Seems Like Only Yesterday.....

This week Larry and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary. What a crazy time of our life that was. For those of you that don't know, Larry and I met in college. Now there does seem to be a little confusion as to when we actually met but we both agree that it was in college. The confusion comes from the fact that when we met the first time, I had my eye on someone else. So much in fact that I didn't even remember meeting Larry. He however remembered me and had plans to ask me out. But I started dated the other guy and Larry had to wait in the wings. Sigh......Actually he went on to date other girls as well, don't be fooled. And then we met again, or for me we met for the first time. For a long time we were just friends. He would stop in and see me whenever he was in the mall where I was working a totally fun retail job. Seriously, it was like a little sorority house. Very fond memories of my time in that little store. He would casually ask me if i was dating anyone, scoping out the situation. And then one day I found out that a friend of mine was getting married and she wanted me to sing at her wedding. The guy she was marrying was a guy Larry knew and since I was unattached at the time we went together. And that was the beginning of forever for us. We had an immediate connection.


We would talk for hours and hours about all kinds of different stuff. He understood me in ways that no one had before. And we laughed all the time. One of my favorite memories from when we were dating has to be the fact that he carried hockey skates in his truck all the time. Strange I know, but in the Midwest in the winter you can find frozen ponds all over the place and he would just pull over, strap on the skates and go. A lot of times he would pull out the old hockey stick as well. We had so many good times. This was from a Halloween party at the Schmidt's house. They had a house out in the country and they turned the barn into a haunted house. I completely embarrassed myself when I backed into a wall that was actually the door and fell right on out onto the ground. It was things like that which earned me my nickname of Gracie. We dated for a long time and then finally we both knew that our dating days were over. So Larry popped the question and we started to plan the main event. Weddings are so crazy aren't they??


And our's was not an exception. I had no idea how to plan everything. But somehow we pulled it all off. At times I am not sure how. The week was full of chaos. But two particular things stand out in my mind. One is our groomsmen\pianist got attacked by a german shepherd probably four days before the wedding. He was a mess. I felt so bad for him. His face was swollen, bruised and stitched. And I couldn't even look at his eyes. I had never seen anything like that. Secondly Larry and I learned that we were going to need to learn to work better together under pressure. We just kept butting heads about everything. The night before the wedding Larry, his sister Nancy and myself were working on something. I actually can't really remember the details but Larry who is a very calm person by nature cracked. Took his frustration out on the barn and had to go to the emergency room late at night to have his foot looked at. We weren't sure if he was going to be able to walk the next day or not. That did wonders for the stress level.

The morning of the big day dawned sunny and beautiful. But as the afternoon came the sky got darker and darker. And then it began to rain. No, correction, it began to pour. So much in fact that they would close the road along the Mississippi that many of our guests needed to travel on. Outside pictures for us were not an option. But, at the end of the day, everything worked out. We were so grateful to have the love and support of our friends and family. And now here we are; thirteen years and four kids later. It's amazing to think how far we have come and how much further we have to go.

Four Wheeling Anyone?

We are a four wheeling family. Everyone in our family loves to ride. We decided to make Memorial Day our first major four wheeling adventure of the year. So we packed up all our gear, called some friends and headed for the mountains. We started out at the crack of dawn, way too early for a holiday but we wanted to make sure that we got a good spot to set up our "camp" for the day. As we pulled out of town we were really nervous because the sky was really dark and you could feel the rain in the air. Luckily when we got to our destination it was colder than what we would have liked but there was no rain and when the sun was out it was actually really nice. The drive up took a little bit longer than what I remembered it being last time and we were all really anxious to ride once we got there. As we pulled into our favorite campsite I immediately noticed that the people there had a very large, very scary pitbullish looking dog. He would provide us with a couple of scares throughout the day, but luckily no injuries occured. With some finagling we were all able to go out together on the first ride. And Brendan got to ride up the trail on his own for the first time. He did really well and kept up with everyone. Most of these pictures are not from yesterday but from a smaller adventure we took a few weeks ago. Like I said, we all really like to ride. It's hard to tell from the incredibly large helmet that covers most of her face but this is Bella's intense riding pose. She is actually the best rider out of our kids. And no she does not get to ride that one by herself. That one is actually mine. And I put that mud there myself thank you very much.


People ask me all the time what we do to entertain our kids when we go out four wheeling and they are not riding. We are blessed to have kids that love the outdoors and that are easily entertained. They always manage to find something to occupy their time. Yesterday the first thing the kids did once we parked was run straight up this big hill next to the camp. Towards the top they found a lizard. For the rest of the day, when they weren't riding that lizard was their project. They were determined to catch it and since it was a smart little lizard it took many different tries. And once it was caught they had fun carrying it around and showing it off to everyone. Now lucky for us, our kids were not the leaders of the lizard catching crew so we didn't have to worry about what was going to happen to the lizard when we left. Unlike the time we were in Moab and Brendan caught a crawfish, named it Shelly and carried it around for two days until the poor thing finally gave up and moved on to a better place. Shelly was a good little crawfish, stinky but good. So the lizard went for a ride down the mountain and apparently is now on display at the kids elementary school where the science teacher Ms. Bone (the most perfect name for a science teacher ever!) thinks it is expecting. How fun!

This is the kids four wheeler. It will go pretty fast but Larry has it adjusted down for our kiddos. Can't have them going full force down the trail!

Brooke loves to ride but she is still too small to ride on her own. She kept bugging Larry yesterday to show her how to ride the kids four wheeler. "I can do it Dad" she kept saying over and over. It didn't work. So she had to be content bumming rides off everyone else. Luckily no one really minded. The camp that we were at has this really cool hill leading into it with three different paths in. The older kids entertained themselves for a long time just riding around that area taking the smaller kids for rides.

Anytime there was a four wheeler sitting with no one on it Lily was right there to climb on up. She kept trying to start them determined to take a little ride on her own. I have a feeling she will be one tough rider someday. For the first time in awhile Larry and I were both able to ride without kids going wherever the path lead. Larry went out with the men and came back covered in mud and soaking wet from going through puddles. Then it was my turn. We had so much fun. I gave my fellow riders a little scare because I hit a turn too fast and had to go up the side a little bit and cross over the path and down the ravine to keep from tipping. But I was so proud of myself for not panicking and keeping things under control. However, I did lose my spot as leader for a little bit. I don't think they trusted me to set the pace. But after awhile we were all cutting lose and having a great time and I got my leader spot back. For a little bit anyway.

We had a great time riding yesterday. One of our best adventures so far. And we packed things up and left at just the right time. Less than 15 miles away, going down the mountain the rain started. This was how it looked as we started down. It was so beautiful, driving through the clouds. Today we are all a little bit sore, and a little bit tired but looking forward to the next time we can go and ride!

Why Are We Here Exactly??

Have you ever had one of those Sunday's where you know from the minute you get up that it is going to be a crazy church day? That was us this Sunday. I knew from the minute we got up that we were in for it. The kids were all wild as wild could be. Jumping from one thing to another and doing nothing to help us all get ready and out the door. As usual the church shoes were eluding us so we had to hunt all over for those. Once they were found Bella and Brooke were chasing each other around the house and as Bella is running up the stairs, Brooke steps on the tie to her dress and rips the tie right off. Now this can't be an old dress, it has to be the Easter dress that we looked all over for and is absolutely beautiful and I Can't Sew!!! Hopefully one of my sewing friends will take pity on me and fix it for her. Once a replacement dress was adorning Bella we rushed everyone out to the car to get to church where I was supposed to be at a choir practice ten minutes ago. Once church starts the kiddos don't calm down at all. Lily starts doing pull ups on the back of the pew trying desperately to talk to her little friend in front of her. She finally gives up on that only to discover that one of the nursery workers is sitting behind us. Apparently she really likes him. I thought she was going to catapult herself over the pew and into his lap. Grinning and giggling at him with pure baby joy. I think she has found her first crush! When she figured out that she wasn't going to be able to get to him by going over the pew she decided to try her luck at going under. Which she succeeded in doing twice. Now while this is going on the other Hahl children are not sitting quietly and listening to the speakers. Brooke is taking turns running from Larry to me flopping herself in our laps, crawling all over us. At one point, Larry and I just looked at each other, shook our heads and chuckled. Asking each other the silent question "Why are we here exactly??". The time comes for the choir to sing so I get up to take my place. I am kind of a creature of habit when it comes to singing. I have a certain place that I like to stand and I have a certain person that I like to stand by. But when I got up to the stand there was some commotion and my singing buddy wasn't there yet so I went ahead and got in line. Big mistake. The mojo was off. We didn't have enough books so I had to turn to the right instead of the left because I had to share a book. Turning to the right meant I couldn't see the director. I tried turning to the left but I couldn't see the book due to my increasingly poor eyesight. Initially I didn't think this would be a big deal because I have sung the song at least four times in a choir before and I knew the music. But since the day had been so crazy, my head was not it the moment and the auto pilot did not come on. I came in late four times, got lost once and for some reason found that to be funny so I had to concentrate really hard at not laughing during the song. Disaster!! Easily my worst choir performance ever. My contribution was nil. When church was finally over I felt like I had been through four rounds of WWF and had to apologize to those around us. And what did I get out of it?? Not a single thing. I don't think I heard more than three words of what was said. Leaving me to ask the question - Why are we here?? Can someone fill me in because I am not seeing the purpose today!!!

The Fedora Wearing Archaeologist Is Back!

At last, the new Indiana Jones movie opened today. There is one member of the Hahl family that has been anxiously awaiting this moment. Brendan discovered Indiana Jones earlier this year and has found himself a new hero! For the last week I have heard a daily countdown to the premiere. So when I saw that the local theaters were having midnight showings I knew that I had to take him. Now understand that this is not something we would normally do. However, he is off track from school so there was no concern there. And when I say that he has been counting down the days that is not an exaggeration. The kid was SO excited. And I knew that this would be one of those experiences that he would remember for years to come. So late last night, we headed out to the movie theater for our first mommy and son date! And can I just tell you that we had such a blast. We got there early to make sure we had good seats so we passed the time sharing popcorn and just chatting about whatever he wanted to talk about. And there was only one Indy impersonator there (minus the whip, that would have made me a little bit nervous!). Brendan of course thought that he looked great and wished that he had thought of it. The movie itself was really good and entertaining. I was worried that I would fall asleep since I am not a late night person but I am proud to say that I saw every last second! And Brendan loved, loved, loved it. Probably would have stayed and watched it again if they would have let him. We had such a good time together. I am so glad that is was just the two of us. It's so easy to get caught up with the younger kids because they always seem to need something from me where as Brendan's needs are on a different level. This was a great way for he and I to connect with each other and just have a good time. Thanks for being such a great date Brendan!!

The Graduate

Today was Brooke's preschool graduation. She was so excited this morning that she could hardly contain herself. Her excitement was a two fold thing. The first part was the graduation itself.

The second part was getting to wear her new "special" shoes to the graduation. Her legs may be covered in scratches and bruises but she is still a girly girl. Loves her shoes and nail polish. Two items that I feel are important pieces to every girls wardrobe. Well I guess nail polish isn't really a wardrobe item but you know what I mean!

Anyway, back to the graduation. They sang a few songs all of which were very cute; full of oohs and aahhs from the parents. Next they had a slide show and then Ms. Tara gave them all their diplomas and a little goodie bag. Such a fun time! It seems like we just started preschool a few weeks ago and now here we are at the end of the year. It's amazing to me how fast the time flies. Brooke enjoyed the year so much and will really miss going to school and seeing her teacher and friends. Lucky for us, August isn't that far away and summer is a great time for playdates! Of course she wouldn't have been so excited about preschool if it wasn't for great teachers! Thanks for all your hard work Ms. Tara, Ms. Kim and of course Ms. Liz (Brooke's preschool teacher that sadly had to move at the middle of the year). We love you all!!

Photo by Brendan :)

Little Miss Cutie Pants

Ok - so we are very blessed to have four fabulous, creative, adventurous and fun kiddos. To start our adventure in the blogging world I decided to highlight the youngest of the clan. Little Miss Lil's as we affectionately call her. Now, you will notice that the front of Lily's shirt is completely soaked. I wish that I could say that is a rare occurance in this house, but alas I would be telling a fib. Lily is notarious for getting into absolutely everything. If you leave a cup on the table she will have it spilled all over everything before you even realize it was left there. Lily is also a master climber. Now we have had climbing children before, but none as gifted as she is. She can climb absolutely anything and she is so fast. Another one of her great talents is the art of door opening. This is a talent that we had hoped wouldn't develop until later, but she couldn't stand not being able to go wherever she wanted so with a lot of hard work and determination she mastered that one too. But the greatest of her many talents is her ability to make everything ok with her beautiful smile. All it takes is a flash of the smile and the world is right again. She charms us all and we are so lucky and blessed to have her in our family.