vacations!!!

Now I promise you we did infact go to St. George although I have no pictures to prove it...I really dropped the ball on that one...Anywho, the end of february Colin and I got to go to St. George with my sissy and her two cute lil kids and my parentals. We were all sick with colds so we did less than we'd anticipated but it was still really nice and a little warmer than SLC.
The day after we got back I found my brand dream car and bought it! Its a new Equinox and exactly what I have been looking for and working for for the last year. I am proud of my purchase. Another big update is that my cute little man has glasses! I honestly was not too thrilled about this news at first. My brother wore glasses before 2 and I know he was always very self concious about it. But...as we put on his glasses for the first time he looked down at the cracker he was eating and looked at me and said "mom, this crackers got holes in it" He is extremely far sided and has a lazy eye so he had no idea what he was really looking at. Needless to say he loves his glasses and has gotten ALOT of attention wearing them.
Well last thursday we went on a fun Hales family vacation. Colin drove down with me and Jacki while my in laws followed. We all stayed in the smallest dumpiest hotel ive ever been in the first night. My in laws in one double bed while the other 3 of us in the other double less than 18 inches away...Jacki and I did not at all. Luckily we had anticipated this and had decided we wanted a FULL vegas experience and had booked a room on the strip at the Luxor. So the next day we checked in their. We had so much fun. Here are some pics I got of us at the hoover dam and then Jacki and I just doing our typical thing!

fall and winter

okay...so here are the very few pictures I have from this fall and winter so far. The first two are from Halloween. Colin wanted to be "little bear" which is his favorite show in Noggin'. I thought that would be adorable and I searched high and low for a cute bear costume in his age and FYI they do not exist. So much to his slight disappointment he had to be Thomas the Train. I went to my party as an 80's rocker chick...or something.

I just barely got back from Long Beach for a hair show. The girls from my salon go every year and I got a chance to go this year. It is a girls dream come true to be in a huge room with all the best of the best makeup, hair products etc for a real good deal. I also have actually moved to another salon after the owner decided to raise our rent. Luckily we found a place that had room for the 7 of us that wanted to stick together. So now I'm at Blush Hair Studio and Spa right in the heart of sugarhouse.


So here are the few I have of christmas. This Christmas was bitter sweet for us. It was our first Christmas without Chris and it was harder than I thought it would be. But we were all together and it made it alot easier. And there were LOTS of presents everywhere we went.
Yesterday we celebrated the one year anniversary of Chris' passing. We call it "chris' day". I have been dreading that day for probably 11months. It stressed me out just thinking about facing the reality. But it was actually a very nice day. Close friends and family met at the grave and we talked about some fun memories and sang I am a Child of God. After, Colin and I went to the Hales and watched the Superbowl. Chris wasn't a big sports fan...but he would watch the game. So we got ALL of his favorite junk food to eat. Sausage and Pepperoni pizza from Litza's, garlic bread and ranch, cookies and cream ice cream, and even Mt. Dew and Dr. Pepper! At the end of the night we watched the photo montage the Jacki and Austin put together last year for the funeral. It was the perfect way to end the night. I can't believe hes been gone for a year, I can barely comprehend that hes gone at all. But Chris' mom put it best last night when she said she wished we had years more of pictures to look at, but if he had to go then we are grateful we are through with the first year. I am so grateful for this last year. I really do think it has been one of the best years of my life, which i realize sounds weird, but I have learned so much. I am really proud of Colin and myself and all of the Hales family in how well we have dealt with everything. I am determined to look at the bright side of life and not wallow in self pity. So on to another year...which will be even better than the last!

finally! an update!

I know I know I suck at updating! Let's see here...well Im loving my new job and so grateful for the flexibility. In the month of september I think my body just kinda shut down and in one month I had tonsilitis which turned into a throat abcess which was caused by mono and then two weeks later I got strep! It was so nice to have a job where I could just not go in if I didn't need to. I really feel like it was my bodies way of telling me that I've been running on empty for too long and I need to just chill.
In october it was my little man's 3rd birthday. It was such an amazing day. I suprised him by parking a jeep power wheel in the garage. He was so excited and that made it so worth it. The week after we went to DisneyLand with my family! What an amazing time we had. The kids loved every minute of it and my little man was fearless. He even did the tower of terror. Such a freaking stud.
Its been almost 10 months since Chris passed away and this time of year is already proving to be hard. All the decorations that we bought together...the nativities that chris bought me every year. But this is my favorite time of year and I'm determined to make it memorable for colin. Now enough of my blabbering here's some pics!

Group deals!!!

Hey all!!! My salon, Roxy carMichaels, is being featured on ksl.coms group deals! For today ONLY you can purchase a one hour facial and shampoo blowdry for $35(a $100 value) check us out...let your friends know. It'll also make a great birthday or christmas present you can give to someone!

I moved!!!

Although I've had enough changes in the last 7 months after a lot of searching and contemplating I made a huge decision to move to a new salon. I was at my last salon for 6 years and it was hard to say goodbye. I felt I needed a change and to put myself in a position to provide for Colin the best I can. I love where I'm at it is the perfect place for me!

lots of fun things...

This will all be a little out of order but that's okay. The first few pictures is of out 5th annual Hales Antelope Island trip. We love to go up and see the buffalo and watch the sun set on the longest day of the year.

On memorial day we had the "revealing" of Chris' beautiful headstone. NuArt monument did an amazing job and pretty much let me design it. They got it up for us 2 days before memorial day and it feels so good to have it finally placed.

Yes, it's true...I went to the backstreet boys concert! It was amazing. Luckily a few girls from work share the same teeny bopper obsession as I do. We made shirts saying "back streets back alright bsb!!!" Some other people made shirts too but I'm pretty confident that ours were the best of the best of the best! It was sort of a flash back to 10 years ago at their concert and frankly i loved every minute of it! BSB forever! HAHA~!

Fathers day...

It's been 19 weeks...19 life changing weeks. I have gone through more in these weeks than I ever thought I'd go through. But I have grown alot and I've amazed myself with my strength. I usually try to post positive and upbeat things because in all honesty I feel so peaceful. But there are nights like tonight, where I'm alone on a saturday night before fathers day, and it makes me miss him. So I guess what I want to say is Happy Fathers Day Chris!