Tuesday, April 23, 2013

First Date

Picking up his date

What a gentleman...
Opening her car door to
seat her in the minivan..
right next to his baby brother.
(I was in the driver's seat
and her mother was in the front passenger seat.
Emma and Joshua were in the back.)

So cute!  


Going to Mormon Prom...
in a big....

Mormon van!
Love it!!








Monday, December 31, 2012

2012

Here's a very brief recap:

We moved into a new house in January.  We feel blessed to be here and know that we were led to this home.  We love having a yard for our family!

It's nice to have a roof over our heads... ;)

Slip-n-slidin' with the cousins



The zip line was a favorite
Taiki stayed with us for a month.  He is from Japan.
We had an amazing experience!
Thank you, Taiki!

Los Angeles  Coliseum

Redlands California Temple
Jacob and his Cub Scout Rocket Derby

Jacob and his cardboard creation
The preferred pastime: playing in the mud.

Emma after a mud bath

15 years?!  I can't believe it...

Cousin Kyle turned 15 in August and Brandon in April


Evan is 1!!!!!!
Joshua wanted to wear his Sunday clothes for school pictures.
He's in 1st grade.  
Scarecrow Day!




Emma wasn't too happy to see Hulk
But that didn't stop me from taking pictures....
Blake jumped out of a tree and landed on his arm.  It broke.
The Hulls joined us for Thanksgiving!
David and Maralynne and family and Sam and Olliviah
Jonathan entertaining Evan while we're making dinner
Dan took Brandon driving.....let's quickly move on....
Raking leaves
Blake, Jacob, and Joshua are playing basketball.
Joshua had fun with his shadow while we waited for
Jacob to be done with his practice.  

Our sweet boy, Evan
Emma in her "sparkly dress"


Our attempt at a family picture.
(I should be a ventriloquist because I'm actually saying,
"Don't touch your brother" while this picture was being taken)

We feel truly blessed and we are looking forward to an exciting 2013!

Monday, July 9, 2012

In which your brother knocks you over..






 9-year-old brother + zipline + 3-year-old + sidewalk = scraped nose and forehead




Tuesday, June 12, 2012

summer vacation

Brandon has been out of school for a week now and the other boys will get out tomorrow.  I am looking forward to having them all home.  It seems like the last week or two of school are always full of final projects and deadlines.  I am eagerly awaiting the lazy days of summer.  (Really, I'm just looking for a reason to justify my desires to be lazy.)

I would like this summer to be a memorable summer.  It makes me sad to think that Brandon has just a few summer vacations at home before he goes to college!!

So, this summer I plan to be Happy Mom, Kind Mom, Reading Mom, Eagle Scout Project Mom, Cub Scouting Mom, and Crafty Mom.  (I may even be Cooking Mom and not just Cereal and Sandwich Mom.)

We are also looking forward to having a foreign exchange student from Japan this summer.  He is a 13 year old boy who enjoys science, trains, and table tennis.  He'll be here for a month and we are looking forward to having him here.

Well, here's to an exciting summer vacation!!



Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Hello!

We've had so much going on that it's been hard to sit and write. I have tried several times but so much has happened that it's hard to know where to start.

Since I last wrote we:
bought a house
bought a car
attended Dan's brother's wedding
visited with family
packed
prepared school projects
pack some more
celebrated Christmas
took lots of trips to DI
made a food storage inventory list
watched as many people helped us move and unpack and setup a new home
felt humbled as we benefited from people's generosity
attended a niece's baptism in Yuma
tried to potty train Emma
have hosted family and friends
all while trying to savor every moment with our sweet little Evan.

It's been good. I still don't feel "normal" and my brain really isn't working like it used to but I am finally seeing some light.

Oh, and my 5 year old taught me to play chess! It's taken me 37 years but I finally learned.

I look forward to blogging some more...

Thursday, November 17, 2011

He's Here....

Evan Grant Hull was born October 5, 2011.

He was 7 pounds 11 ounces and 20 and 1/2 inches long.


He has been such a sweet little baby. I had forgotten the amazing spirit these little babies bring with them. We are all doing well and we're so thankful for his safe arrival.


For pictures of Evan go here.

(Pictures by the talented Erica Grover)

Monday, October 3, 2011

Nesting....

Nothing says "I'm ready for this baby" better than organizing all your sheet music. Because when this baby is born he will want to know if he's coming to a home that has organized music. I mean, what if the wants to play He's a Pirate and it's not in the "H" folder? If it's not organized he may rethink this entire thing.

If he's not satisfied with the sheet music then I can show him the newly organized toy closet. And the office supply cabinet. And my recipe shelf. Then he'll know he lucked out in coming to our family.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Will You Marry Me?

He asked me and I said yes. Actually I said, "Are you serious?" And then I started laughing. I asked him,"Are you sure?" And he said, "Yes." Then I said yes.

Then three months later, on June 28, 1996, we entered the San Diego Temple to be married for time and all eternity. That was 15 years ago and I still can't believe that I got to marry the man of my dreams.

It all started in Provo. I first saw Dan in December 1995. I remember thinking that he was really cute. His oldest brother was in my ward and Dan had just gotten off his mission and was there with another brother who would be entering the MTC that week. I wasn't sure which brother was the 19-year-old.

Then on the first day of Winter semester I headed over to an apartment in my ward to meet my new FHE co-chair and guess who was just coming home from playing basketball. I introduced myself and told him I was looking for his roommate. He wasn't home but Dan and I started talking. He told me he had just gotten home from his mission. I thought,"Oh good, he's not 19" and then I asked him where he had served and he said Barcelona, Spain and then I thought, "Oh good, he speaks Spanish!!"


We talked for a little bit longer and it turned out that he was companions with a guy I knew from Yuma. When I got back to my apartment I told my roommates, "Today I met the boy I'm going to marry. I'm going to marry Dan Hull."


We went ice skating for our first date and it was perfect. We had to hold hands. We had to stay close to each other. And when he turned around and noticed that I had fallen, he came back and sat on the ice with me until I was ready to get up. I knew he was the one for me.


Looking back now, I know we had absolutely no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We just had faith that if we kept the commandments and our covenants we would be able to face whatever came our way. And now moving forward, we really have no idea what lies ahead. We just know that if we have faith and keep our covenants we will be able to face whatever may come.






(I know the quality of this picture is terrible but it was the only way I could get it on here. My new camera isn't loading up onto this laptop and our scanner is broken. So I took a picture of my picture using my camera then I took a picture of the playback screen using my cheap phone camera because I couldn't get a clear picture otherwise then I emailed that picture of a picture of a picture and uploaded it here on this humble blog....did you follow that? I didn't.....)