Our Surprise Trip

Stan surprised me with an early anniversary trip. I didn't think we'd get to celebrate since all the Halls are coming together the week after Christmas (during our anniversary). He set up baby sitting- Thanks so much Dana and Jason, Jimmy and Mallory, and Kira! We had lots of fun. We stayed in Midway at the Invited Inn run by Bill and Susi. They were very kind and helpful during our stay. We ate at Snake Creek Grill (owned and operated by the chef). It was at Bill's recommendation and located nearby in Heber. We recommend both the Inn and Snake Creek Grill. The only trick with the resturant is that you have to park a bit in front of it in front of other resturants and walk on the boardwalk to the Grill. We were confused about how to get to it at first. Excellent service. We split everything- apetizer (their loaded flatbread), pinenut salad, Sea Bass Special, and Black Bottommed Banana Cream Pie (their signature dessert).
Susi introduced me to Steamers (these so yummy hot milk drinks with flavorings (I of course chose caramel)) Now I want to make them myself. I wonder if you need a special machine? If you've never had one- give them a try. I like it better than hot chocolate and I really like hot chocolate.

We had so much relaxing fun together. Thanks Stan for a great trip!

Israel's First Lost Tooth

Israel with all his teeth AND Grandma Ashcraft (picture take last Sunday at the Ashcraft Christmas Party)

We were surprised to discover that Israel was loosing his first tooth (as mentioned below in Israel Funnies), but excited at the same time. I had so much fun telling Israel all about the tooth fairy and reminding him to wiggle his tooth as much as he could. I am forever grateful for some nice climbing guys at The Quarry who played with the kids and blew bubbles with the kids and then encouraged Israel to pull his tooth out all by himself after he had showed his new friends how loose it was. They were encouraging him to just yank it out- just reach right in there and pull it out- and he did! Stan and I hadn't wanted to do it ourselves. Israel wrote the tooth fairy a note explaining how brave he had been in pulling out his tooth himself and the tooth fairy was so impressed she gave Israel extra quarters.

Aunt Dana told Israel what a good tooth puller Grandma Hall was, so we know you're very proud of him Grandma:)

PS notice the tooth already growing in.

Freedom of Choice Act

I don't usually post anything that isn't about the family, but I felt I needed to post the ad to the right and hope that you will all check it out and sign the petition if you agree with me. This is legislation that Pres. Elect Obama has already promised Planned Parenthood that he would sign. It supersedes all State and Federal laws currently in place in regards to abortion allowing for partial birth abortion, giving minors rights to abortions without parental consent, and not longer informing women of the dangers associated with abortions or having any type of waiting period. The law would force all hospitals and doctors to perform all kinds of abortions-even 3rd trimester partial birth abortion, and allowing for children that do not die of abortion to have no medical treatment whatsoever, to not even be treated as humans. The Catholic Hospitals have already stated that they will be forced to close down if such a law is passed. Please help me by signing this petition and helping your friends and family to be aware of this Act so we can fight the so called "Freedom of Choice Act". www.fighfoca.com

Israel Funnies

Okay, so I know I've been doing a lot of posting and we don't really have anybody reading or commenting on our blog, but I'm thinking of it as our way of recording our memories, so I have a few I just have to share today.

So on Sat. we went to Matthew and Jared, my twin nephew's baptism. While sitting in the chapel I got a view into Israel's mouth and realized that my barely 5 year old is getting a new tooth- his first grown up tooth, and not only that, but it's already growing in behind his baby teeth- Uh Oh. So I checked the one if front and it's a little wiggly. We called the dentist and he said to bring him in. So today we went (conveniently Stan has his cleaning check-up scheduled this morning) and Dr. Sachs told us that if we can't wiggle it out in 1 to 2 weeks max he'll have to pull it. He said that often the tongue will push the tooth into place, but if it doesn't we get to see an orthodontist- already I'm thinking? We thought maybe Israel, with his impressive teeth spacing maybe wouldn't need braces and we're already talking about the possibility. A bit overwhelming. Israel is taking it all in stride and we're practicing wiggling- he says it hurts, but he's trying.

So the funny- today at Preschool he was coloring AND eating his snack. Then he tells me he needs a new purple crayon and I realize the tip has been bitten off. I'd been watching Julia, so I knew she hadn't done it and I asked Israel what happened and he had accidentally bitten it off thinking he was holding one of those pretzel sticks- poor kid.

Never cry . . .My bed is broken

Most every night Eliza tells us my bed is brokon as we send her to bed. Her blankets have to be just right and she sleeps with 4 of them and 2 pillows (her choice). She also sleeps at the bottom of her bed horizontally (we've been joking that we'll just at Julia to the top of the bed and we could take down the crib). Okay back to Eliza- when she told us last night at 9:30 pm when we finally sent the kids to bed- since we'd had the Wesley's down from West Jordan- I almost just told her to deal with it. Thankfully I went to check it out and all the kids had actually broken her bed. We had to fix the boards and the box springs. So let this be a lesson- never cry . . . my bed is broken:)

Recent Christmas Happenings

At our RS Enrichment this week I got to make the cake! I used Sylvia Weinstocks Classic Yellow Cake, buttercream, and filling recipes- it was very rich and yummy. I decorating using wafer chocolate. It took a while, but I was really glad that I made a stacked cake from scratch.

Also at our Ward Christmas Party last night Israel and the Primary did a little number and hopefully this video will actually load:) Well it's not loading, hopefully we'll get it on here soon.

We're excited for Christmas and going to put up the tree tomorrow- wish us luck with Julia:)
We also took our Christmas photo at Church today. We squeezed Eliza into her outfit from last year, so we all looked festive, so hopefully we can get cards in the mail the end of this week or the beginning of next.

We hope everyone is enjoying this Christmas Season and the focus of celebrating our Savior.

Last Week's FHE

Have you ever planned something out and it just fell flat on it's face? Well, that's how my perfect FHE plan went last week. We were going to make a sugar cookie barn- the super cute idea I got from the Whimsical Bakehouse www.whimsicalbakehouse.com. I had tons of frosting left over for the activity- even in red. We used Noreigen Forrest Cookies (the only cookie recipe I've made without eggs, but boy is there a lot of butter). I'll let the pictures tell the story- and the important thing of course if that the kids LOVED the activity and at least it wasn't sad to eat it in the end. Plus we tied the lesson into the destruction before Jesus visits the America's after his crusifixion. Israel especially thought that was cool. They want to make another:)