JANUARY AND NEW HAPPENINGS

JANUARY AND NEW HAPPENINGS

How wonderful 2021 was.  We received so many blessings and opportunities.  We look forward to 2022 and the many adventures and blessings for this year.  Knowing the gospel of Jesus Christ is so true, how can we not be happy?

The twins had a very boring New Year with us old folks but they endured beautifully. The bedroom not so much.

They left when they had rested and we were feeling empty.  We were so blessed that the roads were now dry.  The Buckeyes won the Bowl Game, in that I’m from Ohio that was good but in that I am now in Utah it’s not so good.  Oh well; can’t lose.

January 4th, we did a session with Max and  Ruth in the Payson Temple.  One of these times I will take a picture.

The 6th we did a session and then Dad was interviewed for an assignment every Friday morning from 5:30 to 11.  He is so excited.  He had to buy a new temple suit because he is so skinny.

I had a doctor’s appointment to find out I now have osteoporosis, but I am blessed to be as healthy as I am and will do everything Doctor Noonan tells me.  It is not curable but if I am careful all will be fine.

Friday, the 7th, we went to my cousin, Gail Jones' funeral.  He is Aunt Mariah’s boy.  It was a lovely service and very positive talks by his children.  They will bury him tomorrow in Malad.  I sent flowers from the Delbert Hanks family.

Tuesday, the 10th, Scott picked us up at 5:45 AM and drove us to the SLC Airport for us to fly to South Carolina and Kristin's  It’s always a two plane flight and very long but the end result is well worth it.  Kristin had wheelchairs at each gate which I could not do without them.  She’s my little mother. She was so happy to see us.  We were just there last month but we are here for Granddad to ordain Jaylen a Deacon.  It’s always fun to be in her home.  We took one child to school and picked up another child.  Can’t remember what order.

The ordination was filled with the Spirit and Jalen looked so handsome in his new suit.  They are in a wonderful ward.

Friday the 14, was a very special day because Beatrice turned one.  What a little jewel.  She brightens up every place she enters..  She is a happy baby who loves everything way earlier than most little girls.  She is a running durvish.  She loves her daddy and the brothers think she is the icing on the cake.  She is just a bundle of joy.  After 2 boys her mother is so delighted.  We just wonder what she’s up to next.

We were supposed to drive to North Carolina Saturday to see our wonderful friends who live in Murphy,  Jeff and Cori Frady, but they got the Covid so we were really bummed.  Kristin piped up with an idea that we should all go somewhere else.  I said that I loved Charleston and she immediately looked up places to discover.  She is amazing that way.  She got us a rental car, booked an Air B&B for two nights, and printed a walking tour of that historic city.  The next thing we knew we were on our way.  David was our chauffeur.  Charleston is absolutely filled with history of the South and the Civil War.  The homes and buildings are amazing and so beautiful.  It was a very cold day but our hearts were warm.  The kids pushed me all over that town in a wheelchair David had borrowed.  The roads were cobblestone and slate.  I had a great massage the entire time.  I would send you pages of history and pictures that Kristin had compiled but that takes too much ink.  It was a cold but incredible day.

                                                                      cobblestone streets

The Custom's House was where public slave auctions were held.

                                                               custom house

In 1670 English settled into the port on the Ashley River and names it Charles Town in honor of King Charles 11 of England, renamed Charleston in 1783.  Plantation life made it one of the busiest ports in the East Coast.  It was an important port during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.

                                         
                                       beautiful yards, homes and woven baskets  (very expensive)

 More baskets.  Some were over $200

                                                                    

                                                                 Rainbow Row  built in 1740

The Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon.  By the 1700's Charleston's population was around 12,000 people, half of whom were slaves. 

Built around 1712, The Pink House is believed to be the second oldest remaining structure in Charleston.  It was a tavern and believed to be used for other things.

This small brick and stone cluster was built around 1710 and is believed to be the oldest building in 

Charleston.  We can only imagine life at this time in history.  It is filled with stories.

                                                                         our air B&B

                                                             

                                                                  ceramic stairs to upstairs

                                                                      living room

                                                                      balcony

The next day, Sunday, we watched their Stake Conference, which was wonderful, and then headed out for the next Kristin printed tour.  She is amazing.  First, we went to the Prince William Parish built in 1745-1755.  The British army burned it down in 1779  and the Federal  Army rebuilt it in 1826.  Sherman burned it again during the Civil War.  The oak trees are something to amaze anyone.  They are beautiful and full of long strings of Spanish moss. 

Then we went to Folly Beach which was just down the road.  The wind was very strong and so cold but the surfers were ready.  The small road along the beach was so crowded but we found a place to park.  There were many surfers who loved the huge waves and said it wasn’t even cold.  That tells you a lot about surfers.  We went on down the beach and Kristin said there  was a lighthouse out in the ocean.  We drove to the end of the road and found a small place to park.  We got out and walked a bit when the sign said 1 mile to the lighthouse.  No way for a wheelchair.  David said he would go back to the car and get it. I said I was tough and could walk it.  What a woman I am. 

This is a mile long road to the beach with fun graffiti.  I walked both ways.

It was so worth the walk.  There were maybe 5 people on this beach with not one scrap of trash.  It was like something you hear about but can’t believe.  The lighthouse was so beautiful and way out in the water.  At one time it was on the sand.  The waves slapped against it and was indeed a photo moment.  There were these many washed up trees in the sand.  Suddenly we saw a dolphin jumping in the waves. It just doesn’t get better than that.  We didn’t want to leave.  What a day.  The kids insisted we go back to town and buy souvenirs.  They’re a kick.

We got up the next morning and followed another one of Kristin's adventures.  We had gone this way by mistake when Kristin, Tiffani and I went on our Batchelorette trip.  It was amazing.  This little Cider Shop was so fun.

Needless we did eat and drink and took some with us.  We got a kick out of this sign.

Somewhere in here we had hamburgers.

We then went a short drive to the  Middleton  Plantation.  It was very cold but worth the walking.  They had a wheelchair there that had fat wheels and could do the paths easily.  Baylie pushed.

We just walked around acres of beautiful gardens, ponds, trees, animals and a few buildings.  Much had been ruined during the Civil War.  We went in a Slave Chapel and listened to a lecture about the slaves at that time.. We then went to the places where they lived.  They were treated better at this place than many.  The ice house was where they kept milk, butter and things cold. Very creative.  

We went where the animals were and where the slaves made  buckets, wheels, chains, pots and things needed on  a plantation.  It was very interesting.  People gave demonstrations.  There were demonstrations with people showing how things were made but I don't know how to add movies. I can't remember how many acres this was but we could have walked it all day were it warmer and had the time. 

 The main crop was not cotton, but rice.  Rice was more profitable and the slaves knew how to grow it.   They were treated well here.  Kristin insisted we visit the camellia gardens.  They went forever and a river flowed  along some of the paths.  Yes, there were alligators.  Kristin and David stayed and took a million pictures while the rest of us  went back to the car only to find David had the keys.  This was just one or 25 plantations this man owned.  We were so tired but filled with so much history and beauty.

We were very close to Columbia and were happy to get back..  The next day was Jalen’s birthday but we celebrated it right after “Come Follow Me”  Jalen was so excited and happy about all the attention and the gifts.  His favorite was his Scriptures with the gold edges and his name printed in gold on the cover.  His Aunt Tiffani gave him a huge bag of Swedish fish.  Ugh. We gave him a Spiderman hoodie which he did not take off even to go to bed.

I don’t remember what day but Kristin took Baylie and me to get pedicures for my birthday.  I love being spoiled that way.  How thoughtful.  It was fun to be just girls for a while.

Wednesday morning was Jalen’s birthday.  What a great kid.  He loves candy, friends, his family, school and his dog, Tashi.  He loves to play his violin and treats.  We are so grateful that he is part of our eternal family.  He especially loves his Granddad.

Granddad was very tired.

It was very hard to leave
We flew out at 5:30 and Scott and Bethany met us at the airport at 10:30PM.

January 20th was Dianne’s birthday.  What a special woman she is.  Above all she loves her Savior and her family.  She loves doing anything with them.  She lives by the Spirit and is always doing something for someone else.  Her talents are endless and her smile is contagious.  We are so glad Clark found her.

My birthday is next and it was wonderful.  Granddad brought me flowers to start the day. Others sent flowers and our home is now so beautiful.  Everywhere I look there are flowers. George is my everything.  I am so grateful for the tender care he gives me and for all the things he now has to do for me without a complaint.  He has given me 5 perfect children, 18 grandchildren, 3 great grands, with spouses included.  The Lord has blessed me more than I ever imagined. 

                           Kristin's family gave me this pillow.  Every grandchild cam sing this ditty.

The next day was William John's birthday.  He is now 6 years old and knows everything.  He loves his family and especially Simon and Bea. He is learning Chinese in kindergarten which makes Gronky very happy.  We love that he is part of our eternal family.  We love him so much.

Last week we went to every store available to buy a new ipad as mine died.  We finally went to Best Buy and the salesman,  said it could maybe be fixed but we would have to make an appointment for next week. Lame!.  He was not helpful.

Monday we were at Best Buy again just to check on prices..  Another helper was there and he asked to see my ipad.  He had it for 3 seconds and handed it back.  Amazing!  He knew his stuff. This young man was very knowledgeable and so kind and helpful.  Because I didn’t have to buy a new one, Dad bought a new computer with a huge monitor that has  an unattached keyboard so he could see better to do genealogy. (excuse)  He now will have 2 large screens and one small one.  Spoiled!

January 25, we did initiatories in the Provo Temple and then did a session. I was able to see Linda Westover and Sister Wakefield. (taught her kids) It was wonderful,  As we were walking out we ran into Colleen Densley and Sue Park. What a thrill.  The temple is such a wonderful place.  When we got home, Scott had left a loaf of cinnamon bread he had made and Dianne had left some carrot curry on the porch.  We are so blessed to live where we have family who are so helpful and kind. 

Thursday we went to Melvin Stanford’s funeral, went home to rest for a short time and then did a sealing session and initiatories.  When we came out of the temple Dad’s key fob would not open the Buick door. I can’t drive any more so I didn't have a key. Much to Dad’s embarrassment, I waved a man from Heber down and he gave us a ride home.  What a nice man.  We then went back to the temple in the truck and I drove the Buick home. When reading the instructions, we learned that there is a key inside of the fob that you can open the car and unbeknown to us you can then put the fob in the cupholder and the car will start.  Crazy!

Jan 28, Friday, Dad’s day to serve in the temple at 5:30 AM.  He loves it.  I sleep.  Today was also Aunt Mikki’s birthday.  What a great example of trust in the Lord.

29th Dad went to Coach Henry’s funeral.  He was a wrestling coach when Dad was a Vice Principal at PG.  Three funerals in one week.

What a wonderful month this has been.  We love all that we can do and that we do not need help and can live in our own home.  This is a great blessing.  We also love that our children take such good care of us in many loving ways.  The highlight of every week is that we are in the temple at lease twice.  The gospel of Jesus Christ is so beautiful and filled with so many blessings.  Our children and their children are our constant joy.  We are so blessed.  Their homes are filled wit love and peace.  We don't understand it but our love for each other just grows every day.  Life is good.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2021

 

Our Christmas card this year; taken 15 years ago.

I am redoing my December blog in that I don’t know how, but on the 27th, I deleted that blog. I can’t remember what I wrote so this one will be much shorter and filled with Christmas pictures. I do know that we flew home from Kristin’s safely and Scott was waiting for us at the SLC Airport. 

 On the 4th,  Riley helped Dad put up the lights in way less time than when he did it alone. What a blessing. The lights really cheer up our home. Riley also helped us bring many of our totes upstairs filled with Christmas decorations.

While shopping at WAL-Mart we snapped a picture of the Orem Temple which is going to be so nice.

Tuesday the 7th we did an endowment in the Provo Temple. George has worked so hard to find many names for us to serve. We love being in the House of the Lord.

                                                            tatted snowflake tree

The 8th we picked up Cameron at the shuttle stop so he could go to the BYU/UTS basketball game. He had some friends from Las Vegas and also invited Parker to go to the game. It was fun to have him for such a short time. We took him to the return shuttle the next morning. BYU won the game, but Cameron loves both schools and had fun with friends.

George loves putting up his village every year.

Later that morning, we went to the Provo Temple to do a session. After the session, I forgot where my locker was and had a very hard time finding it. Two sisters helped me, but I just couldn’t remember and I couldn’t find my locker key. Dad was getting very worried. I finally remembered that my locker was on the other side of the lockers and found my key in my pocket. I was so embarrassed and it was very difficult. Thank goodness for such a good husband who loves me even in hard times. 

It only took us seven days to decorate the main floor of our home. It gets harder every year, but so much fun with the Christmas music playing.

 

 Our very first Nativity that we painted because we could only pay $5. The kids chose which one they would paint.

Saturday the 11th was our ward dinner. It was a wonderful dinner with all the trimmings, but the thing we liked most was a table that was set out with paper and pens so that people could write to our ward missionaries. Imagine those missionaries receiving all those letters from home. 

                                                                Dad's 3-D puzzle

Sunday the 12th Brother Nashiff gave an amazing talk in church. It was so powerful and really made us listen. The gospel of our Savior is so beautiful and full of love and truth. 

Monday the 13th Rowan invited us to her little preschool Christmas. She knew every song and was so darn cute. We love going to these things.

For two weeks we have been working on our Christmas puzzle. We may get it finished by New Years.

                                              

Dad loves Christmas and the train under the tree.

                                                                   

Tuesday morning we did sealings in the Provo Temple. We love doing that because it is the last thing we can do for our ancestors. There is a powerful spirit there. When it was over, a Chinese lady was leaving and said, “Dr. Bayles, you were so kind to my daughter at Timpview High School." He replied, “I was so impressed when you invited me to her recital. She is a special girl." The officiator then told us that this lady had done names for the 1000’s and the 1100’s. We were stunned. The spirit was felt. We were so amazed that she could find these names and do the work. What a blessing for her and for us to know that those people can have these blessings from the Lord.

That evening we went to Rowan’s dance recital. What a kick. She loves everything. This family who have just taken Beth and Scott as theirs were also there. It was a cold and snowy evening and we loved it.

                                               Somewhere in here we had a horrific storm.

The 16th saw us at the Payson Temple with the Seamons. We did a session. We love these people whom we met serving in the Palmyra Mission. It is so good to be with them. After the session, we went to I-Hop and just enjoyed being together. Of course I forgot to take a picture.

We were so excited to go to the Giving Tree.  It is so fun.  It was very crowded.  We pushed the buttons for a goat, 3 chickens, a bee hive and meals.  We are excited to go again next week.  

Saturday we delivered neighborhood gifts and later watched the Cougar Independence Bowl Game. We lost to Alabama Birmingham. Yuck.

                                                                     Camel Nativity

Sunday, the 19th Bailey Savage turned 21. She and Riley will be sealed on the 30th. We love her already. 

                                                                  Bear Nativity

Brother and Sister Cook gave their farewell talks. They are going to serve in the Nauvoo Temple. He gave an incredible message about the early people of Nauvoo and how hard life was for them. He said we all have our own Nauvoo. We need to face our hard things like those early people who gave all they had for their knowledge of the truth of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It made us really think about how we can do better with our problems.

Monday we did things for our ministering people. We love doing that.

Tuesday we went to the Payson Temple to do Initiatories.  I realized when we got there that I forgotten my names.  At least I could do something for someone else.

The next day Clark and Riley met us at the Timpanogos Temple and did a session. We could live in the temples.

                                        Joseph nd Mary finally made it to the Hills of Judea

Christmas Eve, the 24th, we always have dinner at Scott and Beth's. She is an amazing cook and we just love to be with all the cheer and excitement. They always open one present each, which is always matching pajamas. Even the dogs got a Christmas scarf around their necks.

                                                           They made  it to the manger.

                               Clark and Dianne celebrate a Jerusalem dinner every Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning we just enjoyed being together. I’m not allowed to drive so I had Scott do all my shopping. We opened a gift from Kristin which is always a beautiful calendar with pictures of our family every month. It is professionally done and is always a treasure. 

We then went back to Scott’s to see what Santa had given them. They were so excited and just had a great morning. They are so cute together. 

Scott then gave us a present from all of our children. It is amazing. It’s an electrical screen that has pictures on it. They play for a few seconds and then another picture shows. The kids can add pictures whenever they want from their phones. Technology blows us away. It has been playing ever since and we love it. 

We then went to Clark and Dianne’s. They are so fun. They showed us their things and shared pull a parts with us. Then Dianne gave us gifts. We were surprised because that morning we had opened the family present so we were not expecting anything. She had made us jackets that match our fun times. They are perfect.

Celebrating the birth of our Savior is so wonderful when you have so many blessings and can enjoy it with the family whom we love so much and are so blessed.

Monday was wonderful because Erik’s family surprised us with a visit. We enjoyed this time so much and love having them in our home. They are a great family filled with love .

The next few days found us taking some Christmas decorations down because Titan is coming. We are now ready and excited for him to bring his family from Vegas. Everything he can't reach is still up and festive.

Rowan Nowell celebrated her birthday on the 27th. It was fun as always. She will be 5 tomorrow, but celebrated today. The house was filled with noise and laughter. Her castle cake was on fire. We have never seen such a thing. There was fun for everyone.  She adds so much joy to our family.  She is very loving.

The 28th we were again at the Payson Temple doing sealings for five couples and eight children. Snow was falling and it was a beautiful drive.

The next day was Shanelle's birthday. She can do anything and everything. She is a perfect mother for four boys who are all hard working boys who set a great example for friends.

Today Tiffani's family came to go to Riley and Bailey's marriage in the Payson Temple and reception.  It was just a perfect day, December 30,2021.  It was a cold, snowy and perfect day.  We froze while pictures were taken which didn't bother anyone.  

Dianne did the entire luncheon and she fed everyone so perfectly.  No one was hungry when it was over and there was plenty left over.  The grandchildren from both families gave a tribute to the bride and groom which was so fun and wonderful.  

                                                            family and friends

                                                     Parker, Erik, Shanelle and friends

                                                             Us, Tiffani and Dave

We then went home and rested until the reception which was just wonderful.  Everything was just perfect and so beautiful.  

While there we ran into Cathy Cosby's sister, which we didn't know her husband was a police officer with Bayley's Dad.  Later a young girl came up to me and asked if I remembered her mother, a teacher at Canyon Crest, where I taught.  What a fun thing.  I loved working with her mother and the daughter works where her boss is our Clark.  It was a great evening.

                                    

                      Some of our grandchildren;  Ava, Lauren, Rowan, Jonny, Clara, Nixon, Asher.

Friday we had cinnamon rolls then Tiff's family drove to Farmington for Bumper Cars on Ice with Erik and Clark's families.  They said it was so fun.  

The highway was thick with snow and traffic was awful.  We have had no snow since this morning.

Dave and tiff decided to stay another day in that the roads were so bad.

New Year's Eve, Parker invited Cameron for the evening with some friends.  The twins stayed home, played with Titan and watched TV.  BORING, but they didn't seem to mind. 

                               Us oldies just watched football until the big ball in New York dropped.

Well this has been a great year with the Covid and other things but knowing that our Savior has been there every minute has blessed us continually.  We love our Father in Heaven and the knowledge that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ blesses us always and we just need to follow Him and spread the news to others.  We love being in the temples often to help those who have gone before and having family be there with us sometimes.  Life is wonderful and we love our children, grand children, and great grand children beyond our prayers.  May you all be blessed this coming years with happiness and love.