Tonight's Tonight Show funny

Yes, it's 1:47 a.m.

So, I woke up an hour ago to Nic guffawing at the tv. It seems that Jay Leno has managed to make him laugh hard enough to wake me. So, here's what was so stinking funny that I now can't get back to sleep.

It's not the same one that he was laughing at, but it made me laugh myself silly. I've got one word for you, "Shirt?"

9th Anniversary

Thanks Babe for 9 good ones. Here's to 59+ more.
p.s. Here's a shout out to Caitlin for watching the monsters for us. You rock.

Moore Moose

For all the Vial's far and wide, here's some more Moosey sweetness.

"1st Day of Preschool" or "What to do with myself?"

Wow, I can't believe this day actually came. We all had a first today.
CC started Pre-K today and made a picture using the color red, and as it happens she wore a red dress and was so excited they were the same. I came early to take of peek, and I got a little misty seeing my sweet little girl sharing crayons and raising her hand.
Ava and Bree were in the little "2's" room, complete with a slide and baby dolls, and their cute little friend, Caleb. They were in heaven. They were sporting their matching "Backpack" backpacks and huge grins.

And I went to Winco, the bank, the post office, made lunch, cleaned and unpacked the office and dining room, and I did it all ALONE. It was really odd to see my friends Janet and Liz at the store, with their kids, and I without mine. I kept looking around the shopping basket, feeling like I had forgotten someone.

Here's to a new year with many more "firsts" to come, and possibly an unpacked house.

BABIES!!!

I am an auntie again, twice, sort of. My friends Mark and Melissa had a beautiful baby on 8/8/08, Macy. And I'm adoring her gorgeous soft hair and tiny fingers. It's hard to get away from my crew, but when I can, I find my feet steering me in Macy's direction.



And my new cousin-in-law "Moose" arrived just last Thursday, all 9+ pounds of him. What a little hunk. Samuel Vial his is real name, but I have a feeling that he won't know that until school. I got to hold him tonight, and rock him to sleep, and I didn't want to leave.



So, congrats to the new mommas and papas.

Forks Road Trip

I am awesomely nerdy in my love for all things Stephenie Meyer and her Twilight Saga. So when tickets became available for the Seattle book signing/concert, Jen and I (the two founding members of "Hoochie Mommas Book club") purchased 4 seats within the first 10 minutes of availability. I can't remember being this excited about anything for years. It's not just that I really enjoy her books, it's become something to talk about and a way to meet friends and relate to other friends.

J, T, and I went to the "Breaking Dawn" release at Barnes & Noble last month and got all giddy with the 14 year old crowd. But this event was classy and we were pretty much middle of the road for our age group. Jen and baby Sage (The best travelling baby ever!), Trevee, Crystal and I road tripped it up to Seattle for the concert, and decided to extend the trip all the way up to Forks and La Push, Washington, where the books are set.

We got a hotel room in Seattle and came early enough to visit Pikes Place Market and eat dinner at a yummy Brazilian place near the venue. The concert itself was great, well the parts I could hear-there was a lot of screaming going on. Justin Furstenfield(sp?) of Blue October sang acapella "Hate Me". It was breathe taking. I have video of his other performances, but I couldn't move during "Hate Me", especially having Stephenie preface the song with her story of hearing it in her car and thinking she was hearing Edward speak. Very cool. She was crying on stage, it was AWESOME!

We got our books signed. She has a huge "no pictures of Stephenie" policy, which I'm cool with, but meeting her again was ..well. awesome. There is this quote from "Catcher and the Rye" about how Holden would love to be best friends with his favorite authors. I think that would definitely apply to S. M. Anywho, so the event was long and lovely. We woke up early the next morning to head north for Forks. I had a handy GPS on my dash the entire drive, but I guess I should have read a map more clearly, because as we got further along the road we realized we were going to have to take a ferry. Yeah! It was so fun, and insanely clear skied and warm for the Puget Sound. We met some strange men, but it's nice to have four girls around, all in relationships or married to help ward off guys. We each had our weird moments, and scary ones too! Seattle at midnight is not a great place to get lost looking for a Coldstone.

The drive was beautiful, and when we finally did reach Forks, it was ready for us. The tourist center there is plastered in Twilightness. They have Bella's old truck out front, which the town chipped in to buy. They receive 150 visitors daily, and send you on a wild goose chase to find all the scenes from the books. Which, being awesomely nerdy Stephenie Meyer fans, we did.

We all bought different "Forks" sweatshirts, and after licking up every drop of yummy touristy goodness out of Forks, we hit the short drive to La Push, home of the Werewolves. Sadly, this is about the time in our journey that I got a small rock chip in my ac condenser, and the ac stopped working. Fast forward to two days later, and a $900 repair later, ac is working again. Ouch, that's one expensive rock chip repair.

La Push is very small and right on the edge of world, it felt a little odd to drive around a small fishing village and expect to be entertained. In Forks, they were delighted we came and spent and left. It felt different in La Push, it felt silly and extravagant. We got out and watched the misty ocean and took our silly pictures and left. One of the photos above is of the rocks just off the coast. Beautiful place.

As we headed home, sick of the two cds in my car (John Mayer and Dave Matthews, may you rest in peace-I'm done with you for a year, at least), we stopped at a lovely little restaurant in a small coastal town in Washington, and I had a thought, "Wouldn't it be great to have my kids grow up in all this beauty and in a small town?" Then, as we were paying our checks, there was a book for sale at the register about the murders in that beautiful small town. Yeah, I know, I have terrible judgement.

We got lost and took a dark, 3 hour detour on windy coastal roads, but we got home, and now I can say "I've been to Forks, Washington."

Thanks to Jen, Trevee, Sage, and Crystal for the lovely company. You are delightful and occasionally naughty ladies, and you made my summer eventful!

Thanks to Nic for being single dad for a couple days. You rock, and you know it.

I finished the Portland To Coast Relay

We came, we walked, we stunk!

After months of preparation, my 11 person team finished the 127 mile Portland to Coast relay on Saturday. It took us about 31.5 hours to walk from downtown Portland to Seaside, OR.

We had a van and a suburban, 6 people in one, 5 in the other, and Van #1 started first. My mom started walking at 5am on Friday. Each person walked 2 legs of anywhere from 3-8 miles, depending on the leg they were assigned. I had 2 4+mile legs, both in the daylight . It was nice walking in the country roads. Our last walker from Van#2, Alicia (taking 3 legs!) crossed the finish line right on the sandy beach of Seaside, OR on Saturday afternoon.

Months ago, I blogged about needing a goal and choosing the Portland to Coast. I bullied Nic into joining, and gathered ten others. We were all new to the race, and named ourselves, "Team First & Last", being that it was our first time, and we'd probably come in last. or it would be our last. In the end, we had 11 adventurous, roadkillers. John, Rachel, Paula, Liz, Sig, Nic, Nate, Caitlin, Tucker John, Alicia, and me. Late thursday night, two of our walkers pulled out, and within hours we had Sig on board. She gets the most sponetaneous award!

I am writing this from the comfort of my bed, with my feet up and resting. It's an exciting thing to be a part of, and we are already starting to plan for next.
-Hailey
p.s. Jiggly Piggly Wigglies Rock!

20 Year Tag with Nic and Hailey

This is a long one, and I was tagged by both Kenni and yin, so both Nic and I are going to fill this one out.


20 Years ago I: (Nic)

1. Was 11 years crazy and lived in Hillsboro, Oregon.
2. Showed my first hefer cow, Erica, my first crush, at the county fair.
3. Learned to drive the hay truck.
4. Wanted to be a fighter pilot (side note: Nic has his pilots license-which helped him win the love of the fair Hailey.)

20 Years ago I: (Hailey)

1. Was nine (yes, this is the dreaded 3oth year, but I'm going to have a huge dance party to make up for it. You are all invited.)
2. Was in a competive dance group, loving dance, and hating the group. My aunt was the teacher, and she had it out for me, which, having nieces and nephews now, I totally don't understand her.
3. Rocked huge feathered bangs 4 inches high and a sweet perm.
4. Dreamed of having Charles in Charge of me, and owning a hyper-color t-shirt and Girbaut jeans like Eric Dahl.

10 Years ago I:(Nic)

1. Was 21, sitting on the floor teaching religious lessons, eating fermented soybeans.
2. I just returned home from my mission in Japan. I spent 5 days at home before shipping off to BYUH again, where I met the fair maiden Hailey.
3. Was skinny dipping in the Hawaiian waters, loving being an rm.
4. Realized that surfing was not a good career for me and transferred to Oregon State University (GO BEAVS!).
5. Between BYUH and OSU, met and married my awesome wife Hailey.


10 Years ago I:(Hailey)

1. Was a skinny, hot 18/19 year old and had no clue. I totally should have worked it, but had no self awareness.
2. Finished first and only year at USU, lost scholarship, and met amazing people.
3. Was living with my awesome Grandma Ginna, working for a computer programming firm making a lot of money, but didn't want to be stuck in a job already, so went to BYUH.
4. Dated two guys at the same time and left them to go to BYUH. (Probably the only scandalous thing about me.)
5. Left everyone I knew and went to Hawaii and hated it for the first month. Good thing I stayed, huh.

5 Years ago I:(Nic)

1. Just graduated OSU in Construction Engineering Management.
2. Purchased Hillcrest Apartments, naively thinking "Managing apts. is easy, right?"
3. First year of Hawaiian Shave Ice at the county fair.


5 Years ago I:(Hailey)

1. Had a beautiful 2 yr old daughter, Kennedy, lived in a basement apt in Corvallis, managing the Riviera Apartments.
2. Went back to Hawaii with Nic and friends for graduation.
3. Toured around West Coast interviewing for jobs for Nic, fell in love with everywhere we went, and then ended up back at home.

3 Years ago I:(Nic)

1. Was 28, started construction business with brother and dad, VIAL PHAM LLC.
2. Took Hailey to Maui in August, and whole family in October for BYUH Jubilee.
3. Got called into bishopbric on a Wednesday, and next day found out that Hailey was pregnant with twins.

3 Years ago I:(Hailey)

1. Was pregnant with twins, and had a 1 year old and a 4 year old, and was seriously thinking of running away.
2. Loved all the dumb comments strangers made when they found out she was pregnant with twins and pushing her baby in a stroller, like, "Was this planned?" are you serious? Like you just push a different button and get twins?
3. Was sporting the shortest haircut of her life and won't forget it.
4. Got to be pregnant for a second time with Chelle.

So far this year I:(Nic)

1. Built my first park, complete with playground, pond and pavilion. Now have ulcer.
2. Was released from the bishopbric. The bishop says it's to spend more time with my family, but I think it was the four letter words I let slip about the young men in our ward.
3. Am now in the young mens presidency in our ward. Just spent a week with said four letter word young men.



So far this year I:(Hailey)

1. Have moved to a beautiful house, in the same ward, and am loving THE TOY ROOM (That's in caps because that is hollered at my children several times a day when they start migrating into the "Do not touch" front room. I've always wanted one of those.)
2. Started using this blog as a way to find old friends and new friends. Your lives are fascinating to me, and I appreciate all the effort you make to update them. As we move away and get busy, it's nice to have a quick way to see how you all are doing.
3. Wonder if September will ever come! I have the 3 youngest enrolled in the best preschool ever! It's 12/hours a week! I'm in heaven, I have no idea what I will do with all that time to myself. Imagine, shopping at Target and Costco without the ginormous 8 passenger cart, getting stopped by strangers wasting your time saying, "My, oh my, don't you have your hands full? Are they triplets? No, just twins, was that planned? You really should appreciate this time, before they are all gone...blah, blah, blah." Yes, lady I do, and they all have an expiration before they start weeping, wailing and nashing their teeth, peeing their panties, and other great embarrassments. (Sorry, it just will be nice to get in and out of a store without drama for once.)
4. Got hooked on the Twilight series, became a groupie, went to a book signing a couple of months ago, will be up all night friday reading the fourth book, and to top it off, am driving up to Seattle with my book club, "Hoochie Mommas Bookclub", to the 4th book signing in a couple weeks. Soooo excited. (Sidenote: I have an extra ticket, if you are awesomely nerdy and want to go with me and the other "Hoochies" and sleep over in Seattle and party like a teenage girl in love with a vampire. Yah jealous!)

Fair 2008

The Washington County Fair is over, insert a big phew here. This has been our 5th year running Tutu's Hawaiian Shave Ice booth at the fair. If you're around Portland the last week of July, come on by our booth and try a shave ice with ice cream in the bottom, my favorite is Tiger's Blood. It felt weird this year, I wasn't pregnant, nursing, or having a baby strapped to my person. My kids could walk by themselves, and they loved all the animals and sights to see. Here's some memories of years past....

2007, I made matching cowgirl outfits for the girls

Kennedy putting in her order with daddy, 2003

Building the booth

Our tastetesters, Colby and Nate in 2003

Chris and Chris working the booth, 2003

Me and Chelle, our matching baby bjorns containing a 2 week old CC, and a 5 week old Anders, and Kennedy in 2004

Grandpa Rich and baby Sierra 2004

Chris, Kevin, Shelby, and Steve in 2004

Kennedy got hooked up with free pony rides, we traded for shave ice

CC loving the play area in 2005

Alicia looking hot in 2005

We had these in 2006, nothing else happened, and if it did, I don't remember

I only remember because there's a photo

Kennedy in our hula photo poser thingy made by my bro Kirby

2007, with our friends the Newmyers and Deans and Lichtensteins

Natelin, chillin'

This year, Lance and his tongue of many colors - he had to taste every flavor so he could tell the customer what they were like.

Alicia and I looking a little pink (it's the tarp ceiling)

Halsey, Brooke, and their insanely adorable little Cameron

K and CC and Mother Goose

Samuel the Lichtenstein, you rock!

Our new tastetesters

Getting all gooey over Cameron

Hung Tao is the flavor King

Harris's and their flying son Caden

Newmyers on Parade

The Lady monster truck driver and her sweet ride

CC and the boys watching the show

Kennedy and Mom

The END! (ava)