HAPPY BIRTHDAY EMMETT. It has been a great year. No lie. Better then the year before and better then the year before that. Ever year is better then the last. I have a full life! We are all very glad Emmett is in our family. Taylor, Cameron, and Mason want Emmett's attention. He is the most fought over toy in the house.

Emmett has the most patience of us all, too. Yes my one year old waits his turn. Emmett is amazing. He is smart too. he only needs to see it once to remember it. He does the hand signs for pop corn popping and paddy cake. He is not walking yet, but he can climb up tv cabinets and desks. He gets his toes on the routed out groove in the doors and his fingers on the top. Then climbs up anything he wants!

I could go on and on about him and how much he is in our hearts. BUT I really am adding this post to invite you to his first birthday party at our house, next Saturday night, April 24th at 5:00. Anyone can come. Please rsvp so I will know.

Easter

The week before Easter all the snow had melted in Woodruff and we were all loving the warm weather. The boys were outside shoeless and playing with the squirt guns. We had a mild winter so far and I thought for sure spring was here to stay. So for Easter weekend we decided to stay in Woodruff and have a Easter Egg Hunt up at the playground. Then ...


So we moved the Hunt inside and they all had a blast, and found lots and lots of eggs. This is Conrad our neighbor that likes to bear crawl when his knees have had enough. I thought is was so cute I had to take a picture. He and Emmett are 5 days apart in age.

Fun Weekend in Osino

We took a trip to Stephanie and Ethan's. It was a lots of fun. The two old boys went snowboarding the first day and then took the younger 5 boys the next day. Here is a picture of the 5 younger boys at the end of their big snowboarding/sledding day. A big THANK YOU goes out to Ethan and Stephanie for treating us to such a great weekend.

Ice Skating on a pond in Evanston

Chad and Jozie came up to play with us for the day and it was great. We went to a pond to go ice skating in Evanston. They groom it each time it snows and so there is a huge rink and also trails that go around and contect. I just think it is so very cool to go ice skating like my grandparents did.

I forgot it's kind of hard to go ice skating. Taylor and Cameron had fun but it's was mostly while they held someone's hand.

This is the whole Hull family.

With four kids we both have to be moms

Has anyone asked you what number of kids was the hardest for you? So Aaron and I just had our fourth child. Friends ask me all the time, was having the fourth kid the hardest. They asked me the same thing when I had my third. I even ask my friends the same thing. I believe everyone has a certain number that is "the hardest" for them and then I believe every couple has a certain number that is the hardest on the married. How hard determines how much the husband is willing to do.

Number three was the hardest for me, BUT number four was the hardest for Aaron or our marriage. I simply could not do four all the time by my self. Aaron had 2 or more kids with him every moment I had kids with me. There was no more where I took the baby and he had the older two. If I needed or wanted to go do something I left him with baby and all. AND in the middle of the night Aaron would take a turn with Emmett. After the day jobs were done we both were running around with kids every single night. Unlike before when I could do it all or at least take the baby while Aaron took the older two.

With four kids we both have to be moms. Aaron had his way of putting Emmett to sleep and I had mine. Aaron had his way of feeding Emmett and I had mine. Aaron would give me tips of what worked for him in the middle of the night and how Emmett liked it.

I have the most amazing husband!!! I believe that every husband has the choice of sucking it up and figuring it out too. Just like us women have too and just like my most amazing husband did, because I ran out of energy and needed help.

Melba Miskin

Jessica asked me to restore Chad's quilt and I have fully enjoyed it. It was origanally made for Chad when he was a kid, by our Grandmother Miskin. She passed away 9 years ago. The women was a mother that made a living knowing how to sew. She then taught her daughter, my mother. Which then taught me. So you see why I loved working on it. Now it's almost done. I decided it was important to leave the hand quilting that my Grandmother did so I removed all the bad batting without pulling out any stitches or taking off the back. I then washed it real well and applicaded new patches on a front. My mother and I picked out fabric for the patches that looked like Grandma Miskin. She made this quilt out of scrapes and left over material she had used to make herself blouses and a bedspread. I remember her wearing some of these fabric.

I love my grandmother so much. I have always said that she was my best friend and I still feel that way. I have learned so much more about her working on it. She learned how to do quilts from the one that her mother-in-law gave to her for her wedding gift. It is not made like the typical quilts of the time. She used a flannel backing. She also rapped the backing around to the front to use as the binding. Both of the things were done of her wedding quilt. Because her mother died when she was only 6 years old this tells me volumes of how she looked to her mother in law for instructions.

My grandmother, Melba Miskin, influesed me in so many ways. Mostly she loved me always no matter what. Just as I could see how much she loved her Savior. I could always she the Savior in her face! She showed me how to love others. By never putting herself above anyone else. Have you ever met someone that made you feel so important. You felt so important and liked when you were around them you just wanted to always be around them? That was Grandma Miskin. I wish I could have been her sister so that I could have had her in my life more. But I know that I will see her again someday. My eyes and my heart swell up evertime I think of that day in heaven when I see her again.

So I dedicate the repairing of this quilt to Jozie and Haven. So that Jessica will wrap them up in it and say, "this is the blanket your Great Grandma Miskin made for your dad when he was your age." Then Jozie or Haven will ask, "who is Grandma Miskin" and Jessica then can tell them about their grandmother and all the love she had.

Christmas 2009

Christmas was lots of fun. Life is so good to us.
Merry Christmas everyone.

The annual Christmas Tree Hunt. Chad, Jessica, Josie, Haven, Joshua, Melissa, Glenda, and Mike all came up to cut down their Christmas trees. I think this is the third year in a row. We brought up chilly and hot chocolate for lunch. We were out playing in the snow from 11:00 to 5:00pm. We were having so much fun. One the way home Taylor, Cameron, Chad, and Joshua all took turns getting pulled behind the truck. I haven't laughed that hard in a long long time. We loved it so much that when we got to the bottom Aaron turned the truck around and drove back to the top to do it again!!!

Grandma and Mason

Haven and Jessica above and below is Chad and Josh getting pulled behind the truck.
Then it was Cameron and Taylor's turn to get pulled behind the truck.
Here is Chad and Josh's next turn, but this time Josh took off his helmet and laid down. While Chad decide to go with the knees this time. Notice Chad's hand signaling to go faster, while Josh is completely covered in snow. Aaron was driving the truck and didn't know what to do. He couldn't see Josh and didn't know if he should do what Chad is signaling, but Chad kept saying faster, faster, go faster. So Aaron went faster.
Josh said he had fun and was glad Aaron went "faster"

We really wish Clint and Elle could be here too!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm so glad for good friends. They showed me how to host the most perfect Thanksgiving dinner. I set the table a week before everyone was to arrive. Stephanie and I planned out the menu. Aaron and the boys cleaned the house and made the beds. The day before Aaron got the tree permits and drove up to check out a new area to get the trees from. On Thanksgiving morning everyone was in the kitchen cooking together. Eric made the cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries. Kari was making mashed potatoes. Stephanie and Kari made rolls from The Lion House cookbook. Aaron started to brain the turkey the night before. Carol and Richard drove up and brought yummy salad and fruit. I made the cheese cake and Banana Cream Pie. The whole weekend was perfect. We had good company and good food for three days. I think everyone felt full of love, laughter, and food.

The best kind of mustache is a EGGNOG mustache

Hailey Hull and Emmett HullMason with Scott and Cameron, Taylor with Zach

All of us were able to sit at ONE table.Friday we went up to cut down our Christmas trees and did a lot of sledding.

It's SNOW

IT'S SNOWING BIG BEAUTIFUL FLAKES AND I'M SOOO EXITED.