Hallman Family

Thursday, March 5, 2009

In Memory of Shadow...October 1996 to March 2009

On March 4th 2009 our dog of 12 1/2 years returned to heaven to be with his brother Sinbad(who died a few years ago of Cancer in the Mouth). Even though for many many years he was being taken care of by Grandma and Grandpa Hallman (we were planning to have grandma and grandpa bring him back to live with us now that we are buying a home) we will miss him dearly.

Now let me tell you how we came about getting Shadow...One October day in 1996 Jess called me at work and said he had found an Ad in the paper for puppies. The cost was only $10. If you know me at all you know I am not a dog person (animal person for that matter), but I knew Jess wanted a dog really bad. So after I made sure it would only be $10 I said ok. He went right over after work to get shadow. There were 2 puppies left when he got there. Now you could clearly see that Shadow was the runt of the two, but for some reason this was the one Jess fell in love with (they are lab and basset mix ~ use your imagination). When the owner of the puppies went to get Shadow both puppies hid under the couch and would not come out. After getting Shadow home we came to the conclusion that these little puppies had been abused. Not that he looked injured but that every time we made sudden movements or picked up the newspaper he would flinch and then run and hide. That night he was in our dark closet and Jess turned on the light, and Shadow jumped back. We're not sure but we think he saw his shadow and got scared. So that is how he got his name..."Shadow". After realizing that it was possible that these poor dogs were being abused we didn't want to leave the last little puppy there. We called around (because 1 dog was definitely enough for me) to family asking if anyone wanted a cute puppy. My sister's decided they wanted him so we went back and got "Sinbad". We had both dogs for a while until we were able to get Sinbad down to St. George. Shadow was a great dog (other than eating my boot while I was pregnant with Maddy ~ use your imagination on how that went over as well). Shadow loved kids, especially Madysen. Madysen was the one he grew up with so they were very attached. When ever we visited Utah the kids would go right for him and play. It was as if they had never been apart.

We need to Thank Thank Thank Grandma and Grandpa Hallman for loving and taking care of Shadow while we couldn't. We know that he was just as much your dog as he was ours (if not more)!

We will miss you Shadow!

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Finally...Our Valentine's Day Activities

So yes...I have been wanting to post our Valentine's Day for a while but I have had too much fun with the "Facebook" thing, and would rather be playing on Facebook then blogging at the moment.

Anyways...we did have a great Valentine's Day. We started off the weekend with a very fun Couples party at our house. I figured since we just moved here this would be the Perfect way to get to know and meet new friends. Lets just say we (along with 9 other couples) had a blast! We had Fondue and we played my famous "Not-so-Newlywed" game. We made some great friends and I think it was a great start to me getting into this new town. Oh, I can't forget to Thank Madysen for doing such a Great job keeping the boys upstairs throughout the ENTIRE party. She was payed well with "Erasers" instead of money (at her request)!

The kids woke up to some fun Valentine's Gifts from Cupid. Madagascar 2, among books for each of them was their gift. That evening after Madysen's Basketball game we went to our friends house and ate "Heart" shaped pizza's, after which we all came back to our house for some games, WII, and dessert. Thanks Marino Family for a great time!

Since Monday was a Holiday Jess and I left Madysen home with the boys and we went to the movie Taken. After that movie we took the kids along with the Marino Family to the $ movies which was playing Tales of Desparaux. The fun thing about this movie theatre is that you sit on couches and can order a wide variety of food to eat during the movie. We had a great time (pictures taken from camera phone, so they are not the best Quality). We then ended the day with dinner at our favorite restaurant in Bend..."The Black Bear Diner"!

We hope you all had a great Valentine's day! Thank-you to the Grandma's and Grandpa's who sent us Valentines Packages...The kids loved them (and so did we)! We Love You!

Friday, January 23, 2009

December Update...Volume 3

So as you can see we had a Great Holiday! Our trip to Utah was so fun, and I can honestly say we did not sit around...From visiting family we don't see often, Playing games with Grandparents, Hiking the Red hills of "Dixie", Playing at the "Jumping Jacks" jump house with cousins, Playing on the School Playground with Grandma, Eating out at our Favorite Restaurants, Preparing for and watching the Fireworks, Watching the Amazing University of Utah football team win their Bowl Game, and just having a great old time with family! Thanks everyone for making our Christmas break so fun! We love you all!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

December Update...Volume 2

So we had a GREAT Christmas! We stayed in Oregon for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We invited our Friends the Marino's over for a yummy Christmas Eve dinner and Program. After playing the Present game (a tradition in my family for many many years) we read the Christmas story out of the Bible.

Christmas morning we awoke to find that Santa had "redecorated" our tree with Wii items! Yes we also received a Wii (a gift I have heard many received)! The kids had a great time opening presents! They also went outside to find that the reindeer had eaten all of the reindeer food that Tyler had sprinkled in the snow (we know this because they left Tracks and the food was gone!). Ever since I can remember we would lay all of our presents out on our bed and take a picture, so in the slide show you will see the kids and their toys!

The original plan was for us to hurry and open presents and then hop in the car for a 14 hour drive to Utah to spend the rest of our Break. But as it snowed and snowed all day on Christmas Eve day we decided to just spend the $ and buy plane tickets...I must say money WELL spent! After a relaxing day of playing with our toys and the Wii we hopped on a plane and arrived in Vegas about 3 hours later with my mom and dad there excited to see us! Thanks mom and dad for picking us up!

December Update...Volume 1

So we had a great time over the Christmas Break...We started it off with a fun day (in a blizzard) of Sledding with our new friends the Marino's. On Christmas Eve Day they took us up the mountain a ways to a huge hill that is for Sledding. It was snowing so hard but that did not stop Jess, Tyler and Madysen from spending two hours on the hill. Zac and I watched them climb the mountain several times and enjoying the ride down. I still need to purchase me some snow pants so I can enjoy the snow. My legs were sooo cold and wet from just sitting out in the snow. Thanks to Lori who thought to bring an umbrella...We were somewhat sheltered from the snow.

The other snow pictures are at my Grandpa's Cabin in Pine Valley UT. We had a great time with grandma and grandpa and cousins! The kids had a blast riding on sleds tied to four-wheelers around the snow packed streets.

Below is a slide show of our Snow fun...More fun pictures of our break to come soon!

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

It's Great to visit with old Friends!

So one of the many fun things we did while we were in St. George was get together with both mine and Jess' high school friends and their Spouse's(some we havn't seen for many years, way to long). We were lucky to get to go out 2 nights in a row for dinner with them. It was so fun to see them and chat like we had never been apart! Thanks guys for a wonderful night(s)! Oh, and I can't forget to Thank my mom and dad for babysitting the kids 2 nights in a row so we could go out! We are so lucky to have friends like each of you!