Kennedi is 1!!

Wow!! How time flies I can't believe my baby is one year old.  She is such a joy in our lives and is most definitely the most spoiled member of our family.  She always has someone to play with or take care of her.  Here are a few pictures of her party.  This first picture is of a sign Mckenna made to hang in Kennedi's room.

 Eating her birthday cake! This is the cleanest any of my kids have been when exploring this fun thing called chocolate!

 She was very happy with her doll stroller she can push around.  She started walking 4 days before her birthday while at her aunt Suzanne's house while I was at the hospital with Kade for some appointments.

I tried to take some pictures outside of Kennedi for her 1 yr. pictures.

 Kennedi when she was about 1 week old.

 On May 12 we were blessed to have a new member of our Hall Family born to Beau and Heather. Her name is Ashlynn Elizabeth and she weighed 9lb.s 8 oz.  She is beautiful!! And we are very jealous of all the hair she has! Still waiting for Kennedi to get some!



Easter Fun

We had a fun Easter weekend spent at my mom's timeshares at Bear Lake.  My sister and brother with their families were there also, so lots of fun with cousins.  We went swimming in the indoor pool, colored easter eggs, had an easter egg hunt, went swimming, drove to Evanston for church on Sunday and had family games, went swimming, and drove home.  Did I mention we went swimming?   Here is a few pictures of our fun weekend. 

 I tried to get a good picture of the kids Sunday morning but as you can tell the sun was out in full force. Not to warm but too bright to smile for the camera!

Two cute girls in their matching dresses.  This is  my brothers little girl Callista and Kennedi.

Halo is Off!!! Hooray!!

 Well we are excited to report that Kade made it through his surgery and having to deal with his blue device (halo) on for 8 weeks! He did awesome and we are so very proud of him and for the example he showed to all of us! I have been schooling him at home for that time and today he went back to school and while he was a little nervouse but excited to be with his friends, me on the other hand balled like a baby all the way home from the school! You see.... because his bone is still soft and healing he has to be really careful still and any of you that know Kade he is a very active kid and wants to be in the middle of all the action.  I am worried about him getting hurt, but he does know the implications that he will face if he chooses to be rough!  But it literally was like someone had cut the amilical chord all over again, he has been my side kick the last 8 weeks and although I thought I would not like home schooling I really got used to him being around and talking with him.  So enough blabbering! Here are a few pictures.

This is Kade before surgery. This picture was taken in October 2010!

 Kade with blue device just before the doctor came in to remove it. His hair is crazy because of the numbing cream we had to smear on his head.

 Kade with Dr. Morales  loosening the screws on the front. (His doctor since he was a baby)

 I had to hold Kade's hand while he took the screws out of his head cause it hurt him,

so no pictures of the actual unscrewing.  But he was a little nervous

and scared when it was gone and wasn't sure what to do.

 After picture.  He still has all the wires in his mouth and two wires that come out of his mouth

for the headgear that he was to wear at night for the next 12 weeks.  So speech is still

hard to understand him and eating is a little tricky still but he does really well.

 Pictures of Before and After (Sorry I couldn't get my scanner to work to put the other better picture I have). But look at the difference! It is amazing how much it changed what he looks like!!

Birthdays!

Well, between home schooling Kade, running the older two to their activities and still nursing a baby, I just can't find time to blog or do anything else for myself!  This month we had two birthdays at our house and I need to share some pictures of them.  First, Carson turned 5 on March 10.  He is so ready for kindergarten and wonders when he will get to go to school with Colton.  He is such a fun and imaginative little boy that really can entertain himself all day long with his animals and imaginary friends! He is so funny to listen to and watch when he is playing.  Then we celebrated Kade's 10th birthday on March 21.  It is really hard for me to believe that he is 10 and growing up so fast.  He has always done so well with everything that he has had to deal with in his life, but I will have to say that he has handled the past 2 months so well! He truly is an example to all of us!  We are so glad that we have these two wonderful boys in our family!!

On a side note  Kade will be having his head device removed on March 30!!!!  He is so excited and ready to go back to school with his friends, I just don't know if I am ready to send him back! It makes me so nervous for him to get bumped or hurt, but I will be strong! ha ha ha ha

 Heather had been teasing Carson about getting him a dress for his birthday and so she wrapped up this red dress and boy was he suprised that she actually did!

 Grandpa and dad trying to get Carson to try on his new dress!  Heather did have a better present in the bottom of the box - Legos, He like those much better!

 Kade had a guitar on his list for Christmas and did not get one. He had it on his birthday list again, Grandma Hall got him one, and so I guess he is going to teach himself how to play the guitar!

 Kade wanted a bowling alley for his birthday cake so here is my effort at creating a bowling alley.

I am going to stick some pictures of Kennedi in also just cause she is so darn cute.  She is 10 1/2 months old now and crawling, standing up to furniture and just as spoiled as ever!! 

Kade's Recovery

I am so behind on blogging that it would be rediculous to try to catch up, so all I will say about Christmas is that it was great spending time with family and the kids loved spending time with their dad!

January was packed full of fun events!  We tried to do some fun things before Kade's big surgery, so we went swimming at Green Canyon, slending on the South's Butte (big hill just west of our house), went bowling, and ate pizza every night the week before surgery.  On Jan. 27 was the big day.  His surgery was scheduled for 2:00p.m. and was suppose to be 2  hours.  He went in at 1:30p.m. and the doctor came to visit with us at 3:15.  He did great!  He was suppose to stay in the hospital for 2 nights, but 26 hours after surgery and we were headed home.  The drive home was a little hard for him to get comfortable and deal with a little pain but he did good.  He only took ibuprofen for pain and only for about 5 days and then has been pretty much pain free.  He is a very amazing kid!  He has had such a good attitude through all of this and only gotten upset twice about not being able to eat certain items.  He will have to wear the appliance for 2 months and then a head gear after that for a while, and can only have liquids or very soft foods for that 2 month period (he can't bite down or chew on anything).  So that is our biggest challenge to try to feed him and feel like he is eating some healthy items and getting enough calories (he has lost 5 pounds) and he doesn't have that to lose.   

3 days after surgery and still some swelling. So ice bags for his cheeks.

 The syringe that he feeds himself with. 

I took pictures of him at the hospital with my phone, but I am not sure how to get them on the computer, (if anyone knows how or could give me tips that would be great) So Here are a few pictures after we got home:

Thanksgiving

 This year we spent Thanksgiving with the Hall side of the family and as always we had a ton of fun packed with non-stop activities and tons of food.  We started off by having the turkey trot at the church with of course family pictures which I am proud to say turned out fairly well!  Then food, the dance off competition, and then Dessert!  This year's winners of the dance off were Colton (for the younger division) and Amanda for the adult division. I don't have pictures of them, holding a baby or something but hopefully someone will send me some.  Some of the things I am thankful for are: the wonderful family that Jeremy has and for their love and support, I am grateful for my family and the strong influence that they are to me. My sister was not able to enjoy Thanksgiving this year due to her chemo treatment, but I am grateful that it was her last one and that she can finally see the end to this horrible cancer.  She now has radiation to go through but we are praying that it is not as bad as the chemo.  I am grateful for a wonderful husband, and kids, but most of all I am grateful for my Savior and my testimony of him!

 Grandma and Grandpa got ran over by some cute reindeer!

 I am thankful for such a cute and precious baby girl that brings so much joy to our family!

Halloween Fun!

 We had a fun Halloween week this year! At our house it always seems like Halloween is all week long!! The kids have red ribbon week which is a D.A.R.E. thing to keep kids off drugs. So everyday they have a theme and dress that way: crazy hair day, red day, sock day, sports day, ect.  Then a party with the Hall's included eating a doughnut, or rice crispy treat off a string(above: Colton, Mckenna, Kade)  Bobbing for candy in packing peanuts(below: Carson) Then we also had a trunk or treat at our ward building which I always love!

 Here is the clan all dressed up? Colton-Ninja Turtle, Kade-Karate kid, Kennedi-Cute cowgirl, Quinton-Nerd, Mckenna-Pirate, Carson-Ninja

 All the Hall grandkids!

I had to get a picture of my cute pink Cowgirl!

And of course carving pumpkins! Five or Six is just too many to carve so this year we put everyone of teams. With the older kids they got to do most of the carving themselves and we just supervised! It was great!

 Mckenna invited a friend (Laramie) since Kennedi can't do too much yet!

 And as a side note Kennedi is almost 6 mo. old and is sitting up on her own!! Rolls and all!