Sunday, January 25, 2015

Memories

I belong to a facebook group called "You know your from the Tri-cities when...." (And I know that is the incorrect "your" but I didn't start the group and that is how it is spelled.)  Most of the time they talk about things which occurred after we moved from Richland in 1971.  But someone posted this picture of the swimming pool in Richland which started a flood of memories and sharing.  My brothers and I spend many summer days in this pool along with everyone else we knew.  It was usually filled up just like this picture shows.
I commented that I remember going to the pool and then walking to the Tastee Freez afterwards for a Brown Topper.  Lots of other people remembered that as well and someone posted this picture of the actual store.  I guess it is still there but called the "Bomber" (which is or at least was the high school mascot.)

I am so glad to have these pictures from these important places of my childhood.  I am so glad that we have memories--the good and the bad are both so important to us.  Everyone should have a swimming pool and ice cream shop from their childhoods.  I am sorry that many do not.

Back to the ski slopes

for Jena and back to the Snowbasin Lodge for me (now with my textbooks).  It was a beautiful day and I loved once again watching her remember and learn new things about skiing.  And Terrie is such a great person for Jena.  We are so blessed.

Learning a new skill in skiing with Terrie
My view of the slopes

The changing of the bedspread...

Jessica is already laughing because she knows what is coming even though she hasn't seen it in person yet.  I like to change my bedspread often.  I love the way that it changes the look of the room in one small moment.  I have one that I use during Christmas time, another in the fall and spring although I may or may not change through them each year.  In my defense, I don't buy expensive bedspreads--usually from Wal-Mart or Target and often on sale.  It was time to make a change and here is the new look.  (Even Gary said he liked it.)


Judge me if you will, but I like it and change is fun.  Now everything else you see in the picture--the lamp, the headboard, the art work--those I have had for 10-25 years and likely will keep them until I die.  The picture is the first piece of art that I bought in Stanley for Father's Day in 1987 just a couple of weeks after we moved there.  I love the junks on the harbor of Hong Kong and I can't imagine having any other picture hanging over our bed.  It really is only bedspreads that I like to change.

Jena and BYU Theatre Camp

After two weeks of productions, Jena's production class was able to head off for a three day and two night theatre camp at BYU.  They stayed in an hotel and went to classes and attended two productions while they were there.  I missed her more than usual but I think it was because it wasn't summer time when she is often gone with camps, etc.  She checked in at nights but other than that we didn't hear from her.  She got home yesterday, happy and excited about everything they did.  Certainly one of the highlights of her life is being a part of a typical teenager experience.  For us (even though we missed her and I would have tiny moments of "what if she gets lost at BYU"), those opportunities are priceless. After all, she is a teenager and what does "typical" mean anyway?
And the new t-shirt
#theatre
While waiting to pick Jena up after the trip, this was the view from the Clearfield High School parking lot--


I spent the morning organizing my pictures from last year into better categories and I noticed that I do take several pictures of sunsets, rainbows, and clouds.  And perhaps they each seem the same to those who read the blog--However  to me the beauty of the moment has struck me and that is what I am recording.  It is my way to say "thank you" to the creator of all of those things.  Enjoy your own sunset tonight!

"Spelling Bee"

is the name of the production which just finished at Clearfield High School.  Jena's production class performed it on Thursday through Saturday for two weeks in a row.  That made for lots of performances and call times and late night practices.  I had never seen it before but we loved it.  It is very funny.  What made it even more fun to watch (besides the fact that cute Jena was in it) was that three of the leads were from our ward, 3 others from Bluff Ridge.  They are all so talented.  If you ever have a chance to see if, go.  It is fun.

Of course, I couldn't take pictures during the actual play but these are from the "Snack Break" in which the cast members actually ate snacks with their "families".

Jena was part of the Coneybear family.  They were a large family and home schooled.  Their family member who was a "speller" was named "Leaf".  Jena chose her name "RoseLettuce".  I guess she decided that Rose was too plain in a family of Marigold, Leaf, and other such names.


Jena had to practice her flute during snack time
from the "Speling Bee".

 They started after school practices in the fall but Jena and some of the others didn't have to attend until November when they started blocking the family members.  Mr. Uminski wrote me an email saying that Jena should start coming and if she wasn't practicing she could work on props and scenery.  I thought that was brave of him until one day when I went to pick her up and she was busy painting a paper wolf.  They decorated their entire Little Theatre room like an elementary school classroom.  There were watercolors, self-portraits (below), class rules, and animals everywhere. Jena's work contributed to the overall feel.  I was so glad that she had this opportunity to be a part in that way.

With Marge who came to see the play
one night with a friend.
Sometimes when Jena has been in plays and I see them several times I am so ready for them to be done.  However "Spelling Bee" was so funny, the acting so good, and the impro so fun from night to night I could have watched it a few more times.

Where are they today?

I thought it was time to do a family up-date to set the stage for the adventures of 2015.  If you have been reading the blog, you can skip this post as you will know it all, but for historical purposes I wanted a starting off point for the year.

Gary is still working at HP out of our home (how we love that.).  He helps with two regular bowling leagues, two Special Olympics leagues and bowls on one with Jena and Uncle Allan.  That is his hobby on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday morning.  There are people who thinks he owns the bowling alley because he can do some many things there and is their go-to guy for most of the computer stuff for bowling leagues.  He is still doing Pinewood Derbys as well.  We just did one for our ward cubs last Thursday.

Jessica and Elessia still live in Magna, Utah, in their house near Jessica's work.  Jessica still works in the crisis line for DCSF.  Elessia works at Michaels which she is really enjoying.  The big news for them is that Jessica is expecting a little baby boy at the end of May.  The plan is to name him Liam Michael.




Finished with lunch
at Grandma''s house




Scott, Chantel and Scarlett live in Layton near where Scott works.  He is in the manager training program for Red Lobster, hoping to get moved to a manager position sometime soon.  Chantel was able to stay home for 3 months after Scarlett's birth in July and now works 3 days a week as an exercise therapist at Ogden Regional Hospital.  Scarlett is one of the "smile-ess" babies you have ever seen and she has gotten her parents and the rest of us very attach to her already.  She is sitting up, pulling herself up to furniture and working to perfect crawling.  She is 6 months old.


Ben had a hard start to the winter with a lengthy hospital stay.  He is now back at home and attends Journey House Monday through Friday during the day.  It is a program to help people with severe mental illness to learn working skills and make friends.  He will be starting a different medication tomorrow--an injectable so we will see how things go for him.

Tosha, Austen and Niki are enjoying the mild winter of Oklahoma City except for when it is windy and the wind chill drops temp. to bitter cold.  That is life on the prairie. Their lives were also totally changed by the arrival of sweet Niki in August.  He is  a happy and mellow baby who we don't get to see enough but we are so grateful for Face time.  Their big news is that they are being stationed in Okinawa for four years with the Air Force. They go in May.  I won't be able to make two trips a year to visit but at least a couple of times we hope to make it out there.  They have been watching Japanese movies and listening to language taps to prepare.


Manning the prize desk at the RUSH
Jena is in her last semester of her senior year of school at Clearfield. She is taking a theatre class at Centerpoint with a special needs class called Friend to Friend.  She works once a week at the bowling alley and sometimes a bit more often.  She is taking some great classes at high school including productions and FLY team which she loves.  She wants to go to Preference and we are currently trying to check out some possible dates.

On our kitchen desk--the cute grandkids
I try to keep up with this blog which counts as family history if I don't get around to doing anything else.  I am still the president of the Utah Down Syndrome Foundation--probably for this year although we haven't found a president elect yet.  I am in my second semester of my second masters in social work so I am now both a Cougar and an Aggie.  I am loving school and my classmates and professors have been outstanding.  I am so lucky to be able to watch Scarlett on Wednesdays if Chantel has to work.  And I wish that Niki lived closer so I could see him more often too (although I am very excited for this adventure for Tosha and Austen. First side trip will be to Hong Kong they say.  How great that she can share that with Austen.)

There you have it--the 2015 starting point.  Now the year is off and running............

Sunday, January 18, 2015

New year in Sunday School

I have been attending the "extra" Sunday school class for adults because it was focused on family history for the past couple of months.  They now are teaching the Gospel Essentials class so I was really planning to switch back to study the typical curriculum of the New Testament.  However I have grown to love hearing Chera Mann (my niece) and Ashlee Hair (my visiting teacher) teach the lessons.  They are both excellent teachers and very thoughtful and spiritual as they teach.  So I decided to keep attending that class for a few weeks.  After all, I think I "know" the Gospel Essentials, right?

Well, perhaps I could pass a test on the manual but that doesn't mean that I can't learn something or more importantly "feel" something new.

Ashlee was teaching the second lesson "Heavenly Family" and we spoke about the importance of understanding that we are all brothers and sisters on this earth.  And we talked about how this doctrine does and should impact us in our lives.  Then Ashlee made a comment which touched me so profoundly--I am not sure what she actually said but what I wrote was:  "We are always surrounded by our Heavenly Family while we are on this earth."  That is so profound. I miss my earthly brothers and sisters and I love the chances we have to get together.  It is different than other gatherings even with my dearest friends (taking nothing away from my friends, because I love my friends as well).  It is just a different type of connection with my siblings. I love being surround by them.  That is the feeling we want to cultivate about all those who surround us everyday.  They are my Heavenly Family---how awesome is that!

Good bye, 2014 and Hello, 2015.

We ended 2014 by attending the funeral of Gary's Uncle Carl (Baker).  He and his wife, Aunt Glenna (Grandma Hall's older sister) have been in declining health for several years and have lived in an assisted living center for a number of years.  The whole family had spent a week together that Christmas which had been one of the first time in many years that they had been together during this holiday.  They have five children and three live out of state.  Of course they are all married and now their children are married with children of their own.  It was if Uncle Carl waited for that last time of togetherness before he left us for a place with no pain and no stress.  As is often the case when a good person who lived a good life passes away, it was a combination of sadness and concern about those left behind, but also joy and appreciation for a good man and a good life.  There was laughter as well as tears and it was a spiritual time to be together as an extended family.

Oddly, a funeral seemed like almost a good way to end a year,  It caused me to reflect a little more deeply about my life, 2014 and really all of things which I do daily.  Are they the things that really matter most?  What would my kids have to say at the end of my life?  Sometimes I worry that they will only be able to say "My mom was very busy.  We aren't sure what she was busy doing, but she always had something."

What I want them to remember and say:
I want them to remember that I tucked them into bed at night, that I loved books and tried to share that with them, and I planned fun vacations because I wanted to build a wealth of memories together. I want them to say that I loved the beach and I taught them to love the ocean, both the sand and the waves and the great world underneath the surface.  I want them to know that I taught them to love the earth and to pick up litter and if they threw something out the window, I turned the car around to go allow them to pick it up.  I was a learner and education was important for me and for them--not just school but the unlimited information of the world.

I want them to remember that caring for others is very important and I tried to teach them that as we did service projects, parties in orphanages, and "Twelve Days of Christmas."  I wanted them to remember that we shared our home and family with other kids and teens at unique times in their lives because that is what the Savior would do. 

Most of all, I hope that my children would say that I loved the gospel.  That I knew that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day is the true Church on this earth.  Our Heavenly Father knows us by name and loves us individually as His spiritual begotten children.  That through the life and death of Jesus Christ and his atonement in behalf of all mankind we can once again live with our Heavenly Parents.  And by following the direction provided to us by the still small voice we can have happiness in this life and eternal life forever.  That happiness and peace is not dependent on what is happening around us but what is happening inside of us.

That night, Gary and I with Jena stayed up and watched the "ball" drop at Time Square (being there in person is NOT on my bucket list--that looks crazy.  If I am going to do a crowd for New Years Eve, I am heading to Hong Kong for the fire work display.  Now that is the way to spend New Years Eve and should be on all bucket lists.)  As we kissed at mid-night, I have this excitement for 2015--a quiet feeling that all will be okay.  I have lived long enough to know that doesn't mean that 2015 will be free of hard times and sadness.  That is life.  But that sweet promise and feeling of hope was a tender mercy for me,

So...

Good-bye, 2014 and Hello, 2015. 
I can't wait to see what this year brings (other than Gary and I turning 60!)

Party, hearty, they say.....

We decided since we had our annual Almost Annual Adult Christmas Party, that we would have a party for Jena and some of her friends during the Christmas break.  Tuesday the 30th was the day.  We started off with bowling (no big surprise) and then came to our house for Hawaiian Haystacks and Wii Sing It.  It was very fun.
At the bowling alley
Cheers with their lemonades!

Jena, Brooke, Kaitlyn, Conner, and Leyten

Leyten singing with the fans in the background
Kaitlyn center stage
Friends are great and when these friends are together, there is lots of laughing and fun.  We hope they all come again soon.



Jena the waitress

On Monday Dec. 27th, I took Jena over to the Texas Roadhouse Restaurant to get her "training" to be a server for lunch as part of a fundraiser for Gigi's Playhouse (which is an awesome program which is designed to give free services for kids and adults with Down syndrome including speech and other therapies, reading and math instruction, social skills training, etc.  Eventually they will have evening social events for adults with DS.)  A group of moms is starting one nearby in Layton.  We are so excited.  I would be more involved if I have a few hundred more hours each week, but this was a small way we could support them.

Gary and our neighbor Marge joined me to be customers and look who was our cute waiter:

Jena taking our order for drinks
Part of the fun was the cute helpers-
Kaitlyn, Claron Aldrege, and Jena
Jena had fun but I don't think she wants to switch to waiting tables.



Sunday, January 11, 2015

Saturday fun

We wanted the partying to keep going on so we decided to have a pool party at the local swim pool and invited family and friends to join us.  We took donations for a local organization who houses foster children (The Christmas Box House-Ogden).  It was fun to enjoy the pool and visit with our friends while the kids were getting wet.
Going down the little slide

Some people may sing about dancing all night, but Jena could "swim all night".  She told me several times last night and today how much fun she had swimming with Kaitlyn and other friends from our neighborhood.

Christmas Dinner 2014

This year I decided to do a full blown dinner with turkey, ham and all of the trimmings.  Since I didn't cook a Thanksgiving dinner, I was missing the leftover turkey and stuffing.  I won't normally do that type of dinner but it was good for this first time.

We were excited to wake up to a White Christmas.  It was the first real snow fall of the season. 
Grandma Hall's house on Christmas
However, the downside of it was that Grandpa Giberson and Karla and David and Dawn and girls all decided to be safe and stay home that evening rather than worry about the storm and icy roads.  SO we had a smaller group than we expected (more leftovers) but it still was a very nice evening.

The center of the evening was not dinner although that was good:

 
 Games were fun:

Christmas Scene "on your head" drawing
Grandma Hall won.
Pull back car races
No, the highlights were Scarlett and Niki and watching all of my children enjoying both babies so much.  They are keepers for sure.
Tosha and Niki, Jena, Chantel and Scarlett
Scott getting to know Niki while
Austen and Tosha are talking to Scarlett.
Ben holding Niki for the first time.




Always good to taste your cousin to make sure
he is the right one.
Austen, Tosha, Niki and Grandma Hall
I love this picture of Niki and Jena looking at each other.
Sometimes rolling over gets you in a tricky spot.
The two of them played on the mat during all of dinner.
It was handy that neither of them are quite mobile enough
to reach the other.  Scarlett has been working on crawling though
so those times are now over.


My two little grandchildren in their Christmas pjs
from Mrs. Claus.  I couldn't imagine this picture
when I bought the pjs as I expected Niki to
be wearing his in Oklahoma.  How awesome.
It will likely be four years until they are together again
as Christmas.
Merry Christmas to one and all!  Hope your 2014 holiday was filled with happy and fun memories, too.

The Tuesday before Christmas.....

and all through the house, I wasn't really home.  It turned out to be a funny type of day right before Christmas when I was busy doing some un Christmas things which were fun.

First Jena and I met her friend, Kaitlyn and her mom Debbie for our annual Christmas breakfast.  (Okay, it was a Christmas activity to start the day.) This year they picked McDonalds.  Okay??  It was fun as we talked and they enjoyed being together.
Kaitlyn and Jena doing cheers
(this was a re-enactment of their original cheers)
I got home just about in time to meet Chera (Mann--my niece) to take her to lunch with Jan Pendley who is an administrator at Davis Behavioral Health.  Chera is also studying social work but doing an entirely online program out of Pennsylvania.  I thought it might be useful as she begins looking for her next internship to talk to some people in the field.  We had a great time talking about social work.

Got home just in time to meet up with Tosha, Austen, and Niki who came by to go with me to visit Elaine Woolley.  Elaine is a single sister whom I visiting teach.  She lived for 25 years in England and she and her ex husband worked for McClaren  (not sure of spelling) Formula One Race Car team.  She actually knew Niki Lauder who is the driver whom Austen and Tosha named their Niki after.  We had the fun visit as Elaine shared her scrapbook with old photos of all of these famous racers with us.  Austen knew so many of them from his love of Formula One and racing.  I loved watching the two of them "talk racing".  Even Tosha is picking up on the history and vocabulary of the sport. In general, I love listening to people talk about a subject that they are passionate about.  People are so interesting and I am fascinated about the things people get passionate about.  Fun time.

We left there and headed straight to the bowling alley to get in a game of bowling with Gary, Allan, and Jena prior to them heading off to a family birthday party in Austen's family.  Austen likes to bowl so that was fine.

Niki's first visit to a bowling alley.
He did great.
They headed off, I left to go grocery shopping and Gary, Allan, and Jena bowled a few more games and had dinner together before heading home.

That was a fun day.  Actually talking to people is probably one of my favorite things so this type of day is awesome.

Saturday afternoon cousin fun....

Before Chantel and Scott left our house Friday night, they arranged the first cousin "play date" for Saturday afternoon at Scarlett's house.  I got myself invited and Jena and I spent the afternoon playing on the floor with Niki and Scarlett.  At one point, Scott said, "Mom, I can't believe you have this much free time."  Certain things you make time for and being with two grandkids at once is very high on the list.  They are 4 weeks apart and you can tell that difference in that things Scarlett was working on last month is exactly what Niki is working on.  However you can also see their own little personalities emerging as well.  They are both engaging and open kids who love people so what's not to like.  It was so fun.
Aunt Jena loves them and loves being an aunt.
 They played with toys, with each other, and tolerated us talking about them, passing them around, and taking lots of pictures with different cameras.  They are each other's only cousins at this point.

Have I mentioned that I love these little people?
 
No visit to Scott and Chantel's would be complete without checking in on the fish.  Scott has three aquariums including this beautiful one on their counter by the kitchen sink.  It is so striking.  Scott, as you remember, was the reptile guy who used to feed gold fish to his snakes.  Now he has moved to fish as his passion and hobby.  I love fish too.  Maybe when I graduate from school I will get myself an aquarium again.....we will see.


On the Monday before Christmas....

We held the first Monday version of the Hall Christmas Eve program.  The meal was catered by Kneaders (yummy), the company was excellent, and Charon had put together a couple of sweet Christmas videos for our program along with the annual reading of the Christmas story.  This year it was read by Bruce Nakae, a nephew-in-law.

Crew Manning, Niki and Scarlett


It was fun for the 2014 great-grandchildren to be together.  Crew and Scarlett were born on the same day in July and then Niki in August.  Their moms had fun talking "baby stuff" together.





Jessica with Niki who is meeting the Hall
great-grandchildren for the first time
Scarlett playing with Hayden Nakae
with Aunt Jena's help
Austen and Tosha
This is Austen's first Hall Gathering so
it was fun to introduce him to his new cousins.
Background is Grandma Hall's basement where we all eat dinner-
soups and sandwiches from Kneaders
Great Grandma Hall's rocking chair
Scarlett's first "ride"
 

The Halls together in the living room.  I can remember our first Christmas eves with Jessica and Jacob BIrd and Matt, Bryon, Chris and Nathan Page. Now it is their children getting pjs from Great Grandma Hall.  Time goes by much faster than it seems.


Niki was a good sport with all of the
people who wanted to hold and love
him during his stay  in Utah.
Scarlett with her almost always smile on her face.
 Afterwards, we headed to our house to try to get a family picture as it is likely to be many years until we are all together for a picture.  I tried to find a professional person but no luck on such short notice.  Instead we just tried our new camera and our tri-pod.  The lighting was difficult and it was hard to get the babies attention when no one is standing at the camera.  Here is documentation we were all in the same spot in 2014.  The next day Jessica and Elessia headed to spend Christmas with Elessia's family in Arizona.

Jessica and Elessia with baby boy on the way (Liam)
Scott, Chantel, and Scarlett
Tosha, Austen and Niki
Jena

 Ben somehow missed on the solo Christmas pictures but here is him a bit later in the evening when gift were opened.
Ben with his new "Herbs" book





Jessica painted these cute piggy banks for Niki and Scarlett with their names on one side and their birthdate on the other.  I am not sure how I got such crafty daughters since I am not, but it is fun to see what they create.
 
A Christmas gift for Liam--his first shoes

Scarlett is telling us that the party is over for her.  That was a lot of activity for two little babies.  We are trying to get her to model her new cute hat but it was time to go.

There you have it--the last time we will likely all be together with pictures to prove it.  We hope to see Tosha, Austen and Niki one more time before they leave for Okinawa but if it happens it will be in late April a month before Liam's arrival and Jessica isn't committing to any pictures then.  They will be gone for four years.  That is a very long time until we might all be together again.  Love these people with all of my heart from the tallest to the smallest and everyone in between. 

Went to sleep with another big smile on my face.  Merry Christmas everyone!