You win some, you lose some

This fall has been nothing short of Scott's dream sports season. The Phillies, Scott's lifelong baseball team, played great at the end of the regular season to clinch a spot in the playoffs and have flown through the first two series and are now headed to the World Series for the first time since 1993. On top of that BYU football has been undefeated and ranked in the top ten with talk about them in a BCS bowl or possibly even the National Championship game. Scott has been in sports heaven and I have been glad we have DVR. (I enjoy sports, but don't enjoy revolving my life around them). Tonight it all came tumbling down when BYU lost to TCU in what was an embarassing game for them. Scott is a little out of practice when it comes to accepting a loss (he wasn't a happy camper). Despite this unfortunate turn-around we've had a good time cheering on our teams. Below are some pictures from the tailgate parties we attend before every BYU home game. Brad and Tyson Camp sure know how to plan a great tailgate!! Here I am with Kennedy and Mason. These guys come to the tailgate every week, but usually come home with me so we can take naps (yes me too) while everyone else goes to the game. Mason, Scott, and crazy Uncle Beetle in front of the Camp's cougarmobile. We don't just tailgate, we tailgate in style. Going to the game 2-3 hours early to tailgate has its disadvantages like missing all the other NCAA football action....oh wait, not if you're at the Camp's tailgate party where they have a satelite hookup and you can watch all the games while tailgating. Here are the masterminds behind every tailgate, Brad and Tyson (in the middle). Thanks guys for all you do to make every game a fun time.

We Miss You!!

We have been spoiled for the last three weeks to have Brandon, Whitney, and most importantly, Rachel Faye in Utah with us. It has been so fun to spend time with them and get to know Rachel better. Mason LOVES Rachel!! Mason also loves playing with Uncle Beetle who always comes up with the funnest games to play. Unfortunately they went back to Chicago today and we won't see them again until Christmas. We are very sad. Here is a picture of all the Hale cousins together. Aren't these kids the cutest?

Losing Control

We have run into a little bit of a problem with Mason the past couple weeks, the problem being we are running out of ways to contain the child. Mason is rapidly developing the skills he needs to get through anything that is meant to stop him from reaching a certain destination. It all began about a month ago when he had a little growth spurt that allowed him to reach door handles. It didn't take him long to learn how to work several different kinds of door knobs including the one on my parents front door and our storm doors. This is great for him because all he really cares about is getting outside to play (where he would live if I allowed it). Basic door knobs are still a barrier, although he turns them, he just doesn't turn them far enough.....yet. Then a few days ago Mason wanted to play in the backyard while I was cooking dinner. Our backyard is completely enclosed with only a waist-high swinging gate that leads to our front yard. I often will let Mason play back there and leave our sliding door open so I can watch him while I cook dinner. This particular day he went in the backyard and immediately pushed his lawn mower to the gait and begged "peeeeess" (please pronouced like peas) for me to open the gait. I told him he had to stay in the backyard. He started whining and pulling on the gate when he reached up and very intentionally pushed open the latch and pulled the gait open all with very little difficulty. I hurried and stopped him and closed the gate again hoping he didn't realize how he'd done it. But he knew. He went right over to the latch and opened it like he had always known how to do it. So much for letting him play in the backyard. The final broken barrier was the most important of all. Yesterday morning at 5:30am while I was still at work, Scott woke to a very loud thump. He ran into Mason room to find him lying on the floor (not crying, just half asleep). He had climbed/fallen out of his crib. I am not quite sure what to do about this. Mason isn't even 17 months old and, in my opinion, is way too young for a toddler bed. But is it too dangerous for me to keep him in his crib if he keeps climbing out? I know that many parents are faced with this so please help!!! How old was your child when you put him/her in a toddler bed? If he could climb out before then how did you stop them? How can I protect Mason from getting hurt (like hitting his head on the dresser or something)? I love watching Mason grow up and watch his curiosity of the world around him. These developments might make my job a little harder, at times, but I don't care at all. I love watching him get excited when he figures things out. Being a mom is truely the light in my life. Now I just need to figure out how to keep my little buddy safe.

Lagoon Day!!

Today is Lagoon Day for all Nu Skin Employees and their families! I look forward to this every year because it brings out my inner 15-year-old. I might as well be a nineth grader at CVJH going to Lagoon with all my friends. If I'm lucky, this cute boy named Scott, who I have a huge crush on, will want to sit next to me on all the rides. And if I'm real lucky maybe we will kiss on the ferris wheel (that was for you Tiff).

Goodbye Summer

Every year August brings with it an end to the summer. The end has always been defined for us by the first day of school; but this year, with no one in our family attending school, there has not been a specific date to tell us when summer is over. I was really excited and thought this meant our summer could go on for another month or two. So, when I found out that last week was the final week Scera Pool was open I realized this is the end of summer as we know it. The pool has been Mason and my second home this summer with us spending almost as many afternoons there as we spent at home. Mason loved the pool from the very first time I took him and his love has grown over the summer. Now I have to be careful driving down State Street with him because if we pass the pool he starts to cry when we don't stop. I know that we can still play in the backyard pool and sprinklers, but its just not the same. Now that the weather is actually a little cooler we will have to replace pool time with park time which Mason really loves, too. I am now faced with the problem of finding new activites that get us out of the house and entertain Mason during the winter months. I have been looking into places like Little Gym or things that we can sign up for, but I haven't found anything I am sure about yet. Do any of you have suggestions? Please let me know even if you've just heard about fun places to go or fun things to do with toddlers. We will miss the pool greatly and can't wait to go back next year. Since we missed a whole summer of blogging, here are some of pictures of Mason enjoying his summer. Mason playing drums on Rock Band. Mason is obsessed with lawn mowers. Whenever Scott mows the lawn Mason has to mow with his lawn mower. Rachel and Mason on 4th of July. Mason really likes to balance things on his head and he's pretty good at it. Mason putting on daddy's shoes before bed. This is the smile he gives me whenever I get out the camera. Mini putt putt. Playing with blocks. Popcicles....yum

Husband Tag

1.Where did you meet? In the Cascade 3rd Ward when I was 2 years old and Scott was 4 years old.

2. How long did you date before you were married? 8 months (keep in mind the 17 years of knowing each other prior to dating)

3. How long have you been married? 4 years this December

4. What does he do that surprises you? Sometimes I get home from work at 6am to find surprises Scott left out for me like flowers, notes, or paper trails to our bedroom that have cute or funny sayings on them. I can't even describe how it makes me feel to come home after a long night of work and find something so sweet waiting for me.

5. What's your favorite feature about him? His lips. I love his smile, I love his funny expressions, I love the words that come out of them, and most of all I love to kiss them.

6. What's your favorite quality about him? His very strong desire to do what is right. He does a good job of it too. He is always a good example for me and helps me be a better person.

7. Does he have a nickname for you? Rachiepoo

8. What's his favorite color? Blue

9. What's his favorite food? I'm not exactly sure, but I know Chicken Enchilladas are at the top of the list.

10. What's his favorite sport? All of them. (Although he did seem particularly fond of women's gymnastics during the olympics :)

11. Who said I love you first? Him

12. When and where was your first kiss? May 30, 2004 at Lake Hill in Ephraim, Utah

13. What's your favorite thing to do as a couple? Now that we have a child we are more homebound so we really enjoy watching one of "our shows" together after Mason goes to bed. The office, Lost, and Friends to name a few.

14. Do you have kids? How many? Yes, 1 darling little boy

15. What's a hidden talent he has? Scott is sometimes referred to as the fun coordinator. He is really good at organizing get-togethers either for work, family, or friends.

16. How old is he? 25

17. What's his favorite kind of music? A little bit of everything.... maybe even some country thanks to me.

18. What do I admire most about him? His ability to balance all his responsibilites in life without getting totally overwhelmed.

19. What's his favorite past time? Anything that gets Scott outside or is physically active makes Scott happy.

20. Do you think he will read this? Yes. He always reads my blogs and tells me how much he likes them.

WE LOVE YOU SCOTT!!

We're Back!

Some concern has been expressed over my disappearance from the blogging world for the past few months. So, my apologies for everyone who continued to check my blog (if there are any of you left) and are sick of seeing our bright pink backdrop and Mason's screaming face. We have been enjoying every second of our summer and with all that fun, who has time to blog about it? It has been so long and we have done so much I felt like I needed to do some type of catch-up blog.....but I don't want to, so I am just going to re-enter the blogging world with a simple, random post.

Every couple has their "thing" that they love to do together. For some people it's a certain show they always watch together, others it's a sport they enjoy playing together, for Scott and I it is going out to eat. Even when we were newlyweds and pinching pennies, we would find ways to go out to eat because it's something we love to do. Now that we are parents this joy of eating out as a family has been ripped from our lives. For all of you parents out there you know what it is like to go out to eat with a 1-year-old.....not pleasant. We have just given up trying to take Mason out to eat with us (Thanks to Grandma Nancy we still manage to go out with just the two of us quite a bit). This week we went to a cute little restaurant that is made for young families. It is called Max & Cheese and is located at about 1600 N. State Street in Orem. It was great!! They have a kids menu that has all your kids favorites like PB&J, Grilled Cheese, Corndog, Mac and Cheese, etc. They also have an adult menu of sandwiches, wraps, and salads that were surprisingly good. They even offer to replace your child's food with a PB&J if they don't like what you order. They have a toy area for the kids to play in that was really fun. It kept Mason, Cannon, and Kennedy totally entertained and I didn't worry about Mason walking away with some disease because it was clean. We spent 1 1/2 hours there and we did not experience any screaming, crying, throwing, or unhappiness at all. All the kids loved their food and actually ate better than they do ate home.

I would recommend that everyone with little ones tries out this place at least once. I was thinking this would be such a fun place to go with a group of moms and kids for lunch one day. If anyone is interested let me know.

Mason's New Grin

As the mother of a 1-year-old, when I count teeth I am generally counting to see if the number has increased, but last night this was not the case. It all started with a trip to Home Depot for family home evening. I will be the first person to admit I have an extremely busy and mischievious little boy who can get into his share of trouble, but on this outting he was being a good little boy and was just walking up and down the isles with me looking at all the fun stuff. We were waiting for someone to come help us in the bathroom section where there happened to be a vanity model set up on the floor of the isle. Mason did nothing more than touch it and the whole thing collapsed on top of him. The solid sink top came crashing down on his little mouth and needless to say his mouth began bleeding perfusely. This is not the first time Mason has cut his mouth and blood has gotten all over so I was pretty calm as I picked him up and tried to comfort him while I asked an employee, who saw the whole thing, where a bathroom was so I could clean him up and see what was wrong. I took him in the bathroom and pretty soon we had what looked like the sight of a massacre with blood all over his face, clothes, hands, and arms, and him smearing it all over my face and clothes. A poor little girl came walking in to use the bathroom and was quite terrified. I eventually got the bleeding under control and got us cleaned up the best I could before going with Scott to fill out an incident report. At first it looked like Mason's lip was just pretty mangled and bleeding, but after a little while Mason opened his mouth big enough that I could check his teeth and to my horror his top left tooth was hanging out of the socket. I FREAKED OUT!! This in turn made Mason get really upset and Scott had to calm us both down. We ended up taking Mason down to Riverside golfcourse where my parents happened to be golfing with our dentist, Chris Crawford. We got to take Mason in a golf cart out to the hole they were on. Mason had been whimpering and occasionally crying up until this point, but the golf cart ride seemed to make everything better. Chris informed us there is nothing we can do because it's just a baby tooth, but that there is no damage done either, because it's a baby tooth. Mason will just be missing his tooth for the next 6-7 years until his permanent tooth grows in. Other than that his lip and mouth will heal and he will be just fine. I am so grateful that Mason is okay medically because it could have been so much worse with all that heavy stuff falling on him, but in all honesty I am grieving the loss of his tooth. I cried all last night at the thought of my little boy's sweet grin never being the same. Every time I look at his fat lip, that for the time being covers the missing tooth, I feel myself tearing up. Mason has been a champ through it all. We took him home and gave him popcicles just as the doctor ordered. It took him all of 5 minutes to realize he was getting special treatment and he immediately tried getting several things he normally is not allowed. That's when I new he would be fine. He has been his happy wonderful self all day today. Home Depot has taken full responsibility for what happened and said that any model on their floor is meant to be handled and a 24 lb little boy should not have knocked it over. They are helping us make sure everything is okay with Mason and that no complications will arise from this. They have also offered Mason a very generous compensation for what he's been through. We will put the money in his bank account for when he is older and consider it a gift from the tooth fairy. Tonight we will leave his tooth out and hope the tooth fairy will bring him something fun for being such a brave boy.

Here is a closeup of his lip. The real mess is inside his mouth, which you can't see. I am pleasantly surprised that he doesn't have more swelling.

Here is his his tooth. Check out the huge root. Obviously with him being so young the root hadn't even begun to dissolve so the whole thing came out. OUCH!

Here is Maso-Magoo with his very sad Mama. This is one of the last pictures we have of his full grin. I sure will miss it, but I'm sure I'll love his new grin just as much. After all it's the boy behind the grin that makes it so great!

4th of July

We had a great 4th of July spent with the Murrays this year. We started the day with a picnic up at Big Springs, our favorite place to go run around and play. Later we did fireworks together, where Mason was introduced to sparklers which he had a hard time keeping his hands off. Then came the poppies. Once Mason got the hang of stomping on them, the real fun began. He was hilarious!! All of us, adults and kids, gathered around and watched Mason stomping and laughing and stomping and laughing. I tried to get a video after he'd been doing it a while. It doesn't capture it during it's peak, but you get the idea. Most importantly Mason got to play with his cousin Kayla and all the Murray kiddos.

1.5

That's how many baths Mason is averaging a day. This boy loves to be outside playing and that results in one filthy boy. He gets a bath every night before bed without question and then some days he gets one before his nap or before we go somewhere in the evening. Don't even start me on what my laundry loads are like. This is what little boys and summer time are all about, right?

New Car

This week we finally purchased a new (used) car for me to drive. We upgraded from my parent's 1997 Jetta to a 2005 Toyota Sequoia. Basically, we went





From... Student

To... Mom

From... Economy








To... SUV









From... Squished









To... Roomy

• From... Fuel Efficient
• To... Gas Guzzler

Wait, are we sure we want that with gas prices over $4/gal?!

First, I want to say a HUGE Thank You to my parents who have generously let me drive one of their cars since I was 16 years old. It sure helped us out these first few years of marriage and while we were getting through school. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!

Second, I want to thank Scott for being such a great bargain hunter and finding me my dream car while staying within the budget. (He got it for $6,000 below low blue book)

I am still trying to get used to its massive size. If you see a black Sequoia at the very back of a parking lot with no other cars around .... that's probably me. I am terrified to park in parking lots because right now I cross through about three stalls before I end up in mine. But the size sure is nice on the inside.

Happy Birthday Whitney and Rachel Faye!

Today is my sister-in-law, Whitney's, birthday. To celebrate she gave birth to a beautiful little girl, Rachel Faye, at 8:59am. Rachel weighed in at 9 lbs 2 oz and is 22 inches long!! Here are some pictures of the birthday girls!!

Salem Triathlon

Last year my dad turned 50 and decided to do something he had always wanted to do...a triathlon. He trained really hard for 6 months, improved his swimming skills, got in great shape, and competed in several triathlons last year. After being my dad's support team for a year my mom decided she wanted to join the fun and now they have been training together for more triathlons this year. Back in January when they were registering, they recruited Chris, Kacie, and I to do the Salem Triathlon with them. I have been very excited to re-enter the triathlon world after a 4 year break (although my enthusiasm was not demonstrated through dedicated training). So today was the big day and we woke up to a downpour of rain. We got to the race site to find out that the Sheriff had canceled the bike portion of the race due to the danger presented by slick roads up the canyon. The rain was still coming down hard and talk was circulating about cancelling the swim and just having a 10K. With how cold I was when fully dressed and dry it didn't sound like such a bad idea. They had some guys get in the water for 10-15 minutes and then checked their body temperature and decided it was safe to continue with the swim. Thanks to the determination of my Dad and Chris we all decided to stay and participate in what was left of our triathlon. We were glad we made the decision when the rain stopped and it got a little warmer. The swim was a lot of fun for me although we'll see how fun it is if I get Giardia from swallowing all of that, oh-so-clean, pond water. Kacie and my mom finished the swim right behind me (I have to mention that my mom was in the heat behind us, which goes to show how awesome she is). Kacie and I ran the 5K together and I can honestly say I really enjoyed it although I don't know how great my time will be. I was really disappointed that we didn't get to do the bike because it is the most challenging part for me, but I had a blast doing the swim and run. Because we were all participating we didn't think to get any pictures. I know it's disappointing for everyone who wanted to see us all in our skin-tight wetsuits, swimcaps, and goggles. I had a lot of fun and am looking for another triathlon to sign up for this summer so I can truely say I did a triathlon. A huge thanks to my mom and dad for sponsering me in the race and rounding up all my gear for me! I hope I'm as awesome as you guys when I am 50.

Swimming

My mom and I took Mason to the pool yesterday. He LOVED it. It was so much fun to watch him explore and experiment in the water. He did not stop smiling and laughing the entire time we were there. Here are some pictures.

June 1st Curse

I was sitting here at work doing my charting like a good nurse when I realized that in just a few short hours it will be June 1st and I am now a little nervous. You see, my family doesn't have a very good track record when it comes to June 1st.... you might even go as far as to say we are cursed.
Let me start at the beginning.
*June 1, 1999 -- My parents left that morning for a 7 day trip leaving us 3 kids at home with Chris in charge. Life couldn't get any better....until Brandon had to ruin it all by getting hit in the face by a line drive and breaking several bones around his eye. Mom came home and Brandon had surgery to put metal plates in his face. The doctor limited Brandon's activities for a year while the plates took root. So when the next June 1st came around Brandon had it marked on the calendar as the year mark when all restrictions would be lifted.
*June 1, 2000 -- To celebrate his new found freedom he took the stage on the trampoline at a party and was wowing the crowds with his double front flips off his knees. It was very impressive until he didn't quite make the final rotation and his mouth went crashing into his knee, knocking his two front teeth out but not until after they had bitten completely through his tongue leaving a hanging chunk. Luckily our dentist lived across the street and was summoned at midnight to save the teeth. The tongue was repaired and the teeth were put back in (no thanks to dental assistant Val sucking the teeth up the suction wand), but it has resulted in quite a few dental visits for Brandon over the years.
*June 1, 2001 -- This year Brandon decided to stay at home and play it safe, but that didn't stop me from carrying on the tradition. I was in the car with some girlfriends driving to meet up with our other friends. As we were driving down the road we saw them coming the opposite direction. Our driver swerved over to get their attention but their driver was looking down at the radio. The next few seconds is all a blur but pretty much we had an unplanned game of chicken where no one chickened and we were in a head-on collision. No one had any major injuries just some whiplash and airbag injuries which was VERY lucky. I just got bruised pretty good from my seatbelt. Three years in a row made it seem like more than just a coincidence that these things all happened on June 1.
*June 1, 2002 -- This year's accident actually began on the night of May 31. I was up in SLC hanging out with some of my friends. It was really late and I ran one of my friends home. I went in the house with him for just a few minutes leaving my car running in neutral with the parking break on. When I came back outside my car was gone. I could not figure out where it was until I walked out in the road and saw it down the hill sticking out of someone's garage....the parking break had gone out. Of course it had to be a sweet old couple's house who was asleep in bed when they heard the crash and came out. Not only did it ruin their garage but it hit the car in the garage. It wasn't until after I had gone in their house and called my mom that I realized it was 12:30am and technically June 1. What a horrible experience!!
*June 1, 2003 -- This year's accident didn't actually happen on June 1, it was 5 days earlier. I was rollerblading on 800 E. when a dog decided to attack me and I got a chunk taken out of my leg resulting in stitches, a tetnus shot, and one difficult situation with the owners. I am pretty sure my mom spent most of June 1 on the phone with the dog's owners trying to get them to pay for my ER visit (their home owners insurance wouldn't pay unless they put the dog to sleep and they didn't want to, but they didn't want to pay out of pocket either, so they made it all really difficult).
*June 1, 2004 -- This was the year we realized the true power of the curse when it reached out of our immediate family and got my boyfriend...Scott. I thought we might have made it through the day without an incident when I got a call from Scott at about 11:30 saying he might have a broken wrist (ward basketball). I went to the ER with him and sure enough it was broken and Scott got to sport a nice brace for 6 weeks. The June 1 curse pretty much sealed Scott into the family.
*June 1, 2005 -- Cannon was born 2 days earlier. Whew...dodged that bullet. Nothing eventful happened this year.
*June 1, 2006 -- Second year with no incidence.
*June 1, 2007 -- I don't remember anything specifically on June 1st, but I do know that in the week that followed Mason began having some serious constipation issues. I can't say for sure, but I think it is very likely that Mason might have stopped pooping on June 1.

It is obvious that the severity of incidents has greatly decreased the last few years and I am hoping that continues this year. But if there is one thing I have learned about the June 1st Curse it is that you can never get too comfortable. As Workers Compensation says, Be Careful Out There.

The Mur-Wii-s

We are the new and very excited owners of a Nintendo Wii. I have never understood all the hype about the Wii, but let me officially say that I now understand!! We have had a blast this weekend staying up way too late playing games. Friday night we tried out all the sports games with Jeremy and Janessa, who are in town for Memorial Day Weekend. I was informed I am too spastic when I play tennis, causing my player to twirl around and fall everytime I swing. In the boxing ring, however, my spasticness seems to pay off.....I knocked Scott out and went undefeated. Scott showing off his mean forearm against Jeremy. Rachel and Scott battling it out in tennis. Boxing.

By the end of the night I was experiencing the beginning stages of Wii-elbow (comparable to tennis elbow). That was nothing compared to what I felt after our marathon gaming with the Dastrups and Carliles on Saturday. We played Wii and Rockband (Jeff's early Father's Day gift) for 8 straight hours at the Dastrup's. You might be asking, "Don't you all have kids?" and yes we do. The kids had a blast playing with each other and whichever adults weren't playing the game were on kiddo duty making sure no toddlers wandered onto the tennis court or boxing ring. This started out as just an afternoon activity, but before we knew it dinner time had come and gone. We ordered some pizza for us and made Mac and Cheese for the kids and continued the gaming. When bedtime rolled around Mason borrowed jammies and a bottle from Jackson. Once the kids were asleep that's when things got serious. We played Rock Band until the blisters on our fingers were popping, we couldn't lift our arms, our eyes were blurry, and our voices were cracking (oh wait, that was just because we are all horrible singers). This was somewhere around 12:30 AM. The last song we attempted and were determined to pass was Metallica's Enter Sandman which for those of you unfamilar with the song is incredibly long and very difficult on Rock Band, especially when we were so exausted. That day/night was one of the funnest days Scott and I have ever had. Unfortunately I didn't take my camera so I don't have any pictures. We are looking forward to one more day off before we have to return to real life and go to bed at a reasonable hour.