Faith of Our Fathers

I have tried to e-mail this transcript of an old radio show about my great-grandfather to a relative with no luck and hope he will be able to download from here.

Faith of Our Fathers

Family Reunion & A Wedding

This past week has been crazy busy. We headed up for the Hall family reunion in Oregon on Sunday. It took 22 hours (mapquest lies- or maybe it doesn't have 3 children). Important note - there are not very many places for rest stops going through Reno. Note to self - NEVER go that way again!

The reunion was at a KOA on the Oregon coast near Astoria. It was a great place. The first day we went across the street to a State Park only to discover we were on the beach. That kind of explained all the Sunami warnings posted around. We weren't really thinking very clearly after 22 hours of driving! John's family arrived on Tuesday and we were able to spend a day in Astoria with them on Wednesday. On Thursday we visited a lighthouse in Washington where we discovered Audrey's great fear of port-a-potties. I don't know if she'll ever be able to go to girls camp. I tried to make her but she was screaming so loud, I was afraid someone was going to pull out the video camera and report child abuse. Why do my children always make me feel like the worst Mom in the world in front of my in-laws! We finally drove to the nearest town to find a flushing facility!

The girls had a GREAT time playing with their cousins. We are very blessed to have many children around the same age. The cousins all made a little vampire movie together. It's quite entertaining! It must be that we were in Twilight country! The last night we all gathered around a camp fire to celebrate my nephew's birthday. I had a strong desire to say how much I loved everyone and bear my testimony but resisted the urge! Friday we headed out early to go to my brother Gary's wedding in Provo. It was another 18 hours in the car. I must say the kids were real troppers! The wedding was beautiful! I'm so happy that my brother found such a great lady to marry with such a great daughter. We were able to spend a few days with their kids after the wedding at Mom's house. It was lots of fun to be with so much family.

Jam

This weekend was jammed with fun. The girls and I took a quick road trip to mom's house to meet up with Carolyn Smith and her kids in Utah. We were very excited to see them. I introduced Carolyn to small town living. We even made a little homemade apricot jam. Carolyn even picked her own apricots (now that's homemade). Saturday we met Carolyn's boys at Pirate Island in St. George. Jett was so funny when he saw Ashley. He didn't even recognize her at first! That moment alone was worth the trip. My brother's family, and Carolyn's sister-in-law also came. It was like a huge b-day party minus the b-day. Jett and Ashley were inseparable. He even won her a telescope and a diamond (that is somewhat like green plastic). I'm very grateful we could hang out with everyone.

4th of July in Central

Every 4th of July I am reminded that I am and always will be a hick at heart. We like to spend the 4th of July at my Mom's house in Central (population approx. 50). I love small town potlucks. I love knowing everyone in the whole town. It just feels like home. We celebrate Audrey's and my brother Gary's birthday up there. This year was especially fun because we got to spend some time with my brother's fiance Sydnee (I'm sorry if I spelled it wrong) and her cute daughter Emma. Sydnee is an angel (she got my tired, cranky baby to go to sleep) so I could fry up the hot dogs for the community potluck. The food was great. The kids had fun climbing in the trees, swinging and running the traditional relay races.

More Sad News

My cousin Richard Hafen passed away this Saturday, very unexpectedly of a heart attack. He was 2 years younger than my husband. Richard was always lots of fun. You will notice he looks a lot like Santa in the post below. I will miss him very much and wish I would have stopped to play games with him at Thanksgiving instead of cleaning up! My heart goes out to his new wife Fe' and his brothers and sisters.

Holidays

Mom's house














Lauren and Santa
Josie


















Ashley and Santa
Aunt Debbie



















Audrey and Santa


















Lauren eating her present!


















Ashley and Audrey and Grandma's backyard!

Audrey, Josh, Lauren, Ashley, Charlee

For Christmas Eve we did the traditional party with my mom's family. Ashley played Mary in the Nativity while Audrey was a very entertaining angel. Lauren played baby Jesus until she decided she didn't want to anymore and than my cousin Joe's son filled in. John narrated from the scriptures. It was smaller than normal this year. My mom has 9 other brothers and sister's. This year only 6 families showed up. I fear this a tradition that will go away as our families get bigger. Santa came to visit our party and brought pj for most of the kids to wear Christmas eve. Ashley was very suspicious that Santa looked like my cousin Richard....

The girls slept in until about 8 am (that is 7am Vegas time) on Christmas day as we were up pretty late Christmas eve at the family party. Ashley got lots of scrapbooking stuff for Christmas - she loves that stuff (who's kid is she?). Audrey got a baby with a car seat and stroller which she loves and some my little pony stuff. Lauren got clothes and toys, but pretty much just wanted to eat everything. That girl already has 6 teeth and she's just barely 8 months today! Christmas day was spent opening presents and with my brother and his family. We forgot to turn on the Christmas music that we always play while unwrapping gifts. Plenty of snow was outside my Mom's house. The kids had a blast. Christmas night that power went out for several hours and we got to see John's scouting ability as he started a fire. I was actually surprised how fast he did it. We played UNO by candlelight. I need to buy more lightsticks as candles are scarey with little kids!

We came back to Vegas that day after Christmas and my mom came with us. She is staying with us for most of January and we are excited to have her here. We played games and watched movies for New Years Eve. We argued over who would have to sit by Grandma for UNO (she is viscious and always seems to have a plethera of draw 4 and draw 2 cards!) I think this is the first year Ashley has made it until midnight!

While Waiting for my work computer to work. . .

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