Well.... after a year of planning, the Jordan High Class of 1989 reunion came and went. What an awesome experience. I have had such a great time working with former classmates preparing for the reunion. It was so nice to see that it was such a success. A great evening was had and it was quite memorable. It was fun mingling and listening to people reconnect with long lost friends and watching new friendships emerge. Now I am already looking forward to the next reunion.

Devin Worthen, Melanie Helm, Me














Dan Clawson, Jason Mumford, Curt Myrick














Matt Greeff, Duane Despain, Tom Brand














J.D. Barnes, Jason Jarvis, Brad Murry, Duane Despain, Jason Hatton













J.D. Barnes, Blaine Dehaan, Me

Life is amazing and I have great hope for this life. Even when the worst is happening to you it is never as bad as it could be. I would chose hope over despair any day. Why ruin your life by thinking all is lost? All is never lost. I believe in a Savior and I believe that he has suffered every possible burden that man experiences and then some. This knowledge gives me comfort in that I know my Savior has already felt the pain I may feel. Life has been rough and poor choices have only made it rougher. I am determined to make better choices each day so as to lighten the burden I place upon myself by not making good choices. I pray that as I strive to do this that the good will always outweigh the bad. I'm ready to take on the challenges that are placed before me. I know they are great, but I know I have someone to walk with me through this empty place that has found me seeking extra guidance. Press forward with hope, confidence, and humility. Serve other to lessen their burdens. Be nice to all I encounter as to possibly brighten their day. Smile like never before and beam with the pure love of Christ. Love.. Love will be my guiding light. Love of my God and my Savior and love of my fellow man. Eschew hate and disdain of others. Love even my enemies and those that do wrong to me. Follow the teachings of Christ and live as he has asked me to live. In the end if all appears to be lost I know that what I will have found will be greater than all.

Life is an interesting thing. It can give you the worst of the worst and the best of the best. Trials are tough and blessings are great. I have been in a place where I have forgotten what a blessing it is to be alive and to love those around me. I have finally gotten tired of just getting by and always being on a short fuse with my family. A change has occurred and so far it feels great. I am hopeful for great things to come and many blessings to be realized.

Just thought I would post something since it's been a while.

I'm still working as a contractor with Teksystems at ADP Benefit services. I like the job and I wish it could be something more than just contract work. Unfortunately the Corporate office thinks otherwise. They have been able to extend my contract until the end of the month and then we'll see what happens. Not quite sure what I'm going to do if they are unable to do another extension.

The kids are doing well and are growing and learning everyday. Yesterday my friend Jared was here setting up a bookcase he built for us. While he was putting it together A.J. became his little helper. He was getting him screws and putting them in where they needed to go so Jared could screw them in. It was funny to watch. Analise is just a little jabber box and is so funny. When she gets angry and ornery we ask her if she is the wicked witch. Then I will ask here where my Princess is. I'll tell her to tell the wicked witch to go away. it's so funny cause she'll start talking to herself and says "GO WAY WICKED WITCH!!" "GO WAY!!" it's hilarious because if I talk to her and call her princess and act all flirty with her she softens right up and does whatever I ask. Now I'm worried that I'm either creating a diva or someone with dual personalities.

Geraldine Halladay, my last living grandparent passed away today. I'm sad that she is no longer with us, but happy that she is no long suffering in a body she can't control and mind that no longer functions properly. I'm happy that I had the opportunity to live with her for 3 months and take care of her and spend that time that otherwise never would have been spent with her. God bless you Grandma.. May we meet again one day

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and I have much to be thankful for. I'm thankful for my family, a place to live, a job, food on the table, and the freedoms that this great USofA has. What a wonderful day to spend time with family. We had a Halladay family brunch at my grandma Halladay's house in the morning. After the brunch we headed up to Laura's parents house and I snuck in a little shooting before we left to have thanksgiving dinner. I shot my 45 for a little bit, but mostly I shot my father-in-laws Ruger 22 rifle. I was having a great time. My mother-in-law wasn't so thrilled because her husband was out there with me and we were suppsed to be heading to Laura's grandmothers house. We made it there and enjoyed a wonderful meal.

Well my interview last week did not go well at all, but today I had one and they are bringing me on as a contract worker. So finaly I will have a job for right now. I have had some wonderful friends that have been very supportive along with my family.

We're on to week 3 of not having a job. This really stinks! I do have an interview this wednesday and it will be the first one since I was laid off. I hope all goes well.

OK... I finaly have a second to sit down and write. This week ended up being quite the doozy of a week. At the first of the week I was going to work and everything was fine and dandy. I had just got approval to travel to Chile to move their office and I had been in meetings discussing the moving of equipment from the offices that were being closed. So Tuesday I take a half day off so that I can go to the dentist and he decides he is going to go ahead an put on my three crowns that I have been postponing for years. That night I get home and I'm online and I get some messages from co-workers saying that Ron Heap (my boss) and several other Managing directors were let go in a lay off. I couldn't believe it. So I started worrying about my position. I go to work the next day and there is a lot of stuff going on. I got there early and I noticed cars of other managers in IT in the parking lot. I get to work around 7:00 and there usually is no one there but the call center. So I wander around the building and there is a big meeting going on in the board room. I knew something big was going on. I get back to my desk and sit impatiently wondering what is going to happen. 8:00 rolls around and my employee arrives for work. She passes by our desks and says that the manager over Techops needs her help. So I have no idea what is going on, but I am getting more and more nervous. I also continue to watch people get pulled in to be given their walking papers. Most of the morning has past and then I get a call from my Bosses boss. I go up and and there it happens. I get my own walking papers. I lost my job. I was part of the 85 people that were laid off from TNI. I am very sad about this. I loved this company. I loved what I did for them. I loved who I worked with. I couldn't have asked for a better job. So I pack my stuff up and head home. The next day we are off for Bothwell to help Laura's parents put in hardwood floors and celebrate Shaun's birthday. By this time I had also put the word out that I was out of work and that I needed to find something quick so that I can provide for my family. The response I got was amazing. I had so many people call or email me asking me to get them a resume so they could give it to someone or they would give me suggestions of places to apply. I was just speechless for all the people that were so concerned about me and my family. I am very grateful for them. So now starts the journey of finding a job. I have applied for a couple of positions and I have already had one that came back and said that I was fitting the criteria they wanted for the position. I hope this doesn't take long. I wish I was just back at my old job. I guess there is a reason that we decided to stay in our house and not move down to Happy Valley.

Today we celebrated A.J.'s birthday. We slacked off on the invitations and didn't get them out. Luckily we have family that made it to the party. A.J. had fun and that is what counts. I can't believe my little boy is 4 now. Wow.... how the time flies. It seems like just yesterday that we were rushing Laura to tha hospital to deliver him. He has grown so much and learned so much. I love him so much and I'm glad he is my son. Here are some pictures from the party we had today. It was a Kung Fu Panda party if you couldn't tell.





Laura made the pinata. I keep telling her we need to go into business making custom Pinatas.

This weekend was the Call Family Reunion. It was a blast. Friday we headed up to Bothwell to stay the night with Laura's parents. On the way up we met up with Natalie and Dennis and had dinner at the Dixie Grill in Brigham City. Laura loves their onion rings.

Saturday morning we headed up to Eden, Idaho. On the way there we stopped in Burley to have lunch. We at at this Mexican restaurant called Garibaldi. The food was great.

The family reunion was fun.. they had some games and a big water fight. Then they brought out the toys. 4 wheelers and other off road vehicles. Sunday came and we got to go Shooting in the desert. We shot some shotguns and our handguns. Laura's cousin brought his Smith & Wesson 460 and that was a blast to shoot. We should be getting some pictures of Laura shooting it.

I have posted pictures down below.



































We stopped at the Snake River so that A.J. could see it.

yesterday I finished my back porch, but I didn't have my camera to take a picture so I did it today. It's nothing special, but it beats what we used to have.

Yesterday was the big Summer Party at work. On the way there we stopped to get A.J. a haircut and he was none to happy with that. He came running out of the place with no shirt on screaming. His hair did get cut though. He was able to enjoy himself at the party at least. Laura talked me into getting colored hairspray on my head since her and Analise did. A.J. saw our hair and looked at us with this look of plain disgust like he was going to punish us and send us to the naughty corner.











We had Chinese food for our dinner.






A.J. had a blast playing on all the blow up slides and "jumpalines" as he calls them.

Here is part of our project on our house. We started our new back poarch. The stairs are started, but we are lacking a few boards.


This weekend we went camping with the Otterstoms from our ward. Analise was a little stinker and got into Laura's purse and ate 2 packages of gum and two chapsticks. She proceeded to vomit all over Laura and then keep us up all night once she was feeling better. Next time we leave the kids at home ;).

Earlier this week Laura took the kids and Grandma up the canyon for a hike.





Saturday night Laura and I had our date night. It was a fun evening. We went to Tepanyaki for dinner. We sat next to a bunch of people we didn't know. Luckily the couple that sat next to us were really cool. The guy had just got out of the hospital a few weeks ago from a Motocross accident. He broke his neck and was in a brace. The food was good and the company was good. After that we headed up the canyon to where Laura had taken the kids hiking earlier in the week. We hiked up for about a half an hour. When we were coming back down the trail we noticed some guy in the bushes and when he heard us he hurried away and got in his car and took off. When we got down by the car we found a bag that had been gone through. It looked like there had been a video camera in it. We call the Sheriff's office to at least report it.