OFF TO A GREAT NEW YEAR!!!!

We're off to a great new year which is welcoming news after the last year of many ups and downs. We think Paul has finally turned the corner on the after effects of his surgery which took place last September.  It's been a long 4 plus months, for him and for me. We went to a gastroenterologist who prescribed some medication for him that seems to be helping with his diarrhea. That's such a relief. Maybe he can start gaining back some of the weight he has lost. He contacted a cold which, of course, ended up with a cough. That coughing has irritated his abdomen so he is experiencing pain again in the area of his incision which hopefully will return to normal soon. He is doing so well that we have even been able to go back to the temple this month. That has been so renewing for us.

Other wonderful news is, of course, the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States. After only being in office a few days, things started to happen all over the world. Hostages have been released, the U.S. border is more secure, thousands of illegals have been deported, and countries at war are hinting they are ready for peace talks. Most of the people in the US are relieved that things are happening to make America great again. That's such a good feeling after the last four years of the disastrous decisions made by the previous administration. We are all breathing a little easier with a future that looks so much brighter for our country.

After taking down our Christmas decorations, we got into a cleaning mood. We took each room on the main level and did a deep clean. That meant dusting all the high ledges, spot cleaning carpets, cleaning out cupboards and drawers, reorganizing closets and the pantry, and taking a load of usable items to Deseret Industries. We even had our recliners in our living room deep cleaned professionally. We were thinking a buying new recliners but decided to clean our old ones instead. They look a lot better and will last us a few more years.

Recliners being cleaned.

At the first of the month, we celebrated Aria's birthday. She is really in to gymnastics and BYU so I decided to make her a cake that symbolizes both her loves. Kailee sent me a picture of a sticker to use as a pattern. It was a little harder to do than I had thought but it turned out okay, not perfect, but okay. Aria loved her present, too.

Speaking of Aria and gymnastics....we went to watch her in her first ever gymnastics meet. It was at the end of the month and she did wonderful.  We couldn't believe her ability in all four events - bars, balance beam, floor, and vault. In her age and experience level, she took first in vault, third in bars and balance beam, fourth in floor, and second all around. That's quite an accomplishment for a girl who usually is so shy when it comes to performing. She's growing up into a confident young girl. We are so proud of her hard work.

On her vault

To the judges after her vault

Her floor routine

The floor routine

First in vault

Second all around

Sporting all five medals

Also at the end of the month, we had a fun visit with our old neighbor, Mitch Davis. They moved from Heber about 8 years ago but we've kept in touch with them throughout that time. They are now in North Carolina but Mitch comes to Utah every few months for his movie business. This time he was here to work on a project commissioned by the Church. It is still in the planning stages and he couldn't tell us much about it but we like the fact that it brings him to Utah. He had dinner with us and then stayed for a couple of hours. It was fun to catch up on his family and their travels. He holds a special place in our hearts.

Our college age grandchildren are all back from Christmas break. Of course, we've had them up for Sunday dinner each week. We love that they love to come to Grandma and Grandpa's. The first time they were here, they zeroed in on the new acrylic game Jon and Mindi gave us. I sent this picture to Jon. He was thrilled that the games get used.

Lastly, I must tell you about a scam that we fell for. A person saying they were from AT&T called and told Paul that someone had ordered two phones on our account and he would help us cancel those orders. Paul followed his instructions and then hung up. We didn't feel good about the whole thing so we went to our local AT&T store where we were informed it was a scam. We reported it to the main office and after several phone calls we were able to stop the phone from being delivered to someone in Park City. It all sounded so legit but we were glad we could undo what had been done and that the caller did not get his phone, at our expense. 

Now for this month's thoughts and words to live by.....

And a couple of adorable pictures -