H a i l e y

October of 1998 was a special time for us. We welcomed a new season and a new child. Our first daughter was born into our little family. I remember when she cried for the first time. Her cry was so high pitched, nothing like her brothers. She was ALL girl.
Hailey weighed 7 pounds 6 ounces. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I just stared at her and couldn't believe she was mine. Her daddy was SO proud and loved the "little girl" thing just as much as I did. We dressed Hailey to the nines. She was always decked out in ribbons, bows, lace and ruffles. She was never seen without something in her hair. When she was a toddler she would ask for a "pretty" in her hair. To this day she is very much into fashion and the way she looks.

When Hailey was in kindergarten her Dad wanted her to play baseball, so we signed her up for T-ball. She was not excited, but thought it would be fun to wear a new shirt. When she got her baseball shirt she thought it was ugly and didn't match her pants (I don't think she owned a pair of blue jeans). when she put the baseball glove on she said "eew, do I have to wear this, I hate it." Needless to say baseball season lasted about 2 practices and she was done.

Hailey took ballet and loved it. She danced for 3 years and performed in the nutcracker, 2 times. Once in Pocatello with her studio and once in Boise. She tried out for the professional nut cracker and made the audition and was an angel.
Hailey also performed in Alice and Wonderland and Cinderella.

She saw some cloggers perform and wanted to learn to clog. I jumped at the opportunity and began the search for the right instructor. She is now in her 3rd year of clogging and is on the Advanced competition team at Idaho Rhythm. She loves it and looks forward to dancing at a pro level. She is constantly clogging around the house.
Hailey also plays the piano, and is in her 3rd year of lessons. She loves to make things and is very crafty. She took a year of art lessons and loved that. She made some lovely paintings. She is in the fifth grade and is on the student council as the vice president. She also recently won a poster contest for red ribbon week.
She is a wonderful big sister to Chloe. I often find them playing school together or some other exciting game. Hailey is very sweet to Chloe even though there is 5 years between them.
She loves her big brothers and I love to see them get along. Caden can make Hailey verry angry, but then he can also make her laugh like no one else.
Hailey always asks me if I need help. She helps me cook, clean and what ever it may be that I am doing. She also is a very good student and does her best at school. She is very creative and scored 50 out of 50 points on her practice pace project. Her teacher asked her if she could keep her poster to show her class next year.
Hailey also loves to sing. I often hear her singing in the shower and is always singing a song at the top of her lungs.
She is a wonderful daughter and we are so proud of her and the way she lives her life. She chooses the right and is a good example for her friends and family. We love you Hailey.

Fall is here

Our month of September was eventful and busy as usual. We had unseasonably warm weather with temperatures in the 90's and then today, the last day of September our high is 57. (only in Idaho)

Senior Pictures
What? I have a senior in high school? When did that happen.








Cross Country
Meets, meets and more meets. Septmeber was full of them. We went to caldwell, Wieser, Idaho Falls (all in one day), Eagle Island and Nampa. The Varsity flew to Portland to run in the Nike Pre-Nationals. Both the boys are doing very well. Coelton continues to improve with a PR of 16:48 to date and Caden's is 21:13. Caden has struggled with asthma issues and Coelton had a little struggle with Poison ivy. (it's not toilet paper:) Coelton has kept a top 7 spot which has allowed him to always race with the Varsity. We are proud of their accomplishments this season, and are hooked on XC!




BYU Football
Joel, Coelton and Caden love to watch football. I get a little annoyed with it after several weekends of it. Joel reminds me that it is his "hunting" time. (please) We don't have cable TV so it's hilarious watching them scramble to find someone to invite them to watch the game at their house. So far, they have found a way into some poor souls house for 3 hours every week. I like watching the game, from about half time to the end:) I really like wearing our BYU shirts on game day just to make people in Boise mad...they are obsessed with BSU, and we hate BSU.



Labor Day Camping
I really wanted to take the trailer out another time, Joel refused to go over labor day because BYU was playing. So I found a camp ground with cable TV. We went to McCall and stayed at a very nice KOA. We had a delightful time being together, riding bikes and playing games. It was a great weekend.







Sisters race/get-away
My sisters and I have done a race together for the last 3 years. Our first race was in Idaho Falls May 2007. When Mom passed away, we decided that we needed to spend more time together. We all live in different cities/states. Last year I hosted our first get-away and they all came here and we ran the womens fitness celebration. This year Shalean was in charge and we ran the Simplot Portneuf greenway. We stayed at the Holiday Inn, and enjoyed being together; laughing, shopping, TRYING to sleep, eating, and more laughing. My sisters are my best friends. DaNae had some shirts made that we wear when we race. They have Mom and Lori's pictures on them and say "running with angels". It is a nice tribute to them, I'm sure they were there too. We hope to run a race every year together, even when we are 90.



Daddy Daughter Date
I am the activity days for girls leader, so this year I got to attend the date too! We had a Mexican Fiesta, complete with taco bar, chips and salsa, frieds ice cream and piniatas. We played the mexican train game and also learned about all the Dads and the funny stuff they did when they were kids. It was lots of fun. Joel is very happy to retire pine wood derbys for daddy daughter dates!

Picture coming soon.

End of Summer Vacation

August is always a busy month for us. We try and finish up all the things we said we would do during the summer. Cross Country starts the middle of August and the kids start school the last day of August, so that leads to school shopping etc. And the garden is producing way too much, which leads to lots of canning and freezing. Amongst all the business it is HOT too. We hit 100 plus temperatures a few days in August.

Cousin Swap
My sister Shalean and her family live in Pocatello. They are the closest Judy family to us. She has daughters that are Hailey and Chloe's ages. Last year we met half way in Jerome and picked Strawberries for the day. It was so fun we decided to make it an annual event. This year the strawberry crop wasn't good, so we decided to make a cousin swap. Chloe went to their house for a few days while Makayla came here. They had so much fun. We took the boat out and Kayla got up on the water skis (for a few seconds). They went to Wahooz and played miniature golf and then to Roaring Springs for a day. We drove to Twin Falls and swapped them back and spent the afternoon shopping and eating at Target.





Cousin Campout
Joel's parents had the girls cousin campout at their house in Shelley this year. They have a boys and a girls campout each summer. All grand kids ages 8-12 get to go. Aunt Jill teaches home economics at the junior high. The girls got to go to the school and use the sewing machines while Grandma taught them how to make a pillow case.
When we swapped kids in Twin Falls, Shalean took Hailey and Maiya to Pocatello and Grandma Hammer picked the girls up there.

Garden Goodies
Our garden has produced lots of stuff for us this year. We froze lots of zucchini, green beans and corn. We canned some spaghetti sauce with our tomatoes.

snapping beans early in the morning



Hammer/Johnson Camp
We got together on Wednesdays for a fun "summer camp" with the Johnson's. Jordyn, Treven, Hailey and Chloe enjoyed making crafts and playing together. One day they made quite a bit of money doing a lemonade/Cookie stand.




Hike to Bogus
We had planned to finally take the boat to Owyhee, and woke up Saturday morning to cold tempratures and wind. So we drove to Bogus Basin and went for a hike to the top. We heard there was a cave up there so we wanted to find it. It was a beautiful (cold) day.





Boating on our own
We got tired of waiting for Joel to have time to take us boating! He is usually working out of town during the week, so I got brave and started taking the boat out on my own, (with the kids) Coelton is a great help and I couldn't do it without him. He helps hook it up then we drive it to lucky Peak. I back it down and he unhooks it and drives it off the trailer. I park the trailer and then he usually drives the boat. Caden has become a good boat driver too. We have a lot of fun, but I learned I will not ride the tube with coelton driving anymore;)
When we are ready to head out I get the trailer and back it down and he drives the boat on and hooks it up. The tricky part is getting it backed in the garage. There is only about 1 inch of space on each side. It takes me a while, but it eventually makes it back in:)




Eagle Scout Project
We set a goal to get this done during the summer. It was hard to find a good project but we finally did. Caden organized about 55 volunteers to paint fire hydrants for the city water dept. It was even better when we found out that the fire hydrants were located in our neighborhood. We ended up painting nearly 100! He logged 113 hours, and did a great job!

BEFORE


AFTER


Instruction on how to paint a fire hydrant


Cross Country


Both boys are running cross country this year. Coelton has earned a spot on Varsity. He ran a 4:50 mile and at his first meet he ran 17:39 in 100 degree temperatures. He came in 2nd for mountain view and 4th over all.
Caden has been training with the team and ran a 6:15 mile, but had a bad athsma attack and has been out for a week.


Varsity boys posing like Steve for year book.

Our awesome 1-2-3 punch! Agida, Coelton and Parker

It's a dangerous sport!



Back to School
This year we have a kindergartener and a Senior. (both ends of the spectrum) Hailey is in 5th grade and Caden is a Freshman. We have 2 in the Elementary school and 2 in the High School. Caden is happy to not have to ride the bus, since coelton drives the ranger to school most of the time. I'm happy that Chloe can ride the bus to school with Hailey and she can help her get to her class. I hope I don't get too lonely during the day without a little buddy around. For 17 and a half years I have always had little buddies with me. Now what do I do?

Summer Vacation- Part two

Don't ya just love the dog-gone days of summer? Staying up late, weeding the garden, yard work, lemonade stands, swimming pools, camp outs, sleeping in the back yard, water skiing, watermelon, and the Price is Right!
However, we also try and install WORK ETHICS in the kids during the summer months, and that can be difficult at times. We are all tired of listening to how Joel had to wake up at 4am to go move his FIRST round of pipe. I grew up on 17 acres, and there was always plenty of work that my parents made me do. Living in a subdivision requires a bit of creativity to find work for the kids to do.
All in all the FUN combined with the WORK has equaled out to be a pretty good Summer so far.

4th of July

We went to Pocatello on the 4th and went to Sadie's baptism. After the baptism we had a picnic and some games at the park.






We then went to American Fork reservoir. Rhett took us out on his boat and Heather's family came along too. We had a lot of fun riding "the atom".



We headed up the interstate to Idaho falls and went to Grandpa's and got ready for the big fire work show. We found a great spot where Justin's family was and enjoyed a fabulous show. 4th of July just isn't complete without ice cream, so after the fireworks we found sonic.



On Sunday we went to Grandpa's ward, then had a marvelous meal that he made for us. We loaded up the car and started our Sunday visits. First stop was Lance's place, then we went to Shelley and visited with Joel's folks, then back to Ammon to visit Grandma Robertson. It was a lovely evening.

Coelton had to work, so we left him at home. He had a GREAT time alone and went to Bishop Simpson's house for dinner on Sunday. We're still unsure how many he had at the house on Saturday night.

EFY

On Monday we went to Rexburg and dropped Caden off at BYU-Idaho for EFY. His roommate was Tanner Neilson. He came up from Minnesota. Caden and Tanner were best friends until Tanner moved 2 years ago. Tanner is 6'1...Caden is 5'1. They had a GREAT week and Caden had lots of good experiences.



XC Camp In Sun Valley



Coelton has been looking forward to this camp for a long time. He got to drive the truck and took Parker with him. I snapped this photo just before he left. The camp was 4 days of running several times a day. They also played games, put on skits and had a really great time. There was about 60 kids attend this year.
Coelton will have a great XC season as a senior.



Restless Heart

Joel and I got invited to a Restless Heart concert. It was a lot of fun and was outside in Eagle. Some of their more famous songs are "I'll still be loving you",
"The bluest eyes in Texas" and "When she cries".
We even went up front and danced:) good times!

Boating

We have had our boat for 8 or 9 summers now. It is definitely a highlight. The month of June was so cold we didn't get it out until July. We love to go to Lake Lowel the beginning of the summer and then Lucky Peak the rest of it.



Chloe turned 5 this year. Family rule says all 5 year olds must learn to water ski. She got up and fell, then was dragged for a while as she swallowed half the lake because she wouldn't let go of the ROPE!





High Adventure



Joel is over the priests in our ward and Coelton is a priest, so they went to high adventure together, at Lake Cascade. They went rafting down the payette river and waterskiing on lake Cascade and they also hiked. One morning a few of them got up early for a run, of course Joel and Coelton were involved. As they all leaped over a pole fence, the poles gave way when Joel went over and he landed on his face. He ended up breaking his hand. Other than that, they had a really great time!

Judy Reunion

I was in charge this year. We had it at the May Family Ranch which is located midway between Stanley and Challis.



We had a marvelous time...if you don't count the dent in uncle Rhett's truck that he got while taking a wrong road and having to turn around with his huge 5th wheel. And the broken awning we got on our trailer while the wind was blowing. And the stomach flu that a few of the kids got on the last day. I think the good things far out weighed the bad:)

The theme was "Coming Home". I had a friend paint a picture of our house in Ammon where we all grew up. We lived there for 20 years. The house today has been remodeled and looks nothing like the original. At our church meeting on sunday we talked about having no empty chairs in heaven as we all want to be gathered in our chairs just as we were in this house.


The first night we had some awesome skits that everyone came up with using random items assigned to their team.
Aliens in Hawaii

Hypnotist Show

My name is not Bill!

Scary man under the blanket

5-k runner gets chaffing problem fixed. (not his plummer bum)


On Friday we drove to Custer ghost town, an old mining town, and the kids panned for gold. We drove to Red Fish Lake and enjoyed playing in the water and laying on the beach. That night we had our annual family vairety show. Lots of great talent...caden solved the rubiks cube to "eye of the tiger" in 90 seconds. The cloggers performed and we did the cha cha slide. The Weston's made everyone laugh with their balloon head dance, and the little girls sang Taylor Swifts entire 2 verses of "You belong to me".

panning for gold



Red Fish lake




Talent Show





Saturday started bright and early with a 5-k run. A lot of the family has started to run this year (we couldn't be more proud) and we had 23 of us run and one biker (Dad). Dad beat Coelton with his 19 minute time, Nate took 1st in the teens, Hailey took first in the tweens 34:15, and I took first in the women with a 28:10 time. Rick beat Joel by 40 seconds and won for the men. My brother Lance who had only ran one other time did very well with a 24 or 25 minute time.
We all got matching bandanas to wear to identify each family. The Hammer family won for the team division scoring only 6 points!



We had a fun time riding horses and visiting with uncle Clint and Lance. I even saddled and bridled my horse all by myself. Once a cowgirl...always a cowgirl:)Looks like this cowgirl is having a hard time seeing out of her HAT!



We went rafting later that afternoon and had a really fun time together. We had 2 full rafts and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and laughing!(mostly at Joel) We stopped along the route and watched my brother and teenage boys clif jump.








The water slide at the ranch was a huge hit and the kids were on it non stop. Adults liked it too!




This is the newest addition to the family. Gus. He is my brother's dog. He's a miniature poodle and a Yorkie mix. What fun we have with Gus! We can't leave out Lucy. She's my other brother's dog, and a well behaved one at that. (except when she got my horse all riled up).



Cousins are the best and these kids LOVE thier cousins.
The oldest 5 are Coelton (senior) Nate (Junior) Ashley (sophomore) Caden (Freshman) Casslyn (8th grade)

The next group are our "sextuplets" all born in 1998. They are 10-11 years old.

This group of cousins is our 7-9 year olds.

These kids are all 4-6 years old.

Here are the toddlers ages 2-3

And last of all are the babies Miley and collin.


Saturday night we found our way to some hot pots in the river. It was a beautiful night and there were so many stars!! We were having a delightful time until poor Lexi puked all over uncle Clint and Grandpa...that ruined the moment since we all didn't know what we were sitting in anymore. But we had a good time while it lasted.



Pool Parties

We were able to go to Roaring springs this year since I bought 6 tickets from the elementary school at a discount. Caden, Hailey, Chloe and I got there at 11am when it opened and we stayed until 6:30p.m. I drove back at 8pm when it closed to pick up Hailey who wanted to stay longer.

We also went to a back yard pool party with our friends the Johnson's.




20 Year class Reunion

Class of 89 celebrated 20 years since high school graduation. We drove over to Idaho falls on Friday the 31st and went to my brother, Rhett's house. His wife claudine graduated with me from Bonneville High School. We quickly got ready and drove to the school where the reunion was. We had dinner and played some games and listened to some 80's music. It was fun to visit with everyone. There were so many people that I had not seen for 20 years.

claudine and I in front of the school.

Ammon 7th ward homies. Derk kapp, Brandi Bell, Me, Cory Brower