The "A" team in Wonderland

4 Month recap . . . Ready, Set, Go!

2009-11-22T13:27:00.000-08:00

Dustin made it home! He is 50 pounds lighter now and a running machine (compare before deployment pic below). I asked him how far he ran the other day and "only 6 miles" was his reply. We are very grateful for his safe return. We love him so much!

Jo (aka Nana) took our picture in Georgia.

Dustin took us to Disney World! Besides driving 15 hours with a teething baby, it was a blast.

My princess and the castle.

Halloween 2009~~~~Ariel and unicorn.

Finally, Arianna is a cruisin maniac. She tries so hard to keep up with Alice. I feel like my job is to save her life a billion times a day.

I have posted many more pics on facebook. Look me up there if you want to check them out.

Okay folks til next time . . . . . . . .

note on the slideshows . . .

2009-07-19T21:16:00.000-07:00

K--I've been trying to figure out why you can't see them, and I give up! So, just click on 'view all images' and you'll be able to view the pics.

Until next time!

One more month to go!!!

2009-07-19T16:57:00.000-07:00

Yes, yes. I know I've been a real slacker on the blog. But I feel less guilty as I read my other friend's and family's blogs and most start with that same sentence. :) So here's what's been happening with the Halls:

In May we celebrated our 7th anniversary! I have to give Dustin props for managing to send flowers from so far away.

In June, mom and dad Hall took us to Florida for an unforgettable vacation. I'll post a picture slideshow from all our pictures there. It was really wonderful to spend such a relaxing week with the family.

In downtown Little Rock there's a formal duck procession every morning at the Peabody Hotel. They bring the ducks down the elevator and they walk along a red carpet and jump into their pool in the hotel's lobby. There's a 'ringmaster' and everything. It was really fun to watch the ducks ride down the glass elevator. Mostly because they were so relaxed about it. Here they are going up the steps to jump into the pool.

We also went to the farmer's market. Alice specifically wanted watermelon that day.

We finished the day at the 'Wonder Place.' Here she is playing with the air planes. Alice loves flying and playing with airplanes, it really wouldn't surprise me if she followed her daddy's footsteps.

Baking at the 'cafe.'

Being a 'vet.' I love her intense focus in this picture.

She's such a little princess!

They really adore eachother! I often find them laughing at one another during the day.

Arianna tried her first cereal, doesn't it seem like she was just born yesterday??? Where does the time go?? Most of all, how can you not love this face??!!!

Finally I'm going to include a couple slideshows for a camping trip we did and our trip to Florida. I really did have a good time camping, but I had to have help backing in the trailer both at the campgound and at home. Sooooo, for more camping trips, I'm going to wait for Dustin to get home and give me more lessons. But you've got to give me credit for trying right?

This may be biased . . but I have the cutest babies in the world.

2009-06-04T17:54:00.000-07:00

I don't have many videos of Arianna so I wanted to post one real quick. She's such an adorable little girl! I think God is watching out for me because she's been so good and just a joy to be around. I'm hoping the teething part will wait until Dustin is back.

We've almost made it to the half-way point, it's taken forever! But that being said, we have some fun vacations ahead and will have all sorts of adventures to post soon.

Until then . . Enjoy the little chuberkins.

Alice is three!

2009-05-10T16:35:00.000-07:00

Happy Mother's Day!

This week at Alice's school they had a "Muffin's for Mom" day. I got to eat breakfast and she gave me gifts that she had made. Here's my favorite:
That' 3rd line says " and she weighs as much as a daddy horse" :)

Here's Alice's birthday party. We're so lucky to have such good friends to celebrate with.

Per her request, I made her an Ariel cake.

I decided to get a trampoline for us. I wanted something active and fun that we could all do. She keeps telling me "It's perfect!"

Arianna is full of smiles now, awwww.

We've almost made it a month--some of you might think, "Wow! That went by fast." Not us. But we are keeping busy and having some fun.

I'll try and post a couple videos.

One week down . . 15?? more to go!

2009-04-19T14:44:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed--I changed the blog name and picture to incorporate our little chuberkins. The "A" team is what Dustin call us girls. We sure are rooting for him. GoooOOO DUSTIN!!!

Well we survived the first week! My motto has thus been "do your best and forget the rest". The days seem a little easier when we stick to our routine and remember to be silly now and then.

Dustin finally made it in country and is already flying. Obviously, we cannot discuss much here on a public blog, but he's doing well and I will update it with any news that he would like me to share.

This picture is a quick last minute attempt to get a family photo before he left. No too bad for an automatic timer and a blanket backdrop eh?

Dustin wanted to squeeze in a night of camping before we left. He also gave me my 'checkride.' I had to hook up the trailer, tow it, back it in the campsite and hook everything up. I'm not as pro as he is, but at least I know I can if the need arises.

We went to Wooley Hollow State Park. I love the little 3 mile hike around the resevoir. It's perfect to do when you have little ones.

Can you find Dustin in this picture?? Here he is testing out the new desert colors.

Bidding Farewell! Alice was obviously not too happy. But she's been really doing okay. The days go by fairly quick because we're so busy at home. Thanks for all the calls and concerns--we appreciate them!

Finally got the videos posted!

2009-04-07T05:47:00.000-07:00

Okay, like I said in the last post here's a video of Dustin doing his best Arianna imitation and Alice practicing her letters. Chaio!

Families are forever--even when you're a few thousand miles apart

2009-04-05T16:59:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a while since we posted. We are trucking along quite well since Arianna's arrival. She is sleeping 3-4 hour stretches at night and loves her swing, both make things easier for mama to adjust to having 2 kids. She looks so much like Alice to Dustin and I. I feel like they're twins--just 3 years apart. I can't wait for her little personality to really come through to see how they differ.

Last weekend Dustin blessed Arianna at church. My brother, Ben and his family drove down from Indiana to be there. Even thought they were only here for a couple days, Alice loved having her cousins around to play with.

Sariah and Alice

Arianna, Jon, and Eliza

This weekend was our last weekend with Dustin before he leaves for his deployment rotation. Although I am prepared for him to go, it will be the first and longest time we've ever been apart. I am just grateful that it's only a few months and not years (go Air Force!) Plus, this is good for his career and he'll get more flying opportunities when he's home.

We'll keep you posted on any news he has.

His squadron had an Easter party which we attended this weekend. It was super windy but Alice had a great time. Pretty much if Alice has other kids to play with and she gets out of the house--she'll have a great time.

I'm going to post a couple fun videos of us. The first one is of Alice and I practicing her letters. The second is Dustin doing his best Arianna impression.

Welcome Arianna Jo Hall!

2009-02-14T14:07:00.000-08:00

Arianna Jo Hall arrived February 7, 2o09 at 6:13 pm. She was 6 pounds 13 ounces and 19.25 inches.

Here's the story:

I started having contractions early Saturday morning around 3 am. Around 6 am Dustin was getting ready to leave for some volunteer work for church. They were going to go a couple hours north and help clean up after the ice storms. We talked for a bit and decided it would be okay if he went because he wouldn't be too far.

After about 30 minutes the contractions seemed to be getting worse and just when I was going to call him to come back home, he walked in the door. We decided to go ahead and go into town for breakfast and stop by the women's center to be checked out.

They monitored me for a bit and said that I wasn't in active labor so they sent me home. I was a little worried because I really felt like I was in labor and we live about 35 minutes from the hospital. I really didn't want to have the baby in the car.

After we went home, I actually took about an hour nap. Maybe I really wasn't in labor afterall if I could nap. . . but then the contractions really started.

So we went back to the hospital. They checked me and I thought they would say I was dilated to maybe a 3. To our surprise I was already an 8! The rest happened VERY quickly---Arianna was born only 43 minutes after arriving to the hospital. Since I had made it so far without any pain meds, I decided to go ahead and do a natural birth.

We are so in love with our new addition! We also so proud and appreciative of Alice who has been a real trooper and wonderful big sister. We really feel blessed and thank God for everything (especially for making it to the hospital in time!)

Beginning 2009

2009-02-01T20:20:00.000-08:00

Happy January! We're counting down the days for the little one to get here. As far as names go, Dustin has the final say---so when he knows, I'll let everyone else know.

Only 3 weeks to go! Alice took this picture :)

Good morning! We went camping in Hot Springs with the Preston's this month. It was one last chance for me to get out before the baby arrives.

The horse races in Hot Springs were a first for us.

Alice loved watching them race!

Our campground had a playgound. Alice and Aiden swinging.

Love those chipmunk cheeks!

We tried to feed the ducks on the campground but the kids were a little nervous.

Dustin took this picture--hopefully one day people out here will actually know what Utah State University is . . .

Well, that's all for now. Next time we post it will be when the baby is here!

Holidaze!

2008-12-24T13:11:00.000-08:00

Season's Greetings!

This Christmas season has flown by and we cannot believe we're approaching the new year. Here's what has been going on this month . . .

This month was unusually cold for Arkansas. We had several days around only 20 degrees and a couple ice storms. Alice still counted it as snow and enjoyed playing in it---for about 15 minutes, then she was too cold and wanted to come back inside.

Alice had a Christmas party at her school. I was really impressed with her sticker skills in this picture. She placed the manger stickers all by herself on the paper.

We were happy to welcome Dustin's mom, brother, and sis-in-law the week before Christmas. We made gingerbread houses and had a good time visiting. FYI, Alice will be your best friend if you come stay with us :) We know Arkansas isn't a popular tourist destination, so we truly appreciate those who do make it out here.

Alice got to open her presents from Nana while she was here. Nana gave her a trunk of dress-up clothes. What a lucky princess! Oh, the puppy in the picture is a stray that got dumped on our street. If anyone wants to give it a home let me know.

Gus wasn't too excited about playing dress-ups.

On Christmas Eve, our friends the Eddy's, invited us over for dinner. We also played a little Rockband.

Here's the two guitarists

Christmas morning! Alice asked Santa for a 'Belle dress.' He also gave her a 'Mrs. Pott's Tea Set.' She played with both of them all day. I can't believe how grown up she's getting.

WARNING: PREGNANCY IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR BRAIN CELLS!!!

It is apparent I am in the last stretch of pregnancy just from my absent-mindedness. I left a bag of frozen roll-dough out all night. In the morning this was the result--an exploded bag.

Later that same day . . . .

Dustin and I returned from Christmas Eve dinner. I wanted a glass of milk for some heartburn. It wasn't in the fridge. I looked around the kitchen for 15 minutes, dumbounded. We even entertained the possibility that someone had broken in the house and stolen milk. We started looking around for other possible stolen items. Dustin then mentioned something about being 'pregnant and hair-brained.' So I looked in the pantry. Yup, there it was. I had put it away with the flour hours earlier. Please pray my family will make it through the next couple months without me giving them food poisoning!

Last, but not least, here is a video of Alice at her school singing "The 12 days of Christmas" Her teachers all said she was such a ham. I love how she's the only one patting her back and taking a bow at the end. Enjoy!

Squadron Party and Perimeter Check Completed

2008-12-12T06:47:00.000-08:00

We had Dustin's squadron holiday party for the kids last week. We had a jolly time and Alice had a full day of sweets and Santa

Making new friends

Snowball fight! This was such a great idea--cotton filled nylon snowballs--no injuries!

Face painting. She got a snowman and Christmas tree

The big moment! Santa arriving from the North Pole on a C-130

She was speechless

Santa came back to the squadron and passed out presents.

She loves Santa, and was completely enthralled.

Don't tell Alice, but Santa was played by Dustin's squadron commander

For some reason he didn't want us all to sit on his lap . . .

After my entry about Belle's perimeter check, I decided to update on the latest kitty drama

Sunday night we noticed a big gaping hole in her side. I took her to the vet on Monday and they admitted her (yes, a cat can be admitted) and fixed her up. She apparently had been in a fight with the neighbor's cat and been bit--this turned into an abscess that burst open. ewwww.

Now she's exclusively an indoor cat (especially if every time she wants to fight costs me $300) She has to wear the lampshade and stiches for 2 weeks as well as a bout of antibiotics. Most people would say a cat isn't worth all this trouble. Not for me, Belle is my anti-stress medication. Does this count for losing 1 or 2 lives? Anyhow, perimeter check is officially completed. Neighbor cat wins :(

I'm posting a poll today too. I'm debating whether to give Alice her new baby doll for Christmas or to wait until the new baby is here. What will make her transition to big sister better? Cast your vote!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-12-01T14:19:00.000-08:00

The Halls have a lot to be thankful for, we know we're truly blessed. We spent the holiday with friends and yummy food. We decided one great thing about getting together as friends is the collaboration of the best of several family recipes.

This week marked the beginning of the last trimester-yea! Unfortunately, I know the last one will feel longer than the other six months. But no complaints :) I have had a really easy pregnancy.

Alice was up late playing with friends the night before (we had a sleepover at the Preston's) and she slept all the way through the meal. So no pics of her. Also, I thought I had pictures of our friends, but I guess not. So yes, I'm fired. Sorry guys.

I did get a picture of the table. My family will recognize the candy-filled-turkey cups. My grandma used to make these every year and I couldn't resist making them. Alice really liked them, a little too much. She needed to eat more real food and less candy.

One night while I was studying (more on that later) Alice asked Dustin to do her make-up. Well he did, all with brown eyeliner. The result? I call it 'Gothic Cinderella'. She was ecstatic. "Thank you so much daddy! You did my makeups!" I love the whole ensemble'. Eat your heart out Suri.

Perimeter Check Initiated . . . .

2008-11-23T17:21:00.000-08:00

Every morning I wake up with Belle (above) asleep at my feet. As soon as I get up she runs to the back door to be let out. This is when her 'perimeter check' is initiated. She walks the fence line around our yard in search of any intruders, like the neighbors cats. I have never known such a territorial cat. This ritual makes me laugh, such a serious thing for such a fluffy furball.

Halloween

2008-11-09T22:45:00.001-08:00

Getting ready to go

3 little pumpkins . . .

Class picture

Dane and Alice--could they be any cuter???

This year Halloween was different--it was the first time we had trick-or-treaters! Everywhere we've lived before had maybe one or two kids in the neighborhood. This time we were out of candy in an hour, it was great.

On Thursday, Alice had a fall party at her school. On Friday, we went trick-or-treating with friends. She was Cinderella-of course! She loves Cinderella and wears her dress almost every day. We had lots of fun this year and are glad that she shared all her goodies so willingly.

mmmm Reeses

One of the videos is of her singing the song from the movie"A dream is a wish your heart makes" Well, it melts my heart, so sweet. But I have no idea where she gets her theatrics . . . .

The second picture is of all the kids--such great costumes!

Home from Italy

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

On our drive home from Georgia, we checked Luke's (Dustin's brothers) fire station where he works. We are very proud of him and his hard work. It's hard to believe that only 4 years ago he lived with us and attended Logan High--our baby's all grown up!

When we arrived to our home in Arkansas, we had some new tenants in the house. I just would like to say how much I despise these wolf spiders--soooo disgusting. They're fast too, they don't spin webs they just run to hunt down their prey. gag.

Rome, Pompeii, and Positano

2008-11-09T21:43:00.000-08:00

Here's the slides of our last leg of the trip. Sorry it took me so long to post!

Rome was an absolute must see, but I don't know if I would go back. Very dirty and crowded--but you have to see it at least once. One thing we didn't know was that most of St. Peter's marble came from the Colosseum. We really enjoyed the Roman ruins, it was our favorite part of Rome.

Pompeii was huge--I can't believe how much they've excavated. It's amazing to see graffiti on the walls and art on the walls of the homes. We only spent a couple hours, but easily could've explored for a few days.

Positano was the highlight of the trip for me. The Almafi coast was to die for---so beautiful. I would definitely go back and spend a whole trip there. Loved it, loved it, LOVED it!

The best part of the trip was talking to Dustin without toddler interruption for 10 whole days--we missed Alice terribly, but really enjoyed our time together. It was so worth it.

Firenze! (Florence)

2008-10-26T17:33:00.000-07:00

Even though Florence was crowded (like most touristy spots) it was beautiful. They would clean the cobble stone streets each night and there was a gelatto stand everywhere you went. What more could you want? We went to the famous Ufizzi art gallery and saw priceless works by Michelangelo and other renaissance painters. We also saw the statue of David, but were not allowed to take pictures.

Do view the slide show--I've got a picture of a guy in skinny pants (everyone wore them there) it's hilarious. Our favorite part was climbing to the top of the Duomo. It had gorgeous views of the city--definitely worth the years of waiting I had to do to get there!

I have one video of us on top of the Duomo when the bells were ringing in the Campanile---you can tell from my videos that I loved to hear the bells always ringing, it was just like a fairy tale. And yes, I still turned the camera not thinking the image would go upside down. Sorry!

*Note: you can speed up or slow the slide show. If you stop your mouse on a pic, a caption will appear.

Ahhh, Venice!

2008-10-26T16:45:00.000-07:00

Good evening! We've had a BUSY couple of weeks and I'm finally able to sit and post a little. Dustin and I were able to go to Italy and really had a great time. For anyone who has known me a long time--Italy has been a dream of mine for at least a decade. Alice stayed with her Nana in Georgia and did surprisingly well.

For the first couple days of the trip we spent it with our good friends the Giffords. They too were once Vilonia-ites, but moved to Italy in June. It was great to catch up with them and have a personalized tour of Venice which is what I have in the first slide show. I also have a video of us entering "Palazzo San Marco." The timing was perfect--sun streaming in and bells pealing. Oscar and Misty, you really know how to give a tour! Too bad the person taking the video, that would be me, keeps turning the camera upside down. . . . *Note* You can speed up or slow the slide show. Also, if you pass your mouse on one of the pictures, a caption will appear.

It's a girl!

2008-09-30T09:17:00.000-07:00

That's right folks, "100% girl" they said. Although we had told everyone we wanted a boy next (only because we already had a girl) We are thrilled that she is healthy and doing well. Alice and her will no doubt be best friends and now Dustin doesn't have to permanently give up his study because they can share a room! I also told him, that when he gets older, there's nothing better than having a bunch of women dote on him--which is the truth.

I love this picture of her legs crossed. It won't be long before she can't stretch out like this! The second picture is of her profile.

I have had several requests for belly pics so I took some today to post below.

Utah Trip, Dustin and Corey's Birthday Party

2008-09-29T18:48:00.000-07:00

Good Evening everyone! We've had a busy couple weeks, and they're going to get busier! Alice and I were able to visit Utah (we hadn't been home in a year and a half) It was great to see my grandparents who haven't seen Alice since she was five weeks old. Now that she's getting a little older, she really enjoys to travel and visit family--we don't have to worry so much about her being in 'her element' and 'on schedule'.

Playing with a Cinderella doll and dress on the Airplane (that thing was a life saver!)

Grandma and Grandpa's newly landscaped backyard. Her favorite part was the rock waterfall. Saturday morning, we had pancakes and hot chocolate on the new deck with the cousins.

Kora is Alice's cousin that's only 12 days older than her. We call them the twins. They especially loved picking apples from grandma's trees and chatting on the 'table rock.'

Cousin James and Alice getting rides on ponies at Gardner Village.

Aunt Ginny and Vilolet at Gardner Village--what a cutie!

James and Alice trying on bracelets. Sooo cute.

We had dinner with her great-grandma Harding. Alice was in chocolate chip cookie delirium.

The 'twins' enjoying a slumber party and gelatto :)

Grandma took us to a corn maize and we actually made it all the way through!

Man I miss these mountains! If I wasn't preggo I would have done some serious hiking.

We went to Logan to visit my two younger sisters, Aunt Jess and Aunt Cass. We had lunch at Angie's restaurant, a Logan original.

hmmmm. Jess, do you feel like Betos?

Little Alice on our Logan River Trail hike. Auntie Cass showing off her cat-like reflexes.

Alice wasn't so cat-like. She fell and skinned her knee-which resulted in much drama and my sisters and I carrying her for about a mile and a half.

She was finally soothed with a granola bar.

We were anxious to get home and see Dustin again. When he picked us up from the airport she didn't stop hugging him for 10 minutes straight. awwww.

As promised, here's some pics of the deck we, ahem, Dustin built. His buddy, Andy came over and helped him a lot while I was in Utah.

Here it is 95% done. It's very nice to have all this outdoor space, I'm very proud of my handyman!

On Saturday, Melissa and I had a joint party for our hubby's whose birthdays are only 3 days apart. She got them these hilarious shirts and Corey did his famous crab and shrimp boil. Oh, Dustin turns 31, so give him lots of grief if you can!

What a handsome man!

No new news on the gender

2008-09-15T06:29:00.000-07:00

I had my ultrasound at my mom's hospital yesterday, and she couldn't really see anything. So it looks like we'll have to wait until Oct. 7 to find out. :( On the plus side, everything else looks great!

Help Using Blogger . . . .

2008-09-12T08:08:00.000-07:00

Does anyone know how to reply those who post comments? Is this possible? Do you have to have their email address?

Also, I posted a poll for everyone to vote on the baby's gender. When I'm in Utah next week, my mom is hooking me up with an ultrasound at her hospital to find out early! Sometimes I forget the perks you get when you have a mother and mother-in-law who are both labor and delivery nurses :)

Preschool, Nana, Indiana, and more

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

I only did small pics for this post because it would have taken hours for my computer to upload larger versions. And yes, I still haven't got my laptop fixed :(

On Aug, 13th Alice went to the dentist for the first time. She did well even though she was scared during my teeth cleaning, I kept reassuring her that it wasn't hurting me. She even let them clean her teeth a little, and she loved her new Spongebob toothpaste. Not that she really knows who Spongebob is, but the toothpaste was yummy and fit in her hand.

These are Alice's new Cinderella flipflops. She calls them "Cindawella shoe fwops." They light up and are a hit at church in nursery--every kid tries them on. I'm sure you'll see them in many pictures from now on . . . .

We were also lucky to have Nana come visit at the end of August. We got lots of pictures with her camera but had a tough time trying to copy them onto my computer. This computer is so slow! I wish we got a video of Alice greeting her. As soon as Jo walked in the door, Alice yelled "NANA!" and ran into her arms. We enjoyed our time with her very much!

We went to Indiana for Lily's funeral, and while we wish we were visiting under better circumstances, it was great to spend time with Ben and Ruth's family. The older kids were still in school and we took Alice and Sariah to the children's museum.

Here they are 'diggin' for dinosaur bones. If you look at Alice's face closely you'll see how tight her goggles were. oops.

What cute baby dinosaurs! Actually, Alice was scared of the whole dinosaur exhibit. However, as you'll see in the video at the end of this post, she really likes dinosaurs now.

She loves playing with her cousins!

Dustin with one of the new Batman tumblers. I guess the made a total of 8 for the two movies, one of which is displayed at this museum.

Alice and Eliza

Jon and Alice

Dancing queens! Alice absolutely loved playing with all the kids, they were sooo great with her. It made me a little sad that we didn't live closer to family :(

This picture was taken by miss Alice

As was this one!

This pic cracks me up! She was mad that she wasn't in control of the camera, hahaha!

On this day, Dustin decided we needed a deck. Soooo, he rented a bobcat and played outside for all of labor day weekend. More deck pics to follow . . . .

Alice's first day at a local church's Mother's Day Out program. It's only two days a week, but gives her a chance to learn and play while I can have a few hours to run errands or attend doctors appointments. Her best friend, Dane also attends and they love it.

Okay, so it's a tad long, but it's her best dinosaur impressions! Yes, she has no pants on. We usually do while we're at home. She can get to the potty a lot quicker without worrying about getting her pants in the way.

Well folks, that's all for now!

Alice is going to be a big sister!

2008-08-24T20:53:00.000-07:00

Soooo, I thought since I officially entered my second trimester today that I should post an announcement. Yesiree, the Hall's are expanding :) The official due date is February 21, 2009. But I have put a ticker (even though part of it is cut off) on the left side of the blog so that we can count down until the big day. We're very excited and keep praying that everything goes well. I won't have my big ultrasound until October, so no sono pics until then :(

We'll Miss you Lily

2008-08-21T17:41:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to write a special post for my brother's family. Their daughter Lily, bravely passed away this morning. She was such a little fighter for the year she lived. We will really miss her, and our family will always feel a little empty without her. I do want to thank my brother and his wife for their incredible strength and courage that they have had this past year, and let them know that their example in Jesus Christ's gospel will have a profound effect on us. They are wonderful parents and the proof is in their children. As Ruth noted:

"Last night, as Sariah said good night to Lily, I heard her say, 'I'm sorry you're sick, Lily. Someday Jesus will make you all better, and then you'll run and play with me.' I think that today, free from her mortal body, Lily's spirit is running and playing. We are so proud of our Lily-chins, and so grateful that she came to our family."

For a three year old to have that kind of faith and knowlege is a testament to how awesome her parents are. Thank you Ruth, Ben, Eliza, Jon, and Sariah for your special spirits, your faith, and your love. We love you!

Tuesday, August 12

2008-08-12T09:35:00.001-07:00

My laptop pooped out on me! It won't come out of hibernation mode. This has happend before, and while I was able to call HP and they helped me fix it on the phone, they told me if it happened again I would need to send it in for them to replace the motherboard. Problem is, I didn't backup a bunch of pics before it perma-passed out. Soooo, I don't have new pics to post at the moment.

On another note, we've been enjoying the break in heat with a few days of rain.

Alice is 90% potty trained! Yea! She uses the potty all day, and even keeps a pull-up dry sometimes after naps and night. She even woke up last night to go. The biggest thing now is to get her to tell other people watching her that she needs to go.

Well that's the latest and greatest. Hopefully I can get my files off the laptop before I send it in. Cross your fingers!

Videos of Alice

2008-08-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

Here's some videos of Alice. One is where she's singing "Popcorn popping on the apricot tree". There is also one of her dancing. We love to watch and dance along with "So you think you can dance" She calls it the dancing show. Finally the last video is of her at gymnastics class. She calls it 'nastics'. Anyhow, if you can't tell she's doing cartwheels. I don't have videos of me or Dustin, because let's face it folks--she's waaay cuter than the rest of the Halls.

What's been going on since Corpus . . . .

2008-07-30T15:57:00.001-07:00

In February we moved to Arkansas. Dustin will be training to fly the C-130 until September/October, then he will join his Squadron (the 61st) for the next 3 or so years. We live in a small town north of the base called Vilonia. It feels safe and quiet, which we like, but it it's a good 15 miles from the bigger cities that have all the shopping, theaters, and restaraunts. Alice loves that we have a view of a horse pasture in our backyard and can see horses any time she wants.

Our home--Alice's fourth house in 2 years

We're so grateful to have a grassy backyard. Corpus was entirely gravel and sticker weeds.

In May Alice turned 2, we made her a 'horsey' cake.

We've spent most our free time exploring the outdoors here. The was the Pinnacle Mountain hike.

Float down the Buffalo River---June 2008

2008-07-30T15:23:00.000-07:00

Andy, one of our friends, invited us to join him and some other friends to stay in a cabin and float down Arkansas' Buffalo River. It was really fun and the most 'outdoorsy' thing I felt we had done since living in Utah. At times, the river was low in spots and we would get grounded. To this day when we talk about trip, Alice says "We got stuck."

Here's the cabin we got to stay in. . . .

Breakfast Time!

The views were beautiful. We also managed to not flip the canoe--a big feat when we hit a few rapids.

Taking a break, and checking out a nasty huge spider ewwww.

Playing in the water (she hated that life vest!)

At the end of the day we were tuckered out :)