Recovery...

Here's a post wishing Dad a speedy recovery....apparently he had some "clearing my throat-rghghhg" surgery---

I imagine Mom is hoping he comes out looking like this:


Im hoping he comes out looking like this:


Although considering his age...he'll probably come out looking like this:


Honestly ANY of these would be fine by me!!! Hope you're doing well--looking forward to the "reveal"!!

What have I been Up to??

I work with Albertsons and collect all of their food they would THROW AWAY that day and bring it to my house, I get food from every department, meat, deli, fresh deli, bakery, produce, floral, & dairy--I typically will get 18 banana size boxes of food--my denali is PACKED top to bottom, front to back & thats WITHOUT the 3rd seat in--quite often its overflowing to my 2nd seat even!

I do it every day except wed/sun--i leave my house at 930am to pick up tracy and we drive 12 minutes to get there, load my truck up and get back home by 10am to my driveway lined with friends/families that need the extra help with food-we quickly unload it then tracy & i get to go thru it 1st to pick out what we want for our families then i open it up to everyone else who is there...
THIS WAS TUESDAYS RUN:









I ask them to donate 2 dollars to cover my gas going back & forth--everyone is SO good about paying and often want to donate more--you typically will walk away with ATLEAST 30 dollars worth of groceries EACH PERSON if not more...

The food is stuff that is out of code, ie close to the due date, stuff they've ordered too much of or it has a dented box etc--its all GREAT EATABLE food! I tell people to just take what they will eat for dinner that night, what they will have for lunch and anything else like milk, bread, eggs, cheese, yougurt etc..it works really well..I tell everyone to be done by 10:15am so I can go on with my day--

This program is called Fresh Rescue & was started only with Albertsons in 2005..you have to have a NonProfit Organization with at Tax ID # to do it--all of the stores in Cali are taken & they are moving the program eastward--
THIS WAS THURSDAYS RUN:





It really is SUCH an easy thing for me to do everyday--it doesnt take a lot of my time and i LOVEEEEEEEEEEEE helping all these families--i have about 25 families that Im helping--1/2 of them arent LDS--just friends of LDS families that come because they heard about what I was doing--

I havent even gone to the grocery store since i started this--Im not even using the church food program either--that gives you an idea of seriously HOW MUCH food im getting--

i wanted to take a photo of my ALWAYS STOCKED fridge--

EVERYTHING literally was free from albertsons...the food run has just been fabulous!

we drove to lake hemet on saturday to meet up with some friends-here are a few photos from that..the girls didnt catch anything only our friend russell did--the guy with the white hair is our friend named jeff--he taught them how to fish..so he had the girls reel in the SAME fish for each girl--too cute...





jeff bbq'd us some burgers & hot dogs, it was complete with smores too--its about an hour drive from our house and was WAY WAY fun for the girls--

Is it cute or what! Jon wants me to know get a license plate that says "Beauty & The Beast"--




LASTLY --you may remember last year how Rachel was nominated to attend the National Young Scholars Program (a camp like thing that you have to have excellent grades, be a leader at the school & be nominated by a teacher..she was able to go to a LA college for a week & earned a full ride scholarship to go)-she was nominated AGAIN to go this year to Washington d.c!! it will be in June--we tried for a scholarship but she didnt get it this time (probably because she got one last year) so we will have to work on raising money for her to go..its not cheap 1880 for her to go & thats JUST the camp part...
on top of that a few weeks ago she was ALSO nominated to attend a program in which she will get to go to the 2009 Presidential Inaguaration!!!! As an Inaugural Scholar and special guest on the National Mall, Rachel will not only bear witness as the President of the United States is sworn into office, she will also meet a major presidential candidate, White House officials, congressional staff, political experts and special VIPs such as Lance Armstrong. Ive already spoken to a few of our friends here that own their own business to see if they can help sponsor her to go..I've got 1k so far (its 2500 to attend)--again we're hoping we can pull this ONCE in a lifetime opportunity for her--we keep telling her SEE what happens when you work hard at school!!

SO this is what we have been "up to"!

60th Bday Bash!

Robert (jons dad) had his 60th SURPRISE bday bash last weekend..here are a LOT of photos from that--ENJOY! Mom did a GREAT job putting it on!!!
getting ready to yell


SURPRISE!!



Robert's Reaction


Chad,Kelly & Cameron (the youngest of four boys)


Jon, Christina


Todd, Celene


Kristi & Chris


Scott, Kellie, Esther (their 1st)


Mark, Jennifer


Katie, Seth


Kellie's family The Wilsons (some of them!)


Seth's parents The Goodmans (also the Orange Stake President!)


Brother Christensen


Uncle Mike, Aunt Diane (Robert's sister)


Hal, Colleen Williams -Celene's parents(also in the Orange Stake Presidency)


The Wilburs


Anna/Becca dancing


these were just a FEW of the guests!!

the next day was "family picture day":
Before the BIG photo-do we look THRILLED to be doing this or what!?!??! too funny!


After!


MOST of the grandkids (there are 17 of them and PLENTY more to come-NO THIS IS NOT ANY FORM OF ANNOUNCEMENT FROM ME!!)


Im certainly blessed to be part of this fantastic family!

A Visit from Grandma and Grandpa Hales

Okay- Sorry Kim- Had a great weekend with Mom and Dad who drove from Cali to see everyone. We spent the majority of Friday at Grandma Mikkelson's Home-well actually in her basement. Has anyone ever been down there? I never decended the steps into her basement. Scary descent! Dad mentioned that he used to sleep in the room where the furnace is now. There in the window (literally small enough to poke a head out but not to crawl through) hung yellow gingham curtains with brown rick rack. Grandma said she made them a long time ago. We found the coolest stuff down there..... gun powder, food storage with the expiration date of 1972, a dead trantula, boxes and boxes of "stuff." Grandma was great about letting go of things. We all know how clean she keeps her house upstairs and the downstairs was definately Grandpas. There was a "shotgun bullet maker" still housing bullet casings from the last time Grandpa made his own bullets. We filled a HUGE trailer with things to haul away to the dump. I am sure that it helps Grandma to know that it is semi-clean down there. Although we did not clean up all the mouse droppings or sweep the floor. All-in-all it was a great day. Lots of progress. And Grandma looked so beautiful. Her hair freshly styled and smelling of sweet powder like she always does. I love that smell. Next trip we can all help her with the attic and then the back room. I was reminded of the life that our Grandparents led. Very frugle, using what they had. Taking care of things themselves. The life of a farmer could not have been easy but surely had joy and peace and quiet. So different from the busy lives that we all lead. No fast food or restaurants. No gyms, or close gas stations, no internet, no movie theatres. Just simplicity and fine company. One of the things I love about going to Grandmas is the time she takes to talk. She loves to talk. She really loves us all and surely has been a GREAT Mother and Grandmother.
Sunday we spent the day eating and visiting with family. There were the usual wrestling matches and tickling fests with the kids.... and adults. The Goodmans were here too and were so kind and friendly. They are such wonderful people. Mom and Dad and the Goodmans both shared funny stories from their own geneology to which we all laughed. Boy do we have some fun stories to tell! The food was yummy and the company was delightful- I wish no one had to leave. Mom and Dad left to go home this morning. They are stuck in Riverside in traffic- big surprise! But they are almost home. We love when they visit and are SO SAD when they have to leave-but thanks for coming up-we know how incredibly busy you are. Don't have pics just yet-I'll post some when I get some-

A lovely visit with Grandma Mikkelson

sort of chopped!

what would it be w/o my signature smooch shot!

i LOVE the side swoop bang!!


so i went to this new guy..i told him i was debating on whether or not to chop my hair to which he replied "women would kill for your hair-leave it long!" RHGHGHHG then he said "you have great hair, so if its short or long it looks good either way"...so i told him right now its just toooo long and toooo heavy..i want it light and bouncy!
he said "lets give you 3 haircuts-its NOT good to just chop all this hair off..thats too drastic and will cause you problems..so instead let me cut it, then you live with it for one week, if you want it shorter you can come back for free to cut it again, then another week, if you want it still shorter i'll cut it again for free"
SOLD!!

so this is what we did--he took 5 inches off and then put in lots of layers to make it bouncy and blend it all together -he was cutting EVERYWHERE i felt like i was on a makeover shower--scary! but it turned out AWESOME!! I SOOO SOOO LOVE IT!! he asked if i wanted it straight or curler..i said lets try curler..so we did--SO SO CUTE! a tip he said is of course to use light hair spray all over head before curling, then use a curling iron to curl the hair, BUT to PIN IT UP so the curl stays hot and cools off IN THE CURL still..so essentially my head looked like i had rollers in it but there were no rollers in it if that makes sense, then after the last curl he did, he took them all out and tousled it a bit..

so what do you think?? im anxious to wash my hair to see what it looks like straight and styled..but so far im loving it!

to chop or not to chop....

so lately i have been SO done with having long hair!! its too long/too heavy to do much with it...my aunt has been going to this guy who is REALLY good at doing something with your hair that would "work for you"..
SOOOOO i have my appt at 2pm...im totally freaking out as to what he's going to suggest!! YIKES!! ive been wanting to chop it off mid neck forever...maybe i should half my hair and get use to it first..
i'll have to take an after photo to show you what turned out...NERVOUS!