Halle Reese Hales was born on May 18th, 2010 at 8:47 AM PT. She weighed 8 lbs. and was 19.5 inches long. She is just adorable. She was NOT happy at all to be taken out of her warm spot and out into the world. She showed us right away that she has a nice set of lungs. Except for during her first hair washing, she cried for just about the whole time from birth to her first snack. Since then, she has been a quiet and happy baby sleeping at times, and looking around taking in her world. The kids just love her and couldn’t wait to see her. Their Grandma Hales took them for the night and brought them up to meet Halle at the hospital. They couldn’t wait to hold her. Grandma Hales was excited that she was the only one able to come up so early and got have Halle all to herself for the morning. Well, her and Jayci had to fight over her a little. We had a bunch of visitors throughout the day, and we very much appreciate everyone’s support. We love you all.

Here’s a bunch of pictures from today. I was going to caption some of the, but it’s been a long day. If I’ve done my job as a photographer, you shouldn’t need captions anyway.

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We have been on a couple more camping trips since Easter. Our first one was kind of a spur of the moment thing. We decided at the last minute we wanted to go out to Antelope Island but found out that all of the sites were booked for the weekend. Even the walk-in sites that aren’t supposed to be able to be booked. So, because we had already packed up the trailer we decided to find somewhere we could go. We ended up going to Willow Creek where Rob was headed to go hunting in a few weeks so we figured he could do some scouting. Besides it is just a nice place to camp. The weather was nice and the kids had a lot of fun. You give those kids some dirt, a shovel, and a bucket and they are entertained for hours. I’m sure I’ve said that before. They love it. They both got to take turns shooting their Dad’s gun and they also love to go 4-wheeling and we got to a bit of that too. It was the first time our family has ever gone camping by ourselves. We always have someone go along with us. I was a little worried we would be bored but it was actually some really nice family time. I loved it! I realized I do a lot more with my kids when there aren’t other people to sit around and chat with all day. I really need to try to spend that kind of time with them regardless.

Shooting Daddy’s Gun

Playing in the Dirt

Jayci found this dead tree and drug it around everywhere!

My 3 favorite people in the world!

Next we went to Plymouth. Not the same kind of camping. We were at a campground. I definitely prefer an atmosphere like Willow Creek. Just camping in the middle of nowhere. We still had lots of fun though. We usually do. There was some fun 4-wheeling trails. Rob bought the kids some goggles to wear with their helmets. They love them. Corbin is a totally different kid on that 4-wheeler now. It’s surprising the difference those goggles make. He screams and cheers and enjoys every second of the ride. And we thought he liked it before. Now there is no doubt. We played a little on a playground. The kids were frozen though and of course on the walk back to the trailer we got slammed by a rainstorm. It was cold!

Wendy and Peter welcomed a new addition to their family on April 17th. They had an adorable baby boy who they named Lucas Patrick Pop. He weighed 7 lbs. 13 oz. and was 21″ long. He is such a good, quiet baby and such a cutie! Well deserved for these two and their long journey to get this little guy here. We couldn’t be happier for them!

Congratulations!!!

A bit behind here, as usual.

We went camping this year for Easter. I know. BIG SURPRISE! We go camping so rarely. Anyway, we went to Coalville with my family this year.  It didn’t exactly turn out to be the springtime festival you’d expect for Easter.  This is what things looked like the first morning.

While Cami was helping prepare for the easter egg hunt, the kids and I decided to build a snowman. The camp host saw what we were doing and brought me out a handful of carrots for accessories and offered up a hat and scarf when we were ready. He also told the kids that he was having a snowman building contest. The first kids to build a snowman got an ice cream. Not sure if he thought through the prize very well. Hot chocolate, maybe? But nice gesture, and the kids loved it. Grandpa Hales made the hat we stole Jayci’s gloves and the flower from her hat and made it a Mrs. Snowman.

I was a little nervous about coloring eggs in the trailer. Eeek!  I wasn’t crazy about the idea of a rainbow floor. But we spread out a table cloth on the floor and the kids were really good with it. Cami got an egg spinner, which was a lot safer than the dyes. Cami did most of the dying and we let the kids use the egg spinner to spin the colors on. They were so proud of their eggs.

They loved the egg hunt and got a TON of candy and toys. Thanks to my mom and all my aunts for putting it together for them. We had lots of kids come up to camp for the easter egg hunt. The snow was so deep that a lot of the treats were dropped in footprints in the snow.

Hmmmm…  Left over egg dye. What shall I do with it?

The easter bunny hid their baskets around the trailer and they had to go hunt for them. They loved their umbrellas. They still want to use them every day!