Easter Time

Last week was Easter and it made us stop to ponder about many things in our lives. Last year at this time we were living in NY, expecting a baby, and Doug was just "talking" about moving to California. We had our NY family over for dinner and life was good. At that point I was in a very happy place and thanking the lord for all of our many blessings.

Forward to now and we are still thanking the Lord for everything that we have been blessed with. Doug got into a great school and we were able to have Easter dinner with friends and Doug's amazing family. As many people know, we had to terminate our pregnancy because the baby was growing in my tubes and was unable to grow. We are now in the process of adopting and just got approved on our home visit, this is a happy day. We are now just waiting for our background check to go through and we will be officially approved. We can't wait to have a little one bless us ever more.

In preparing for Easter this year, we had little David over to color Easter Eggs


Then went to Heather's place to make Easter Candy. These are the chocolate and coconut nest that we made for decoration.


Still good to know that Easter in 2009 for the Halls is still all good.

Instant Girlfriend

When Doug and I started dating in NYC, Doug's roommate at the time was Bill Edwards. Bill now lives in LA as well so we finally met up with him for lunch last week. We talked about the "good old days", meaning while Doug and Bill were dating. These two guys went everywhere together and were once told that they were basically the same guy. If one was asked to dinner on Sunday (which was every Sunday...look at these hotties) it was just known that the other would follow. Doug is very proud of the fact that he had great Sunday meals every week but never had to cook. When Doug asked me out for our first date, it was only fit that the following question was, can Bill come as well? Our date was a day at the beach so we invited Mala as well and off we went. A day of just hanging out turned into the wonderful marriage that Doug and I have now. Bill gave me the nickname of Instant Girlfriend because we all went from hanging out at the beach that morning to me being Doug's girlfriend by the next night. Lets just say that Doug and I knew we were meant for each other right away. Bill admits to being sad that it meant his and Doug's relationship had to come to an end but he knew that one day he was going to have to let go. It was so great to see Bill, he is one in a million (that is for all you single girls out there because yes, he is still single.)

Sayer Visit

My sister, Angela and her husband Eric and two kids Luke and Brie, came to visit us last week during spring break. They kept little Westen at home:(

We had a great time taking Brie to Disney Land for her Birthday. She had lunch with the Princesses and Luke was able to get "The Force" from the Jedi Training School. This was a good day.


We also took the kids to the beach for the first time, ever!!! It was so fun to see their excitement and it did not take to much convincing to get uncle Doug is the freezing cold water.


We then went to Robert's ranch for the weekend so that all the cousins could play together. We did the normal, rode motorcycles, rode horses, the kids road goats and milked them, and enjoyed all of Hailey's amazing cooking.


I was sad to see them go. Week's like this make you remember how important and specials families really are. I can't wait for the day when we have children of our own to share all these experiences with.

To check out all the pictures from the trip click here.

Youngest Recruit

Doug has been a little stressed with school and finals so a couple weeks ago he got online with a bunch of his buddies in NYC to play Halo for about six hours. Our neighbors came over to visit because they could not believe that he could actually play that long and Doug recruiting the youngest player. It is sad to say that little David plays better then I do.

Black, White, and Red

We were having a Visiting Teaching Conference in our ward and the presidency had a black, white, and red theme going on. I was in charge of snacks so this is what I came up with.

I forgot how much I LOVED chocolate covered strawberries...they were SO good!!!

New York Weekend in the OC

A couple weekends ago we were able to go visit a bunch of our friends in the OC that used to or live in NYC.

The Kelley's and the Harrell's met us at the one and only In-N-Out. They were in California for a wedding and it was great to see them for a short time. Cameron and I worked at Homestead together and all of us knew each other from the singles ward in NY.

We went to see my old roommate Katie Luther and her family. It is sad that she lives so close but we never see each other.

We also visited with the Franklin's. They took us to Laguana Beach and an all you can eat brunch buffet. The beach was beautiful and as always we had a great time with the Franklins.

Happy Birthday Cassie and Melissa

I am a little late on this but Happy Birthday fellow MBA Wives, Cassie and Melissa.

We celebrated the weekend right by getting Mani-Pedi's


Then having lunch at Century City Mall. We enjoyed lunch, the outside fireplace, live music, and of course dessert after wards.


The next day was the celebration with everyone. I was able to finally have an excuse to make Bakerella's mini cake cupcakes. They are SO good and So adorable.

Appreciation #19

My appreciation this month goes out to the Orton's. I first met the Orton's when Eric was in the bishopric of the singles ward that I was attending in NYC. We got to know Eric and his wife, Emily more after Doug and I were married and Doug served in the bishopric with then Bishop Eric Orton. Eric and Emily are one of those couples that you always find yourself asking, "how do they possibly do so much and always make it look so easy?" They are by far one of the strongest couples that I know. They have five beautiful children, home school their kids, attend every church activity, do service for both the family and singles wards, and are the best of friends to everyone. When we had to pick another couple to write a reference letter for Doug and I to adopt they were one of the first couples that came to mind. I will always be grateful that they put so much time into the letter. We miss spending time with the Orton's and secretly hope that they move to California but we are so happy that we have continued to keep in touch:)

Adorable

I have been trying to get up to date on my editing so I am finally at editing my families reunion back in August when we were in Island Park, Idaho. We did a talent night with the kids and I just had to show some of the things that they did and show why I love these kids so much:)

Month of February

Yes, it has been a while since I have written anything on the blog, life has changed around here. February has been a great month so I will just keep it short and write the highlights.

1- Doug and I celebrated our three year anniversary of being married. We celebrated by Doug going to a Clippers Game with his father.

2- We went to Disney Land again and Doug said that it counted as part of our Anniversary. We once again had a marvelous time and I love Mickey but not the Tower of Terror.

3- My new position at work is going great. I even have time to join a gym and go to spin class as often as possible. Doug still claims that he can kick my butt on a bike ride but he wont take my challenge of coming to spin class with me.

4- The adoption process in still going on. We are patiently waiting for a little bundle of joy to bless our family. The waiting process is hard because I feel like a part of me is missing and just aching for a child but it will happen when it is meant to happen.

5- I still have regular girls nights out with the MBA Wives Club. We run together, bake together, and go see movies. It is always a good time.

6- I got released from Nursery today (don't worry, Doug is still in there) to be in the Relief Society Presidency. I am the Enrichment Counselor and very excited. I love to plan activities so it is a perfect fit.

7- Doug has had some insightful interviews with the bank UBS and we are praying very hard that he gets a New York interview. I think once they meet him in person there is no question that they will be begging Doug to take the internship.

8- We did celebrate Valentines Day together this year and I even got a signed card from Doug...I will treasure it always.

9- DTtransfer is keeping me very busy so not only do I work all day, I get the joy of working all night as well. Mama is bringing home the bacon.

10- We have gotten to play a lot with Doug's family (fancy dinners, more Clippers games, movies). It has been a real joy and a blessing living close to them.

That is it, my top 10 favorites things in February, I will try to be better about this whole blogging thing. Don't worry, I have been just as bad on Facebook.