Eagle Project madness!!!!

Today was a major packing day for Butte View Elementary where I was working this year. The school is closing due to budget cuts and to make better use of the newer elementary schools in Emmett.

This is a huge consolidation and has been a huge undertaking for those involved in the planning process. I do not envy the administration positions at all, but do admire them for doing such great work in such a short amount of time.

We had a levy vote the first week in May, which passed... HUGE BLESSING!!!! However, Butte View is still closing as an elementary school, but will be school district head quarters and the alternative school now.

Today, all the teachers were packing up their classrooms.

There were tons of volunteers helping pack and move classrooms out of the building. One young man in our ward took this opportunity and made an eagle project out of helping move the library to both schools last week.

Brandon decided to do his eagle project and help move the extended resource room from Butte View to Carberry were they will be working with the special needs teir three children. This project was HUGE!!!!

Brandon did a great job leading the other young men and other helpers to empty the classrooms and move the boxes to the trailers.

We had two trailers and tons of strong hands to help.

The moving took just under 2 hours to complete from loading boxes to move to unloading boxes in the new classroom at Carberry.

The teachers and aids from that classroom were impressed with how fast and efficient the boys/men worked. I was also impressed as well.

They all did a fabulous job. I am so very grateful for all who helped Brandon put in the hours for his Eagle project :)

What a blessing all were to the extended resource room, the ladies can now focus on setting up their new classroom and not be working all summer on getting moved and organized :)

Thank you all so very much!!

WOW!!!!

Ok, so it's been too long since my last posting! So much has been happening in the Hallam household.

We now have a senior in high school!!! AAAAHHHH not sure how that happened? I guess I didn't find the snooze button soon enough :'( I never thought the time would go by so fast. This morning Aaron was telling me "This year went by so fast" I told him that next school year would go by even faster... time never slows down, it only speeds up.... The song is so true to words "Time flies on wings of lightning, we can not hold it back"

All of the boys have learned a lot this school year and have grown so much! Next year, there will be two boys at the high school.... one in middle school at the junior high and two at Carberry (hopefully).

We're looking forward to a great summer vacation with tons and tons of fun things planned :)

Happy 8th birthday Kyler McKay

Kyler is 8 years old now!!!! Holy canoli the time has flown too fast. As much as he would tell us he's never going to grow up, he has, much to our dismay and sadness and joy. It has been such a blessing having Kyler in our family. He has been a joy and a ray of life.

Many know of Kyler's struggle to get here and the miracle of his birth. At Kyler's baby shower that a dear friend put on for us, another dear friend gave me a little stuffed teddy bear. Her suggestion was to take a picture of Kyler each month next to the bear. This idea was a great one since, when he was born, Kyler was smaller than the bear. He didn't get any bigger than the bear until about 6 months of age.

Although it was a stuggle to get Kyler here safely, I am so grateful that he is here and healthy. Kyler is very VERY active and just a sweet bubbly little boy. He loves people with all he's got. When he sees someone he will give them a hug no matter if it's a boy or a girl... he's a very huggy loving boy.

Kyler has been having fun with sports this past year. He did flag football this past fall and just finished with wrestling. He's also very excited to be in cub scouts. His favorite thing about school this past year has been the fact that he gets to see mom everyday. It was always such a treat to get a hug from Kyler at recesses. He loved telling the other kids that I was his mom. I soaked it all in as much as I could, it never got boring. I know that in a few years, it will be the opposite, I pray that it won't be that way, but who knows with teenagers sometimes. I can wait for him to be a teenager though. He's my baby and I want to enjoy every moment of his childhood... it passes all too fast.

Happy happy birthday sweet Kyler McKay Hallam!!!! We love you!!!!

Reflections

Sometimes in life, the Lord gives us opportunities to take a long hard look into ourselves... To reflect on our path and where it is going. Sometimes, things happen in our lives that allow us to suffer and to feel such deep sorrow and pain.... uncertainty is horribly painful.

However, uncertanty requires huge amounts of faith to face it.... look right into the face of adversity and uncertanty and allow the Lord to work our spirits. To bend our will to His. When the Lord is in charge all will be okay. There may be many times of sorrow and sadness, there may be much pain and heartache, but during those times, we can find peace in the Savior and take comfort in the atonement.

I've learned in the past few years of my life that if I pray for a certain thing, it may not be the Lord's will to receive that blessing. He may have something else in mind to bless me with. Therefore, changing my prayers, asking the Lord to bless me with what He wants to bless me with. In the face of adversity I'm comforted by the knowledge that I am letting my will bend to the Father's will for me and become what He wants me to become.

I know this leaves lots of questions, but the main lesson here is having faith in the face of adversity and refocusing on those things which the Lord wants us to focus on. We've got to humble ourselves in order that we can be led by the spirit. I've learned that it takes great faith sometimes to pray that the Lord will bless me with what he wants to bless me and letting Him be in control.... let go and let God.... that's the key.... however, when I do let the Lord be in control, I can take comfort that it is His will that is being done and not mine :) Therefore, my life won't be messed up because of some silly human mistake that I make :)

Happy 15th Birthday Brandon!!!

Today Brandon is fifteen :) What a blessing it's been to have Brandon in our family!!! He's a huge help and so eager to please everyone and serve.

Brandon was such a happy little boy. He loved making people smile and he loved singing.

The other day Brandon was talking to me about last weekend's free movie and how one of his friends couldn't go because her dad thought it was a date. His response to that when he was talking to me was.... "When I go on my first date, it's NOT going to be to a movie...I'm going to do something more fun".. We had a great talk about being creative with fun group activities.

It is so heartwarming to see Brandon growing and maturing into a wonderful young man!!!
Brandon loves to have a good time :) He's a good friend to others. I love you Brandon!!!

FUNNYS!!!!!

At Dallin's blue and gold saturday, there was a skit put on by the wolf pack. I couldn't hear much of it, but here is part of it. I thought it was too cute to not share :)

The boys would come to the center two at a time, one in a doctor's lab coat and another dressed normal....

Patient: Doctor, doctor, am I going to die?
Doctor: It's the last thing you'll do!

Patient: Doctor, doctor, I think I have insomnia
Doctor: Don't lose any sleep over it!

Patient: Doctor, doctor, everyone's ignoring me
Doctor: NEXT!!!

There were a few more funny ones, but those are the ones I could hear and remember hehehehehe :)

It was fun to have those cute laughs :)

Happy Birthday Grammy!!!!

Happy Birthday Grammy!!! Grammy would have been 102 this year. I miss her so much. We had some wonderful visits and talks during her last years of life. I would come to Fruitland during the summer for a few weeks and stay with Grammy and just hang out with her :) I am so grateful for those opportunities to have been able to spend that time with just me and her.

Grammy passed away about 2 months after Aaron was born in 1994 after suffering a stroke. Her sweet concern for others has been a living legacy for me and the rest of our family.

A few funny things that would happen with Grammy... ones that we still remember to this day.... Whenver anyone would come to visit, as soon as we would come into the house, Grammy would be trying to figure out what to fix the crowd for dinner or lunch. Grammy was always worried about making sure everyone had some food to eat :)

Another funny thing about Grammy, that she did..... When Grammy would get any new towels or pillow cases, her comment would be.... "They're too pretty to use" Grammy had boxes full of brand new, never used dish towels that she was too afraid to use because they were too pretty to use. Her towels would be thread bare, but she would not pull out any of the pretty towels. LOL!!!!

I am so grateful for the chance to have been close to Grammy and be able to see her. I am grateful to my mom for making sure that we grew up most of our lives close to our grandparents. I have tried to do the same thing for our children. It is so important to be close to family, so that no precious memory time is lost.

I love you Grammy!!!!

Monday fun!!!!

Monday, I decided to take the two youngest boys with me to Boise to do some Presidents day shopping. We really had a great time just the three of us. First we went to Savers as they were having a 50% off everything in the store. You would have thought it was black friday at Savers. The carts were all used by people piling them high with clothes. The aisles were packed with shoppers looking for the best deals.... I didn't even attempt the dressing rooms, that was INSANE!!!! People were waiting forever to get into the dressing rooms.... soooo not worth the savings for me. Although, I did find some great deals. I got about 6 or 8 pairs of pants, some pj's and a shirt for $17 :) GREAT DEAL!!!

After Savers, we went to Zurchers to look for some dinosaur pencils. Dallin found the pencils for me right off the bat. After I got all the pencils I needed, we walked around the store and looked at everything there. The aisle that we had the most fun in was the costume aisle :)

Dallin grabbed a top hat and a black dancing cane and put the hat on. He started dancing in the aisle, so fun!!! So I decided to take some pictures and hang out in the costume section for a while and just have fun :) Kyler joined our fun and picked out his favorite color hat and a dancing cane, so I got a picture of him as well :) I also got into it and was the Queen mother :) It was so fun at Zurchers trying on the funky hats and taking pictures :)

We really had a great time together in Boise. After we were done shopping, we stopped at Wendy's for lunch and headed home. It really was a great day spending that time with Dallin and Kyler :)

This is NOT fun!!!!

After more counselling and more figuring things out. We're coming to understand that I have had panic attacks and some horrible anxiety for years. This is very hard to talk about and very hard to deal with and face. During the summer this past year, I had to go to the ER with what Tim and I thought was something dealing with my heart.... as it turns out, it was anxiety or panic attack.
What are some symptoms of a panic attack or anxiety attack? Pressure in my chest, racing heart, nausea, feeling of the need to flee... and more... I'm still learning about it. There is a lot of information to learn and read up on and figure out. Panic attacks can come on undexpectedly and suddenly and can last 10 minutes or more.
As I read more and understand more about panic and anxiety, the more I'm seeing where it's been a big part of my life for so long that has gone unnoticed and untreated. So many factors come into play with anxiety and panic... also part of it could be post traumatic stress syndrome.
I pray for the Lord's blessing and help as I muddle through this, it is not a fun or desireable thing to have to go through.

I would greatly appreciate any prayers :) Thank you all

Hello???? Is anyone out there????

Is anyone out there? Is anyone reading this?

Ok this is a test to see if anyone is really looking at my blog. No comments have been left for most of my posts, so it leads me to wonder if anyone is really interested or looking :(

So, here is your assignment... if you are checking me out... the blog that is.... post a silly memory you have of me on facebook. I'm anxious to see who actaully is reading this and keeping up with our family.... and I'm anxious to hear the funny memories.... I think it will be fun :)

I am so ready for a laugh, so please bring on the funny memories. I need the giggles :)