Decorating the Christmas Tree

My pictures are uploading backwards for some reason. Anyways we had fun decorating the tree the week of Thanksgiving. Cooper didn't understand it at first. He just wanted to play with the ornaments and got mad when we put them on the tree. But since they've been on the tree he hasn't touched them. I even wrapped all my presents and put them under the tree and he hasn't been curious about them at all. He is obsessed with the lights though. As soon as we come home from somewhere and sees they are off, he says lights on! lights on! So this is him pouting on the stairs cause we were trying to take a pic of all the kids by the tree. And he ran away from me cause well he hates pictures.

Daisy and Lindsay posed for me. They were quite the decorators for me. Of course when they were done I had to move ornaments around but they had a great time getting all the stuff out. I just hope they are that excited when it is time to put them away:)

Northwest Lineman College

So this was the reason for our trip. (see post below) We haven't told too many people this yet, but we are officially moving! We have been trying to figure out a career change for us for awhile now and I feel truly blessed that we have been led in this direction. Jeff will attend the Northwest Lineman College in May. It is in Meridian, ID. It is a 4 month program and then we will look for a job with a power company where Jeff can be a lineman. We went and took a tour of the school and talked to some people. Jeff got accepted to the program a couple of months ago, but we didn't tell too many people just in case it didn't turn out to be what we wanted, But after visiting the school, I am so excited for Jeff and I know he is going to do great! After his school is done in August, we have no clue where we will go. Wherever Jeff gets a job is where we will go. It is a little scary not knowing the future, but I can tell you that when we were in Idaho, I knew we were doing the right thing and if we have faith the Lord will lead us in the right direction.

See all those poles? Yep my husband is going to be climbing those. They spend 2 hours a day in the classroom and the other 8 hours is out in the field learning hands on. That is going to be Jeff's favorite part. I can tell he is so excited to do this. A little nervous but that is expected. I know he will do great!

What we do know: Our house is for sale! So spread the word. We would like to be able to join Jeff in Idaho when school is out. We will just rent an apartment for the summer. When his program is done, if we don't have a job right away, we will start the kids in school there and find a job. Jeff has to do a 4 year apprentice program first. So this means we could be far far away. But once he is a journeyman, he can pretty much go anywhere. If we feel like we need to come back home to AZ then we will. But Jeff and I absolutely loved Boise! If we had a chance to move back there after 4 years, we would do it in a heart beat! We love our friends and family. That by far is going to be the worst part of this whole thing. But we need to do what we can for our own little family. We are super excited and thankful to our friends and family that have supported us in this adventure! We'll keep you updated!

Our Weekend

Jeff and I flew to Boise this weekend. It was glorious. I have fallen in love with that place. Granted it was winter and there were no leaves on the trees, but it was beautiful! I had such a fun time hanging out with my husband. It was sad to have it end. The kids had fun like always at Grandma Shellee's. I know they will always get love and attention when they are there. Jeff enjoyed flooring it in the Altima. He said it was fun to drive.

This is in town. There are houses and then just fields and fields of farm land. I love it. It gives it a small town feel. I want to live here forever!

On the way to the airport we saw the Boise temple so took a little detour to go see it. The temple grounds are definitely smaller than the Mesa Temple.

How we spent our Black Friday

No getting up at 4am for this family. Ok so Jeff would have if there was something I needed but nothing was worth the trouble to me. I am proud to say that Cooper and I woke up at 9:30am! Now that's what I call a vacation! So we had breakfast then went to Tumbleweed Park in Chandler. (The train museum is around the corner. see post below) They have a huge covered playground that looks like a red barn. Lots of slides and things to climb on. They also have this town that you can actually ride your bikes and scooters on the "road". The kids did this most of the time. Cooper can't pedal so he would just scoot his feet. All the kids kept passing him and he would just say hi to them. Not a care in the world! It was alot of fun!

Jeff and I finished the night off with a date! We went and saw Four Christmases. It was super funny. I would recommend seeing it if you get a chance.

Cooper's Idea of Heaven

We went to a train museum on Friday. It technically wasn't open but the gate was open so we walked around until a lady came and said it was closed but she let us walk through a train on our way out. When we got inside it I told the girls it reminded me of the train we rode in Flagstaff for the Polar Express. Well Cooper is obsessed with that movie right now so when he heard me say it he kept saying POLAR EXPRESS! So we told him yes. Now we don't have to pay money to go on the real one:)

He seriously was in heaven! He was running ahead of us just yelling train, train! He would turn around and say cheese to me so I could take a picture of him. We'll have to go back when it is opened so I can let him roam as long as he wants.

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving this year with The Day's. We played a little Guitar Hero. Go Grandpa!

We have alot of things to be thankful for. I am thankful for this time of year and for the fact that we get to get together as a family.

Chicken pox?

I knew that it couldn't be chicken pox, but i was trying to figure out what the heck was on him. He came walking down the stairs with a huge smile on his face. He found one of his sisters Halloween stamps and went to town. Look at those feet. He had each toe painted like fingernail polish. He watches his mom and sisters too much. He was so proud of himself.

Then he turned around and walked away and it was all over his back. What? I knew he couldn't do that. I found out that Lindsay caught him with the stamp. So instead of taking it away from him she decided to add to him. Good thing they were cheap stamps and it came right off in the tub.

It's that time of year again!

I need to get people's addresses, especially if you live out of town. This year I promise I will actually write them down somewhere permanent so I don't have to ask you again next year:). So if you want a christmas card from the Hall fam then email me your address at
devryhall(@)gmail(dot)com. Here's just a preview of what you might get...... (minus me)

P.S. I hope your picture taking goes as smoothly as ours did:)

Peace...

we're out. Have a fabulous weekend.

This girl cracks me up. This is Lindsay's signature pose. Love the mouth.

Day of Fun

I love having no school every once in awhile. It makes me happy to have a day of no schedules and not worrying what time it is cause I need to be somewhere or do something. We started off our day by going to the Apache Junction Veteran's Day parade. We sat with our friends the Hyman's and had a great time! Here are the group of kids playing in the dirt waiting for the parade to start. They were so dirty by 9:30am.

Cooper absolutely loved the parade. He sat in this same spot the entire time and waved to everyone. Even the horses. He'd say, "Hi horsey, Hi army guy, Hi papa"(the retired vets:)) It was so cute! We sat on the median so we could go to the other side and watch it again. How cool is that?

It was also my mom's birthday so we went over there and hung out with Grandma for the afternoon and watched BYE BYE BIRDIE from the 60's. Coolest musical/movie ever! Lindsay loves it and saw it at the library and we had to get it. She's watches it over and over. My mom saw it in the movie theaters when she was little so those 2 sat on the couch and watched it.

Then we headed off to the park for dinner and Libby's #2 birthday! The cousins had fun playing together. Here is Huddy on the motorcycles. Him and Cooper were playing on these and racing. Cooper was on this most of the night. When he wasn't eating his 3 cupcakes. At least they were the mini ones.


He loves the slides! He was in heaven. He loves going to the park and it's always so sad when it's time to go.

Here's a picture of me trying to get the kids to look. Oh well at least you can see her cute cupcake cake. Happy Birthday Liberty!

Heber/Show Low

We went to the cabin this weekend. It was cold and so much fun! And it was quite eventful! We didn't get to the cabin until late Friday night. We knew we forgot our cabin key but Jeff's dad hides one up there so we just got that one. Well Jeff went in to turn on the lights and start warming it up and we stayed in the truck and kept warm. Jeff walked in, put the key on the counter and walked out and shut the door behind him and forgot to unlock the bottom lock by hand cause it stays locked. So now we are locked out of the cabin. I of course am laughing which doesn't make Jeff very happy. I think let's just go to Showlow and crash/trash Devin & Kristin's place. But he called his dad and he told us we could take out the swamp cooler thing on the back of the cabin. So Jeff did it. It took like 45 minutes. ( We could have been to Showlow) But the hole was to small for Jeff so we talked Daisy into doing it and saving the day. Anyone that knows my girls know they are scared of everything so this was a bit scary for her but she did it! It opens up to the stairs and she got in and unlocked the door for us!So on Saturday we went to Show Low. You might remember the couch Devin & Kristin gave us a while back. Well it is the nicest most comfy couch but it didn't fit anywhere in our house. It is a 3 piece sectional and is like 17 ft long! So we took it back. Sad day for us. Maybe in our next house.:) We took it to their storage and Devin pulled this out for the kids to look at. Since his in laws own Bison Homes/Ridge the had this at a place somewhere. How sad that these were the only 2 pictures I took on this trip. This pic is when we got to the cabin waiting for Jeff. Cooper is wide awake and happy thank goodness. Lindsay's mouth was wide open and she was sawing logs!

(This isn't from the trip. This is him on the way to school. He thinks he needs his lunch box like his sister's, although they buy their lunch. I think he thinks it is his backpack.)

But the best news is that Cooper is so excited that he is going to have another cousin to play with! Devin & Kristin are finally going to get to be parents! We are so happy and excited for them! Thanks for letting us celebrate with you on Saturday night! And thanks for putting up with Cooper's mood. We're just getting you ready for parenthood:) Anytime you want 'em......

12 Years!

12 years ago today, was the most perfect day. The weather was awesome. It was kind of cloudy and sprinkled for a few minutes right when we came out of the temple. It was a very calm and stress free day. I want one of those again! And I want to spend a week with just my hubby and have not a care in the world! Love you Jeff!

Halloween Part 2

After trick or treating we went to Chad and Corri's Halloween party to see Randy and his band play. The girls had a fun time.Avery was a little bumble bee.

I loved Chad's costume!

Mulan and Dwight. Randy does really good playing the nerds.:) Look at that face. Does that not look just like him?

On the ride home, it was like 10:30 and I thought the kids were asleep and Lindsay says, "Mom, I know what I want to be next year for Halloween." I guess it's never too early to start thinking about that.

Happy Halloween

Since Jeff was hunting I decided I didn't want to be by myself so I packed the kids up and went to Queen Creek to Matt & Mindi's neighborhood. They had a block party first and had dinner and let the kids run around. Then we went trick or treating. This was about as good as we could do for a group picture.Isn't she the cutest kitty you've ever seen?

Lindsay was Mulan. Daisy made the fan for her. You can't tell too good in the picture but we sprayed her hair black. Then I put makeup on her but I never took a picture of that.

Cooper's costume fit him perfectly. He was a train engineer. He was the cutest thing ever! And he totally figured the trick or treat thing out and thought it was so fun! He wouldn't let me hold his bucket for him. Even when it was getting too heavy.

Daisy was a hula girl. I thought she would think it was boring going with the little kids, but she never complained once that it was boring or we were too slow. She was actually super nice.