Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to our family and friends. It's now Christmas afternoon and Pam and I are enjoying our day with each other. Last night we had a nice dinner and then a short devotional before calling it a night.

This morning I was awake early (as usual) and we finally decided to get up and see if Santa found our home! Well he did and we spent an hour or so enjoying the things we got for each other and from Santa. The pictures show a little of what we did this morning.






We are expecting some moisture today, but so far all we have received is wind. So we are looking for snow and hope it comes. What we've received thus far this season is beginning to melt. So we hope you all have a wonderful day.

Approaching Christmas

I'm writing this entry on the 23rd of December and it is very cold outside. We wished we had a lot of snow to accompany the cold, but we'll take what we have. The mountains look pretty good and they have gotten hammered up north. The following pictures detail what's going on around our home.











Inside we've had the tree up for some time but it's getting a few packages strewn around the base. It certainly won't be like Christmas' of the past when the family is all home. Erin and Weston will join us on Christmas day after they have their Christmas morning in American Fork. So we're anxious to hear how that goes as we are with are other children.



Pam has been busy making treats to take around to our friends. She has made about two dozen loaves of bread and perhaps 3 dozen bags of these chinese chow mein noodle cookies. Fortunately we have given most of it all away.



Last Friday Pam and I drove north in good weather and ended up in a blowing snowstorm in downtown Salt Lake. It was wonderful! We went to see the Body World 3 exhibit and it was quite interesting. While we both knew the complication of the human body, but never to this extent. What a witness to the divinity of Heavenly Father and His creations. The next day we spent 3 hours with my sister Dixie and that was very enjoyable.

Yesterday we had an interesting experience. We got a Christmas card returned from very old friends from Hawaii, The Kinimaka's. Travis and Johanna might remember Danny and Leilani. Well I wondered where they were and did a google search on the name and didn't get anything conclusive with James Kinimaka, but when I searched for Elma Kinimaka I got a hit in Montrose Colorado. Following that up with a white pages search I was pretty certain I had found Elma. I called in the evening and sure enough it was our old friend. Pam spent a couple of hours with her and it was such a wonderful Christmas present to us. Unfortunately she and Jim divorced quite awhile ago and he has since passed away. So now we have another location to visit in Colorado.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and enjoys the spiriti of the season. President Monson summed it up this way:

"This is a glorious time of the year, simple in origin, deep in meaning, beautiful in tradition and custom, rich in memories, and charitable in spirit. It has an attraction to which our hearts are readily drawn. This joyful season brings to each of us a measure of happiness tha corresponds to the degree in which we have turned our mind, feelings, and actions to the spirit of Christmas."

Aunt Win's Home

Yesterday Pam and I decided to drive to Sandy and pay a visit to Aunt Win. On the way we picked up Erin and Kate and braved the snow storm going north. Actually it was more rain than snow, but here it is December and I like to talk about snow! Aunt Win's granddaughters came and helped her decorate for Christmas and it looked very nice.




The rest of her home is really nice and she is very comfortable living there.



Finally Aunt Win is looking good and is a busy as a bee. Her family and friends come and get her and take her here and there and she has a very active social calendar. Every time we leave we talk about how good it was to have her move to Sandy.




On a sad note. We learned this morning that a Marine F/A-18 had crashed in University City, San Diego yesterday. I got on line to see what that was all about and found the following items. The first picture was from a channel 6 site and showed right where the plane crashed. It had left the USS Abraham Lincoln and was returning to Miramar with one engine out. As it crossed over land it lost it's other engine and by the time it crashed it was just gliding. If you know anything about fighters - they don't glide!


This second picture is off of Google Earth and it shows the same streets with a little bigger picture. On the left is the football field at University City High School and at the top is the canyon between University City and the University Town Center Mall. The pilot was making a last ditch effort to reach the canyon before punching out. He didn't quite make it. He got out about 30 feet above the ground and was okay. The elbow street above is the same elbow shown in the picture below.

We lived about 2 or 3 miles to the west. One home was hit and 3 or 4 people were killed. The debris continued northeast and destroyed another home through the block and there was fire everywhere. Must have been a pretty scary event.

Early December Update

On the 3rd of December we did something we haven't done for awhile - just take a drive because! After a morning of work we headed out and drove south through the Marysvale canyon. Along the way we listened to CES fireside talks and they were very good. We stopped in Panguitch for lunch and gas and then drove up through the mountains to Brian Head and Parowan. The drive through the mountains was very beautiful and we stopped several times and took pictures. Even in the winter with minimal snow it was beautiful as the pictures below attest. We were in the mountains in the late afternoon sun and with the beautiful blue skies it was pretty spectacular. Once over the top we dropped down into Parowan and home via I-15.

We have been spending our time getting ready for Christmas with its decorations and for Pam the sewing. Each year she wonders if she will do it again, but when push comes to shove she enjoys watching her creations come to fruition.

We were very saddened to hear of the passing of Elder Wirthlin. We had just listened to a CES Fireside talk given by him about ten years ago and he was such a wonderful kind man. The funeral was held in the Salt Lake Tabernacle Friday and we watched a little of the replay today. I guess the only that is constant is change. So we look forward to see who will replace him and fill out the quorum of the twelve.

We certainly enjoyed seeing everyone's updates. You sure are great families!!!