Happy Thankgiving...

What does it mean if I have less time to blog now that I am not working as much?  Why is time like that?  It flies away so fast and I can't get done the things I would want to choose to do.  I must be doing something but it is hard to remember.

Thanksgiving weekend doesn't count for that.  It is about taking a break and being grateful for blessings that surround all of us---family, friends, food, and shelter, and most of all the gospel and all it teaches us about our Heavenly Father, our Elder brother, Jesus Christ, and His atonement for us.  So it is okay if all you did was hanging out with family, eat, play games, and enjoy some "off" time from work, laundry, and other tasks for regular life.

That's what we did.  Wednesday I made a quick trip down to Provo to pick up Katie (my niece) who came and spent most of the holiday with us. We spent Thursday with Gary's family at his mom's house, eating the turkey and the rest (although Gary realized later in the day that he hadn't had any turkey as his plate was too full when he reached that end of the serving table.  There is always next year.).  We played some games mainly Catch Phrase and Wits and Wagers.  We were planning to go bowling together but had found out the bowling alley was closed on Thursday so Friday morning we(Gary, Jena, and I) headed for an early morning bowling with Gary's sister and her husband.

Friday afternoon, my dad and Karla came up for the afternoon and evening and we played games non-stop until about 8 except for a dinner break for pizza.  Katie played games with us and then headed out with Tosha to go shooting and shopping.  Shooting at a range...not at fellow shoppers....:)

Saturday included Special Olympics bowling, "The Muppets" , another fast trip to BYU to take Katie home, and an evening of movie/TV watching and doing nothing much.  Sunday (today) a quiet day to rest from all of the playing around of the holiday.

While in Salt Lake on Wednesday after Jena's dentist appointment, I was in my first accident while driving...not my fault.  We were stopped at a light preparing to turn right when someone hit us from behind.  My car and his only had minor fender damage but just one more thing to add to the list of things to do.  No one was hurt which is always the most important thing.

Hall Ticker update:  Jessica is loving her job on the crisis line at DCFS, Scott and Chantel are counting down the days until the end of another semester at Weber State, Ben is learning about fish online while he is taking care of his own aquarium, Tosha is working at Cracker Barrel--good days and bad lately, and Jena is having fun practicing for the junior high production of "Guys and Dolls" which will be presented in February.  Gary is busy with work, Scouts, Stake Employment needs, and everything else anyone can think of for him to do--busy man.

And there we are.  Hope Thanksgiving was great for you.  Enjoy the upcoming Christmas season and have fun!

Easing back to my "new life"

And actually I spent about 12 hours working at LDS Family Services this past week as I wrote a home study summary (11 pages) and took care of some other issues.  This week I should work about 4-5 hours as I continue to support my clients and finish paperwork.  This will be the first week that I don't attend staff meeting at all so it will be a change .....

I had the experience on two different forms lately to write that I was not employed.  I felt "odd" for a moment like that made me seem "less capable" or can I say "less valuable", then immediately I realized that those feelings were not right nor even what I believed.  It is great that we have an option as a family for me to stay home and the things that I want to do and will be able to do as a result of not working are valuable and worthwhile.  I sat down and started writing what I wanted to do "since I wasn't working" and produced a list of 21 things in about 10 minutes.  It is now in my day planner and will help serve as a reminder of what is important to me at this time.  That is the awesome thing about this life.  We have choices and we also have the ability to seek counsel and direction from a loving Heavenly Father who knows even better than us where we should go and what we need to do in the time allotted to us.

We started the week hosting the Hall Annual Halloween "Chili and Scone" dinner at our home.  This is a time for people to gather after trick and treating and show Grandma Hall their costumes and eat and talk.  This is our first year to host it.  Grandma Hall (Gary's mom) started the tradition after having chili and scones for Halloween at friend's home while she and Dad Hall were engaged.  She thought it was a great idea and did it for 50 years, then Gary's sister's Valerie has hosted in for the past few years.  Their health isn't great this year so it moved around the corner to our house.  Using Valerie's great (and easy) chili recipe and her awesome large cooker, we fed about 30 people.  (No pictures because I had left my camera at work.)  We had Scott and Chantel as "bikers", Eric and Bree as Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy and Uncle Gary (my brother-in-law) as Harry Potter.  We set up our fire pit in the back yard and cooked marshmallows and just enjoyed the fall weather and the fire.  Good times.

Webelos hanging on to the wing.....

Gary took his Webelos to the Hill Air Force Base Airplane Museum. His partner knows everything about planes and dazzled the boys with his knowledge as they walked around. One of the volunteers there commented that he didn't even know as much as Bret did. It was a fun visit.

Snow on Saturday in Syracuse

First snow of the year

Our rain chain froze over night and then dripped all day as the sun melted the snow on the roof and on the chain.
 It was awesome.   Have I mentioned how I love our rain chain!  :)
Our neighbor asked if it was okay to put one in her house...we said YES!  We love them.



The big news for Saturday was my bowling score.  Jena started Special Olympics bowling on Saturday morning and Gary and I bowled as well while we waited for her.  In our second game, I bowled a 194 which is my highest ever in my entire life by 30 pins.  I am not sure how it happened but there it is in black and white.  Of course I followed that up with a 95 which shows what a fluke that was, but fun nonetheless.  Jena did well as well averaging 88.  She is going to move from developmental bowling to the regular division since she can bowl three games with no difficulty.

And that is our week.  Hope yours was good as well.

Parties and Fun

Jena had a busy week of partying.  Tuesday was Young Womens which she loves, Wednesday she attend a Halloween party for the Utah Down Syndrome Foundation which was put on by a Mutual Group in Centerville, Thursday we went to see "My Fair Lady" at the Hale Theater (awesome), and Friday we had a Special Olympics team Halloween Party...................and Saturday we stayed home and clean the house!  Excwpt for me who spent the morning at our Stake RS Meeting which included me doing a part of a presentation on "Meaningful Family Traditions which bind a family together". (Actually I did come home and do the yard and house cleaning stuff.  We had had our carpets cleaned on Friday and the house was still in disaray and there were some things I wanted to do before putting everything back.  You know how it is.) Whew........We (at least Gary and I) took long Sunday naps today.

Tosha took a quick jaunt to Moab at the beginning of the week and sent me some amazing pictures.

Climbing

Clouds are such a bonus of living on this earth

Amazing view of the river

In addition to the parties Jena had, I also had my "good bye" party at work as I am officially "in the process" of quitting.  What that means is that except for a few things that I am going to finish up over the next few months, I am no longer working at LDS Family Services.  I will finish two home studies and complete the supervision for my families who got babies and will be finalizing over the next five months (so they will not have to change caseworkers).  So I will technically remain on the payroll to finish those things up.  "Any whatever else I can get her to do", quote from my boss, Tammy.

I have loved working at LDS Family Services.  It has been a very rewarding opportunities and I will always be grateful for all that I learned and the great people who I got to work with.  My life has been touched so many times as I have been a small part in someone else's life as they deal with what life and choices have dealt them.  Those young women and young men that I was able to rub shoulders with at a particular time in their lives have been great examples to me of the power of atonement and of change.  The adoptive couples who I have worked with are also examples of dealing with life and its twists and turns.

People have asked me what I am planning to do with all of my free time........no worries, I have a long list of things that I need and want to do--more than a lifetime of things.  The challenge is choosing the right and best things for that list to do.  And after a week or two it might seem like I have more time (still writing a home study and some supervisions this week), but then life will fill up and I will wonder how I ever managed to be away for 20 hours a week on average.  That's life................

Enjoy trick or treating tomorrow.

Pack Meetings and Pinewood Derby Races

but not on the same day.  Thursday night Gary and I were busy with Pack Meeting where the core value was "compassion".  We did a service scavenger hunt for our activity.  Our cub master wrote a darling script based around a trial to see if we could "convict" our cub scouts as "true scouts."  I was "Judge Judy" (of course), and Gary played the defense attorney pleading guilty on behalf of his clients (the scouts) and presenting evidence in their behalf.  They were all convicted and sentenced to 15 minutes of community services which is when they headed to our neighborhood to try to rake leaves and perform other acts of service.

'Judge" Judy
purple robe was all the DI had

Gary interviewing the mothers of the boys getting their arrow of lights.

Pictures taken by our court photographer for the evening, Jena.

On Saturday night, we did the beta testing on our new pinewood derby track with the High Priest Group in our ward.  They organized a yummy potato bar and salad dinner and we provided the track.  We ended up with 24 cars in the races and everything went great.  I have to say that I am looking forward to a relatively smooth race in Pack Meeting this coming January.  Computer timing and racing heats are a BIG improvement over stop watches and chalkboard.

The Senior Pinewood Derby
Some new cars were constructed but other borrowed from other high priests, sons, or grandsons.

Starting gates

Finish line--that is our car on lane one--"Daddy/Daughter" from a pinewood derby race
with Jessica over 15 years ago.

Our open class had these two very different competitors--

Every car raced on each of the tracks and then the winner was the one with the lowest average time.  All of those races were completed in about an hour.  It was a fun evening...and no tears were observed nor did anyone run out of the gym.  Two trademarks of a good pinewood derby race.

We are now planning pinewood derby races for our family reunions next summer.  Let the race begin.