Overdue report on Grandma and Grandpa Hale's visit

We were thrilled to have a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Hale two times this winter. We hadn't seen them for 2 1/2 years--since summer 2007, except through wonderful Skype. This was partly because they were on their 3rd 18-month mission to Villa Hermosa Mexico, and partly because we only get to Utah about yearly and we didn't make it out to Utah this past summer when they returned. My parents did a cross-country trip visiting all their kids, friends and geneology sites. They showed up on our doorstep just in time for dinner on Saturday, November 14th. We had them for 3 nights and then they stayed over at Joey and Katy's house. Mostly we did a lot of great chatting. The biggest topic of conversation was where and when to do the family cruise for my parents 50th anniversary next year. They came to church with us and met lots of great people and made a great impression. They kept on asking my Dad to relate his opinion as he'd been a mission president--he never had been, but somehow they got that idea. On Monday night for Family Home Evening they shared a lot of pictures from Mexico. Talmage was really desperate for him to show a picture of a snake, but alas, he only had pictures of a 4-foot iguana that they found hanging out in their dryer vent. Katie and I took my Mom to the Pink Palace museum, it was not that great of a museum. But it was fun to drive Mom through mid-town and see all the beautiful old mansions, and through a ghetto part of town that had Harvard, Yale and Hale streets.
They stopped by again the first week of December on their way back West on the 40. This visit was less chaotic because we had them all to ourselves (Joey and Katie enjoyed their time alone with them too). It was the first Family Home Evening after Thanksgiving and they helped us decorate for Christmas. We made them breakfast in the morning and sent them on their way. The boys really enjoyed the time with them. This was my parents first time meeting our Trace. We were excited for them to meet him because he's such a cheery little guy. My Dad said, "He's always smiling."

Two Goofies

Merry Christmas! Please excuse the crazy long intro!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Dictation

Last Friday Talmage came home from school early with an earache that ceased to bother him the moment he crossed the threshold. From now on I'm taking Motrin to school and sending him back to class. But anyway, he and Jack started in on a craft, which involved sticking Christmas-themed foam shapes onto a foam sheet. This kept them thoroughly engrossed for a good hour. When the masterpieces were complete Talmage offerred to write Jack's name on Jack's project. So Jack spelled his name out for Tal, letter by letter and Tal wrote it on Jack's project. This tickled me no end. First it's hilarious that Talmage, age 8, could not be bothered to waste brain cells on figuring out how to spell Jack's name. But it's also so exciting that he'd volunteer to write anything, as writing is right next to waterboarding as far as Talmage's favorite things to do. And it's so sweet that he'd want to help out his little brother like that. The other hilarious thing is that Jack can totally write his own name, but he seemed totally jazzed that his big brother was helping him out. And he seemed so proud that he could coach his big brother on how to spell his name. The whole exchange made my week.

Cole Turned 7

About two months before Cole's birthday it began. "Mom, what did you get me for my birthday?" (50x) "Mom just give me a hint." (50x) "Mom, where did you hide my presents?" (50x) "Mom, you have to come here and see on the computer what I REALLY want for my birthday!" (1000 x) And finally, after black friday: "Mom, could you stay up all night again and get me this present, instead?" (1 amazing x) If there's one thing we Cresaps do well, it's obsess! And boy, that Cole sure was excited about his birthday! I finally told Cole 2 days before his birthday that if he asked me where I hid his presents one more time, he wouldn't get his presents until the afternoon of his birthday, instead of the morning when he woke up. Horror of horrors. That produced an amazing amount of self-control in Cole and, still not able to think about anything else, he was remarkably speechless for a couple of days. But the day finally came, and after all that build up, I hope it didn't disappoint too much. We started with his favorite breakfast, cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate, then we did some present opening: Indiana Jones Legos, a leapster and games and a Ben 10 movie.
Later I went to his school class. His teacher, Mrs. Rios met me at the door and said, "I just love Cole! He's like a little man, so mature! And he's so funny! (Under her breath) I wish all the kids could be like him." I said, "I kind of like him, too." I read the class a book, my cousin Nate Hale's (check out his amazing blog here) The Dinosaurs Before Christmas. Then we made a little treat, brownie trees with green frosting, candy for ornaments and preztel sticks for the trunks. It was a big hit.
On the weekend we had a friend's party at Incredible Pizza, kind of like a Chuck E. Cheese without the cute characters and with things older kids enjoy like a roller coaster simulator, a go-cart race track and bumper cars. It's the kind of place kids love and I can't wait to leave! But the kids had a blast and so we'll call it a success. The friends who came were Ethan Pate, Ethan Sterbis, Ethan Welch, Brandon Wery and David Wery.
Happy Birthday to Cole!

A Note from Clint: The Best Birthday Ever

Clint here: I don't blog, and I don't know that I've heard many 40th birthdays described in glowing terms before. But I guess there are exceptions to most rules, and my entry to the world of the middle-aged would be one...

So Sarah and I had talked about going somewhere memorable for the occasion. At one point Cabo was bandied about, but I didn't want to spend the effort and time to travel to to Cabo San Lucas and not dive (Sarah's ear drums are broke and out of warranty). Navy life with 4 boys under the age of 8 being what it is, we'd settled (I thought) on leaving our children at home and doing a combined 15th Anniversary/40th B-day trip to Nashville to see the CMA's in November. Which was a blast. In the meantime, however, Sarah and sis-in-law Katie (in on the plot) stated they wanted to take the kids to Nashville to see the Opry Hotel lights and other assorted Christmas sights, so they planned a joint Cresap/Hale Nashville excursion for this past weekend, and rented a house in support of said plan.

Now, I'll be the first person to admit to being less-than-sensitive to wifely non-verbal signals (especially the sneaky ones that aren't intended to send a signal) but it was obvious she had something planned. So when she announced on Thursday night that the Hales weren't going, (which Katie confirmed with a dramatic "I'm eight months pregnant and too tired, so I'll stay here and watch your kids" - which makes zero sense) it just confirmed for me that something was up. But there was no way I was going to complain about getting another no-kids weekend away, and I certainly didn't see any benefit to prying into her "plan", which, incidentally, suffered from a serious lack of details, so I kept quiet. And off we went early Friday afternoon, with "dinner reservations" in Nashville at 5:00pm.

We made good time, and pulled into the parking garage in downtown Nashville at 4:40. As I turned into the entrance, I got a quick glance at a red-haired woman, facing away from me, on the corner. More than a passing resemblance to Jessica, but this is Nashville, she's in Arizona, and I just had the one glance. So I didn't think much of it. I parked and we walked down to the long line outside the restauarant, and as we did so, Tyler called me. And proceeded with a very bizarre series of questions about AK-47's. I noticed that as soon as Tyler called, Sarah got a call as well. At this point I got a little suspicious... especially as Sarah left me in the line to go "check" on our reservation, from which she returned and announced that it had been lost and they'd recommended another place down the street.

As suggested, we walked down 2nd Ave to the Riverside Grill, and as we walked in I immediately noticed someone that looked like Robyn standing next to the pool table in the corner. However, when the person that looked like Robyn (Robyn being in Colorado, so this couldn't be her) saw me glance at her and then giggled and ducked behind the corner, I realized that it really WAS Robyn. And that meant it actually was Jessica standing on the street corner, and that the awkward telephonic distraction of Tyler's meant he was in on it too. And that it was probably too much coincidence that the people who looked just like Ike and Chris and Kristen standing around the corner with the Tyler, Jessica and Robyn look-alikes weren't actually Ike, Chris, Kristen, Tyler, Jessica and Robyn. I mean, what would the chances of that be???

So for my 40th Birthday, the greatest group of friends in the world rearranged their hectic December schedules, pawned off their children, and flew from Colorado, Utah and Arizona to Nashville to surprise me and spend 48 hours sitting around talking. True, there was some eating out, and a Civil War battlefield in there somewhere, and an aborted attempt to get within walking distance of the Opryland Hotel, but mostly it was just a bunch of friends sitting around talking. It is a rare gift to be possessed of a friend with whom, even after years of living in different states and separate lives, there is no distance; with whom, when you are reunited, the relationship returns as strongly and effortlessly as it ever was when you first became acquainted. It is a rare gift to find one, and I've been blessed with six. Thanks, guys, for giving me the best 40th Birthday anyone ever had. This one was a keeper.

-Clint

PS - Enjoy the sentiment while it lasts. This took about a decade of emotional sensitivity out of me. Not sure where I found it but there ain't any left where it came from.

PPS- The tissues are on the side table, Ike.

PPPS - If you are arranging a surprise trip for someone, and they say "No, Cabo would be too hard for just a weekend", and the alternative is Tennessee in December, you ASK AGAIN!