Fabulous February!

We started the month with Ashley John's birthday. Ashley was our very first grandchild and her arrival was such a celebrated event. She has grown into an amazing wife and mother.

Monday, February 2, Grandad welded a Viking for our own Viking - Erik. Talk about a heart of steel!

February 3 was one of many temple days. I also had to get out the phone to take a picture of Grandad's super curly hair.

Guess we know where Clark got it!

Dad spent February 4th in the Pit of Despair. Actually, it was just in his office where he does hours and hours of family history. So maybe we should call it the Pit of Prepare.

Thursday the 5th we went to the Payson temple and paid the bills - paying our debts on both sides of the veil.

I had a rough day on the 6th. I was really dizzy so I took my blood pressure. It was 170! That's kind of scary. So I laid down and slept until 3:00 p.m.

Saturday the 7th, Clark came and checked the beehives. All the bees were dead because of the cold. It was so sad! He had to buy some more.

I still wasn't feeling well so I stayed home from church. I just rested and watched the Olympics

On Tuesday the 9th, Scott stopped by to fix our shower head because it had fallen down. He's always willing to help us with our home projects.

I stayed home while Grandad went welding. The Seamons and Dad came and got me later to go to Chubby's for dinner.

It was also Dave Jenning's birthday. We're so grateful he and Tiffani found each other. They are a great pair and have raised a righteous family. They are about to be empty nesters! (Hopefully they will still enjoy being around each other.)

Tuesday the 10th was the Orem temple. (Maybe it would be easier to write the days we don't go to the temple.)

Wednesday we had the car serviced with Clint Washburn. It was an expensive repair to replace the tire monitors. It would be cheaper to just let them watch themselves. After that we had to go to the dentist beacause I had broken a tooth. I got a temporary crown. I'll get my permanent one soon. Then you can call me queen.

Thursday the 12th we went to Payson temple and on Friday 13th we left for Vegas. It was President's Day weekend and traffic was terrible. It was basically a parking lot from Cedar City to St. George. Of course we stopped in Beaver for cheese curds and ice cream.

We spent Valentine's Day with Tiffani's family and their friends. We all went to the temple with a good friend of the twins, Maddie King, who was going through for the first time. 

Sunday was their stake conference and afterwards we went to both performances of Zion's Youth at 4:00 & 7:00. It was "Lamb of God," which is their most popular program. It was bittersweet as it was the girls' final performace with the group. It has been such a great experience for them.

Kolton's friend Leah, Kolton, Dave, Clara, Lauryn, me, Grandad, Tiffani

On Monday we headed back to Provo. We made another emergency stop at Beaver for Huckleberry ice cream. It's a good thing we had nourishment because it took eight hours to get from St. George to Provo! It normally only takes 3 1/2 hours.

On Tuesday, February 17th, Dad finished the Viking. He is awesome! We shall call him Erik the Blue. 

Finally on February 18th we got snow! It's the only snow we've had this winter. Even Kristin's family in South Carolina has had more snow than us. We watched more winter Olympics.

Thursday the 19th was Asher's 18th birthday. How did he grow up so fast?!

On Friday, Tiffani and the girls arrived so they could be with Maddie when she opened her mission call. She is going to Denmark. She will be able to speak with her grandmother in her native language. What a blessing.

Clara woke up on Saturday and made everyone waffles. Sort of. 

There were several more days of temple visits, family history and welding. 

My new friend also helped me to finally remember how to tat. Yay!

On the last day of the month, Grandad pruned raspberries, cleaned up some horseshoes, and raked some leaves leaves. (More snow would probably save us from having to do these chores.)

Grandad's latest projects: flower and snowmen. (Kind of sounds like a song Olaf would sing.)

He found a man who gave him some horseshoes so he traded him for some canes.

He also had some adventures in baking. They may look a little down in the dumps, but they were delicious!

It's been a month with lots of highs and lows. We have loved every moment we've been able to spend with family.

Missionary Moments

Lily: GOD HEARS YOUR PRAYERS! Never stop praying cause thats when you let Satan win! 

Jonny: 1 Nephi 17:10... This is another crazy underrated scripture guys, so listen up. When God commands Nephi to build a boat, Nephi doesn't ask how he's supposed to do that. He asks where I can find materials to build tools!!! Which I thought was so so cool. Because I think sometimes that we overcomplicate God's instructions when really all you have to do is take baby steps and break it down to what the first thing you need to do is. So that's what I want all y'all to do this week, when God prompts you to do something, just take whatever your first step needs to be and do that.

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. 

Snowless Winter Wonderland

'Twas the night after Thanksgiving and all through the hogan

Peace was restored 'cause the grandkids had all gone.

We thought our vacation had finally begun,

When we noticed the decor yet to be hung.
Dang it.

Actually, we got must of the decorations set up, which was nice. Once the tree is up, it feels like Christmas. We finished decorating on the 2nd and 3rd of December (mostly Grandad).

We are loving our new lights - especially knowing that we never have to take them down or hang them up again! Best Christmas present ever!

Grandad got the lights all hooked up in the Christmas Village Baylie had set up. (It's really become more of a metropolis than a village at this point.)

Our very favorite decor is this placemat Kristin made for us decades ago. She is such an amazing seamstress.0

We had a lot of snow the end of November, but it didn't stick around. Fortunately, there is still some on the mountains. The ski resorts are suffering though.

We were able to see Clara in action on the grid iron. The girl's got game.

Perhaps she could have helped the Cougars since they lost the Big 12 Conference Championship to Texas Tech on the 6th.

Cameron came to dinner on the 7th (and the 14th, and the 28th, but not the 21st). It's fun having him close by.

On the 12th I found out that due to my fall in the temple, my arthritis has flared up in my hands and wrists. It's painful, but I'm used to it. I'm tough. We made our Christmas cards on the 13th. We have a personal designer that creates these masterpieces for us. 

We went to the temple a whole bunch of times so anytime we skip a date, just assume that's where we were. Also, throw in some iHop visits as well.

Riley's sweet wife Bailey had her birthday on the 19th. We love her and are so glad she's part of our family.

On December 16, Erik and Shanelle invited us to join them for dinner at a Thai restaurant and then to see A Christmas Carol at the DoTerra campus. Both were marvelous. What a wonderful evening with family.

Camden, Clark, Shanelle, Asher, me, Grandad, Kolton

Saturday, December 20, we took Scott to the Seamons' so he cold work on Ava's jeep. Max has all the toys tools. It was a group effort and took seven hours!

Scott (also under car), Grandad, Max

Tiff gave us a great idea for neighbor gifts so we delivered them soft soaps with inspirational messages.

Over the past month or so, we have been invaded by mice. They dig up the yard and leave holes everywhere. Mom is convinced it's an invasion that will end up in the destruction of life as we know it. Tyson Marble told us we can put out dishes of Coke, the mice will drink it and then explode. Lovely. Cinderella would be so disappointed in us.

We went to Scott's for dinner on the 24th. It was wonderful spending time with them. So wonderful we forgot to take any pictures.

We weren't able to make our usual Christmas morning rounds because Grandad was sick. Erik and Scott were able to come give him a blessing. We were grateful to see all the family Christmas pictures. even though we didn't get the in person visits.

Kristin, Tiff, and Erik's families had a Disney theme.

Baylie, Jalen, Kristin, and David

Clara, Cameron, and Clara - Tiffani, Cameron, Clara, Dave, and Lauryn

Erik, Shanelle, Camden, Kolton, Asher - Parker, pup & Jessa

Shepherd's dinner with Ashley's family
Will, Tyler, Ashley, Rosie, Bea, and Simon - Di and Clark

Clark, Hailey, and Di - Jayden and Molly - Bailey, pup & Riley

Hailey & puppies - I had to throw this one in because it's so cute.

Rowan, Scott, Nixon, Ava, and Beth

Dad gave me this sweetest ornament. It made me cry. (Shocker.)

I started feeling sick on the 26th. Both of us ended up sleeping a lot.

December 27th was the Pop-Tarts Bowl. What a nail-biter!! For two people with a-fib, this was not a recommended activity. Fortunately, the Cougars pulled off the last-second win. (Do any other teams take as many games down to the wire?)

Rowan's birthday was the 28th. She's such a bundle of energy and joy. She's the perfect caboose for our grandchildren.

Dec. 29 was Shanelle's birthday. She is such a great boy mom. She has raised men that are stalwart and strong. She is a devoted wife and mother. She also comes up with the funnest family games.

Dad went welding on Monday and is working on some butterflies. They're so cute.

Unpainted butterfly - or moth

Cameron has been with us for a few days. He thought he had to work so he left Vegas early only to find out he didn't have to work. Such a bummer. His roommates are still gone, so he's been hanging out with us. We're glad he has our home to come to.

Tiffani helped us with Christmas this year. After the holiday, she called Grandad to see if he had seen the case of grape soda she had sent. (I love grape soda and it's really hard to find. We even order it online!) I told him I didn't know what he was talking about. Miraculously, he found it in my closet. I'm blaming dementia...

Which brings us to New Year's Eve. We had planned to live it up in Vegas, but then remembered we might run into our grandchildren and they don't know about that side of us. So instead, we plan to fall asleep watching bowl games.

The year 2025 has been a good one for our family. We are grateful for our health and our blessings. We are grateful to be living in our own home, being able to go to the temple, and still go on some adventures. We look forward to 2026.

Missionary Updates

Lily

Lily is second from the right.

"Merry Christmas all you beautiful people! Ugh isn't Christmas just the best? I LOVE being a missionary during the Christmas season! People are so much happier, even more willing to talk about Jesus Christ, the music gets better, and there are twinkling lights everywhere you go! Whats not to love?? Plus, down here in the south we're ranging in the 60-70⁰ range, so there really isn't much to complain about. Too bad I've become an even bigger baby to the cold, so I still wear a sweater basically every day. 

I cannot say enough how miracles are all around us! And what an amazing time to think about and recognize all the miracles around us! Everything reguarding Jesus Christ is a miracle. Plain and simple. Because of the Christmas season, I have been especially focusing on the miracle of the birth of Jesus Christ. Just to list a few: how Mary got pregnant, Joseph not leaving Mary, them traveling safely to Bethlehem, Mary giving birth in a barn and everything going smoothly, the shepards finding the humble, little family, and SO MANY MORE!

We know from The Book of Mormon in Moroni 7:27, "have miracles ceased because Christ hath ascended into heaven, and hath sat down on the right hand of God, to claim of the Father his rights of mercy which he hath upon the children of men?" Just because Jesus Christ isn't on the Earth physically anymore, doesn't mean there aren't miracles happening. Look for the miracles! They're EVERYWHERE!!"

Jonny

Jonny is second from left.

"GUYS IT IS SO CHRISTMAS!!!! WE DECORATED THE WHOLE APARTMENT WITH JESUS STUFF AND NOW OUR APARTMENT IS SO GOATED!!! I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

Guys the spiritual thought is just focus on Jesus this Christmas! Whenever you think Christmas think only Jesus."