Nine years ago today our family welcomed Dallin into our hearts and home! He is such a blessing to have around and be around. Dallin almost always has a cheerful, helpful outlook and is so loving and kind to everyone he sees and meets. He has some amazing natural abilities such as being an instant friend to everyone, playing football, reading and any school work. He's always been a great student and always into doing his homework as soon as he gets home. He's also been very energetic and eager to learn and develop new talents.

Dallin has an infectious smile as well as his laugh...they're just contagious!!!! I am so very grateful that the Lord blessed our family and blessed Dallin to make it through the trials at the beginning of his life... He has been on a nonstop growth and prospering since then.

We love you Dallin Machai Hallam !!!! Have a wonderful 9th birthday!!!

School's in session!!!!

The boys started school today! What a fun day for everyone. Aaron is a junior this year. Brandon is a freshman. Josh is in 5th grade. Dallin is in 4th and Kyler is in 2nd grade. They're all excited to learn a lot this year and looking forward to having a great year!

Are you ready for some FOOTBALL!!!!

Saturday we spent the day at BSU stadium for the optimist football jamboree. We have three playing in it, so we were there all day waiting for pictures, games and weighing in.

Josh's team had to be there first. We met at the little white church by BSU stadium at 9am. We did go early so we could get a semi decent parking spot. There were thousands of people there for games. When Josh(#60) was playing, Kyler also had to meet his team, so we had to separate to cover all the games. Josh got to play on the blue turf!!!!! Kyler played flag on the grass field next to the stadium. They both did a great job!!!

After Josh and Kyler's games, we went to Ann Morrison park for lunch and then headed back to the stadium to get ready to meet Dallin's team at 1:15. Again, we met everyone at the little white church...everyone was meeting there.... Dallin's team went in for pictures, weighing in and then to play. Dallin(#82) was starting in his game. He was playing defensive line. Dallin did a great job playing as well. We all had a great time at BSU watching the kids play football!


Things I'm grateful for:
oxy clean to get white football pants clean again
hard hits and great tackles
good sportmanship
supportive families cheering their kids on

Back to School dinner!!!!

Sunday night we had our back to school FHE!!!! A school lunch type dinner with trays and all... This is a tradition we've had for a few years now, the boys love it and we all look forward to it each year !!!!

This year, I made mashed potatoes and turkey gravy, green beans, applesauce, milk and a cookie for our school lunch. Tim and I serve it cafeteria style and put on our little act as cafeteria people. Memories from childhood are so fun!!!!

During our meal, we talk about goals and school rules. We also talk about the rewards for making and keeping our goals for good grades.

This year, I shared a quote from Pres. Eyring about seminary and keeping religious learning at the top. "...keep spiritual learning in its place, we will have to make some hard choices of how we use our time. But there should never be a conscious choice to let the spiritual become secendary. NEVER. That will lead to tragedy."

I am so grateful for my time in seminary and am so happy that the two older boys can take part in the release time program at the school. It does take dedication and sacrifice, but it is so very worth it in the end.

The boys start school on thursday and are so excited and anxious to get started again. We're all looking forward to getting back into the routine of school and studying....even me.

Things I'm grateful for:

A new school year and the opportunity to continue growth and learning

Sweet memories of my childhood and my school days

Seminary

Scriptures to study and learn from

FOOTBALL!!!!!!

Our family is now eating, sleeping and breathing FOOTBALL!!!!! Kyler is in flag football this year. Dallin is on the freshman tackle team and Josh is on the sophomore tackle team. We missed playing last year but are having a great time this year discovering the talents the boys have.

Dallin has done a great job so far of tackling in practices and even had the hit of the day one day last week. Josh has also done an amazing job on tackles. The boys are working hard and very excited that they get to play on the BSU blue turf this weekend at the Jamboree. (pictures to follow)....

Things I'm grateful for:

little boys who love football and sports

memories of fall sports

watching my children learn a new ability

seeing natural athletic ability in my children

Chloe

Last weekend we went searching for a new k-9 companion!!! Brandon and I went to the humane society in Boise and saw the dogs there, but no dog seemed to fit what we were looking for. None of them spoke to us saying "Take me home, I'm yours".

Saturday, Tim and I took the boys to Fruitland to the 2nd chance shelter there to see dogs. First, we just took Kyler in with us to see the dogs. We knew that if the dog responded well to Kyler then it would be good. We had looked on their website and saw a few dogs that we wanted to see. When we went in to see the dogs, we saw this white curly hair dog. She was just sitting there looking at us. We went to pet her and she was so happy. There was two dogs specifically there that we went to see, we did find the one Tilly...she was a very energetic friendly little thing. For a while, we went back an forth between this white curly dog and Tilly. We brought the rest of the boys in and showed them the two dogs and had them choose which one they want. They all chose Tilly.

Just as we were ready to decide, I felt I needed one last sure test. I went to Tilly and opened her door and attempted to pick her up...she went to the back of her kennel and was scared...she didn't want picked up. Then I went to the other white curly haired dog. I opened the door and she jumped into my arms and hid her head in my arms. Our decision had been made by one leap of love from our little Chloe. Her name was Pearl, but that's an old name so I wanted a new one. Princess Chloe fits perfectly into our family.

When we put Chloe into the van to come home with us, her tail was wagging and she was so happy. We took her to Frates's to show her to them. Chloe was so happy and just stuck right by us and watched everywhere we went.

Chloe is house trained and trained very well in some other areas. She's taken to her new name quite well and loves all of us so very much. She's very much part of the family and loves to go to the boy's football practices to sit and watch them play.

Things I'm grateful for:

Being able to give a dog a new home

The sweet companionship and friendship of a k9 friend

Wagging tails and knowing Chloe is happy

Girls night!!!!

I went out with some close friends from New Plymouth this past tuesday. These friends can be called family since we've been friends so long. It's so wonderful to have such long lasting friends and be able to do things with them. This month, for our girls night, we went to Starlight Mountain Theatre in Garden Valley and saw Scarlet Pimpernel.

Kim, Kaylena, Whitney and I went to dinner and then picked up one of Whitney's friends then headed up to Garden Valley for the play. We had such a wonderful time and laughed so much it felt like we were kids again.

During intermission the cast comes around selling popcorn, candy and drinks. They had a special twofer. Buy two kisses and get two licorice for free. They called it a "kissandwich". Kaylena and I paid for our licorice and gave Whitney the kissandwich. We laughed so hard my stomach was hurting. Kim also got Whitney's friend a kissandwich.

Just before the show started back up, one of the actors was on stage and they recognized birthdays, anniversaries and such. He went through the birthdays and anniversaries, then asked if there was anything else we're celebrating. This is about how the dialog sounded:

Persy: Is there anything else we're celebrating tonight?
Me: (laughing) GIRL....
Persy: Girl? hmmm... she's celebrating being a girl... and how long have you been a... GIRL?
Me: (laughing uncontrollably)
Persy: and nothing... okay we're now going to sing Happy Birtheversary...GIRL to all those celebrating birthdays anniversaries and (pointing to me)GIRL.

It is so good to have such wonderful friends and sisters :) I really needed this time out to rejuvinate myself and let lose. There are more pictures of our night on my Facebook page...I was tagged in some photos.

Things I'm grateful for:

Sweet special friends who are sisters to me

The ability to laugh and let lose

The feeling I get after I've had a good laugh

Talents and those who are willing to share them with all

Aaron's new found talent

Aaron went with the priests a week ago on a high adventure trip to the Tetons, Wyoming and all over Eastern Idaho. They had a great time and Aaron took lots of pictures. These are the scenic pictures he took. HE'S AMAZING!!! Some of these pictures are sooo breathtaking... I just had to share them. He's so talented..a natural :)

Here's a funny.... I was looking at the pictures and told Aaron how amazingly talented he is... his response "Duh, I'm your son" Now how sweet is that? Aaron is learning so many wonderful things and discovering so many beautiful talents the Lord has blessed him with. To take such beautiful pictures of this amazing world!!! WOW!!!!

Lubbock trip

I know I have more pictures of this trip, I just have to look through another folder, but here are some. The scenery on the drive down was amazing... what a beautiful world we are blessed to live in.

Family day in Boise

We decided to make lots of little trips this year to stay close to home and cut costs. This was our family outing to Boise in July. We went to the temple to get pictures of all the boys and our family. We had a great time, except it was hot...

After the temple, we went to the discovery center... we got in for free...I just love free coupons!!!! The boys had a blast as you can see from the slide show. Their favorite thing was the robot table, they were there for the longest time just building and rebuilding robots. I had to practically pry them away, even Tim got into it... it was way cool!!!!!

The boys all really enjoyed that day, we all did. We had a great time playing and exploring science.

Repentance

I must do some serious repenting as I've neglected this blog for way too long and let too many things slip by unknown by all of those who read our family blog. So much has happened, good, bad and ugly... The Lord has been working some marvelous miracles with our family and molding us and doing some pretty funky things with our family. I will attempt to catch up on the details I don't want left out of our family's history. Please be patient with me as I do this... I'm also doing school myself and getting the boys ready for school....

We also have three football players in the mix as well. Josh, Dallin and Kyler are going to be playing football this season. It will prove a tremendous challenge as there are three practice locations and only two parents. We'll get through this and all will have a blast :)