Matthews Volcano

We tried a few times with what the kit provided and finally we did a little kitchen chemistry and this was the most spectacular eruption of them all.

Timmmmberrrrr!

Question: When a Christmas tree falls in a house and know one is there to hear it does it make any noise? I don't know but it does make a mess. The other night we were out for the evening and when we came home this is what we found.
AAAGGGHHH! The tree was fine and only the Star on top was broken. Yes the lights were on. I know stupid me. Thank heavens there was no fire. The tree stand got cracked when we were decoraring the tree and it had a bit of a lean to it. I guess it finally "cracked under pressure" (HAA HAA). So my tree was packed up and put away a few days earlier than usual but I guess it is nice to have it done and not have to worry about it.

Matthew is working on a volcano that his Grandma Bonnie gave him for christmas and when it dries completly we will put the pictures up. He is very excited. Everything else is as usual. Quiet. Just the way we like it. We do have a few fun things coming up and I will get them on the blog asap. about mid January.

I hope you all have a Happy and safe new year. much love.

UPGRADE!!!

Yipee! My favorite time of the year. The weather has been snowy and cold. Just what it should be and we had a stunningly white Christmas. It snowed all morning long on christmas day and now 2 days later the roads are still snowpacked.

Christmas morning was wonderful. In fact the whole day was wonderful. We just relaxed around the house and enjoyed our family. No pressure, no agenda, no schedule. A very rare day at the Hall home.

Some of you may know that we had to make a large purchase just before christmas and we are now driving a fun new vehicle. Well new to us anyway. It is a 2003 Ford explorer xlt. Lots of fun. Handles all this snow easily (4x4). Big Matt has been driving a 1982 toyota pick up truck that has truly seen better days. It needs some serious work and will not pass the inspection to renew registration so we had to bite the bullett and now we have a car payment(ugh). The good side is this new car will be big enough for our family to pack up and go camping or on road trips. One of our favorite things to do. Little Matt is not so little anymore and needs the extra space to be comfortable. He will no longer be packed in the back seat with all our other gear looking like a part of the luggage and bedding. He is thrilled. Big Matt is working in salt lake as some of you know and will now be driving the red car to work. It is still running great, we just finished getting it ready for the winter weather so he is now going to be safer driving all that way everyday and he is so happy to be driving something that doesn't feel like it will shake itself to pieces on his way to and from work. Poor guy. I had no idea how bad that truck was getting.

Of course we have very little drama to report so if you are looking here for some juicy tidbits, sorry to disappoint. We are just keeping busy at our various activities and day to day stuff. Life is good and we are so blessed.

We hope you are well and that your holidays have been wonderful and brimming with love, joy and thanksgiving.

Celebrate

Theres My Guy.

A reason to celebrate. Today is our 15th wedding anniversary. What an incredible ride it has been. I find it hard to believe how fast time flies when your having fun, and fun it has been. Not always easy but I wouldn't change anything if I could. We are so blessed to have each other and be able to go through life as partners. Yes 15 years of wedded bliss is a reason to celebrate.

Reason number two to celebrate is that Matt has a new job. He was just offered a job as the webmaster for a company called printelligent. He will be working full time and pretty much be responsible for the new web page for the entire company. He is so excited to be programming and making better money. He feels confident about the job and the people he will be working with. He will also continue to do some part time programming from home and will be busy with his head in the computer world a good 60 hours a week. I am just glad he will be able to do some of that work from home. It will probably be a lot of late nights. What a blessing though. We are thrilled.

Counting blessings

We are celebrating our 15 year anniversary on November 20th. We were sealed in the SanDiego temple and with recent circumstances it has bee a time of reflection and thanksgiving.
So My hubby has now been out of work for 6 weeks.He has managed to pickup some part time work programming thanks to a friend of ours who put in a good word for him, thanks Matt M. That just started on monday and he really loves to program so he has been at it all week. He had an interview on Wednesday that went really well and they called him back for a second interview tomorrow. If all goes well we hope he will start work there asap. It would be the job he wants with the income and benefits we need and the plus side is, Yes it is a programming job, So we hope and pray it will go his way.
So all this time he has been out of work I have managed to be pretty sick. Not flu like suff but the wonderful female body tends to go astray with the hormones and all that and it has pretty much ruled my life lately, So we are working with the doctor trying to get it back on track again and get rid of all the difficult problems I have had to deal with. I am glad Matt has been home during this time because I have been pretty much unable to do anything and have had to rely on him for a lot of assistance. He is so great. Not to mention all the activites the YW have been having that have required so much of the little time and energy I have had. It seems like right now is a trying time for us with all our responsiblities and our lack of income and good health but the amazing thing is the wonderful blessings we have had during this time. Everything just seems to be taking care of itself. People are helping everywhere we turn and we have been able to meet and work with new people that we otherwise would not be able too or had the opportunity. Matt has had some time to do some service around the ward and I have learned that no matter how hard things seem to be Our Heavenly Father is aware of our needs and looks after us.
We don't know when Matt will be working again and will take some time to get back on our feet but we have learned so much during this time and we realize how blessed we are.I know without the knowledge of the gospel, the peace we have felt would not be possible. It is something good to relfect on as we celebrate this upcoming anniversary andThanksgiving. I am thankful for my wonderful husband and our temple marriage. I love My Savior and my Heavenly Father and I am grateful to them for all they have given me.

First snow

Last sunday we woke up to a beautiful sight Although it is a bit early for winter we had a pretty good snow storm. It snowed into the afternoon and everything was covered in thick fluffy white stuff. I have always loved winter and it was a reminder of what is just around the corner. My husband always puts the Christmas lights up right after Haloween but I was ready for that last Sunday. I resisted the urge to beg and bribe him to start pulling out the Christmas boxes from storage and thank Heavens because today the snow is gonw. No trace what so ever. The Sy is clear and blue the leaves on the trees seem to be in perfect sync with the time of year, the temprature is a winderful 70 degrees and again I am reminded how much I love the Fall.

On other notes, Matt is still looking for work. We amazingly still feel very calm and it is kind of the feeling that we know we have to relax and roll with the punches. We are both looking for jobs and Matt is awesome. He spends hours a day sending out resumes researching any possible job opportunity and applying for anything he can find. He is a good man and I am so thankful and blessed that he is my husband. He is a good example to my son and he treats me like a queen. I know it is hard for him to not be working. He is like a fish out of water. I know we would both like the security of a job and an income but for now this is what the Lord had in store for us and we know it is in his hands. We have faith that all will be well and we have much to learn from our circumstances. It is comforting to know that there is a bigger picture than the momentary and fleeting here and now.

Little Matthew is a hoot. He is always up to something and getting sillier and more fun each day. His sense of humor has really blossomed this last year and he is understanding more complex humor so it is fun to watch him experiment with it. He is fun loving, gentle and big hearted. just like his dad.

I am indeed a very blessed daughter of God. I am thankful for all that I have and look forward to what lies ahead. Life is a journey and we are the passenger. I am learning to sit back and enjoy the ride. Taking it all in and savoring each new experience. What beauty and thrills, lessons and new horizons. Life is wonderful.

Roller coaster ride

Life has been very busy lately and I havn't even thought about this blog for a few weeks. The most recent news is not good. Matt is unexpecedly looking for work. It is a little scary to have him out of work but I think it will be ok. I feel strangly calm about the whole situation. He did have a good phone interview today that could pan out to be a good thing and a few other leads on some projects that might help us get through but it will be tight.
On a better note my sister is visiting again from Iowa and maybe I'll get a chance to spend more time with her this trip. We will see.
I am still here amid this crazy life. I feel like I am on a roller coaster I have ridden a thousand times. I know this is just a dip in the coaster and soon we will be moving up again. It will be interesting to see where the turns take us now. Life is truly and adventure.
Love to all.
Nicole

Butterfield Canyon

We spent a wonderful day in Butterfield canyon today. We went up there with my parents and my sisters family. The weather was perfect! Grandpa spent the day with the grandkids. He taught them how to make and use rabbit sticks, shoot a rifle and a pistol. They went on a nature walk, shrpened knives and made their own roasting sticks to cook hot dogs over the fire. It was a wonderful day.
Grandpa kept the kids so busy that the rest of us adults were able to do our own thing, we caught up and enjoyed each others company. Big Matt read his new Java script book we wnet for a nice walk, took a bunch of pictures and just generally relaxed and soaked in the beautiful fall colors and great company. this is a rare event for our family so we just loved every minute of it.
This brings us to the end of a rather busy week. We accomplished alot. The school carnival was last night and I painted faces for the whole time. It is fun to sit with those cute kids and hear the fun comments they make. Tomorrow is a day full of meetings for church and then a new week begins. I think I will have sometime to work on some craft projects and maybe get out and do some photography. I havn't done much of that lately and I really need to pick it back up. I miss it so. I just had to put a plug in for the beautiful day we just enmjoyed. I hope we can do things like that often enough to help Matthew to learn to enjoy nature and find peace in the beautiful things God has given us. What a blessing. Happiness to all.

Funny Story

I have a funny story to tell. Matthew, my only child sometimes has to entertain himself, Now just the other day we introduced him to the board game"Monopoly". My husband and I are not real fond of the game but Matthew took to it like a fish to water and since he can not convince us to play again (we have hit our once every ten year limit on the game) He has been playing with "Matt2". Now "Matt2" is the unlucky individual that Matthew has totally annihilated several times in the last few days. However Matthews need to play the game has led him to "loan" money to "Matt2" so even when the game should be over they can continue. In fact today Matthew owned 90% of the properties with hotels on all of them and Poor "Matt2" could not get around the board without going bankrupt, well sweet little Matthew felt so bad he kept telling "Matt2" he didn't have to pay rent and he just kept loaning him money. Now who is "Matt2" you ask. He is the imaginary clone of Matthew. I'll have to tell you some other imaginary friend stories another time. but for now I'll leave you with that little ditty.

Blogging Newbie

Hang on tight, here we go. Blogging for the first time. Today has been a crazy day and my head is doing its own thing. I just finished telling my husband that he is older than he was before. Like that was some epiphany or something. So Who knows what I may be reading tomorrow on my very own blog. Could be revealing. I have a few friends that have some really cool blogs and I thought it looked like fun. So here I come, dipping my toes in the pool of bloggers and techies. This is so not me but I can't resist fun so here I am.

My hubby is great with computers, Good thing since that is what he does for a living. So he has done most of the work and tutoring to help me get started. I have a lot to learn still so bear with me. I hope to figure this out and eventually be able to do it on my own but for now I am the ID10T error on this page.

Its too late for me now so before I embarrass everyone I know by saying to much I'll say adios for now.