Our Memorial Day

Holidays like Memorial Day are our more difficult days here alone in Arizona. We miss being with family and friends and enjoying a Hallberg BBQ! We woke up Monday morning and were determined to make it a fun day for our family. So we packed up the boys and headed to the mountains! We went on a 3 mile hike (1.5 miles each way) up a mountain ending at 'Wind Cave,' where we enjoyed a picnic lunch. Joshua got the most exercise by carrying Eli in the baby pouch and German on his shoulders for most of the trek! German really liked all of the lizards and big rocks to climb.

On the drive home we decided that it wouldn't be a true Memorial Day without a BBQ, so we called our friends the Youngs (friends who also moved here from Utah and far away from family!) and made an impromptu meal. It was a great evening! We missed all of our loved ones, but we really did enjoy our day and evening.

Photos of the Week

It's difficult to decipher that this is something other than German playing on his wagon while wearing Joshua's hard hat, but it is actually German riding his motorcycle with his helmet on! If you had been lucky enough to be me, he would have told you that he was carrying his lunch and wallet and that he was on his way to work (German is a big fan of his Gag- that's German for Dad). This boy has such an imagination!

This isn't Eli's best photo, but you can see that he's on his tummy- which despite the worried look on his face is his preferred place to be so he can see what's going on! Because he can't quite crawl yet, he's developed a system for mobility- he turns on his side then twists his body a bit and then flops back on his stomach, having moved a few inches forward in the process.

Blog Stalking

So of course I found this little blurp while blog stalking and I felt it was appropriate to share in order to make us all feel a little bit more secure and normal!

Blog Stalking written by Amelia http://ameliorateme.blogspot.com/
My name is Amelia. And I am a blog stalker.
I check my friend's blogs. Then click on the links to their friend's blogs. Then click on their friend's blogs. And before I know it, I have found a blog I am addicted too, checking it with the same regularity that I run down my own blog roll. It's a blog that would be labeled as a "family" blog, a "personal" blog, a blogger that keeps a low-profile on the internet and blogs to merely keep in touch with their family and friends. A family and friend that I am not. And I do this without said bloggers knowledge.
I break my blog stalking into the following areas:
a. Entertainment. I LOVE reading well-written blogs. Occasionally, through my insane blog link clicking, I will find a blog that is so well-written, I keep coming back for more.
b. Cheap laughs. I can shamelessly laugh at how stupid their blog is. The blogger is most often clueless as to the happenings of the world around them and has a 50s view of women, marriage and motherhood. Spelling and grammatical errors abound.
c. Wishful friendship. I have become attached to the blogger and cannot bring myself to stop checking. We've never met, but I feel like I've known them for years. This category generally concerns me because, if I were to see this person on the street, I could see myself stopping them and striking up a conversation. "So how was the Jones Family Reunion in St. George? Uncle Henry sure looks like a riot!" "Is little Tina adjusting to preschool? I would be heartbroken too if I had to leave my adorable new baby brother at home!" "How is Rich's new job going? He seemed pretty concerned about the transfer."
d. Pure stalking. This category is not as creepy as it sounds because I somehow know the blogger. I went to high school or college with them, was in an old church group or job with them - basically, I have met them at one point or another in my life but was not good enough friends with them to randomly comment. I read because I'm curious. But it would be too embarrassing to reveal that I have somehow found their blog and have taken an interest in reading it since I really don't keep in touch with this person.
e. Degree of separation. I feel like I know this person because my friend has mentioned them, my brother was roommates with them or my husband dated them. I check because I know some level of intimate details about their life. It would be mortifying - for myself and said connection - if this person knew I checked their blog.There is NO chance I would ever comment on any of my blog stalkees. I mean how would that comment go, "So your sister used to be roommates with this girl who is the best friend of my cousin's inlaw's brother...and then I found your blog and know the name of all your children, what your new calling is in church and the details of your Valentine's Day date with your husband." There is basically no way to get around that without sounding creepy. Maybe one day, I'll comment on a category "d" blog if I run into this person and purposely bring up "So...how can we keep in touch? Do you have a blog or anything?"But with this recent trend of "blog security," I find myself getting increasingly annoyed that my blog stalkees are going private. Most often it's because they are afraid of who is checking their blog. I can see the fear (hey, I AM part of their fear), but I tend to think that out of the hundreds of thousands - millions even - of people who have blogs, the chance is unlikely that a true creep will blog stalk me. My life just isn't that interesting. Naive thinking, maybe. But honestly, as long as I'm not stupid and post information that is too personal, I'm being relatively safe.I know I have my own blogstalkers - I check my blog stats. I can see what areas people visit from (hello Arkansas!). I hope I have interested the blog stalker enough to keep checking. Hopefully not because they want to kill me, but because they find my blog mildly entertaining. So - creepy labels aside - I want to know. Any fellow blog stalkers out there?

"Can I wear a tie?"

In response to German's question, Joshua searched his tie rack for the perfect fit. This is what we came up with and I think it totally fits German's personality! (Look out President Harker - that's an inside joke for all you mission friends out there)

A Few More Photos I Stole From Angie...

Doesn't our boy look like Clark Kent?

What a sweet person!

Sydney is such a cutie and loves the babies.

Eli is Growing Up

Our little Eli has changed a lot in the last couple of weeks. He is a 'squirmer' (says German) and I have little doubt that it won't be long until he's crawling. He loves his mobility! Yesterday I laid him on the carpet on his back and I few minutes later he had rolled/twisted his way into the kitchen.

The other big milestone of the week was that Eli begann eating solids. Unfortunately, he does not enjoy them. I've concocted three different recipes of rice cereal and bananas and he is not interested at all. He makes a face like he's totally disgusted and then spits it all out. I can tell he's just not into the new texture and method of consumption. If anyone has any good ideas about how to make him like baby food, I'd love to hear what you've got!

Our Trip to Utah

We made the dreaded roadtrip again last weekend to celebrate Joel's graduation and see our families and friends. It was worth the time in the car to see everyone and spend some time with them.

Unfortunately, we're having some technical difficulties with our camera and I'm sad to report that we think we've lost all the pictures from the weekend. I try not to think about it for fear of bursting into tears! Especially because we got some good shots of German riding on Uncle Joel's motorcycle and German has been talking about the motorcycle ride since we got home. He drives his wagon around the apartment making motorcycle sounds and telling me that he's a 'motorcycle guy.' I did steal one of Angie's photos of the Hallberg clan to post, mostly as proof that we were there and because people are more likely to read this if there is a picture attached!

We enjoyed being with all the Hallbergs, with the exception of Mel and the boys, all the Clarks, Brian and Kira, and the Louds. Our boys love their grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. We realize that the only negative about our choice to move to Arizona is that we deprive our boys and ourselves of closer relationships with their extended family. In case you ever doubt it, we love you all and miss you more than we tell you.

We probably won't get to see Brian & Kira and Josh & Shelby for a while so it was good to see them all. German keeps asking about you all at random times and I think he must somehow remember going to your houses (a lot!) while we still lived in Provo.

Congratulations to My Big Brother

I just wanted to write and let everyone know how proud we are of Joel. He thinks it's no big deal that he finished his bachelors degree, but we think it's a pretty big deal considering he and Angie have four children and he has worked full-time their entire marriage so that Angie could stay home with their kids. I guess I'm most proud that they are following the counsel of the prophets to have children and keep the mother in the home and that Joel has sacrificed a lot to make that happen. He's a good example! I guess I trained him pretty well:)