Some Things That Make Me Happy

I must admit that snow is not my favorite thing, and it doesn't always make me happy. But, I have to say that when it snows and the world looks like a wonderland, it does make me happy. This is how it looked about a week ago after it had snowed during the night. I couldn't resist taking pictures. I particularly like the white snow-capped trees framed by the blue sky.

When you get to be my age, cleaning the house is not one of my favorite things. So, I have asked one of my Laurels if she would help me clean on some Saturdays. You know, it really makes me happy when I only have to do half of the work and someone else helps me. Her name is Valya, and I love that young woman. She's fun, but she lets me know when there are things in my cupboards that should have been thrown away a LONG time ago. She helped me clean and organize some of my cupboards in December. That was great!

We have a spiritual study group in our ward in which we have been studying the Ensign articles. A couple of days ago we discussed some of our favorite October conference talks. These ladies are the "cream of the crop" when it comes to spirituality, and I love studying together with them. L-R: Paulette Jerome, Grace Marie Dennis, me, Grace Bramall, Alice Spencer. We learn a lot from each other.

CURVES makes me happy. Every morning at 7:00 a.m., about five of the ladies in our ward go to Curves together. It is a great place to be. It wakes us up and gives us some excercise to start our day.

Here is my friend, Marilyn Barry, working out at Curves. Her husband has been called as a mission president and she will accompany him. They will be great. Maybe she can find a Curves wherever they will serve.

Here are the machines that we work out on. The workout is 30 minutes. We are on a machine for 30 seconds, then go to a square, (where we do aerobic exercise), and then back on a machine until we have been totally around the circuit, plus six more machines and squares.

After our workout is completed, we go to the stretching machine. Here, we spend about five to seven minutes stretching our bodies. There aren't really this many ladies on the stretching machine at a time. There are usually about four to five. I just had them pose. The gal in the front with the purple shirt on is our drill sergeant, Elita. She is really a great trainer. She keeps us working hard and shows us all kinds of aerobic excercises. We workout, laugh, talk and generally have a good time together. I recommend it to anyone. To the right of me are Gaylin Hodges, Grace Marie Dennis and Marilyn Barry. We also have a couple of other gals who go with us, but they weren't there for this picture.

I'm so grateful for good friends. They make life a better place to be. They make me happy.

Happy Birthday to one great man. Grandpa Dalebout turned 91 years old today. And we had a very low-key celebration for him. Our big celebration will be tomorrow with Jenny's and Ryan's family, but for today, Dick, Bill, Val Jones and Rick Soulier came for dinner. Bill came down from Logan and attended church with Dad. Here is a picture of the "three bald" gentlemen. I think they're pretty nice guys. Dick, Dad and Bill.


Dad is one of those people who has truly been a constant in our lives. Whenever I call him and ask him how he is, he always tells me: "I'm beautiful." And, he is a "beautiful" person. He has many wonderful qualities, some of which are a very strong testimony of the gospel, a great love for his family, a love for his friends and ward members, and a deep love for family history work. I remember many a time that I went with him to the Family History Center in Salt Lake and did research. He would do his Dutch line, and I would do my Danish line. It was fun to travel with him on the bus and spend time visiting with him. He'd always buy me a sandwich at ZCMI at noon. I will cherish those times with him and all the other memories we have of him.

Here is his new sport coat and slacks that he got for Christmas. Doesn't he look dapper! Wow, I told him he better watch out for the ladies.

He still looks handsome, eh?

Thanks, Dad, for everything you've done for us and our family over the years. We love you.

Happy New Year!

I have neglected posting for a couple of weeks because of a lot of Christmas activities, and then the computer suffered a major virus that caused havoc for the past few days. I couldn't even get into my blog. Hopefully, it is fixed. We are truly grateful for wonderful neighbors who are willing to come and help with our computer when it needs to be fixed. Thanks to Rick Crookston. We appreciate him so much.

On December 19th, Scott and Amy and their family traveled to Utah to spend a week with us. They were on their way to Kansas, where Scott will start a new job and they will be in a new home (for them) and start new schools. Changing schools in the middle of the year is difficult, and we are praying that things will go well for the children. They are, however, living in the same town as they were four and a half years ago, as well as going to the same ward, and attending the same elementary. That will be helpful.

On December 21st, Scott was kind enough to drive us (Jenny, Spencer, Sam and Evie) to Las Vegas to see BYU play in the Las Vegas Bowl. (I really went down to see Matt's children, Jacob and Owen, and to tend Owen with his other grandmother, Chris, while the others went to the game). Matt and Stacie went to Phoenix for Christmas and drove up with the Packards to see the Las Vegan Bowl and to see us also. I will say this a hundred times: Scott is a good sport. Thanks, Scott, for being willing to go with us. Amy stayed home to get her Christmas shopping done and other projects. She and Dad spent some quality time together, along with Ashlynn, Elle (Amy's girls) and Ali, Zack and Milly (Jenny's girls). Thanks, Amy, for taking care of things while we were gone. Ryan pitched in and helped also. Thanks Ryan.

We stayed at the Golden Nugget Hotel, and Spencer and Sam had a great time with Jacob.
There was more than one dog pile (kids and adults piling on top of each other) in the hotel room.

Sam and Jacob
Spencer and Jacob

Stacie, Owen, Scott and Evie at the restaurant in the hotel.

Jenny and Owen. Aren't they both cute!

Spencer, Sam and Jacob at McDonalds

Stacie, Chris (grandma) holding Owen, Evie (grandma) holding Jacob, and Matt by a huge Christmas tree on Freemont Street in Las Vegas.

Cute picture of Matt and Stacie

On December 23rd, we headed back home so that Jenny could help her kids in a couple of programs where they performed for people in two care centers. They sang, clogged and played the piano. It was a sweet performance.

Christmas Eve came rapidly. All of Jenny's and Ryan's family and Amy's and Scott's family were here, as well as Keshia Lai, Grandpa Dalebout, and Dick and Evie--15 in all. Zack came ready to have Grandpa Dick pull out his top front tooth. He didn't want anyone else to pull it out. Dick LOVES to get the pliers and pull out baby teeth. I'm convinced that down deep inside, he really wanted to be a dentist and pull people's teeth. He was successful and Zack was very brave.

We always manage to have a talent show after we eat dinner on Christmas Eve. We were very proud of our grandchildren. Four of them (Ashlynn, Elle, Spencer and Ali) played piano solos and did a great job. Milly sang a song with Spencer. Sam finally consented to play the saxophone for us, only if Grandpa Dick would play the trumpet, which he hasn't played for a couple of years. Sam did great, and we could tell what Grandpa Dick was playing. So, that was good.

Keshia sang "Oh Holy Night," while Jenny played.

And, the crowning star of the night was the Nativity. Here are our participants. Zack was Joseph (on Keshia's lap), Elle was Mary, Spencer and Ashlynn were shepherds, Ali and Milly were angels, Scott and Amy were wisemen, Ryan was the innkeeper, and Sam was the donkey.

Keshia was the director, and Grandpa Dalebout was the reader. We love this tradition of recreating the nativity each year. There was a special feeling this Christmas as we played our parts.

Another tradition our family has had is to open one gift on Christmas Eve. The gift is usually pajamas, and so it was this Christmas Eve for the Kimball family's children. Here they are in their pajamas.

Christmas morning dawned, and our last tradition came to pass. We have always lined up our children and grandchildren in order of age. In the past, we have had them come downstairs, but the last few Christmas's, they have come upstairs from the basement into our new room. Here they are in order of age. Elle (7) holding Sequoia (2), Sam (10), Ashlynn, (13), Keshia (23), Scott and Amy. You can guess their ages.

We had a very special Christmas this year, thanks to the efforts of our children. They were willing to sacrifice and contribute to some special charities. They made us a DVD and book of their experiences. This will be a Christmas we will never forget, and, hopefully, they won't.

I couldn't resist taking this picture of the Scott wearing a shirt he got for Christmas.