THE HALLS

Dear family, It was a surprise to see that I have a blog! Thank you, but you are forgetting that you are dealing with an computer illiterate here. I couldn't figure out how to even write on it today. So, you are dealing with old school. I am thinking I am a lost cause. I do love everyone else's though. TJ's is pretty hilarious ( Joshy and Isaac had to show me the birthday card he sent to his grandpa over and over today!)and it is so great to see his plays since we can't be there in person. And we saw that Trey and Brody have theirs as well so these things are so much better than the e-mail system. Thanks to all of you we get to be part of your lives--even the ones who live here we get to see and learn more when you write. So as far as news I will defer to the blogs. We haven't heard from Reed and Allyson this past week, but it is Justyn's birthday on Wednesday, so a big happy birthday. He turns the big 14 and gets to be advanced to a teacher in the priesthood. I just look at him and am amazed at how big he is now. I am so thankful he is such a great young man. We also haven't heard from Jer and Liz. They didn't come over last week because it was Liz's brothers birthday, but I think they will be here today. Christie said she was putting pictures on of Zack's party. It was so cold that they didn't get to go to the canyon and do fishing but instead went to the park and a great time there. Christie's work has Lagoon tickets for tomorrow so she and the oldest three are going. Darren opted to stay home with the youngest two. (Addie will not be happy about that!) Tom and Kristy are also going with their family. It has been so cold here that I hope everyone doesn't freeze. I got to go to Josh and Isaac's school dance program on Friday. I got there late and didn't see the kids and they didn't answer their phone so I went up to the other end at the top just as the kindergartners were coming out. I couldn't find Josh until I saw Kristy--she was a mother's helper so I got to see both her and Joshy do the macarana. It was pretty cute. Both boys did great! We are getting excited about the reunion and seeing everyone. I talked to someone who had gone there for girls camp last year and she confirmed Allyson's opinion that it is really a great place. I know Kim has been trying to contact everyone and get things organized so we really appreciate that. I just hope everyone can get work off. I worked on the house yesterday and that was good. I still have to do the basement and loft and spare bedroom. Dad is working on the sprinkler system. We showed the house a couple of times this week. I had to call Kristy for an SOS one morning cause we hadn't left it in the best condition so she was kind enough to run over and do damage control. Still no offers, but we are optimistic. I went to the temple on Friday and after I almost biffed it in front of the landscape people, I got behind a young couple who had brought their marriage recommend and the guys didn't know about letting them in cause they forgot their real recommend--they said they were getting married in the morning. It was pretty cute and they finally let them in. Then the picture didn't work in the session so they stopped it and couldn't get it going. When they finally got the picture going, the lights wouldn't go off. Overall I was pretty worried about how the rest of the day was going to go. Anyway, Laura got back safe. She said she is putting pictures on her blog and that should make us all jealous. We hope everyone has a great week and a great day off tomorrow. I so appreciate Kim's taking Elder Eyrings advice about writing how we see the hand of the Lord in our lives. I have been doing that since that conference address and it puts such a better perspective on live. Some days I really have to think beyond the obvious blessings and some days things are pretty obvious. Some things are really a simple thing but it has been an eye opener for me and I recommend it to everyone. You have all been in this journal on different days and times. Thanks for being such an important blessing in my life. Love, Mom