I got a few chances to sing in August. First I sang the National Anthem for the rodeo at the County Fair. Can you believe that's the first time I've ever sung the National Anthem as a solo? I as on a big sound system that really echoed. It was a little weird to hear myself sing and then hear the echo afterwards, but hopefully I sounded all right.

These pictures were taken while I was singing during the centennial celebration for the Afton tablernacle. I sang, "Orange Colored Sky," "Goin' to the Dance with You,"" Someone like You," and a new one I learned just for this called, "Girl in 14G." That was a total show off song. It took me a couple of weeks to learn it and get it down, but it is a blast to sing! It combines opera, jazz and belt mix all in one song. I hope I get the chance to sing it again some time.

Looking at these pictures also made me realize I needed to do something about my weight. Yikes! I have since lost 15 pounds since these pictures were taken. I'm going for another 15. I'll report on that as they come off.

Jason's trip to Alaska!

Jason had fun in Alaska and caught lots of fish. He has the best wife in the world for letting him go! - This was a direct quote from Jason.

Jason went to Alaska in July. He traveled with his dad, uncle Kelly, Nathan, Russel, and uncle Ron. I was very sad that the rules on the planes have changed and they weren't allowed to bring home as much fish as he did the last two times they went. That's all I can write on this, as I wasn't there and Jason doesn't have much to say.

Cute pics of Norrah taken by Autym

Autym loves to take pictures of beautiful things. Here are some of her pictures that turned out especially nice!

The first day of School

The end of August brought a brand new school year for Autym and Haydn. And Norrah started pre-school in September. Autym was excited to be starting 6th grade, her last year at Osmond Elementary School. She got Mr. Erickson for her teacher. Some of her best friends this year at school are Matalya, Hannah, Shayla and Sydney. In fact the 5 of them have become pretty tight.

Haydn was glad to be starting his first year at Osmond in the 4th grade. He has Mr. Whitney for a teacher, and has enjoyed jerky making and pumpkin carving in class. He has learned how to play football during recess, and has become a very good writer.

Norrah was thrilled to start pre-school with Mrs. Kunz. Its a bit of a drive to get her there, but Mrs. Kunz came very highly recommended for pre-school. Every day is a new adventure at school for Norrah. She loves it when she is the special helper. Her best friends at school are Luke and Abby.

Norrah picked exactly what she was going to wear on the first day of school. She got to make a little paper girl that looked just like her.

Camping Trip

In August we went on a camping trip to Green River Lakes. This was a new place that we hadn't been before. It was very beautiful. I'm not a great camper, but I did my best. Jason made awesome hamburgers while we were there and of course we made s'mores around the fire. The only drawback was that there were a TON of mosquitoes there. We didn't realize that we only had a tiny bit of mosquito spray left. Luckily there were some very nice campers across the way from us who gave us a can of thiers.

The Wonderful World of Valley Voices!

April found it Valley Voices time again! We had such a fun show prepared: The Wonderful World of Disney! We sang songs from "Beauty and the Beast," "The Little Mermaid," "High School Musical," Disneyland, and more! The kids did great! I love watching them perform and sing to their parents! This year marked my 3rd year teaching Valley Voices, and my first year with all three of my children in the show. What a joy! I have the greatest job in the whole world! I truly love teaching music to kids!

A Very Wicked Easter!

Easter weekend found us in Salt Lake visiting Mike & Heather, Gregg & Marthea, and Lynzi. Mom got us all tickets for Wicked nearly a year before, and we had been waiting no so patiently for 10 months for Wicked to come to Salt Lake city. Our tick

ets landed on Easter weekend, so we combined our Wicked trip with the Easter Holiday at Heather's house for one very Wicked

weekend!

It's a Hale tradition to use Whopper Easter Eggs to color our lips blue.

New Easter Clothes

The kids were moving so fast trying to find Easter eggs that I hardly got a picture!

Jason, Autym and me getting ready to go to the show!

We went with Lynzi, Marthea, Mom and Dad

I'll probably get arrested for having these pictures. Right after we took them some not very nice usher told us it was against the law to take pictures of the stage. OK, well, we still have the pictues. Oops.

A High schooler, or a pre-schooler?

Norrah had the chance to attend pre-school at Star Valley High School during the Spring. The kids in the child development class put on a pre-school, with each kid in the class being in charge of a day. She started school the same day I did. Mallee Phillips also attended pre-school, so it worked out perfect with Sade taking both girls to school. I got the chance to leave my class a few times to go and watch her in pre-school, and see that she was having a blast singing songs, listening to stories, playing games, and eating yummy snacks. These pictures are from her first day.

Disneyland 2009

We loooove Disneyland! We weren't going to go this year, because we just went last year, but the Normans asked us if we wanted to go with themand stay in their time-share condo over Spring Break. Well, how could we pass that up? On our way we stayed in St. George and did a little hiking in the red rocks.

We had the best time at Disneyland. Lisa went online to Ridemax.com. It is a website that will plot out your day for you after you tell it what you want to do. It even leaves time for bathroom and meal breaks. They guarantee that they have researched the patterns of people and what rides will bethe least busy at certain times. So with our ridemaxplot in hand we made it to the front of the line and were there before the rope dropped on Monday morning. With the help of ridemax, we didn't wait in a single line longer than about 5 minutes with just a few exceptions. It was awesome! I'll never go to Disneyland without ridemax again! Because of all the

time we saved, we were able to do things and go places in Disneyland I've never seen before. We loved Billy Hill and the Hillbillies inside the Golden Horseshoe restaurant. We went to pirate island, and saw all the 3D shows that I've never seen. For lunch on the last day of our trip, we went to the Blue Bayou, home of the $30 Monte Cristo sandwich. We had been there before, but the Normans hadn't. I felt bad because half the fun of being in that restaurant is the people on Pirates of the Carribean riding past as you eat. But the ride was down as we were eating which was an expensive bummer. Oh well! The trip was a blast, with lots and lots of

pictures to show for it!

Haydn, Makenna and Norrah at the Blue Bayou. Hope they enjoyed that $16 mac 'n cheese!

Toon Town: Jason's favorite place in Disneyland. :)

Waiting for Toy Story 3D our new favorite ride!

Norrah and Tinkerbell

In front of Tower of Terror, my favorite ride. Both times the 4 of us went on this ride together, we tried to blow a kiss to the camera inside the ride, and both times our picture didn't turn out, so we did it ourselved in front of the ride.

Corndog Castle is my "Happiest place on Earth!"

Bug's life. The 3-D movie is fun!

Norrah and mom with Minnie Mouse. One of the advantages of being alone with Norrah while everyone else went on the big rides. Time with some of the characters. Jason and Lisa made me wear the Fanny Pack and the tennis shoes. Disneyland is not fashion center!

Indiana Jones, Haydn's favorite ride!

Norrah posing inside the "O" of California Adventure

Haydn posing inside the "N"

Mom and Norrah on the teacups

Autopia. The ride really shoud be called, "Auto-my foot is cramping, how much longer is this ride?"

Winnie the Pooh

In front of the Matterhorn

Classic Disney Pic

Waiting for Dumbo

Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters

Right after Space Mountain

In line for, and boarding It's a Small World.

Waiting for Honey I Shrunk the Audience 3D show.

Splash Mountain. Norrah was exactly tall enough. Don't tell the worker that I put flowers in her hair, and wedge shoes on her just to make her tall enough.

Dad and Haydn checking out the map!

Getting ready to enter as soon as the rope drops

Hannah, Haley, and Norrah on the Storybook boats.

Haydn and Makenna, great buds.

What cute girls!