The year 2014 is off to a good start. We always enjoy having opportunities to be with family and friends and like being busy.
It was nice having family come to spend New Years with us: Scott and Kristine, Jenna, and Shannon; Brittney, Matt, and Monty; Doug, Jacob, and Brynlee (sickness kept Shannon, Isaac, and Mason at home); and Beth and Todd's family.
Enjoying another craft project.
(Megan, Brynlee, Shannon, Rebecca, Amanda, and Jenna)
Dodge ball in the sports court.
(Doug, Beth, Scott, Jacob, Sam, and Ethan)
Watching the dodge ball players from the balcony.
(Shannon, Monty, Megan, and Amanda)
Our
first great-grandchild was born one year ago on the first day of
January, so an important event was shared celebrating Anna's birthday (a
few days later on January 7) with Sarah and Derek in their home with
other family and friends.
Anna getting help opening her presents from her
mom while dad watches, and Rebecca (left) looks on
wondering what is inside the packages.
Anna, the birthday girl, kept her
festive hat on; but Sarah removed Anna's cute
dress in readiness for the cupcake and frosting
about to be enjoyed.
Jacob in the red singlet.
Shannon, Brynlee, and Jacob
had a long ride on the the huge Ferris wheel.
Another view with Shannon, Brynlee, and Jacob
in the car opposite the Scheels logo.
It was a little mysterious to Isaac
to have his picture taken with a big shark
and not be able to see it until he got home
to see the computer image.
Even if we can't see the shark here,
it's a cute picture of Isaac taken with our cell phone.
Brynlee in the Scheels Stomper.
One of the animal displays similar to ones we have
seen in Cabella's. Interestingly, Sam was wearing
a cap with the Cabella logo on it the day we were
in Scheels and got a friendly greeting from a Scheels' employee.
At the open house for Katie Tehrani.
(Sam and Narene; Deb, Dave, and Katie Tehrani)
festive hat on; but Sarah removed Anna's cute
dress in readiness for the cupcake and frosting
about to be enjoyed.
On January 11, we went to watch Jacob compete in a wrestling tourney in Herriman. In a field of four in his group, he ended up with a third place medal and some good experience.
Jacob in the red singlet.
After
the wrestling, on our way home we stopped at the big Scheels sporting
goods store in Sandy and enjoyed the animal displays, the 16,000-gallon
aquarium, the 16-car Ferris wheel, and other game centers.
had a long ride on the the huge Ferris wheel.
Another view with Shannon, Brynlee, and Jacob
in the car opposite the Scheels logo.
to have his picture taken with a big shark
and not be able to see it until he got home
to see the computer image.
Even if we can't see the shark here,
it's a cute picture of Isaac taken with our cell phone.
seen in Cabella's. Interestingly, Sam was wearing
a cap with the Cabella logo on it the day we were
in Scheels and got a friendly greeting from a Scheels' employee.
Isaac and Mason
at Scheels in Sandy, Utah
On January 12, we enjoyed attending church with Dave and Deb Tehrani's family and hearing their daughter, Katie, speak about her mission in Singapore. Afterward, we enjoyed the Tehrani's hospitality in their home in Midway.
(Sam and Narene; Deb, Dave, and Katie Tehrani)
A Christmas gift from Ryan and Tani's family was tickets to two plays at the Hale Theater in Orem. We went with them to the first one on January 15 and enjoyed a comedy, Kiss and Tell.
We failed to take a picture when we visited the Allens on January 18; but we were pleased to see these friends from South Dakota, Roger and Michelle Allen and sons, who were in West Jordan at the home of Roger's parents They were in Utah to pick up their son Tronson who just completed serving in the Utah Salt Lake Mission. That day before going to be with the Allens, we enjoyed having Maggie Smith and Anna Lontine (granddaughter and great-granddaughter) spend the morning in our home while Maggie was babysitting Anna.
Our grandson, Jared Graham, celebrated his 16th birthday by going to a car show and invited Grampa Sam to go along. This was an important birthday for Jared, as he advanced in the Aaronic Priesthood and got his driver's license.
Jared checking out this one at the car show on his birthday.
Joshua picked a different car for his picture.
We invited the Bucks and the Hinckleys, two families with younger children, to our home for Family Home Evening on January 20. They seemed to especially have a good time in the sports court, and we enjoyed having them here. Ira Hinckley and Sam are home teachers together, and one of their families is Carter and Erin Buck.
Our sports court is a popular place with the young people. On Saturday, the 25th, Trevor (grandson) brought a group of friends over, guys and gals. They watched the BYU game on T.V., played games in the sports court, played ping pong, and had pulled pork burritos that Trevor and his friend made. In visiting with two of the girls, it was interesting to learn that they had roots in St. Johns. One was a granddaughter of Jack Brown, whom Sam served in the bishopric with when we lived in St. Johns. The other girl's grandmother was Anna Herring, the mother of one of our special babysitters back in the days when we had little children.
The girl on the right is the granddaughter of
Anna Herring from St. Johns.
Part of Trevor's friends watching the BYU game,
and more were watching downstairs.
(Trevor standing and watching.)
Playing volleyball,
but they also played dodge ball and basketball.
This is a sight we did not expect to see on our way to
Costco one day: cattle being herded down 400 North!
Costco one day: cattle being herded down 400 North!
The Provo Temple was closed for some structural work before Christmas, and on January 7 we resumed our regular shift serving on Tuesdays from 11:00 to 4:00 starting with prayer meeting at 10:30.
During the month of January, we have enjoyed going to the movies with our friends, Hal and Christy Smith. We have seen Saving Mr. Banks, Philomena, The Saratov Approach, and Frozen. That's quite a record for us who only saw one movie in a theater in 2013: Les Miserables! The Saratov Approach was inspired by actual events when two Mormon missionaries were abducted in Russia in 1998. It was mostly in English, but we did recognize some of the Russian words spoken by the kidnappers and the missionaries. On Netflix, we watched Mitt, which documented his two runs for the presidency.
Sunday, January 26, Sam gave a good talk in sacrament meeting about indexing (viewing digital records online and transcribing information from them
that can be searched digitally to refer back to the image). He has been doing indexing and so far this month he has indexed almost a thousand names. He enjoys doing this, and it is a service for others who are searching for information about their ancestors. Hopefully, one day someone somewhere will be indexing documents that will provide information about the parents of Moses Ireland (born in New Jersey about 1790).
I have seven Year in Review Shutterfly books with photos and information now that I have completed the one for 2013. My goal is to continue going back prior to 2007 to add more of these albums reviewing our life. While looking through our many photos from years past for this project, I plan to add selected pictures to my life story that I have been writing. Lots of good memories of times shared with family and friends are being enjoyed as I work on this.
My sister-in-law, Ina, is in my thoughts today (January 27) as it is her birthday. Barbie, another sister-in-law, had her birthday this month on the 8th. I hope 2014 will be a happy year for them and for all our family and friends.
