Ho Hum, Tweedle Dee Dum

It's January, what more can I say? Sub-zero temperatures, snow, slippery roads, inversions, short hours of daylight, cold fingers, scratchy throat, runny nose, dirty salty car, boring, depressing January...one of my least favorite months. Someone slid into our mailbox and knocked it over. I have been home alone as the temple is closed and Reed has been driving full time for a bus driver who had surgery.

I think when sad things that happen at this time of year, they seem even more sad. Just before Christmas two young brothers from Mendon were killed in a car accident. They were buried side by side in the same casket. Their parents were originally from Lyman, where Bryan is from. Reed saw all the helium balloons released into the sky by elementary school classmates of the boys. His bus was delayed by policemen directing traffic following the funeral.



Also just before Christmas, a ward member from Millville passed away from brain cancer. He had a 17 year old son, 15 year old daughter and 12 year old son. Mark was 47. He was in the bishopric after we left Millville. His wife, Jennifer, was our R.S. President. When we went with the youth on a trek at Martin's Cove, Mark and Jennifer were our 'parents' in our handcart group. Courtney was in the same seminary class with the oldest son. Once the teacher asked personal questions in an effort to get to know his students better. The question Mark's son got was "When was the last time you cried?" He answered that it was when the doctors said there was no hope for his dad and they were discontinuing chemotherapy. Between Mark's death and his funeral, Jennifer spent some time at the temple. We talked. I told her Mark is still on a trek, he's just gone on ahead, blazing trails for them to follow and preparing a new home for them.



Another sad one: Sister 'L,' (Mother of Lyle who dated Kim for 3 yrs), had a grandson (Darin Cook) return to Brazil where he served his mission. He wanted to travel around, visit persons he baptized, take pictures, hike etc. One of his former missionary companions was to hook up with him later. When his companion arrived at the hotel, Darin was not there. Police were contacted but they wouldn't start a search or investigation without family authorization. The companion didn't know names or numbers of Darin's family. He posted on Facebook: "If you know Darin Cook, contact me immediately." Darin's sister saw the post. Permission to search was given. A body was found, but due to the heat and having been chewed up by ants, positive identification couldn't be made until dental records were received. It was Darin. Evidently he had fallen a great distance while taking pictures. Last I heard, the family was trying to get Darin's body back to Utah for burial but the red tape was making it difficult.

One of our neighbors has a son who lost his wife to colon cancer. He remarried. His second wife had ovarian cancer at one time and now has cancer all through her pelvis. She's had surgery but will have to decide whether or not to go with chemo. They have two children who are both currently serving missions.

Another couple I serve with in the temple had their oldest son die from injuries sustained in a fall from a roof.

This is enough gloom and depressing stuff. I've written about it so now maybe I can get it out of my mind. I do have things to look forward to...one more week and we are off to Florida, the Bahamas, Aruba, Costa Rica and down to the Panama Canal and back in celebration of our 40th anniversary. Who knows? We might join the Hawkins family for a vacation in New Braunfels, Texas in March. We have reunions to plan or help with. Reed is in charge of the Ransom reunion and Jill is chairing the Conlin reunion. Both will be at Willow Park. I'm working with cousin, Jerry, on plans for a Prigmore reunion on July 14, 2012...the 100th anniversary of when Grandma and Grandpa were baptized. Since they were baptized in the creek by Lagoon and Grandpa was a groundskeeper at Lagoon, we are holding the event in Farmington.

Domino's Pizza

Here's my Domino's story: Our YSA ward is back in full swing after the Christmas break. Ward callings need to be revamped as many students left and we have an infusion of new ones. Last Monday we had a Ward Home Evening. We showed a video on morality and planned to serve pizza, salad and cookies afterward. The 30 large pizzas were supposed to be delivered at 7 p.m. I really expected them early. 7 o'clock came and went, 5 after, 10 after and finally 15 minutes after 7. I was getting really nervous. Did they mess up on the time or date? Were they at the wrong church? We didn't have a phone book. I passed a telephone in the hall, picked up the receiver, paused for a second and felt 'inspired' to enter a phone number. My plan was that whoever answered, I was going to ask if they could please look up the number for Domino's. I was blown away when someone answered the phone, "Domino's Pizza, how may I help you?" I knew that somewhere in the recesses of my mind that I had called Domino's before and maybe I could bring the number to memory. The only problem was that I had never before called the Domino's location where Reed ordered the pizzas. So when I 'picked myself up off the floor', I asked if I had reached the north or south location. It was the south store so I asked for the number of the other one. I called and was told the deliveryman left late but should be there any second. Whew! Everything worked out great. In fact, we got a late start on the video because the stake media guy was slow in arriving to set up the projection thing. The delayed pizzas ended up arriving with perfect timing.

Quiet holidays

Christmas and New Year's were rather quiet...our immediate family Christmas party was on Dec. 11th. We did have 12 family members over for a turkey dinner on Christmas Eve. The Johnsons had Santa Claus come a day early because Bryan had to work on Christmas Day. They enjoyed Christmas on the 24th for several reasons, one of which was that stores were open. They were able to buy the batteries that Santa forgot. After we ate, Riley and Bryan read from Luke, chapter 2. Hailey and Ashley interviewed Reed and me for a school assignment.

We were invited to breakfast at the Schvaneveldts on Christmas morning. We watched them open some of their gifts. We went to the Johnson household and Kim was sick with the stomach flu. She was so glad they already had Christmas. Reed made turkey soup and I made bread sticks for the the kids that evening. During the day we went on a long ride. We saw pheasants, deer and hundreds of wild turkeys. Because the weather was so pleasant, we went on a walk. We called and talked to our other kids and grandkids. We had leftovers for supper.

The day after Christmas we attended church in our home ward because the members of our YSA ward have gone home for the holidays. It was nice to walk to church instead of making multiple trips by car, 7.5 miles each way. It was great to kick back and relax instead of having Reed gone for 12 hours. It was NOT nice to come out of church and walk home in a snowstorm! Tuesday and Wednesday were very busy at the temple. After work on Wednesday, we had our YSA Bishop and wife over to preview a video for an upcoming ward 'Home Evening.' After they left we had our home teacher over.

We never went to the mall or made purchases at stores (except grocery) during the entire holiday season. Some of our gifts were taken care of by phone or with the click of a mouse. We gave ski lift tickets, cash or checks, and vacations. Candace and family are going to St. George during spring break again. Jodi and family are going to New Braunfels, Texas. They plan on visiting Sea World and the Alamo. Our gift-giving is sort of a cop-out. I didn't use any wrapping paper or tape this year. I don't miss the stress of deciding what to get, shopping for and purchasing so many individual gifts. I DO miss all the beautifully wrapped presents under the tree and the fun of everyone opening gifts.

On New Year's Eve we ate lunch out, purchased some puzzles, read books, spent time on the computer, went to a movie, ate out again and started working on a 1000 piece puzzle. We actually stayed up to usher the new year in! January 1st was more of the same. We are kind of boring people. We disconnected DISH a few weeks ago and haven't had Comcast cable installed yet, so it has been extremely quiet. I really don't miss TV much.

A week before Christmas we received an offer on our home. It was within an acceptable, negotiable range but the buyer wasn't able to qualify for the loan. It's good we didn't hold our breath or pack things up. We had mixed feelings. We really didn't want to move in the wintertime and we don't have any plans. We don't know what we want to do when we grow up, or where we want to live. We keep thinking that one day we will find the just the right place.

Reed is subbing for a couple of weeks. He makes morning, mid-day and afternoon school bus runs. I am on vacation; the temple is closed until the 25th. But that is our 40th anniversary and we plan to be somewhere warm. Right now everything is white with snow and the overnight temperatures are dipping below zero. At least the sun is headed the right direction and we're gaining more minutes of daylight. Well, I'd better go warm up a rice bag in the microwave.

HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Schvaneveldt Family

This is the picture from their Christmas card:Kaden~Natalie~Jill~Brandon~Courtney~Hailey

Jill is our 2nd daughter

Courtney is our first grandchild

Just wondering...where is Brandon's right leg?