Hale's Hall

A very sad day six years ago!

2011-11-25T10:37:00.000-08:00

Three little girls missing their grandma!

Kelsey Ozmun, Taylor Hale and Cassidy Cochran

Headstone of Frances Caroline Robinson Hale died 21 November 2005

We have each other!

Bagpiper at Frances' burial Logan, Utah cemetery

Charla, Robert, Kari, Derek, Christine and Darin. Her family

Grandma Alice Jones dies

2011-07-02T16:26:00.000-07:00

Grandma Alice Marie Jones passed away!

On June 26th Alice Marie Smith Noes Jones died at 5:30 AM, age the age of 88, in the Dearborn County Hospital in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. She was the mother of Frances Carolina Robinson Hale. She was born January 7th 1923 in Mount Hope, Hamilton Co., Ohio to Helen Deborah Smith and Cecil Harry Myers. She married Carl John Robinson (divorced), Lucien Emery (divorced) and Elijah "Joe" Jones. She worked, as a nurse, at Rising Sun Nursing Center, Shady Nook Nursing Home and Woodland Hills Nursing Home. She also worked at Seagrams Distillery.

Alice is survived by a daughter, Bennie Rae (Hank) Shafer of Bright, Indiana; four sons Elijah Jones of Rising Sun, Indiana; Roger (Roxanne) Jones of Rising Sun, Indiana; Murit (Rose Marie) Emery of Clarksville, Tennessee; Tim (Edna) Robinson of Clifton, Idaho; by 21 grandchildren, 41 great grandchildren and 8 great great grandchildren. She was preceeded in death by her parents, her husband and her daughters, Debra Lavelle Jones, Barbara Robinson Ross and Frances Robinson Hale.

Her funeral was on June 30th 2011 and burial was in the Rising Sun, Indiana cemetery.

June 28th 2011

2011-06-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

I decided that I better bring this blog more up to date. Mason Ozmun graduated from Mountain Crest High School and got his mission call to the Czech Prauge Mission. We are all very excited for Mason

The middle of June Tana and I went on a trip to the Seattle are to visit with her son Lou and Grandson Brice and then rented a car to drive down to Portland where we were able to visit with Bob's son, Darin and family. Darin, Kelly and Taylor are leaving for Switzerland for two years where Darin will be working. Taylor had a dance recital while we were there, which we were able to attend. This picture is of Taylor with their good friends Tripti and Manali.

After visiting with Darin and family we drove over to the Oregon coast where we had rented a small condo on the beach. We spent most of our time looking out at the beautiful view from our second floor deck.

This is the view of the Yaquina Head lighthouse from our condo.

Christmas on Kaui

2010-12-31T14:47:00.000-08:00

This is a Hybiscus, which is the state flower for Hawaii. We left cold Utah on the 16th of December for 8 beautiful days on the Island of Kaui.

We stayed at Aston's Islander on the Beach in Kapaa. Our place was in the Kaui building #132. It had a Queen size bed plus a couch that could pull out into a bed. There was a kitchenette so we could eat in.

This picture is taken out the door condo. The beach was only about 60 feet from our front door. We left the slider door open all night so we could hear the sound of the waves. Oh. heaven!

This is the Wailua river. We rode this river boat up the river to the Fern Grotto. On another day we took a two seat kayak and paddled up to a hidden falls trail.

There was native entertainment up at the Fern Grotto and on the way back to where we boarded the boat.

This is Opaeka Falls.

This is the Wailua falls, which is the one that was at the beginning of the old TV show "Fantasy Island"

This is Waimea canyon. Mark Twayne called it the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.

At the end of the Waimea Canyon drive is this look-out . It is on the top of Mt. Wai'ale'ale which is the wettest place on the planet with annual rainfall of 455 inches.

On the north shore of Kaui is Tunnels Beach. The sand is beautiful.

This is the Hanalei valley with all the taro patches. They use the taro to make Poi which is the Hawaiian staple food. It tastes like wall-paper paste but if eaten with Kalua Pork it takes some of the salty taste away from the pork.

Just some beautiful scenery. This happens to be along the Waimea river.

This Mustang convertible saved Bob $35,000 dollars! He rented it for the trip on Kaui and found out he didn't want to buy one after all. It was fun but Tana liked the Seibring we rented on Maui, last year.

This was the sunrise from our front door on our last morning on Kaui.

Merry Christmas and Aloha!!

Flash Back

2010-12-10T12:34:00.000-08:00

The great matador on her way to battle

Come on little bull!

Oh, I guess the little bull won this one!!!

Forgotten picture

2010-10-21T08:54:00.001-07:00

I left this picture out of the other post but wanted to include it since we saw this in Yellowstone. (It happened to be on the front cover of the Island Park Newspaper).

Island Park Weekend

2010-10-21T08:20:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Bob's son-in-law, Chris, we were able to use the Tanglewood Lodge in Island Park, Idaho for the UEA weekend to host Tana's family. It was the first time in about six years that some of them had been together. The weather was perfect and everyone had a great time.

We went into Yellowstone Park on Friday and saw several Bison. This one looked like he didn't like tourists very much so we made sure the grandkids stayed away. The grandkids are city kids and think that all animals are tame so they wanted to get closer.

We saw this beautiful bull elk. He bugled as we walked up, which was neat.

There was also this cow elk nursing a calf. The grandkids thought it was pretty cool.

Bob and Tana by the Fire Hole River. The scenery was beautiful and because it was off season there weren't many tourists in the park. It was a perfect time to go.

Tana's kids and spouses: Travis and Heidi Muirbrook, Nate and Ronda Mills, Kim and Lou Burke, Joe and Shelly Burke, Bob and Tana Hale, Travis and Sarah Burke and Jen and Ryan Skidmore.

All but two of Tana's grankids. They had so much fun being together, since they are very close in age.

Siblings Get Together

2010-08-29T15:32:00.001-07:00

Tana, Bob, Hyrum, Nancy, Ron, Linda, Brent

On Friday and Saturday the 27th and 28th me and my brothers Ron and Brent along with Ron's wife, Linda and my sister Nancy along with her husband Hyrum got together to go through all that was left of my mom's stuff to divide it up. There were a lot of photo albums, journals of both mom and dad, genealogy information and other assorted items. While going through things there was a lot of "remembering" about life as we were growing up, on the farm in Groveland, Idaho and later in Blackfoot, when we moved into town. Nancy and Hyrum had just returned from a mission to Russia, Ron and Linda came down from Lacey, Washington and Brent and his son Gary came over from Orangevale, California. It was good to get together. I'm not sure any of us are ready to be the oldest generation!

Europe trip part 6 (the end!)

2010-06-29T10:44:00.000-07:00

Our time in Switzerland over we headed back to Germany on our way home We stayed at Hotel Laterne in Baden Baden, Germany

The plaza out our window of the Hotel Laterne - notice the date of the building 1691

Beautiful garden in Baden Baden, Germany

Baden Baden gardens

Bob and Tana at the Frankfurt Temple, Frankfurt, Germany

Kaiserdom (Kaiser's Cathedral) in Frankfurt, Germany

Altar in Kaiserdom, Frankfurt, Germany

Door to Kaiserdom, Frankfurt, Germany

Three Kings Church in Frankfurt, Germany

Two tired but happy tourists ending their trip in Frankfurt, Germany

Europe trip part 5

2010-06-29T10:03:00.000-07:00

We finally had to leave our favorite place, Lauterbrunnen, for Luzern by panorama train.

On the way to Luzern, Switzerland

Covered pedestrian bridge in Luzern, Switzerland

Riverside walk in Luzern, Switzerland

Kramgasse (Kram street) in Bern, Switzerland

Famous Bern bear in Bern, Switzerland

Bikes lined up at Bern, Switzerland bahnhaf

Tana by city wall of Murton, Switzerland - a medieval city

Murton, Switzerland city wall

Murton, Switzerland

Old church at Kerzers, Switzerland

Europe trip part 4

2010-06-27T12:31:00.001-07:00

Our next country was Switzerland with a stop at beautiful Lauterbrunnen

This is the scene outside our window of Staubbach falls

The left side is the barn and the right side is the house

Swiss cow bells under the eaves of a barn

Stechlberg, Switzerland

The Eiger and Monch mountain peakes in the Swiss Alps

The village of Murren, Switzerland

Village of Gimmelwald, Switzerland

House in Gimmelwald, Switzerland

Tana walking the trail down from Gimmelwald to Stechlberg, Switzerland

Europe trip part 3

2010-06-25T09:04:00.000-07:00

It was now back to Germany after visiting Austria.

Beautiful lake Konigssee

German country side

Dachau concentration camp perimeter

Tana by prisoner bunks in barracks of Dachau concentration camp

Memorial at Dachau concentration camp, Germany

St Kajstan church, Munich, Germany

Munich, Germany street scene

Country side from Fussen, Germany

Neuschuanstein Castle (Disneyland Castle) as Schwangau, Germany

Why walk when you can ride to the castle, Schwangau, Germany

Bob and Tana at Schwangau, Germany

Trip continued

2010-06-23T10:45:00.000-07:00

I noticed that I started out yesterday's blog by saying we left on June 16th when we actually left May 16th. Oh, well, that's what happens when you get old!

Alter in St. Stephan's church in Vienna, Austria

Hofberg Palace, Vienna, Austria

Street in Vienna, Austria

Botanical gardens in Baden, Austria

Altar in cathdral in Salzberg, Austria

Fresco in Archbishop's palace in Salzberg, Austria

Hohansalzberg Fortress in Salzberg, Austria

Tana with street performer in Salzberg, Austria

Europe trip

2010-06-22T15:27:00.000-07:00

June 16th we left for Europe. Luckily the volcano in Iceland behaved itself and didn't cause us any problem getting to Frankfurt, Germany. Immediately upon arrival at Frankfurt we headed to Wurzberg. Germany by train. We had Eur-rail pass which gave us prepaid travel for 21 days in first class accomodations. I will cover the trip a little at a time.

Archbishops Palace, Wurzberg, Germany

Church in Wurzberg, Germany

Field of Canola in Germany

Gate in wall, Rothenberg, Germany

Rothenberg, Germany

Tana eating Rothenberger Schneeballen

Marketplatz, Nurnberg, Germany

Fountain in Nurnberg, Germany

SOLD!!

2010-04-21T17:12:00.000-07:00

Today it was final! We sold the Riverdale house. This house had served it's purpose and we were anxious to sell it. It had been Tana's house until we got married and then it had been Tana's son Joe's house until he married Shelley.

We had been trying to sell it since December. Travis and Sarah went and painted it to cover holes in the walls and it was ready to go. We ran it on KSL.com classified ads but didn't get much response. The biggest problem is that no one will loan money on manufactured homes unless you own the land they set on and this one is in a park where the lot is rented. It looked as though we would have to carry the contract.

We did get a couple of calls, one from a man who had a bunch of kids but no money and one from a couple we thought would be perfect. The couple was older and retired and they really liked the house but they had just renewed a 6 month lease on the apartment they were living in. They couldn't get out of their lease with out buying themselves out of it and besides they didn't have money enough for the down payment.

Two weeks ago we decided to run it on KSL.com again and reduced the price. Still no action then Tana's brother Stan found a guy that wanted to buy it and move it to Ephriam but we would have to pay lot rent for the next year on the empty lot. It looked like that might be our only option. BUT WAIT! Tuesday morning Tana got a call from a man who was looking for a house for his daughter and her three kids and had seen the ad on KSL.com, along with another house in a park just down the road. He asked if we were flexible on the price of the house, for cash. Tana said yes. She told him we could meet him about noon to show it to him. We did meet him and he loved it. He quickly went to get his daughter so she could take a look and by 2 o'clock we had a verbal aggrement to sell it to him. By noon Wednesday we had cash in hand and he had the title to the Riverdale house.

We have a testimony of tithing. On Monday Bob had written a tithing check for the interest we had earned last year, from our investments. That coupled with a lot of prayer paid off for us and we are excited that a nice young lady and her kids have a nice place to live that is affordable and closer to her work. Everyone won!

Busy Month

2010-03-20T08:47:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened this month beginning with the passing of Bob's mom, Lois, on the 6th of March. She was 95 years old. We had great support from our families. Bob's brothers, Ron and Brent came with many of their family members and his sister, Nancy, who is serving a mission in Moscow, Russia was represented by her daughter Julie and her family. Tana's family came to the viewing in a show of support, which was appreciated. Even though Lois is now free from suffering there is an empty place in our hearts.

Kari , Steve, Adam, Molly, Tom, Kelly and Darin

Chris, Jake, Mason, McKenna, Mark, Hennley, Christine and Beck

This week was a week of school musicals with Rich High School performing "Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat" . Tana's grandaughter Megan was in it. We went on Wednesday night and enjoyed being able to see her.

Meg Muirbrook in the middle

Thursday night we went to the Mount Logan Middle School to see Bob's grandson, Hunter, in "Flower Power". He seems to be following in the footsteps of his dad, with his musical talent.

Hunter Hale in the middle

2010-01-06T16:19:00.001-08:00

We left for Maui, Hawaii on December 14th from Salt Lake City. We stayed at the Outrigger Ainu Nalu condominium in Lahaina. It was a one bedroom unit which included a full kitchen so we could eat in most of the time. It was only about a block from Front Street in Lahaina so it was close to everything. The weather was perfect with the daytime temp. about 80 degrees and at night about 70 degrees. The water was about 74 degrees so it was perfect for snorkeling. Overlooking the ocean with Lanai island in the background

Tana with our convertible

We saw whales, it's the time of the year when they come to birth

We zip-lined. Here is Tana going on one of 8 runs.

We ate at Cheeseburgers in Paradise in Lahaina and they were huge.

The end of a perfect day and a perfect trip

We were sorry to have to come home especially since it was snowy and cold upon return to Logan. If it wasn't so expensive there we would love to stay in Hawaii. Gas was $3.67 a gallon and whole milk was $4.99 a gallon!! If anyone needs a guide for Hawaii we know where you can get two. ALOHA

Northwest Trip

2009-09-04T10:58:00.000-07:00

In August we made a quick trip to the Great Northwest. We flew in to Portland then took a rental car for a road trip to the Seattle area (Carnation, Washington) to see Tana's son Lou then to Westport, Washington, on the coast. We followed the coast south to Astoria, Seaside, Canon Beach and Tillamook, Oregon before returning to the Portland area in time for Trista and Tim's wedding at Troutdale, Oregon on August 20th. It was a great trip but any trip to the Oregon coast is a great trip! Here are a few pictures of the trip.

Snoqualmie Falls, Washington

Tana at Westport, Washington

Bob and Tana at Seaside, Oregon

Sunset at Seaside, Oregon

Bob at Canon Beach, Oregon

Tana catching Shepperds Dell waterfall in Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

Kelly, Trista and Darin Hale

China Trip

2009-07-21T09:49:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, it's been a long time since we wrote anything. I guess that shows what a boring live we live. Oh, I remember now, we went on a trip to China. We have been back for six weeks and I think we are finally over jet lag. It was a great trip. There were so many changes since Bob was there three years ago. Construction is going on every where but we're not sure how well built things are. We saw two year old freeways made from concrete with no rebar that has now turned to gravel, with the heavy trucks driving on them. Here are a few pictures from the trip. For those that beg to see more, we have 560 more or for those who are not quite so desperate we have a 80 slide Power Point presentation.

Dinner at Shenzen

The Li River at Guilin, China

Tana and Bob at the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River

Tana and students at the Viking Primary School at Jingzhou, China

No diapers for toddlers

Terracotta Warriors at Xian, China

Bob and Tana at the Great Wall at Badaling, China

March 6th

2009-03-06T10:48:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know it's been a long time since I have added anything to our blog, but it seems like I wake up and another month has gone by. We enjoy hearing from other family members through their blogs. It's sure a neat way to keep up to date on the grand and great grand kids, since we don't see them often.

We stay busy between going to Salt Lake City every Saturday to serve as hosts at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and taking care of our moms the rest of the time. We are the leaders of the Saturday morning shift and it keeps us on our toes trying to schedule the other hosts to cover all the stations in the building. We are in need of additional hosts. Does that sound like recruiting?

Tana goes to Ogden to help her mom out a couple of times a week and I check in with my mom a couple of times a week to count her medicines and pay her bills. We manage to go out to eat Chinese once a week, she likes to eat something besides the food at Williamsburg Retirement Center.

Last month we were able to go to the winter concert at the Mount Logan Middle School in which Hunter (my grandson) performed.

We are excited that it finally looks like there is a hint of spring. We can't wait to be outside riding our bikes and hiking in the mountains. This is all in preparation for our trip to China in May!!

2008-11-09T16:39:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, November 2nd, we flew out of Salt Lake City to Tampa, Florida. The purpose of the trip was to visit with Derek and LeEllen and to enjoy some warmer weather. The weather was perfect as were the hosts. We were treated like royalty and the food was terrific! They made us feel so at home and comfortable. Thanks Derek and LeEllen for such a great time!!

On Monday Derek and LeEllen took off work and we drove over to Orlando and spent the day at Epcot. The weather was perfect and we had a great time. They had a food and wine festival going on and each country had a kiosk set up with sample size servings of native foods ($4.00 a serving) and we tried several. We have to get more of the pepperberry prawns from New Zealand!!! For lunch we ate at the Italian Resturant there and the food was great. I think the favorite ride was "Soarin". We stayed for the fireworks and lazer show, that night, and were really happy that we did, even though it had been a long day.

On Tuesday Tana and I got to sleep in since Derek and LeEllen went to work for half a day. After they got home we drove over to Tampa to the Cuban neighborhood of Ybor City for the afternoon. It felt like we were in Cuba with the architecture and everyone speaking with an accent. There were several shops that made hand rolled cigars, which was facinating to watch being made. Yew those are bras on the balcony! I'm not sure what they are doing there, maybe advertising, but what?This Cuban fellow was reading the newspaper so we checked to see what the news was and found out that Obama had won the election. We walked around the area and could smell the Cuban coffee being roasted. We had lunch at a Cuban resturant. I had a very good Cuban sandwhich. Tana didn't think much of her chicken noodle soup but managed to survive on the salad.

On Wednesday Tana and I drove back over to Orlando and attended the Orlando Temple. It is beautiful, as they all are. There were only seven in the session we attended but it was nice to be there. Our original plan was to go on over to the Kennedy Space Center and Cocoa Beach but we ran out of time.

Thursday we drove over to St. Pete and then up the coastal islands to Clear Water. The beaches on the Gulf of Mexico were very clean and the sand was white and powdery. We were able to find some shells, even some sand dollars, but they didn't survive the trip home.

Our evenings were spent visiting with Derek and LeEllen and eating great food. Derek is coming out for Thanksgiving and I am concerned that he will starve to death with our cooking :) They sure have a nice home in a great neighborhood. We were always greeted by Tabitha (the cat) who seemed to like us. Again, thanks Derek and LeEllen, we couldn't have felt more welcome!!

Church History Tour

2008-10-28T16:31:00.000-07:00

Joseph Smith Memorial

Sharon, Vermont

Peter Whitmer home

Fayette, New York

Palmyra Temple

Palmyra, New York

Smith Log home

Palmyra, New York

Niagra Falls

Niagra, New York

Kirtland Temple

Kirtland, Ohio

Adam-ondi-Ahman

Missouri

Nauvoo Temple

Nauvoo, Illinois

Carthage Jail

Carthage, Illinois

On September 17th we flew to New York City where we boarded a motor coach for our tour. We went to the Sharon, Vermont area to see all the sights there and then on to the Palmyra, New York area to see the Hill Cumorah, the Sacred Grove, the Palmyra Temple and other places. We were to then go to Kirtland, Ohio but our driver didn't show up. It turned out that he got drunk and didn't show up for a couple of days but the bus company sent a new driver to take us to Niagra Falls and on to Kirtland. We were able to go into the Kirtland Temple. From Kirtland we flew to Kansas City, Missouri where we got on another motor coach for a tour of Independence, Liberty, Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri. After checking out those sights we travelled on to Nauvoo and Carthage, Illinois. We were able to attend the Nauvoo Temple where we were the witness couple in the session. Our final bus ride was to St. Louis, Missouri via Hannibal, Missouri to see the Mark Twain sights. We flew out of St. Louis to Salt Lake. It was a great trip and we learned a lot.

Temple Fork with Brice

2008-07-20T14:50:00.000-07:00

July 8, 2008,

Brice stayed with us for three days. one of those days we hiked up to the Temple Fork saw mill site, up Logan Canyon.

It is where the lumber was obtained for the Logan Temple between 1877 - 1844. They hauled the wood to Wood Camp and then floated it down to Logan from there. It is a beautiful hike, a lot of shade and tons of yellow and purple wild flowers in bloom, next to the creek.

Brice seemed to really enjoy it. Bob told us faith promoting stories of two boys about 19 yrs. old that worked there and incidences that happened to them. It is so quiet and such a peaceful feeling at the site. We also learned from Bob about a young man and young lady that had met at the site and later were married. This ended up being the great grandparents to the wife of his counselor in the bishopric.

If you would like to hike it, it is an easy hike. I know a great guide and we would love to show you and have a few great stories. The kids would love it and would also be able to play in the water along the way. Little ones could ride on dad's shoulders.

The Garden Tomb and Dead Sea

2008-06-27T11:06:00.000-07:00

This was a great day to be able to stand in the Garden Tomb, and partake of the spirit that we felt. It was very humbling to be able to stand where Jesus once lay. It is now a beautiful garden with flowers and walk ways, but we realize that it was not, then, quite the way we see it now.

It is a very reverent place. Everyone around was very respectful and used their soft voices. We sat with our guide and read scriptures about events that took place there and listened to beautiful spiritual music, that he played, and it is a feeling that we will never forget!

This is the actual place where Christ was laid after the crucifixion.

They had to chisel out the foot area, which is on the right, because he was taller than the average Jew.

Now on a lighter note:

We had a fun time with this camel, he was VERY tall and had to kneel on the ground for me to climb on him. Then he got up with me on, and boy did he wobble back and forth. I felt so high. This was taken at Qumron, at the Dead Sea.

Bob was floating in the Dead Sea, he has his tongue hanging out because , he tasted the salt and mineral water and it had a terrible taste. It didn't take any effort to stay afloat. The sea is about 27% minerals. You couldn't sink if you wanted to. Have a great day and remember we love you all and wait for a neat home evening when we can share more. Love you all Grandma and Bob.

The Beginning

2008-06-03T11:19:00.001-07:00

Hale's Hall began, officially, on July 3rd 2007 in the Ogden, Utah, LDS Temple. We were brought together by a mutual friend. That seems so simple. In reality it is more complicated than that but there isn't room here to go in to all the details of our meeting and dating. We met on the 28th of November and were engaged on Valentine's day. We brought eleven children and 36 grand children into this union. Fortunately for the neighbors none of them live with us! We chose Logan, Utah, for our home where we are surrounded by beautiful mountains and our friends and neighbors. We are sad that not all of our family members live closer.

It seems like our marriage began with an unending series of honeymoons. The official one was to the Oregon Coast, at Newport, where we enjoyed the ocean and it's light houses. A couple of weeks later found us in Hawaii, on the island of Oahu's north east shore in a nice house. It was so peaceful! A couple of more weeks went by and we were in Island Park, Idaho in a huge lodge with Bob's family. Later on we took a road trip to Washington and Oregon to visit other family members.