Israel's Find

While Camping at Crystal Hot Springs Israel found this huge tree stump (new word he just learned) and had to climb it. I did help him a little but he did most of the work himself. When he was up there a sudden commotion came from the tree as a large bird flew out of the tree. Israel, not even phased looked at the hole the bird came out of and said there were eggs. Hence I passed the camera and he took this impressive photo. The eggs are about the size of the eggs you'd find in the grocery store- pretty big.

While Israel still had the camera he took probably over 20 pictures. This self-portrait is one of my favorites.

Stan's Frist Triathlon

Stan competed this past weekend in the Honeyville, UT sprint triathlon at Crystal Springs, this natural hot springs resort/camp ground. The whole fam. came to cheer on Dad, but after a night of little sleep thanks to Julia not really liking the "bed" we'd created for her, we didn't see a lot of the race. This first picture is Stan waking me up half- way in half-way out of the tent. We rushed to get dressed and over to the pool (blessedly close to our camp site) so we could see him swim- but we had to do potty trips and breakfast and feed Julia during the bike, sorry no pictures, but we did get to see Stan finish the run strong, worn out, and happy to have succeeded. He finished 29th out of 350 with a time of 1.14.46 not too shabby for his first time.

Julie competing in her own swimming event- the mighty bathtub.

Laketown Park Fun

Eliza spent most of her time happily swinging and "pushing" other kids on the swings too!
Israel played with this cute 5 year old named Cora while we were at the park.

The Snail Class with Beth

Israel started swimming lessons today and boy am I proud. He's in prewater exploration for 3 and 4 year olds and this is his first time taking lessons. Not only did he climb bravely into the pool- not whimpering at all, but he blew bubbles, played games and floated on his back and his tummy (and blew bubbles in this position). Not bad for his first time. He has 30 min. lessons all this week and next. I'll have to remember to bring the camera and get some pictures of my big boy.

Who's Who?

What Princess are you?

So I took this test I found on a friend of a friend's blog and found out I am Pocahantas, what do you think of that?


You Are Pocahantas!

Free-spirited and wise. You have a strong passionate spirit that touches and changes all who know you. The wisdom and common sense that you have is really what guides you through life. Even so, you also have a very playful side that loves adventure and excitement.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

I Finally Did It

Okay, I've finally combined the 4 blogs we set up and used for a very brief time in 2006. Now you can see it all right here at the Hall Farm:) It took me long enough! It's been good to look back as I've combined these blogs and see what our life was like not so long ago.

Heat and the lead wall

We've been waiting so long for the nice pleasant Spring weather to come and now it appears that Summer is here in all her glory. It's supposed to reach 90 today and we're wanting to put our A/C window unit in. Last year we just had this plexiglass above the unit that would fall out any time the wind was strong or the door was slammed, so I've told Stan we need something better this year. He wants me to come up with what that will be. Any brilliant ideas please pass our way.
My sister Amanda and I climbed again on the lead wall today. It's been really hard to get back on since Julia was born. You feel your mortality when you're up there- even though I know it's safe as safe can be- when I'm up there, I doubt. I take deep breaths and tell myself it's not that bad- this is just a 10b, but sometimes, I lose the mind game and request TAKE! Today was the best I've done, I did a flashed a 5.9 and a 10a on the lead wall, and got halfway up the 10b, but then tired arms combined with the leaning wall combined with not wanting to die, I chickened out and took 4 times after almost each of the last clips. It's frustrating, but gives me something more to work towards next time. That's part of why I climb. I know I can do it- on a 10b I'm conquering myself, not so much the wall. Besides, I have to get good again before SuperHero Chuck comes down in August.

My Goofy Family

Here I am with 4 of my siblings and their spouses on our very exciting bowling date at All-Star Lanes in Sandy, UT. We're all pretty pathetic, but most of us got a few strikes and Michele and Janeen, 2 of my older siblings bowled their best games. We had lots of laughs at our impressive abilities- Jane's bum wiggling before each turn, Stan's between the legs bowling (that didn't go in the gutter, but then it didn't hit either of the split pins either). Janeen fell in the lane and Bryce showed off his impressive wrist flick. All in all it was a fun night- even if when we got to Fudruckers they had already closed their shake machine.
Thanks for playing--next sibling date night- lazer tag!

Here's Israel's happy face. You can see half of Aiden, his good friends face on the left. They LOVE to place together and have a lot of fun being bad guys, or super heros, or pirates, or playing cars. Israel being goofy this morning with a pair of Julia' pants. They're pretty thick, so it almost looks like bunny ears!
Eliza being a super cutie and actually smiling for me, something you don't see every day. This morning while Israel was saying we were all Spider Boy, Spider Mommy, Spider Daddy, and Spider Girl, Eliza told me she was a Super Princess!

2 years Later . . .

Well, I found our old blog and finally figured out how to get on it, so here I am again:) We were new to blogging back in 2006 and set up 4 different family blogs-vacations, kids, yoga and I've been struggling to put them all together into this one. Maybe in a few weeks I'll have it all together, I need more computer skills!

Quick update: We have another girl Julia Michele, born Sept. 28th. She's such a happy cute kid and looks extremely like Eliza did at her age. She actually likes to sit, unlike Eliza who was always on the move and cruising furniture before she ever sat. Julia has 4 teeth already and loves to smile and find her daddy and big brother Israel. She has lots of attention from her siblings. Eliza even lovingly shares her precious white silky blanket when Julia's sad. Here are a few pictures of the family:


Israel and Eliza at THE CAVE WELLING in Southern Arizona

Stan celebrating his 30th BIRTHDAY at his sister Susan's house in El Paso, TX
Robin climbing at The Cave Dwelling in Southern AZ, my first OUTDOOR BOULDERING experience.

Inspiring Israel

Riding Herbert the Lion
Camping with Dad
Eating hotdogs
Playing outside Organizing cereal boxes


Our Favorite Kiddo is always finding something to be excited about!

Electric Eliza

OK most of the time Eliza is a baby on the edge full of electric energy. She's our favorite little darling with such a cute smile, full of oversized teeth for her tiny face. We are proud of her for taking her first step on Sept. 12, 2006. She's good at wearing herself out, of course Israel her big brother makes sure she's always entertained.

Zion's Park Adventure

We visited Zion's Park and then climbed some in St. George. We're getting very good at climbing and last night Robin climbed a 5-11B at the indoor climbing gym called The Quarry in Provo where she teaches Yoga twice a week. We also hiked through Mystery Canyon and repelled down 12 repels with a final repel into a river and a fantastic 120' repel into a spring of water with ferns growing all around. If you ever get the opportunity AND you have someone like Chuck that knows how to keep you safe- don't miss that opportunity! Thanks for Michelle for watching Israel and Eliza for us! We wish we had pictures from Mystery Canyon, but we didn't want to ruin our camera.

Climbing in St. George, Utah

Fun pictures of us climbing on some rocks! We've gotten better since then. Stan attempted a 5-11D but it he didn't get too far (not pictured here). Stan enjoyed the bird-life in Southern Utah. We're climbing with my siblings Chuck, Diana (his wife), and Amanda.

Hurriane Katrina Aftermath April '06

Here are some pictures from our trip to the Mississippi Gulf Coast in Biloxi, I think 9 months after Hurricane Katrina blew threw.