Maoran but we worked it in anyway along with a shimmy and a few sweet moves! 

 For Bishops night, the 1st counselor in our bishopric brought the best team building activity! "Walking each other to the celestial kingdom." I was running around camp and arrived late to the activity As I did, they were unanimous in their nomination that I must do it.  I have to say this was a little scary and a lot of fun. I felt the spirit so strong and even got a little teary eyed under my safety glasses. I felt such a strong impression of our Heavenly Father's love for us all.  I have been blessed by so many great people in my life.  I thought this was the perfect visual for Love Strong. :D 

The closest thing to Facebook the girls could get during camp! 

All our beautiful girls! 

Each day at flag ceremony the stake leaders awarded a spirit stick for the group that really shined that day in their activities and who performed their haka with the most spirit. There was only one and it was passed around. The spirit stick became a much sought after commodity at camp and the girls got SO into it. By the end of the week, groups where in serious competition for it. Two had re-written their haka's and others had written & performed cheers in the stands as each group finished their haka. It was awesome and best of all it created the unity we prayed for at camp! Hooray for the spirit stick! As you can see in this pic, the current honorees display it proudly above their heads! :D At the closing flag ceremony we as we started our huddle to award the stick....a group of girls jumped out of the stands, got in a huddle and giddily started circiling around (totally mimicking us), grabbed the megaphone and awarded the spirit stick to the leaders! It was so funny and so sweet of them! 

Last but not least. Our fourth years spent the entire day setting up for our commitment hike they modeled after the darkened path and iron rod. They drilled holes through the forest, installed Tiki torches lighting the path, set up their various stations with tables, chairs, etc and prepared the spiritual messages to be shared on the hike at each station. 

As we started dinner we could see storm clouds. The girls huddled together (on their own) in the dining hall and prayed that we could still do the hike and it wouldn't rain. Even the Stake President told them they just needed to have faith! As we finished dinner the HUGE thunderstorm rolled in and the down pour began. It was one of the biggest I have seen since living in Texas. All their hard work and preparation for the hike was destroyed and flooded out. We even lost power in the dining hall. They were SO disappointed. 

Then I remembered, as leaders, what we had been praying so hard for with camp. Unity. In that moment I felt peace and confirmation that Heavenly Father still wanted us to have this experience, he just wanted us to receive it unity, as one. We shared this with the girls and they seemed comforted. They re-grouped and they brought the commitment hike to us. We sat in the dining hall and they shared their messages station by station with us, in the dark with only flashlights lighting their faces. We ended the hike/meeting with a testimony meeting that lasted until 2am! I think every single girl bore their testimony. The spirit was so abundant, it was amazing! 

So, the coolest part of this story is the picture you see above. After testimony meeting we left to walk girls back to their cabins, when we could see in the distance our Tree of Life still lit! The girls had created it as the last station in the commitment hike as our final place to gather as one. They filled a tree with white paper lanterns and as you can see it was beautiful! I can't tell how awesome it was. My heart just about popped! It truly was a miracle. It had stormed so bad all the tiki torches had flooded out of the ground and the paths were completely swamped. Yet the tree of life filled with PAPER lanterns was perfectly intact and still a glow. Not one lantern fell out of the tree or was dimmed. It was incredible! So, I will just end this camp experience with my testimony that the Gospel is true and I know with out a doubt that Jesus Christ lives and is our Savior! He is ever mindful. I know it with all my heart and I am very grateful for the capacity in which it blesses me to serve. Partake! Partake!

(If you are receiving this via email, click on the Halls Rock link below (in blue words) if you want to go to our blog.)

A little spring in our step...

I am still catching up from all the trips and have fallin behind in my posts. So here is a little Spring rewind & recap.....

The Saturday before Easter we hunted eggs at Town Center here in Kingwood. They always have great Easter festivities and it has become a tradition of ours to go each year.

We also attended a charity benefit for a young Kingwood mother name Katy Hayes who contracted a common form of Strep A delivering her last baby. Subsequently, she had to have both her arms and legs amputated. Such a sad story but it was a wonderful event and it was inspiring to see so many in the community come together to rally for her. To learn more about Katy click here:

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Parenting/flesh-eating-bacteria-costs-mom-arms-legs/story?id=10646649

We had our friends Zach and Dulca over for Conference and Easter dinner. Weston has been teaching them with the missionaries for several months. They are great. :)

Here is a little peak of my first garden! I can't say enough how much I am loving it. I did plant one last fall (a little late in the season) and I was hopeful but it froze too early and therefore never amounted to much. I planted this garden in March (from seeds) and it has been doing well so far. My peppers, tomatoes and strawberries have been doing the best. More to come here, later. :)

This is random but I thought I would post it. When I was fifteen years old I got into quilting and I made two patch work quilts. This one was completely crafted, assembled and tied. It just needed binding but I didn't know how to do it and I never took the time to learn. Well, for the past 17 years this quilt has been sitting in a plastic bag in a box. At our last Stake Conference a sister (whom I didn't know before sitting by her at the meeting) introduced herself and randomly asked me afterward if I had any patch work quilts I could display at the Stake Quilt Exhibit & Picnic. Well, hot dang! I had two. I explained the predicament with this one.

Sister Goodman was so sweet. She drove to my house with her quilting book, gave me a little tutorial and wah-lah! 17 years later my 15 year old ambitions were made complete. As I sewed this old quilt, so many memories came flooding back about all that was going on in my life at the time. Long story short- it turned out to be a tender mercy for me to see this quilt be complete. Even if it was 17 years later! Sister Goodman insisted she take my picture with them. So, here you have it! The top one is called an "Around the World" quilt.

Here is the other one.....still wrinkled from being packed in a box for so long. They didn't hold a candle to all the other fancy schmancy ones done by the "professional" quilters but she still wanted them displayed. This one is called a "Log Cabin" quilt. :D

We have been to several Astro's games but they have usually been date nights with Warren or Weston. This time we went as a family. It was also Ben's first Astro's game. He was mezmerized by the lights, the music, the train aka "choo choo!" Here you see him pointing to it.

If you look just below the lights you will see the full size train that drives around the track around Minute Maid stadium. When they hit a home run....the conductor blows the whistle. The boys LOVE it!

All my boys. :D How'd I get so lucky?

Mothers Day. Warren's preschool hosted a "Mothers Day Tea" where all the moms came and our kids pampered us. It was so sweet. He made me the cutest corsage and served me chocolate covered straberries, short bread cookies, cheese, crackers and lemonade. They read us books and also sang us some great mothers day songs. As featured in the video below. :) Thank you to Warren who made my Mother's Day so special. I love you buddy.

We celebrated dad's birthday! His cake was lovingly decorated by Warren with a various assortment of candles, a lolly-pop, a HEB buddy buck 20 point sticker and some Wall-E paraphernalia. :) Of course, dad loved it!

Warren has been taking swimming lessons and has been learning so fast. He has always loved swimming but stayed true to his cautious Warren self. I am so proud of him. He's so willing to do everything she asks. His biggest hurdle is just feeling confident in the water without hanging onto her/my neck! He is very determined and I think he will be swimming in just a few more lessons!

Doing Bobs!

Last but not least. Our friend Dulca got baptized! She is the sweetest person. I just love the strong spirit at baptisms. It's always amazing to me how it envelops us and confirms the truthfulness of the Gospel. She asked Weston and I to give the talks. He spoke on Baptism and I spoke on the Holy Ghost. We felt honored to be part of their special day!

The Kite Dreamer.

We have had such a cold, long winter this past year in TX! The weather is starting to warm up and we couldn't be more ready. I am not complaining and my memory has not failed me. The many chilling ice box adventures I have endured throughout my life living in Utah and Michigan will forever be burnt there. All that being said, your blood changes when you move south.....35 degrees is cold to us! ;)

Last Thursday was such a gorgeous day! Despite my joy in the weather, I had been having a bit of a frustrating day and was tempted to dig into spring cleaning at home (which is usually how I vent out my frustrations) when my friend Janelle called. They were headed to the beach for spring break and they invited us to come along.

Warren has been wanting to fly a kite for months...but it has been so cold and not really windy enough. We kept telling him as soon as it warmed up we would take him to the beach because it is always windy there and it is also near some other good friends who live nearby.

Weston worked from home that day and we have been itching to get out in the sunshine. So, we hopped in the car and we were off for a little fun in the sun! We got stuck in bad traffic and after a 2.5 hour car trip and Warren asking us "are we getting closer?!" about 50 times we made it to Galveston.

Dad riggin up the chassy......

You must watch the video (bottom of this post) to fully experience and appreciate Warren's kite flying dream come true. He was just a... LITTLE excited.

Janelle showing the kiddos how it is done! See her cute little tum tum? Baby Jones is due Sept 2oth.

The kids had fun playing in the sand and collecting sea shells.

We had such a great time. Looking forward to more warm weather and future beach trips this year! It was just what I needed that day to lift my spirits and forget the things which are not important in life and focus on the things that are. Family & Friends. It was a great reminder to me, when life gives you wind... take your "wings", leave the "dirt" behind and fly with the angels He sends along the way. :)

You'll make someone's dreams come true.

Angels Landing

As most of you know, Weston received a job offer to work with Sutherland, Asbill & Brennan yesterday. We are so excited for this opportunity. We haven't had our official celebration yet but apparently that didn't stop the angels from getting it started for us! Apparently, there was a serious party going on in our front yard as we slept Monday night. We don't need a confession to know who was responsible for this. Aren't we special?? A job and angels all in the same day!

The perfect touch (notice the "s" in Halls).... nice!