Pride and Prejudice and Twilight

I'll be posting about all our Christmas-y trips, and the fun to be had, soon. In the meantime my friend Kathy shared this on her blog. Well, I adore anything Jane Austen and as y'all know I am kind of fond of Twilight too. ;)

This video combines the two. I thought it was cute, and works well. Stephenie has mentioned in past interviews, that Twilight gives a nod to Pride and Prejudice, so this was perfect.




**Oh and you will have to pause the music player, on the right side of our blog, so you can actually hear the dialog**

Merry Christmas!

To all our family, friends, and loved ones:

We hope you have a wonderful Christmas. May your lives be blessed with health, warmth, and happiness, as we remember the birth of our beloved Savior.


We wish we could celebrate this joyous day with all of you. Just know that you are in our hearts and prayers. Merry Christmas and God bless all of you. ((HUGS))

Dallin's Baptism

Last Saturday was the big and exciting time for Dallin. We drove to the church with all the family in tow.


On our way to the church

Dallin and Dan got ready. As you can see, there they are, wearing the white jumpsuits.


First was the devotional in the chapel, before the individual baptisms. There were two other kids from the Stake that were getting baptized that day, as well. So there were quite a few people there.

I gave the talk on Baptism, then some of the kids in the audience got up and sang for us. Then another mother gave a talk on the Gift of the Holy Ghost.


With Grandpa, Grandma, and Uncle Adam
After that, each child being baptized, along with their family and friends, went to the room with the baptismal font, for the ordinance.


Outside, in the freezing cold, after the baptism
Dallin was the last one, so we waited quietly in the chapel until it was his turn. He told me beforehand that he was a little nervous about going all the way under the water, but very excited to become an official member of the church.

Well he did just fine. And Dan only had to "dunk" him once. lol


With Uncle Ian and Grandma, at the restaurant afterward (my brother and mother)
Then after the boys went to get dry and change into their church clothes again, Dan's dad performed the ordinance of confirming Dallin a member of the church and giving him the gift of the Holy Ghost. Dallin was happy that Grandpa was the one to give him that gift.

After it was all over, all the family went to Red Robin for dinner (Dallin's choice).


With family and friends, getting ready to chow down
It was a wonderful ceremony. I am so proud of Dallin, and his decision. My baby is definitely not a baby anymore.

Dallin's Party

Saturday, Dallin had a few of his friends over for his birthday party. It was Star Wars themed (of course). His friends Justus, Jackson, and Lucas came to party on down.


They had a good time. Ate pizza while watching a Star Wars the Clone Wars episode, played Lego Star Wars on the Gamecube, Ran around and pretended to be Jedi's and Sith.


Then it was party games time. They played musical chairs to the Star Wars theme music. Lucas, and Sierra each won a round.




Then they played Pin the Tail on the Donkey, or should I say "Put the Glowing Buttons on Darth Vader". Justus and Lucas got exactly in the right spot, but only because they were doing a little peekie-peeking. lol





And for the final game it was a little Jedi, Jedi, Vader (translation: Duck, Duck, Goose).



After that it was cake. Poor Jackson had to leave early for family pictures, so didn't get any cake. It was a yummy mint chocolate chip ice cream cake. Always a favorite!






Justus and Lucas telling each other what presents they got Dallin
And finally, present time. Dallin got some pretty cool toys from his friends. Thank you guys!



My mom, and Dan's mom, dad, and brother came to visit to be there for Dallin's baptism. It was so nice to have them all here with us. Especially since my mom has never visited us here. I'm proud of her, for being brave and traveling. Way to go mom!


Sierra reading her books to my mom

Dan's parents enjoying the cake too
Post about the baptism coming next.

Being a Mom ala William Tell Overture

This video is too funny, and so true! I dedicate it to my friend, and brand new mommy, Jolie. Get ready, Jolie, for the wild ride (but so worth it, of course)!

Another Round of Chemo

News from Brandon's Dad, on Brandon's progress. Thank you so much for your prayers and contributions...


We're home again. We finished up another round of chemo the other day and came back home. It was one of the rare short trips this time. We were only up there a few days.

This trip included an appointment with Brandon's surgeon. The surgeon took a look at all of Brandon's scans & x-rays and said that Brandon's response to treatment thus far is "phenomenal" - he has responded better than expected to treatment, which will make the surgery easier. During surgery they plan to remove a lot of Brandon's fibula bone. Before, they were going to remove the entire bone, but since he's responding so well to treatment, they're going to leave part of the top and part of the bottom of his bone. So, this is good news! We thank you all for the prayers, they are certainly helping.


Although this is good news, we're still not even half way to the end of this. We have a long road ahead of us. We need all of your prayers again for the surgery. There is a major nerve that runs down the leg from the fibula, called the poreneal nerve, which when cut, damaged, or removed, leaves the patient with "drop foot". They are numb on the top of that foot, and do not have the ability to lift that foot. It would then drag behind when the patient walks. We are praying that this does not happen to Brandon. He would like to exercise and play sports some time in the future. We absolutely Know, with all of our hearts, that with everyone's prayers, Brandon will come out of this surgery without nerve damage. Please pray with us, pray for the doctors.


We will be continuing with chemotherapy, as planned, through May of 2009. We aren't even so sure that everything will be complete by that time. There will be follow up doctor appointments, so we don't expect May to be the end of our road.

We've put a Donation button on Brandon's website:
http://www.brandonsfight.com/

...and we hope you will all pass that web address (maybe along with your thoughts) onto your email lists, to give everyone the chance to be blessed by helping & blessing our family during this financially impossible time.

We've had some friend-of-a-friend type people pass our website around, and we've actually had about 15 perfect strangers donate anywhere from $10 to $50 through our website.

We have been surprised that there were so many good people out there, people who don't even know us, people with no money themselves really, have written us and donated small amounts. We have felt blessed by their efforts, and I pray they will be blessed for their kindness to our family.

Thank you again to those of you who have helped, you know who you are, and our family thanks you for your generosity this Christmas Holiday season! We can't thank you enough. Any amount helps! :)

We'll update you all again soon,
Thank again for your prayers.
Love The Hammett family

Jumping Rope

Sierra has gotten really good at jump rope. This first video was of her showing me how well she could do it, but because of nervousness she kept on messing up. It was quite cute actually.


Then she wanted me to make another video of her trying again, on another day. And this time she overcame the nerves. It is equally as cute. :)

Birthday for My Bubba Boy

Yesterday was Dallin's 8th Birthday! We can't believe that he is already 8 years old. Time sure does fly.


The birthday boy enjoying pancakes for dinner
We had a very laid back birthday. Both the kids were sick with colds, plus we are having his real party with family and friends on Saturday. Dallin has chosen to be baptized and become a member of Jesus Christ's church.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, children are not baptized until they reach the age of accountability, which is 8 years old. And then, just like everything else in life, they are free to choose whether they want to receive the ordinance of baptism.

Dallin is very excited about his baptism. A lot of our family will be here on Saturday for that. So we decided to spend his real birthday, Monday, with just our little family.

We had family home evening that night to celebrate. Sierra was in charge of the lesson. She shared with us (with some help from mom), about Jesus being baptized by John the Baptist, and then what it means to be baptized and have the Gift of the Holy Ghost given after baptism. She did a very good job. :)



After that, Dallin opened his presents from us. He got a couple Star Wars toys. A Luke Skywalker figurine to go with his Darth Vader one. And some spaceship (not sure what kind it is).





Luke and Vader fighting to the death
Then for dessert Dan made us homemade donuts. And we all took turns coating them with cinnamon-sugar, or powdered sugar. Very yummy!


Shake, shake, shake!


So tasty

Happy birthday to my smart, sweet, wonderful, silly, and handsome boy! We love you Dallin!

Thanksgiving with Friends

This year we spent our Thanksgiving at our friends Jenny and Scott's home. They were wonderful enough to invite us over for some food and fun. Also joining in on the party were our friends Peggy and Ted and their two adorable boys, and Aubrey and Blaine with their sweet little girls.


The talented chef


Dan getting the honor of cutting the turkey

Goodie, more yummy food!
We had a fantastic time. Jenny really set the mood with all of her decorating. The table looked so nice.



Sierra with her friend Allie

The adorable, baby Grace
We all contributed to the food preparations. Dan made his famous candied yams, and I brought these yummy pumpkin cookies that my friend Marcie was kind enough to share the recipe with me. We also had delicious turkey cooked to perfection, gravy, mashed potatoes, homemade rolls, greenbean cassarole, and the best part... so many pies to choose from I didn't know where to start. :D


At the grown up table (at least we like to pretend to be grown ups) lol

We ate and visited, and ate some more.


Myself, Jenny, Aubrey, and Peggy

A candid moment with Peggy (isn't she so pretty?!)
The kids all played together and ran around.




Then after eating and visting and eating yet again, we decided to channel our inner rockers by playing a little Rock Band. This was a lot of fun. So much so, that I'm tempted to buy it for our family for Christmas.




Even Dallin and Sierra had fun playing the video game
Thank you Jenny and Scott for opening your home to us. We had a wonderful time spending Thanksgiving with you guys. We are thankful for your friendship. And for all the friends and family reading this, as well (you know who you are). XOXO :)