A Blessing, Trick-or-Treaters, A Missionary

Emma's Blessing - November 7, 2010

Emma was blessed this past Sunday. It was a fantastic day, full of the spirit and tons of family support. I don't think I've ever seen so many priesthood brethren stand in a circle for a blessing. With 3 LARGE families of worthy priesthood holders, it made for 20 men in the circle. It's so awesome to have that kind of worthiness in the family. Some would say that it was too many. However, who do you cut back or un-invite? All of these men are important to our family, so all were invited to participate. It was a site to see.

Emma was a cutie. She was asleep just before the blessing, but the moment she was place in the center for the blessing, she began to cry and continued to do so throughout the blessing. As soon as the blessing was over and Jim put her upright, she quit. I hope this isn't a pre-curser of things to come.

Halloween 2010

We didn't do anything ouy of the ordinary this year; carved pumpkins for the porch and put costumes on to answer the door for trick-or-treaters. What do you think of these two costumes?

Bring on the Trick-or-Treaters! Argh!

A ballerina extraordinaire. Don't you love the hair? Emma has a ridge of hair along the top of her head that won't stay down. This is a great example of it. I think it's adorable.

Emma is starting to get more interactive with us. She'll make eye contact and even smile and babble. Very cute!

Elder Hamblin in Chile

A few mission pictures at Saltos de Petrohue. Gorgeous place! Josh's letters are always positive and encouraging. He is working very hard and we are recognizing tremendous growth in him. We are very proud of his example.

Introducing Emma Rae Hamblin

Born September 13, 2010, 2:27 a.m.

7 lbs. 6 oz.

20 inches long

I don't really like this picture, but it's the only one with Jim and I and Emma. We'll have to change that. But for now, I will humble myself and let it be seen by family and friends.

Sisters meeting for the first time.

Margaret Hamblin and Emma. How many 88 year old grandmas do you know that have a 49th grandchild this young? Priceless picture.

Game Day attire. Got to start 'em young.

First Attempt

San Francisco Trip - July 2010

We had a great time on our quick trip to San Francisco. We had plenty of things to do to keep us busy for the 3 days we were there. Here are the highlights!

Monday

• flight to San Francisco
• riding on the BART
• Tour of Muir Woods/seeing the Golden Gate Bridge

After arriving early Monday morning, we then had to get onto the BART, get downtown, and then to our hotel. It was our first experience of riding the public transportation and was certainly the beginning of our adventure.

Muir Woods

Hailey - "Hug a tree."

Paige - "It's this big!"

San Francisco is very mild and windy. We found we always needed jackets

Tuesday:

• Time at the Pier - Wax Museum, shopping, site seeing
• Crookedest Street - Lumbard Street
• "Wicked" tickets for that evening

Jim's goal was to eat fresh clam chowder on the Pier to be a happy man. And oh . . . he was happy!

Lumbard Street - the most crooked street in the U.S.

The biggest event of the trip was going to see "Wicked". It began with a delicious dinner across the street from the theater, then row 3 seats, and then the production. It was an awesome production and well worth seeing. We couldn't quit talking about it when it was over. Definitely the highlight of the trip.

Almost time . . .

Wednesday:

• Tour of Alcatraz - We rode a ferry out to the island and then had head sets that led us on a tour. We were all looking forward to it and found it very interesting.
• Flight home

Photo from Alcatraz looking back at San Francisco.

We flew home that evening. What a great trip! We loved it, but decided we wouldn't want to live there. Too busy, hard to get around, but it did have lots of interesting things to see.

Hamblin Family Reunion - July 2010 in Ekalaka Montana

This year, the Hamblin reunion was at Jack's house in Montana. So, most of Jim's family made a vacation out of it and headed to the east side of the state. But first, Jim and I met up with the Walkers at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. We pulled a borrowed pop-up trailer and camped along the way. Being 7 months pregnant, I was grateful not be sleeping on the ground. Hailey and Paige were at girl's camp, so it was a road trip for the two of us.

Jim acting like a tough, experienced trailer guy.

Mount Rushmore

Do you see any similarities between the guys in the picture and the mountain?

What a bunch of nerds!

The following day we went to Bear Country and saw tons of bears in their habitat.

Before heading to Ekalaka, we went to North Dakota to meet up with several of Jim's family to enjoy a steak dinner and some outdoor theater. The steaks were deep fried on pitch forks in giant drums of oil. Kind of cool to see and quite delicious, I might add. Here's Jim longingly looking at the steaks about to be fried.

After the reunion, we drove home and passed Devil's Tower.

The Hamblin family (all but Susan)

Home Improvements - Summer 2010

This summer we spent time and effort making home improvements and we love them. Here's a few shots of some of them.

Exterior of the house before siding and rock work.

After - we love the new look!

New paint in the kitchen.

Hailey's new closet.

New paint in the master bedroom.

We also had a new bathroom put in downstairs, painted Hailey's room, Paige's new room, and the baby's room. All look Great!

Josh and the mission:

Josh and his MTC group. We love this picture.

Somewhere near Pucon, Chile.

Josh claims he's about 30% sure these are the waters of Mormon. :)