January 16

It was a holiday today so I decided to take Cindy, Shannon, Payton and Conner to the new Natural History Museum in Salt Lake. It snowed in the morning but once we were on the road it was fine. Cameron found out that if he did not take the truck to Denver they would charge him $400 to come pick it up so he was off to Denver in the afternoon and tomorrow he would fly home without a job and look for something new.

Anyway we had a good time at the museum. They had lots of things for all ages. Payton caught fish n a small stream display. We say lots of dinosaur bones and it is an impressive building.

Saturday the 14th- What a day

It started off like any normal Saturday, chorus to do, shopping, cleaning. We were going to a Weber State game that night but about 3 o'clock Cameron called. He said he had just been in an accident with his truck. Cindy thought he was in Denver because last we heard he had driven a load from Los Angles to Denver. He said he turned a corner too sharp and had taken out a fire hydrant and a piece of fence. I asked him where he was and he said he was in West Valley so I said I would come and see him. It did not do anything to the truck but it took out the hydrant. Luckily it was not on so there was no water coming out of it. This was the last straw. He had only made $300 in two weeks and he was tired of it. He said he was going to quit and after he reported his accident he told Werner he was quiting. They still wanted him to make a delivery to Denver but he said he was done. After trying to get things worked out and taking him to his apartment to get his car I then met Cindy, Nic and Shannon at the game.

First snow

It has been well over a month since we had any storm and finally we woke up to a little snow. It did not last long but at least it made the first part of January seem like it was winter for a day.

Cameron's visit

On January 2nd Cameron was in town on his way to Idaho Falls. Since he did not have to be there until the 3rd I picked him up at the truck stop at 21st Street and he had dinner with us and cake and ice cream for my birthday. He was then off to his truck to spend the night because he had to leave early the next morning to get to Idaho Falls. It was a welcome surprise. By the way notice it is January 2nd, no snow on the ground and he is not wearing a coat. It did not snow at all during the month of December and today was in the 40'.

New Years Eve

We had a small gathering at our house for new years this year. Maddie, Shannon and Nic, Kent and Tammy, Carlin and Greg, Nancy and Jeanne. Cameron spent new years in his truck in Denver at the terminal. He called and said he had a pizza delivered to him since he could not leave the area and then went to bed early. We played games and had our usual celebration of fireworks at midnight. Even the little ones stayed up all night much to their parents dismay the next day.

Christmas Eve and Day

We tried to pack everything in on Christmas eve. We had a Montgomery party in the morning and a Jennings party in the evening. As we were going to the Jennings party there was a wonderful sunset. We did all the traditional activities of food, song and the Christmas story.

 The next day was Christmas. Maddie and Cameron stayed with us over the evening and woke up to the normal traditions we have of a fire going in the fire place and them coming down together and then opening their stockings. After that it was opening presents and then since it was Sunday it was off to church.

After church we had Nic and Shannon and their family over to open presents and then they went to the Rich's so we had Mom and Dad and Joni and Bob over for dinner with us.

My highlight was the telescope the kids got me. Just like all the other kids I had to put it together and use it that night and look at Jupiter and Venus which were out. I pulled out my old broken one to show the difference. This really was one of those surprise gifts. It was great to have the family together for Christmas eve and Christmas day. Maddie had to go to work in the afternoon but at least she could be with us and Cameron was able to be home which we felt very fortunate for.

Christmas Season

We did our annual family tradition of going to Salt Lake and seeing the lights at temple square and then going to the Kurt Bestor concert. This year we added a new element, we took my dad with us and then met Joni and Mom in Salt Lake and went out to dinner together. Joni and mom saw the afternoon performance which is how this worked out. We ate at the Lion House Pantry and then saw the lights together.

 The moon rose above the Christmas lights to add some additional light to the night. They night before there was a lunar eclipse which Cameron saw in Cedar City.

After that we parted ways and they went back home and we went to the concert. We missed Cameron this year as he was on the road and he wished he could have joined us.

The following Monday we went with Shannon and Nic and the grandkids to see the lights in Ogden. It was fun to watch Payton get excited at looking at all the displays in the buildings and watching Connor just be happy with everything.