WE LOVE YOU GRANDPA!!!

Early Sunday morning September 19th, 2010, Ryan's dear father, Calvin Robison, left this earth life surrounded by his loving children and sweet wife. We are overwhelmed and heartbroken to lose our fun loving Grandpa and Dad. It is especially devastating to have such a great loss just one month after the tragic loss of little Todd. I feel like my heart has broken beyond what I thought I could bear. Completely Heartbroken. We are so very grateful for the knowledge we have of our Savior Jesus Christ and for the blessings of eternal families. It is only through this knowledge that we have comfort. We know Todd was anxiously waiting and running to meet Grandpa and we are grateful for this piece of happiness. We know we will be with them again someday, but our hearts will ache each day as we will always be missing our Grandpa and our Toddy. I am deeply grateful for Cal in my life. For his love, care and support. For the fun and loving Grandpa he is to my precious children and for the amazing son he raised, who I am lucky enough to get to be with forever. We love you Grandpa!

This picture is pure joy, Grandpa & Baby Pierson - December 2003

Cal with his sweetheart on the Oregon Coast (trip to OR with us for Ryan's graduation from Optometry school) - May 2004

This is one of my absolute favorite pictures, classic Grandpa, I love this moment! Grandpa & Pierson at The Jubilee of Trees - Nov. 2006

4 Generations, Pierson with his Daddy, Grandpa and Great Grandpa Robison - Oct. 2007

The Cougar side of the family - Mark, Ryan & Dad at the BYU vs. Utah game, Nov. 2007 (Cal's great hat shows his support of his 2 "off" sons, Gregg & Steve)

Madi's 3rd Birthday Party with Grandma & Grandpa - April 2009

Pierson's 6th birthday with Grandpa - July 2009

Celebrating Madi's 4th birthday with Grandma & Grandpa - April 2010

Summer Fun with Grandpa - May 31st, 2010

1st Day of School - August 11th, 2010

It was hard for me to believe that it was already time for school to start, and even harder to believe I have a 2nd grader! The summer really flew by and I felt like I hardly did anything with my kids, I wasn't quite ready to give up the care free summer days, but the day came anyway. (And school starting on August 11th did not help! Really, who's idea was this?!) Pierce wasn't thrilled for school to be starting again, until we met his teacher, thank goodness for that! We both loved her right off, once he met her and saw his new classroom, he was ready to go!

Sweet Sister sure loves her big brother!

More excited about his new "Bumblebee" backpack than anything else!


I was happy that Pierce still wanted me to come have lunch with him on the first day. Madi was thrilled, she loves going to have lunch with Brother! Unfortunately, by the time we found Pierce he was done eating so we didn't actually get to eat with him. He had scarfed down his sandwich and was already out to recess! At least I was able to grab him for a picture...

Pierce with best friend Grant

Madi was sad she didn't get to eat with Brother, so we headed back to the lunch room in hopes we could eat with Matthew.
We were lucky to find sweet Brooke, (big 3rd grader!) Here she is with her two cute friends.

Luckily we found Matthew (1st grader) in time to eat with him, and even better, he was super excited to have us eat lunch with him! Love this kid. And love that he is excited to see "Aunt Josie" at school. I hope I get a few more years of this.

Of course, Todd was no where to be found, I knew he had scarfed down a few bites of his sandwich and ran out to recess, that's Todd. I was wishing I had been able to find him for a picture but didn't think much of it. I went home and called Crystal and gave her my report from lunch time, the kids were having a great day. I just laughed about not being able to find Todd, knowing he had bolted out as fast as he could to play. Just hours later Todd's accident happened. Later I was cringing, just wishing I could have seen him at lunch that day, given him a hug like I did Brooke, and especially snapped a 1st day of school picture of him. I was so upset, just wishing I could have seen him for just 1 minute that day. Just 1 minute for a hug and a picture. What I wouldn't give. I just have to make myself think- because it's Todd, and grabbing a few bites and running out the door to play IS Todd.

What a whirlwind the 1st day of school turned out to be. The first day of 1st grade, 2nd grade and 3rd grade for 3 sweet, special kids. And one day of 3rd grade for one very special little boy. We will never forget this day.

Everyday is important, every moment matters.

One Last Party

This night was a little piece of Heaven for our family. And what seemed at the time like just another fun party with the cousins, was truly a little miracle for us.

Monday August 9th, two days before school started... My two sisters in law, Crystal and Carolyn, and I decided we needed to get the kids together to celebrate Grandma's birthday (which she was out of town for on Sat.) and to have one last get together with the kids before school started. Monday night was perfect for a family night cousin party, and party they did. We had a great BBQ at Jeff & Crystal's house, enjoyed some great food and scruptious desserts. And then the kids had a complete ball being silly and getting drenched in an impromptu water party. You can just see the fun...

Cousin Logan at the sprinkler, Matthew and Todd under the red umbrella and Pierce and Madi under the purple

Us Mom's got a kick out of their little water game!

Kelton and Todd (in his very cool Darth Vader swim shorts), Pierce and Madi, and Thatcher and Matthew in there too



They had so much fun playing together getting drenched in the process, but the umbrellas sure made it a lot more fun! Since they were all soaked we had them stand at the door when it was time to sing "Happy Birthday" to Grandma.
This picture is pure joy. I wish I could rewind this moment and capture each moment of all their happy little faces. Our last party with Todd, our last time to play with him. I am so thankful we had this night together as cousins, aunts, uncles and Grandma and Grandpa. I wish I would have squeezed that little Toddy goodbye and told him I loved him. How could I ever have imagined it would be the last time we'd see him. I guess I wont be saving any hugs and loves for the next time with any of these little ones who are so dear to me.

And speaking of little ones who are dear to me, I had to add in this one I snapped of Brooky that night. Oh, I love this girl.

In Loving Memory

Todd Jeffrey Hall January 29th, 2002 - August 12th, 2010

There are no words to describe the heartbreak I have felt over the last week and a half watching my dear sister in law go through the loss of her little boy. I feel my own sadness and heartache for the loss of a darling nephew and favorite cousin to my kids. But my own sadness seems insignificant compared to what I have felt for Crystal. My heart seems to have broken a thousand times over the last week. I feel as though her pain must be the sadness I have felt over my Mom's death multiplied ten times. I cannot imagine having to bury my son at 8 years old. I want to write down my thoughts and feelings, but most are too much for my blog (don't want all my friends to be so entirely bummed you never want to see what's happening with us again:) So here is just a small glimpse of the week in pictures...

The morning after Todd's passing, Ryan and I spent the morning with Jeff, Crystal and the kids. Brooke had written this note out on the back patio.

I made this sign to hang in their yard and painted the kids hands so they could each put their hand prints on. Todd's cousins Bridger, Pierson, and Madi, Brother Matthew, cousin Thatcher, and twin sister Brooke. Yes Madi has her shirt off along with the boys. They were completely filthy and wet when we left, but this week it was- anything goes. At least the kids were having fun.

My wonderful sister in law, DeAnna, made this wreath from Todd's siblings. Brooke and Matthew loved picking out candy for Todd. It was the sweetest thing!

Darling displays of Todd for the funeral and viewing (also put up by wonderful DeAnna)





The funeral was beautiful, uplifting and completely heartbreaking all in one. What a tribute to a very special little boy.


Todd's Dad, Jeff, and Uncles Ryan, Mark, Steve and Gregg


After the dedication of the grave we released red (Todd's favorite color) balloons...


So perfect.


My Madi putting a flower on Toddy's casket

Sweet Brooke- my heart breaks even more for her to lose her twin brother




The Beautiful Hall Family - Jeff, Crystal, Brooke, Matthew, Harrison and Baby Dallin, beside their precious Todd (glad that Matthew thinks all is well)



Ryan and I wanted to do something special from the aunts and uncles and cousins, we thought a train was perfect for Todd. I was happy it turned out so great!

We went back to the cemetery in the evening after Todd was buried, here is Brooke and Matthew on the Todd train

Now that the funeral is over is seems so unreal. Like it was all a bad dream. I can't believe little Todd is really gone and that Crystal has lost one of her twins. I am so thankful for the blessing of temple marriage and eternal families. Jeff and Crystal have been so amazingly strong this week, they have been so uplifted and I know Heavenly Father has blessed them greatly. Because of the gospel of Jesus Christ they will get through this, we all will. Although the knowledge we will be with our families forever is a great comfort, we still have to get through the rest of our lives with out them. This is the hard part. We know he is with Jesus and he is happy, but even so, the weeks, months and years to come will be hard and full of tears for the loss of this precious little boy.

WE LOVE YOU TODDY!!!

Our sweet, energetic, silly, little nephew, Todd- was taken from this life, hours after a traumatic accident where he suffered a major head injury. Our hearts are broken and as devastated as we are, we can not begin to comprehend what his parents- Ryan's sister, Crystal, and her husband Jeff- are feeling after such a loss. How grateful we are for the blessings and knowledge of eternal families, but how sad we are now for the loss of our little Toddy! We love you Todd!

To my dear friends, Please include the Robison and Hall Families in your prayers. Much love to you all, and may we all hold our little ones a little closer, kiss them a little more and tell them we love them every chance we have!

My Gorgeous Girl

I just have to post a few of my favorites from Madi's 4 year pictures....





Don't know how I lucked out to get such a beauty!
My amazing friend, Staci, takes our pictures and as I've mentioned before, we love her! She does such a beautiful job! Thanks again Stace!
You can see her work at www.stacidphotography.blogspot.com