SURPRISE!

No, I'm not pregnant everybody, but I know that's what the majority of you were thinking. :)

The SURPRISE is that we came home to Utah for Thanksgiving and nobody even knew about it! It was so fun to surprise both of our moms and family members. And it was hard for me to keep such a fun secret, but worth it. We drove all night and got in at 3am - Rachel surprisingly did great sleeping in her carseat and I actually drove half the way! (This is super impressive considering I am not a good long distance driver - must be the mom instinct kicking in or something.) We woke Brandon's parents up when we "snuck" in to their house at 3am :) and we had to track down my mom later this morning since she was running errands, but we found her at Costco. So fun to be part of such a fun surprise!

We are grateful to have such wonderful family to be sharing Thanksgiving with!

Happy Thanksgiving!

p.s. Thank you for all your lovely compliments and comments lately!

Home Sweet Home

I probably posted 10 more pictures than I needed to. :) Here's a front view of our home in Mesa, AZ! It's just a 30 minute commute for Brandon to work in Phoenix and we really like the area we chose. It is very close to all the shopping I'd need and we have a great ward and good neighbors. It's a four bedroom, two bathroom house and we love the layout. The picture aren't my best work, so you should probably come visit sometime to check it out for yourself :) ... we can offer you a very comfortable air mattress!

RACHEL'S BEDROOM

MASTER BEDROOM

-view of bathroom and walk-in closet

EXTRA BEDROOM

- faces the front of the house and I can't say I love the arch windows, but they're everywhere here

- for now it houses the oversized love sac and other storage items

TOY ROOM / OFFICE

- we spend a lot of time here and absolutely love it

- also has an arch window, except I got creative with some curtains

p.s. I sewed the curtains this week! This was my first sewing attempt since high school and I even made up the pattern since I was too cheap to buy one. My goal was to make it look like a rectangular window rather than arch and to block out the sun to help cool down the room. TA DA!!

HALLWAY BACK TO THE BEDROOMS

- hi Rachie!

- tile in the entry, kitchen, laundry, hallway and bathroom; the rest is carpet

FRONT DOOR into step-down FORMAL LIVING ROOM

- A piano will be going against this wall soon!

FAMILY ROOM

- Are we the only ones on the planet who haven't upgraded to a 50+" TV? I like my tiny dvd/vcr combo and besides, it's just the perfect size since the entertainment center was custom built by Brandon three years ago

- Family Room open to kitchen and dining - favorite part of the house!

- We're getting the cupboards extended to fill that wall there soon

LAUNDRY ROOM/PANTRY

BACKYARD

- it's really fun to have a backyard and patio!

Welcome to our Private Blog {Logistics}

Our blog is now private - if you received an invitation, but need to change your email address or if you received an invitation and do not intend to read this blog, no worries - just let me know and I'll fix that real quick by changing or removing your email address. Or if you know someone who wants an invite, have them send me an email at whitneyhale@gmail.com.

I wanted to give a silly private blog declaration (since I myself love google reader and am sad to be removed from your feeds so that you know when I update the blog!), so here goes: I, Whitney, will do my best to update this blog approximately once per week, but have all rights to not update if I'm in a bad mood or just don't feel like blogging or get a little busy. Know that I usually update the blog on the weekend, but make no guarantees or am contractually bound to do such. If I do not blog enough, you may voice your opinion by commenting - but please note that it may or may not make a difference. :) But you all know that I do love blogging and that I do it for the family and friends that don't live nearby (we miss you and love you all!).

Scene: Mommy made a yummy dinner, but Rachel is refusing to eat it and throwing a small tantrum. Daddy enters and tries to reason with her.

Daddy: "Rachel, you need to eat dinner."

Rachel: shakes her head no, moans and whines and doesn't want to eat anymore dinner

Dad decides to move straight to a bribe. Good call.

Daddy: "Rachel, if you take a bite, daddy will do the hot dog dance for you."

Rachel: Grins from ear to ear and opens her mouth very wide ready for her bite.

Mom hurries to place a large bite in Rachel's mouth and then laughs hysterically as Daddy sings and dances the hot dog dance full out. Point of reference: the "hot dog dance" is from Disney's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Rachel absolutely loves it.

Rachel ate her entire dinner, with lots of hot dog dances in between bites. :)

Video below includes shout outs to gma, gpa, nana, papa, and her Christmas request from Santa and a brief version of her doing the hot dog dance. Mostly for family...you know the drill.

Better late than never

We had a great time celebrating our first-ever HOT Halloween. Rachel was a monkey and had her monkey sound down pat, "ah-ah" and we've been working on saying trick-or-treat, but all she could say was "trick-er"- still so precious. Trick-or-treating was a great excuse to meet our new neighbors and everyone is very friendly! Then we met up with some friends to do some more trick-or-treating and Rachel had a ton of candy and loved it! Such a fun age - I am really looking forward to the holiday season, since she gets so excited and understands a lot more (she already recognizes "SANTA!" wherever we go).

Private blog invites and house pictures coming soon ... we have kept busy unpacking, organizing, decorating, and doing little projects. Last weekend we planted/overseeded a "winter grass" (I had no clue that they did this down here) and I am crossing my fingers it will work. So far, not a lot of new grass action! But I need to be patient and keep the birds off the lawn since they are eating my seeds! Up until yesterday, I had been yelling at them to go away, but this weeks attempt was to put a few balloons in the yard (hoping the wind will keep them moving slightly), which might keep the birds away. :)