Ladies and Gentlemen: Sheldon

Showing posts with label Sheldon. Show all posts

Friday, August 21, 2015

Sheldon and Karen Hallstrom Family 2015

Our family had the opportunity to fly to New York and gather with all of these beautiful people, my family.

Jenny, Seth, and her family and my younger brother, Mark were unable to come.

We live all over the country, PA, MN, UT, MA, CO, so it's a big deal when we gather.

Things can get a little crazy having 21 people under one roof for a few days.

My parents with 8 of their 12 grandkids.

Thank you, Mom and Dad for having all of us come over and bombard your house.

Thanks for feeding us so well and planning fun activities to do as a family.

Thank you for letting us borrow your vehicles.

Thank you for watching your grandkids so Sam and I could go out.

I love and admire my parents so much. They brought 8 children into the world.

They raised their children to love one another, to be service oriented,

to be self reliant, and much more.

After practically 35 years of parenting, my parents are now empty nesters.

My youngest brother, Ryan is now at the MTC learning Russian and preparing to serve as a missionary in Russia. Mom and Dad are beginning a new chapter in their lives.

I am excited for them.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

2nd Annual Don & Shirley Hallstrom Family Reunion

Grandma Hallstrom and I were in charge of the 2nd Annual Don & Shirley Hallstrom Family Reunion. It was held on Saturday, July 12th. I reserved my ward building so that we could eat lunch there and have a talent show. We set up the gym the night before.

We ate pulled pork sandwiches, corn and black bean salsa, watermelon, jello, salad, etc. The talent show turned out really nice. Grandma was especially thrilled that some of her grandchildren sang for her.

Aunt Janette's wonderful presentation

Dad brings back memories with classic old home movies.

Seth's awesome song about parenting

Nathan sings a song from My Servant Joseph. He played the role of Joseph Smith a couple years ago.

Julia - 11months

Family Reunion peeps - Jenny, Mom, Tyler, Mark, Katie

Group Photo of everyone who came (except Tyler who refused to get in the shot).

Calvin, Grandma Shirley, Janette, Sheldon

Karen & Jean

Seth, Jenny, Karen

We cleaned up after the talent show, took a group family photo,
and went back to our house for visiting and dessert.
We borrowed a giant Jenga game from Kevin and Becky Ward
for something to do in the evening on our back porch. It was a big hit.
Thanks to all who came and made it such a memorable day.

Sarah and her Jenga Tower

Monday, April 22, 2013

Playing Don't Feed the Gators with Grandpa Hallstrom

Sunday, April 07, 2013

General Conference - April 2013

On Saturday, Sam watched Katie and Tyler at home while the rest of us went down to Salt Lake City for General Conference. Thanks, Sam!

Now that Brian is 8 years old, he is old enough to attend sessions

of General Conference in the Conference Center.

My dad had tickets for us to sit by them.

We had great seats towards the front part of the center balcony.

Brian did quite well and stayed in his seat for the whole 2 hour session.

I'm glad that I snuck a little candy in my purse and had a notebook and pen that he could doodle in.

my sister, Laura, my cousin Scott's wife, Angela, me, and my cousin, Sharon

Afterward, we met up with more family for dinner at the City Creek Mall. There were 10 of us in our group. Then it was time to say good-bye to my dad and to Ryan. They flew back to New York this morning.

Brian in Temple Square with his Grandpa Hallstrom and Uncle Ryan

Before leaving Salt Lake, Brian insisted that we ride an elevator.

My grandma suggested that we take the elevator to the 10th floor of the Joseph Smith Memorial building and have Brian check out the nice view of the Salt Lake Temple from there.

It was so great to have my oldest boy with me for a special mommy-son date.

Brian enjoyed all of the extra attention from me.

We drove Grandma Hallstrom and Uncle Calvin back home. Grandma invited us in for some mint chocolate chip ice cream. Brian couldn't say no to ice cream and staying up past his bedtime. It sure was a memorable day.

Here are a few of my favorite thoughts from General Conference this weekend:

Photo credit: Deseret Book

Grandpa Hallstrom and Uncle Ryan's Visit

My dad and youngest brother, Ryan came all the way from New York to visit us over spring break.

They arrived at our home on Easter afternoon. My Grandma Hallstrom and Uncle Calvin joined us for a nice lasagna dinner that evening. We had a nice time visiting and Ryan played the trumpet for us after we ate.

The next day, we were planning on going to go to a nearby park, but it started raining. My dad (Grandpa Hallstrom) totally spoiled us at The Fun Park and then lunch at McDonald's. Later on, the kids showed their Uncle Ryan and grandpa how good they are jumping on the trampoline. Our guests totally hopped on and jumped too! My dad showed my kids some of the home videos he brought of him jumping on the trampoline as a kid. My kids liked seeing the old silent home movies.

My boys loved the fact that Uncle Ryan is amazing at playing video games. They'd wake Ryan up some mornings to play Super Mario Bros. with them on the Wii. Ryan got all the way to the final level of the game by the time he left our house.

On Tuesday, my dad spent the day with his mom. Katie had preschool in the morning. We packed up a nice picnic lunch and planned on going up to a nice spot near the mouth of Logan Canyon to eat lunch and walked around. But after picking up Katie and seeing what a beautiful day it was, I spontaneously decided to go to Bear Lake for a couple hours. Ryan isn't use to seeing mountains, so the hour drive to the lake and back was fun for him. We picnicked at the Scenic Overlook.

Then we drove down to Rendezvous Beach and played by the lake. We even saw some people in the distance ice fishing or something.

Katie insisted on staying in her stroller.

The boys loved grabbing rocks and throwing them at the ice patches.

I have a nice rock throwing video to add soon!

Brian and Ryan became great buddies. Brian totally looks up to his Uncle Ryan.
I love the relationship they are forming.
Sidenote: Brian is 8 years younger than Ryan and I am 15 years older than Ryan.

Dad and Ryan were gone on Wednesday and Thursday, touring Salt Lake and Provo. They went to several museums and walked around the BYU campus. They stayed with Laura and Brant.

On Friday, this crew made homemade Mint Oreo ice cream.

My boys' played their new favorite board game, Don't Feed the Gators with their grandpa.

(Thanks, Mom!)

I will add a video of them playing the game soon!

Ryan was great to babysit my kids for a couple hours late that afternoon so my dad and I could attend the Logan Temple together. We completed the temple work for some of my dad's relatives. We had a nice time. My dad and brother had never had Jamba Juice before, so I treated them to their first taste of Jamba Juice.