Grandma's Birthday Dinner

Family all gathered at Moody Springs for Aimee's mom's birthday dinner.  Andy, Aimee's brother, came down from Portland for the occasion.  We all had a great time visiting with each other (as usual).

Cousins at the Pool

One last trip to Gilroy Gardens

Saul, Hale and Farley Cousins

My cousin Michelle came down with her kids for a visit.

Eden and Isaac are very close in age.

Eden Elizabeh Hale

The Hale kids stayed with us when Eden was born. They each made their own rubber ball and we even had enough leftover to make one for Eden.

Nathan and Gage in the bath the night before Liz, Andy & Eden came home from the hospital.

Exercise Buddies

Nathan and Gage

Gage's 5 Month Portraits

Liz and I took Nathan and Gage to get some pictures taken in August. They were both smiling great for their individual pictures, but once we put them together it was hard to get them to smile or at least look decent at the same time. We had fun!

My favorite is Gage in his Japanese outfit he got when we were in Kyoto.

Karate Kids

We bought Coleman, Aedan, Alexis, Jeff, Tyler, Nathan, and Caleb ninja headbands while we were in Japan (Not that I've ever known a ninja that wore a headband, but it sure makes them sound cooler). We didn't think that Becca, Kate, Krystina, or Justin would be as interested, though it would be funny to see Krystina wear one of these to high school.

Unfortunately, we don't have a picture of Coleman and Aedan with their headbands since they moved (maybe Andy can take one and send it to us to post), but we are sure they look as formidable as their cousins.

Strike a ninja pose and enjoy!

Caleb is conjuring up a fireball - click to see it.

Tyler must have lost a leg in his last battle. Alexis must be driving the big ninja getaway van. Nathan is driving the mini ninja getaway car or using the power of the ninja Buddha. Jeff is about to baptize someone - ninja style. (This picture is from Alexis' birthday dinner at Anne and Tom's place. See Andy and Liz's blog for more on that.)

(We know we still need to post more about our trip to Japan - we're working on it.)

My first Mother's Day

Sunday morning I woke up to the smell of French toast! Glen and Gage sneaked out of the bedroom early so they wouldn't wake me up. The morning went great and we even made it to church early. I was a little worried because I lead the music for the 1st hour of church (sacrament meeting), and Gage was due to eat at anytime. After asking Laurie Franke to be on the alert and lead for me in case I wasn't back in time, she agreed and then worked it out to have someone else that wasn't a mother lead the entire meeting. It was nice to not have to worry about it and I enjoyed the meeting, especially Andy's talk.


After church we headed out to my parents house where we had a delicious dinner prepared by the men in our family. It was quite impressive. We had almost the whole family there which was fun, but we did miss Emily and her family. Here's a picture of Liz, my mom and me.

It was such a beautiful day. After dinner we chatted, some of the guys played Frisbee golf and the kids played outside.

Nathan and Gage couldn't get enough of the rope swings!

It was a fun day, and I am looking forward to using my new gift...Baby Signing Time DVDs. I plan on teaching baby sign language to Gage, we'll see how it goes.