Christmas Memories 08

This was our first Christmas in the new house. We had a lot of fun decorating the inside and out. This house is so much bigger then our old house that I think I need to buy more decorations for next year. On Christmas Eve we went to my parents house to drop off gifts and visit for awhile and then went to Kevin's parent's house for meatballs, and they were YUMMY. After visiting we came home and Kevin and Michael finished wrapping my presents while I watched Mama Mia, great movie of course. When we woke up the five of us opened presents together, you can't forget the animals.

Everyone seemed to enjoy opening presents and the animals of course spent the time playing in the trash. Kevin, Michael and myself had a lot of fun opening our gifts . After we opened our gifts Kevin's parents and Pop-Pop Terry came over to eat breakfast and exchange gifts with us. We then went over to my parents house for dinner. Well, lets just say we didn't get a chance to enjoy a yummy looking dinner. We lost a member of the family that night. We had to put Casper to sleep that night. Casper was an very old cat who had been fighting diabetes for a number of years. He was not doing well when I got there, so my mom, Zac and myself took him to the Vet and he was put to rest. You never really realize how close you are to an animal until they are no longer with you. That was a tough night for all of us. After I took my mom and Zac home Kevin, Michael and myself went to Barb and Steve's house to exchange gifts with the cousins. We final made the trip home after a very long day. This Christmas was both happy and sad, not one that I will forget anytime soon.

Our trip to Lisa and John's house was a great one. Lisa came down the day after Christmas to visit her grandparents and to visit my parents but my dad wasn't feeling well and my mom was still upset about Casper. Lisa of course slept at our house and we had Pizza and watched the Best of Saturday Night, Great Times. The next day Kevin, Michael and myself went back to Lisa and John's house to visit. When we got there we decided to exchange gifts with each other. Every year we get each other gag gifts and try to out do each other. For the past couple of years John and Lisa have beaten us, and unfortunately they beat us again. We got a water can, a picture of an apple tree (which they purchased for us) and note that said "now you can water the low hanging fruit." I gave John a leg lamp stocking and leg lamp bobble head. Lisa got a pair of slippers that has dusters on the bottom so when you walk you clean the floor, NICE. I am going to say it again I Will Get You Both Next Year!!!!

Many thanks to Monica for showing me how to make picture grids. Love and miss ya.

Annual Tree Cutting

Last Year Christina had a wonderful idea of going out and cutting down our very own Christmas trees. We had a great time but I am not to sure about the guys (they had to do all the manual labor for us) Anyway we decided that we would do this every year from now on. Here is how our adventure went this year.........

Luke we will show you pictures and tell you of the adventures. You were still too little to come.

It started off as probably the coldest day we have had yet, so we were all bundled up and ready to go hunting for a tree. We couldn't start looking for a tree on an empty stomach, so we decided to meet up for some lunch. After lunch we went to a tree farm that had all their trees for $35.00 each. That should have sent a red flag waving, but we decided to try there first. Let's just say that many of the trees looked like a tree for Charlie Brown. Abbey had a great time there being pulled in a wagon by Michael. The boys also had a great time with wagons. We didn't find a tree for any of us there, so we decided to travel to another tree farm. This is the ultimate tree farm in our opinion.

CLARK'S CHRISTMAS TREE FARM- Good old family Christmas

We pulled up into the parking lot hoping to find that perfect tree. There were so many trees to look at and we didn't know where to start, so we started walking. We continued to walk around for a very, I mean very long time (of course the men were having a great time). If we ever got separated someone would scream Marco and the other one would scream Polo. I think the other people around us thought that we were crazy, but who cares we know that all ready. When Christina and I would find a tree we would make Ed or Michael stand there so we wouldn't lose it. The Waas family finally found there tree and Michael started cutting it down, yes I said Michael why else would we bring him, cheap labor!!! While they were working on that Kevin and I went looking for of course a "Clark" tree. We search high and low and finally found the best tree there. Michael and Ed were still working on the Waas tree so Kevin had to start cutting down ours. Oh I forgot to say that it had been raining for a couple of days, so the ground was nice and muddy. It added a nice touch to the whole experience. Once the Waas tree was down Michael and Ed came over to help with our tree. Michael of course started right in on our tree and did a GREAT job with helping us out. After both trees were down we took them to get wrapped up and brought home. My battery died out at the very end and I wasn't able to get the Men putting the tree on top of the Waas car. Lets just say that that tree wasn't going anywhere. That day was so much fun and I thank the Waas family for spending it with ours.

Busy Week

It has been a very busy week for the Hallowells. Michael turned 14, we have a new addition to our family, and we got into a car accident. Please read on for more details on all.
It is official Michael is now 14. He turned 14 on Sunday
October 19th. We had a family gathering at our house on Sunday for his birthday. We had mom-mom, pop-pop, Uncle Steve, Aunt Barb, Delaney, and Stevie over for dinner and cake. We all had a great time and it was wonderful to catch up with everyone. He received presents and love that day. Michael is growing up to be an amazing boy who I love to be around. He brightens a room when he walks into it. I am so glad he is part of my life. Happy Birthday Michael.


That same night we added a newcomer to our family. I was in the house when Kevin called for me to come outside to see what he found. I went outside to see that he had a little gray and white kitten in his arms. She was the cutest thing and she seemed to love Kevin. We tried to see if anyone had lost her, but no one knew who she belonged to. We brought her in and gave her some food and water. We decided to keep her for the night because it was going to be cold out . Kevin said that we can't keep her and that we need to find a home for her. Kevin's mom said that she would take her if we didn't want her, but little did I know Kevin fell in love with her. Long story short we decided to keep her with us. Callie and Roxy seem ok by her. She chases after Roxy and Roxy seems to like it. Callie doesn't seem to be bothered by her, she just hisses every once in awhile when the kitten gets to close. We are all happy with our new addition to our family.

Introducing Molly Ann Hallowell

Last but not least was our wonderful car accident. It happened on Saturday October 25. We were on our way to take Michael to his soccer game. It was really windy and rainy that day. We were coming off the ramp when it happened. There was a Ram truck stopped at the top of the ramp waiting to turn right and we coming up from behind. We were coming up the ramp slowing and Kevin began to apply the breaks. Well he applied it, but the car wouldn't come to a stop. He turned the wheel to right hoping to miss the truck, but the car won't turn or stop. We had no where to go but into the back of the truck. Our car hit the truck with a hard it. We are all fine but the car took a beaten. The whole front end was pushed up and in. The lady in the truck was fine and our car just made a dent in her fender. We waiting awhile for a police officer to come and tells us it was our fault, like we didn't know. We think that the wet ground mixed with wet leaves explained why we couldn't stop. Needless to say that we are down a car and are not sure if they
are going to total the car. The good news is that we are all fine.

Like I said before it was a busy week and I am hoping that we have a really boring week this week. No more surprises please.

Catch Up Time

I know, I know its been a long time since I last blogged. There has been a lot going on since I got back from Grand Junction and I haven't found any time to Blog. I have been home bound since Tuesday. I had to have surgery on Wednesday to help get rid of the pain that I feel every month. Everything went fine, but now I am going crazy in my own house. I thought that being home from work would be great, but I soon found out that it is extremely boring when you can't do anything. So, I decided to catch up on my blogging. So much has happen since the Colorado trip.

Michael finally got his braces off and of course I had to take the camera to the dentist's office to embarrassing him, what are moms for if you can't embarrass your son in public. It looks so different without his braces and it took awhile before I got use to him not having them. I can now offer him a piece gum and not worry about it getting stuck to his braces. He now has too wear a retainer everyday, but he can take it out for his soccer games and for eating. We already had to replace it because it got lost on the way to a school soccer game. I am sure that he will take better care of this one because it cost him a lot of his allowance money to replace it. Really, what child hasn't lost a retainer before.







I started back to work at the end of August and I have been on the go since. Let me just say that it wasn't a good start to the school year. All of my Special Education books weren't ordered, so my teachers had to gather books together to teach their students. I have been pulled in all directions and haven't had time to sit and talk with a lot of my new teachers. Instead of going to 5 buildings, I now have 6 buildings to go to. I just haven't had any time to catch up, so I have been going into work on the weekends to try and get things in order. Everything seemed to be smoothing out when I found out that I had to go in for surgery. I was told by work that I am not allowed to work from home, so I guess that I will catching up again when I return on Monday. My job is usually busy and I have to except that.

We decided for Labor Day weekend Kevin, Michael, Christina, Ed, and Luke and myself would go to Lisa and John's. We had a great time up there. Kevin got to have his reduction sauce over fish with mash potatoes. A picture says a thousand words. We had a BBQ and of course we had flagels in the morning. We also went to Robbie's birthday party and it was nice to celebrate him being part of a new family. He is really cute and full of energy.

1 st Annual Huddowell Reunion

OUR TRIP TO COLORADO

Sorry it took so long to post, but it has been a little busy with school starting soon. Anyway, you were probably wondering what the count down to the Huddowell Reunion was all about. Huddowell was created by Monica who infused both of our last names (Hudson and Hallowell) and created Huddowell. In June Matt graduated from Temple with a dental degree and they decided to move back to Grand Junction CO. It was the hardest thing to say goodbye to the Hudson Family, but we decided (mostly Monica and I) to rotate summers between Colorado and Pennsylvania. Since they just moved back we decided that we would go out to Colorado this summer. It was the first time for Kevin and Michael in the West.

Monica's parents allowed us to take over their house for a week. They were able spent a lot of time with us. We had a lot of laughs with them and enjoyed every minute.

We went to so many different places while we were there visiting. Here are just a few things that we did; we hiked to the Mica Mines, hiked down Serpent's Trail, and hiked all around their cabin up in the Mountains. We also climbed the rocks at 28 Hole. There is a place where you can slide down one side of the mountain. We learned a lot about the mountains and their family's history there. All in all we had a WONDERFUL time. We were able to catch up on things and continue our game of punch buggy around town. It again was very hard to say goodbye, but I know that I will be seeing Monica in January. We want to thank the Hudsons and Ficklins for taking great care of us while we were there. Pictures are worth a thousands word, so please enjoy them.

Eugene, Oregon

Myself and five other educators went on a journey to Eugene, Oregon. We were attending a conference on a program that we use called Direct Instruction. Let me just say that it was an adventure from start to finish. It started off on Saturday July 19th. We were suppose to leave Philly at 12:55, but when I got there the flight was cancelled due to the fact that there wasn't enough pilots. Luckily Kevin and Michael had just left, so they turned around and came back to get me. The good thing was that I was able to hang out with my family a little longer. We finally left around 5:00. We arrived in Denver, Colorado and had a two hour wait, so we decided to get some dinner. I also took a picture of the girls in front of a sign for tornado shelter, they never saw anything like it.

When we got to our gate it said that the plane was delayed due to the beautiful lighten storm that was happening outside. We finally left Denver and landed in Eugene around 12:30am, which is three hours behind in time, so it was really 3:30am our time, what fun. By that time I was tired and annoyed. We finally got to our hotel and was able to go to sleep, but wasn't able to get much sleep because our training started at 8:30 the next day. We spent the week going to workshops and learning a lot of helpful ideas for the up coming school year. Eugene is a very interesting place, everyone seems so happy and layed back. There are a lot of restaurants that serve organic food and drinks. I have never seem so many hippies and VW bugs in my life (I lost count on all the punch buggies). On Wednesday all six of us jumped into a mini van, which I drove and took went to the coast. We all wanted to see the sea lions and the Pacific ocean. It took us about an hour and half to get there, but it was a beautiful drive through the mountains. We saw the sea lions and then decided to eat at a restaurant called Mo's in Florence, Eugene. They had the BEST clam chowder that I have ever tasted and I think that everyone who ate it would agree. We ended our trip to the coast by running up a VERY LARGE sand dune and seeing the sun set. We wanted to stick our feet in the water, but it was to steep of a trip down to the bottom and I don't think that we could make it back up. The sunset was absolutly beautiful.

The next day it was time to travel again, what fun. We went from Eugene to Portland to Denver to PhillyOf course the flight from Denver to Philly was a red eye. I stayed up for a total of 28 hours straight, I can't sleep on airplanes. Needless to say that I was extremely tired by the time I arrived home. When I got home I was greeted by Roxy and my son. There was also a sign that said welcome home, roses, a card and brand new camera. I was so excited, but I couldn't show it because I was sooooooo tired. All in all it was a good trip but I am not to sure about the flying again. Here are some pictures of the trip.

Already a Year

I can't believe that it was a year ago that Kevin and I said "I do". It does not feel like a year has gone by and let me tell you it was a very busy year for the three of us. Here is just a recap of the past year and a half. In November of 06 Kevin asked the big question in front of all of our friends at a restaurant called

Victor's Cafe

Will you marry me?

YES

After that he sold his house and Michael and him moved in with Roxy, Callie and myself. We spent the next seven months planning a wedding and upgrading my house. Of course planning for a wedding is a lot better then scraping, and painting the hallway, family room, dining room and kitchen, but it needed to be done. I do admit that the house looked great after it was all finished and we were ready to sell.

The Big Day July 21, 2007

It was the best day of my life, OK the second, the first was meeting Kevin in our backyards. We can't forget the squirrel that gave his life for us to meet. Without the squirrel I don't know if we would have ever met. So thank you squirrel.

Our wedding turned out to be a perfect day. I can't imagine ever being so happy as I did that day. Not only did I find the love of my life, but I gained a son also.

Tell me who wouldn't love this.

Here are some pictures of that wonderful day.

After the party was over, Kevin and I went on our honeymoon to St. Lucia. We stayed at a Sandals resort and enjoyed ever minute. We went on a land and sea cruise, Jeep Safari ride (which Kevin got sick), sat on the beach, hung out by the wet bar, ate, and slept. Basically we did nothing for a week, and it was the best. We can't wait to go back and visit again. I highly recommend going if you get a chance. Here are some pictures from the honeymoon.

Finally, I would like to say even though it was a very crazy year, I wouldn't trade any of it at all. I have finally found my best friend and soul mate. I didn't think that I would ever find anyone like Kevin and also have a son that is so loving and caring towards me. Thank you Kevin for sharing your love and your life with me. I thank God every day that I am blessed with you and Michael.