A New Phase

The kids, first day of school, Sept. 4 2012

It seems that everybody at the Hallstrom house is entering a meaningful new phase. First, Ethan. Sixteen years old, that one. Here he is on the actual day of his birth: a tough guy whose cake is adorned with pink grandma flowers. (Forrest had a groupon for a local bakery, Ethan wanted chocolate with chocolate frosting, and this is the only cake of that variety that was available. He handled the frou-frou adornments with his manliness still intact.)

To show what a tough guy he truly is, instead of blowing out the candles, he snuffed them out by hand:

Notice Wyatt's shirtless delight.

For his birthday present/party, he wanted to take all his buddies to a very cool outdoor paint ball place. All sorts of grown men running around in military gear, splattering each other's protective helmets with bright orange paint. I call that a celebration! He had a blast, or so I hear. (I think Forrest, who "chaperoned" the event, quite enjoyed himself too.)

Ready to crawl around on his belly and try not to get shot in the head.

Ethan and his buddies, pointing out all their injuries.

Ethan had a really fun summer with all his friends. They're a great group of kids--most of them are in speech/drama/AP with Ethan--and it's so nice as a Mom to know that your kid is surrounded by good people. (None of them are LDS, but when Ethan is over they don't watch rated R movies out of respect for him, for example.) Plus, they're a lot of fun. Ethan is hoping we get our basement finished soon, though, so he can invite them all over without his mother hovering around in the kitchen, IN PLAIN SIGHT. Truth be told, I'm looking forward to the day we get the basement finished too. All those teenaged boys take up a lot of room in the house. Best to shut them away downstairs.

As to the inevitable driving question, Ethan just finished his final required drive with the driving school, but nobody told me that  you need to schedule the drivers' test appointment at the DMV months in advance, so the earliest appointment I could get was in mid-October. Ah well. More driving practice until he goes it solo never hurt anybody.

Ethan's transitioning into 11th grade with aplomb, and just tried out for the school musical. Call backs are tonight. Can't believe we're already back on the treadmill of seminary/school/rehearsals/homework. Plus, he's helping a friend in our ward who has a lawn mowing business during Sept. and into Oct. He's a busy dude. But he's doing great and I'm so proud of him.

Oh, and he got braces! Have I mentioned this on the blog yet? It's true. When I asked him to give me a smile that would show them off, here is what I received:

I'm sure he's thrilled that I'm putting this picture on the blog. He's pretty much used to the braces. Doesn't love them, but not complaining. And it will be a relief for me not to have to look at his teeth for the rest of my life and feel guilty that I didn't make him get braces. (Both Ethan and his dad didn't think they were entirely necessary, and it's true that his teeth weren't too bad. But now they'll look GREAT!)

Elise has entered her first year of high school and is handlind it with aplomb as well. And, great news!!, we just found out that she got call backs for the musical too! We were expecting it with Ethan, since he's a junior and has proven himself already. And is a guy. But it's a lot more difficult for freshman girls to get call backs. I'm so happy for her!

Elise's big news, in addition to starting high school, is that she got bangs. She bangs! She bangs! And not just any bangs, nosiree. She has the straight down your forehead, almost hanging into your eyes but not quite look du jour. Very fashionable. She probably doesn't love this picture because she hates it when her bangs separate ever so slightly near where she used to part her hair, but it's the only one I have right now that illustrates the bang-iness:

I think she looks cute.

Jonas is doing very well in his first year of middle school too. The thing about Jonas is that he's not nearly as talkative as his older two siblings. I usually ask the kids two tell me two things when they come home from school, and Ethan and Elise have no problem (in fact, sometimes there are three or four), but Jonas? Not so much with the small talk. But he's such a self-possessed kid and so competent in so many ways that I don't worry about him too much. I'm sure if anything was wrong he'd tell me. Right? Right? :-) Seriously, though -- as of right now, he's good. He's cool. My mommy senses tell me so.

He's playing on a traveling soccer team this fall and LOVES it. He's always liked baseball, but he's really getting into soccer. He hadn't played since we moved back to MN because he didn't think he was interested, but then his friends told him about this team and he's been doing great. I'm glad he's enjoying himself so much and hope he sticks with it. It's always fun to watch sports when the kids get older.

A random picture of Jonas looking stoic.

And then getting beat about the head by his older brother.

And then there's the Wy-man. Wy-diggedy. The Wy-dog. My baby! Did you know he went to Kindergarten? ALL DAY? Last Thursday was his first official day, and these shots of him outside the house and then getting on the bus just about melt my heart:

There's my boy.

Workin the camera

The bus stop gang

The look you get when you ask your kid to turn around for a picture right before he gets on the bus for  the first time.

Oh! This picture! I can hardly stand it.

Wyatt is doing okay with Kindergarten, but he's not so sure about the whole "gone all day" thing. Although he's always happy when he gets off the bus in the afternoon and tells me he has fun at school, he's apprehensive in the morning ("Do I really have to go AGAIN?") and keeps asking if the next day is Saturday. Breaks my heart a little, to be honest. Although I still feel good about Wyatt doing all-day Kindergarten (because, truth be told, if he were home with me, he'd have no friends to play with, because all his friends are in all-day Kindergarten too, and he'd spend most of his time driving around in the car with me or playing the Wii while I do the laundry) . . . I feel a little guilty too. Especially since, with my new job, he HAS to do all day Kindergarten. He'll adjust, I know he will, but it will take some time. As Wyatt is fond of reminding me, "seven hours is a LONG LONG time."

It is, buddy. I hear you.

Wyatt asleep on the floor, 6:00 p.m., first full day of Kindergarten.

Which brings me to me and my new job, which I'm 15% guilty over whenever Wyatt asks me why he can't do half-day Kindergarten, but 85% very excited about. It's really been very good so far--I enjoy the students, the classes I'm teaching, the campus. The location is great, just 20 minutes away from home, and my schedule this semester is perfect. Two classes, MWF afternoons. I take off right after Wyatt gets on the bus at 9:00 a.m., do my prepping and grading till noon, teach till 2:40, then get home in time for the kids to be home from school. Tuesday and Thursday I'm just home, which is lovely and glorious and filled with silence. Seriously, for sixteen years I've been home with a little kid. That's a long long time. Longer, even, than all-day Kindergarten. Although a part of me is wistful and a little sad that I'm leaving my old life behind, I'm mostly excited and energized. This is a good phase of life to be in, and I'm grateful.

And then we have Forrest. That guy I'm married to. He did another triathlon:

Forrest with Dan, a new guy in the ward and Forrest's official new triathlon buddy.

Forrest rocking the sleeveless wetsuit.

And he dressed up like a clown for a murder mystery birthday party at our Stake President's house:

An Instagram of the two of us before the party. I was a sword swallower with a gypsy-ish flair. Forrest was just creepy.

Forrest photobombing the ladies' group shot. 

Wouldn't you know it that Forrest was the murderer?

But beyond triathlons and clown costumes, Forrest has some other interesting tales to tell. But that will have to wait for another blog post, because this one is too long already! And don't worry, I promise I won't let my three blog readers wait for weeks with bated breath.

Anyway, now I'm caught up. Whew! Fall of 2012, you're keeping us on our toes!

Aaaand now summer is almost over

How can it be? Last summer felt long to me -- maybe it was the transition from the brief Utah year-round-school summers to the steeped-in-agricultural-tradition long summers of Minnesota. Maybe it was because the kids hadn't made as many friends last year as this, so I felt more pressure to entertain everyone. Maybe it was because we backloaded a lot of our traveling to August. But this summer? Zipped right by. I feel a little panicky about it, actually. Not ready for school to start (for me or for the kids) or for seminary, either. But it's all good. And I love fall.

So, in the spirit of being panicky and behind regarding teaching at IHCC and getting my home study seminary stuff up and running and getting the kids' school shopping done, etc. etc., this post will focus on only two things.

Thing #1: My Trip To Utah, By My Lonesome

It was wonderful in every way. The solitary plane ride. The hanging out at my Mom and Dad's clean, quiet house and spending time with just the two of them. The wonderful night at Sundance with Tony and Cindy and Denny and Mom and Dad. Once again, we sat up on the hill:

The Segullah retreat was fabulous, as always. I love those women so much and I'm so lucky to have them in my life. And this year we got to stay at Senator Bob Bennett's house (his daughter is a Segullah-ite and an altogether intelligent, hilarious, big-hearted, sharp-witted person). In fact, the Senator took this picture of all of us in his back yard:

A few of my favorite Segullah sisters are missing from this picture (Kelly! Michelle! Melissa M! Melissa DB! Sharlee! Jennie! Shelah! I could go on . . . ) but still, it was great to have so many excellent friends all in one place.

I also enjoyed hosting my very last Irreantum contest committee meeting. I think I've been in charge of the contest since 2006. Six years! Hard to believe. I've read a lot of great literature, and even more not-so-great literature, but overall it's been a privilege. And hanging with the contest committee folks always makes for an excellent evening. I'll miss it.

It was a wonderful, restorative weekend all around.

Thing #2: Back To the Working World

So far this week has been a bit of a whirlwind of faculty meetings. Monday about did me in, sitting in the same airless room hour after hour, watching Powerpoint presentations on sick leave policies and learning at least half a dozen acronyms: SAAP, ARP, SAP (yes, there are two SAPs, it's just one has two As), and already getting sucked back into whispered faculty gossip about things like who got which office and why it's unfair. Oh, the drama! (Actually, it really was unfair, but didn't impact me personally. I just got to commiserate, which is always the best role.). Unfortunately, I lost one of my classes -- the online one -- due to low enrollment in the online sections overall. My section was full, but a full-time person's was not, so I had to give one up. The nature of adjuncting: it's extremely unpredictable.

The good news is that here in Minnesota, adjuncts get treated very well. It was news to me until yesterday, but turns out that if you teach a certain number of credits (over 5, which basically means two classes) then you're treated just like a full-time faculty member, salary and benefit-wise, just on an adjusted scale based on your courseload. So I get placed on a salary scale just like a full-time person, and if I teach a 60% class load, I get 60% of a full-time salary. And I get retirement, sick leave, all that too (adjusted, of course). Blew my mind! This is probably one reason why it was so hard to get an adjunct job in MN at first: they're actual JOB jobs committed to hiring and retaining good teachers instead of the ridiculous minimum-wage, we-just-want-a-warm-body-in-the room deals that you find in Utah. Hopefully it'll stay that way here in MN, but if Wisconsin is any indication, it will depend on who wins our 2012 elections. And that is all I'll say about that. :-)

Anyway, I *think* my other two sections are safe (you never know until pretty much the day before school starts, truly, which is always the hard thing about teaching part-time no matter which state you're in). After sitting through all these mind-numbing faculty meetings, I'd BETTER get my two sections.

And that is it for now. More updates on the kids next blog post. Big 16th birthday on the horizon! And new schools for Wyatt, Jonas, and Elise! So much change. I'll keep you posted.

Summer Fun Part Three Part Two: More Utah Trip!

It's a bit strange blogging about our family Utah trip since I just got back from my second trip to Utah this summer (all by my little ol' self, but more about that in another post). But, yet again, I'm not quite as current as I'd hoped to be keeping up this blog and need to deal with the backlog before I can deal with the frontlog.

Not that our Utah trip has been relegated to backlog status. No, no. It was a wonderful trip, one I'm still happily remembering. Besides, I have some great photos to share!

First, there were a few more pictures of my birthday party that I forgot Andrea had sent along. (Thanks for taking them, my friend!) I'm glad to have them since Forrest's family, Calvin J., and my Grandma and Grandpa Hiatt are featured:

Grandma and Grandpa Hiatt (I must say -- my kids are so lucky to have such healthy, fun great-grandparents), and T-Bone and Eli.

Mindy, Enzo, Barbara and Chelle. Oh, and my dad too, of course. 

Look how nice my mom was! Putting up decorations even though a horde of family was set to descend on her house that very day.

Cute Jane and Forrest's "eat-these-instead-of-the-cheesecake-kids" cupcakes.

Calvin J! And his grandma, of course.

And now, picking up where we left off last post, the whole fam damily headed up to Bear Lake to stay in condos and have a little fun in the sun. Although ironically (in the Alanis Morrissette "it's like 10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife" sense of the word), during one of Utah's hottest, driest summers in years, we managed to have our fun in the sun during one  of the only rainy weekends of 2012. At least so far. But we DID get enough sunshine for boating, playing in the sand, tennis, volleyball, and jumping off water trampolines. We just had the extra good fortune of watching a few movies and playing some games of Ticket to Ride while we dried off as well.

Without further ado, the pictures!

Hangin' at the playground

Cute nephews digging in the sand

Another cute nephew, dug into the sand. And also my son is drowning him in Coke.

Cute nieces feeding seagulls.

Grandma and Grandpa on the Jet Skis

Andrea, kicking back, looking lovely.

Big Kids

Medium Kids

Little Kids (looking big, hauling that cooler)

And speaking of looking big, Grandma and Grandpa rented a boat, but when Forrest went with Grandpa to check it out, he (and the boat people) talked Grandpa into an upgrade. Apparently this boat is 10 times as awesome as our boat (if the purchase price the boat people told us is correct, and if it IS correct, I truly don't understand how or why anyone would ever spend that much on a boat, but there you go). At any rate, it was a great big powerful boat, and it was a ton of fun to fit 18 people inside it. Legally!

Forrest tried hard not to lust after this piece of machinery, but I could see it in his eyes.

Jack, Macy and Wyatt, tubing it up

Lolo and Leesee

Amy, Dave & Kids

Jonas, Brandon and Reagan. Jonas was a little cold.

Ethan, giving wake surfing a try.

Even though we had fun on the boat, I think the water trampoline was the kids' favorite thing. Big thanks, btw, to my zoom lens for these shots:

That's Brandon, upsidedown

And Jane, taking a flying leap

And then Ethan dragging Brandon off the trampoline. I also heard he delivered a karate kick to Brandon's chest that sent him flying. Hey Ethan: you've grown like 6 inches in the last year. Be careful, dude.

We also enjoyed a few outdoor activities. A little volleyball:

And a little tennis. (Sorry so blurry -- my camera didn't like the action shots at night.)

And when the day turned from this:

The view from our room

to this:

The view from the pier

We all dashed inside and did this:

I love it when Ethan notices I'm taking a picture. 

On Sunday, a professional photographer came and took our pictures. We haven't gotten the photos back from her (although I can't wait to see them), but here are a few we took while we were waiting. Small disclaimer: the place we're standing isn't the best. Too much mud in the background. The official photos were taken in a better spot. But I was glad to have a few photos snapped without our own camera.

We had so much fun at Bear Lake -- just the perfect place for a big family like ours to gather and reconnect. And even though there were a few rain showers and the great and terrible stomach bug of July 2012 decided to follow us north, we still had such a fabulous time. Thanks so much, Mom and Dad, for creating so many great memories for our family. We love you!