There was a beautiful surprise waiting for me upon our return home from our vacation. In December, my friend Diane had given me a bulb to plant and watch grow.
Rebecca watered it while we were gone, and the amaryllis flowers waited to bloom until I got home.
Another thing that awaited us upon our arrival home was the bitter cold weather. This headline caught my eye since we had just come from below-freezing weather on our trip.
We had a frigid week or so around here, but it didn't really affect me as I couldn't venture out of the house with my communicable disease.
I spotted this photo on Facebook and recognized the girl on the back row, second from left, as Caroline. She has been participating in the North Salt Lake Youth City Council doing various service projects and activities. They don't seem to mind the cold.
Looks like Kade enjoyed introducing his baby brother Maverick to snow.
Fun photo of Spencer flying high over Eli.
Caroline, Spencer, Eli and Carson have been enjoying spending their Friday afternoon and evenings on the ski slopes learning how to ski. They are bussed up to the ski resort and then bussed back for their parents to do a late-night pick-up retrieval of the young skiers.
This looks like one happy Carson after being ordained a deacon.
Eli was ordained a teacher. These boys are growing up.
Turns out there were many other family members who were sick in the month of January along with me. Rebecca was very ill and tested positive for Covid.
Madison was sick during that time, but never had Covid. Once Rebecca got better, Madison got sick again--this time with Covid. She missed 11 days of school for both those times.
Ben was feverish, chilling, throwing up, extreme sore throat, red eye, etc. Strep throat was suspected, but that was negative. No Covid for him, but he was miserable and got an antibiotic for an ear infection.
Abe's family was all sick and he sent this photo of him with huge swollen glands.
Despite one of his sisters saying she enjoyed seeing chipmunk-cheek Abe, he did finally get over his Covid illness.
Then there was this going on in Ben's family as well.
Later in the month when everyone had recovered from their illnesses and surgery, we had a family dinner.
Natalie and Emma joined us. The best part of this meal was Sarah planned it. We had orange chicken, potstickers, fried rice and fruit. YUM!!
Lincoln had requested his 9th birthday celebration be held at our house and we were happy to comply. Sarah made a cute cupcake train cake since he loves trains so much.
I saw a date on the calendar where I had an absolute free day and decided to put it to good use by cleaning the carpets.
Glen was a huge help to me when he vacuumed the basement and then hand-scrubbed the two flights of stairs because we couldn't get the attachment to work. He was my hero!!!!
We had a dinner date with Glen's sisters and their husbands. Ray told us all the details of his stroke, his carotid artery surgery to clear the blockage, and his sure knowledge of divine help in his having no ill effects of it all. Amazing experience he shared.
Look at this little cutie Jonah on hat day at school.
Glen and I had planned a winter trip to Omaha the first weekend in February. Winter is not my preferred time to go to Nebraska because of the bitter cold. But, we were blessed this trip to have the temperature stay above freezing.
I was blessed to finally feel recovered from illness, but we learned Claire was not doing so well. She had been throwing up, had a sore throat, a fever and a headache.
Laurie had picked us up at the airport and Jacob arrived back in town later in the day. The four of us and Logan went to dinner at Porky Butts BBQ. Love the name!!
The food was delicious. Then the group was anxious to get on their way to watch the Creighton vs. Butler basketball game.
Glen, Jacob, Laurie and Logan went to the game while I stayed home with Claire. We watched two movies together and then watched the end of the game. It was a close, exciting, high-scoring game.
I love looking at Jacob and Laurie's photos. Their whole television bookshelf area is dedicated to BYU in their basement.
This particular photo caused me to laugh. It is Jacob and Laurie dressed up as avid BYU football fans in their old age. Great Halloween costumes!!
I also really enjoyed this quote by Elder Scott which they have on a bookshelf in their family room.
The real purpose of our visit was to go see Luke participating in his high school's show choir competition. It was a day-long event.
It was fun to see Luke onstage doing his singing, dancing and arm movements. He was on the right side of the stage in all their numbers--usually on the middle row.
We enjoyed our Sabbath Day going to church with Jacob's family. Claire was still feeling sick and stayed home, but she was definitely getting better.
We had a very nice time in Omaha and appreciated Jacob taking us to the airport before going to work.
