What has been going on around the Hall home

We have been busy around here lately that I have not had time to blog about it.  So I got done with work a little earlier tonight and felt that I needed to get some blogging done before I do some laundry and then go to bed.  It is busy around here.  So in a nutshell here is what we have been doing:

First of all we have been trying to be a little more provident in our living and have been using some of the veggies in our pitiful garden, grinding wheat, and buying and freezing massive amounts of chicken.  We are getting prepared for the long, cold winter ahead.

 Here is McKay next to some chicken breasts that I purchased from a company called Zaycon Foods at a smokin deal at $1.49 a pound!  Look up their website if you want deals like this on meat.  It is amazing.  I think they only sell chicken once a year in the fall.  I got some last year and we did not have enough to last us the whole time, so I decided to be more prepared and double it.  So on the morning of my birthday, I spent all morning packing up 80 pounds of chicken.  Our freezer is very happy to be a little fuller now and hopefully this will last us until next fall.

 My mom got me an automatic wheat grinder last Christmas and I have never broken it out of its box and used it.  It seemed a little intimidating.  Well for the last many months I have been making my own wheat bread and have stopped buying it at the store.  Once I finally found the winning wheat bread recipe that works everytime I use it and it is super easy, I have been making my own since.  I usually get all my wheat flour from the bins at Winco.  One day though I needed to make some bread and I ran out of wheat flour and I was not going to make a trip to the store just for the flour to make the bread and so I decided it was time to pull out the new machine.  It was actually really simple and I finally used up some of my storage wheat and grinded a big bag of wheat to use for the next month.  Amazingly the flour is so much finer than the store bought kind and my bread tasted a lot better as well.  Another great discovery when I finally get my wits up and use my Christmas presents.  Thanks Mom, I love it!!!

 My garden did not do so well this year.  We got 2 tomato plants, 1 cucumber plant, a few jalapeno plants, and in the spring some strawberries.  That was all.  I planted and replanted and replanted again many times many different kinds of veggies and none came up.  Kory said it was time to dig out the dirt and buy some new good dirt and topsoil for next year.  My garden next year will be a glorious jungle, I can't wait!!  At least this year I had a few ingredents to make some salsa.  I made quite a few batches and froze them this last week.  It won't last us long though because it is so good and we are eating it up fast.

 I had a birthday a few weeks ago.  I am now 32.  It was just a normal day but then got better as the day went on.  As I said before, I froze chicken all morning, cleaned the house, and Kory and I went on a date and ate at Carino's for dinner and went to the mall in search of another suit for Kory which we were unsucessful with.  We picked up the kids and then ate Krispie Cream donuts for dessert.  A sweet lady in our ward dropped off a big cupcake with a candle and we used this to sing Happy Birthday.  It was a good birthday.

Last week we had a company come to our home to spray foam our garage attic and some of our garage.  Our bathroom sits mostly above our garage and it is always cold.  Kory lined up getting it spray foamed to make it warmer and to protect against mold.  When they came they put this thing in our front door with a fan that pushed the cold air outside into our home so that they could find any cracks that need to be sealed and also to keep the fumes from coming into our home.  It was a bit scary but they said we could stay there and it was perfectly safe.  It got really cold in our house that morning and they were there for like 4 hours.

Some other things that have been keeping us busy are this last Sunday we had Stake Conference and I was asked to play a flut solo in the adult session the Saturday before.  I was really nervous but we did a good job and everyone seemed to like it.  I love to be able to share this talent I have been given.  It is really fun and I love to play my flute.  I need to play more though so I can get used to performing again in front of people and not get so nervous.

Kason is now 2-1/2 and very whiney and fussy.  He is super silly though and reminds me of his dad with a sense of humor to him.  He keeps me very busy trying to meet his every need all the time.  He loves to torment Erica as much as possible and that seems to make him the happiest.  I hope he grows out of this soon.

Erica luckily gets to get away from Kason every so often and go to preschool which she loves.  She is very happy and smart and recently learned to ride a bike without training wheels. She goes outside everyday and rides her bike for about an hour or more and loves it.  I don't know what she is going to do when it gets too cold to do that anymore.

McKay is finishing up soccer this week with his final game this Saturday.  He does not like soccer anymore so this is his last season.  He is going to try basketball for the first time this January and we have him all signed up and ready to go.  He is taking piano lessons and LOVES it.  I only have to remind him once and awhile to practice.  He usually remembers himself and is really doing well.  He goes far and beyond his practice time and often goes back and reviews songs that he has already passed off.  He is playing Christmas songs preparing for a recital coming up.  I think he is meant to be a musician and not a sports boy, but we will see how he likes basketball.

Kory is super busy with his new calling in the bishopric.  In my eyes, he seems to really enjoy it though and learning a lot.  He is a lot happier when he comes home from meetings and other things that involve his calling.  He spoke a few weeks ago at church about revelation and the temple and did such a good job.  He is amazing and I love to watch him grow spiritually and see him becoming more gentle and kind and loving to us all.

The kids are all excited about Halloween and that will probably be my next post.  See you then!

Kory's Birthday and New Calling

It has been a busy couple of weeks as we have experienced some new changes in our lives.  I realized I never posted earlier about Kory's birthday.  He turned 34 on September 7.  He is getting older, but better looking with age (I am a lucky girl).  We did not do much for his birthday.  He was sick and had to work so did not want to do much..  That evening, we went out and bought a new TV stand for the new TV Dad gave us and then ate a simple dinner at Arctic Circle.  I made him a banana cream pie and we sang Happy Birthday and he blew out the candles!  The kids and I decorated the house with streamers and balloons.  He got cards from his and my parents.  His biggest gift was just before school started when he decided to take McKay on a trip to California to go to Lego Land.  They left the weekend before school started and flew down on an airplane and stayed at one of our Worldmark resorts.  The first day they visited an aircraft carrier in San Diego.  The second day they were at Lego Land all day having a great time.  The third day they spent lots of time in the airport as they flew home.  They had their ups and downs like any trip, but overall it was a great bonding time for father and son with wonderful memories.

This last weekend Kory was sustained as the 2nd counselor in our Bishopric.  The original 1st counselor was moving leaving a vacancy.  They moved the previous 2nd counselor up to 1st counselor and called Kory to replace the 2nd counselor position.  Jared and Hailey came to the sustaining in our ward.  It was such a wonderful meeting where Kory was able to bear his very humble testimony and to see him sitting on the stand for the first time right next to such wonderful men in our stake and ward was so amazing to me.  I felt very proud at that moment that he had decided to live his life in a way that would allow such a calling to come upon us at this time.  We both kind of new that something was coming.  We have had impressions, especially Kory, to prepare us for this.  They have put Kory right to work wtih attending meetings and a big stack of manuals to read and memorize and learn.  Kory's parents are coming up this weekend to set Kory apart as a High Priest and then he will be set apart for his calling by one of the Stake Presidency.  We have had a different spirit in our home since first being asked to fill this position over a week ago.  It has been so strong.  Kory seems like a different person, much more gentle and humble.  He also seems overwhelmed at times with so much going on right now with work, church, and personal issues with refinancing our home and just being busy with the kids' activities.  I am hoping things will balance out soon and the learning curve will go by quickly so we can get into a normal routine with his new calling.  We are so excited though.  It will be hard not to have him around as much, but what a wonderful learning experience for Kory and to have the ability to serve his fellow ward members is priceless.  He is such a wonderful man!  I feel sooooo blessed and honored to be his wife and to stand by him during this time in his life and hopefully be a support to him.

Hair Cut

I have been growing my hair out now for quite awhile.  I can't even remember the last time it was short.  I would just go in every so often and get it trimmed.  Well one day I had a terrible headache and my head just felt so heavy and I just wanted to get rid of my hair so that that heavy feeling would go way and I would be free of the head throbbing.  I also noticed when I look in the mirror that my hair was getting very bushy and my ends were splitting very quickly when I had just got it trimmed.  It was nice to have it long because I could do all these cool hairstyles, but it still just seemed like the same old thing.  I was sick of my long hair.  So I did a drastic thing, warning Kory in advance, and chopped my hair off.  Not completely, but it is quite a bit shorter.  I was hoping it was long enough to donate to the Locks of Love program, but it wasn't.  Oh well, maybe next time.  I love my new haircut.  My head feels lighter and it is a lot faster to get ready.  It was a good change.

School

McKay started 3rd grade this year.  His teacher is Mrs. Payte.  She is an older lady with lots of experience.  She is very calm and loves the children.  Her room is also slightly darkened with the lights to create a calming atmosphere in her classroom.  McKay is faced with lots of reading, math, and book reports this year.  It is starting to get harder.  He is excited to learn his times tables and cursive writing.  Her are just a few pictures I got when he was getting on the bus the first time for the new school year.  Erica is still doing the co-op preschool this year with her friends, with me taking a turn with the teaching, and she will go to kindergarten next year.  Kason gets to spend time at home with me while his brother and sister are at school.  It's a good year.

Kason's Eye Surgery

Kason had his first eye surgery to lift his droopy eyelid on September 1.  My parents came up to help with the other kids and get them off to school because our appointment was at 7 a.m.  Kory and I took a couple days off work and so we were all set.  We went in and we were happy and excited.  Kason was calm and relaxed and the nurses were really kind.  They gave Kason some Versed with Tylenol to make him a little loopy.  They would then take him to the operating room and give him some gas and then put the IV in for fluids and further sedation.  They would have to put a breathing device in his throat so he could breathe during the operation.  It took him about 20-30 minutes after the Versed was given and then as Kory was holding him he started looking tired and became a bit out of it.  It was actually pretty funny to watch.  Right then they laid him down and wisked him off.  I totally lost track of time as we waited in the waiting room and I don't even know how long the surgery took.  Then they came out and said he did great and was recovering.  Then soon after a nurse came in and said he was waking up and hurried us along to where he was.  Another nurse was holding him and he was crying.  From then on it was really hard as he became very violent and uncontrollable.  He was screaming and pulling on his IV.  Then he was pulling and rubbing at his eye that had the surgery done.  Three of us had to hold him down.  The nurse pulled the IV out and we just had to hold him down until he finally fell asleep.  Any movement would wake him up and he would start all over again.  We had to be there for about an hour so they could make sure his breathing was fine.  Each episode got a little bit easier.  Finally they let us go home.  Once we got him home and in a familiar enviornment he calmed down and the rest of the day he watched TV, ate, and slept.  Towards the evening the medicine was not working and he was crying and nothing I did would soothe him.  He was in pain and I was worried he would not sleep that night.  We said many, many prayers and the Lord blessed us.  He slept through the night and when he woke up in the morning, he was completely free of pain and back to his usual self, happy and full of energy as if nothing happened.  From then on he has been fine.  At his postop appointment the doctor said they will need to make some adjustments and lift it higher but we are not sure when that will be.  Kason has to work on strengthening his eyebrow lifting.  They surgery is a big improvement in his eyesight.  It is high enough now that it does not block his pupil and he is slowly gaining more control of it.  This surgery has been a blessing to us all.

Before Surgery

Starting to get loopy



After Surgery



My big boy.  Almost 2 weeks later and he is looking great!

Disney Cruise

I am finally getting to posting pictures and telling about our AMAZING summer vacation.  My parents paid for all the family, including grandchildren, to go on a Disney cruise this summer as our family reunion.  There were 31 people total!  It was an Alaskan cruise that left from Vancouver, Canada and we traveled from there to Alaska and went through Tracy Arm to see a glacier, then on to our first port-of-call Skagway, then to Juneau, and last to Ketchikan.  We drove all the way from Boise to Canada in one day, took about 12 hours.  That is the furthest we have ever driven.  The kids did great, as long as we kept the movies coming and stopped often.  We stayed at a hotel in Vancouver and the next day got on a shuttle and went to the cruise ship.  We went a little late and had to wait in line forever (about 2 hours) to get onto the boat.  It was really rough on the kids and once we got on the boat we had to find the family and get some lunch.  We were tired and grumpy that first day but eventually got everything figured out.  Then the party started and the kids went swimming right away and we had a great time from then on.  We mostly ate, watched movies and theatre shows, watched the scenery, went swimming, napped, took the kids to the kids clubs often and were with them there, and enjoyed being with the family.  The food was amazing.  We ate a lot, but it was healthy and lots of seafood.  Every night we went to a fancy five course meal.  Some nights the kids would fall asleep at the table, other nights they were crying and very fussy, and other nights they were angels.  Kory was very daring and decided he would pick foods that he has never had before.  Some things he tried were Sushi and Escargo (snails).  I even ate one.  One night at dinner Erica complained that her stomach hurt.  I tried to get her to go to the bathroom but nothing.  She was tired and wanted to just go to sleep.  I was not done eating and wanted to finish before taking her down to our room so I just held her and waited for the food to come when she threw up all over me.  It was terrible.  It was such a mess to clean up.  That night she continued to throw up and luckily felt better in the morning and we no longer had any more problems.  That was the worst part of the trip.  The port-of-calls were great.  While moving through the Tracy Arm, we liked to look out the windows and find all the seals that were in the water and sitting on the icebergs.  It was really windy and cold so we had our heavy coats on and stayed on the lower deck while Kory braved the top where he got the great views and all the people who joined him.  At Skagway we just walked around town and bought some souvenirs.  Kory and McKay went with other family members on a hike.  At Juneau the whole family got on a bus and traveled to Mendenhall Glacier.  We went on a hike to get to a beautiful waterfall and see the glacier close up with amazing icebergs.  We tried to find a bear but no luck.  We did see lots of eagles.  At Ketchikan it was Sunday and we decided not to go out.  It was actually really nice to walk around the boat and do various activities while no one was there.  The weather was really nice, 60 to 70 degree weather, and one time it rained.  The entertainment was great and very clean.  We loved going and getting hot chocolate every morning and also throughout the day.  It was the greatest vacation and we cannot wait to go again.  Maybe in a couple of years! 

 Look for the whale

 Eagle

 Grandparents and grandchildren

 My parents and siblings

 Tea party