In a Nutshell

Yes, I realize it's been a long blog break. But it's been a busy few months! Since my grades are turned in and all my Relief Society visits are done and I even had the wherewithal to help Elise clean out her closet yesterday, it seems the time has finally come for me to pop in and post a few pictures of the goings-on at the Hallstrom house since September.

First and foremost, the kids went back to school. Pictured below are the ones who still live in Minnesota. Jonas in 8th, Elise in 11th, and Wyatt in 2nd. So grown up!

Forrest went back to school too, in a way--Seminary started back up. This year it's in our basement and it's actually been kind of nice. Although I don't venture downstairs in the morning too often (you know, bedhead etc.) I like having the kids in our home and I can't deny it's much easier when your kid just has to roll out of bed and walk downstairs. And Forrest likes teaching. He's a lot less tempted to overdo things than I was when I taught (e.g. he's not making PowerPoint Jeopardy games and musical iMovie slideshows and trying to figure out how to replicate the height of Noah's ark with helium balloons) and, wouldn't you know it, he's still really effective. That isn't to say it's not a lot of work, even without the helium balloons, but he never complains and has even said he'd like to keep doing it for a few years yet. 

School started for me, too. Isn't the UWRF campus lovely in the fall? I've been teaching three sections of English 100 (all Freshmen) and overall it's been a good semester. I learn something new every semester I teach--so much that I look back on what I was doing as a high school English teacher in 1994 and am astonished by everything I didn't know and most certainly messed up. The grading still kicked my behind, but most of the time I'm grateful for my job.

Speaking of lovely falls, this autumn in Minnesota was absolutely gorgeous. The trees were the brightest I've ever seen them and we had a great string of crisp, blue-sky days. These are a couple of pictures I snapped on my phone while Forrest, Wyatt and I went on a bike ride at a lake near our house:

Wyatt also took up a new challenge: piano playing! He's been practicing like a champ and learns quickly. Maybe he'll be the one who sticks with it?

Of course the last few months have had their challenges as well. Forrest left Origination in September, and although we've been blessed to have a good severance and my own job that supplies our health insurance, it's still been a longer and more difficult haul than either of us expected. That said, there's always room for a little humor when times get tricky. I helped Forrest with a template design for his resume and filled out a few bullet points for him. You know, so he could play up his strengths. (Contact info redacted for the purpose of personal safety. One specific talent redacted because *insert winky face here*). Obviously this isn't the resume he actually ended up using, but after all the resumes that seem to disappear into the ether, who knows? Maybe he should be playing up his Wake Jumping Skills and Sexy Walking abilities. 

A few other fun, miscellaneous goings-on. For example, visiting these falls a mere 30 minutes from our house that we didn't know existed:

We also received photographic evidence from Grandma Sweat (as well as regular texts and phone calls from the College Guy himself) that Ethan was handling his new surroundings at BYU with aplomb. Over the course of the semester he worked hard, made friends, squeezed thousands of lemons (he's the lemonade guy at Chick-fil-A), went on one date, got along swimmingly with his roommate, rarely made his bed, actually did his laundry and got his hair cut without being reminded by me, ate a bunch of Subway and Chunky soup, learned a lot of stuff (Tony's D&C class was one of his favorites) and GOT INTO THE MEDIA ARTS PROGRAM! The application for the program was extremely daunting: a bunch of essays, a panel interview, and a short film that he had to write, direct and edit. Only 40% of applicants get in and we thought it would be a long shot for a Freshman . . . but he did it! He's pretty excited about the classes he gets to take next semester as he jumps right into his major courses.

And Elise got her driver's license! Hooray and hallelujah and Praise Be! The heavens sang with joy. Doesn't she look happy? I was just so happy to NOT have to sit through yet another driver's test at the Hastings, Minnesota DMV, an extraordinarily depressing government building with miscellaneous framed 1980's photos of teenagers who were killed in driving accidents hanging in a shrine on one wall. It took Ethan three tries to pass (not uncommon in Minnesota--the majority of kids I know fail at least once) so I was prepared for Elise to fail attempt number two herself. But she did not! Again: tender mercies. And other than an unfortunate incident wherein she backed over a small tree in our front yard (long story) she's been driving quite safely. 

I've also been pretty busy with Relief Society President-ing. Sometimes it's overwhelming . . . but the truth is, as far as callings go, I enjoy many aspects of this one. If you're going to spend lots of time working in the Church, I'd much rather spend it talking with women who are going through tough times or thinking about practical ways to increase the feelings of love, safety and spiritual wholeness among a group of women that I care about than, say, trying to figure out how to decorate a gigantic gym to look like a 1940s movie set. (That was one task from which I was blessedly released when I was, you know, released from the Stake YW--a worthy event, to be sure, but boy was it giving me a headache.) Here are a couple of photos from a service night we did, tying blankets for Project Linus, a charity that gives blankets to ill and needy children and teens. 

We ended up making something like 45 blankets that night. Not bad for a small ward, and it was easy and fun and felt useful. And no cultural hall decorations required!

Forrest also stayed busy. In the midst of writing resumes and cover letters, networking, applying, and interviewing, he also had some time to do a tile backsplash in our kitchen. I think it's pretty groovy.

And then we had Halloween! The RS was in charge of the Trunk or Treat (and, okay, that one did make me feel disgruntled) and I was super stressed out & busy at the end of October, so the only Halloween photos I can find is this one of Wyatt on Halloween night, dressed up as Harry Potter. But at least I have this one! And isn't he a cute little Harry?

And then November brought Theater-o-Rama to the Hallstrom house! Elise was in East Ridge's production of Into the Woods and did a fabulous job. She was in the chorus and had a bit part as Sleeping Beauty. The whole production was great: strong acting and singing, and the set design and costumes were excellent. They went with a "Steam Punk" take on the musical and it felt just right, given the musical's themes and tone. The orchestra did a great job keeping up with the complicated score, too. 

Elise with her brothers, a friend, and her "handsome prince" after the show:

Not to be outdone, Jonas also got into the thespian spirit in November and played one of the lead roles in Lake Middle School's production of "How the West was Dun," a classic melodrama. He played Richard Coldheart, an evil banker set to swindle a window out of her money and her daughter.

This first photo is from one of the actual performances (he was mustachioed for the actual performance). The rest are from the "parent photo night" dress rehearsal where we're all officially allowed to snap away. I was so proud of Joe--he stepped right up to the plate and handled a big role with lots of lines just like a pro. 

I have a suspicion that the following is one of the reasons Jonas has taken a shine to theater. So much hugging. :-)

Late in November we received word that Muriel, Forrest's "second mom," was declining after battling the effects of a stroke for the last few years. She passed right before Thanksgiving, and we decided that, since the kids and I had school off, we would all pile into the Tahoe and make the drive out to Utah to attend the funeral, as well as see our families for Thanksgiving. The way there we drove all through the night. While I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as a matter of course, it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. Except for Wyoming. I-80 in Wyoming is always as bad as, or worse than, you think it's going to be. Imagine the following scene, plus 60 MPH winds, for miles and miles. 

But then we got to Utah and all was well and wonderful. It was so great to spend Thanksgiving day with family. I'm always long the most for extended family at Thanksgiving time, and not only did we get to see my family and Forrest's family, but my Aunt Julie and Aunt Denny and Grandpa and Grandma Hiatt were all there too.

And Ethan! After months of Ethanlessness, it was so fun to have him back, regaling his siblings and younger cousins with stories and jokes as only Ethan can.

The boys spent lots of time in the following position. Happy though. 

And to top it all off, we got to be there for my Grandpa Hiatt's 90th birthday celebration. So wonderful to be able to sing songs and give him (and Grandma) a hug and tell them in person how much we love them.

I don't have any photos from Muriel's funeral, but the event itself was absolutely beautiful. Her 14 children, 72 grandchildren and 117 (?) great-grandchildren completely filled up the chapel and those who knew and loved her filled the rest of the gym. Such a life. Such an amazing women. Forrest and I are both eternally grateful to have known her and to have felt the effects of her love and charity in our lives.

Something must have happened during all this time in Utah to soften Forrest's heart (not that it isn't already pretty squishy) but after a couple of years of adamantly denying the kids' requests for a cat, he turned to me before we left and said, "Hey. I called my friend who has a bunch of cats on his dairy farm--should we pick up a kitten on the way home?" Whaa?? We kept it a secret from the kids right until the moment we pulled up. And they were floored. Thrilled. Almost a little suspicious that we were in fact telling the truth and, yes, we could take this kitty home. We named her Hazel and she's adorable. Well, except for when she jumps up on the counter and tries to eat bacon, or Cinnamon Life, or my Christmas cheese ball. But, so far, she is a pretty adorable kitty and has made the kids very happy. Even Forrest's tough exterior has been penetrated. He keeps texting me photos of her while I'm at work. Like I said: a softie.

And finally, Christmastime. Elise and Jonas both had a number of choir performances, both from their regular school choirs as well as their extracurricular ones (Elise is in Carolers and Jonas is in Vocal Jazz). Here's Elise before a concert:

And Wyatt got into the Christmas spirit too. Even though this is the year that a little Santa-related suspicion has crept in. Whenever he mentioned Santa to me he would always follow it with the word "wink" and an exaggerated winky-face of his own.  As in, "Maybe we can ask Santa if he'll get me a new Nerf Gun. WINK." Ah, childhood. So fleeting. He's still my little bubba though. Here he is before his class Christmas party. Hats were encouraged:

And then Ethan came home and all was right in the world! The children were merry! The tortilla chips were eaten in an instant! Teenaged boy shoes cluttered up our entryways! Hijinks ensued!:

Which brings us to Christmas itself. The obligatory top-o-the-stairs photo:

A few snapshots from Christmas morning. Yes, the following present was Forrest's idea. Of course Wyatt was thrilled:

For the first time ever we have a child who is independently earning his own money and bought us Christmas presents of his own free will and accord. He did get help from the other kids with the wrapping job. Apparently they couldn't find the Christmas wrapping paper so they improvised.

And just so I make an appearance in this post, here I am, wrapped (blurrily) in a new infinity scarf from my mom. It's so purdy. I'm wearing it to church tomorrow.

And the kids all together, wrapped in the fleece blankets I made them for Christmas. I was inspired by the RS project and figured this was about as crafty as I'll ever get. It was kind of fun to make them something, though--even if the making only involved cutting inch-wide fleece strips and tying them in knots. 

We've had a really nice Christmas. It's been wonderful to have everyone home, to have some down time to sit by the fire and read, to be able to reflect on how much we love each other and what's really important. Forrest has had a few possibilities job-wise over the last couple of months, but we think he's close on one specific job. (Of course, after doing three interviews and getting lots of positive feedback, everyone at the company bailed for two weeks over the holidays so he won't be having his final interview until after the new year.) We've learned a lot over the last few months about patience and faith and, even when things appear unsure, we both have been blessed with a good deal of peace. Most of the time. :-) Here's hoping that the next blog post I write has good employment news.

And that's it from here. It might be a while yet before I post again, but I'm glad to have the chance to sit down and write about my family and the life that I love, even through it's ups and downs. Thanks to all of you for being a part of it. 

A Blog Break

So if you haven't noticed it's been a couple of months. I've noticed, and I've felt it tugging at me. I have photos piling up and stories to share . . . but so little time and energy for the posting and the sharing. I also think I've come up against the dreaded 7-year itch. Technically I started this blog 8 years ago (amazing) but I've been feeling the itch for at least a year so the term applies. I just don't feel the same drive and desire to blog as I used to, and it's becoming more of a chore than a joy. Will I look back at this time and wish I'd blogged more? Probably. Will the three or four people who read my blog miss my photos and longwinded asides? Maybe one or two of them will. :-) But I'm also learning to listen to myself and balance what I want to do with what I need to do and what I absolutely must do . . . and for right now blogging doesn't really fit in any of those buckets.

So before I go, a photo. My favorite one from the photo shoot in Utah this summer. And who knows, I might pop in with a blog post now and then. Or at least a photo or two. Or maybe I won't! No commitment! Love you guys.

Quick Trip (not Kwik Trip)

If I ever became a small business owner my very first rule would be that the title of the business must be correctly spelled. No "Kwik"s, no "Froot"s, no "Fil-A"s. But now that we've got that out of the way, I wanted to write a quick (not kwik) update on the trip Forrest and I took for our 22nd anniversary.

It was a spur of the moment getaway, but we figured we didn't have much time left to be able to use Ethan as the man of the house, so we took off on a Sunday after church and headed for Duluth. First stop was Gooseberry Falls State Park.

I felt that Forrest must pose next to his old timey doppelganger:

We took a few selfies:

And then a few photos without our giant heads in the way to better commemorate the natural beauty:

That night we stayed in a cute little motel--clean, but small. Quaint, if you will. The bed was supposedly a queen but we had our suspicions that it was actually a double trying to put on airs. We woke up in the morning and biked down to the famous Duluth Split Rock lighthouse, but my phone was dead so no photos were taken. In case you're curious, this is the Split Rock lighthouse:

(Yes, I stole the above photo from the Internet.)

We spent the day exploring the Iron Range by car and by bike. It was fun to see some of Forrest's old mission stomping grounds like Hibbing and Grand Rapids, but the real highlight was biking the Mesabi (not wasabi) Trail. It's a paved biking trail that extends over 100 miles in Northern Minnesota and takes you through some really beautiful landscape. I admit to being a bit nervous about whether I could keep up with Forrest--the longest bike ride I'd done up until that point was about 14 miles. But I managed to do bike over 50 miles over the course of two days and I didn't die. My quads were sore (I love saying that: my quads are sore! Makes me sound so athletic) but it was a lot of fun. The weather was sunny but relatively cool and the company was top notch. So glad we did it.

Forrest in the little town of Virginia, Minnesota, where we stopped for lunch at a little Mexican restaurant. Two tender mercies: I was able to eat Mexican food and still keep biking, and we didn't bring any bike locks and just leaned our bikes outside the restaurant but no Virginians swiped our rides.

Pretty sights:

More pretty sights. Pretty sights at the top of a hill are particularly pretty when you're biking because you know you get to go down the hill.

Helmeted couple, married 22 years:

And while it still seems crazy to me that we've been married that long, what's even crazier is that in a couple of days we're taking this kid to college:

It kind of breaks my heart a little, posting that picture. That little boy isn't going to be living at my house anymore. Unbelievable.

We had a goodbye dinner with the Harrises because they were heading out on vacation and not getting back before we left and both Ethan and Josh are going to college (BYU and BYU-I). Forrest ordered the cake:

Ethan's father is so sentimental.

A couple other pics, for posterity:

Elise and Somer have the exact same hair color and length. They looked almost like twins both wearing their grey shirts.

The whole gang, including the Harrises' crazy dog that is a great reminder to us that we really shouldn't get a dog. He's cute and everything but still.

I'm always so grateful for the good friends in our ward here in MN that have become in many ways like family. It's so much easier to live away from actual family when you have a Mormon family to be there for you.

And now we've got dozens of little details to button up before our final road trip of the summer . . . and we'll come home one kid lighter! I know I keep saying it's unbelievable, but seriously. It is.