Happy Fathers' Day!!!

On Sunday I got to speak in church about fathers being the head of our home and the spiritual leader, along with the importance of the temple to the family. I am so grateful that my father always set such a wonderful example for us by taking my mother to the temple and letting us all see how important it was. They were and are both really great at that.I am also so grateful for Adam, the wonderful father of my children. He is so sweet with Steven and they are best buds. He's a little nervous to have a daughter, but I know he'll be perfect for her, too. And I am very grateful for Adam's father for teaching him to lead his family and set good goals for himself and for them.

I love you all! Happy Fathers' Day!!!!!!!!!

Beach Fun with the Waldrons!

We were so excited last Saturday to be able to see the Waldrons!!! Chris, Sara (my cousin), and their precious baby boy Christopher are down by Huntington Beach where Chris is working for the summer. On Saturday we decided to meet half way at Zuma Beach, right by Malibu. Sara and I combined cooking forces and prepared a picnic, then we took turns watching the kids and playing in the water--for the guys this meant body surfing and diving into waves, and for us girls it meant venturing forth just enough to get our knees splashed. Adam also built Steven a huge pit to splash around in. It was as if Steven could instantly tell what his daddy was doing, and he wanted to get right in on the action!
Steven LOVED seeing baby Christopher. It made me really excited for when we have our own new baby for him to play with and love.
After our time at the beach we decided that we weren't quite ready to part, so we found a Chinese restaurant and kept on visiting. Steven was so wiped out from the sun, the ocean, and trying to eat his weight in sand that he actually slept through our whole dinner, right on the seat cushion around the table! That has NEVER happened before. Thanks to Chris and Sara for being so fun, and a special thanks for treating us at dinner!!! You guys are so awesome!

Uncle Nathan's Visit!

We were so lucky to get to have Uncle Nathan come and stay with us for a few days this week! He is a totally awesome bowler, so we hit up the bowling alley a couple of times during his visit. He even started to teach Steven the game!















On his last night here, we took Nathan to Stearn's Warf--the Santa Barbara pier area for dinner. We had so much fun walking up and down the pier, and Steven especially loved seeing the birds. Man, pelicans really are HUGE up close!!! Thanks, Uncle Nathan, for coming to visit and for being so much fun! We love you!!!

Are These Guys Twinners, or What?!?!

Thank Heaven for Little Girls!

Hall Baby #2 is a girl!!! We went to the doctor as a family yesterday and got to see a few minutes of our newest member who will be joining us very soon!!! Oh, I love her cute little hands and feet! I need to do another ultrasound in a month because she was measuring small, so the doctor just wants to make sure that she is growing well enough, meaning that she will actually be due later in October on about the 29th! This could be the 3rd King cousin to have that birthday! We are so excited to be having a little girl join our family, and we know that Steven is going to be the best big brother!!!

Disneyland! Yay!!!

Last week our sister-in-law Christa and niece Lexi came into town for a visit during their move from Utah to Texas. Adam had to stay home and work, but Steven and I were able to stay with our Hall family for a few days. We had such a great time together! One of the best days was when we went to Disneyland!!! I have been wanting to go there for so long, and was so excited to finally get to go!It was so much fun to see how much Steven loved certain rides. Alice in Wonderland was the first one we went on. I think he was a bit overwhelmed, but then we went on Small World and he started pointing at everything he saw. He ended up just keeping his 2 little pointers ready so he could jab one into the air at a moment's notice--so cute!
We found a piano in Toon Town that was just Steven's size! He was so excited to see one of his favorite toys there! It took me quite a while to convince him to go see anything else.Steven also really loved the flying Dumbo ride. We went on that one twice, and the second time he started to move the little joy stick so we would go higher and lower. He had the hugest smile on his face and kept laughing. I'm sure he knew he had all the power! I think Steven's favorite rides of the day were Dumbo, Small World, Pirates, The Haunted Mansion, Pinnochio, and the Jungle Cruise. I'm sure Peter Pan would have been at the top of the list, but it was closed! I was so sad because that's the only storybook ride that he's seen the movie for. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to go again! ;)Steven loved Disneyland. Both of the kids were so great, even though they had little to no nap time. They were both so cute and happy the whole time. They did get pretty wiped out, though. My only regret of the day was that the dads couldn't be there to see their kids' first time at the happiest place on Earth. The first of these 2 pictures was taken on our way out of the park, and the second one was taken not even 5 minutes later--we sure kept them going, going, going! Thanks Grammi and brother Johnson from the Newhall 2nd ward for getting us into the park! A good time was most certainly had by all!!!

Beach Outing

As I mentioned before, we have been taking our dinner to the beach once a week. We all really love our beach picnics. We've gone to a different beach every week so far, and today we went to East Beach. This one was extra special because it had a small playground. We started out with Steven on the swings, which he LOVED!
Next we went over to the playground and Steven found a little tunnel that he could hide in so we could play peek-a-boo.









We ended by the water with our food. It always amazes me how much Steven loves to go into the ocean, even when it's totally cold. He would get so mad if he was wanting to go deeper and we wouldn't let him. A couple of times he even made a mad crawl dash to the shoreline, and Adam would barely catch him on time.
We are loving living the life of being on vacation here in Santa Barbara, haha. Come and visit us soon!!!
By the way, here is a picture of me at 20 weeks--half way through my pregnancy! Woohoo!!! We'll find out in one week from today what we are having! :)
Also, the huge white mansion that you can barely see is a house on 27 acres that Adam has done a lot of work on with his company. Pretty much everything in the picture is part of the property.

New Moon!

Ahhh, the New Moon trailer is up on StephenieMeyer.com--you have to go see it! And, by the way, the werewolves do not disappoint!!!!!!!!!! Yay for increased movie budgets! I can't wait for November 20th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cute Boy!!!

A couple of weeks ago I was still trying to unpack and I realized that it had gotten very quiet. I started calling Steven's name, and then I heard him in the kitchen. This is what I found:
He had discovered that we were keeping the bread right at his eye level, so he promptly got into the back and helped himself to 4 pieces for a little snack! He was so pleased with himself and so excited to show me what he had found. :)

Here's a little look into the future--2 cousins playing piano duets. These boys are so cute, and I love it that they get to see each other way more now!!!Also, isn't this so cute? My parents bought Steven a little fire truck for his birthday, and he loves it! He can't quite ride it by himself yet, but he loves to push it around, ring the bell, and sit on it while we give him rides. Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa (and thanks, Daddy, for putting it together)!

California, Here We Come! Right Back Where We Started From!

For those of you who have wondered where in the world the Halls have disappeared to, we are now living in Santa Barbara, CA! Things have been so crazy with moving in, not having internet access for a while, visiting family, etc. that I have neglected my online journaling--now there is so much to catch up on! Santa Barbara is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! The weather has been amazing (with the exception of our first week when we thought the whole town would burn to death in the fires). They call it "May gray" and "June gloom," but we love that it's overcast and cool for the better part of the day, especially since Adam is working hard outside all the time. He is loving his work, by the way. It's really fun to see. We try to take our dinner to the beach at least once a week, and it is so much fun. Steven loves getting in the water, and he gets super excited when people bring their dogs to the beach--"Daga! Daga!" It's so cute!

One of the firs things we did once we moved in was cut Steven's hair. :( We waited until coming here because we wondered if the humidity would make his hair curl a little bit, but nope, he has his mom's bone straight locks. I cried all through the hair cut (which was pretty tricky since I was the one doing it), but it's definitely for the better. He looks so handsome, and now poeple in our new ward have stopped asking if he's a boy or a girl.














We've also gotten to go to Valencia and visit both of our families a lot since moving here. We're a little less than an hour and a half away--not bad! I'm excited that it's summer and time to go to the pool. Steven loves the water!