A Busy But Fun Month

We have had a full and busy month. We have had lots of time to be together as family and taking advantage of all of the holidays and special occasions. It is a special occasion just when we can spend a few days together.

We have had birthdays, Easter, Girl's Day, General Conference, and just visiting times. April has been here for about 5 weeks and left to go back to Missouri this morning early. 6 a.m. is early!!

This is the way we spent part of the time:

April & I took the kids to Idaho to visit the family there. It was fun to see the kids get reacquainted with Great Grandpa and Great Grandma.

Is that sign language? Nope, it is Enoch showing some of his superhero moves!

"Bob" (Elias) gets to know Hiram's "Fur Real" monkey.

No visit would be a good one without a lunch or two out. This one found Nicci, Hiram and Enoch having that "Black and Tan" before the "real" food was served! Well, maybe that WAS the "real food"!

Mighty good "Black & Tan"!

The Month of April Birthday celebration! April (April 1st), me (April 4th), Marc (April 5th) and Christina (April 10th). It was fun to be together for the day!

Besides a birthday celebration, it was also Easter weekend and the big Family Easter Egg Hunt was held at Mike and Christina's ward meeting house. The kids managed to find all of the eggs but one (well, maybe two). Someone in their ward might be lucky enough to find the "unfindable" egg. Is unfindable a word?

Carter

Ivan

Enoch & Tucker take a minute out of the big "hunt" to pose for a cousin picture. How cute is that?

With the egg hunt over, the kids are checking out the "loot".
(l-r) Cooper, Tucker, Enoch, Ivan, Caitlin and Cayanna

Caleb

Another day:

Grandpa and Caleb manage to take a little "down time" to watch a bit of Discovery Channel.

Grandad takes Isaac to do some promised golfing.

Isaac promised to pay Grandad back when he got home to get his money! Grandad said that Isaac could just treat him to a game next time.

A little "warm up" opportunity.

Isaac spent as much time as he could with his Great Grandad. When at home, he spent most of his time right there on Grandad's lap. It was a real bonding time!!

It was so much fun to have April and the kids here. We are glad that we were able to spend a lot of time together as family. April left to go home this morning at 6 a.m. Thanks for coming and spending the time with all of us, April. Be safe traveling home!! And get to feeling better, too. Not a fun trip to feel so "crappy" and have to be driving!

Girl's Day ---- A Fun Time Spent Together!

One day (sometimes weekend) of every year we (the female portion) of the Hale group try to get together to rest, relax and have some fun. This year we gave the guys a break by spending the entire Saturday. Sorry, guys, we know you wanted to spend more than just one day caring for all of the kids .... but .... :)

Another first this year ... Jenicca was old enough to join in .... YAHOO!! It was so fun to have her with us! Kindra had also planned a trip down to visit this weekend so we invited her to join in. She added to the fun of this "crazy" group.

This year we met at the "Old Family Home" where we had planned several crafts and cooking ideas. We each brought our fabric and other materials to make those things that interested us or we were to bring a project that we had been working on. It was fun and we managed to get a lot done!

April taught us about Artisan bread.

Amanda, Christina and Jenicca , literally, tried their hand(s) at forming the "boule" before baking the delicious bread.

"Phew! Finally formed and ready for the oven! The bread made really tasty sandwiches for lunch. (Thanks, Nicci and April!)

Really close cousins!

Nicci taught us how to make "One Hour Aprons" and "Buttercup Bags". They turned out so cute! Some of us even made more than one! I'm not real sure the aprons should have been called "one hour", though. At least in my case, it took much longer to finish!

Gretchen getting a few tips on making her apron.

Jenicca puts together a cute handbag as Amanda models a shower curtain "toga"!

Nearly finished!

"Thanks Nicci for your time and patience in teaching us!"
And she even managed to make a bag of her own! Great job!


Some things are just better done on your knees!

Kristen begins to make space to begin making Chocolate Covered Easter Eggs. I wanted to get some pictures but my photography skills failed me. But they turned out just like the ones you can buy, even though at one point it was brought up that the marshmallow part reminded us of "breast implants"! Now ... which Hale girl would bring that up? The end result was "yummy". (Sure wish "somebody" took some good pictures!)

Christina helped us make greeting cards and girl's hairclips. She had put a lot of hours making "card kits" for each of us to make our own. Thanks, Christina! I could have never made my own if I had to come up with the creative ideas! They turned out great!

Several of us made magnetic boards, an idea that Niccole picked up from the Dunford Retreat. Just another cute and fun idea!

After a full day of "crafting", we went out for dinner. We started with the idea of going to La Nonne's Italian Restaurant but because of long lines on a Saturday night we made our way to Iron Gate Grill for a leisurely meal and visiting.

"Smile girls!"

Will, the only "Male Hale" that was lucky enough to get an invitation to join the "Girls' Day" dinner! One lucky "Little Dude" and 9 women .... and so cute, too!

Acknowledgments:

All in all, it was a fun and really "productive" day! Thanks to ALL of "my" girls for setting aside the day to come and bring your ideas to share with us.

And thanks to all of the men for taking the kids so "willingly" or "not so willingly" ~~~ it helps to have at least a day or two a year to take some time for ourselves! Just keep in mind .... "When Momma's happy, everybody's happy"! A day away from the "job" enlightens our spirits!! (Oh, and a "special thanks" from me to Matt ..... Thanks for babysitting Grandad! He definitely wouldn't have enjoyed the day at home with all of us women and no TV, ballgames, golf or NEWS! Also, thanks to Phil for spending the day with an extra five!) We appreciate all of you guys for giving us the time together!

We are looking forward to next year!!