I am committing

to getting the Hall Family Genealogy out in the mail by tomorrow night.  At our reunion in July, we had the cousins put a sticky note on the histories or pictures they wanted copies of.  Part of the problem is that several of them wanted copies everything. 

I don't know why it has been so hard to buckle down and do it.  First I had to duplicate the DVD 18 times (after adding more pictures from the reunion to to it).  

DVDs of Hall Gatherings

I finally decided to make a binder for each cousin.  Somehow it makes it seem more manageable for me to have somewhere to put them.  Or maybe it is more an issue of spending more time "organizing" than actually doing.  (I have been guilty of that more times than not).

Binder spines

Front of Binder

Back Binder

Fan Chart as front page

The time for procrastination is over.  

Tomorow or bust!

I'm still laughing at

an absurd moment I had tonight.  I'm not sure I can even describe why it struck me as so funny.

Natalie came over while I was talking on the phone, so she said hello and went downstairs to visit with Gary.  Pretty soon I heard Gary call for me a couple of times.  Once I was off the phone, I walked downstairs and asked what he needed.   He said, "Natty's hungry."

I just started laughing.  Here is my very capable 60 year old husband and 30 year old daughter, and Gary calls me downstairs to tell me that Natalie is hungry?

After a little explanation from Natalie, it became clear that she didn't need me to fix her food (we had eaten earlier and Natalie's just needed to be warmed up)   It was actually more a case of Gary thinking I should get off the phone.

Maybe it just took me back 30 years to when the girls were little. Who knows. But, regardless of the reason, it definitely struck my absurdity(funny) bone.   And I'm still laughing.  

(And speaking of Natalie, she is starting a new job tomorrow, and we are very excited for her)




  

It was a sweet experience yesterday

as the Primary children and parents gave our neighbor a "heart attack."   Our Primary president, neighbor, friend (and Natalie's amazing music teacher) was diagnosed with breast cancer last week.
 

She was going to have a mastectomy today, but they found the tumor was too large to remove and they need to go in and shrink it with chemo before they can remove it.   The road is going to be long and hard for her, but she is so good and has such faith.  

Another reminder to appreciate and cherish every day.

Autumn is

almost here, but the leaves have not changed much yet.  .

21 years ago today is when Dad passed away.  I always use this date as sort of a marker as to whether the leaves are changing earlier or later that year.  On the day that his obituary was in the paper, there was a beautiful picture of the changing leaves on the front page.  That is why I backed a copy of his obituary with the pictures from the front page.

Gary and I were discussing how our life 21 years ago seems like an entirely different lifetime.  In a sense it was.   At that time we were very involved with our parent's lives, and the girls were still young and living at home.

21 years later we are empty nesters with 2 son-in-laws and 9 grandchildren added to our family.  I wonder what it will be like 21 years from now?  If we are still alive, we will be 81 and probably have many great-grandchildren.   For that matter, we will still have many great-grandchildren even if we aren't alive.   We will just be watching over them from a different sphere.

Kind of just rambling here.  But I miss Mom and Dad and wonder what they are thinking as they are
given glimpses of our lives.  I hope they are not disappointed.
 


   

Caramel Dip

I've been wanting to try this dip after tasting it at a meeting.

All it takes is 1 pkg of Kraft Caramels (apparently it only works with the Kraft brand), 1 stick of butter, and 1 can of sweetened condensed milk.  You put them in the microwave for 3 minutes.  Take out and stir, then put it back in for 1 minute.  You can use it then or put it in the fridge.  After it has been refrigerated, you just soften it in the microwave when you are ready to use it.. 

The caramel dip is at the bottom of the apples in this picture.  

 My friend who gave me the recipe says she buys the bags of caramels when on sale and puts the bag and a can of sweetened condensed milk in her food storage together.

Who said food storage has to be boring?

Hyrum turns 14

years old today.  As I was thinking of him and what pictures to show, I immediately thought of the calendar I have been looking at all month.   When we sang to him this morning asked what he was doing today.  He said he has two baseball games, so these calendar pictures are very appropriate.

Here he is again this summer.  He is the one with the big smile!

And he always has a big smile.  

He charms everyone he comes in contact with.

   

Oh, how I love this boy!

Happy Birthday, Hyrum!

I have a really good

reason why I haven't been blogging.  My recliner has been broken.  I just can't concentrate if I'm not in my recliner.

Well, guess what?  Today we got it fixed.  And here I am blogging.  Amazing, isn't it?

We had actually been looking for new chairs, because you could not even sit in the broken one without throwing your body out of  alignment.  But we were discouraged with how much they would cost.  So we had a furniture medic (never knew there were such things) come last week.  He said the whole mechanism was broken and suggested that we call the lazy-boy company to see if they still made that type.  We bought them in 2000, so I wasn't feeling much hope.

Well long story short, they not only still have them, but there is a lifetime warranty on them.   So they sent us a new one, with no charge, and we had the "medic" come and install it.   Still not cheap, but much less expensive than a new chair.  

So now that I have my chair, I can blog again.  No more excuses.  (I can already feel the creative juices flowing)

I am really enjoying serving

with these ladies in the Stake Primary.   Everyone has their own gifts and talents and we learn so much from each other.  (Bobbie got these cute matching aprons for us).



Tonight we sponsored a fireside for all of the Primary workers in the Stake.  At our last presidency meeting, we had a "taste testing" of  2 different "Swig" cookie recipes.  We all liked the flavor of the original recipe, but sometimes they just didn't cook evenly.  I did a little more experimenting, (substituted some of the oil for shortening and cut the water in half) and they cooked more evenly.  

We each made 60 and then frosted them before the fireside.

 

Here is my new favorite version of the cookies and frosting.

Cookie Ingredients (Makes 30 cookies)

1 C Butter (room temperature)

1/2 C Vegetable Oil

1/4 C shortening

1 1/4 C Sugar

3/4 C Powdered Sugar

1 T Water

2 Eggs

1/2 t Baking Soda

1/2 t Cream of Tarter

1/2 t Salt

5 1/2 C Flour

Cream together Butter, Vegetable Oil, shortening, Sugars, Water, and Eggs.

 

Combine dry ingredients and slowly add to butter mixture.

Mix until everything is combined.  Your dough should be a little crumbly and not sticky at all.

Roll a 1 1/2 inch sized ball of dough and place it on your cookie sheet.   To give the cookies their signature rough edge,  put 1/4 c of sugar a dish (this is in addition to the sugar in the cookies)  Stick the bottom of a glass in it ( I used a small bottle bottom).  This is going to be your cookie press.   Firmly press it into the center of your dough ball.  You want your dough to spill out over the sides of the glass.  If there is a lip its even better.    

Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.  They should just barely be browning on the bottom.    Move cookies to a cooling rack.  Once they are cool put them in the fridge or freezer.

Frosting

1/4 c. butter, room temperature

1 Tablespoon Sour cream

2 cups powdered sugar

1 t. vanilla

dash of salt

1-2 Tablespoons milk (optional)

Beat together the butter, sour cream, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt.  When all ingredients are incorporated, you can add coloring and milk if the frosting needs to be thinned.

I brought Gary

 a cookie in the cup I decorated Color Me Mine this summer.  It has the little slot for the cookie.

 On the other side it says, "Mmm . . . are these cookies handmade"

When I gave it to Gary, he said,  "Thanks, Jackson."    That is because I am making them to send to Jackson.

Jackson is doing so well.  His emails and letters are upbeat and happy.   He is in Layton right now.  Two weeks ago when we went to Logan for a football game, we did a drive by of his apartment and recorded it for Misty.    We were leaving a package on the door and someone opened the curtains.  Fortunately it wasn't Jackson (or is it unfortunately?), as he and his companion were not home.   I love having him so close, even if I can't see him!  

It's not like

my life has been boring or anything.  You might think it has been, by the number of blog entries I've made the last little while.  It's also not like my life has been so busy that I don't have time to blog, either.  I guess I've just felt a little out of sync.

I've been worried about the need to get a job, since I haven't been working since June 1.  Business slowed down enough that they cut back.  It looks like I will be working a few hours a week now, and that will probably increase if orders pick up.   But, I still need to find something else to bring in some money,  I'm just dragging my feet and hoping I don't have to.  

I haven't been exercising either, but last week I started yoga again.  It is amazing how much difference it makes in the way I feel and move.  I now need to change my eating habits, which have been out of control all summer.

Enough about feeling out of sync.

In the middle of July (in between when the Idiarts left and the Bishop's came), we had our Hall Cousin's reunion.  The week before, I basically spent 12 hours a day organizing family history and getting the house ready.   Gary had gone to Chicago for a convention, so the whole house was turned into about 10 different projects.  I also scanned in pictures of all our past reunions, and made a slide show.   The reunion ended up being very nice.  But, I still need to follow up by making copies of histories and the slide show.  I'll feel glad when I get that done.

Here are pictures from the reunion.  It was hosted by my siblings and a cousin, Jeniel and her husband, Brent.

 

On Friday night we had dinner at our house and had everyone share their answers to 1 to 3 questions.

1)  What is the favorite memory of your Mom and Dad.

2)  What has been (or would be) your favorite vacation.

3)  What have you been doing for the last 5 years.

 I also bribed Natalie to sing a couple of songs.

(Well, actually, I gave her the guilt trip by saying

that if she wouldn't do it for me, that she 

should do it for Grandma and Grandpa)

 

We have several who are in poor health, but still made it.  

Robin is battling cancer and Tom is recovering from a stroke.

On Saturday morning, we went to the Provo Cemetery, the Old Springville Cemetery, and the Springville Evergreen Cemetery.   We placed flowers on the family graves, and Diane Kreth gave a short history of some of the older ones.  It was a very sweet experience.

After the cemetery we met back at Gary and Lynn's.  We had another wonderful meal, had the slide show, and shared memories of our grandparents.  I'll share some of those later.

That is actually just some of the pictures.  But since my blog entries are basically my life history, I want to include them for posterity.