Saturday, February 25, 2017

Wyoming Football

We were able to make the trip down to Laramie a few times this year to attend some Cowboy football games.  They had a great season and were a fun team to watch.

We had breakfast with Nicole before the Homecoming game!  This is her first year at UW.

We met Theo Ratliff (former standout UW and NBA basketball player)  after the Homecoming Parade.  The girls were amazed at how tall he was!  Joe is 6'4" for comparison.  He's got to be at least 7'

My Mom and Dad came to the Homecoming game with us!

Coach Bohl leaded the team into the stadium.  This is the girls' favorite place to be at the start of a game.  They get to give the players high fives !:)

Another beautiful day in Laramie, WY


Joe, Greer, Dave, & Don went down to Laramie for the Boise State game.  It was an incredible game...the first time UW has beat a ranked team in quite some time.




We also went down for the Mountain West Conference Championship game.  They didn't pull of a win (barely) and it was very cold, but we had a great time anyways.  We left our kids at the hotel with my mom and went to the night game with my dad and Amanda & Greer.




Thursday, February 23, 2017

Nine Years Old

Gabi turned 9 years old at the end of September!  We are so proud of this strong, smart, beautiful girl.  I can't imagine life without her.  Happy Birthday, Gabs!

Breakfast pancakes!

Gabi's only wish was to play basketball with all of her buddies for her birthday.  Wish granted!  They played for 2 hours straight and had a blast!




We celebrated with family at the cabin.  Thanks to Amanda for the great cake!



Trip to Lincoln

We made the trip to Lincoln, NE in early September to see my Grandma Dorothy, my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin, and to watch the Wyoming vs. Nebraska football game.

It is a 10-11 hour trip.  The kids did great in the car.  Jacob loved seeing all of the farm equipment and trains across Western Nebraska.  I spent a lot of time in this area when I was growing up as both sets of my grandparents lived here.  The sandhills looked beautiful this year due to a lot of rain last summer.



The football game was a blast.  I have many great memories of attending Nebraska football games with my family when I was younger.  I wanted my kids to experience Nebraska's stadium.  It really is amazing to see that sea of red.  The loved the people watching, the food (especially the red hot dogs), and when the student section led the most amazing wave series around the stadium ever!  Even though Wyoming lost, it was a great game!  My dad was a good sport sitting with us in the Wyoming section!


We found the Wyoming equipment truck!

Seth and Nicole were there as well, so we got to catch up with them.  :)


We were able to go to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha.  It is an amazing zoo and we had fun hanging out with my Auntie Virginia and Uncle Gary.

In the rainforest

Proof that weirdness runs in the family.  :)

Jacob loved his wagon.

Riding the train

The only picture I have of my Grandma and Aunt from the whole trip!  We had so much fun with them.


Watching the graphs cross over to go into the giraffe house.  It was neat to see the babies.

First Day of School

We are grateful that we have two girls who love to learn and love school.  Gabi is in 3rd grade and Maya is in 2nd grade...







The whole crew....Jacob was a little bummed to see his sisters go, but pretty excited to get my full attention in the mornings again.  :)

The girls don't ride the bus very often because Joe drives into town to go to work every morning anyways, but here is a picture of the Hall Ranch crew waiting for the bus one morning.  :)

More Summer Fun

A few more pictures from our summer in wonderful Wyoming.  We love living in God's Country.



Delivering cookies in Grammy's buggy



On a mountain hike with Grammy & Papa...




Spending time at the cabin with cousins and to celebrate Grandma Phyllis's birthday...



A late summer water balloon fight...



A camping and hiking trip to Elgin Park...



Gabi's selfie.  :)

Playing lawn golf in the forest




Lots of fun playing around the house...the Olympics inspired many fun competitions...such as scooter trick racing.  :)  My race medals were put to good use!


This boy loves his slides.

Nicole took the girls standup paddle boarding one day!  They had a blast!






Helping Grandma and Grandpa pick apples