Our Neighborhood Festival

We had a fun time at our neighborhood family festival. We played games...

...everyone got prizes...

...we ate goodies...

...blew (and tasted) bubbles...

...and played games with dad! Some of our friends (who want to be baptized) came with us, which made the day even more fun. But it really got me thinking. Their mom doesn't want them to get baptized because their family would disown them because they are Muslim. I am so grateful to have been born into the family I was, with the restored gospel, and to live in this free land. We have been so blessed!

Another Monday

Today was a really nice Monday. The boys played so nicely all morning, making plans for these ramps they were going to make for their mini-skateboards. I just love it when everyone gets along! Then we went to this play date with everyone from Trey's preschool and that was great too! The day digressed a little after that though. Brody came rushing in to tell me that Alyssa and Charli were getting into the yogurt. I came in and they had opened about 10 yogurts, dumped them out, and were finger painting all over the table and themselves. I was pretty mad, but I wished I had just taken a picture of it and laughed. Anyway, after dinner we had FHE and that is always a zoo. It ended with Alyssa dancing around to "Follow the Prophet," which was so cute. Then she started running around the house. She suddenly stopped, took off her diaper, and peed all over the floor. I was trying to chase her to put another diaper on and some PJ's, but she kept refusing and would get away. I finally got the diaper on, but I wasn't too sad for bed time!

TJ's Cub Scout Day Camp

After the reunion, we left early Monday morning so we could get TJ back for his cub scout day camp. He had a great time and for more details look at his blog. On Wednesday, my mom watched the kids so I could go up and help at camp. I love being able to spend some one-on-one time with my kids. We especially had a fun time doing the skit. I'm kind of sad because next year TJ will not be in Cubs anymore, and the Dad's go with them if they have overnighters. But, Travis will have a blast camping with him! I absolutely loved being able to work with TJ in scouts!



When I got back to pick up the kids, my mom told me some cute things that the kids said while I was gone. In Brody's evening prayer he blessed that the endangered animals would thrive and not become extinct. And my mom asked Trey if he knew that she loved him and he said, "Grandma, I've known that for years!"

Pack Meeting Olympics

TJ has really enjoyed cub scouts. Brody can hardly wait until he's in it! And I miss being their leader! It was the best calling! I really enjoyed being able to work with TJ and the other scouts! Hopefully I will get that calling again! Anyway, this was a fun pack meeting where they raced and had several Olympic events! They had tons of fun!


Trey is a funny kid. Half of the time I didn't know where he was. Then I would see that he was really far away playing with his friend in the field. Remember on Sesame Street the song, "One of these kids, is not like the others... One of these kids is doing his own thing..." It's the perfect song to describe Trey. He is so independent, he makes his own fun, and if he doesn't want to do what everyone else is doing... he won't! Luckily, he did join us for some of the races!


Here is picture of another typical event in our family. Everyone loves Alyssa! The kids just can't keep their hands off her!

Father's Day

It was fun spending Father's Day this year with the Halls! It's about time that we were there for a holiday! We had a nice, quiet, relaxing morning. It was so nice! Grandma made us the best pudding, and we just visited most of the morning. It was really great. We got to spend some time with Grandpa, and I'll tell you what. I absolutely SCORED in the in-law department! I have the best 2nd parents! I appreciate them so much! The day of course got much busier later, but that morning I thought a lot about how blessed I am to have such great Fathers, and how blessed I am to have Travis. Just look at him. He loves his kids so much! He loves spending time with them, and takes little moments to show them how much he loves them. They know without a doubt their Daddy loves them!

Here is a perfect example of how he shows his love for me. I was taking pictures of the kids to give him and the Dads for Father's Day. It took me so long to get the kids to cooperate for this! For some reason that day, Alyssa was in a bad mood, and just wouldn't give me a happy face for a picture. Travis could see from the basement window, where he was working, that I was having a hard time and he just came out, played with Lyssa a bit, got her into a good mood, then held her so I could get a smile. He didn't have to do that. I know that he is really busy with work, and for Heaven's sake, it was a present for him. But he saw a need and helped me. He does that all the time. He cleans all the time, he doesn't complain when I'm too tired to cook, he takes the kids so I can get a break. He puts the kids to bed every night. He works so hard for us. He loves the Gospel and is a great example to us. He's my best friend! I would rather spend time with him than anyone else! The bottom line is... he is just perfect for me! I can't imagine my life with anyone but him!



I just remembered a funny thing about Brody that happened at the reunion. One day when I went to pick him up, Isaac was showing me a movie that they had all made. Joshy was telling me what it was about. Brody was a tiger and was wrestling around with Isaac's big stuffed tiger. Joshy said that in the next video Brody (the tiger) and the stuffed tiger were going to mate. I tried not to act too shocked, so I casually asked, "What does mate mean?" Joshy looked at me like I didn't know anything and said, "You know...hug and kiss. Eeeew!" I loved that!

Hall Family Reunion

For us, the reunion began on Thursday, going to Christie and Darrens house. It was fun to see them moved into the new house, and the kids had a blast with the cousins! See how excited Alyssa was?
Travis was really excited to get in the tractor and help move a little dirt around! Travis loves the tractor, and he asked his Dad if he could come work for him if his business didn't work out! Also, that morning I overheard a conversation between Charli and Trey. She asked him where Grandpa was. He told her, "Grandpa has lots of works! He builds houses. Did you know that he can make houses from dirt?" Charli didn't believe him, but Trey told her it was true and that he has seen him do it! Then, we visited Colby and Alicia's family that night and had a great time!

On Friday, we went to Tom and Kristy's for a yummy lunch and then off to camp! The site was amazing, and I loved the fact that President Hinckley had his hand in it! The kids were super excited and spent quite a while figuring out who would sleep in what cabin.

It was the perfect place for a reunion. There was plenty of space to sleep, and lots of wide open space for the kids to run around and play!

That night, Grandpa got the fire going, and the kids were very anxious to "help." Does pyromania run in the family? Just kidding! But the kids sure did like to play in that fire! Then they made an amazing dutch oven dinner for us. Then the kids roasted marshmallows and starbursts!