Way Overdue and Really Really Long

So it has been 6 months since I have really posted any news from our family, other than John's father passing away. So here we go on a whirlwind recap of the last six months...

Brooklyn's first Dance Recital
Brooklyn has been in a dance class all during her first grade year. I ended up having to drag her to the last couple of months of practice, but once there she thoroughly enjoyed it. I took her to her class dance recital and she was just scared to death being there for pictures. Which got me very worried for the time of the actual recital. Once she all the girls in her class her nerves calmed down and she did a great job. They wouldn't let us do pictures or videos once the dances started and 8 months later I am still waiting for the DVD I had to purchase so here is the one picture that I was able to capture with her friend Abigail from her class.

















August
We headed out to Texas for August. While were out there we celebrated Brooklyn's sixth birthday. Nothing big, just a little family get together...or that was supposed to be how it was. But we ended up heading down to Sea World. They kept advertising Sea World here in North Carolina, and even though there isn't one too close, I knew we would be heading to Texas so I told Brooklyn that we could go the next time we were in Texas, which just happened to be the week after her birthday. My sister was in town from Germany so I was able to see her and my nephew Addison and do a little catching up. After spending two weeks there the kids definitely missed daddy, so it was time to come back home...and back to volleyball for me.

So once we get back to NC it is time for me to start my school volleyball. I actually missed tryouts for my team while I was in Texas, but it seems that the selections have been pretty good. It is also time for Brooklyn to head back to school. It is crazy to believe that she is already in first grade. I mean it was weird to send her off to kindergarten, but now first grade! Where has all the time gone? Here is her first day and her getting on the bus. She was very excited, especially since school was starting almost an hour later and she could wake up early enough to ride the bus. We are not morning people by any means in our family, so an 8:15 start time is perfect!!


















September
I've looked back through all my pictures and have found nothing in September...which means nothing too exciting happened. So I have nothing to report.

October
This seems like the month of a lot of happenings. Most good, some bad.
October is when our town has their Family Fun Day. We headed down to the town Elementary School for a day full of wandering through a bunch of vendors, games for the kids, political campaigning for all those running for elections, and getting to know others in the town. Being the wife of someone on the town council doesn't seem to leave me a lot of time for socializing on the fun side of things, especially with the people we had trying to run for open spots on the town council. I was trying to help John by figuring out what some of these people are doing, clearing up a lot of the rumors being spread, and spreading some of my own two cents to my friends (not negative though). The kids got their faces painted this year. Josh is totally into spider-man, so of course he became him.













We headed to Utah in October to see Grandpa Hullinger one last time before he left us to return to our Heavenly Father. I have never seen the kids so sad before. It was really hard to see the emotions Brooklyn showed once she realize that Arv had passed away. We will truly miss him, but are grateful for the Atonement and knowing that we will all be together again.

Halloween
Brooklyn has been wanting to be Daphne from Scooby-Doo for so long. I was able to find her size finally (had to travel to Utah for that), and luckily it wasn't too cold this year so she was able to just wear a long sleeve shirt with it be and be good.
Josh, still completely into Spider-Man, was able to wear his costume for a full day without me having to tell him he had to be a little boy at the store and not a super hero. He was so excited to shoot his webs at people and be all that he constantly dreams about. He really wanted to be black spider-man, but I told him that it is better to be a good super-hero, than a bad one and he agreed.


















November
We headed back up to Utah again to spend some good times with John's family. Brooklyn was able to reunite with her long lost cousins and had a hard time letting go. I ventured for the first time ever to the After Thanksgiving Day Sales. I can honestly say that it wasn't too bad. Maybe that was because I wasn't after the things that people go crazy for. The worse part was just waiting in the lines, but what else do you expect when there are a million people in one store. Will I do it again? Probably not, unless I find some incredible deal that I can absolutely not pass up on, but really I am sure that I will be able to find a deal later anyway.
We headed up to This is The Place Village to see how Christmas was celebrated back in the pioneer times. It ended up being way too cold for me and was just unbearable. I could barely stand it, but the kids had a fun time and enjoyed it. I must say the most disappointing part was when we got to Father Christmas's house, waited 30 minutes in line to see him and then when it gets to our turn they tell us we can only see him if we pay to see him (which no one else had to do) because the line was getting too long. Let me just tell you, we were a little mad at that point and I just really wanted to go.






































December
So coming back a little late after Thanksgiving really put me behind on getting Christmas up at our house. I felt like such a scrooge not having our lights, Christmas tree, and other decorations up the week after Thanksgiving. I think we didn't even have the decorations on the tree until the week of Christmas. I guess I could blame the fact that John had strep throat, I had strep throat, Brooklyn got bronchitis and strep throat for the reason for being behind. But I really think I just wasn't as excited this year. Why? you might ask, I seriously have no idea. But thanks to John he got the decorations up on the tree the week of Christmas, and I was able to lay a few strands of lights on our bushes to show a little bit of our Christmas Spirit. The kids ended up getting most of what they wanted for Christmas, which I didn't think was a lot, which was wonderful. They were happy, I was happy and we have lots of nights of board games waiting for us.






























Brooklyn's Presents From Santa














Josh's Presents From Santa














Did I also mention that we didn't even bake cookies for Santa. Luckily we had some Thin Mints in the pantry for him to enjoy.

We Really Miss You Dad...

Arvin Don Hullinger, D.V.M.

1935 ~ 2009

Arvin Don Hullinger left this earth life on October 22, 2009, to enter the next phase of his eternal progression.

Arv was born on a snowy day in a log farmhouse built by his grandfather in Monarch (Roosevelt), Utah, on December 6, 1935. He was the oldest child of James Edward and Lora Hamblin Hullinger and spent his early years in Roosevelt. After graduating from Union High School, he left home with only $60.00 in his pocket to attend Utah State University to begin pursuit of his lifelong dream of becoming a veterinarian.

He left U.S.U. for two years to serve a mission in the Northern States Mission, and returned to complete his pre-veterinary studies with a BS degree in Microbiology. During his last year at U.S.U., he met Annette Cooper and they were married in the Salt Lake Temple on Aug. 28, 1959. Arvin was accepted into the School of Veterinary Medicine at Colorado State University. In his senior year he was elected Student Body President of the Veterinary School. He graduated in 1963. He practiced small animal medicine in California and Utah for 45 years until his retirement in July 2008. He loved being a veterinarian and valued his clients and patients through the years. Although he came from very humble means, he never considered himself poor. He was able to overcome many obstacles to see his dreams fulfilled.

An active member of the L.D.S. Church, he served as a gospel-doctrine and early-morning teacher, Branch President, Bishop, and High Council Member.

He was passionate about living a full life and spent much of his time in the outdoors hunting, fishing, backpacking and scuba diving. He loved working with tools and employing his skills in welding, plumbing, carpentry, electrical and cement work.

He will be missed by his wife of 50 years, Annette, his children, Mark (Charlene), Dan (Ellen), Kari Ambrose (Tim), Ted (Brenda), Suzanne Ely (Greg), Jane Johnson (Durk), Mindi Call (Michael), Julie Duffin (Rob), and John (Kristen), and 33 grandchildren. His brother, Lynn, and sister, Sharon Oakes (Geary) also survive him.

Viewing will be held Friday, October 23rd from 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm at Sundberg-Olpin Mortuary, 495 South State Street, Orem. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, October 24th, at 2:00 pm, at the Orem Sunset Heights LDS Chapel, 500 South 600 West with a viewing 12:45 to 1:45 p.m. prior to the services. Interment will be in the Orem City Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Missionary Fund of the L.D.S. Church.

Independence Day

For the 4th of July we had originally planned to be in Utah with John's family. Unfortunately John kept thinking he could find even better deals on airfare and the prices only went up and not down. So we ended up not getting tickets to fly out.

So this is how our Fourth of July went. We woke up early so we could head out to the Indian Trail 4th of July Parade where John got to ride on the town's float. He wasn't exactly excited about this since the majority of the town council has managed to make an embarrassment of our Town. I kept reminding him that he was riding the float to support the town, not to support the other council members. Sadly I did not get any pictures to document this occasion, but I am sure that some of us would just rather forget that it happened and move on. One thing I do not want to forget though, was the feeling I had when the soldiers that participated in the parade passed by us. I actually got teary eyed when they came by and I thought of all the sacrifices that they have made for each and every one of us. I am grateful to have a brother-in-law that is currently serving our country and the blessings he received while he was fighting in Afghanistan.

After the parade we went home for a little relaxing before we were to head off to the Stake Fourth of July Party. After a couple of hours I shewed off the kids that were playing so I could get the kids ready. After they were all ready, John turns to me and says, "Do you really want to go to this?" I told him that I wanted to go to see the fireworks show (since we aren't allowed good fireworks in North Carolina) but I was okay if he wanted to miss the other stuff. So we got into the car and started driving. After a while we just ended up at the local stores trying to find our own fireworks instead of heading to the Stake Party. By that time of the day most every store was sold out so we didn't end up with much, but definitely enough to get the kids excited. So that night we sat out with our neighbors and set off fireworks until 10:30 that night. It was fun for the kids and more relaxing for us parents. We had a really good view from our house of nearby neighborhoods doing some big fireworks.
































During the day I had tried my best to explain why we celebrate Independence Day. Brooklyn understood for about 5 minutes after I told her, but then it was all lost. Josh now wants to get some swords so he can fight the British.

Nature Museum Trip

A couple of weeks ago I took the kids out for a trip to the Nature Museum. It was cute little museum. The kids enjoyed going and seeing some of the animals, but truly loved the Butterflies the most. They tried so hard to get one of them to land on their hand but it was to no avail.















Mom getting in on the action

Broken Toe

Yesterday as we were walking down the stairs to get in the car to take Brooklyn to school a very unfortunate accident happened. Josh decided to stop right in front of me while I am rushing as usual to get in the car. Well I didn't see him stop and I ended up hitting the back of his foot and just about ripped my pinky toe off. Oh my goodness did it hurt. It took a while for it to get all bruised up and now it is swollen enough that I don't feel a lot of the pain. But don't you dare touch it, because you might end up with a broken toe too.

Field Day

So as the school year winds up the kids are starting to have all their fun activities at school. Well Monday was Field Day and the kids got to go out do lots of little activities. I took Josh along with me, which in the end was a pretty bad idea because he was not allowed to do any of the activities with Brooklyn which made him pretty mad. But it was fun to see Brooklyn play with her friends and have a lot of fun.

Birthday Party Fun

Brooklyn and Josh went to our neighbors birthday party this last weekend and had a blast. They had Party Pets come to the party. The kids were amazed at all the animals the man brought. There were snakes, a huge tortoise, a guinea pig, a ferret, a rabbit, a gerbil, and geckos. The best part of all of it was that they got to hold the pets. I was amazed that Josh held them all, without showing any kind of fear. Very fun stuff.












So that one of Josh looks like fear, but I think it was more of having the picture taken because he seriously did love it.