Mark and His Dog, Blue

My brother, Mark came up to visit us during Christmastime.  

He brought his Blue Heeler dog, named Blue with him.

Blue is a good dog and loved our backyard.

Christmas Break 2015

The kids had a super long Christmas break and Sam had several days off of work too.

It was nice to lay low and hang out as a family.  We did so many things during the break.  Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures of everything, but here is a few in no particular order:

Grandma Ward gave Katie a TMNT Leonardo sandwich cutter.

Katie said, "Thank you!!  I LOVE IT!!" to Grandma Ward.

When the boys were out at The Jump Zone, I let my girls pick out their own outfits and we had a Girl Date.  Katie chose to wear many layers: a new sweater, a windbreaker, a nice coat, a beaded necklace,  a navy blue purse, an Anna & Elsa lunch pail, and a Halloween bow.  Julia chose to wear her monkey footie pajamas, her sneakers, her cheetah print coat, a beaded necklace, her Anna & Elsa lunch pail, and a Halloween bow.  They put their own granola bars in their lunch pail for a snack.  

Anyway, I took my girls to Main St. where we walked past the store windows looking at the gingerbread houses.  Katie has been really into gingerbread men because they'd been talking about it at school for weeks.  It was a super cold night.  It was sure a pretty sight walking down the lit up tree lined street.  I forgot to turn off the van headlights.  When we returned, the van wouldn't start.  (That was the third time in December that I forgot to turn off the headlights.)  I had to have Sam and the boys come and jump start the van for us.  We drove around town looking at Christmas lights.  

Sam had a lot of downtime, which was so nice.  

The girls loved having Daddy read Princess books to them.

Julia is really into watching YouTube videos on my cellphone.  

Her favorite is a music video she calls, "Princess Shake It Off."

She also likes to watch videos of girls playing with Disney Princess toys.

One of Julia's favorite Christmas gifts was a Cinderella doll with 2 clip on dresses.  

It is a small toy that is easy lost around here.  Sometimes, Julia wakes up in the middle of the night crying for "Cinderella!"  Sam and I just laugh and say how we think Julia must be dreaming about princesses. 

I caught Tyler watching a show and eating Cheetos with his Mikey mask on.  Haha!

My brother, Mark came for Christmas with his dog, Blue.  

He surprised my boys with some Christmas gifts... a couple of video games... Paper Mario and something else.  They all loved playing video games.  Sam made us egg casserole for Christmas breakfast and a lovely turkey dinner too.  Sam took everyone sledding on Old Main Hill (except for me and Julia who were resting at home).  

We had a very nice white Christmas!  The kids were thrilled with all of their Christmas gifts.  Some of the main gifts this year were: Sam - panini sandwich press, Lisa - hand lettering class, Mark - snow tube, Brian - telescope, Mom's old stereo, Tyler - Beyblades, joke book, TMNT games, Katie - banner paper roll, puzzles, art supplies, Julia - Princess Mega Blocks, TMNT blankets (made by me for both of the girls).

Other things that we did on Christmas break: read, played games, celebrated Tyler's birthday, Tyler's baptism, went to Orem to see Sam's family (we met Staci & Kyle's baby, Cohen), talked with family on the phone.  Although Christmas break was quite relaxing, I am so ready to start the new year off right.

3rd Annual Don & Shirley Hallstrom Family Reunion

On Saturday,  June 27, 2015, we hosted the 3rd Annual Don & Shirley Hallstrom Family Reunion.  We had a total of 16 of us gather at our home for lunch and some catching up.  We had a baked potato bar and strawberry ice cream cake out in our backyard.  My brother, Mark brought his new puppy, Blue to meet everyone.  That puppy was the center of attention.  Grandma Hallstrom had fun showing Jeff & Ali Hallstrom her family history albums.  Ali took some photos of the family history photos with her phone.  Jeff & Ali drove up from Mission Viejo, CA with their three boys, Evan, Tyler, and Spencer.  Their boys loved playing in our backyard.  Chris Hallstrom, my brother, Mark, and Nathan Kristjanson stayed the longest.  As we were all sitting around visiting, Katie randomly hands us each a sheet of construction paper.  I ended up showing everyone how to make paper boats.  (My Aunt Janette Kristjanson taught me how to make paper boats when she came to visit us when I was 7 years old.)  Then, Nathan taught us how to make these fun little paper airplanes.  I liked having a low key reunion this year.  It still took a lot of planning, cleaning, and food prep, but it's always worth gathering the family together.

Ty, Brian, Evan, Blue (the dog) held by Mark, Tyler, Chris, Ali, Spencer, Jeff, Grandma Shirley, Calvin, Nathan, Katie, Lisa, Julia, Sam

 Brian, Ty, Blue (the dog) held by Mark, Tyler, Chris, Ali, Spencer, Jeff, Grandma Shirley, Calvin, Nathan, Katie, Julia, Lisa, Sam 

 Grandma Shirley with her adult grandkids: Mark, Chris, Nathan, Lisa, Jeff

There was a little water fight going on... ha!

 Nathan, Tyler, and Chris hanging out

Mark

My younger brother, Mark came to visit us over Christmas break.  My kids LOVE having their Uncle Mark come and stay a few days at our house.  The boys all played video games.  Uncle Mark joined us on a trip to The Jump Zone (an indoor trampoline park).  Mark and I went out to eat a couple of times.  It was nice to catch up with him.  Here are a few of my favorite portraits I took of him.  My parents like to have updated pictures of their kids' individual/family portraits up on their mantle.

Auntie Em & Uncle Nate's Visit

Emily and Nate came to visit us all the way from Minnesota.  We had so much fun with them.  The last time we saw these two was their wedding day.  It was great to get to know Nate better and see the kids bond with their aunt and uncle.  So, in no particular order, here are the pictures from their time with us.

Tradition shared: Swing by Smith's for donuts and eat them at Ninja Warrior Park

Bye, Auntie Em! See you after preschool!

Grandma won this Happy Spring Easter Bunny.

Auntie Em and Uncle Nate came to the park with us #kidslovetoshowoff

Fed ducks with Uncle Nate

Trying dessert at Kneaders.

Julia had lots of bonding time with her Auntie Em.

Half of the Hallstrom kids #wishwewerealltogether

Uncle Mark Visits

Playing Mario with Uncle Mark

Mark shared his mission stories. 
I especially enjoyed hearing him speak
 Spanish (even though I didn't understand a word of it).

Uncle Mark came to visit 
#markreturnedfromhis2yearmission
#unclemarkisagoodsport #mykidslovehimsomuch

My boys have been looking forward to their Uncle Mark coming to visit for the last couple years.  

They loved hearing all of his mission stories and planning what they would do with Mark when he returned from his mission.  They decided they would take him to The Jump Zone, a Trampoline Park to play.  As you can see from these videos (that I will upload soon) they totally LOVED their time jumping.  Tyler even taught his Uncle Mark how to do flips!  

MVI 3132 from Lisa Ward on Vimeo.

I created a fun gift to give to Mark... a mission memory book.  This book is like a 2 year yearbook for him.  I created a private blog for the family filled with Mark's weekly emails and pictures he sent to the family while on his mission.  The whole family helped pitch in to have the book printed.  Mark really liked the gift.