January 2012

I figured everyone is sick of my trying to alliterate all the months, so I'm just going to go the simple route this year. This is the story of January, 2012.

January has been a good month, in spite of some sick days.  We've had visits from kids, parties, good weather...along with about a week of winter...and some really special birthdays to give the year a great start.

Shad's birthday was the 7th (Rebecca and Scott's anniversary, by the way)

Connie's birthday was the 14th

Reygan turned 14 the 20th (and you'll see, as you read further, what she wanted for her birthday)

Albert's was the 25th-he turned 12 and will receive the Priesthood

New Year's Day was on Sunday, and, of course, our church meeting times changed. Ours and Mary's are now at 1:00 and Rachel goes at 11:00. Rebecca and Scott go at 7:00 a.m. and at 11.

After our churches were all over for the day, we got together to celebrate the new year.  We ate and played games and just laughed a lot.  We wanted to be sure and have a get-together before Allison went back to school the next week.

In this picture, you can see two of my Christmas presents, one from Dad (the chair) and one from Joel (the foot massager). I have really enjoyed these already this month. It's like having my own personal spa.

One of Dad's Christmas presents from Rachel and Mary was a really complicated Legos train set.  So, he had all the boys in town come over to work on putting it together...actually, Luke put it together with Dad and Thomas and Carson and Hyrum cheering him on.

While the boys were working on the train (strictly boy stuff) the girls got dressed up and had a fashion show outside. They wore beautiful dresses, danced, walked down the runway (a plastic paper in the lawn) and posed for pictures (strictly girl stuff).

notice the stylish shoes

Here is the completed train

The next day, Nathan and Joshua came.  Josh is living here while he attends EAC and Nathan rode across the country with him. Josh did all the driving and Nathan came along for the ride and to visit. They drove straight to Jumbo's and we met them there. What they didn't know, none of us did, was that the day after he got here all the kids in town would be sick with nausea and diarrhea. 

The sick Biggs kids

The sick Richins kids

The sick Alder kids

Because everyone was sick, we didn't get together or have any family gatherings while Nathan was here.  Rachel and Mary sanitized themselves and snuck over without any kids, just so they could see their brother (Rebecca had already come to visit him earlier)  In spite of our caution, he and Josh both got sick. Nathan got well in time to catch his plane back to Omaha.  What a horrible visit this was for him!  Sorry, Nathan.

Fortunately, Rebecca and her kids were in Mesa, taking Allison to catch the plane to Dixie, so they avoided the sickness, and it ran its course so that everyone else was better in time to start school.

Kirtlyn and Thomas are enrolled at Lafe Nelson, Kirtlyn in 2nd grade and Thomas in Kindergarten.

First day of school pics, including Joshua's

Polly is playing 7th grade basketball and she is really good. She leads the team out onto the floor at the beginning of every game. I don't know why she gets to do that, but she does.

On Martin Luther King day, when the kids were out of school, we went on a field trip/desert picnic to the Black Hills on the way to Clifton. See where that knoll is under the clouds? We stopped near the foot of it and built a fire for a weenie roast. It was a cloudy, cold day for an outdoor picnic, but it was a good spot, so maybe we'll go there for our Easter Saturday picnic.

While Tyson built the fire, the kids hiked around on the hills

They climbed to the top of a couple of rocky cliffs.

This is just zoomed in on them

waiting for food

and s'mores

Jared was having a hard time with the cold and wind, but Tony was able to calm him down

That next weekend, we had a houseful. Jenn's mom and niece came to stay the weekend with her and Jeremy and Erika and their family came to visit us for Reygan's birthday. That is the present she asked for. Isn't that nice? They stayed in a hotel, but were here enough that we got to visit with them and the kids and really enjoy time with them. Dad even put Jeremy to work putting up a cupboard in the bathroom for me.  Tyson also came to help.

                                                             Kirtlyn and her cousin

Jenn and her mom, Anna Knudsen

 Chillin' with the Biggses

We even went swimming.

Life guards

Because Jeremy and Erika were here, the other kids in town came over to visit as well.  Rebecca always makes Jared laugh no matter how grumpy he might have been before she picks him up.

Group hug

I took the opportunity to use our new mixer and made cinnamon rolls

Hard at work installing my cupboard

While Jeremy and Tyson were working on the cupboard, Tony was outside starting Luke's Pinewood Derby car. Dad was so glad it was Tony and not him. He made plenty of cars in his career, 5x3 of them, except for the one year there was a rocket derby instead of a pinewood derby. Anyway, when Mary was born, Tom was standing in the delivery room (in the days when you had to wait until the baby was born before you knew what gender it was) and he said, "oh, good! It's a girl! I won't have to do pinewood derbies for her!

Jeremy and Erika's family on Sunday before they left for home.

Tony and Luke the next week at the derby. Luke came in 3rd!  Good job guys!

To celebrate, they went to Denny's (?) for a treat. Thomas went with them.

Last weekend, we went to Mesa to see the kids and Grandpa and Grandma, and I could tell that everyone is getting so tired of me taking pictures of everything they do, so I mostly left my camera in my purse on this trip.  We saw all the kids and went to El Charro with them for lunch, and had a good, if short, visit with Grandpa and Grandma.  Then Dad and the boys went to see Red Tails. Since it is a war movie, they thought I would rather not go, and they were right. I relaxed with a good book at the condo, but I made Dad promise to have a picture taken at the movie.

Except for the one week of winter, the weather has been so spring-like and beautiful.  The kids have played outside most of the time. They picnicked on crackers and cereal, and cleaned the play area.

Dad and Jenn at their laptops

Does this look familiar? It could be Thomas, 27 years ago, couldn't it?

The kids have pretty much settled in to their new home...here is Maya, making herself at home.

playing at the park behind Mary's house

News from around the family

~Our missionaries~

Both Dallin and Stetson have been transferred.  Dallin to Neuque'n and Stetson to Mendoza.  They both have native companions, are doing amazingly well with their Spanish, have had a baptism and sound really great in their letters.

Stetson's 6th month tie-burning tradition.  I remember when it used to be a shirt-burning tradition.

Dallin and comps on New Year's Day

A lady in Daniel's office joined the Church and Parker baptized her. Daniel confirmed her.

Here are Rebecca and her girls with Grandpa and Grandma when they went to take Allison to the airport

Crew and Hayden at a Suns game

Finally , Soren and Brody helping Shad blow out his birthday candles.  Now that he's all of 34, he needs all the help he can get!

So, that about wraps up January, at least the things I have pictures of.  If you have been doing fun things but haven't sent pics, please think of sending them to me.  Just send them to Dad's email and I will include them in the blog.  It's not just for the blog, either, it is for family history. I get these wonderful blog books and everything is recorded there.  We have had a good start to 2012, and I expect it will be even better as the year rolls on.  February is already shaping up to be busy...Temple service, lessons, maybe a trip to Colorado, and more birthdays than any other month!  See you then.