Disneyland. Best Surprise Ever!

Greg and I pulled off the best surprise this Summer.  We didn't tell Nathan we were taking him to Disneyland until we were ready to walk into the park.  It was awesome. :-)


None of us have ever been to Disneyland, so it was a first for Greg, Nathan and I.  After our trip, we now understand the tagline "The happiest place on earth." There is just something about it, that makes it a happy place.

We have friends in AZ that seem to go to Disneyland once a year.  We didn't get it and they didn't get how we had never been!  Now...we get it and fully understand the magic of Disneyland. 

I guess I brought back some magic pixie dust with me because I was able to pull together our family vacation video within hours instead of days which is more my speed.

I love that Nathan will have this video to look at in the future so he can remember this very special surprise Dad and I pulled on him!

Christmas 2012

Somehow, I captured almost all of our Texas Christmas in video and compiled all the footage into a single video for our 2012 scrapbook.  Taking 7 days and consolidating down to 6 minutes is no easy task, though finding a 6 min Christmas song for the background music proved more challenging.  I had a song to use already in mind but its time was shorter than my video.  I had to tag on another song.  This is the issue I wrestled the longest with - Not compiling the video footage!  I'm much to obstinate (read anal-retentive)  and hated tagging on another song and half a song, at that.  In the end, I just had to let it go.  Besides, it was 3:30am when my resolve was weakest.. :-)

Enjoy. Oh and happy new year tomorrow. :-)



Music: You're Here and Heaven Everywhere by Francesca Battistelli

The Hull-idays Family Pictures Behind the Scenes Video

Since I've discovered integrating pictures with audio & video to fully document life events, I have so enjoyed the end-results.  So why wouldn't I infuse our 2012 family pictures with behind the scenes video?  Exactly.

So here it is:


This will be one of the last videos that will make it into our 2012 family scrapbook.
Of which, I am thrilled to be wrapping up very soon! Woot, woot!!

The Missing Months. Hello again.

July. August. September.  Those are the missing months for 2012. Hello again.
Where were we, you ask?
Did we go on a voyage around the world?  Hardly.
Did we enter the witness protection program?  Nope.
Did we win the lottery?  Definitely not.
Nothing so dramatic, we just went through a lot of changes.  At once, it seemed.
Pretty much our pattern, right?  Hello Hulls.

I took a look at the scarce number of pictures taken over this time period, they tell the story best...

We decided to move and put our house on the market, hello house showings...

 We bought another home.  A short-sale.  It was a four month process, hello patience... 

Greg was offered an IT job and it was to good to pass up. Hello commute...

My job announced management and team changes, hello stress...

We got the house keys at the same time Greg started his new job and  we had to immediately begin house renovations in order for the carpet installation, hello time crunch...

 This floor also had to come out in order for carpet to be installed, hello last minute changes...

While Greg ripped out walls and cabinets.  I cleaned. And cleaned. And cleaned. The new house.  For six days. Hello germ-a-phobe...

Though we didn't actually 'plan' to move this particular Saturday, it happened, hello manpower...

We made trips back and forth. A lot. Hello gas station...

While we were tearing out, cleaning up, and moving around...school started.  Kindergarten. Half day. Hello schedule changes....

And then there are the hundred little details that go alongside a move, like forwarding the mail,  hello small but important details...

And so much more.  To much to go into.  For a while it felt like we were drowning in a sea of change and conflict, all crashing towards us at once. Hello overwhelmed.
But the waves have finally calmed, our heads are above water now, we are still afloat, gently rocking back and forth.  Hello peace.  I've missed you.

-

Monster Truck Mayhem!!!

I'm hesitant to admit, we actually went to a Monster Truck show.  Uh, to take Nathan of course and needless to say, it was a spectacle to be seen!  Despite the car crunching and the fire-breathing-dragon-robot it was one of the most family friendly events I think I've ever been.  More family friendly than a baseball game - seriously!

Here's a video of our night with the Monster Trucks:

The Grand Canyon by Helicopter!

Greg's carefully constructed birthday surprise this year was 'helicoptering through the Grand Canyon'.  Uh, yeah-not to shabby.  In fact, quite the opposite, incredible!!  There are not enough words, nor are there adequate words to describe the experience.  To say it was epic is really understatement.  To say it was spectacular or awesome or incredible or amazing....well even these words fail to measure this event up.

I created this brief video clip, hoping to capture on film our experience but as with many things of this nature, it's just something you gotta experience for yourself to really appreciate.  But click play anyway! :)



That's it. Words fail me on this one!

Simplifying the Season

In November, I realized I would need to simplify our upcoming holiday season.  So I took inventory of everything coming down the pike between school performances, church duties, work responsibilities, chores at home, etc. etc. and deliberately started letting things go!

First and noticeably from my last post date, I neglected the blog - there was simply no extra time to do it, so I just didn't. 

Second,  I didn't have the time or budget to create a Christmas letter so I minimized it to the photo card and within minutes, I was done! Keeping conservative, I only printed 50 copies in lieu of sending out a 100 as I've done in prior years.

Third, Christmas gifts.  I am the primary person to worry deal with these details each year and typically, it's my biggest season stresser.  So this year, I chose simple and minimal to free myself from the stress!  For those who treated us to a special occasion such as dinner or a party, I gave fresh flower arrangements.

For out of town relatives, I gave our family calendar.


For Nathan, I found something I knew he would love.  What tickled me though, was a couple of weeks before Christmas when Nathan built an aircraft carrier out of legos and left it on the floor just inches from the very large air craft carrier wrapped up under the Christmas tree!


As I suspected, he loved it. =)




For Greg,  I didn't spend alot (which makes him happy) but I did put a lot of thought into it.  I made a 'Date' book with 12 months of top secret pre-planned dates. He doesn't handle surprises very well though, so this was a little risky.


During the mad dash to Texas, we guarded our time and kept our activities to a minimum.  We didn't visit with friends but just spent our short time with relatives.










Our more exciting table talk though was about our reality show relatives, whose show "Texas Multi Mamas" would air on WE Tv, 3 days after Christmas.  This plug's for you Ryan and Teryn! ;)


This just happens to be a new favorite of Greg & Nathan.


Christmas at this age is such a special time, I think it's because it's before any 'expectations' are developed. 


Before I knew it, we were in the car again driving back to Arizona. 

New Year's Day was on a Sunday.  Both Greg and I were scheduled to serve at church so we canceled our New Year's Day brunch.  Though, I enjoy ringing in the new year with friends - it was a welcomed break!

As I suspected it would, the holiday season came and went in a flash.  Would I liked to have done more or even given more?  Of course. But it wasn't realistic so I had to let go of some self imposed expectations in order to simplify the season and I'm glad I did because I still have some sanity about me!

Lastly, it seems every Christmas there is either a video or a picture in which I look absolutely ridiculous. Since I'm a good sport and love a good laugh, it's become a little tradition to share here so we can all have a good laugh together - cause I'm fun like that. ;)  So here it is.  This Christmas' picture where I look absolutely ridiculous!

Bwahaaaa!!  So when I showed this picture to Greg, he said I look like this ALL the time.
Wait.
Whaaat?  Really?
If this is true, shame on all of you for not telling me!! :)

Happy New Year ya'll!

Thanksgiving Table Trot!

We hosted Thanksgiving this year, our guests were the Nortons and Haniotes. We had 15 adults and 5 kids.  Everyone brought a dish which simplified the entire process and kept my to-do list very minimum.  I loved doing it this way, it gave me the time I needed to clean the house and make other preparations.

Like setting up the tables:




The little kids table was so cute!


This was the first time I used table place cards, such a great idea! I also made some napkin rings with some online Thanksgiving printables found here.




I established the arrival time for 12:30, pretty sure it would take an additional hour to pull everyone's dishes together, carve turkey, etc.  I totally called it, we sat down to eat about 1:30. We finally trotted to the table and had a great Thanksgiving meal, thanks to all of our guests!



Jim Bob looked very dapper today! :)


How cute are our little ones?  I just want to gobble them up! haha!






The Nortons plus extended family:


The Hanoites




And us :)


Great day, great food, great game (Cowboys won), great friends!



Oh yeah, great photobombs! haha!




Hope Ya'll had a Happy Thanksgiving!

Our October 31st

This year we met up with folks in our neighborhood who are subsequently in our homegroup and whose children also go to Nathan's school.  It's like the six degrees from Kevin Bacon thing!  :)

We looked like a good size group - a force to be reckoned with!



Nathan dressed up as an Air Force Stealth Pilot (with facial hair) and once he had his costume on he asked me what was his mission was supposed to be.  'Get candy' what else?


I hadn't planned to dress up but I ran across this headband at a friends garage sale, remembered I had a shirt that matched the bow and before I knew it I was Minnie Mouse!  I even had the white gloves but I forgot them at the house, darnit.  This is Nathan's salute!


It took Nathan a while to warm up to Trick or Treating, staying close to me, but after several houses he ran ahead with his friends and classmates.

Each of these little girls are in Nathan's class at school (except the older girl in the middle).  Look at that Strawberry Shortcake, is she not the cutest little thing  you've ever seen?!! 

I hate that this picture is blurry but Nathan's penciled-in mustache and his expression makes him look like a french painter, hahaha!


"Oui Oui Mademoiselle"

 
And that was that. :)