December Memories 2015

Whew! December, 2015 is in the books and it was a wonderful, memorable, unforgettable year.

Part of what made it seem so much like Christmas was the loads of snow we received. Last year we didn't really have winter, and it made it seem like memories of all the previous years came flooding down along with the heaps of snowflakes. And look at this beautiful sunrise out our window one December morning!

Here is Uncle Richard checking out Tony's painting. This is a painting of what Tony envisions it may have looked like when the boy Joseph Smith found his seer stone. Tony's painting was included in this year's Springville Art Museum annual showcase of spiritual art. Aunt Karla is a volunteer at the Art Museum and she and Richard and Dennis and I went to a panel discussion one night that Tony was asked to take part in. 

I will never forget the evening! It was so far removed from what we usually experience. The panel consisted of the woman on the end who was the moderator; then our own illustrious Tony; next to Tony the artist with white hair, who, it turned out was Uncle Richard's missionary companion 40+ years ago in Washington! He was a fascinating guy, and has a long career of compelling art; then the woman with white hair, oh what a character. She is an accomplished artist, but her presenting style was so circular, she couldn't come to the point, and she was the first presenter and halfway through I thought oh boy, we're going to be here all night! But she had some pretty interesting approaches to art, including having readers from all over the world read the Pope's Encyclical out loud in different languages at one show; then the Native American artist next to her. He was fascinating and very fun to listen to. He has created pieces for O.C. Tanner and many other places. He began by speaking about being part of the LDS Indian Placement Program and speaking in Navajo, and talking about his life as a boy. He wove his Navajo narrative with the LDS narrative and it was unforgettable. The man at the end was another moderator, and had just received his PhD in Art History from Oxford, and thus, he said, made darn sure he would never be employable. But it was really interesting to listen to Tony present, and be part of this evening.

 My artistic endeavors included putting up the village under the Christmas tree this year!

 I also took TRAX to the conference center and continued my training. (or my Traxing).

 I walk past a whole row of sycamores, my favorites!

When I walked outside after my first Friday evening of training, this was my view. I'll never forget it. Fun to have it dark outside, and everything lit up for Christmas. In the summer it will be hot and warm and packed with people, but for now this is what I'll remember.

And speaking of remembering, oh my, nobody who lived in Salt Lake will forget the Monday snow storm we received two weeks before Christmas. I don't remember the last time we got dumped on like this! Our back yard!

 A guy in our neighborhood created this massive Darth Vader. Cars were lined up stopping in the middle of 13th West to take photos.

Our South windows are so nice in the winter time because they let in all that South light. So, does the sun change where it is in the winter, or does the earth move?

 BYU and Utah also played in the Las Vegas Bowl. We had Tony's family come up and help us celebrate!

 Good thing Calvin wore a BYU shirt because they are otherwise kinda a red family!

 I always think Jane looks like my Grandmother Nan. Can't you see it?

 Dennis added an extra couch behind the theater seating and boosted it up with cinder blocks so we had stadium seating! Amy says it reminded her of Utah State, where they did that in their dorm.

 We also went to Temple Square with Tony and Cindy and the kids. I don't think we'd been down there with them for three or four years and it was so much fun! It was 40 degrees that night too so we could stroll to our heart's content!

 They only light this red tree every other year, and last time we were there it wasn't lit, so it must have been three years since we were there.

 Jane had my camera and took some beautiful shots!

 Macy's candy windows!

Well, that's leads us up to Christmas itself! Happy new Year's Eve Eve!

XO
Mom

Minnesota Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Memories from Minnesota!

Here is the inside of my suitcase about 10 days before we left. When I told Angie to tell Elise that I'd packed "The Sound of Music" so we could watch it while we peeled potatoes, Elise's response was, "Grandma's already packing?"

I AM OLD! If I don't do something when I think of it there's a real possibility that it won't enter my mind again, so there ya' go. So prior to leaving I packed the DVD, the advent calendar, salt and pepper shakers and paper plates, just in case they didn't sell paper plates in Minnesota. I seriously almost packed a can of jellied cranberries but decided against it and then turned out we had the hardest time finding any the day before Thanksgiving because everyone was sold out.

This is the awesome entrance into the guest bedroom at the Hallstrom Hilton. Early morning Seminary classroom! How sweet is this? I love that these kids all have their own personal quilts. Grandpa and I were behind closed doors in our bedroom the day before Thanksgiving while Forrest and 20 Seminary kids were right outside the door studying the Old Testament. Ah it's cool to be a Mormon!!

Speaking of cool Mormons, here are two of them! Fabulous piano player Wyatt Dean and his fabulous piano teacher. She was one of the first members of the church baptized in Ukraine, which I believe was next to Bosnia Hertznagovitch!

Here is Wyatt learning the Great-Grandpa Hiatt rendition of "Blues in the Night" and he practices it religiously! He is a natural, and his hands are juuuuuust big enough to reach the octaves for the bass part. I think Jonas, Elise and Ethan may not particulary appreciate this song by the time Wyatt has mastered it. But I sure dig it!

And in keeping with the Wyatt theme, he is so cute. Hazel is too.

This captures the classic Thanksgiving that we got to revel in while in Minnesota. Forrest smoked his turkey to perfection then put it in the oven to finish it. Here he is just after stepping in from this scene as pictured  below..............

A perfect backyard winter wonderland for Thanksgiving morning. Sometimes when autumn starts spilling into pre-winter, I'll say "It feels like Thanksgiving today" and I can almost smell the onions and celery being sautee'd on the stove for the stuffing. Well this is the kind of day that it feels like!

The bread Angie chops the night before to add to the onions and celery!

Minnesota Thanksgiving Dinner 2015!
Featuring the Hallstrom gang: Jonas Leo; Wyatt Dean; Elise Julia;  Grandpa Sweat; Ethan William; Angela Denise and Forrest Stephen. Photo taken by Grandma Sweat.  People I love who made this year's Thanksgiving particularly wonderful!

Speaking of people that I love, here is a Fun Fact:

My dear family consists of my fellow Sweats (Andrew and Tony's families), and then all the rest of the your last names start with the letter "H"!!
Hiatt
Higgins
Haynie
Hallstrom
Huish

That random happenstance just kills me!

Is this a man ready for a feast or what?

And then we get to have Forrest's turkey gizzard soup for dinner the next day accompanied by Angie's perfect Paninis.

And here are the canned jellied cranberries that it took four people and three stores to find, so that grandpa could make.........

.....the best sandwich of the year!

Happy "day after" Thanksgiving!

Also on the day after Thanksgiving we were found pounding the pavements for Black Friday shopping at the Mall of America! Here are Ethan and Wyatt, with the rest of the gang in front of them. It was so festive and fun! And the day before Thanksgiving Angie and Forrest took us to the breathtaking Minnesota Museum of Fine Art, where I took, oh about the usual 1200 pictures because everything was so exquisite. And we've had computer problems since we returned, and for the life of me, somehow I don't have any photos of Chinese everything downloaded. I don't know where it ended up, so the memories will have to be etched in my brain and not on my blog. ArghhhH!

Elise, Jonas and Angie checking out the window displays. Me, I was busy either A) Losing my driver's license AT THE MALL OF AMERICA ON BLACK FRIDAY;  B) Losing my WALLET AT THE MALL OF AMERICA ON BLACK FRIDAY. Fortunately they were both turned in by good souls, one of whom chased me down to give me my license. Lesson to be learned? Bring your purse to the MALL OF AMERICA ON BLACK FRIDAY.

Here is the Seminary class turned into Home Economics class, where Lou and I made PJ pants. We needed the help of our resident sewing machine expert to fix the tension on the bobbin. Grandpa Sweat to the rescue! After we got married he worked at:

A) Schoppe Company (installing heating and air conditioning. It was owned by his good friend Steve Bunting's dad) B) delivering pharmaceuticals to nursing homes for Uncle Joel's Jolley Rexall drug; C) AAA Tent and Awning selling tents and awnings; D) managing a community swimming pool;  E) Sears, selling sewing machines and vacuum cleaners, along with six other men who were all married heads of households, trying to keep a roof over their heads, and fighting for the commission from every poor lady who came in to buy a new zipper foot.

You learn something from every job you have. Grandpa learned: A) he doesn't like manual labor so he'd best stay in college; B) he sure wished his dad owned his own business so he wouldn't have to figure out what he wanted to be when he grew up; C) he was much too tall to pose as the model for the AAA tent and awning pup tents (they had to re-shoot the whole thing with a shorter guy); D) there are some really creepy people who own swimming pools on North Temple; E) he didn't like fighting for a commission by selling zipper feet to poor old ladies, so he'd best stay in school.

But he DID learn the guts of a sewing machine like the back of his hand. He's a natural seamster! And he also sold used cars for exactly one week, and he learned a ton from that experience too. He has saved us a lot of money over the decades using the wiley ways of a former used car salesman.

Of course he's a natural at tossing a football too, and thus graduated from the University of Utah majoring in P.E. but was still left wondering what he wanted to be when he grew up! Luckily, and this is a cool story, after he graduated he took a job in Reno, Nevada selling nuts and bolts (which he HATED!). While we were living there for all of six months, we chose an apartment that was located in a ward where the Elder's Quorom President was an undercover Police detective for the Reno PD. One week out of the blue he invited Dennis to ride along with him. Dennis went along for the ride, and came home that night knowing he wanted to become a Police Officer. Thus our lives were set in motion. Pretty cool. And also Tony was born while we lived in Reno which explains his wild and crazy personality.

Here's Jonas who also wants to go to college so he doesn't have to be a sewing machine salesman when he grows up. Actually he was helping me figure something out on the sewing directions, because the boy has a very logical, intricate brain and is organized and smart and can help people figure things out! This will serve him well at the University level and beyond!!

He and Wyatt are also expert cheese dip makers (and Wyatt an expert lemonade maker!).

But mostly they're expert cheese dip testers! As am I.

And Angie is the expert in charge of all of it. Cooking, organizing, testing bells for an upcoming Primary Sharing time activity; and grading, grading, grading papers written by a new generation of University kids who are learning how to write so they don't have to be sewing machine salesmen!

While Elise works on her dramatic sweeps of soft, warm throw blankets, and also cooks up a storm, works, goes to school, sings in her High School ensembles and choruses, and works on filling out her college paperwork for BYUI!!!

And here is the whole Hallstrom clan on the way to church on a Minnesota Sunday. Minnesota is gorgeous. I love it. I love the placement of the trees, even in winter. There is a long stretch of farmland on the way to church that is so picturesque. Sometimes they have Garrison Keillor on the radio too which is too perfect. The road is called, oh I can't remember, let's call is "Fielding Road" for the sake of this story. Angie's friend, another member of the ward with a large family, said that's where she always to do the "Fielding apology" where she has settled down from getting upset at everyone because they're late for church and then each week "apologizes" to them on Fielding Road. Thus, the weekly "Fielding apology." Funny!

Ethan William Hallstrom - Age 19

Wyatt Dean Hallstrom age 8.

Angela Denise - The mama, the MAMA!

Elise Julia Hallstrom age 17. Really? 17? That's too old Lou!

Jonas Leo Hallstrom age 14.

Forrest William Hallstrom the papa!

It's so fun to enjoy other people's pets. I wish they had "Rent-a-Pet" where we could get a puppy whenever you kids come to visit. Someone told me there is actually something like that! Here are a few quick shots of Hazel Hallstrom helping me wrap presents.

It didn't take her long to nestle right into the middle of the Target bag. Target is good for so many things, including a temporary shelter!

And here is Wyatt coming home from school on Monday, the day we left; waving at me from clear down the street!

And then we said our farewells until we see each other again next summer. Such a wonderful visit. Thank you! They sent us home with home made raspberry jam and TSA didn't approve (nor did they approve of my SEWING SHEARS!). What was I thinking? What was Salt Lake International thinking letting me through in the first place? Anyway, after being detained, they let Dennis check our luggage with the jam, and actually let me keep my shears? On the flight home, the fellow sitting next to me was fighting a nasty cold, which who knows if that's where I got it, but I've had a nasty cold for the last 10 days. Can't shake it, and have laryngitis to boot. I had to look that word up. Could you have spelled "laryngitis" without looking it up? Oh, you say you went to more than one year of junior college? Sweet memories. Love you all, Merry less than two weeks and counting 'til Christmas when we all make more sweet memories. XOXOX