EIGHT Hall Grandchildren

First time photos of all eight grandchildren

Liam and Alex

Zander with Carter on the left and Alex on the right

James

Scarlett

Niki and Cooper being pushed by Austen

And that is why we have children--because the harvest of grandchildren is so amazing!!!

Back to Real Life--Again

And life continues....I headed back to one day of work in the office and then a two-day conference in Salt Lake for work.

Saturday was the second BYU football game I attended with my friend, Ann Marie Christensen.  It was a gorgeous day for a afternoon ball game and brought back so many memories of games over the years as a student and when we had season tickets when Jessica was little.

On the way down I heard an interview with the announcer for the Northern Illinois team who said that he had never seen such a beautiful view outside of any other stadium he had ever worked at.  I agree.  In the fall, it is breathtaking.

Snow on the mountains

And the game--which was a sad loss of 7-6.  Yuck!!

But everything else made for a great day.

While I was gone to Seattle, Jena got her braces off and is now sporting retainers. A new adjustment for her.

Today, we had a Regional Conference where Pres. Ballard spoke, acting president of the Twelve Apostles.  He gave a excellent talk about Home-Centered and Church-supported gospel living.  Times are changing and we-I need to up my game so to speak and do better with what I know to be true..

..... and finally I am all caught up with the blog.

Plans and Life

Remember that quote I share a few posts back--about plans and life!  We had another one of those detours which started for us on October 15th, but a few weeks earlier for Tosha and Austen.

Monday, the 15th, was my first day back to work after two weeks off.  It was really great to take a break from my work and to re-energize myself (well, if wearing a sling and sleeping all day counts).  I had a busy week planned with lots of clients, phone messages, and emails which happens when you take time off.  Monday evening, I get a text from Tosha:  "Just to fill you in..." and then she went on to tell me that her breast issue from Cooper's pregnancy had flared up again about two weeks ago.  The doctor had tried to drain it the Friday before with no luck.  That morning she had surgery which had been planned to insert a wound vacuum to drain the area.  However instead when they got into the breast the doctor realized that the damage was much more extensive than they had planned and then ended up doing a partial mastectomy of her breast.  Not what I had expected at the end of my first day of work.  We talked on Facetime for a while that night and I felt comforted by her attitude and understanding of the situation.  I think she was more worried about not informing me prior to the surgery, but what could I say, I have been there as well.  You don't like to have others worry when they can't do anything about it.  When I hung up, Gary asked me if I was going to Seattle to help her.  I told him no that I didn't feel like I needed to.

Until I woke up Tuesday morning, just knowing I needed to go.  I checked with my boss first thing in the morning and then spent the afternoon switching my clients off Friday, Monday, and Tuesday all before I even told Tosha I was coming (or even ask her if she wanted me to come.)  It was weird to be getting on a plane just two days later especially after just getting home.  It was a bit disconcerting in a way and until I actually got on the plane, I didn't even get excited about going to see Tosha and her family.  Of course, part of that was because I was worried for her as well as the baby.  How great it was to hug Tosha that night when I arrived and in person hear her story and just be with her...

and of course, the other people in her family--Austen, Niki, and Cooper.  Niki was so excited to see me in the morning.  He came up to me immediately and hugged me tight and said, "I love you, Grandma."  Tosha's house was clean and organized as it usually is, so all I had to do was visit with her and Austen and play with Niki and Cooper--not hard jobs for me.

On Saturday, we headed to a Halloween Carnival on base so the kids could have an outing.

Niki is Ironman this year and loves his costume.  I think he wore it all day on Saturday.

We went to the nearby park a few times.  Cooper likes to chases the squirrels in the park. 

Cooper watching a squirrel head up a tree.

One afternoon, we played in the leaves at the park and Tosha took these photos.  I love playing in leaves and I loved that Niki and Cooper loved it too.  Another one of those things that my mother taught me. And Tosha can remember playing in the big leaf piles on the side of our house in Plano.

Niki on the big slide.  I love the colors in this photo with the blues and greens and the yellow of the trees in the background--my three favorite colors in one.

I love the way the light filtered through the trees as Niki scooted up the path in front of us.  He is amazing on his scooter.

It was so reassuring to see Tosha and be with her for awhile after her surgery.  I was glad I had come from the minute I arrived, but I wondered why I had come.  The impression had been so strong and certain that I expected some clear reason for me to be there in person.  Tosha was amazing, Austen had time off work, and the kids were healthy and well.  I tried to be helpful and I had fun, but still had that wondering in my mind.

I learned after I arrived that Austen had some major testing for the military on the following Monday morning.  So I was glad that I would be there to allow him to do some studying and also take Tosha to her scheduled doctor's appointment and watch the boys.  That took some worry off his shoulders and I thought that was the reason I had come.  The extra bonus was that I got to meet her doctor and talk to her very briefly about their appointment that day.

That Monday appointment was set to remove her original wound vacuum (which I had never heard of or seen before this experience.  Google it if you are curious.) and place another more high tech. model which had been ordered for her.  They reset the new vacuum only to discover that it was not working, so they had to remove everything and redo it with another hospital model.  The 30 minute appointment turned into 1 1/2 hours as they tried to make it all work properly. She was more than ready to head home and take a long nap.

Austen took his six hour test and then headed straight to work from 2-10 on base.  Back at home, we had a quiet evening with the boys.  After Niki went down for the night, Tosha started getting ready for bed while I rocked Cooper to sleep.  About 9:00 Tosha came down and said that her vacuum had quit working and she had to get to the ER.  According to her instructions, she had two hours to have the vacuum removed if it ever stopped working.  Austen headed home to take her to the ER and I was able to stay with the boys.  At that moment, I knew that was why I was here, why I knew that I needed to stay until Tuesday evening. Now, of course, Tosha may have called a friend to come and stay (but not likely that late at night as her friends also have young children) or they could have taken the boys to the ER and everyone would have lived through that experience (not not happily for two preschoolers in the middle of the night.)  But as her mom, I would have been so sad that she had to do that or that I was not there to help at that type of moment.  It was a tender mercy, almost more for me as the mom, than for Tosha and Austen.  They ended up not getting home until 2:00 am.  That night, I shared Cooper's room with Cooper who had been sleeping in a pack and play in Tosha's and Austen's room.  It was an extra bonus to allow Tosha to sleep uninterrupted for several hours after her adventure at the ER.

At times like these, I wonder why Heavenly Father who knows the future couldn't have made the machine work properly or the nurse pick a different machine off the shelf--but I know that it is through moments like this that we see the love of our Heavenly Father for us as individual people.  He knew that it would matter to me to be there in the middle of the night for my sweet daughter, not because she couldn't have done it without me, but because I wanted to be there to serve her at times like these.  I can't always be there--ask poor Jessica who has had no help since the babies have arrived from me--but I am so grateful for that night that I was there, because Heavenly Father had made it clear that I could and should be there.  And grateful to Gary who knows me and supports me in my mothering.

Needless to say, I was worried to leave on Tuesday afternoon.  Tosha reassured me that the new pump was not going to break down.  Austen watched the kids while we went and got some easy foods to prepare for the family.  It was the last little thing I could do for her.  The next time I see them will be after little Ava arrives when I fly up at Christmas time to "help" with the new baby.

Tosha called on Thursday and said her doctor was very pleased with her healing at her appointment that day and that she may get off the pump in a couple of weeks.  The goal is to get as much healing as possible prior to the birth of baby #3 at the end of November.

Plans and Life--they will forever be entwined on this mortal earth.

Happy Birthday, Jena!

For Jena's birthday, we gave her tickets to the BYU Homecoming Spectacular for her and her three friends in the Wonderwood program--Sara, Emily, and Megan.  We also got tickets for Gary and I and Emily's parents, but we sat behind and in a different section of the Marriot Center so they could feel like college students.  Jena was so excited and we had a really fun night in Provo, despite the crazy traffic heading down to Provo.

                                                 

The program include Colbie Caillat, a country singer, that I had not heard of, and David Archuleta, one of Jena's favorites.  It also included all of the major groups at BYU in one big dance and singing concert.  It was so fun and I loved being there and especially watching Jena and her big smile throughout the evening.  Every once in awhile, I would catch her looking at us and she was always smiling.  I love it when gifts I give make someone happy.

Jena, Emily, Sara, and Megan

When we parked, we had some extra minutes and decided to head over to the Farmers Market at the stadium and get a photo by the pretty pumpkins.

The mountains were amazing--still green near the base, with the red middle and snow on the tops.  I always loved the fall in Provo as a student with the mountains so close, especially coming from the Panhandle of Texas.

This is a photo from our seats down to where Jena is sitting with her friends.  She is wearing the green shirt.

Happy 22nd birthday, Jena....not sure what we can do for next year's gift to top this.  Might have to do it again!

The Meeting- October 10th

Alex Rae

Carter Ann

Throughout our vacation, Jessica and Elessia were keeping us updated with pictures of the girls that we hadn't met.

This is Alex and Carter packed up to leave the hospital with their name blankets and hats.  Jessica said that the nurses loved them.

Here they are sleeping in the same cradle that we had for Jessica.  Carter on the left and Alex on the right.

Jessica had called to arrange for newborn photos and the woman had asked if they would be models for a class she was teaching about photographing newborns, so they got these photos for free.

Alex and Carter

On Wednesday, Jessica and Elessia and all four kids came to our house so we could meet Alex and Carter.  It was so fun to finally see them in person.  They are so little--both just under 5 lbs at this time.  Elessia shared this photo with me.  I didn't take any photos.  Holding on to them with one arm took enough concentration.

On Saturday, they all came to visit again and we watched Liam and Zander so they could do some Christmas shopping at Target which was having a special sale.  We now are storing their gifts here, just like Grandma and Grandpa Hall used to do with our Christmas gifts.  The circle of life.

Saturday evening, Scott, Chantel and their kids came over to meet the babies as well.  Scarlett was very excited to finally have some girl cousins, even though they are just babies.

Scarlett with Alex

Liam with Carter

 Scarlett loved holding the babies.

Jena with Alex

Carter

Jena with Carter

Alex

Later that evening, Scott texted Jessica and told her that when they tucked Scarlett into bed, she said that the best part of the day was meeting Alex and Cardboard...........we thought that was hilarious, but we promised Carter that we won't make cardboard her nickname.

I have to say that it is pretty "cool" to be the grandparent to twin girls.  Of course, I am doing none of the work.  It will be so fun to watch them grow and have them a part of the last crew of grandkids.  Now we are just waiting for Baby Ava to arrive in Seattle!  She has about 4 weeks to go from now.

The End of Our 3 Mini-Vacations

And we had ONE more early morning as we got up at 3:00 am to make it to the airport and catch our 6:00 am flight to Salt Lake!  Scott was good enough to pick us up at 7:40 when we arrived, but reminded us that he would love it if we arrived later next time we took flights.  I agree.  6:00 flights are not fun.

We arrived home to these sweet notes on the kitchen counter from Jena.  Love that girl.

It was good to be home and to enjoy conference with Jena and Ben and start the process of returning to real life.

Except for my shoulder......which didn't just get better because I was back to "real life."  In fact, it continued to get worse--both in pain and limited movement.  Gary finally insisted that we make another trip to an Instacare on Sunday.  So, after an exam and x-ray, I was put in a sling for a few days and given a muscle relaxant and pain medication with orders to not move it for two days and then gradually start moving it and getting it rechecked in a week.

Now this was not good news.  I had twin granddaughters which I had not even met yet and now I couldn't drive to see them or hold them.  I had the whole following week off to help Jessica as the twins were suppose to be born on October 9th and now I couldn't help or even meet them for a few more days.

The only bright side was that I did have the whole week off from work, but instead of helping Jessica, I slept and did very little.  It took about 2 weeks and some steroids but my shoulder is backed to almost normal although it aches when it is cold or I sleep on it too long.  Getting old is sometimes a pain.

And that is how our vacation ended!  It was a great vacation and will be a treasured part of my memory collection....not the shoulder part or the fact the twins were born without me...but all of the rest!!  We are so privileged to be able to travel and enjoy the diversity of the world we live in.  And people--their talents, passions, creativity--whether in designing amazing rides, shows, costumes or flying gorgeous balloons or working in an instacare---people are amazing!  Our lives are so enriched by others.

Conference Weekend

As we planned our trip, we realized that we would be in New Mexico on Conference Weekend. Not my preferred choice, but I made our flight on Sunday to be early enough that we could get home and watch the two Sunday sessions with the idea that we would watch the other sessions the rest of the day. That is the wonderful thing about access to these types of things that we could watch it all in one day.

However, sometimes, for me anyway, plans change.......

While I loved the Balloon Fiesta, I was struggling with a lot of pain in my shoulder.  The slight jerk in the airplane on Thursday night had continued to grow over Friday and in the cold of the morning, it was going crazy.  I started shivering and couldn't stop which made the whole shoulder thing even more painful (like I mentioned growing old problems.)  By 8:30 am, I knew I needed to get warm so we waited in line to catch the bus back to the car and then to the hotel (with a quick stop for Advil and a heating pad.)

We had tickets to the afternoon session of the balloon fiesta but decided that the cooler weather and my shoulder were not going to work.  Later, we discovered that because of the wind, the balloons were unable to fly most of the afternoon session and some of the events were cancelled, so I was glad that we didn't try to go.

So, instead,  we spent Saturday in our hotel, watching Conference--taking naps--watching conference--reading books--watching the General Women's Session(while Gary grabbed a pizza for dinner)--and it was perfect.  No interruptions, no laundry to do, no meals to cook....

How lucky we are to live in a time where we can watch conference in so many ways all over the world.  How lucky to be able to listen to a prophet teach us about Home-centered/Church-supported gospel living....and a two-hour block of Church on Sunday.  I am so thankful for a prophet to guide us in these latter-days!

Happy 40th Anniversary, Gary----

even though it was a six-month late celebration, it was well-worth the wait.

Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta

FYI-This is the largest balloon festival in the world.  It started in 1972 actually as a celebration of the 50th anniversary of a local radio station with 13 balloons being present.  Now they average well over 500 balloons over the 10 day event in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  I thought they estimate about 800 this year.  Thousands of people come to watch the balloons and participate in related events.

For us (like most people) the day started very early.  We had bought a park and ride ticket which meant we went to a location away from the fiesta and took a bus into the actual event.  Our hotel was north of town in Bernalillo, so we took a short ride into the NW part of Albuquerque and parked at Intel.  We did make a stop at Wal-Mart for sweatshirts as we weren't quite prepared for the cool night air.  I think we got to the Intel parking lot around 4:30 am.  There we waited in a long line for school buses to transport us to the event.  We found out that the delay was due to an accident on the freeway coming back from the festival which was holding up the buses which were trying to return and pick up more people.  Despite that delay, the park and ride was definitely the way to do it as the buses dropped you off right at the gate to enter into the park.

dark and cold start to the day

Because of the delay, we thought we had missed the Dawn Glow of Balloons.  But actually the winds had been too high, so it had been delayed a bit and then they only did it briefly.

Although a few balloons had already taken off in the early dawn, here are the official balloons launched for the beginning of the fiesta carrying the American flags.

Everywhere there were balloons in various stages of preparing to launch...and people everywhere as well. 

Big news day--Opening of the Balloon Fiesta

A glowing balloon

 There was one row of about 7 identical balloons for some company....

The variety of types of balloons was amazing--I didn't take pictures of all 800 so you will have to go yourself sometime and pick your favorite ones.

The Rainbow Ryders filling up......

Did I mention that there were lots of people there?

Rainbow Ryders almost ready--

Everywhere there were bright colors and patterns--you didn't want to miss any of it.

We are here (or there, depending on how you want to look at it.)  There is a sweetness connected with experiences like this, when you are doing something for a special reason or you have waited a long time to do it.  Now, if you know me, I love to travel and there are not many places I wouldn't go to if time, money, and resources were available.  I love standing on a spot or seeing something that I have never seen before.  I am so geeky about it that I even get a kick out of going on a new piece of road or a different overpass that I have never traveled.

BUT, as I mentioned, there are things which add to that--the sweetness.

We were here to celebrate 40 years of marriage--that alone is a significant reason.  Marrying Gary has been one of the greatest blessings of my life.  Our courtship was a bit unconventional, but I know that it was the right time, the right person, and the right place when we knelt in the temple in March and were sealed for time and all eternity. The journey we have traveled has been the one that we were meant to be on and the only way it could have happened was together.

Years ago, my parents celebrated their 40th anniversary at the Albuquerque Balloon Festival in 1994.  After seeing their photos, I remember telling Gary that we should celebrate our 40th in the same way.  My mother passed away early in 1995 which made that goal even more important to me.  And we made it.  From an comment in 1994 to the fields of New Mexico in 2018, we made it happen.  A famous quote states that "life is what happens while we are making plans."  That has been true in our lives.  Most of the amazing things we have experienced didn't happen exactly as we would have planned or seen it beforehand. (After all, we thought when we married, that we would live in Springfield, Missouri, and raise our family there in one place in somewhat the pattern that we had been raised. )  But sometimes, a goal is accomplished and that can be amazing.  All morning, I kept thinking, we are really here.  I am not going to lie--it brought tears to my eyes again and again.

And the best thing that added to the sweetness was the thought that I was walking and doing something that my own parents had done to celebrate their marriage.  My mom had loved it all.  She was so excited to share her photos from the fiesta with me.  I remember that she said that they had seen the balloons for her and done the train ride for my dad.  That was the pattern of their marriage and the gift that they gave us as their children.  They shared their lives together while honoring and supporting their individual interests and talents.  I was so grateful as I walked on those fields and saw the gorgeous balloons.  My mom loved balloons so much so that at her funeral (before we knew how environmentally unsound it was) all of the grandchildren released yellow balloons from the church parking lot to show their love of her.  I love balloons as well.  Sharing that experience over 24 years span made me grateful for everything that my mom taught me to love in this world. And then, I really cried.

Gary had never seen a balloon prepare for lift off, so we hung around and watched the process of one balloon from start to finish.

They start by laying out the balloon and then begin filling it with a fan.  Notice the big circular fan in the right side of the photo.

It takes a while for air to start filling up the inside of the balloon.

The view from the basket into the balloon.

 Turning toward the rising sun, you get some idea of the number of balloons.  They dotted the skies.

Inside the balloon as they spread out the fabric.

Smoky Bear popping over the ridge of balloons.

This is the back of the jacket of one of the team helping with the balloon.  This is an amazing but complex sport.  And it is probably very expensive.  Teams and balloons came from all over the world to take part in the fiesta.

As an "owl" from Wood Badge I had to take a picture of this balloon.

Back to our balloon--now the fire burner is turned on to cause the balloon to start the process of lifting off the ground.

As they continue to shoot the fire into the balloon, it gradually starts to go upright.

 There it is, up into the air.

The team loads into the basket while other team members manage the ropes which are keeping the balloon and basket stable and on the ground for a few more minutes.  The ground team members then have to load up in their van and head to meet them when they finally land somewhere in the area.

 I was thinking about what type of balloon I would want to own (don't worry, Gary, it is not on my bucket list.) and I decided I would want a globe one.  Several minutes later, I saw this one so I guess my idea was not too original.

On a day I was sharing with my mom, I thought a picture of the American Heart Association was appropriate.

And finally, liftoff for our balloon...........

The colors again were amazing.

Isn't this the cutest balloon ever?

The picture below was a photo I shouldn't have taken and am lucky didn't hurt my phone's camera.  At one point in the morning, the whole area got dark because of a balloon passing between us and the rising sun.  It reminded me exactly of an eclipse and I thought I could get a picture of the balloon.  I shot this photo as the sun started shining again and missed the balloon that had caused the phenomena.  However, I loved how it turned out.

I fell in love with balloons in Plano, Texas, where the winds and the landscape were perfect for them.  So it was fun to catch this photo of one from the city of Plano.  They were having trouble this morning and never got this balloon in the air, however.

There you have it---the Balloon Fiesta.  To my kids, maybe you could go and celebrate 40 years of marriage as well and continue this awesome tradition!  The rest of you--put it on your list of things to do someday.  It was awesome.