Helping The Hale Family

The Hale family is amazing.  
You know when you meet people and instantly know that you will be lifelong friends?!! 
That is how I feel about this beautiful family.
Aaron and Rob went to dental school together and when we found out we would all be going to Baylor for specialty residencies, we decided we would share a big moving truck! Mercedi is such an amazing wife and mom.  I have learned so much from her and am grateful for our friendship these last few years. They have been the best friends to us since we have been in Dallas.  We even moved into the apartment diagonally below them over a year ago because we knew it would be fun to live so close together. During Aaron's first year of Ortho school Rob drove Aaron to school every single day since we only had one car.  They are such loving, and giving people. We feel lucky to be able to call them our friends.


Ten days ago Rob suffered from a brain hemorrhage and has been in critical condition in the ICU. He was just about a month away from graduating from Baylor as an Endodontist after 10 years of schooling. Their whole world has been turned upside down in a matter of seconds.     
Medical bills are starting to come in not to mention all the student loan debt she will have to face. Please pray for them and go to the donation blog for her updates. This family so desperately needs this help.  Thank you.


HelpingtheHales.blogspot.com

A "not-so-secret" secret blog

I have a new blog.
I have been posting on it for a little while now.
It's not a secret.
I just haven't told very many people about it.
I have been posting pretty much since I stopped on this one.
Don't be mad.
I would still love for you (whoever you are) to check out my sweet kiddos and the happenings in our lives so just comment on my Facebook or email me and I would be happy to send you a link to my new blog.

My email is [email protected]

Happy Mother's Day!

Snow

This week we have had our share of hot chocolate (w/ marshmalows of course!), movies, playtime and daddy.  Lucky for us, he had 3 snowdays because the city was blanketed with ice, and without any sunshine nothing was melting! FInally we got some powdery snow yesterday and the wonderful dad's braved the cold weather with the kids and had a blast in it! If you want a good laugh go check out this video!  It's Aubrie and Mannix (& Rob and Aaron) playing in the snow.

Enjoy! :)

Luke's Blessing

On December 26th, our sweet Lukie boy was given a beautiful blessing by Aaron in his Papa's ward in Las Vegas (Henderson). We waited til we were in Vegas to bless him so that our families would be able to attend and we were so happy to have them there for his special day.

Lauren made the trek out to Henderson for the blessing and I couldn't have been happier to have her there with us. :) Thanks Lauren!!!

Auntie Lauren and Luke Von Swapp!

She looked so cute in her dress- I want her wardrobe- and her style! Love this girl!

We didn't even get a family picture with Aubrie- she was too busy playing with her cousins to notice us! Ha!

My handsome boys!

My little boyfriend!

Auntie Ashley, Uncle Brad and Cousin Braylee

Aunt Candice

Aunt Candice and Uncle Colby

Papa, Daddy, and Luke

Grandma and Grandpa McMurtrey came all the way from Idaho!

I was out in the car with Aubrie (falling asleep) when we realized we hadn't taken pictures with Luke's great grandparents... so Aaron went in the house and took some family pictures... I should have woken Aubrie up and gone in!! Bummer! They turned out really cute!

The blessing was so sweet. Jessica and Kaitlyn were there too, but not in any pictures. We are incredibly grateful for our little Luke and the blessing that he is to our family! He is such a little stud! The men who stood in the circle around Luke as Aaron blessed him: Papa (Bishop Swapp), Grandpa McMurtrey, Colby Meeder, Mitchell Colver, Kevin Irons

Santa Came to 2 houses!

After we finished eating the traditional/amazing scones with the Swapp's we headed over to Grammie's house for a morning/afternoon of fun, presents and delicious food!

(sorry for the crazy sizing on these pictures... my account is all screwy now... so that's what you get until I figure out what I'm going to do about it!)

Look at all those presents!!

The kiddos got Husky gear from Aunty Kelly! They look so cute! Pictures to come soon!

I look crazy, Lauren looks like a beauty queen, and Aubs was so happy about her new grocery cart!

Opening the grocery cart...

Clothes...

Yay for presents!

Lauren and Riley

I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted... caught up in the moment I guess...

I should have taken food pictures too cause we had a great spread... next year I will!

Christmas was wonderful... even more fun with 2 kids and having family in town to celebrate with!! Aubs, Luke, Aaron and I were spoiled beyond belief... as usual! :) Thank you for all the fun goodies and amazing memories!

Santa came!

Christmas morning was awesome! We all woke up -nice and early- and waited for everyone to arrive...

Nana showing Aubrie what Santa brought...

Aunt Jess playing with Aubs and her new dollhouse...

Eating some breakfast so they have energy for opening all their presents...

Excuse my extremely tired looking self... this is proof that Luke was there... he slept ALL morning...

My cute sis-in-laws...

Cute grandpa and Grandma McMurtrey... love them!

My little beauty getting all prettied up!

Presents... Presents... and more Presents!!!

The family! (not pictured: Luke (cause he was sleeping))

It was so much fun having everyone in Las Vegas this year! The little girls were so sweet with each other and made Christmas feel magical.

Out of SPACE!

Has anyone else run out of the 1GB of space available for photos on their blog?

What did you do?

I don't want to buy space, and I don't really want to start a new blog... but I will do what I gotta do...

This is the reason for my lack of posts lately! I must be a posting machine since I ran out of space! Haha!

Help me PLEASE!!! :)

Christmas Eve part 2

We weren't done celebrating, so we headed over to Nana and Papa's house for more fun!

Lukie boy getting love and cuddles from Papa.

 Aubs and Braylee taking a bath in Nana's fabulous jacuzzi tub! The bubbles got a little outta control toward the end, so Aubs had to shower to get them all off!

 My cute sis-in-laws and husbands... and Courtney's baby bump too! :)

 Sweet Eventide!

 Please put your arm around your sweet mom next time nerd! Ha! 

 me and my love.

 Cute dancing ladies!

The guys!

Christmas Eve was wonderful being able to spend time with both sides of the family.  Ashley and Jessica and Kaitlyn were all there too, but I have no pictures! Eeeek! Sorry! We are so grateful for our families and the love they have for us and our kids.  We had a great night and got to bed with enough time for Santa to stop by with tons of presents....

Christmas Eve part 1

We started out our Christmas Eve with my side of the family for a delicious and memorable dinner at BRIO (my favorite)! I ate the Bistecca Salad (wedge) and Pasta Alla Vodka.  If you haven't tried it, you should... it will change your life! :) Aaron had the Chicken Under the Brick (it's like a marsala) and it was great and Aubrie had a pizza with chicken, pepperoni and tomatoes.  Luke slept up until the very end of the meal! We all had so much fun being with family and chatting!

 Lauren's salad, and Matt and Gene.

 Mom and Kelly.

 Uncle Aaron and Aubrie.

 Seeeesters. I am like a ghost next to her! Ha!

 Our little fam... minus the sleeping Luke.

 He woke up and Gene was so wonderful to hold him for us! (Proof that he was there).

 The Aaron's.

Aubrie-Mom-Kelly-Aaron