More going COASTAL!!!!

Okay, I can't remember which pictures I put on our first slideshow, but that's okay to see them again.

We are still enjoying the feelings that we brought back from the coast. It is so exciting to think that we actually were able to stay on the ocean for so long :) It is one of our favorite places to be. I think I may have said before, but not one minute of that time was wasted. I enjoyed every wave that came in and every sound that I heard.

When I was younger, the drs. said that I would be blind by the time I was 8. I found this out by my mom telling me and then that dr. became my dr. when I was married and lived in Idaho. He saw me that first day after I had grown up and was amazed at how I still had my sight. So each day and each of Heavenly Father's wonders is a blessing to me and to all of us. I don't want to waste any of my time missing the opportunity to just take it all in. My favorite sites to see are the ocean and the stars. On our first night in the hotel, the sky was so clear. We could look out the window and see the waves on the water and the stars in the sky. It was so magical.

Okay, so more sites that we enjoyed....Brandon loves seaturtles and they had a statue of them at the aquarium. Brandon saw this statue first and went crazy "MOM!!! take a picture quick" We let Brandon be the tour guide that day since he had been there just a few months earlier with school.

At the aquarium, they have the "Creatures of the Deep" It's this building with tunnels that you can watch the sharks swim overhead...WAY COOL!!!!!! The music they had playing in the building was so fitting...no it wasn't JAWS!!! They do sleepovers with the sharks as well, in this room of to the side of the tunnels. It was so crowded in the aquarium but it was the time we got there too.

Before we made it to the aquarium, we had just finished seeing the Yaquina Bay lighthouse and found that we had locked the keys in the suburban. LOL silly us huh? Well, thankfully Kyler had rolled his window down just enough for Tim to be able to reach in and get a fishing pole. He played with it and rigged it to that the door was unlocked.whew!!!!! I'm so grateful that we didn't have to spend our trip money on getting the keys out of the car.

We really didn't do a lot of expensive things, we really just enjoyed the ocean and playing on it. We found these really cool kites and Bi-Mart in Lincoln city for under $5 !!!!!! They're normally more expensive than that so we got a few for the boys to enjoy. There were enough days that the wind was blowing for them to enjoy the kite flying and they didn't even have to run to get the kite up ":)

At the state park we stayed at "Devil's Lake" there was a little road to walk down to the docks and fish. We did that a few times. This one time, the road looked just like the road you see on the "Andy Griffith" show. Just look at the picture and think of the song...it's quite funny to think about it that way....I had Josh help me with the picture.

We did have a wonderful time at the coast and can't wait to go again. We've been scoping out places to stay and things to do. I hope that next year I can take one of the boys deep sea fishing with me. Tim decided that he can't do it anymore because he gets too sea sick :(

Anyway, here are some pictures.....enjoy, we sure did

Gone COASTAL!!!

How do you like my headline :) COOL!!!! Here is a portion of our FUN IN THE SUN!!!! We had a great time. There were so many opportunities for us to enjoy all that Heavenly Father has blessed our world with. It's simply an amazing world. I went a little wave happy, but I was having a great time taking pictures of the waves.... I figured I would only get a couple good pictures, but there are so many amazing pictures that were captured :) I even got video of the waves crashing on the rocks. I just can't explain or describe how much fun we had.

We first stayed in a yurt at the Devils lake state park. There was a trail from there to the beach which we walked one day. We also walked downtown. We went to Newport and went on the Discovery tour. That is where the boys were able to throw out crab pots and catch some crabs :) We did go with our friends the Higley's and Brissettes :) It was so fun to be with more family and have more people to enjoy the tour and the trip.

When we weren't on the beach or shopping, we were at the beach house with Higley's and Brissettes playing games or at the yurt or hotel room enjoying the view.

I'll write more later, but here is a glimpse of the fun we had.

We're home

We're back from the coast! I don't know if I'm happy to be home or what. There were some unfortunate things that happened to our home while we were gone :( I got a call from a friend while we were in Lincoln city about our grass being yellow. I was so sad to hear that our sprinklers had been turned off. She turned them back on, thankfully, but our lawn looked so sad when we got home. It was painful to watch because of the hard work we had put in last summer getting it ready for sod and then laying it. Tim says it will come back, but it will take a while. We're watering like crazy right now and it looks a lot better than it did 4 days ago.

The other thing is that there are LOTS of weeds. I don't like how the house looks when there are weeds so we're going to be taking care of that soon :) It's so nice to have a nice clean looking home for people to see.

We did have a great time at the coast. I was able to get rid of all of my scentsy catalogs that i took with me. I had about 15 of them and took them to the laundry mat and left one at the yurt we stayed in. It was fun to leave them around for others to see the wonderful scentsies. I also got to have a sneak peak at the new catalog ;) I am so excited for the new things coming out. I'm also excited and ready to make my team grow by adding new consultants....now I just have to find them.

For those that don't get my newsletter I will share the specials here so you can check out my site :) In August, scentsy is having a 10% off sale to make room for the new fall and winter things. For any new consultant who signs up in August, they will receive both the spring and summer as well as the fall and winter testers and catalogs :) WOW!!!!!! I'm having some personal specials as well as the scentsy specials. If anyone buys a warmer and a bar this month, I will throw in a free bar. If anyone signs up to be a consultant on my/our team, I will give them an extra free warmer as a personal thank you :) I'm looking forward to sharing scentsy with anyone and everyone, so if anyone has a friend that is interested, please send them my way ;)

I almost forgot to mention a bit of sad news :( The price of the scentsy warmers is going up $5 and there are some being discontinued like the sunburst, celestial, daisy dance and some others....so if you want a warmer at a really good deal...this is the month to do it

I will update on our vacation when I can get the pictures downloaded. This is the first time I have ever used more than one memory card :) There is some pretty interesting stuff on the camera.

Random Ramblings

It doesn't seem there has been much activity so I'm going to ramble and see if anyone is looking or listening :)

Having a house up for sale has drawbacks and benefits :)

drawback- having to clean the house almost constantly

benefit- HAVING a clean house almost all the time :) feels so good to have a clean house

drawback- getting after the boys because they didn't clean something right

benefit- having the opportunity to TEACH my boys how to clean (I hope and pray that they remember this when they have brides of their own and they actually help them) Josh asked me to teach him how to clean a toilet Wednesday when we were getting ready for a showing :) What a sweetheart. It made me so happy.

drawback- have to leave the house and stay away for an hour at a time

benefit- we GET to get out of the house and have a reason to go play at the park :)

drawback- I'm obsessed with how my house smells

benefit- THANK GOODNESS FOR SCENTSY!!!!!!! I'm obsessed with my scentsy business and want to help it grow :) I'll put in a plug wherever I can :D www.scentsy.com/9625

drawback of having a house up for sale- not knowing when it WILL sell

benefit- getting to look at all the real estate magzines and dream :)

We're very anxious for our house to sell, just so we can have some goals accomplished :) We don't know where we're going....we're just relying on the Lord and praying that He will do what is best for us. At the moment, we just want the house to sell to the family who needs it :)

It's a wonderful thing that Heavenly Father is in charge and not us :)

America's Got Talent

This has been, by far our most favorite act on America's Got Talent. Terry Fator :) He was the one that won last years show. Although we haven't been to see him in person, we truly love his talent. Terry Fator is totally amazing. He has blown us away from the first time we saw him last year.

This year, it will be hard to follow such an amazing talent. There is so much talent out there in the world, so we'll see what happens :) We enjoy watching these talent shows like American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, America's Got Talent.

Memories

Okay, I copied this from Linda :) It's pretty cool and very fun...so here goes.. There are rules :)

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you

okay, ready, set GO!!!!!!!!

If you don't have a google acount, you can leave a comment annonymous, just sign you name to the message so I can see who you are :)

Countdown to the COAST!!!!!

Dallin has been counting down to the coast :) He says we have 11 days left until we go to the coast :) YAY!!!! We are all very excited to be able to go see the ocean :) We are keeping very busy cleaning the house and keeping it clean for any showings....which we've had a few of them this last week. We're grateful that our house is still being shown and pray that we will have a buyer soon. It would be wonderful to have an offer before we go to the coast, but for now, we're focusing on having a great summer and getting things organized and keeping clean :)

When we go to the coast, we're going to be staying in a yurt at one of Oregon's state parks. Yurt camping and cabin camping has been a super fun experience. We love not having to worry about a tent or packing extra stuff....which, we don't have a tent anyway ;) Check out the oregon parks website, they have several parks on the coast and away from the coast that have cabins and yurts. They are truly fun to stay in :)

We can't wait to see some whales, the ocean waves, sea lions on the docks at Newport and smell the ocean breeze :) There's nothing like being at the ocean. That's one of our favorite places to be and see :) We've rented several beach houses before and have found some GREAT houses...nope, i'm not telling which ones, then they'll be taken before we can get to them ;) lol...

Another thing we're anxious to see is the creatures of the deep exhibit at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport. Brandon has been the only one that has seen it, so we're all excited to see it.

A friend at the factory :)

While we were in Idaho for our reunion I had the amazing opportunity tour the scentsy factory :) AAAAA!!!!! I was so very excited to see this factory. Pulling into the parking lot was incredible...it smelled so good :)

I saw my friends that work there....Colleen, Christy and Doug :)

They are great people...it was so good to see them after all these years.

Okay, so the factory was so amazing....there were so many workers putting together orders, new consultant kits, making bars and labeling them. Scentsy is growing so fast and is expecting even more growth coming up. I also had a sneak sniff of the new scents that are coming out :) WOW!!!!!! I am having so much fun being a scentsy consultant and am always looking for more parties :) and more new consultants to join my team....so far it's a team of me :) It is a ton of fun though...there are so many amazing scents and new ones coming up :)

I did love going through the factory :) What a special opportunity :) Thanks Colleen

www.scentsy.com/9625 Here's my link if you want to check things out...the link is also to the side.

Our family reunion

We just had our Hallam family reunion in Idaho. We went down early so that we could see some of our friends there. The reunion this year was at Three Island Crossing state park....WAY COOL!!!!! It's great to go somewhere and learn something new about our past and our country's past.... Three Island crossing is just south of Mountain home in Glenn's Ferry...just on the river.

We haven't been to a reunion in a few years as I've been busy with girls camp those years :0) I love girls camp, but I did enjoy the reunion. We have missed going and visiting with family.

It was crazy how everyone had grown...all the younger kids. Each of the boys had at least one cousin their age to play with. Aaron was in seventh heaven with two cousins his age...BOYS!!!!! It was quite funny to see those three pal around together :)

Of course there were other girls camping with another family that was having a reunion there. These girls came over and walked through our campsite several times. One night they were making completes fools of themselves by dancing on the table next to our site and doing all sorts of cheers....totally inappropriate cheers and dancing might I add. The boys were quite hilarious to watch...they were laughing at these girls but not even paying attention to them. Aaron thought of an idea that the boys would act like nerds and pull their pants all the way to their chests :) The boys weren't impressed by these girls as they were not dressed apprpriately...GO BOYS!!!!!! It was so good to see the three figure this problem out on their own...too bad they can't go to school together...they'd be a force for good :)

Anyway, the girls started making fun of the boys for being "nerds" oh well....then Tim's brother in law Andre (Janae's husband) went over to these girls and told them to stop making fools of themselves and go back to their camp. Well, he scared them off by threatening that he would go to their camp and tell their parents how they were dancing ;) GO ANDRE!!!!! The girls left and when Andre came back to the table where the boys were, the boys clapped :) It was so great to see this :) Thus starts a new chapter in my life as a mother....the GIRL stage ;) Heaven help us

On saturday, the park had an activity at the meuseum, making corn husk dolls. Three Island Crossing is one of the pioneer crossing places.


They were led by the indians across the river. Since the current was so swift, they had to have a guide that knew the area and knew where the currents were best to cross. They used three of the islands on the river to cross it.

At the reunion, Tim's uncle Burt had their tandem bike with them....this was the HIT for everyone. We all got to try it out. It was such fun to see the boys riding this bike. At one point, when all the cousins arrived.

Aaron and Chris, who are only a few months apart got on the bike and were riding. It was a missionary moment :) They looked like two future elders getting on their bike to go out and teach :)

The whole reunion was a great time :) The boys had a ton of fun with their cousins and just playing around and camping. It was fun to watch all the kids and play with them as well.

We didn't want to come home as we were having so much fun visiting everyone. Hopefully soon, we can be back with family and all those cousins that the boys enjoyed :)

Happy 4th of July

Comment Graphics and Myspace Layouts at pYzam.com

The 4th of July brings back so many memories for me. I have moved all over the place when I was younger. It bothered me at the time, but I look back and realize how blessed I was to have so many opportunities to see and experience this great country in which we live.

When we were moving across the states from Idaho to Pennsylvania, we stopped at every state capital we could to take a picture in front of it. It was great to see so many state capitols.

We have also had so many chances to experience 4th of July fireworks in so many different places. When we lived in PA, we had the wonderful opportunity to go to Washington DC and see the fireworks on the nations capital steps. We sat right on the steps to the nations capital and ate m&m's and watched the fireworks. Those were the best I have ever seen. They set the fireworks to live music. Totally AMAZING!!!!!!!

More experiences in PA have given me a greater appreciation for our freedom. So many of our founding father's and ancestors have paid a high price for our freedom. Being so close to Philadelphia gave me greater opportunity to learn for myself about our freedoms and see so many great things... like the declaration of independance, liberty bell, independance hall where the declaration was signed. I remember one time, my mom let us skip school so that we could attend a parade in Philly for the celebration of the declaration of independance....many local schools marched in the parade :)

I am so grateful for our great country and the freedoms that we share. It is a free country, so let's keep it free. We have so much to be thankful for.

Have a very happy and safe 4th of July !!!!!!!