Change of plans

We were supposed to close on our new house on Thursday. Matt got laid off from his job on Wednesday. Hence, no house for us. :( We are very sad and disappointed, but also feel blessed that this happened the day before we signed all those papers instead of the day after. Please keep us in your prayers.

Ashley Hall, ATC!!!

I passed my test! Yea for me!!! I am officially a Certified Athletic Trainer! Now I can get a job, well, legally. That's so scary. We'll see how that goes.
Thank you, everyone, for all you prayers in my behalf. I know that God had more than just one hand in this.
I love you all!

The Beginning of the End!

Well, Dave has been in school for a week now - for his final year of high school! CRAZY - I can't believe that it has come and I know that it will fly past, so we are trying to enjoy each minute. He is very involved in the school, so it literally is his second home, the first week proved that with all of the activities for "opening week", which included things like slip and slide kickball one night, mud volleyball another, an open swim at the city pool another night and for the opening I think it was a barbecue for all of the new students. He also had a council meeting every day at lunch, one for drama, choir, hosa, elections and eligibility, etc. I remember one night him running in through the door with a swim suit on and me saying "are you ready for dinner?", and him saying "I don't have time I have to change into my exec clothes, I have to be back to the school in 5 minutes to meet the parents for back to school night". I have a feeling that this year will "fly" by! We will miss all of the fun that Dave brings into our home, he has helped fill the void that everyone else has made as they have left to pursue their lives. Mark and I are trying to stay involved in his life by volunteering in the adult drama council, I am the president this year and Mark is going to help with all of my assignments as well, so that hopefully we can see him!

Becky came home his week during her break - yea! She brought her roommate Chelsi with her as they were going through on the way to Las Vegas to meet Chelsi's parents for a weekend of fun. I think they were going to see a show and swim, etc.. They came on Wednesday night and we had a nice dinner and then wathed a movie, the next day I had to work, but only for a half day, so we went to a mattinee and then that night had dinner at home and played several rounds of clue. It was fun. The next day I had to work again, but I said that I'd take them out to lunch before they hit the road for LasVegas, but Becky wanted me to come home for lunch and make them Panini's, so that was a fun break from the day, after I made them lunch we watched a home video that Vickie had made of one of her kids birthdays when Becky was like three and we watched the scene where the kids were all telling a story where you tell one sentence and the next kid makes up the next sentence and it started to get scarey.....the man came to the door and he said......and there was a noise in the cellar...... and then what Becky, her faces was worth a thousand words.......total fear in her eyes, and then.......I'mmmm sccarrrred!......and she runs and sits in her cousin Sarah's lap and hugs her.......sooooo cute!

Anyway, that was our week, oh, we did on Friday night go to the "new" Brick Oven in town - that was fun, great salad bar, and Dave and Mark enjoyed their BBQ chicken pizza, hope you are all well! Love ya!

Christy & Matt--We bought a house!

Hello everyone! We have big news! We just bought a house! It is in East Layton. It's a 4-bedroom, 2.5 bath with a living room, family room, kitchen, dining room, 2 car garage, a covered patio, and a pretty decent yard. We are really excited and super nervous. We are planning to move on Labor Day.

The house is about 15 minutes from Matt's work and about an hour and a half from mine. Which means that I will be leaving my job in September. I am very sad about that...it has been a great job and I love it so much, but we feel like this is the best move for our family. We just can't keep doing the commuting thing anymore.

So I am currently looking for a new job--preferably at Weber State University. So if anyone knows anyone there, please please please let me know. I am also looking at the University of Utah, the Utah State Extension Campuses, and some online and technical schools.

I am also starting my penultimate semester of grad school this fall. Only 2 more semesters to go! Matt is currently studying for the GRE and hopes to start his masters in the fall of next year. We are keeping as busy as ever, but hope that with this move we will be able to slow down a little bit.

We still enjoy doing our races. We have done a few in July and we just signed up to run another 1/2 marathon at the end of August in Logan and we will probably do another triathlon in September.

We also recently booked a trip to Costa Rica!!!! We will be going for a week in October and we are super excited. That's all...it was fun to see you all at the reunion. Come visit us in our new house! If you want to see pictures of it and stuff, click here.

Welcome!

Dear Family,

Welcome to our new blog! We are so grateful for all the work Mom (Theresa) has put into the Grapevine for so many years! She deserves an award or something for all the hours she's invested in keeping the family together!
I have always loved reading your news each month and feeling connected and informed about the on-goings of your lives. I look forward to continuing to "keep up" with all of you on this great site!
Blogging is great for so many reasons, one of which is that you can post a wide variety of info. I hope our blog can include lots of different kinds of info, such as:

-Family Updates
-Missionary Emails
-Recipes
-Pictures
-Announcements about family members' activities (games, recitals, graduations, etc)
-Family History messages and stories
-Birthday Greetings and Celebrations
...and whatever else we can come up with!

This blog will be as successful as we each want it to be, so let's make it great! Look forward to all of the great entries! Love you all!

-Rachel

Ashley, Danny and Azilyn

Hello Family,
Well, things are slowly getting back to normal. Less than two weeks before Danny starts his Fall semester at UVU. This week he's been trying to finish up the online classes he was taking during the summer. It's been a crazy week. As was last week. I was studying to take my certification exam, which I took on the 8th. Hopefully I passed! I'm not so sure though. I only got a week of good studying in after doing nearly nothing with it since Azilyn was born. I dont find out my results for 2-4 weeks after the test, so hopefully, I will have good news next month. News none the less, I guess. Now that that is over for now, I'm going to start working on all my crafting projects I have started, and some new ones! Danny is hopeful some of his clothes will make it out of the "black hole" sometime soon!
As for work, Danny is planning on working for his old boss doing pest control once school starts. It will probably only be part time, which is good with school. And he will be snowplowing again this winter. Hopefully Provo gets more snow this year than last! Until school starts, Danny will be helping his friend frame their house in Cedar. We get work where we can. We are so glad to hear about Jeff's new jobs! Congratulations!
We got to go to the Utah County Fair this week and watch Grace's band, Firefly, play. That was really fun. She even sang some back up! Who knew? She did great. She and the rest of the band are really talented. They played their twin fiddle song that they won the National Championship with. It was so Amazing! Way to go Grace! It's hard to believe Grace is in high school. Our family just keeps growing. It's so fun.
My brothers and I got together with my mom for her birthday earlier this month. We went to dinner at Macaroni Grill. Yum! Then Trevor's family went with mom to a new water park there in Draper - Cowabunga! They said the water was really cold but Derek claimed dreamily that 'it was the best day of my life!' HA! I wish I could have gone. I love those boys. I can't believe they're going to be in 1st grade this year!
Well, Azilyn, of course is growing up a ton too. We are finally on our way to weening. I'm so glad I can wear normal underclothes now. Darn nursing garments drive me crazy. Only two more nursings to cut. I think they are both more of a comfort thing. Well, maybe not the morning one. I'm just lazy when it comes to getting up and making breakfast!
Well, that's about all. We're just adjusting back to "normal" life again after a crazy summer. Hope everyone is well. We love you all.
Love~ Danny, Ashley, and Azilyn Hall

Dad and GrannyLou!

We wish to thank everyone in the family for the wonderful contributions they made toward the success of the reunion. We're still 'basking' in the euphoria of that wonderful event.

Recently it was suggested that we all come up with a motto for consideration for a family motto. May we suggest one of these as a starter:
1 Clean living and constant prayer
2 Praise God and love one another
3 Praise God and love thy fellow men
4 What e're thou art, act well thy part
5 Virtutous, Gloria, Merces
6 Families matter
7 Families are forever
8 Love-Security-Responsibility-Work
9 Never let the truth stand in the way of a good story
10 Truth prevails
11 Choose the right

We love you all very much, & wish you all the very best in your personal & professional lives.

Grandpa & AnnaLou

Our new family grapevine!!!

Okay everyone - at the family reunion it was suggested that we start a family blog and that it might be a better way to communicate than the family newsletter, so here it is - thanks BJ for setting it up so that we can try this! We hope that it will be easy for you to post things, but if you are having a hard time, just e-mail me your entries like before and I will be more than willing to post them for you - no problem. I hope this makes it easier for you and that it is a fun way to share things going on in your family that you want to share - the reunion was so much fun and we surely missed those of you that could not make it, but we realize that life is crazy and sometimes you are just, for instance out of the country in like, AFRICA, or at a family wedding, you know, little things like that - we love you!