So thats how rumors get started

Last weekend we drove up to Mesa for Daniels grandmas funeral. Friday we drove straight to the viewing and by the time we finished visiting, then getting dinner and getting the kids to bed, it was 11 o'clock at night. I rushed to get everyone dressed and ready for the funeral the next morning, and once we got to the church my kids were already in emotional distress. My boys are usually pretty wild and crazy, but add to that the lack of several hours of sleep that they usually get- they were monstrous. So during the family prayer both James and Ben are screaming their heads off, so Daniel takes them into the hallway. After the prayer, I went out there and decided that I would take the 2 youngest away so that Daniel could attend his grandmas funeral in peace.

So we drive around for a little while, then come back in time to head over to the cemetery. Kylie is usually the one who can function normally on lack of sleep, but even she had a meltdown. And Tyler was grouchy as can be and then my other 2 were running around jumping on headstones and pulling flowers out of vases all the while screaming at the tops of their lungs. SO MUCH FUN!
So after the cemetery we head back to the church were there is a luncheon. Daniel has about a bajillion relatives. And he claims he doesnt even know most of them. So there are a million people everywhere and I have 4 of the grouchiest sleep deprived kids who are out of control and at this point they are starving and knowing them I know they will refuse to eat whats being graciously served, which will only increase their monstrous moods. So I decide I will let Daniel visit in peace, and i will take the kids to chick fil a, let them eat, then they can play on the play place and hopefully not bring the place crumbling down.
So then Daniel calls me as the luncheon is winding down and asks if I want to head over to his cousins house to catch up with them for a little bit. And as he is talking to me I am wrestling Ben into his car seat and trying to get James into the car and out of the way of a few cars driving by and everyone is screaming and I've beyond had it. So i yell into the phone (in order for Daniel to hear me above the rucous) whatever he wants to do is fine, and quickly hang up so I can try to deal with the kids.
We go back to pick Daniel up, then we drive to his cousins house and Ben finally falls asleep, so I'm like- I'm gonna stay in the car until he wakes up cuz really thats best for everyone involved. So Daniel goes in and all my other kids decide they dont know this guy or his kids and therefor they want to stay in the car with me. After Ben wakes up, we all go in and visit for a few minutes, then we head out so we can go say goodbye to Daniels parents and 2 of his siblings.
So we say our goodbye to them, go get the kids some dinner, and then start the drive back home. Once the kids fall asleep, I finally breathe a sigh of relief and Daniel and I can talk in peace. He tells me his cousin is worried about us. And I ask him why on earth would he be? Then we look back over the past 12 hours. And we laugh. 
I love my married life with Daniel. And everyday I'm so grateful that I have him. But somedays I yell into my phone. Especially when I'm dealing with my 4 wild ones. And now days its gonna be rare for me to be at his side, smiling and looking lovey dovey into his eyes. More often then not I'm trying to keep my kids from destroying everything and each other. It doesnt mean we arent happily married. It just means we are smack in the middle of raising our wild pack of offspring. :)
SO no need to worry dear cousin. All is well.
(But if you wanna offer to babysit for a week- I'm beyond ready for a VACATION!)

Daniels dear Grandma Wheeler passed away this morning, and since this blog is our little family record/journal, I wanted to write down a few of my memories of this dear lady. Sadly I dont have any recent pictures of us with her, but these ones are kind of dear to my heart.

When Daniel and I had our brief 2 months of dating before we got engaged, one thing that I LOVED about Daniel was how cute he was with his grandma. He spoke so highly of her and when I met her for the first time the interaction between them was so sweet and genuine. Daniel cared so deeply, and was right there to take care of any need he could foresee. They would crack jokes all the time, and one that we heard quite frequently was how she wasnt ready to kick the bucket quite yet. She had such a cute sense of humor and always had us laughing.

After we were married we would go visit her a couple times each month. Daniel has a lot of relatives in the Mesa area, and it was kind of a tradition to go to grandmas on Sunday evenings. We did that a few times, and while it was fun for Daniel to see his cousins, he didnt get that one on one time with his grandma, so we tried to visit during the week when he could really visit with her. She was always trying to feed us. ALWAYS. Even right after finishing up a meal. Her freezer was ALWAYS stocked with schwanns ice cream treats, and she wouldnt let us leave until we had both finished off a bar or 2. After we had kids she, again, was ALWAYS trying to feed them. If our baby was fussy- she wanted someone to give that baby some food! While I dont think i found it funny then, I think back now and just laugh.

After we had Tyler, grandma was always calling Tyler "Daniel."  When Daniel would answer "what?" or "yes?"she would give him a funny look and then laugh.  It cracked me up. 

When Daniel and I got married, we being the poor newlyweds that we were, were using Daniels futon mattress as our bed. It's a full size. Now I dont use a lot of bed space. But Daniel being the extremely tall guy that he is was dangling off at all ends. Anyway 2 weeks after we were married we went over to visit, and we were kinda laughing at our sleeping arrangements. Before we left she handed Daniel a few hundred bucks to "help (us) kids out." She had already given us several wedding gifts, but her generosity knew no bounds. 

A few weeks later we had her over for dinner. Now again- being the poor newlyweds, we didnt have a kitchen table. We were using the box that our TV came in. (I think thats what we used our wedding monies on- gotta love our priorities) We had a couple of missed matched chairs and a barstool, and it was really quite the humble looking site, so Daniel apologized. She was quick to complimented us on our creativity. I loved her so much for her loveliness that night. She praised my cooking, and shared in our little newlywed bliss and plans. She was so loving and never once was critical or judgemental or made us feel uncomfortable with the fact we were eating on a box, and had no furniture to our name. 

Grandma Wheeler always asked me about my family. I think she sensed that I hated being so far away from them. I loved that she took that interest and tried to ease some of the homesickness I felt.

Daniels family is VERY affectionate. And i think it stems from his grandma. In my family we hug. So when I first met grandma Wheeler I went to give her a hug, and she pulled me in for a kiss...ON THE LIPS!!! I was STUNNED! Who kisses people on the lips, unless the person is your spouse? And she did it AGAIN when I went to give her a hug goodbye. After we got married and would go to visit- that was always her greeting and farewell. A kiss ON THE LIPS. And while I wasnt comfortable with that and thought it was so weird that she does with EVERYONE and so in turn you were swapping spit with anyone who happened to also be at her house at the same time, there was NO WAY OUT! I tried to go in for a kiss on the cheek cuz that seemed less intrusive even though that was a bit awkward for me too, but NOPE- grandma would grab your chin or shoulders or whatever and pull your face right into hers. I dont kiss my own parents. And I dont even kiss my own babies on their lips-(partly cuz my babies spit up and if you went to kiss them on the mouth- chances are pretty high for getting a mouth full of spit up- also cuz its just WEIRD. Kiss their foreheads, their cheeks, their hands and feet, but lips?  the only person that I think is ok to do that to is Daniel.) So like I said- affectionate family. Thinking about that cracks me up. Sweet Grandma Wheeler. Just trying to share the love I guess.

The last time we saw Grandma Wheeler was at Daniels cousin wedding back in December. She had us busting up in the sealing room in the temple while we were waiting for the bride and groom to come in. But of course you cant really laugh out loud in the temple, so we were shaking from holding it in. She would just blurt out what was on her mind and didnt bother with with the whispering business. One of Daniels cousins was sitting by her and tried reassuring her that they would be in soon, but she certainly let us know that it was taking all day. 

Since grandmas health has been declining for a while, her passing wasnt a surprise, and since she has lived a very full life, we are happy that she is now reunited with her husband and those loved ones that have proceeded her in passing on. But we will certainly miss her and her feisty, yet so loving personality. She was certainly remarkable.

Quick little family reunion

We headed out on the open road last weekend, and got to spend conference and Easter with my dear family. What a trip. Daniel worked around the clock in order to take off a few days, but we are thankful he did so we could spend that time with family. We are usually home for most holidays and such, so it was nice to celebrate with everyone for a change.
My sweet mom watched the kids for us for a few hours on Friday, so Daniel and I could go to the temple. We havent been to the temple in a very very very long time. One thing I think we took for granted when we lived in mesa was the fact the temple was so close and one could easily find a babysitter for a couple of hours, but now its almost an entire day to go, so we havent been able to. That was so refreshing to go and spend that time with Daniel. We got married in that temple and have only been back once since, so it was fun to sit in the celestial room and reminisce about one of our favorite days.
Saturday we colored Easter eggs with a few of the cousins that were also staying at grandmas. unfortunately i didnt quite boil the darn eggs long enough, so we had 2 dozen runny gooey eggs. My bad. But the kids had fun coloring them anyway.
Saturday night we walked outside to a silent snowfall, and woke up to a winter wonderland. I am all about winter wonderlands and glorious snowfalls.... for Christmas. Easter I want tulips, green grass and BLUE skies. It was FREEZING! So we had to do the Easter egg hunt in grandmas basement. The kids had a blast and found all the eggs in a matter of a few minutes, and then proceeded to spend the rest of the day eating candy. We are just trying to do our part to help the dentists of the world.
After watching the uplifting and encouraging conference sessions, everyone of my siblings came over to grandmas house for Easter dinner. It was chaos, but it was so nice to sit and visit with my brothers and sister(s). And we finally nailed down the date for the official Hall family reunion this year. So exciting!
One very special treat about this trip was meeting our newest neice Olivia. She is soo beautiful. She made me even more baby hungry for my own baby girl. I absolutely love her guts. Her already back to her prebaby size mommy(no fair lala- if i didnt love you, I'd have to hate you-) had her decked out in the cutest little outfit, tights and headbow. I wish I had a picture, cuz she seriosuly is just the cutest.
I love being with my family, but after getting to see everyone I am always so sad to be back home, so far away, knowing it'll be months before I get to be with them again. (Hear the violins yet.....cry me a river... I'm very talented at whining :))
So we got back late Monday night, and found a few pictures knocked off our walls, and a few other things out of place and knocked over. Apparently we missed an earthquake while we were gone. we were so thankful that it was minor.
So now we are trying to enjoy the last little bit of spring break. Oh how we missed the sunshine and warm weather. Gotta enjoy it while we can before we are all dying from the heat. say 3 weeks or so?

"I 2!"

The Bennie-booger is 2! We celebrated Bens birthday yesterday. We usually celebrate birthdays in the evening. We let the kids pick their favorite dinner, then we do the gifts, and then their cake. But Daniel was teaching a class last night, so we did things a little differently. We celebrated much earlier in the evening, with presents first, then cake before dinner. But Ben didnt care. He was happy as a 2 year old could be. He kept saying "appy birday, yay" over and over, and when we asked him how old he is he replied, "i 2!!!" He was literally all smiles.
Some things we love about our Bennie-boo:
Ben has been a snuggler from birth. Even being the busy bodied 2 year old that he is, he still loves snuggles and I cant get enough.
Ben is just a happy kid. Aside from the occasional temper tantrums, Ben runs around with a smile all day long. He is just genuinely happy 97% of the time.
Ben is so loving. Anytime anyone cries in this family, Ben is there giving them loves. It seriously melts my heart.
Ben is so easy to get to laugh, and his laugh makes the rest of us laugh.
Ben is the destroying angel. He loves to get into everything and makes GINORMOUS messes in the matter of seconds, but he's so stinking happy that its really hard not to laugh at him. He's so proud of himself when he's managed to empty out the fridge and is covered in ketchup, ranch, or pickle juice and cramming "m ms" into his mouth. And he always offers to share those "m ms"- he's just so generous. :)
Ben loves to jump. And its hilarious watching him do it. He goes around saying "ump ump ump" while jump jump jumping. My all time favorite is when he jumps jumps jumps and then his feet slip right out, and he falls on his little butt, then looks up smiling saying "wowie wowie!" I think he means owie owie, but its a very impressive stunt, so wowie explains it quite well.
Anyway-we are so thankful Ben is a part of our family. He's definitely a keeper.

what could have been

***Warning- this post is a little personal***
Feel free to not read it. I wont mind. ;)


This past weekend we decided to head out to San Diego. I will say it a hundred times over- one of the greatest things about living in this desert wasteland is that its just a hop skip and a jump to drive there from here.
We spent the day exploring balboa park and loved it. We listened to a really awesome street musician play, checked out their botanical garden, splashed around in the big fountain, played at the science museum and watched the IMAX about dolphins. What a day!

Only it was a little bittersweet as I spent the day having a miscarriage.

Last August Daniel and I felt good about adding to our "herd." So I went in to get my IUD out, they couldnt find it, September I had another appointment where they still couldnt find it. October I had a CT scan where they actually found it, then had my preop, then in November had that fun little surgery to get it taken out.
Since then we have been trying for our baby girl. With my other babies, I havent even had to try getting pregnant. Its just happened. Even when I was preventing some of them. This time I thought it was gonna be kind of the same. And sure enough, I took a pregnancy test not very long ago and it was positive.
So Daniel and I (mostly "I", as Daniel doesnt really feel like its "real" for him until he can feel the little rascal do some in-utero gymnastics) start planning and thinking about the future with our new little one. I was certain she was gonna be our baby girl. She was gonna be due early November. I figured we would have my Uncle do an ultrasound for us when I was 16 weeks so Daniel could have proof that she was indeed a girl. I thought about how this coming Christmas was gonna be her first. I was scheming of ways to make sure we could keep my mom down here for a few weeks after the baby would arrive, and part of that included having my mom here for Thanksgiving. I was thinking about how fun it would be to tell the kids their little prayers for a baby sister had been answered-(after the 16 week ultrasound of course). Just lots of plans for this year. I had even made a stop into the baby girls section of Target and almost bought a cute little dress, but figured it was the wrong season for my baby. (and ok, there was a slim chance "she" could have been "he," but I figure I'm due for a girl. Plus my new motto is "doubt not, but be believing. hehehe :))
So as my hormones have been a little wacky, I've been a little emotional and am rather disappointed, but here's the thing, I know I have NO right to complain. I've been blessed with 4 healthy albeit CRAZY babies. And I most likely will be able to conceive again in a few months,(please be a girl, please be a girl)but my little selfish self wanted things to go according to MY plans for right now. (well i hadnt accounted for a rouge IUD, so that threw me off several months from my original plan, but hey- I can be adjustable. Just not so much so after Ive had 2 pink lines on the stick show up.)
SO even though I know I have no right to complain, I complained anyway. I shed a few tears yesterday -(me thinks wacked hormones played a part in my wacked out emotions) and kinda took an abrupt attitude in my prayers last night. Now, I know better than to be upset with my Heavenly Father. But again- hormones- so I knelt to pray and was a little bit ornery.
But then this morning as I snuck a few minutes away from my hyperactive wild ones, I cracked open my scriptures, again, a little ornerily, and by chance, happened to read Proverbs 3:5-6. I quote "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and he shall direct thy paths."
My disappointment has been turned into hope. My attitude has been gently humbled. My spirit has felt the assurance that my Heavenly Father knows and loves me. And His plan is better than my plan. I just need to trust. And so I will.

Lost it

Have you ever felt like "you've lost that blogging feeling, oh that blogging feeling. you've lost that blogging feeling, now its gone, gone, gone, woah oh oh oh!"
My mother starts to worry about me if I don't blog at least once a week. And seeing as how its been almost 2 weeks,(actually only a week and a half but we like to round up) I figured I better get on it today.
Last week Daniel was out of town for a mortgage conference of sorts. Ive learned a few things while doing the single parenting thing. One is that my house miraculously stays a little bit cleaner when he's gone. 2 is that I have a little more patience with the kids when I know I'm doing it all by myself. Nights when I expect Daniel to be home at 6 and he doesn't get here until 7, I loose my patience soo much more quickly. 3 is that my poor boys need an outlet for their insane amount of energy and without daddy to wrestle and body slam with, they end up even more crazy than usual and by the time they are in bed, they still haven't worn themselves out and it takes over an hour of tossing and turning before they finally tucker out for the night. 4 is that its no fun to hang out with myself at nights. Its really lonely. And even watching Lost lost its magic as i couldn't gasp with Daniel and scream at the evil lock-ness monster together. And lastly- i think i need to shrink cuz i cant sleep without Daniel. I need him to protect me from the boogie man. Its ridiculous. Im 30 flippin years old and Im afraid of the boogie man. I was awake until 3 am every night lying in bed freaked out of my mind with every noise I heard and praying as hard as I could that i wasnt going to get slashed to bits by some crazy burglar psycho killer. So I'm really grateful Daniel is now home to protect me. And I'm really glad he doesnt have a job that requires him to travel very often.

So in other news, the boys finally got haircuts. Its been since January since they got trimmed up, so they were shaggy beyond belief. Its amazing how their looks change with a nice cut. And it was really nice to chat with Shami. James is now in love with her as she "rescued" him. My boys like to go barefoot, so while they had shoes on when we drove over there, they quickly kicked them off before we arrived and since we were just getting haircuts, i figured they'd be fine. They first came in and went to play, but then ended up outside. Shamis house is the only house in their subdivision at the moment, so all around them are empty lots with weeds and desert sagebrush and lots and lots of thorns. So after a few minutes, Ben comes crying into the house and Toast tells me he has bloody feet, so I pick him up and sure enough he had a bloody foot. 5 full thorns were just completely smashed into his feet, and he had lots of little tiny ones that must have broken off on his walk back to the house. That night I counted all his poke marks and he had over 30 on one foot alone. Tragic. So while I was helping my Ben, Toast was worried and I asked him what was up and he says, "you need to get James!" So Shami being the wonder-woman she is, takes off and finds James like 4 lots down howling in agony. She carried him back and quickly got to work tweezing out all his thorns too. Quite the adventure. So now James keeps telling me the following phrases at least once an hour: "Shami rescued me mom! Shes my first best friend!" "Mom, Shami pulled out my thorns and made me better." "Mommy I was dead meat and had ten hundred owies, but Shami saved me!" We are definitely thankful for the superhero Shami this week.

And last but not least, I am a SCHMO! Friday night and Saturday morning I received several calls from our ward secretary. Poor guy doesn't know that I have a morbid fear of answering my phone. Anyway he called like ten hundred times. He even called Daniel, and Daniel guilted me into calling him back. So the guy asks me to give the closing prayer in sacrament meeting for the next day. I say yes, but instantly my guts get all knotted up cuz I HATE being in front of people. And I am still trying to get over my embarrassment from like 3 Sundays ago when i made a comment that didnt even make sense in relief society .( i really did have a much more interesting comment, but I cant seem to make my mouth and brain connect when talking in front of people. its a curse.)So for the rest of the day I was rather tense thinking about it. really- its not that big of a deal, but like I said- I'm cursed. I probably would end up praying for Satan to have a change of heart or something- there is no guarantee my prayer will be appropriate. SO Sunday early morning we got a fantastic rain storm. I woke up around 4 and listened to the rain for a while, but then fell back asleep and Daniel and I ended up sleeping in until 9. The kids had all woken up several hours prior, but had gone downstairs to have some alone time without mommy telling them what not to do. SO we have a home alone wake up scene, except Daniel laughs while I scream/panic, and then I figure we will never make it if I have to get everyone dressed and hair done and i still have to get them breakfast and pack a diaper bag and i hadn't ironed the boys clothes yet either, so I decided they were gonna get out of church free, on account of me trying to keep my word about giving the dang prayer. So I get myself ready, and rush out the door. I got to church at 9:40. plenty of time before the prayer. But the dang chapel door was closed. I was hoping i could have slipped in quietly and unnoticed on the bench nearest the door, but as the door was closed, I would have had to open it and then i wouldnt have been so inconspicuous. So I sat on the couch in the foyer, trying to talk myself into opening the flippin door. yes i am Psychotic to the extreme! Anyway i sat a little too long and the poor member of the bishopric that was conducting was texting a few members trying to find someone else to fill in cuz i was no where in his line of vision(good to know he doesnt have xray vision. I have often wondered if thats one of those gifts members of bishoprics receive when they are called cuz sometimes when they are on the stand and I have a guilty conscience it seems like they glare right at me with xray vision and then im like- oh carp! they know i didnt do my visiting teaching just with their soul xraying vision gift.) But anyway he found someone else and then after the someone else offered the closing prayer I slipped back out the church doors and drove home to relate my tale to Daniel, who laughed and told me he loves me. Glad i married someone who can think my psychosisness is another reason to love me. he's one in a bajillion! Anyway I texted the guys wife asking her to please tell her husband i'm sorry. I tried. which she did. But now that I have come to grips with my schmoness- I am thinking maybe its a good thing this happened cuz now they'll definitely be thinking twice about what calling i get next.

Day of Birth

Yesterday we celebrated Daniels day of birth. Daniel isnt one who likes a whole lot of attention, so a few of his coworkers thought it would be funny to make his birthday a big deal. They got a huge sombrero with a "its my birthday" button and made him wear it. Boy did he love that. Then they had a little potluck, fiesta style, for lunch. They decorated and had party favors and the works. It was so very thoughtful of them, and even though Daniel wasnt too thrilled with the sombrero, he/we appreciated them helping make part of his work day much more entertaining than it otherwise would have been.
I unfortunately was chasing my kids around his office, so i didnt get pictures, and then at home when we celebrated with the kids, Ben was outta control so I didnt get any of that celebration either. Thats life i guess.
SO my youngest brother and his wife have been expecting their first baby, and Daniel and I thought it would be pretty cool if they ended up having her on Daniels birthday. In our extended "Hall" family we have several shared birthdays, Its bound to happen when there are about a zillion of us, but when we hadnt heard anything when we headed up to bed we just figured it wasnt gonna happen. And it didnt, but she was born in the wee hours of the morning, so we were very very excited to hear their good news. And chances are pretty good that we will be remembering her birthday every year.