Nikkail's Concert

The South Jordan Junior Youth Symphony performed at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City. It is one of the premier concert halls in the country, so Nikkail was excited to participate.

Joseph's Pinewood Derby

Joseph made his Pinewood Derby car (with Michael's help) and raced it on Thursday.

Welfare Square

Our ward has a welfare assignment every month or two and this was the first one we were able to volunteer for. Our assignment is at the dairy on Welfare Square (I didn't know there was a dairy there) and today we were packaging cheese. The cheese is processed, aged, and packed at this facility. Our job was to cut 40 lb. blocks into 1 lb. blocks, then package and box it. I estimated that we packaged about 2 tons of cheese in less than 4 hours and each of us was given a 1 lb. package in appreciation for our service. (It's really good stuff!)

Free Dirt

When we moved here, the back yard was overgrown and almost unusable. There was a swamp in the back with marsh grass and cat tails, there were scraggly bushes galore, and whenever it rained, the creek would overflow and much of the lower section would flood. In July (during Michael's vacation), we rented a Bobcat, purchased 13 dump truck loads of dirt and rocks, and Michael reclaimed some of the southeast corner of our property. Recently, we noticed that a new house was going up two doors down from Kristi and that the dirt (from digging the basement) was sitting on the lot next to her. The builder needed a place to dump the dirt, so we got 103 dump truck loads of dirt delivered and spread for free. Picture #1: Michael on the Bobcat (in July) with Alice working on the scraggly bushes. Picture #2: After a rain storm (in October), the only part of the lower section that didn't flood was the part that Michael had sculpted with dirt and rocks (to the right behind the horse panels). Picture #3: After 103 dump truck loads of dirt, most of the back of our property is several feet higher. The section Michael sculpted (to the right behind the horse panels) is now about a foot lower than the new portion.

Maggie's Birthday

Maggie's birthday was February 15th. She wanted to go bowling and to a frozen yogurt place -- so we did.

Gardner Party

Jeff is in charge of an addition at BYU Hawaii, so he's goes there quite often. Teri got the opportunity to go with him from February 8-17, so we've been living mostly at her house for the last week and a half. Fortunately, our house is less than 2 miles from hers, so we've been able to run back and forth as needed. It has been a great experience hanging out with Justen, Brianne, Kelsey, and Chase. They're not only sweet kids, but it's been great to see how well-organized and well-behaved they are on a day-to-day basis. Also, we've gained a real appreciation for the busy life Teri has -- just in shuttling kids -- without even taking into consideration housework, church work, etc.

Katie's Baptism

Katie was baptized on February 4, 2012. My parents and most of our kids and grandkids attended.