Sunday, February 26, 2017

Friday fun......

Jena got to ski with her friends, Suzy and Matt on Friday as Terrie was out of town.  She had a great time even though it was a bit cold and overcast,  I guess the snow was good because of some recent snowfall the day before.
Then Friday night, Jena and I got the privilege to babysit Liam and Zander while Jessica and Elessia went to a movie.  We got to meet their brand new cat which Liam loves to death. (She was not cooperative to look for a picture however.)  She reminds me of our first cat, Quigley, which Jessica got for her third birthday.  He was the best cat and also a siamese.

 Zander enjoyed his cuddles with his Aunt Jena. He is a very smiley and already is babbling a lot.  However I couldn't get a good picture of him smiling.
My goal was to get Liam to bed at his correct time, but Zander didn't take his late evening nap so I couldn't help Liam with his complete bedtime routine so he was still awake at 9:30 when they got home. Besides that, we had a great time and look forward to other invitations (hint, hint).

Kids say the darndest things--Scarlett style!

Finally on President's Day, Jena was over her cold so she finally got to meet James.  The day before he was born last week, Jena had made him a Welcome sign--"Wellcome James Part big family Aunt Jena".  What a luck boy to have an aunt like Jena to welcome him to the world.  Fun times are ahead, little James with your Aunt Jena.

While we were there, Scarlett was enjoying having us there and was keeping us all entertained during the visit.  At one point, she told Grandpa Hall (Gary) that she needed to go to the "potty".  Gary suggested she asked me for help but then she started playing with something else.  Gary asked her: "Were you just pulling my leg?"  Scarlett immediately pops up from the floor and say "Come everybody" and she rushes over to Gary and begins pulling his leg. We were rolling with laughter and she was simply puzzled why we didn't rush to pull his leg as well.  The joys of learning English and all of its funny sayings.

Belated Valentine's Day


With school and life and Baby James's arrival the day before, Valentine's Day slipped by without much ado.  I still have a card and books for Liam and Zander in my car and Gary's card is actually still in a bag waiting for me to write a thoughtful and amazing tribute to him (because he is the best for me--maybe next year!).

However a couple of days later, Jena began work on a project which she gave us when she completed it.  She took a wooden frame and painted it pink and red and then wrote a scripture in the middle of it. This scripture is the one from Mathew where the shepherds were told about the birth of the Savior and they made haste to see the babe lying in a manger.  Isn't that one of the ultimate expressions of love--the gift of the Son of God born in a manger!  And surely I want to be found worshiping him in all I do like the shepherds on that nativity night.  Thanks, Jena, we love it!



Then on our walk in the park visit with Ben, he gave each of us a handmade Valentine's card with a person note inside each one.

Jessica and Elessia gave us these darling pictures of Liam and Zander:

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Liam, age 20 months
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Zander, age 2 months
Niki made this cute handprint card (for his Dad, I think) but we got to enjoy it through messenger:

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Niki, age 2 1/2 years old

Scott and Chantel were overachievers this Valentine season with sweet James's arrival the day before the holiday:

James, 1 week
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James and Scarlett, 2 1/2 years old
So when I was little, Valentine's day was the day of sugar cookies and Valentine Boxes and writing all of my classmates names' on little cards. As a teenager, it became the "romantic holiday" celebrated by married people and those who were dating in more serious relationships. But really it is a celebration of loving others--all others-- and family is the perfect summary of that.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY 2017
I HOPE YOURS WAS AS GREAT AS OURS!

A walk in the park

We had some beautiful "spring-like" weather during the middle of February.  I think it was especially for us.  On the Saturday of President's weekend, we got to take Ben out of the hospital and walk around the grounds together.  Oh, how nice it was.  This is the first time we have been with him outside a hospital since he was admitted at the end of June last year.  It was a bit breezy but still enjoyable as we explored the grounds of the state hospital.  We were able to swing on their swings and take a walk around their duck pond.


 We had a snack break at the pond....

The clouds were rolling in from the south....


Of course if you are taking pictures in Provo,
you want one of the "Y"!

 We are looking forward to more walks and soon trips out to dinner or activities around the Provo area.  He is already allowed to go with staff out of the hospital and he has gone bowling and to a puppy barn in the past two weeks.  He is anxious to come home so that he can meet Zander and James and reconnect with Scarlett and Liam.  I think he misses them the most.

Family Discovery Day



On Saturday, February 11,we headed to Salt Lake to attend the Family Discovery Day at Roots Tech. Because I had a conference with The Children's Center I couldn't make the other days of the conference but we decided at the last minute to take advantage of free tickets to the Discovery Day which was held on Saturday.  It was mainly for LDS families seeking to get motivated and learn more about basic family history.  Mostly it was just amazing speakers, funny performers and great music.  I laughed and cried during every session.  It was an amazing way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  And what made it even better was sharing it with Jena and Gary, my sister Valerie and her husband Lance, and my cousin, Dan Gibson and his wife Raelene. Also on our row was Lance's sister and brother-in-law and a distant cousin of Raelene's....learning about family surrounded by family...it was perfect!!!

Sights along the walk from our parking place to the Salt Palace where Roots Tech was being held. These have been there for awhile but it was the first time I took the chance to take pictures of them. They are all lined up one after another---an odd collection of things.





After the street art, we started getting closer to the entrance with the large "Roots Tech" signs.
First picture we got was Jena with the "Family Tree guy".....it matched one that my sister Valerie had taken a few days earlier as they had attended the whole Conference.


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Family Discovery Day was a Saturday afternoon designed for LDS Families to come and be inspired about family and family history.  Like my sister Valerie had posted on her Facebook about the whole event-- "Roots Tech was about FAMILY." and that was the theme for Saturday.  We had some amazing speakers and great performers.  We were so busy attending those that we only spent a few minutes in the Expo Hall.  We will have to allow more time for that next time.

The agenda:  (I can't find my notes so I can't write down some of the amazing things I heard) 

Pres. Russell Nelson and his wife Sis. Wendy Nelson:  They talked about some of the ways that they have shared stories of their ancestors with their family.  One of the things I loved was Sis. Nelson took a story from the life of her grandmother and made it into a children's book for the family. Valerie and I had talked about doing that with stories from my mom's life.  The cute thing she did was had different grandchildren illustrate different pages of the story.  She then had it printed.  It was so darling. 

Under the topic:  One Work:  Temple and Family History Blessings, Val Sikahema and Reno Mahe and Sheri Dew did a interview style presentation about temples and family.  Val and Reno are Polynesian and shared some stories from the islands about faith and sacrifice.  Both of them are former BYU football players who also played for the Philadelphia Eagles. Reno is now an assistant BYU football coach.  Last November his three year old daughter passed away from an accident at home.  Their story has been amazing to watch as they had shared their grief and their faith on social media.  He talked about that experience and how it is so motivating to work towards being where Elsie is now.  Sheri Dew talked about meeting the challenge to take only her family names to the temple given to her last year at Root Tech and she has.  Her story was very inspiring as well.

"Home with Hank"--Hank Smith is a youth speaker within the LDS community and he talked about the power of family, traditions, and faith.  He was funny yet inspiring as well.

Closing performance--a concert with BYU a cappella groups--Vocal Point (shown below) and Noteworthy (the women's group) with Jason Hewitt as the MC and hilarious performer himself. Check him out at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aM4wKKr-eqM to see what he can do with his face plus he sings and dances.  He was so fun.

I don't think you could have packed more laughter and tears into a Saturday afternoon that we had on this day. And again to share it with family was the "icing on the cake"---

Gary and me; Lance and Valerie Ipson; Dan and Raelene Gibson (Dan is my cousin)
and Aaron who is a distant cousin of Raelene and lives in their ward now in Mapleton
(not shown were Lynette and Paul who are Lance's sister and brother-in-law who came a bit later)
And did I mention cake?  The CAKE Boss was there in the morning and did a great job talking about family and traditions and food, etc.  I didn't hear it but it was great, I heard.  Anyway, Roots Tech had a cake contest and one of my neighbors had a cake in it.  She actually got third place in the Birthday category.

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Even the elephant is edible!!
How cute is that!


When we walked out of the north end of the Salt Palace to head to our car, this is the view we had.
Perfect---because families are truly forever...and we all are part of one big Heavenly Family....and that is what the temple is really all about!

Next February--be there!!!!!

A final note:  My sister Valerie had said that one of her most favorite talks was given by LeVar Burton.  He is an African-American actor who became famous first for his role in Roots back in the 1970s and then I think he was a regular in the Star Trek series (the second one). So when someone posted the link on social media I took time to watch it (I highly suggest that you do the same).  He talked about Roots and about family.  One of the touching moments was at the end of his talk.  An employee of Ancestry,com came out (he was also African American) wearing ceremonial clothes from Africa and gave Mr. Burton a book with information about some of his ancestors. He shared some of the things they had discovered including some of his early family who were slaves and part of the emancipation after the Civil War. Mr. Burton was so overcome by tears (I am even crying thinking about it and it has been a couple of weeks since I watched the video).  It spoke to the power of family and the real connections we can have with those who have gone before us. HOw lucky we are to know that families are forever.

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Children as parents.....

My mom once told me that one of the great pleasures of being a grandparent is watching your children parent their children.  I agree.  I love watching Jessica, Scott and Tosha interact with their little ones............

Jessica:

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This is with Liam. I have loved this picture,
because of the delight on their faces
with each other.
Scott:

Scott and James
I asked Scott if I was going to get daily texts about how much
his love was growing every day like I did with Scarlett--
He doesn't think so as life is much busier than back then.
He knows now what he didn't know then--how much you love
these little people who come into your family.
 Tosha:
Tosha and Niki
So grateful for days I get these types of pictures on my phone.
I facetimed with them a few days ago.
Niki is growing up so fast.
I know for them like all of us who are parents that life isn't always these types of moments.  There is a lot of poop and crying and frustrations.  There are days with no sleep, sick days, and busy days. But my sweet children, remember these little moments too.  They can help you on the hard days.

And know---all that you feel for your little ones, I feel for you, multiplied by the years that I have been your mom.  Because no matter how much you love them now, it only grows from here...and someday you will be the grandparent and know what I know and take delight in watching these little ones parent children of their own.

Grandbaby #5 slips into the world

the day before Valentine's Day which we think is a good thing---what boy wants to share his birthday with pinks and reds, hearts and roses!


James Scott Hall
Feb. 13, 2017
7 lbs. 2 oz.
a little over 20" long

We are so glad to have him here safe and sound and ready for life.  So far he has been a calm and peaceful baby but he is only a day old.


 Here are the three of them shortly after James arrived.

Love at first sight......
 
Scarlett spent the day with us and then we headed up to the hospital so that we could meet James. After a little while she finally decided that she wanted to "hold" him although she didn't really want to touch him yet.

 First family picture of the four of them......

 And here is me reading the book "I Loved You Before You Were Born".

We are glad you are here and can't wait for you to meet the rest of the family...
oh, how much fun you are going to have with your sister and your four boy cousins!!
Somehow I think you and Zander and Baby2 (maybe Cooper) Russell might have
been special friends in Heaven and got to travel parts of this journey we call life.
The adventure is just beginning.

Final sibling visit....for now!


at dinner after Roots Tech
It has been so nice to spend a little time with three of my siblings in the past four weeks.  I think that is the first time that has ever happened except for family reunions or another big event.  The time was short with each of them as they came for other purposes but it was still awesome.  Now just four more to go......
A throwback picture of all of us..before we added spouses, grandchildren,
and great grandchildren.  This was right before Todd left on his mission to Brazil.
Scott and Rick in front
Mike, Lynette, Robin, me, Valerie and Todd-back row.

Night to Shine

 As part of Tim Tebow's Foundation, proms are held all over the nation for people with special needs.  They provide opportunities to get their hair, nails and makeup done, have dresses which have been donated, and provide a whole evening of activities.  This was Jena's first year and she loved it.

I wasn't able to take her to get her hair done because I had a conference in Salt Lake.  So Jena rode the bus home with her friend Kaitlyn and then her mom took them both.  They had a great time doing it together.  Then I met them back at Kaitlyn's house with Jena's dress so I could help her get dressed and head to the dinner and dance.  They were each assigned a Buddy for the evening.  Jena's buddy was named Kristy (sorry no picture).  They had a nice dinner, got to ride in a limo around Ogden, danced, and had a variety of activities to do throughout the night.  Jena knew lots of people there which just made the whole evening that much more fun.

She wore the dress she wore to her senior prom and she looks gorgeous.
 Her silver nails........
The dance hall

 After her long and very fun day......
A day in the life of Jena......she has some nice events in her life.  We so appreciated all those that made the night fun for her,

Sunday, February 5, 2017

Fortune cookie saga continues

I brought food for our class on Tuesday night and brought Chinese food to celebrate Chinese New Year the weekend before.............

This was my fortune at class:

The irony of it was that our subject in class that night was the process of hiring and managing employees as well as how to interview and be interviewed for jobs.  This fall I will be looking for my first full time job since my summer jobs during college so I hope this fortune brings me good luck.

Beautiful day in Utah County

This was the weekend my brother was in town, mostly to spend some time with his daughter, Anna, who is a senior at BYU.  He had always wanted to come up and spend time with her and enjoy BYU with her and time is running out (unless of course she stays for graduate school in the future).  Luckily I was able to find some time to share with them. (Gary and Jena had to stay in Syracuse for bowling.) 

It started at the Payson LDS Temple where we met to attend a session together.  I got there a few minutes early and walked around.  It was a perfect day with blue skies and clear air.  We have been enjoying some rain this week which cleaned up the inversion for while.  I had never been to the Payson Temple before and it was gorgeous--inside and out.  There was lots of original art inside and the look of the furniture was just a bit different than you often see.  It was a very sweet experience to be there and it was sweeter to share it with Anna and Rick.






view to the west


fountains on the east side of the temple

view of the mountains to the east of the temple







the puffy clouds over the west side of the valley
this is the west side of the temple
Sun peaking over the eastern mountains

 Anna has some great "selfie" skills and took this one of the three of us after the session.


We then headed to downtown Provo and had lunch at the Station 22 on Center Street.  I had a BBQ pork sandwich and tomato soup which was excellent.  Anna and Rick had chicken and waffles. Seriously, I have mocked this whole "chicken and waffle" thing.  It just doesn't sound like they belong together.  However after seeing their meals and hearing how great they were, I think we are heading back there and giving them a try.

Downtown Provo
The three of us then headed to visit Ben.  Rick and Anna were the first visitors Ben has been able to have other than Gary , Jena and I since July.  Ben was a bit quiet, but he was glad to have visitors.  He has been fighting a cold most of the week.  He invited Anna to try to get a visitor pass and come and visit on the unit.  I guess BYU students can become volunteers and actually hang out on the unit to provide some social interactions, so she is checking into it.  We played some rounds of Uno and ate M&Ms.

It was a short visit but so nice.  Did I mention how fun it is to see my siblings?  Two down and my sister Valerie is coming this week.