January 1st, and a new year begins. This year I didn't get the tree down till today. But with Lon's help, we got everything put away and the house cleaned for the new year. We visited with Mom and watched some football games. It was a quiet, peaceful New Year's Day for us. Eisley turned 16 today.
He will be home in about 10 months.
We closed Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The temple was kind of slow, except for the baptistry as people got back into their routines of school and work. We are off Friday and Saturday.
We got enough snow on the 5th that Lon got the snow blower out.
So thankful that he doesn't have to shovel!
Our fireplace has started to make me sick. It is smelling when in use. We don't know if it has a gas leak somewhere in the inside of the fireplace but we have had it for about 28 years, so we decided it was time to replace it. 
new fireplace
We are supposed to head to Utah on Saturday for Hadley's blessing. We are praying that the weather will not cause problems for us.We visited with Mom on Friday and Mick and Linda came to town. They stayed with us Friday night, the 5th, and we all headed to the temple on Saturday morning. Lon was privileged to be able to perform the sealings for Mick's dad to his parents, Mick's mom and dad to each other, Mick's deceased brother to his parents and then to seal Mick to his mom and dad. This has been a desire for Mick for years and we were so thrilled to be able to be part of helping this dream come true. Mick had many miracles happen as he tried to get this work done. Sister Green, our temple office manager, had helped him over the last few weeks to get everything in order for this to happen. Mick wanted to meet her in person, but I warned him that she didn't usually come in on Saturdays. Well, one of his tender mercies in all of this process happened that morning as Sister Green had been called in to work and she was there to meet him. Sandi, Angie and her husband James all came from Utah to join in this special occasion. As we were leaving the sealing room, James spotted our Brother Phillips, one of our sealers, who had been his branch president and sent James on his mission. This was not Brother Phillips shift, and he was substituting. We could feel the hand of the Lord in all we did this day as He orchestrated all that went on. We are so thrilled for Mick that he is finally sealed to his mother. We were so blessed to be able to be part of this spiritual experience. We love family, the temple, and especially our Savior, Jesus Christ who makes all of this possible. Families truly can be together forever.
We headed for Utah and were at least 2 hours ahead of the storm. We had dry, bare roads all the way down. We got to Mindi and Justin's in time for the celebration of the "Epiphany" or "Three Kings Day".
Mindi's family always celebrate with a nice dinner and a story about the three kings who came to see the Christ Child. Nathan and Loren were already there when we arrived. Soon after, we got to meet our great-granddaughter.
Hadley RaNae Dow, already 3 months old
Great Grandpa enjoyed this sleepy head
Hadley looks so much like her mama, Hannah
After dinner, the men watched some football and we women helped Mindi finish her new Christmas puzzle. Nancy, Hannah, Loren
Sunday the 7th of January Hadley's blessing day
We woke up to a snowstorm with high winds. We decided to take our truck out to Jacob and Hannah's as they live in Eagle Mountain and with the winds, we were sure to have some drifting snow to deal with. We enjoyed Sacrament Meeting and Jacob gave Hadley a beautiful blessing. Then we went to Jacob and Hannah's house for lunch and pictures.
Hadley was so good; she knew she was the star of the show!
She wore her mother's blessing dress
Jacob, Hadley and Hannah
Jacob had cooked pork roast on his smoker, with salad, fruit, chips and cookies, delicious meal.
Grandma Mindi and Grandpa Justin
One proud grandpa!
Jacob teaching Lon how to make a pole holder for ice fishing
I have more pictures of this than of our precious baby on my phone😅
She could be walking before we get back down to see her again😔
Great Grandpa Lon, Great Grandma Nancy, Hadley, Hannah, Jacob
Due to the weather, Justin's parents didn't make it today, so sad - not! I got to hog Hadley instead of having to share her.
four generations - Mindi, Nancy, Hadley, Hannah
Hannah and Hadley
It was hard to have to leave. What a wonderful day as we celebrated this sweet little girl.
The storm raged on, and we had to take a roundabout route to get back to Justin and Mindi's place due to closed roads because of drifting snow. We decided to stay over till Monday to let the storm blow over. It was the right decision and we had good roads all the way home. 
January the 10th, got 4 inches of snow this morning.
So thankful for the snow blower this year
Lon took care of Raul and our other neighbor, Glenda's driveways
No wind to speak of so the roads were open, and we went to the Spanish sessions at the temple this evening. We were off on Tuesday and Wednesday.
At our Thursday Presidency meeting, we decided that because of the forecast, we should close the temple on Friday the 12th. They are calling for very high winds and advising all to stay home. We were to open that day, so I am glad that we didn't have to face the white out.
Lon spent most of Friday trying to keep up with the snow and blow. It was a miserable day, cold! He has been working on his jaw jerkers for ice fishing. After many trips to the store for parts, he is finally happy with them and anxious to try them out as soon as he gets a day to go fishing.
He made 4 of them
Saturday the 13th, we traded with the Harris' because they had a Stake Conference to speak at. It was another real bad day with snow and blow. The temple was not busy at all. We tried to get all of our workers who lived far away out early. Many from the Declo area couldn't make it at all due to the drifting. Patrons from the Twin Falls area came so we had sessions all evening, although very small. When we left the temple, it was blizzard conditions. We couldn't see more than a few yards in front of us. As we crossed the bridge, we saw flashing lights in front of us and discovered a snowplow who led the way clear to the flashing light. What a blessing! The Lord definitely was watching over us.
Sunday the 14th and church was cancelled from Boise and all of Southern Idaho. Lon spent most of the day trying to dig us, Raul and Glenda out again.
Luckily the wind has stopped so the plows have a chance to get the roads cleared.
We opened on Tuesday the 16th. It was kind of a quiet day, but this early morning shift is the one we served on for years, so it is always fun to be there with these special friends.
Wednesday morning, up at 2:30 and we left about 10 minutes early as it was a blizzard outside again. We took the truck again and decided that 93 would be our best road to travel on. We got about 1 mile south of the blinking light and went through a snow drift but then the second one caught the front tires and pulled us right into the borrow pit. Luckily there was lots of snow in the borrow pit, so we didn't tip over. But we were stuck! 3 o'clock in the morning, blizzard conditions, and we were to open the temple at 3:30! We called 911 to have them get us a wrecker to pull us out, then called President Harris to open the temple, if he could make it to town. It took the wrecker an hour to get to us. But with his power winch, he got us out in about 20 minutes. We were so blessed, no damage to the truck or us. We arrived at the temple about 5am. We took over and sent the Harris' home to take a nap before their pm shift. Again, it was a very slow day and many of our workers couldn't make it in. We operated with a skeleton crew. We arrived home without any trouble and again Lon snowplowed the driveways and sidewalks. One more early morning and we finished the week on the Friday and Saturday PM Shifts.
Lon had an interesting Saturday shift. Olga came into the temple, thinking that it was a visitor's center, and needing to talk to someone. Olga is not a member and is from Russia. She is married to a member but they are having problems so she wanted to talk to someone who could help her and her husband. Lon found out who her husband's bishop is and will follow up and try to get them some help.
On Sunday evening, we went to the "Lamb of God" practice. Carson Wong and his wife Sue Miller are working with our Stake to put this program on for Easter. The music is amazing. I am so excited to be able to be part of this choral production. Lon is going to try it too. I am the section leader for the altos. I can't play the accompaniment, but we work on the parts and words.
The week of the 23rd, our schedule got really mixed up. We closed on Tuesday and Wednesday but had our TLC meeting at 11:30 on Wednesday so it was a very long day. Thursday, we had to be to the temple by 8:30. This is our Temple Review. One time in the 3-year calling, each temple presidency has a Temple Review to see how things are going in the temple and with the presidency. Elder Adilson de Paula Parrella was our visiting General Authority doing the review. Lon got to do a temple walk-through with him and the others of the temple presidency. We had a Leadership Council with all of us and Elder Parrella from 10:45 to 12:15. Then we had Sister Guthrie cater a meal in the Youth Center for us. She did a great job. We had minestrone soup with rolls and dessert. We then had a temple employee devotional for an hour. What an amazing day, being tutored by Elder Parrella. We finished about 2:15, just in time to meet the PM Shift coordinators and we closed the temple. We got home about 11pm and headed for bed. We are to be back to the temple by 8:30am for personal interviews with Elder Parrella.
After our interviews, we took over the AM shift. The presidency had a sealers meeting with Elder Parrella from 11:30-12:30. Lon loved this meeting. He said it was so informative and special. We women got the tables set and ready for lunch. We again had Sister Guthrie furnish lunch, chicken salad, fruit and dessert. We had our closing meeting with Elder Parrella from 2-2:30. What an amazing man and servant of our Heavenly Father. We each felt of his love and council. I think that each temple presidency is given a Temple Review halfway through their call to give us the needed power to be eager to do the next year and a half. We had a very special two days and feel rejuvenated and spiritually ready for the next half of our call. We got home and enjoyed a 2-hour nap!! It's been a busy, exhausting, and amazing week. (We got to participate in a Temple Review while serving in Guatemala)
We went to CSI Fine Arts Center Friday evening to attend the performance of the Brava Piano Duo. Sue Miller and Allison Bangerter have been putting on performances for 10 years. They each have a grand piano and play the most amazing duets together. Perfect ending to a perfect day.
We had Saturday off and we slept in, watched some basketball, worked on journals and worked on our talks for the 3rd of February. We are to speak at our Saturday evening session of our Stake Conference.
I have asked Lon to build a small second step for our front door. Our step is about 2 inches taller than normal and people with bad knees have a tough time getting into our house. Well, he spent Monday building it for me. However, it didn't quite turn out like I thought it would.
Instead of a step, we have a ramp, but it is well built with outdoor carpet and will last forever. Thank you, sweetheart, for going the extra mile and making this for our guests.
The weather has turned very nice so on the 30th, Lon, LaRon and Mike took the boat to Bell Rapids and had a great day on the water, fishing and catching!
Wednesday, January the 31st, we had our second shingles shot. Lon had no reaction whatsoever. My arm was starting to swell by the time we left the pharmacy. We did a sealing session, initiatory and the 7:05 Spanish session that evening. By the time we got home, I was throwing up. That lasted for 3 hours and then I was finally able to fall asleep about 11. So, January ended on a very sour note, and we are praying for a better start to February. I'll tell you the rest of the story in next month's blog.
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