Home from "Adult" Vacation

Ben and I are home from our kid less vacation. We thought since I'm not pregnant or nursing, we should take advantage of our 5th anniversary and go away. Thanks to my mom, we were able to leave the boys with her and my sister...you'll have to click here and see how their time was with the boys! We left last Wednesday and headed down to St. John to stay until Sunday. It was so beautiful. We rented a jeep one of the days and drove all over the island and stopped along at the different bays, went snorkeling and scuba diving, had a spa day, and layed out by the beach a pool and read books. I can say that I'm a Stephanie Meyer fan, I've started book number two. We got to enjoy eating without interruptions, sleep in with ease, lay out with out worrying if someone was going to drown, and watch everyone else wrestle children while in the airport and on the plane. It was a great trip, but I was happy to get back to my life and my kids. I think what really made the adventure was not worrying a bit about the boys...I knew they were in good hands. Here's a few pictures of our anniversary vacation!

Our 5th Wedding Anniversary

Today marks five great years since Ben and I were married in the Washington D.C. Temple. It's hard to believe it's been that long. We've certainly been busy since that day and have done some wonderful things together and as a growing family.
Five things I love about my Husband:
*He has the best green eyes ever...can I please have a child with green eyes?!?
*He sets and meets goals...is ambitious.
*The way he cares for me and our boys.
*He makes me laugh and I love to spend time with him.
*He makes me happy and very at home when I'm with him.

Five things that make us good together:
*comfortable silence
*pillow talk
*not only do we have our own hobbies, but we enjoy a lot of the same things together.
*we love and care for each other
*we compliment each other

Five things we've accomplished since married:
*getting Ben graduated from school
*having Maxton
*having Seth
*buying a practice
*being able to pay our student loan debt and still go to the movies every once in awhile

Here's to all the years ahead! I love you BEN!

Hand, Foot, and Mouth

Need I say More?!?! It's been an interesting/hard week so far, we're praying for better days here at the Hale House!
Click here for details

Laundry Tid Bit

Have you ever noticed that the more times you wash your husband and little boys collared shirts, like polos, the collars start to age the shirt. They become flat and faded the more and more you wash them. Well, a couple of years ago my dad got tickets to see the Masters, and took Ben along with him for his graduation present. {To get tickets to the Masters, you either have to wait on a long list until someone dies or decides they don't want their tickets anymore, or you can put your name into a drawing to see if you get picked for just the practice rounds. So, that is how my Dad finally got tickets...through the drawing. Obviously, you can probably buy someones ticket if they are selling them on the side of the road down in Augusta where the Masters is held, but you don't want to bank on that.} They had so much fun and said the course was beautiful. Everyone that goes has to buy golf shirts while there because that's the only place you can buy a shirt with the Masters logo on it and you never know if and when you'll have the chance to go again. Since they are such a special item for the boys, they asked how to better take care of them so they last as long as possible and still look good. So, here was the advise and what I do every time I wash any polo type shirt: button up your shirt completely and then turn it inside out to wash...it really preserves the collar and is nice and full when you slip that puppy back on.
Another little tid bit from the Hale house...we don't care for twirlies, you know where you put your shirt on and it's a little shorter than when you bought it and as you twist your your torso, the bottom of your shirt twirls with you and doesn't hug at the bottom. That's what we call a twirly, and Ben can't stand to wear a twirly...he has to send it right off to Good Will. So not only do I try to preserve the collar, I never dry his polos so that they don't become twirlies. I pull them out of the wash and lay them out, so they keep their length and integrity. {I don't hang them on hangers, because then they get those pointing things in the shoulders}.

Please know that I'm not the go to person on homemaking skills, this is the only laundry hints I have besides the normal washing of clothes...just thought this might be helpful since it's Summer and that time of year when the men in your life might be wearing a polo shirt. Happy Washing!

Tagged Again

My good friend from High School/Young Women's recently started a blog, which I'm so excited about. She just tagged me, and I'm to write six interesting/facts about myself that others may not know...It reminded me of a similar post I did back in January, where I had to write seven interesting facts. So not to be boring, I'll see if I can think of a few more...here goes:

*No matter if it's the middle of Summer or the dead of Winter, I have to have the covers pulled up over my shoulder...I can not fall asleep with my shoulders or neck exposed. I'm not quite sure when this happened, but it's just the way it is.
*In the last six years, I've lived in three different Wards, and have served in the YW's as the president, 1st coun., 2nd coun., secretary, personal progress leader, basket ball coach (we won every game mind you), and the camp leader. What is the Lord trying to teach me?!? Possible theories: That I didn't learn my fair share while in YW's myself, I'm going to need the experience because my own teenagers are going to give me a run for my money, or that I just look so young and hip that it is the natural place for me to be every Sunday?!?
*I'm not the Sappy type, but I love to get wedding announcements and see my name writen on the outside as Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin Hale...I know, it's totally silly!


I figure that's plenty if you add it to my original post back in January...Thanks friend for the tag!

Harmonica 101

Just in case anyone was looking for a good Harmonica Instructor, look no further...Maxton would be happy to teach you and your children how to play. You can pick up your very own harmonica at your local Cracker Barrel and then swing on by...it's never too soon to start, we've already taken Seth to his first lesson, and he loved it. Here are a few pictures from Seth's lesson with Max.

Fourth of July!

We celebrated the 4th like we have in the last couple of years, down in Tennessee at Lake Norris. We love it so much, it a great get away. The water is so beautiful and it relaxing to sit on the dock in between wake boarding and tubing! Maxton did so much better with the life jacket this year...he usually cries the whole time he has to wear it, but not this time. As for Seth, he did pretty good for his first trip to the lake. The night of the 4th, we held our own fire works show off the dock...it's funny how a few fire crackers can bring out the boy in some grown men, and eat into their wallets...they had a blast!





Ben helping Maxton with his first sparkler

Here's Seth helping me clean out the fridge once we got home from TN...he is such a big help?!?

Soap Box

I don't think I've had a chance to get on the soap box yet...so I'll make it short and sweet and try not to climb back up again.
I think it is totally okay to put whatever you want on your blog. If you want to brag/talk about your kids, work, husband, recipes, new whatever, etc...you CAN...it's you're blog, it's not like an email where you send it to some one's inbox and they have to read it...those that read your blog come willingly...and no one asked them to read it!
Why did I feel the need to put this out there? I've just read and heard from a few people and blogs that they hope they aren't bragging about their kids...hey, don't sweat it!
Okay...I've jumped off the box, with hopes of never returning...remember I said with hopes!