2016 has begun with snow and cold! When the temperature gets below 20 degrees and the wind blows it is almost unbearable for us right now. Hopefully by next winter we will have our blood thickened again and will not feel the cold so much.
We spent New Year's Day with Larry watching every football game all day. Today was Eisley's 8th birthday so tomorrow, the 2nd, we will attend her baptism.
She chose a beautiful white dress for her birthday to wear to her baptism.
Tracy and Eisley just before the baptism. She was the only one from her ward to be baptized so she got to have the day all to herself. We met at the church at 10:00. The boiler broke so the water was freezing cold. Eisley put a foot in and pulled it out quickly with a gasp. She will never forget her baptism!! It took her all day to warm up.
Tracy, Sarah, Ashton (11), Eisley (8), Chandler (12). Eisley will probably be taller than her brothers before long. She is growing into a wonderful young lady.
The proud grandparents, Steve and Bev Roberts, Nancy and Lon Thompson
Bev gave the opening prayer, Steve gave a talk on the importance of baptism, Lon gave a talk on the Holy Ghost, and I led the singing (because the chorister didn't show up) and I sang the special number. Eisley asked me to sing "I Love to see the Temple". Tracy baptized and confirmed Eisely a member of the church. It was a very special morning and we went to Tracy's for homemade clam chowder and to visit afterwards. Our day ended in the temple as we were subbing for the William's on the PM shift. What a sweet way to start a new year!
On Monday the 4th, I started teaching Eisley, Ashton, and Chandler piano lessons. I hope to help them learn to love music and to be able to play for church.
The temple is closed until the 19th so we need to find things to keep us busy for two weeks. Lon was real worried about being bored, but he caught a cold and is coughing so bad that he is glad to be able to be home and rest, part of the time. We have attended a couple of basketball games for Kip and Tawnya's boys, Lance and Mark. We went to breakfast with Kim and George Orr and lunch with Barbara Fuller Chester the first week.
Mom, Grandma Reid, got sick in Yuma and ended up in the hospital there for 3 days. She is very dehydrated and weak. Sharon is the only one there to take care of her so we decided that she should come back home where we had 4 of us to help if needed, Connie, Judy, Debbie, and myself. Debbie and Doug went to Alamo and John and Sharon brought Mom to Alamo so that no one had to make the whole trip this time of year. They got her home on the 12th, in between snow storms. I went out every morning to make sure that Mom got dressed and ate without problems. She really is weak but she seems to be happy to be home. We took her to the doctor and he took her off the antibiotics that the hospital in Yuma had her on and she is bouncing back daily. I only had to go out for a week and now Mom is able to take care of herself again and is getting stronger by the day.
On the 14th, we attended a Scout Banquet in Shoshone with George and Kim.
George is on the Scout Committee, Kim is the Webelos leader, and Lon is the Scout Committee Chairman for our ward. I have helped Kim twice now with her Webelos on Tuesday afternoons when she needs another adult for her 2 deep leadership. She is amazing and deals with these rowdy boys so well. I am totaled when I get home and thankful that I get to play the piano in Primary!
Lon is still coughing a lot but feels so much better. The temple opened up on the 19th and we were so thrilled to be able to go again. On the 23rd, Tracy, Sarah, and Chandler came with us to the temple to do the baptisms for the family names that Lon has found.
Tracy did all of the baptizing and Sarah and Chandler were baptized and Lon did the confirming. We have 12 male and 10 female family members to finish the Temple saving ordinances for. We picked up Eisley and Ashton and went to lunch at Gerties, a pizza buffet. If the kids practice the piano real good for a month, I will take them to dinner somewhere and they are doing so good that this was their first reward.
Gerties has a great salad bar and any kind of pizza that you could imagine, even dessert pizza. The kids love it but we adults really ate way too much. Buffets always do that to us.
Whenever we go to visit Tracy and his family, we have to be careful that we don't hit a deer. There is a group of about 10 deer in Tracy's neighborhood and they are at times bedded down in his back yard.
Scenes like this make you forget that you are living in a city.
The saddest event of the month happened on the 27th when Karen Miller moved to Eastern Idaho. Drew has a new job at the INEEL so they are leaving Jerome.
This is Karen with her two counselors, Sister Andrus and Sister Dryden. She was the Primary President for 3 months. Sister Jill Andrus is now the President and Sister Charlynn Dryden is the 2nd counselor. Charlynn is the granddaughter of Beth and Melvin Jones.
We will surely miss them. They haven't got the house emptied and ready to sell yet so they will be coming over on weekends to get that done. I told her that while I was on my missions, she knew that I would be coming home but she will not be coming back to Jerome. The Millers are from Eastern Idaho and their families, and especially their grandchildren live there so this will be wonderful for them, just hard for us.
On the 31st I was sustained as the new ward choir director, along with the primary calling. Our ward choir is so bad and not many are attending so I really have my work cut out for me. Music is so important to our Sacrament meetings. It really teaches through the spirit easier than the spoken word. I am excited to be using the talents that my Heavenly Father has given me and look forward to this new calling and the challenge that it brings.
January ended with another snow storm.
Our back yard
Raul's back yard
As you can see, this was a very cold morning with frost on every branch and wire.
We really are glad that January is gone because that gets us one month closer to spring! We love talking with our children and grandchildren each Sunday on Facetime. We are enjoying getting to know our grandchildren again and to hear about their adventures and activities.
Life is a wonderful adventure. Enjoy every moment and keep smiling!!
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