BEAUTIFUL SNOW IN JANUARY - A BLESSING TO OUR VALLEY

We have been so concerned about the water situation here in our valley. Last year's lack of snow in the mountains meant our reservoirs had just enough water for last summer's needs. As we approached winter this year, the water situation for summer looked bleak. We waited all of November and December for lots of snow and it didn't come. Gratefully, this January there have been many storms across Utah putting good snow in the mountains. Here in Heber, we have about a foot of snow on the ground. The ski resorts reported 2 additional feet just with the last storm that passed through our area. This is such a blessing even though it's cold and the roads can be slippery. Snow means the possibility of avalanches and we had one in Provo Canyon, one Thursday. It was controlled so no one was hurt but it blocked the canyon road for almost 2 days. We were concerned about getting to the temple on Friday for our shift but, by Friday morning, the road department had cleared the old Provo Canyon Road, a 2 lane road from Vivian Park to Nuns Park. The mountain of snow from the avalanche must have been 30 feet high when we passed it Friday morning. 

Lots of snow needing to be shoveled
and/or blown off the deck and driveway

It snowed enough in Lehi
for Aria to build her first snowman

Weather play a big part in our trip to St. George this month. We decided in December that we wanted to get away from Heber for a few days in January so we booked a World Mark condo for January 14th to the 17th. We were looking forward to some sunshine and warmth but it turned out that we picked a week where it rained almost every day. Though a little disappointed, not to be able to do many outdoor activities, we still had a great time. We went to the St. George temple on Tuesday where we participated, as a patron for the first time, with the new film. It was a beautiful experience. We loved the inspired changes that had been made to make the endowment a wonderful experience for all. Wednesday we drove to the Brio housing development to check out the model homes there and see what might be a possibility if we decide to be snowbirds someday. That night, we went to dinner with Dave and Suzette. We ate at Geru's Bar and Grill, a new restaurant in town. The food was wonderful and we loved visiting with Dave and Suzette. Each night we'd pop popcorn and watch a movie, relaxing in front of the fire. Thursday it was time to head home. We left St. George early to try and beat the storms predicted for that day. When we left, it was raining and it continued until just before Cedar City. Luckily, we didn't have any precipitation through the mountain passes but, when we hit Fillmore, it began to pour and did so all the way home. Of course, when there's rain in the Utah valley there is usually snow in the canyon and so, yes, we were meet with snow as we traveled up Provo Canyon to Heber. We made it safely and were glad for the snow.

From the deck of our condo

Such a darling couple - Dave and Suzette

 At the beginning of the month, we celebrated Aria's third birthday. Her parents had given her a party with her cousins earlier in the week but wanted to do a little celebration with us on Sunday. We bought her a couple of games and a doll house for her to play with when she comes up to our home. She loved them and played with them all evening and for the next few Sundays, as well. When it came time for her to blow out her candles on her Dairy Queen ice cream cake, she became very shy. As we sang to her, she turned around and would not look at us until she could blow out the candles. 

 The weekend before we left for St. George, Lori Meadows, a friend of Andrea's, came to stay with us. Lori was recently divorced and having a bit of a hard time so her friends in Springfield got together and bought her a plane ticket to Salt Lake as well as a car rental. She flew in on Friday and stayed with us until Monday. We didn't see a lot of her as she had lots of things planned - dates with two men and an overnight stay with a girlfriend. She stayed in Heber on Sunday and went to church with us. Her friend, Tyler, met her up here and spent the day. Her friend, Zac, also came up on Sunday. Lori had expected Tyler to leave before Zac arrived for dinner but he didn't, so after a few uncomfortable minutes, it was decided to set an extra place and have Tyler eat with us, too. Amazingly, the conversation was easy through out dinner and dessert. Zac left earlier than he had planned and, then, Tyler finally left. A little awkward, but Lori has been telling both men that she just wanted to be friends.They got the message on that Sunday, for sure.  

I took this candid picture to send to Andrea so she could
see Lori's uncomfortable situation.

Also on that weekend, we had the opportunity of having lunch with two of our favorite couples from Russia. Ludmilla and Nickita were in Utah for a vacation and staying with Valya and Tahir. We were glad when Ludmilla called and wanted to get together. We met them all at Chili's, in Salt Lake, for lunch. It was the first time we had seen Valya and Tahir's baby boy so we brought a gift for him. Lunch was good but the company was even better. We loved hearing about all the happenings with our friends in Moscow and with these two wonderful couples. Tahir is going to school at LDS Business school while Valya and Ludmilla are enrolled in the BYU online college program. We are so proud of all of them for seeking college degrees.

Valya and Tahir

Nikita and Ludmilla, holding Valya's baby

At the first of the month, we decided it was time to finally celebrate our 53rd  wedding anniversary. Our anniversary was on the 22nd of December and always gets over looked because of all the Christmas festivities. To celebrate, we went to La Jolla Groves restaurant  for dinner, after working in the temple. We love the setting of this restaurant as you are actually dining under lemon trees. The food was good but I was disappointed that they had changed their salmon dish. I had been thinking about the delicious cilantro butter topped salmon but instead had to settle for salmon garnished with spinach and garlic butter....not half as good. It was fun for us to just be together at a really nice restaurant which we don't do very often.

A 

couple

of 

old

goats

After the temple, this last weekend, we met some old friends from Spokane for dinner. Gloria and Denny LInerude were in town, passing through on their way to California, so it was a good time to get everyone together. Susan and Dee Humphreys and Janet Harman, along with the Linerudes, all met us at P. F. Chang's where we had a delicious dinner. We caught up on all the happenings in the lives of all our children, as well as ourselves, and had many good laughs, as always. When we were in Spokane, we were all part of a group that got together often and had lots of fun together. It was good to reconnect. John and Linda Sandberg, also from Spokane, were supposed to join us but ended up having to be in Portland. They have recently moved to Utah so we'll have to have another get together with them.

Gloria and Denny Linerude

Janet Harmon

Susan and Dee Humphreys

For Sunday dinner, Todd and Kailee invited Jake and Nicole and their family. We had tri tip and chicken Oscar, which was delicious. After dinner, Todd took the girls out to the hot tub. They stayed in the tub for a long time and loved every minute of it. Sadie said it wqs her first time ever being in a hot tub. She was excited.

Evie, Aria, and Sadie with Todd

Not too much basketball this month - only two home games....but two big home game. The first game was with St. Mary's which we won, surprisingly. The last game was with Gonzaga, ranked 4th in the nation, which we lost, not surprisingly. 

Just a couple of pictures of our beautiful world here in Heber

A Lunar eclipse happened this month

One of the many beautiful sunsets we experience from our living room window

Now for Aria and Avery.........

Aria started preschool in January. She goes three days a week and loves it. Supposedly this is a wonderful preschool with different rooms with different activities. There is even a gym for sporting activities upstairs. 

Avery is getting so big and soooo darling!!!!!

DECEMBER - A MERRY MONTH WITH LOT OF FUN HAPPENINGS

December was a busy month to include decorating the house, taking a trip to Boise, two Christmas dinners for family, and making tea rings for friends and neighbors. Let's start with the decorating.

When we returned home from Oregon, the first thing on my agenda was to put up Christmas decorations. I had bought a new hanging Santa in Oregon and was anxious to see where it could be put to show it off. For the past few Christmases, we have decorated with lots of Santas in our home so it was fun to add to my Santa collection. The new Santa was perfect above the fireplace, hanging from the mantel. I added a couple of other Santa's this year - a Santa flying an airplane and a Santa riding in a train. Every year I'll keep adding to my collection until I have a Santa on each shelf in the living room...about 4 more to go.

Our Santa tree

 Christmas wouldn't be complete without several parties and we attended three. The first one was held at the park in our neighborhood. We brought new toys for a Heber gift store for the needy and enjoyed a warm fire and good neighbor friends. Santa even made an appearance for the children while the adults enjoyed hot chocolate and cookies. It was fun to visit with neighbors and friends around the fire. 

Lisa Wade doing the narration of the
history of Heber.

Our ward had a party at the first of the month which spotlighted the history of Heber City at Christmas time. It was beautifully done with a narration and spotlight speakers that really gave us insight as to what it was like in the early days in Heber. Paul and I were asked to dance to represent how the early settlers used to hold dances often as a form of entertainment. We danced to 'Jingle Bell Rock.' We were a little intimidated as there were only ourselves and one other couple dancing, even though all were invited to come and participate. We got lots of compliments about our dancing even though we don't move as lively as we used to.


The last Christmas party we attended was a potluck dinner put on by the other Millers in our ward. There were about 15 couples who came to enjoy good food and good company in the beautiful, newly remodeled home of the Millers. It was a fun evening.


Of course, December always brings making and delivering many tea rings and this year was no exception. It's a three step process - making the dough and forming them into the tea ring shape, baking them when they've risen sufficiently, and then frosting them. I spread this out over about three weeks because I freeze the baked tea rings as they are baked and frost them as we want to deliver them. We made and delivered about 25 this year. On one day, Paul was off to a lunch with some brethren of our ward, so I cranked up the Christmas music and formed and baked several tea rings. It was snowing outside so it was a kind of magical time.

Just 5 of the 25 baked

 On one Saturday, the15th, we were thrilled to pick up Katie and Ryan at a hotel in Salt Lake City and take them to breakfast. They had come in town the afternoon before to attend the Tabernacle Choir Christmas performance with Katie's family. Some how, the Thompsons had secured several tickets so that became their Christmas present to their children - the flight to SLC, dinner, the concert, and a hotel stay. We met Ryan and Katie the next morning for breakfast and to take them to the airport. What a surprise it was when Ryan announced that he wanted to stay a couple of extra days with us. Such a wonderful Christmas present. We dropped Katie off at the airport then had the rest of the weekend to enjoy Ryan, all too ourselves. We drove home via Jon and Mindi's new home to show Ryan what they were doing there. He was so impressed with Mindi's ideas and Jon's work as they completely redo this home. The rest of the day, we just hung out. Sunday was church and then a cordon bleu dinner "Christmas Dinner" with Ryan and Todd and Kailee and their family. We love having family in our home. Todd and Kailee brought up our Christmas gift with them. It was a trip to the Master's Golf tournament in Atlanta, Georgia in April - tickets and airfare included. Quite a gift, for sure.

Of course, Aria had to help Grandpa open our gift

We loved just 'hanging' with Ryan

Jaron found the umbrella hat
in the costume box.

The next Sunday we had a Christmas dinner for Jon and Mindi and their family. Eleven of the twelve of them were able to come. (Taylor had to work) It was fun to get together with them as we very seldom see them all. The next day, Christmas Eve, we went down to their home to deliver them a tea ring as we would not see them on Christmas Day.  

The table all set with our Spode china just
for this special Christmas dinner

 Other happenings before Christmas included lunch with Masha, from Russia, and her soon to be husband. She was married on Friday, the 21st which was the day we were leaving for Boise so we wouldn't be able to be with her. We, instead, arranged to meet her for lunch a couple of days prior to her wedding. She brought her fiancee and her dad with her and we had a wonderful visit. She has found a great eternal companion. They married on that Friday, honeymooned in Midway, and spent Christmas with his family in Salem. They, then, had to split up - him to Germany where his parents are stationed, and Masha back to Russia till they can secure the proper visas for Masha to come live in the U.S. full time. We hope it all works out quickly for them.

Also that week, we met Sandra Verbino at Misty's karate class. Misty was getting her brown with green stripe belt and we were invited to watch the ceremony. The ceremony consisted of each group showing off their skills to the judges, who then decided if they were worthy to advance to the next level. MIsty loves karate and so it was fun to share that with her and Sandra. Sandra told us she had begun an adult class in Karate. We love these two.

The picture's a little blurry but it
shows Misty in action.

On the blue turf -
 a little strange for a football field

On the 20th, we traveled to Boise, Idaho to watch the BYU football bowl game. They played Western Michigan in the Famous Potato Bowl. We met Todd and Kaille in Melba and spent the night there with Kailee's parents, Reese and Susie. We went out to dinner at a Mongolian Barbecue restaurant because Todd and Kailee wanted us to try their favorite restaurant. It was good but we were glad Kailee made the sauce for us as we would have had no clue as to what to add the the meat and vegetables. After breakfast the next morning, we checked into the Holiday Inn Express, where we would spend that night, and then went to the game. Todd, Reese and Susie, and one of their grandsons joined us at the game. It was very cold but we were glad we had made the effort to come as BYU played incredibly well for the win. Kathy and Sam Bulkeley had driven all the way from Bakersfield to attend the game. At half time, I went to see them. It was good to visit for a minute or two.  Kailee, the girls, and her sister, Kristina, all joined us for dinner at Good Wood Barbecue after the game. We traveled back home the next day on our wedding anniversary, which always gets overlooked because of all the Christmas festivities.

The wind made it even colder

Two 

big

BYU 

fans

Sam

and

Todd 

Christmas Eve was a great day.  I made a couple more tea rings, one for Jon and Mindi and family. We drove to American Fork for an In 'N Out burger, then to Lehi to deliver the tea ring to Jon's family. Olivia had told us the Sunday before that, in school, she was asked to draw her favorite Christmas food and she drew a tea ring. We couldn't let them go through the holidays without one, hence the Christmas Eve delivery. After visiting with them for a few minutes, we drove on to Salt Lake where we went to the 'Giving' vending machines in the Joseph Smith Memorial building. We stood in line for over an hour but it was worth it to know we were doing something of value. We donated a goat and two chickens to some needy family in a third world country. What a good feeling we had as we walked away. We, then, walked around temple square to take in the beauty of all the Christmas lights before returning home for a quite Christmas eve. After a simple dinner we watched "It's a Wonderful Life," the colored version. A wonderful way to spend the eve of our Savior's birth.

The nativity scene on temple square

Christmas day was quietly spent at home. We got calls from all of our out of town children and enjoyed visiting with them. We received lots of great gifts from them, too. Jon and Mindi gave us a pizza board and a jar of scented oil. Ryan and Katie gave Paul the movie, Christopher Robin, and me a kindle so I can download and read books on it instead of my phone...easier reading. Andrea and Casey sent a wall plaque for me and a clever 'Trump' cup with hot chocolate and a BYU ornament for Dad. We already had opened Todd and Kailee's present to us before they left for Idaho. We love that we are thought of by our children so lovingly. 



After Christmas, we received a package we had ordered several weeks before. It was sent from China and was three canvas prints that we had hoped would hang above the bed in the downstairs bedroom we were redecorating. The designs were great but in purple and brown instead of black and beige as the online picture has shown. We, then, had to start looking again for something that would work in that room. On the last Friday of the month, we drove to Provo to find something. Our first stop was Tai Pan and we found exactly what we were looking for and for 70% off. We hung it the next day and loved the final look.

The last Sunday of the month, we had Sandy and Doug Heiner over for dinner. They are leaving on a mission in February and had lots of questions for us as to what needed to be done in order to serve a mission in a foreign county. They are going to serve in the office in the same mission where our former Bishop, Kyle Baird, is serving as mission president with his wife Melanie. That mission is Trinadad, Port of Spain which includes Aruba. We hope we were of help to Doug and Sandy as they prepare to serve.

One more thing - our granddaughter, Grace, has written a book. We ordered it from Amazon. It is a darling little book and we are so proud of her.

And then there's Aria and Avery......

Happy baby

Talking to Santa on a special Santa app

Fascinated by the new light base for St. Basil