The Happy Hymes Family

1st Day of High School

2009-08-21T15:43:00.001-07:00

The 1st Day of High School.......everybody's dream.....lol
I liked it, but our school decided to do the "Freshman Academy"
I don't really like it.....they want us to stay away from the seniors, sophmores, and juniors.... they think it will lessen the chance of them picking on us and shoving us into lockers...
That is so 5 years ago......maybe even longer. lol
But i must admit I am going to love high school and as time goes on i will love it!!!!!!

Our Vacation

2009-08-03T15:49:00.001-07:00

The Reflecting Pool by the Lincoln Memorial.

The Jefferson Memorial

The White House

The Capitol

Our summer vacation was very fun and exciting. We saw many differnet things that most kids our age don't get to see. We visited new states that we had never been (I am up to 37!), saw many differnet attractions, and evn saw some different kinds of people.

Our first stop was Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. When we first got into town we stopped at Pirmanti Brothers our favorite place to eat in Pitt. Then we went to the Duquesne Inlcine and rode up to the top and took a tour of how it runs. It was pretty cool. Then, since it had been a long day traveling, we went to the hotel and swam for abut an hour then just layed around and watched tv.

The next day we went to Kennywood. There was so much differnet rides. I have been to a lot of amusment parks and festivals and this place had some super duper rides! We went on two water rides and got totally soaked (we saved the water rides for last so we didn't have to be wet all day and feel uncomfortable. Kennywood is much much better than Six Flags. They have a bigger park and better rides.

On Wednesday we left early and drove to Gettysburg. We were planning on it being about a 2 hour ride to Gettysburg from Pitt but it ended up being 4 hours so when we got to Gettysburg we had to hurry to finish the self guided tour so we could still get to Washington D.C.

Gettysburg was fun. I am not a big history person so it wasn't my favorite part of the trip but it was quite fun. We ended up getting to getting stuck in rush hour and we didn't get into town until after it was pretty much dark. We got to "our" hotel and waited in line forever to then figure out we had the wrong Holiday Inn. So we found our way the right one. Once we got there we were all exhausted and we went to sleep after eating our complimentary cake that they left us for having so much trouble checking in. We got to go look at the pool on the roof but didn't get to swim that night becuase the pool closed at 10 and it was past 10., but we swam every night we were there for about 2 hours each time,

While in Washinton D.C. we went to 4 of the smithsonian's, saw Alan Bean (famous for going into space)(he stayed at our hotel also)went to the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorial, saw the Capital and White House, went up in the Washington Monument, Visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and went and saw the Bill of Rights, Constitution, Articles of Confederation, Declaration of Inpendence, and the Magna Carta.

It was a very fun and exciting experience. I wish we could have stayed longer but we had to get home to see our puppy who we missed A LOT!

After about a week we got back we went to St. Louis and saw the Jonas Brother concert! IT WAS SOOOO MUCH FUN!! I WAN'T AT ALL EXCITED ABOUT IT BEFORE BUT AM SO GLAD I WENT!!!!!!!! I WILL NEVER FORGET IT! I LOVE THEM!!!!!!!

This picture is of the Night at the Musuem 2 loot. It was used in the actual movie.

This is the actual American Idol desk from the 1st season!

This is the inside of one of the three floors of the Air and Space musuem in Washington D.C.

Wow....it has been a long time

2009-06-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

Mallory Here. I "graduated" from 8th grade and the majority of the pictures are taken at the awards ceremony.
My grandparents and I. Thnak you for everything you do for me. Transporting every which way and being who you are. Love you

My other grandparents and . Thank you. Thank you for everything. All the places we went together and still go together and all the effort you put into my needs and wants placed. Thank you. Love you

My dad and I. I am very very very glad that you adopted me. It means the world to me that somebody would want me as a daughter, finally. Thank you. For everything. When I say I want something it always appears. I know that i can be really really mean to you sometimes. But right now as i am writing this i don't even understand why. There isnt a single reason to be mad at you. You do everything for me. Thank You so much. Love you

My mom and I. Where do I start. You mean the world to me. I couldn't ask for a better mom. I may think that you are the meanest parents in the world, but relaly I don't have it that hard and i know that you guys just want the best for me. Look at this picture good and hard. We really do look alike. And i know that i used to say, " Give me a break," or something along those lines but i am happy i look like you. So everybody who says I am a good kid can say oh I bet that's her mom! I love you so much. Thank you for everything you have done to make my life what it is today.

The new addition to the family! Sophie. A maltishoun. a maltese bischoun. Today she went to the vet and she weighed 7.4 pounds. She is getting bigger every day. We really have bonded. My mom says that while I am gone she will sit outside my bedroom door and just kind of look around inside and look dazed and confused. I really really do miss her when I am gone. She can be a pain but after that she is always ready to cuddle up and gives you kisses. I am so glad that we got her. I couldn't ask for a better dog. She is very well trained. She is 7 months old and knows just about everything a dog needs to know. I love her so much!

Well that is it.

EVerybody have a fun week(Stemaboat days for me)

(3 DOORS DOWN!!!!!!)

Happy Father's Day to all the dad's and granddad's

Nauvoo Pumpkin Parade

2008-11-03T13:51:00.001-08:00

A wonderful (yet again) picture of Mallory smiling.

Frankenstein

A pumpkin with a wolf. It is wonderful ! Must have taken a long time!

Mallory thinking very hard

A wonderful picture of Mallory from the back. You can tell the sun is setting in the background.

Chiefs homecoming!

2008-10-11T08:15:00.000-07:00

Chiefs vs. Hounds

(Keokuk vs. Fort Madison)

Homecoming of 08-09

Emma and I went by ourselves. Greg worked the game, so we were sorta watched. We had a blast. Moved around a lot. A lot of the people, i guess mostly middle and high schoolers, don't really pay attetntion to the game, but I did sorta. I knew when they got touchdowns. That's the main thing right? We shared a funnel cake and had both a rootbeer, then Emma found herslef acting like a middle schooler. SHe was chatting it up with all kinds of people. It was cute!

Emma wore a pair of jeans, beads,her fingernails and toenails painted purple and white, a purple sweatshirt, and one of my shirts under it. When we got to the game one of the girls put the heavy black lines under our eyes.

I wore a pair of jeans, my chiefs sweatshirt and shirt, 5 beads, the heavy lines under my eyes, purple flip-flops, a chiefs bow in my hair, and ourple and white fingernails and toenails.

We didn't any pictures though. After the game we had to wait for Greg and for everybody to get out of the stadium so we went around and got all the pepsi caps we could find. (Papa be expecting 3 bags full)

Overall the night was a blast and the final score of the chiefs homecoming was

...........................................................................................

..........................................................................................................................................................................

49-6

CHIEFS WON!

GO CHIEFS!

Our Day of Fun!

2008-09-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

Going to Kathy's Pumpkin Patch was a very fun event! We bought a lot of things to design the front of our house. My mom bought this stuff. She also masde this display which I think is wonderful!
This is my pumpkin that I picked in the pumpkin patch. It is 15.8 pounds! Bigger!
We bought this plant at Walmart and the scarecrow at Kathy's Pumpkin Patch! It is beautiful!
This is what our front steps look like! They are beautiful yet again!

Emma and I did a bag race and I won! It was good!
Here is my mom going down the "slide."
Cool picture of Emma and I! Greg was standing beneath us and we were on a hale bay above him.
Us in the head things. You stick your head through and you turn into something else!
I covered Emma completely in corn. She had in her shirt, pants, and socks! I was a funny experience!

River Fun

2008-09-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

I just love this picture. I took it with greg's big camera and it just shows so much detail of the rock(s).
This picture, greg took it of course, is me at a weird but cool angle laying down on the dock watching the barge come down the river toward the dam.
Me, showing that I having a good time.
Greg. Are you suprised? I think you were. Or are you posing? who knows?
PLEASE DON"T JUMP IN! PLEASE PLEASE! Greg and I both took our pictures like this looking like we are ready to jump in.

A few weeks ago Greg asked me if I wanted to go down by the river and take some pictures. Of course I said sure. We had a lot of fun. We were gone for about an hour or so. Here are some of the pictures.

Our trip to Wisconsin Dells, WI

2008-08-09T14:44:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Wisconsin Dells was short yet sweet. Emma and I would have liked to have stayed longer, seeing how much stuff was there. It was pretty much a mini Las Vegas. There were water parks ( of course), Broadway Dinner Theatre, Haunted Houses, Theme Parks, Ferris Wheels, Putt-Putt Golfing courses, Candy Stores, Fudge Factories, many cheap t-shirt places, many different places to eat at, museums, and of course things to do with the Wisconsin River.

We stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge. It had 3 indoor water parks and 1 outdoor water parks. Unlike the other hotels in Wisconsin Dells, our hotel was a guest exclusive only water park. That meant that we had very few lines to get on the water slides. Only the people that were staying at the hotel got to go to these water parks.

One of the indoor water parks was a big fort with a bucket that dumped every so often. It had all kinds of buttons to hit and things to turn to dump water on the above or below people. It also had 3 small water slides. 1 that you had to use a tube for and the other 2 you didn't. It also consisted of the entrance to the tornado. That water slide was the big hit of the hotel. 2-4 people could go at a time. We either went Emma and I or all 4 of us. Greg and I went once together, but the bad part was that you had to haul up a huge tube up 8 flights of stairs. We went 15+ times.

One of the other indoor water parks had 2 hot tubs, one for adults and the other for people 6+. It also had a pool that had a basketball court in the water. Greg met some other men and played some NP BA with them, as he says. It also had 3 baby water slides, 2 encloses smaller water slides, and 1 taller slide, which was the only one in this particular water park that consisted of a tube. It also had a lazy river which my mom spent a lot of time in.

The other indoor water park had a giant wave pool, a kiddie pool that was kind of like the 1st indoor water park I mentioned. It also had a dark and light tube slide that went inside and outside. The most used slide by us was the speed slide. You had to use a mat and 4 people could race at the same time. You went through a small enclosed tube that eventually went unenclosed.Then right when you got out of the tube you went straight down. Now this whole time you were on the tube you were on a mat on your stomach. Greg was usually the winner of the family race.

This is a picture of me on a bicycle that is on a tightrope. We were at the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory. It basically like the Magic House in St. Louis, MI.
This is a picture of my mom on the electric shock machine at the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory. It didn't really shock you it just shook you really funny. It kind of tickled.
This is a picture of Emma on the electric shock machine.
This is a picture of Emma and I in front of the Wisconsin River.
Here is the beautiful Wisconsin River. We went on a 2 and 1/2 hour boat trip on it. We got off at the Witch's Gulch. It was like a cave but it wasn't. We also got to get off and watch the famous dog jump across a gap for rock to rock. It was a 5 and 1/2 foot jump and it was probably 20-30 feet off the ground.

This is a picture of part of out hotel. It is probably 4 times that big.
This is a picture of inside on of the many candy and fudge shops.
This is a picture of my mom at the Tommy Bartlett Exploratory with her hair standing up.
This is a picture of Greg on the bicycle on the tightrope.
This is a picture of me on a thing that spins you every which way. It cost me $3.00 but it was worth it.

This is a picture of Wiley's Woods. It was connected to out hotel and again it was only for the hotel guests unless you purchased a wristband. Pretty much what it is, is a 4 story ball shooting place. On the 1st floor you can fill bags full of foam balls and all the other levels consisted of place that you could shoot the balls or toss or anything you could possibly think of. There were also 4 slides and a pizza hut located in Wiley's Woods
This is Club Cub.It was located in Wiley's Woods. It was a place that you could make crafts. I made lotion and so did Emma. We each had to pay $5.00.
This is a picture of my airbrush tattoo.
This is a picture of Emma's airbrush tattoo. It is a purple unicorn.

Wisconsin Dells was one of my favorite vacations ever and I hope and plan on going back next year, hopefully. Emma and I both hope to make it a annual trip.

The Flood of 08'

2008-07-20T18:42:00.000-07:00

This picture is of the Ayerco that caved in at Gulf Port.

This picture is of Gulf Port. On Saturday, the Burlington bridge opened which leads to Gulf Port. The damage is horrible. Many houses are caved in. The flooding goes at least 10 miles out of Gulf Port.

2008-07-16T18:06:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite dinners ever made! As you can see we enjoyed a plate of corn on the cob, bought at Ron's Market in Mt. Pleasant, IA. We had squash, which was also bought at Ron's Market. We put Extra Virgin Olive Oil and some garlic powder and garlic salt in a bowl and mix it. We put that sauce on the asparagus and squash. We also sprinkle a little salt and pepper on it. We had Steak, which is my mom's special recipe, that she covers it with. The final thing we had was Roasted Potatoes and Onions. We used 5 Red Potatoes for 3 people. We cut them up and put them in a frying pan with a little Extra Virgin Olive Oil. We let those cook and then add 1 onion and a tablespoon of margarine. This meal is again one of my favorite meals EVER!
The recipe for the squash and asparagus was from my grandma Karen.
The recipe for the Roasted Potatoes and Onions was from my Grandma Linda.

THERE HAS BEEN A DEATH IN THE FAMILY!

2008-07-16T16:12:00.000-07:00

Please join me in remembering a great icon of the entertainment community.
The Pillsbury Doughboy died yesterday of a yeast infection and trauma complications from repeated pokes in the belly. He was 71.

Doughboy was buried in a lightly greased coffin.
Dozens of celebrities turned out to pay their respects, including Mrs. Butterworth, Hungry Jack, the California Raisins, Betty Crocker, the Hostess Twinkies, and Captain Crunch. The grave site was piled high with flours. Aunt Jemima delivered the eulogy and lovingly described Doughboy as a man who never knew how much he was kneaded.

Doughboy rose quickly in show business, but his later life was filled with turnovers.
He was not considered a very smart cookie, wasting much of his dough on half-baked schemes. Despite being a little flaky at times, he still was a crusty old man and was considered a positive roll model for millions.

Doughboy is survived by his wife Play Dough, three children: John Dough, Jane Dough and Dosey Dough, plus they had one in the oven. He is also survived by his elderly father, Pop Tart.
The funeral was held at 3:50 for about 20 minutes.

If this made you smile for even a brief second, please rise to the occasion and take time to pass it on and share that smile with someone else who may be having a crumby day and kneads a lift.

Just Cause.......

2008-07-13T20:48:00.000-07:00

This is Mallory. I decided to do this blog just cause...........
It shows many different places that I have visited throughout the past 5 years.

This picture was taken on the top of the Duqesne Incline in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. My mom and dad actually got married in Pittsburgh, the wedding party wearing their Pittsburgh Steelers Jerseys. From about where this picture was taken was where they got married. We are true Steelers fans. We attempt to make it to games 2-3 times a year, depending on when the time allows. I have actually been to Pittsburgh twice. I don't always go with my parents when they go to games. I usually stay with my grandparents, unless they go with them. Then I would go to my other grandparents.

This picture was taken when I attended my Uncle and Aunts wedding in Las Vegas Nevada. This wasn't my first time going there, but my first going there that I will remember it my whole life. I went when I was just 1 or 2. Anyways this Las Vegas Trip was awesome! We went to a Mega Bubble Show, Planet Hollywood's, "Stomp." We also went in a Limo to and from the wedding. We also got a small tour of the area in which we were staying. We stayed in the Luxor. The pools there were awesome. Actually one of the times I went swimming, I got to sit in a tube, which we had to buy and blow up, and drink a pop out of a very fancy cup, and I felt and thought I was queen of the world. I enjoyed every minute I got to have in Las Vegas. I was hoping and hoping that I would see a famous person, but I didn't. Oh well! I was the most amazing experience EVER!

Now look at this picture long and hard and think to yourself......hmmmmm...... where in the world are you going to see many buffalo, especially that close? YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, that's where. I went there in the summer of June 2006. It was awesome. It was one of those places where you could just sit back and relax and look at ALL the sites that can be seen. I loved Yellowstone and so did Emma, my sister. Even to this day when my parents ask, "Girls, where would you like to go on vacation? " Emma always says, "YELLOWSTONE!" She loved it. We moved form cabin to hotel to hotel to bed and breakfast. The cabins where very old fashioned, and that was the fun part. My sister got to try bison and she loved it. I didn't try it. The Buffalo and Elk everywhere was phenomenal! The mountains and scenery was again phenomenal! The waterfalls, snow, and so much more, (I could go on and on for hours of all the different things there were to see in Yellowstone.) were again phenomenal. Lets just put it that Yellowstone itself was phenomenal.

Now this trip was an afternoon trip! My uncle and aunt were back from California, and we all gathered at the Amana Colonies Champagne Brunch! It was a very fun trip. We went to some of the little shops. My mom has always said after that trip that we are going to go to the Amana Colonies one day and visit all the shops and all the Colonies. That would be very fun. Our family loves history.
The picture: from right to left (1st row): Karen, my grandma, Aunt Becky, Me, My aunt, My mom
from right to left (2nd row): Chuck, my uncle, Ron, my grandpa, Evan, my uncle

2008-07-13T20:20:00.000-07:00

I have no idea what moved me to start this....Something new I would guess....I don't have a tendency to stick with things in cyber space that long. Perhaps my family can help me by chiming in and offering their own views on life. I will start by telling you about my family and the kind of life I lead.

I am married to the most wonderful man who ever existed. Every day he risks his life, not only to support his family, but to keep his community safe. He is the most intelligent person I know...His vocabulary puts me to shame (and I have always considered myself a bit of a wordsmith). He is strong in his opinions which is either a thorn in his side or his greatest attribute depending on the situation. His quick wit will often leave me scratching my head and provides a laugh for the whole family.

My daughter Mallory is the strongest, smartest, greatest gift that I have ever been given. She is growing into such a beautiful young woman and I know her talents and character are the envy of parents everywhere. We are very proud of her and all her many accomplishments. The most unforgettable quality about Mallory is her compassion for others. Whether it be children, the elderly, or anyone in between Mallory would give everything she owns if it meant helping another person.

In July of 2000, I was introduced to Emma who would eventually become my step-daughter and complete my heart. Emma lit up my life from the day I met her. She and I have developed a special bond that is difficult to describe yet real nonetheless. I am proud of everything she does. She is smart, caring, and generous. She is always up for an adventure and gets the greatest joy from the "little things" in life.

I am a mixed bag myself. I am many things besides wife and mother. I am a child care provider and through this line of work I have found my calling. I dug deep and have accomplished more than I ever dreamed was possible. In December I completed my AA and will be starting by BA in Early Childhood Education this August. I am a survivor as I have overcome some of life's biggest hurdles to get to where I am today. I am a traveler as this is something my husband and I enjoy doing as often as time permits. Together we have been to some pretty amazing places and seen some pretty amazing things. I am also tired....hopefully I can find myself picking this up another time.