The Halterman Family (July '07)

For a brief while, the whole Halterman clan was together this summer. We are excited that Mikelle and Bobby have moved to the valley and we get to see a lot more of them, but Jared and Suzy have moved to the middle of nowhere, Missouri for medical school, and now, Kristin has taken off for adventure and excitement on the east coast. Amber is in town, but is super busy with work, her calling as RS Pres. in the singles ward, and loads of friends. But she makes time for us and Mom and Dad make frequent trips down from Prescott, so we do get some good family time.

Honoring Grandmother & Grandad (July '07)

We headed straight from Utah to Prescott where we honored the 60th Wedding Anniversary and 80th birthdays of Barry's grandparents with a Harrop Family Fiesta!

My mother-in-law put on a fun family reunion and cousins from as far away as South Carolina attended. Of course, since Mom was in charge, the Haltermans were all pretty busy making things happen.

The first night we had fajitas, shared memories, and even had a pinata. Here Grandmother and Grandad are singing "their song".

Barry is usually the pinata master. I think he enjoys tormenting little kids. :-)

When will it be my turn?


The rest of the weekend included a family history presentation, a bounce house, R/C ATV races, a rousing game of family feud, ice cream sundaes, water ballon toss, and water balloon volleyball, and of course lots of fun with family we don't see nearly often enough.

Honoring Mom (July '07)

Would you believe that this beautiful woman turned 70 years old this May?


Most people don't. She has a youthful energy and work ethic that I don't think I have ever had.

This summer, seven of her eight children (and loads of grandkids...see below) got together to honor her. We all submitted favorite pictures and listed 70 great things/memories about Mom, which my sister had printed in this hardbound book. I think she was moved, and felt appreciated (it's about time, right?)

We combined her celebration with a birthday party/college shower for my adorable niece, Kalen, who has just started at BYU. It is crazy that I have a niece who is an adult! But she is a great one!

Here is the plethora of children on hand for the occasion.

Music madness

My sister pointed out that there is too much music on my page. I have included music on my last couple of slide shows, but it is easy to turn off, so they don't play at the same time (or anytime for that matter). Just click on the speaker icon on the bottom left hand side. I believe it will stay off for future visits unless you want to turn it on. Hope it hasn't been frustrating too many of you all.

Summer Catch Up -- TRENTON

I still have some cute pictures from this summer that I haven't gotten around to posting. I took tons of Trenton, practicing my photography skills, and trying to see if I could get one that was portrait worthy. I'm not sure I achieved that, but there were plenty that were blog-worthy...hence the slideshow.

Summer Catch Up -- Kira & Serena

Being the oldest girls in their respective families, my sister, Serena and Kira bonded while in Utah. I thought they looked too pretty in pink to pass up a photo op.

School Picture and hope for Autumn?

School Pictures came early this year. They had all kind of options to chose from, too, which I'm not used to. The purple background wasn't my first choice, but Kira was determined and I thought it would be OK, so I relented. It is a little brighter than I thought it would be. So with the hair and all, it makes for a very colorful school picture.

The last few mornings as I have stepped out to say goodbye to Kira, the outside air has actually been cooler than the air in the house. This is the first indication of any kind that cooler weather is on the way and that summer is not eternal. I am still really hot since I have a hot flash everytime I have a contraction, but I'm sure that just about the time I am done with pregnancy, the weather will be downright pleasant.

Trenton's Truck Birthday

INVITATION:

Going completely against my nature, I bought invitations this year. This was only because the invitation was the exact concept I had concieved and was trying to create with clip-art, etc.--the dump part of the truck lifts up to reveal the party info. Of course, I couldn't leave well enough alone and added Trenton's picture in the window, and black stripes to the yellow envelopes.

DECORATIONS:


We decorated the ramada with construction signs and caution tape.
The table was covered with a road (black with yellow tape) tablecloth, caution cones made from frosted icecream cones, chocolate graham cracker squares and filled with m&ms. (I couldn't find sugar cones, so bought waffle cones and sawed them flat--big pain!)

FOOD AND FAVORS:
Each boy got his own construction hat to decorate with stickers. Then I figured that every construction worker needed his own lunchbox. I found these nascar themed ones at Target and spray painted them yellow. I had grander schemes for them, but settled for personalizing them with letter stickers. This made serving the food really easy, since each boy had a kid-friendly lunch already packed. The "cake" was pretty easy, too. I used the big Tonka truck Grandma had given him to hold chunks of brownies. I added some crushed up oreos and gummy bugs for effect and found these fun sign candles. The wind didn't really give Trenton the chance to blow out his candles, but he was a good sport and posed for the picture any way.

ACTIVITIES:

I had lots of ideas for truck races or digging excavations, but with the heat and the nature of 3-year-old boys, I'm glad that we didn't worry about too many very structured activities. We decorated hard hats, opened presents--lots of very boyish stuff that Trenton didn't have yet because he has a big sister--, ate, smashed the pinata, and played in the water at the splash pad to cool off. A few of the boys enjoyed playing with tonka trucks in the dirt, but I think most of them would have been happy eating candy for two hours.

FAVORITE FRIENDS:

Isn't this the cutest bunch of little "men at work"--or play? Thanks guys for coming to Trenton's party. I guess it was a success since Trenton asked me if he could have his truck party again.

Labor Day Camping Trip

I had a little too much fun taking pictures at our camping trip, so here is a long slide show of some of my favorites. We had a great time hanging out with Barry's family at Mormon Lake near Flagstaff, and it did feel like heaven to get out of the heat for a few days. Thanks Haltermans! We never would have been able to plan a camping trip in our current state. It was nice to go along and relax. I know the kids had a great time! Barry and I did, too!

Happy Birthday Trenton Trouble!!!

Trenton turned 3 years old yesterday. Although he hasn't had his "truck birthday" yet with his friends (I finally bought stuff today, but haven't quite settled on a date with Barry), he did get a couple of celebrations already.

We celebrated with the Haltermans while camping over the weekend (more pics from that later). Here Trenton is trying to blow out the sparklers from his dutch oven pineapple upside-down birthday cake. He got a giant Tonka dump truck from Grandma and Grandpa and a Spiderman action figure and baseball mitt and ball from his aunts and uncle. (Thanks guys!)


On his birthday, I took him to lunch and to Cold Stone for a FREE birthday ice cream creation (you can sign-up online)! That night he opened the present from his Lita--an astronaut costume--and a flashlight from his Dad (an effort to keep him from stealing Barry's flashlights). He is loving the costume--he is wearing it as I write--and it will take care of Halloween, this year. (Thanks Mom!)


Capt. Trenton reporting for blast-off.

Trenton has been a lot of trouble lately, but in honor of his b-day, I am going to list some of my favorite things about Trenton:


-His Laugh...this child has the most contagious laugh!


-His imagination


-His snuggles...no matter how hyper he becomes, he still likes to settle in for a snuggle.


-His kisses...This child is very affectionate and won't withhold his affection from anyone, including carpet salesmen.



-The way he expresses his feelings, when he is using his words. (ex. "no, I just want to sit here and say 'it's not fair!'" or "oh, man!" or "Mom, this isn't working!" when he could get me to get in the car to go put out a fire in Utah.)

-His enthusiasm for life!