Just put on a little lipstick...

It's that time again, time for the annual holiday newsletter from the Hall family. 2013 was a very busy year for all of us. Bryan continues to work for Verizon. This year he experienced some company reorganization that resulted in a job change and relocation to Lake Mary, Florida. The house in Nashville sold very quickly and after a little hotel living Bryan and Laura are settled in Heathrow, Florida. Thankfully Laura's job allows her to work remotely, and also occasionally takes her back to the home office in Nashville.  Laura and Bryan celebrated their 30th anniversary, and also Laura's 5 year cancer free status with a relaxing trip to Key West. Josh and Chassi stay very busy with Anna (10), Morgan (8) and Emri (6). To say this is one busy household would be an understatement. Chassi somehow keeps everyone fed, clothed, chauffeured and healthy while providing childcare in her home. She also helped a good friend with a homebirth and play...

Time again for my yearly check up with Dr. Wagstrom my plastic surgeon. Luckily I was in town for work, and called and they could fit me in. I am trying to keep my Nashville doctors and just make appointments when I am in town. Dr. Wagstrom examined me and said my implants are doing well and to keep taking my vitamin E every day. I am clear to not see her for another year, unless something comes up. Thank God for good check ups!

It was the longest 8 days EVER! We packed up and headed to Asheville, NC to meet baby Anzel and celebrate Thanksgiving with the Thomas/Williams/Hall/Moore/Hancock families. Lisa and Chadd were very brave and invited 20+ of us to their house to celebrate Thanksgiving and to meet their new baby. Jenni organized Thanksgiving dinner and everyone pitched in and helped out. It was a wonderful day full of love and laughter. Thank you Lisa, Chadd and Anzel. We are thankful for you!

On November 20th I was working in El Paso I got a text from Lisa saying her water had broken. It sure was hard to go to work so many miles away from my baby sister that day. Luckily she has an awesome husband, mother-in law and father in-law that kept me up to date on what was going on. After some harrowing moments with delivery (emergency C-section with a few complications) Anzel Thomas Moore made his debut! Lisa and Chadd were instantly in love, as were the rest of us. Welcome Anzel to our big, loud, loving family!

Has it really been 30 years since we graduated from High School? We advertised on Facebook and invited any classmates that attended Chester County High School with the class of 83' to come celebrate with us. The reunion was held at Miss Ollie's in Jackson, TN. There was a definite 80s theme, and we had a really good turnout- over 70 people. Stacy, our class president is still taking care of our class, even after 30 years. Stacy did a great job of organizing the reunion. John McCaskill led us in a wonderful prayer to kick off the evening. We then spent many hours reconnecting, eating delicious food and enjoying music that spanned the 80s-today. We paused mid way through the night to honor those classmates who served in the military, and also to remember those classmates in prayer who are no longer with us. Michael Phelps led such a heart-felt prayer, I wish I could recreate his words for my blog. It was said more than once during th...

I traveled back to Henderson to meet Amber and celebrate my Dad’s 78 th birthday, and also to attend our 30 th high school reunion. Lisa and Chadd were also in town to celebrate her 20 th high school reunion. It was so great to see her and Chadd. Lisa is growing and glowing with my nephew that's due in November. Please join me in praying for a smooth and healthy delivery for my baby sister. Oh, and she'll be having the baby in an actual maternity ward not a Moo-Ternity Ward. My Dad is doing well, he has developed some hip issues from arthritis but he swims several times a week and this helps his joints I'm sure. Dad, like his father before him, loves to work in his garden. He has wonderful blackberry bushes, strawberry plants and melons.   

This is what I think of when I hear Cocoa Beach! Bryan's been doing a good job of getting me out of the house on the weekends. We have explored Cocoa Beach, New Smyrna Beach and of course Disney World. Cocoa Beach Magic Kingdom   New Smyrna Beach    

I kind of feel like these two little girls are part of my family too. This is Charlee Joy and Delta Faye, the precious little girls that Jenni nannies for. The Hodges (JT and Kasey) have welcomed Jenni in to their extended family and we are so thankful that she has them all in her life. Here's a adorable picture of CJ at the Opry. Jenni went with Kasey to take the girls to see their Daddy play. What an awesome memory for a little girl! www.jthodges.com  

I love getting pictures from home, but it breaks my heart that I can't be there for all these exciting events. Anna Belle ran her first 5K. While she was running, Morgan and Emri got their faces painted. I love these beautiful smiles!  

On August the 30th our apartment was finally ready and we moved in. We now live in the Pure Living Apartment Community. We figured if we are going to live in an apartment, find one we will enjoy. Pure Living is gated, has a nice gym and pool and it's also about 4 blocks from Verizon. Bryan's commute takes 2 minutes, which is nice because he can come home for lunch most days. Most of our belongings arrived unharmed. Although the Trans-America pyramid didn't fare too well. We've had this in our living room since Josh made it in 7th grade. We have all the boxes unpacked and it's starting to feel a little more like home. Now to find some friends...

Time to clean out my drafts folder again and get this blog caught up. On August 16th, Bryan and I packed up the car and headed to Florida. We checked in to the Hampton Inn in Lake Mary to begin our new life in Florida. Bryan started at the new Verizon Financial Services Operations center on Monday the 19th. Since I work remotely I spent a lot of time sitting on the hotel bed doing conference calls and webex meetings. Sound fun? Hotel life is not as glamorous as some people think.

Me: What did you learn on your first day of kindergarten? Emri: The Chicken Dance

The last night in Nashville was very hard. We had dinner with the kids and grand-girls at Cool Springs Brewery, which is one of our favorite pizza places.  Emri's rule - pretty smiles only if you get to do silly faces too! Then we spent the night at Jenni's condo and headed out after breakfast with her at the Perch. We will miss these smiling faces, but I have feeling there will be lots of phone calls, visits and skypes for the next year or so.

Joyce suggested we have a going away party at our favorite Mexican restaurant La Terazza. What she didn't tell me was that it was also a birthday party for me. I have awesome friends! We celebrated Joyce's birthday at The Chef and I just a couple of weeks earlier!

We had several going away parties. It sure is hard to leave such wonderful friends, but they promised to visit!

We've been planning to celebrate our 30th anniversary with a trip to Kayne Prime since June 30th. With selling, packing, moving out, etc.. we just kept putting it off one more week. We finally decided we just had to go before we left town, so we picked a Sunday night and headed downtown. Kayne Prime is located in the Gulch area and it has a beautiful view of Union Station and the Nashville skyline. We dined on lobster deviled eggs, homemade bacon w/maple cotton candy, wagyu filet mignon, crème corn brulee  and potato aligot. For dessert they brought us a candle on a plate and chocolate marscapone gelato. I cannot say enough about the service or the food, both were divine! If you have any special occasion to celebrate and you are in Nashville - head down to M Street and visit Kayne Prime. Of course Virago and Tavern are two of my favorites and well.  Thank you to our good friends the Martinos for making sure we had a cozy table and a awesome me...

Hotel living isn't as glamorous as they make it sound in books and movies. We aren't used to living out of suitcases in one or two rooms.  

View from clinic exam room While I was in Utah for work, Verizon sent the movers over and Bryan oversaw the packing of our household. Thank goodness I stayed busy, otherwise I would have been worried sick about strangers packing up all my favorite possessions. I was traveling with two co-workers who love to explore like I do, so that helped tremendously. I trained during the day and then enjoyed the late Utah sunsets with hiking, exploring and ski lift rides in the beautiful Timpanogos mountains. The people of Utah and Timpanogos hospital were wonderful hosts and great with directions and ideas. I  even got to visit the Sundance resort, which was about 25 minutes from where we were working. A visit to Sundance has been on my bucket list for several years and it was just as beautiful as I imagined. I loved shopping at the general store and dining at the Owl Bar. If you ever find yourself at Sundance, get the beef sliders. They use local beef and it...

Wow- that was fast! My fabulous cousin John Hendon sold our house. Originally he was going to come over on Wednesday and take photos and fill out the listing paperwork with us. Then on Saturday he called and said he was taking a lady to look at new construction at the subdivision next to ours and wanted to stop by with her the next day. We were in the midst of cleaning out closets so we shoved everything back in and said sure, why not! Long story short, she loved our house and put an offer on it. Verizon came and packed us up on the 23rd and put our stuff in storage and we closed on July 25th and became houseless. My head is still spinning! If you need a realtor - call John! http://www.coldwellbanker.com/agent?action=detail&agentId=72709&mode=office

My mom's family has a reunion every couple of years and this one was held by her cousins John, Nancy and Stefini. John lives in Sacramento, so it was decided that they would host the reunion at his house.  My mother was a big believer in family and family gatherings and I know she would have been thrilled that Jenni and I attended. The Hendon clan is a happy, loud and loving family. Even though most of these are my 2nd and 3rd cousins we all know each other, and keep up with family happenings. I didn't realize this wasn't the norm in most families until I was older.    Jenni and Jewel picking limes John, Tori and Xiao Xiao opened up their beautiful home to about 40 cousins and a grand time was had by all!

Jenni and I decided to take a Mom-Daughter trip to San Francisco and then finish it off with a trip to Sacramento to our family reunion. Jenni has been with us to San Francisco several times, but not since she was an adult. We had a great time visiting lots of the places we went when she was smaller and added a few more. I introduced her to Chinatown shopping, we went vintage shopping in the Haight and she introduced me to some cool places she had found on Urbanspoon. I even drank coffee each morning with her. For those who know me, this was BIG. Coke zero is what's usually in my coffee mug each morning. We took a little detour on our way to Sacramento through wine country and stopped off at the Dry Creek General Store for a little nourishment. I was trying to get her picture with the locals, but they made me sit down and be in the photo too! What a wonderful trip we had - I love hanging out with you Jen!

My son did it, he did the Spartan Death Race. The kookiest race I've ever heard of. I was on pins and needles the whole time he was racing and until I heard his voice after he finished. Well, he didn't "officially" finish, but in my book he was definitely a finisher. He stopped at hour 68. That's 68 hours straight of running, swimming, chopping wood and obstacles. What is the Death Race you ask? Here's my summary, there's no set course, no set finish line, the rules change constantly and it pushes you to every limit you have. When Josh called me afterwards he said "Hey Ma, I heard you were worried about me. I'm ok, my arms are pretty cut up from the barbwire and my feet are trashed, but it was AMAZING!" I've said it before and I'll say it again, it's exhausting to be the mother of Josh Hall, but I wouldn't change it for anything in the world. Josh was born with an over abundance of energy and it was a challenge to for him...