Good day for Lexi :)

Lexi took 2nd place in the spelling bee yesterday. She did a great job! Some of the words were the kind that made you want to say - "Are you KIDDING me?!!!" The word she missed in the end was "aquiline". Everyone I asked wanted to spell it aqualine. I also want to know when are they going to use some of the words they had to spell in their every day lives?

Also, she and her friend Taylore won first place in the group division of the history fair and found that out just before the spelling bee happened. She competes at district next month in both of these events. Great job Lexi! So proud of all my kids!

Watch out Mario!!

Tuesday was Jackson's first pinewood derby. Kevin bought a book on building derby cars and Jackson picked out the pattern, helped work on it and was so excited!

It's kind of hard to see, but his car is the second from the right. It's the Green Bay Racer. They had a computerized track and ran the cars five or six times which gave an accumulated score...

...and the final result? Well here it is! Jackson's car won every time it ran the track.

He wanted to pose with this racer. Two of his favorite things - Cheerios and Coke (diet Coke of course)

He was pretty proud and so were we.

I wonder if this is any indication for the Super Bowl?

I Was In Time Out This Weekend...and LOVED it!

This year I did it! I put myself in "Time Out". I went
with some of my favorite ladies to "Time Out for Women" which is a fantastic weekend sponsered by Deseret Book. Jill, Tiffany, Tiana, Melanie, Jayne and I went and boy, did we have fun! Front row seats on Saturday and everything!


The musical presenter on Friday night was Dallyn Vail Bayles. He had just finished his tour playing Phantom in Phantom of the opera. He sang some of my favorites for sentimental reasons including Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing, Bring Him Home from Les Miserables, Amazing Grace, among others. There were tears shed everytime he sang. He could sing the phone book and I'd probably cry.


Virginia Hinckley Pierce was another presenter. She is President Hinckley's daughter and we could totally feel the spirit she carried.







Hillary Weeks was the musical talent on Saturday. Her voice was incredible. She was so precise on every note as she sang her message(s). She has written some wonderful songs that help teach us and is so nice to listen to. She said she doesn't do very many firesides lately because she is the Young Women President in her ward. Lucky girls!




This pretty lady is Mariama Kallon. She is from Africa and had an incredible conversion story. Most of her family had been killed by the rebels or limbs cut off. She has a beautiful conversion story of hope. She knows the true meaning of hope and showed us her humanitarian kit she received from the states shared it with 25 women over a three week period of time. What an amazing woman!





There were some other presenters but we were not able to get pictures. This is one of my favorite women also. Sheri L. Dew. She has been such a teacher to me through the years and I love to listen to her. Even though she was not a presenter at the event, she is the CEO of Deseret Book and was in charge of the weekend. She asked us how we liked it and of course we told her we LOVED being in this atmosphere with 4,000 other women. When she asked us what they could do better, we couldn't think of anything. How do you tell Sheri what to improve on? I'm thankful that I got this time to spend with my friends and appreciate my family for letting me go. What a great life I have!

It is well...

After many years of different cancers and never giving up, my father passed on August 23, 2010 from myelodysplastic syndrome. As he came home from the hospital when they told him there was nothing else they could do but to set him up with Hospice Care and make him as comfortable as possible, he wanted to continue to do what he had done our whole lives, and that is to teach us all that he could.
















There were very special moments spent with the grandkids as well as the Hales clan. He wanted to make sure that we knew of his testimony of the true gospel and encouraged us to live so that we can return to live again with him and our Heavenly Father.















Something that he said that we have incorporated into our home is when he said "Return with Honor...Hard? Yes. Worth it? You betcha! Since his passing, it has been special to see how each of my children have used what he taught them in their daily lives as they stand up for what they believe and to try to better themselves and continue his legacy.
















He is truly a mentor, father, grandfather, husband, talented artist, photographer, friend and teacher to all of us. He may not be with us in person, but always in our hearts... and as he said...It is well with my soul.

Mother's Day 2010

Mother's Day was so fun for me. I got a new camera and it was such a nice day outside I thought we'd try it out.

Jordann came up with this pose and I love it. I have the best kids ever! I'm thankful that I could have the family I do. We have grown a lot together through the years and I look forward to many more years and eternity with them!!

...another idea we thought was kind of neat...

We were on our way up to grandma and grandpa Hales' when we stopped along the way and took the pictures.

I love the pictures of the kids with their grandparents. They are such a big part of their lives. I'm thankful that they could have the chance to be with them and learn their from their talents.

It's so nice to be able to travel to both sets of grandparents and visit with them. We love our grandparents!

Prom 2010

Jordann got asked to prom this year. She was sooo excited and so were we. She got to wear a dress she borrowed from her cousin Melissa which she had been wanting to wear for a long time. She has had such a busy schedule the past couple of weeks with a new job and musical practices that she was excited this day finally came. Leisha was excited too because she got to pamper her sister.

While we were waiting for the date to arrive, we got some pictures before. This is her dad with the "you better be nice to my girl" look.

I love this picture of my three favorite girls!! They all have their own special personalities.

This is her date. His name is Josh. He's a good guy. It was so fun to watch our oldest getting ready for her first dance/date! She was so nervous to pin on the flower. She didn't want to get him with the pin. She did great!

Now it's time to do the wrist corsage. It was baby orchids and roses. So cute!

Okay, one more picture then you can go!!

Gotta have a lot right?

And you can't forget the support group. We love our neighbors! Any of them would do anything for us if we asked.

Easter 2010

This year we decided to do something different than the usual morning egg hunt. We did a glow-in-the-dark egg hunt at night after the Priesthood session of General Conference. We used glow bracelets and put them in the plastic eggs. It was pretty cool how they really worked. Instead of finding candy in the eggs, the kids got the bracelets and everyone brought a treat to share at the infamous fire pit. I think this might be a new thing. It was fun!

Check out these teeth!

So I know it's been a LONG time since I've posted anything. Leisha got her braces off last week and we were all pretty excited about the final result. It's amazing what a little metal in your mouth for a couple of years will do for you. They were impressed too and asked if they could use the pictures on their web site. Thanks Dr. Broadbent and Dr. Rich! You guys are the best! Two down, two to go.

Lotoja Septemer 12, 2009

After a long summer of working hard and training for LOTOJA, it was finally here. It's a 206 mile bike trip from Logan, UT to Jackson Hole, WY. Beautiful scenery and beautiful day. Couldn't have asked for better weather! Kevin was on one of two relay teams made up of friends and Lifetime Products guys that ride together.

Kevin's team had three guys on it. This is the other team from Lifetime.

All the riders had the LOTOJA logo stamped on the back of their calf...nice legs huh? Yeah they're not mine...

anyway, they crossed the starting line at 5:48 AM in the dark in Logan...

...James started off on the first leg to Preston...

then Ed took off from there. James wanted to try and do the whole 206 miles so from there so ventured on while Ed and Kevin took their turns.

Then it was Kevin's turn. He started about Montpelier after Ed rode over Strawberry Resorvoir. Kevin's ride was about 80 miles. Good luck Kevin!! Love you!

Kevin rode over what they call King/Queen of the Mountain. It's one of the hardest passes in the whole ride.

He ended up in Alpine, WY and then Ed finished to Jackson. He was a little tired.

This was a pretty site for a lot of riders that day. It was the finsh line!!

It had been a while since we had been to Jackson. I remembered how beautiful the mountains were there.

Once again it was worth it to get to go and see the riders from both teams achieve the goals they had set for themselves. It's a terrific group of guys that ride together. James finished a little later but did the whole thing. Way to go guys! See you next year.

This is a course map copied from another blog showing the route and mileage they took.

happy birthday Jackson and Lexi 2009

Still trying to catch up, Lexi and Jackson have both had their birthdays. Lexi's 11th was September 15 (I know, a little late in posting). It's hard to think she will be in YW next year. She wanted a soccer ball cake. I borrowed the pan from our neighbor and this is what I got.


















She had a couple friends over for ice cream and cake even though we do friends parties every other year. This is Aubrie...

















...and this is Kendyl.














...Grandmas and Grandpas were there too...Grandma likes to pass on heirlooms.

October 4, Conference weekend, was Jackson's birthday. He is into Green Bay Packers and saw this in some pictures online. Jordann has been volunteering with a professional cake decorator and she was doing a cake out of fondant. It looked easy enough that I could do it, so I tried it. The girls helped me do it. Yeah - not as easy as it looks. Lesson #1 - don't make cinnamon rolls for conference breakfast and a birthday cake all in the same day. I was literally in the kitchen all day! The end result was pretty worth it.
It's fun to see the kids grow up through the years. What good kids we have. We're pretty lucky to have the family we do.