January Closing

The beauty of the frost on the trees made up for the days of inversion and fog. That's January for you in good old Cache Valley!! I'm glad we live where we can see a few more blue skies however or I'd probably have cabin fever.

To avoid the cabin fever I took a little trip to Desert Springs, CA with two of my long-time freinds--Kathy Fishburn and Jeanette Petersen. We soaked in the sun, shopped, soaked in the sun and shopped!! It was to celebrate our turning the big five-O that's creeping up on us this year. The Golden Girls Retreat will be yearly now for sure--we had a blast!!

Nate has sent in his papers to schools in Arizona, California, Iowa, Ohio and Pennsylvania to see if he can get an interview for being accepted into podiatary school. We're keeping our fingers crossed!

Kim recently got a job as a photographer that will take pictures of the newborns at multiple hospitals in their area. Will this make her baby hungry?

Our Idaho Spud Diggers, living in the banana belt, got dumped on--I say good for them!! It let's em' get a taste of Utah!! Kennlyn can now say "Grandma" and that puts a big smile on you know who's face!! All's going well for them and we hope it stays that way.

Andrew was ARS's employee of the month! Some of the reasons why were he's great to work with, has a great attitude, is an all around fun guy. He has patience, every day he is happy and no matter how big or small the work is, he goes and helps. WAY TO GO Andrew!!

Probably the biggest thrill for Andrew this month was that he was able to fly a helicopter!! He took a intro-flight and flew around our house a couple of times and got the instructor to hover it in our field out back so we could take pictures. Then he got to fly around some more. This got him hooked--he's going to start helicopter school in February if all goes well.

Garrett was playing cricket with some kids in the street and one of the kids found out that they were from USA. The kid said with huge eyes, "You are from the most powerful country in the world!" Garrett thought that was pretty sweet.

With the tempatures dropping to the 40's Garrett felt very blessed to have the means to buy a space heater. There were a ton of people around fires in the street, and sometimes he'd go chill with them and talk with them and would get contacts that way.

He was suprised to see Burt and Teresa Isrealsen, from North Logan, show up to church at his branch. It was good to visit with someone so close to home.

He had quite an experience recently when a member died from intestinal problems. Garrett and his companion went to the house to give the family some comfort and the body was alreadyat the house. They set up a tent in the park and brought the body wrapped in a blanket and layed it on a table. This family is one of the few that got to go to the temple and be sealed together, so Garrett and his companion had to dress the deceased in his temple clothes. The branch president and Garrett and Elder Petersen were the only endowed ones, so they used blankets as walls so no one could see, and they dressed him. Garrett never thought he would have to do something like that in his life, but he did that day. It was the first time he's touched a corpse, but he was happy to be able to help.

Basketball Update:

Sky View basketball is heading down the home stretch. They've lost two or three games but are still putting up a fight. Right now, Sky View is in 2nd place in Region play

DRIVER UP-DATE---
With the snow and ice come the slick roads. Danica has done pretty good so far. She's only had two slide-offs that weren't really anything serious. She's learning that you can't stop or turn on ice very well even if you're going 20 mph. Hey, at least she's learning, right? 

Danica had a picture she'd done get a ribbon in the art show at Sky View and will be entering that picture in an Art Show in Brigham City next month. She's just brimming with talent!!