Happy New Year!

New year. New blog. Same old Grammy and Grandad.

I started the year off a bit rough. I woke up and was walking down the hall when my hip froze and I couldn't walk at all. I was in so much pain I couldn't move. I called out for Grandad. He finally heard me and came upstairs. We were worried I'd have to go to the hospital, but he was able to get me situated in the TV room with a heating pad and I stayed there all day. I didn't move or eat anything all day. When I woke up in the morning, the pain was gone. So strange, but such a relief

On Saturday the 3rd, we started to put away Christmas. We also got an unexpected and welcome visit from Riley. He had a few minutes while his wife, Bailey was at work.

Sunday the 4th Sylvia Jarman gave a beautiful Sunday School lesson. She is a long-time family friend and gives such beautiful lessons. Cameron came for his weekly dinner and football visit.

On Monday the 5th, Tiffani spent the night with a young woman and her mom from Tiff's ward. They were on their way to drop off the daughter at BYU-Idaho. The girl and her mother are fairly new converts and she is excited to go to BYU. I hope she doesn't freeze! They left the next day.

On Wednesday the 7th, we met up with my sister, Karen, and her son, Tyson, to go to the Cedar City Temple. Tyson rented a car big enough for all of us to ride together. We met up with my brother, Del, once we got to Cedar and stayed in his home. It was so fun to be together. I love my siblings. We missed my brother Milt who died several years ago.

George, Me, Karen, Del

It was a quick trip and we headed back the next day. While we were gone, Tiffani stopped on her way back home and did a lot of undecorating for us while we were out of town. Thank goodness! It was so nice to come home and find most of it done.

When Tiff and Dave got married, they gave us this snow globe that lights up. At some point in the past year or so, it started to leak and we couldn't fix it. Dad figured out that we could get rid of the globe part of it and just use it as a pretty statue.

We had our typical weekend of Dad going to the temple on Friday and Cameron coming over on Sunday.

Monday and Tuesday the 12th and 13th, we got our bundle tied and prepared for a visit to South Carolina where we were hoping to have some warm weather. We packed up the pharmacy and headed out on Wednesday the 14th. 

We flew standby and were blessed to not get bumped a single time. We had a quick connection in Washington, D.C., and were in Columbia by 6:30 p.m. 

Thursday the 15th we were able to go to Baylie's choir concert. It was nice because we don't get to see the Carolina kids perform in person very often. 

Jalen finished his Lego pirate ship, which was quite the project. He got it for Christmas.

Kristin made pork chops one evening and the next day Grandad had a pork chop sandwich. It's actually Kristin prepares food that is edible since as a child she couldn't even boil water.

Check out that bite!

Friday we went to Aldi - a little piece of grocery store heaven on Earth - and then to Costco, where all your dreams come true. I had a hot dog, even though I knew pizza was on the menu for that evening. It was worth it!

Saturday the 17th, Grandad helped Jalen hang a panel of privacy fencing in the backyard while David gave music lessons all day. That night, the missionaries came over for dinner. Kristin feeds them once a week. We had meatball sandwiches and gluten free brownies. It was shocking how good the brownies were even without gluten! We got to meet Elder Carter whose parents had been to our home last time Kristin was in Utah.

Sunday the 18th was the reason we went to South Carolina. Jalen was ordained a priest. It seems like just yesterday Kristin and David were flying to Virginia to bring him home. It's hard to believe he's now a Priest, driving, and thinks he's ready to date. 

Grandad, David, Kristin, Baylie, Jalen, Me

After church we had Family Home Evening, Come Follow Me, and weekly planning with Kristin's family. (She is just as OCD as she was as a child.)

Sunday was also the day Parker and Jessa announced that they are having a girl! So exciting. This will be Erik and Shanelle's first grandbaby.

And now a commercial break for my playoff commentary.

• San Francisco vs. Seattle - embarrassing
• Buffalo vs. Denver - it was a catch, not an interception, Buffalo was robbed
• Houston vs. New England - Houston, we had a problem
• Rams vs. Bears - holy Hail Mary only to lose a heart breaker - happy for Puka, sad for the Bears

So much for warmer weather!🙄

Monday the 19th was Jalen's 16th birthday. It was MLK Day so kids didn't have school and he was able to have a birthday party on his actually birthday. Prior to the party, we went to Chipotle because he wanted burritos. That's funny because Kristin always wanted burritos for her birthday. 

Jalen - Baylie, Jalen, David, Grandad, Me, Kristin

For his party, Jalen wanted a mall scavenger hunt and only ice cream - no cake.

Since my birthday is Wednesday, we decided to celebrate our birthdays together.

Grandad was really excited to celebrate.

Kristin found a website where we were able to print boarding passes to go with astronauts on their trip around the moon.

You can print your own boarding pass HERE.

Tuesday the 20th we had to bid farewell to the Batchelors and tear ourselves away from our favorite eldest child. Our flights were wide open and we were boarded right away. Unfortunately, the plane didn't go anywhere for an hour. There was a problem with the air traffic tower in Chicago (a burst water pipe). We were already on the plane so we couldn't go anywhere even though we knew we would miss our connection. So frustrating! 

This photo may or may not have been created with AI.

Fortunately we found out when we got to Chicago that our connecting flight was also delayed so we were able to catch it. We ended up in Salt Lake just an hour later than originally planned. Hooray!!

The 20th was also Dianne's birthday. She and Clark are now empty nesters, which is hard to imagine after six busy children. She is a wonderful wife, mother, and Mimi.

My birthday was the 21st. I'm 82! Dad bought me beautiful flowers and took me out to Outback.

From Sister Kay Barker and from Grandad

This photo may or may not have been created with AI.

Thursday the 22nd was Will's birthday. He's Ashley's oldest and our oldest great-grandchild. Four days in a row of birthdays! Will is such a great big brother. He is super smart and enjoys learning Chinese at his immersion school. 

Friday the 23rd Grandad was back at the temple. We're hoping for a big raise since he's putting in so much overtime.

That same day I had a mammogram. They had to pull out the magnifying glass because - well, you know. The good news is no cancer!

On Saturday the 24th I had a tatting lesson. The young man who is helping me is getting ready for a mission, but in the meantime he's been willing to help me tat. He's very sweet and patient to work with me.

Sunday the 25th we had dinner at Erik and Shanelle's where we got to meet Asher's new dogs. They're so cute (Asher and the dogs)!

The dog whisperer

Monday the 26th Grandad added to his welding menagerie. This time it was butterflies. (We're going to need a bigger net!)

Tuesday we went to the temple. We have done 3,500 ordinances since returning from our mission in Palmyra! That's amazing to think about.

We had three doctor's appointments on the 28th (we had a buy 2, get one free coupon). Grandad went to Judd Hunter to see about his C-PAP. Next was our dentist, Dr. McKell. Last but not least was Dr. Huber, the dermatologist. He froze my head. It was very painful. 

On Thursday the 29th, I had trouble with advertising popping up on my phone because of a puzzle app. Sadly, the puzzle app had to go.

Friday was back to the temple and then so much shopping. We were on a treasure hunt to find things to weld.

Grandad helped set up chairs at the church for a funeral on Saturday. It was for Mary Ann Lemon who had served as my counselor in the Relief Society. She was a sweet lady and a wonderful counselor. After that he spent all day working on Family History. 

Now that Christmas is over, we are enjoying playing around with the different color options of our new lights.

Go Cougars!

It's been a great beginning to the year 2026. We look forward to see what this year brings. Most of all we hope for more time and memories with our family (especially Kristin).

Missionary Moments

Jonny has officially completed training and is no longer a greenie!

"Feast on the words!!!! Guys, God is so good. He's so good that he literally gave us a book that is just 100% full of things we can learn from Him. The Book of Mormon is the most true book on Earth. I have a knowledge of that, but the only way you can have that knowledge is to read it!!!! And don't just read it, feast on it!!!! Invite: Try to learn something from every single verse, because 

God gives us something in every verse we just have to extract it and apply it. So write down a short thought or lesson or anything you learn for every single verse in the BOM. I know that if you do that and then pray you will know that its true!!!"

Lily - we haven't had an update from Lily in January, but know she is working hard in Alabama.