Laura & Brant's Wedding

Hey Bro (Elder Mark Hallstrom) -  
I don't know if others will send emails about Laura's wedding, so I thought I'd tell you about it.  On Wednesday night, my little family picked up Grandma Hallstrom and drove her to the hotel in Draper, UT where Mom, Dad, and Ryan would also be staying.  On the way to the hotel, we got a call from Dad, who was at the Phillidelphia airport with Mom and Ryan.  He informed me that the next plane they were suppose to hop on to had mechanical issues, making it so they wouldn't arrive in Salt Lake City until late morning on Thurs. (during the time of Laura's endowment session).  

It was sad not to have Mom and Dad in attendance for Laura's special morning.  Our cousin, Bethany, Amy, Grandma Hallstrom, Mike, Alice, Jenny, Sam, and I were in the same session with Laura, Brant, and his family.  It was neat to be there.  

After the session, Mom, Dad, and Ryan, met up with Brant's family and some of our family for lunch at Brick Oven Pizza.  It was nice to be there and get to know Brant's family a little bit.  And of course, you can't go wrong in stuffing yourself with pizza!  Sam's parents were watching our kids, so we went back to their house to hang out for abit.  Sam watched our kids so I could attend a family dinner at Madeline's in Sandy, UT.  Jenny and Seth gave me a ride.  The restaurant had the back room reserved for about 30 people.  We had a nice meal and watched a 15 minute slideshow that Jenny & Seth made of Laura & Brant growing up, dating, etc.  Dad took a few minutes and spoke about Laura as a child and growing up.  Brant's dad did the same.  And that was it for that day.

Brant & Laura

Dan & Bethany

The next day was the wedding.  That morning, our little family met up with Jenny and Seth's family at Kangaroo Zoo (a place full of about a dozen ginormous blow up slides, and stuff.  Ben loved climbing up to the big slide with me, sitting on my lap, and going down the slide.  It was way fun. 

Sarah 2 1/2 and Ben 4 (Jenny & Seth's kids)

Emma = Sleeping Beauty - (Jenny Seth's 4 month old)

Then we ate a quick lunch, bathed the kids, and got all dressed up for the wedding.  Laura and Brant were sealed in the Draper Temple.  It is a super nice temple dedicated just 3 years ago.  Valerie Serfas, her husband and 2 boys came all the way from Boise, ID.  Nan and Neil were there too along with our cousin, Jerry and his wife, Marla.  Our cousin, Nathan Kristjanson was also in attendance.  We sure missed Emily and Nate though.  Laura cried happy tears as the sealer announced that they are now husband and wife.  Laura looked gorgeous in her dress!

Uncle Ryan was awesome and watched all 6 of the grandkids so all of us could attend the sealing inside the temple.  Thanks again, bro!

It was a hot day outside, but every now and then, a nice breeze would come along.  After all the pictures, some of us went to Pie Pizzeria for dinner and then went to the reception.  The reception was held outdoors at Laura's brother-in-law's grandparents' home.  Alice played the violin, Dad handed over his video camera to me to record him dancing with Laura, Laura singing to Brant, the cutting of the cake, etc.  It turned out very nicely (even though Tyler ran away and hid in the deepest darkest corner of the yard and had me crying).  Silly boy.  We stayed and help clean up and drove Grandma Hallstrom back home.  We didn't get home until 12:30am on Saturday.  Whew!  It sure was a busy couple of days.   I loved seeing everyone, but always wish that we could all hang out more before and after the big events.  And there you have it.  Laura's wedding weekend in a nutshell.  

Love, LISA

Family Bonding Time - Bonus NY Photo Edition

My baby sister, Laura is getting married this week!  
I'm so excited for Laura and Brant.  
It will be fun to see so much family this week as well.  
Let the wedding festivities begin!  
Anyway, I found these photos on my phone the other day.  
They were taken way back in February when we were in New York for Emily and Nate's wedding.  Enjoy! 

Story Time with Uncle Mike
(a story about construction and one of my personal childhood favorites, "Dooly and the Snortsnoot")

"Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or a duty. 
It should be offered to them as a precious gift."  

~Kate DiCamillo

Grandma Hallstrom LOVES Katie.
(Katie loved having Grandma tease her with this book.
Gently opening and closing the pages on her little hands made her giggle.)

Chillin' with Gma

Grandpa knows best.  My boys LOVE paper airplanes.  

They had fun seeing who could throw their planes the furthest.

I'm sad that my kids deleted THE BEST video of my dad pretending he was the announcer 

from the air traffic control tower dictating the order the planes could take off.

Brian Escapes The Birthday Trap

I remember my dad using his fatherly strength to teach us a lesson.
The lesson being that we can do hard things.
We can even get out of a twisted up mess if we use our strength and determination.

It was so fun to be HOME with my parents and some of my siblings for a few days.

It had been 2 1/2 years since our last trip to New York.

My parents don't live near any of their grandkids,

so it was especially fun for me to see my parents enjoying time with my kids.

I can't wait to see everyone this week!

Family Videos - Take 4

Uncle Mike read some of his favorite kid books to my boys before heading back to Boston.  This video was taken in NY at my parents' house.

Story Time with Uncle Mike from Lisa Ward on Vimeo.

Katie showed off her dance moves at Emily and Nate's wedding reception.

Katie Can Dance! from Lisa Ward on Vimeo.

Major Bonding Time in New York

A fun looking painted sign on the front porch of Mom & Dad's house.

 Our family spent 11 fun filled days in New York last month.  

I can't thank Laura enough for hanging with us on the planes and at the airports on the way to New York.

Even though Laura has a boyfriend, Tyler has stolen Aunt Wawa's heart.

Aunt Wawa offers Tyler some words of encouragement during 

his first of many rounds of the "Don't Feed the Gators" board game.

Mom and Brian played too.

It got intense at times when the gator would "eat" the game pieces.

Tyler would get so upset and let out a horrible, anguish-filled scream.

"Gator's got'cha!   Ahhhh!"

My brother, Mike is awesome and read some great stories to my boys.

Too bad his trip was so short and that his wife, Alice couldn't come too.

 I insisted that we take a sibling shot.  That's 4 of the 8 Hallstrom kids right there.

 (This was taken the day after Emily's wedding, so we are missing Emily in this shot.  

Emily was enjoying sunny Florida with her husband by then.  Lucky!)

 Laura (23), Lisa (29), Mike (28), Ryan (15)

Sibling Love - Laura & Ryan

Brian, Uncle Ryan, Aunt Laura, and Tyler

Family Snuggle Huddle

 Sam surprised me with these pretty flowers and took me to Applebees for Valentine's Day.

 Lindsay and I have been friends for 14 years.  

We first met at Girls Camp back in 1998.  

I was her Girls Camp Counselor. 

We've done a pretty good job keeping up with each other's lives through blogging.  

I'm so glad that we could get together for a couple hours and have our kids play. 

 Our boys are about the same age as her boys.  She has a adorable baby girl too.

 My brother, Ryan and I played a few rounds of my favorite old school video game, Uniracers. 

It's a super easy game for even someone like me who is so not a big video game fan.

And I'm quite good at this game, if I do say so myself.

I went on a Mommy Daughter Date with my mom.  (Katie stayed home with Sam.)  

First, Mom and I went a special band performance at Ryan's high school.  

There was a slideshow going and various narrators telling of 

Abe Lincoln's time as the President of the United States. 

The Ithaca High School Band is amazing!

The song they played while the slideshow was going was touching.

Mom then took me to the Ithaca Bakery for lunch.

There was a fun atmosphere there.  

The menu was so big (written neatly in colorful chalk on boards that 

wrapped around the whole front of the bakery.)

Mom ordered the Reuben Sandwich and 

I ordered Laura's Sweet Surprise (a yummy pulled pork sandwich.) 

Next, Mom took me to see Dad at work.  I'd never seen the new store. 

 My dad works full time as an Optometrist at this America's Best office in Ithaca.  

It's located about 15 minutes downhill from his house.

Dad gave me a quick tour of the place.  It's very nice and spacious.

Here is Dad is in his office:

 My dad is usually a pretty serious guy.  

He let loose and LOVED playing with my kids after church.

It was very entertaining to watch.

  Thanks, Mom and Dad for letting us bombard your house for a few days.

Thanks for feeding us well, for spoiling us, and for all the fun.

 And this picture right here makes all the hard work of 

traveling across the country twice completely worth it:

Our kids with their Grandma and Grandpa Hallstrom.  

Tyler (4), Katie (21 months), Brian (7)