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!

My Insanity--Gourmet Group Edition

Barry and I have a saying about any project I get involved in that requires creativity. We call it my insanity. I used that term to explain to him once that although there were much easier gifts to give our neighbors at Christmas than the home made star cookie Christmas trees (which required about 25 cookies a piece) that my artistic vision was involved and I was going to complete the project, even at the risk of my sanity. (In other words, "back off, and try and support my crazy ideas, because they are part of what makes me, me.") Why is it that things are always so much simpler in my head than in reality?

Anyway, when I joined the gourmet group, I realized that this is a group of women just like me (except that most of them are better cooks than I am). Women who care that there is a centerpiece and notice what it looks like. Women who work their tails off to create a gorgeous and delicious meal that will be devoured in a couple of hours and all that will be left to show for it are the pictures. And still take pleasure in the creative process and in doing something out of the ordinary.

August was my turn, along with my friend (and really good cook), Kim. The difficulties included the fact that I am pregnant and tired, and have a Trenton all day, and that Kim has two very young boys, a young business, and had the gall to move to the other side of the valley in January. Planning was a challenge. Every event we have gone to all year has been beautifully done with delicious food, so slacking wasn't really an option.

We eventually settled on a Northwestern theme--I have never set foot in the Northwest, but Kim just returned from a trip to Washington state and has relatives there that could help in determining appropriate cuisine and decor. She was mainly incharge of the menu (I helped cook) and I was mainly incharge of the decor, etc. I made the invitations above, with real ferns behind the vellum (I have blotted out personal info to keep Barry happy so I don't have to shut down my blog.)

My big frustration was that my vision was an outdoor meal. And we did everything possible to make that happen in Phoenix in August. We scheduled the meal for 7:00 in the evening, bought misters and installed them around our patio and had fans to blow it all around. Alas, since we were in the process of breaking our record of days over 110 degrees, all of our efforts just didn't seem to be enough. So at about 6:30pm we abandoned the plants, fountain, and all of the white Japanese lanterns we used at our wedding 8 years ago. And moved the tables indoors. I admit, my head was throbbing so badly at this point, that I left Barry and Kim to try and come up with some way to fit two long tables in our small living room. It wasn't pretty, but the couch ended up in the kitchen (almost) with just one walk way in and out. Ofcourse, this put us behind on cooking, but despite my disappointment (which always comes from unfulfilled vision), I believe the meal was a success.

Everyone enjoying appetizers and our place settings. Kim made the rock napkin holders/ bracelets for our guests to take home (They also got to keep their rocks that I painted. :-)).

Our Menu:
Blueberry Italian Soda
Crab Stuffed Mushroom Caps
Smoked Salmon and Pesto Appetizer Cheesecake

Crab bisque

Northwest Stuffed Salmon
Squash and Couscous Risotto
Berry Poppy Salad with Poppy Seed Ginger Vinaigrette

Iced Chocolate Chaud (French hot chocolate, served iced)
Blueberry Frozen Yogurt

Our group enjoying dessert.

He's a Rocket Man

Lately Trenton has been obsessed with all things to do with space and astronauts. He decided these swords (which his dad made from pool noodles and pvc pipe) looked like jet packs and asked me to help him stick them up his back so he could blast off into outer space. I'm not sure he made it more than a couple of inches off the ground, but it is fun to watch his very active imagination developing!
Ready for Blast off!