Missionaries and Olympians

First of all, ETHAN WILLIAM HALLSTROM HAS BEEN CALLED TO SERVE IN THE IDAHO POTACELLO  MISSION, reporting July 29, 2015! Congratulations to Ethan and so much love and excitement is being sent his way from here.Literally, seems like it was only yesterday that he was born; hence the nostalgic baby photos. The photo in the first grouping on the bottom left is in the romper I made him that I accidentally poked him with pins and made his leg bleed; and the cute photo with Amy shows my first attempt at a quilt and look at those monster points on the side. I had no clue. After Ethan received his call, I texted him and told him I grew up in La Grande, Oregon, and it might as well have been Idaho, and to me it was (and still is) the center of the universe. The missionaries were BELOVED by all of us because as far as we were concerned, they had been called to serve in the center of the universe too and we honored them for being with us, for honoring us and serving in our little corner of the world. AND I MARRIED A MISSIONARY WHO SERVED IN IDAHO! Idaho where Napolean Dynamite grew up! It's going to be full of adventures and spectacular moments, and beautiful scenery where "The Potato Field is White and Ready to Harvest."

They will be building a temple in Star Valley, Wyoming while he's serving and it's in his area. I love the photo the church released on their Instagram post a few weeks ago during the groundbreaking where people rode their horses and the clouds were all low and moody in the blue skies.

And finally, to quote Alma's epistle to Helaman 56:45: "And now I say unto you, my beloved brother Moroni, that never had I seen so great courage, nay, not amongst all the Nephites. For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; Now they never had fought; yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying" "WE do not doubt our mothers knew it!" I get chills typing that. And a few verses later it reads: "And this was the faith of these of whom I have spoken; they are young, and their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in God continually."(57:47) Ethan, this could have been written about you!

And finally, Alma 56 Verse 27, paraphrasing- it says "And now it came to pass in the second month of this year, there was brought unto us many provisions from the fathers and grandmothers of those my two thousand sons!" So oh yeah, I will be sure to hold up my end of this "altered" scriptural account and provide him with many grandmotherly provisions! Ethan will be a great missionary because he's obedient and has a kind heart and follows through and is a hard worker and so handsome! You know what I think one of the hard things about a mission would be? To ALWAYS have a companion with you!! I would have to spend lengthy time in the bathroom occasionally just to gather my wits. And then I'd be fine and off to the races. He will liven and uplift our lives through his labors (and I will labor with renewed vigor in his honor in my own assignments here on the homefront, whatever they may be now and in the future!). Congratulations Elder Hallstrom!!!!

                           NOW TO CONTINUE WITH OUR COLORADO ADVENTURES!

Jack and Macy are little Olympians on their school's track team and we got to watch them practice. The coach is the youth pastor who was happy that Amy mentioned not practicing on Sundays and said he welcomed making the change himself because he's busy being a pastor on Sundays!

(the coach is the one with the beard)

We sat and watched from the steps at their pretty elementary school and listened to Amy's friends discuss the price of getting their hair cut and colored and how much to tip!

I told Macy that Heavenly Father gave her lots of muscles and she gets to enjoy them here on earth.

And Carly is so darn cute. She's the Olympic ballerina!These little girls at her dance class were adorable to watch. I like how the little girl in the black leggings (who is the daughter of Amy's friend that was discussing the price of hair coloring) is watching Carly so closely. Carly reminds me so much of Amy at that age when she was a little girl and took dance - following every direction to the "T." (Only Amy and Cathy Crippen used to hide from me and Carma on dance class day and hope we forgot about it, which we did with stunning regularity! They didn't like the teacher I think they thought she was mean? Is that right Mouse? She was no Myrna Chadwick, huh Ang!!

TAP SHOES!! I LOVE TAP!!! Shuffle, ball change?

I wish this picture wasn't blurry because I love the gauzy feminine pink flowing skirt, and the way she's holding it in her little teeny Carly hand!

These blurry shots are random Macy moments caught from the corner of my eye. I got used to seeing Macy spring by in a blur of motion..............

and then I got to watch a bit of Macy's Olympian gymnastics practice. I could watch forever. Carly feels like she has  watched forever. One time, in the sweetest little Carly voice, she said to me matter-of-factly, "I hate gymnastics...."

I got there right to watch at "snack time" which was the break they get at the halfway point during the 3 hours of practice on Friday nights. and it's so much WORK! I couldn't believe they did their tough moves over and over and then over AGAIN. It boggles my mind.And she loves it!

Love this!

...(her coach is Amy's friend who she helped recruit to teach at their gym. She was so great with the kids. I was very impressed with all of the kid's teachers school, dance, track, gymnastics, all of them so genuinely kind and doing what they love, loved kids, just well suited for the challenge of impacting kid's lives for the better!

....she swings up onto the low bar

...does a scissor kick to lift to the top and flings herself through the air to catch the high bar....

and she did it! I think this may have been the first time she did it (although I don't know, maybe it's the NEXT higher one she had never done?) Either way, I was flabbergasted.

I did NOT like this pose! However, her teacher seems non-plussed. Like I said, they're doing what they are suited to do! When Dave says the prayer he always includes "Please bless Macy at gymnastics."

And these next few photos - I don't know where they learned this dance, at school? But out of the blue with no prompting from us, they broke out these swing moves like they were grown-ups at the ballroom! So below are a few snapshots of "Dancin' on the Deck!"

We also had "Sock Olympics!" Carly's sock is on the blue ribbon and she made a frowny face on the other side of hers :-)

The lighting of the torch. It was so hard to turn on the twisty thing on that dern lamp, Macy couldn't do it and then neither could I and we also couldn't get the other lamp plugged in on the first try so it was kinda a lame torch lighting. Nothing like the Youtube video I showed them with the flaming arrow shot through the sky.

Macy was Egypt and made an exact replica of their flag. Carly represented the country of Disneyland!

And Jack, so noble in this photo! I believe his country was "Jackland."

The Olympic village comes to life.............

nothing like that theme song to liven things up!

I didn't get many photos of the games because it's impossible to be the photographer and the game person. Dennis helped a ton with everything!~

The medal awards...........

Congratulations to Carly....

Mighty Macy!

and, I think this is my favorite photo of all 347 that I took. He is beaming into Grandpa's eyes. Isn't it cute?

Then for the Olympic village wrap-up party they rocked out to "Gummy Bear!"

Woo who!!
I have one more blog post left of many, many random moments and I can't wait to get those up too. So, from my house to yours, good night, sleep tight, more soon.
XOXOX
Mom

Three Little Cuties

Three Little Kids + two rather large and ungainly grandparents = one fun blog post! Here is a recap of our adventures while Amy and Dave went on a cruise, April 2015!

I am trying to condense 11 days into a reasonable framework, but it's hard with 341 photos....however after downloading them I found that 297 of them are blurry, so it's not quite as daunting!

Speaking of blurry, here's Jack. I am using this photo anyway because in my mind's eye, I think it catches a glimpse of what he will look like as an adult. Everyone always reminds me of somebody else and I see my dad in Jack a lot.

 

  Here's a photo of my dad. I dunno,can you "Feel" it?

And Macy! One morning Dennis had to go to the school office, and when he identified himself as the grandpa, the lady in the office said "Macy looks like you!" Who would have thought Macy looked like Dennis? Not me!

So here is a photo of Dennis, with Aunt Karla and the gang, freckles too! Do you see any resemblances?

 And here they are in real time eating at Chick-a-Fill!

And finally, Car-Car....and we all know who SHE looks like!

AMY!!! And on our second day there we got to celebrate Amy birthday!

Our first day, Thursday was spent driving I-70. Oh I wish I didn't have PTSD about freeways. But I do. Here is the stopped traffic on the OTHER side of the road. It was backed up for miles and miles - people out of their cars chatting, hoods up, a mess. Remember when we all drove to Denver for Thanksgiving when Wyatt was a baby and the sign said 2 1/2 hours to Denver and we thought they were joking?

Okay, I digressed . . . now back to the birthday celebration. The kids showered Amy with gifts...

We went to an upscale area and had yummy Mexican food. Everything in Colorado (and Minnesota and North Carolina) is built with so much beautiful green space around it. Lovely!

...walked through a high-priced grocery store with LITERALLY the most beautiful bounty of pastries I've ever seen in my life.

and stopped and bought an ice cream cake from Baskin-Robbins.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY!

Then it was time to study the Grandma and Grandpa student manual!! It even had two pages devoted to the "dreaded electronics!" Each day was scheduled and we needed it! We studied it like scriptures - MORE than scriptures. I'm so glad you are better parents than we were. I'm so proud of you for reading scriptures with your children at night. Thank you. We read with Jack, Macy and Carly every night. They happened to be in Alma where he is speaking to his sons and giving them advise, so it was a perfect part to read. They liked hearing Dennis read better than me. They picked him :-).

Amy wrapped eight gifts, one for each day they were gone, and put them up on the mantle. It makes getting up like Christmas morning in a way. There are inexpensive crafts and such fun. This photo was taken on the last day - with only one gift left - so one more day until mommy and daddy come home!

Catsy approved of these little fuzzy animals on fishing line!

One of the coolest, and for sure HARDEST, was a jigsaw puzzle.

 ....but not just any old jigsaw puzzle - one that was a picture of the kids! Here's Macy...

and this is the top of Jack's head. I couldn't figure out what it was we were putting together, because it was the edge, but the edge of the puzzle was slightly different than the photo we were working from and then all of a sudden realized "Hey Jack it's your HAIR!"

Carly's smile!

Dennis worked with the kids for the whole afternoon creating the sand bottles.

Lots of fun crafts. And NOW oh wow, I'm going to sign off and finish this blog a little later this weekend because WOO WHOOOOOO!!!!..........ETHAN IS OPENING HIS MISSION CALL IN AN HOUR!! What a thrilling event, unreal moment, just so excited. So glad we can all share it together as a family via Skype. What a world!! Bless his heart. XO Mom

There was no tiptoe-ing..................

We picked a mild April day to head out to Thanksgiving Point and enjoy the annual tulip festival. Oh it was sooooo refreshing and wonderful. Denny said, "We all need to spend more time outside." And I agree. Especially if "outside" looks like this! Thanksgiving Point is just a hop, skip and jump away when you depart from Denny's house! Denny was so kind/brave/normal to drive us on the freeway. And boy howdy, the freeway entrance onto I-15 Southbound from Denny's house is akin to some of my crazy nightmares: full of oncoming Millenium Falcons full of dirt, double wide semis bearing down going 80 mph, cement barriers thrown up on either side (probably also camouflaging Taliban gunmen), utter mayhem. Or, in other words, merging onto I-15 in Utah during construction. I busted out with an "OH MY HECK!" (or a version of that) as we merged, and then I felt better.

The entrance is so pretty, and it's always so fun to "begin" an adventure - like Disneyland where everyone is taking 30 photos just inside the entrance because we don't know what else to do! But they do have gorgeous groupings of tulips all along the pathway into the building. Hey, I just noticed I got a shot of Denny catching up with us (she dropped us old people off and parked the car in the parking lot).

Luscious lemony yellows.

I like our three purses all lined up in a row! As always, we needed to rely on "the kindness of strangers" in order to get a group shot. I asked a nice, older gentleman to be our kind stranger, and he was happy to oblige. Then another kind stranger came up and offered to get a group shot with the five of us! We were trying to explain to her that the photographer was a stranger, but this lady wasn't listening and kept trying to force him to join us. Finally we got through to her and she let him off the hook. We probably should have taken her up on it!

I had mom and dad stand apart from each other so you could also see the pretty field of flowers behind darling them.

The reason there was no tip-toeing through the tulips, was because we rented a GOLF CART! It was just perfect, and lots of fun to drive too! We all took turns riding up front, and riding in back. Riding in back is  like riding in the back seat of the family car as a grown-up. The view is so different and not nearly as fun, and you think, wow, I ought to dig some of the french fries out from between these seats!

This is such a spectacular creation. See grandpa Hiatt's blog "The Oregonians" for much more professional looking photos of all of this!

Our golf cart was the ideal way to cover so much ground. Although it was kinda loud. I felt like it was the golf cart version of a Wal-mart squeeky-wheeled shopping cart. It is a "share the road" experience too - lots of driving for 15 inches, pulling over to the side so a mom and her three little kids and a stroller could go past, driving for 15 feet and stopping because there is someone lost in quiet reverie looking at the splendor (which is the POINT) and not at all concerned about the fact that there's a golf cart bearing down on them going 3 miles an hour!

This is mom in front of "The Secret Garden." It's fun to take her photo at this place because we have one from 10 years ago when we visited Thanksgiving Point, AND she loves the children's book. I remember she bought a beautiful hardback version of it for our children when they were little.

We had books about Bible stories growing up, and I was enthralled with the painting of the Garden of Eden. Oh the purple flowers hanging along the edges of that painting. I would gaze at it for long periods of time and just "fall" into it! These photos remind me of that overall "feel" of the Garden of Eden.

A photo from the "other" side of the river. I don't know why I thought I needed to run cleeaaaar around to get this shot, but here it is!

I think they're the best looking perennials in this garden!

Dad made us laugh when he mentioned it was ironic to walk through acres and acres of fresh flowers, only to have lunch in the restaurant on the grounds, and they had FAKE FLOWERS for their centerpieces!

It was a lovely day!

And just a few more photos - Snow on the tulips.

Put away the Easter decorations and couldn't bear to part with the little chicks and their houses so I've got them lined up in a row in the bedroom and I might leave them there until.........................

We have a magpie nest in our fir tree in the back yard. They are squawky birds, and so are robins, and we have so darn many birds cawing away at 5:30 a.m. now that I've taken to sleeping in heavenly peace in the basement for awhile! And NOW we're packing our suitcases and heading to Colorado and fun and games with Amy and Dave and Jack and Macy and Carly (Happy Birthday Amy on April 24th, the day we're all together before Amy and Dave fly off to the Caribbean and Dennis and I engage in much wild rumpusness with the kids. and probably exhaustion at the end of the day. Can't wait!
XOOX
Mom