The real San Francisco treat.....

Every year me and my best friends from Ann Arbor get together for our girls weekend retreat. We now all live throughout the US and so each year we take turns hosting. This year we visited Ronna in San Francisco! It was my first time as an adult visiting the bay area but I tell you..... I fell in love! I think it is the most gorgeous of all the big cities. Too bad it is SO dang expensive to live there. Oh, well.....we can always come visit right Ronna?

Ronna, Cheri & I pose in front of Lombard Street. The most crooked street EVER.

Katie, Ronna, Caitlynn, Cheri, Benjamin & me... in the first holding cell in Alcatraz.

Alcatraz. Despite the fact that it was a US penitentiary for some of the most notorious criminals such as Al Capone and many of his gangster friends.....the island itself was gorgeous. Gardens and wildlife galore.

Katie snuggling with Ben and his cheeks.

At a lookout point on top of the Academy Museum of Art.

At the Academy of the Sciences aquarium.

Touching star fish, sea urchins and other un-identified sea objects.

Cheri in front of one of the massively beautiful redwoods....in Muir Woods.

The golden gate bridge and me.

Bring on the San Francisco food baby! We tried it all....from fancy seafood, chowder on the pier, and sandwiches on classic San Francisco Sourdough. This was a place called Lucca's. The sandwiches were some of the tastiest ever.....people will sit on dirt to eat them. Yum!

Can I just say how much I love these ladies!? Well I do. A LOT!! Until next year girls! What happens in San Francisco stays there right?

Sister Safari...

The last 10 days we have been playing with my sister Melinda, who came to visit us for the first time ever since we moved from Utah. It was so fun to have her here and we enjoyed lots of good laughs. I tease her because she is "home body" and so it was extra special to us that she took the time and money to come out and visit us.

After an almost exhausting lunch at the original Joe's Crab Shack (a story for a whole other post) with a 6 mo, 1, 2 & 3 year old...we tried to laugh it off and escaped for some sunshine on the Boardwalk in Kemah.

My friend Andrea lives nearby and joined us for a fun day at the boardwalk. Warren, Jonah & Ashira overlooking the Gulf.

Warren & Ashira waiting ever so patiently for the chance to spot the boardwalk train.

Exploring the Houston Zoo.

Warren and Jonah loved the giraffe's. Especially, Miles the new baby Giraffe.

I had to take a picture of his classy birth announcement. Eleven minutes.....now THAT is impressive.

Warren always loves to ride the zebra on the carousel.

She even shared her secret Cinnabon cinnamon roll recipe with us. yummy!

Benjamin = the biggest flirt EVER. Aunt Melinda = biggest sucker EVER.

Me and Ben at Stewart beach in Galveston. This was our first time down since Ike. A lot of business' were back and functioning but the island is still crippled and in great need of reconstruction. There is still a lot of debris scattered about. It was humbling to see all the beach houses, structures, piers and marina's that were completely destroyed. It made me feel so lucky that all we lost was a couple of weeks of power and our back fence.

Jonah loved the ocean! As soon as we turned down sea wall blvd all he could do was point and say "ook, ook, ook (look)". It was a bit overcast but warm so we let him down to play on the beach.

Thanks for coming out and spending time with us Melinda! Thanks for helping us laugh. We love you!

6 months & Happy...

Benjamin is 6 months old and I am in awe how fast he is growing! Everywhere we go people gravitate to his contagious grins. At church I rarely have to worry about holding or taking care of him, as he is continually baby-napped by some adoring fan. He is such a little socialite and will smile and coo as long as one is willing to entertain. We love our doobers. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be his momma. What a joy he is to us all.

Yea....this is what you are missing out on!

Feedings.......

I have just started trying to feed him solids on a regular basis. He loves to nurse and hasn't been all that excited about oatmeal and squash but he tolerates it. First he looks at the spoon and gives me the "You aren't gonna force that crap in my mouth are you?".

It goes in.....then it comes OUT!

Offended.

"I guess it is not THAT bad mom. Aren't I the stuff?"

"Ok...ok...I'll let you kiss me.....just this once."

I (heart) long Hugs. Nuff said.

Emiizzle....

I thought this was clever and it made me laugh, so I thought I would give it a whirl. From now on you can just call me Emiizzle.

1. REAL NAME: Emily JoAnne Hall

2. WITNESS PROTECTION NAME (middle name of your mother and father): Marie White

3. NASCAR NAME: (first name of your mother's dad, father's dad) Lucein Glenn

4. STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name) Halem

5. DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Red Dolphin

6. SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, town where you were born) JoAnne Logan

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd fav color, fav drink, add "THE" to the beginning ) The Blue (virgin) Margarita

8. FLY NAME: (first 2 letters of 1st name, last 2 letters of your last name) Emal

9. STREET NAME: (fav ice cream flavor, fav cookie) Phish Food Chocolate Chip

10. ROCK STAR NAME: (current pet's and street name) Willis Rustic Haven

11. GANGSTA NAME: (first 3 letters of real name plus izzle) Emiizzle

12. IRAQI NAME: (2nd letter of your first name, 3rd letter of your last name, first two letters of your middle name, last two letters of your first name then last three letters of your last name) Mljolyall

13. GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one of your pets) Black Tommy

I'm alive....

Just a note to tell you that I have not given up blogging and I am still alive. My camera is broken and so it has been more difficult without it. I know you are all missing my blog posts SO much that you just can't stand the suspense. ;) So, you may have to listen to some more stories until I get a new camera. ;)

Until then....enjoy the Lovey Dovey playlist that I created just for you this lovey dovey month of February!!

I hereby dub you.....

BOY MOM!!!

(disclaimer: if you have a sensitive stomach or don't like reading about kids bathroom issues you may want to pass on this post).

Background:

So for the past week and a half Warren has been having "digestive issues". When I say that, I mean he only went number two about 1.25 times in 10 days and it was a a rough time for all to say the least. He has had a really bad tummy ache 24/7. Poor guy. One night he literally did not finally sleep until 6 am the following morning (and therefore neither did I). Daily single, double and triple doses of children's laxative did nothing. Glycerine suppositories (that was a new experience for me)...NADA. I was at my wits end and then finally Monday....we were successful!! So, for now I think we are out of the woods.

I tell you all of this to explain why I did what I did in the following story. So, every time I have heard him in the bathroom I try to get there before he flushes to see if he was able to go. A few times he said that he did but there was no evidence of it and the symptoms remained, etc.

So, a few days ago we are in the kitchen and we are making lunch. He suddenly jumps to his feet and exclaims that he needs to go potty.....his little feet take off as fast as they can and he runs upstairs to his bathroom. I wash my hands and at a much slower pace than he...head toward the bathroom to do my regular inspection.....and what to my wondering eyes does appear?????

Warren......peeing in the tub!!! Not just any old pee....he is hosing it down.....back and forth...like a fireman putting out a forest fire! Gasping in disgust and amazement I exclaim (rather loudly)...."WARREN! What in the HAY do you think you are doing!?" He shrinks and then smiles.... "I had to go SUPER bad mom!"

Which leads to the next privilege of being a boy mom. No matter how well you clean it.....the bathroom always smells like pee. I have found many other boy mom's who have confirmed this same phenomena. I had one friend tell me that she actually dismantles the toilet once every three months and that is the only way she can control the continual lingering smell of urine. My advice?......Don't forget the TUB!!!!

Bouncing Skills, Duplicating Skills.....

Santa brought Benjamin this rainforest bouncer for Christmas, which both he and I LOVE. It entertains him for hours. This video was taken just a few days after Christmas (4 months old). His little feet could just barely touch the ground. That day he had just discovered that he could also bounce in his new play thing and he was having so much fun practicing his newly discovered bouncing skills. I know.... I am slightly annoying in the video but if you have kids I know you understand. If he wasn't so stinkin scrumptious! 

In case you are wondering....that is WESTON (7 months) sitting on Santa's lap, not Ben. I think we did a pretty good job of duplicating him...don't you think? It wasn't until I had seen this photo that I agreed to marry him. ;)

What can I say....the Halls got skills.

Christmas Morning 2008

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas! I hope somebody enjoys this cause it took freaking all day to upload it. Computer malfunctions where all over the place today!! Errrghhh.

Two Kings and two babes...

Every year our Stake hosts a nativity exhibit. For my Ann Arbor framily out there it is just like The Creche Exhibit (only fancier). We (the members) deck out the church in a rather impressive Bethlehem like backdrop and display our various nativities from around the world. I believe this year they said there was over 450. There are many musical performances throughout the weekend and the community is welcome also. The music is beautiful and it is such a wonderful way to kick off the Christmas season (it was held the first weekend in December). Each year families can dress up and have your picture taken in the Manger. In years previous, Weston has refused but this year momma made sure it happened since we had our very own baby Jesus. I am not sure where Joseph was when we took the picture. Weston wanted to be a King (go figure) and so little W followed suit.A "King" and an "Angel". Warren with his friend Charlotte. Is that the proudest King you ever did see?

Warren's masterpiece....ok ok...so mom helped....a tinsy bit.

Another Christmas tradition is visiting the most impressive outdoor Christmas train display EVER. This family is amazing. Their entire yard is filled with trains of all sizes and decorations galore. The guy takes two weeks off work before Thanksgiving setting it all up and then sits outside from 6-9 pm with his family every night running the trains and giving kids rides, etc. For Warren this equals pure joy, being the train junkie that he is. Warren and his friend Ashira overlooking the beauty.

Warren and pure joy.

A Wish Come True...

Christmas Miracles have begun! Last Wed, Warren comes downstairs (he had been watching ELF) and comes into the kitchen. I look at him and he has the most longingly sad look on his face. I ask him what he is thinking about. He then says, " Mom, there is NO snow in Texas and that makes me REALLY, REALLY sad." You should have seen the puppy dog eyes. I explained that maybe when we go to Utah to visit again he will get to play in the snow then, etc. He expresses his displeasure again and dragging his feet.... goes upstairs to finish his movie. A half hour later we look out the window and could not believe our eyes! SNOW!? In Houston!???? What the?? You have never witnessed such jolly smiles and magical giggles before in your life!

We had a snowball fight and tasted a most rare delicacy...snow d'houston. Delicious.

In the eyes of my boys...

A few weeks ago we had some new pictures taken of the boys and I just got them back and thought I would share the wealth. Enjoy!

The Benjamin (3 months old) : I don't know how we possibly managed it but somehow we lucked out and got another angel baby boy in our family. Benjamin is such a joy to us and he is so good natured. He is the biggest flirt ever and VERY social (I don't know where he gets it). He LOVES to talk and tells the best stories. He will grin and woo you as long as you are willing. We are lovin his chubby little self to pieces. I feel so honored to be his momma.

Momma & me: Loving those cheeks!! (Both sets that is)

Mr Warren (3 1/2 yrs): I didn't originally plan on getting pictures done of Warren because we just had some done when he turned three... BUT he was starting to compete a little for the photographer's attention after focusing on Benjamin for so long so she took a few shots. His hair wasn't even combed but I ended up loving these. I just started talking to him and she just shot as we talked and I was amazed how many "classic Warren" expressions she captured. He is such a little character. I can't even remember what life was like without our Mr Warren.

Brothers: At the end of an almost 2 hour photo shoot Benjamin was getting a little tired and fussy....but its ok cause BIG brother got his back.