December Delights

 Good morning!!  Welcome back to our last day of the Davis Family 2024 year in review!!  It's hard to believe that 2024 is over and that we are already 13 days into the new year!!  It seems like it was just 13 days ago that it was December!!  Anyway, let's jump right in and talk about December 2024!!

One evening, I was flossing my teeth, when this little chunk of tooth just fell out.  Later I would find out that it was a filling that fell out, but still...it fell out, WHILE I was being a good girl and properly taking care of my teeth!! If you think this is weird, just wait, it gets better......

Nathan was called as the Sacrament music leader and for special musical numbers, he went around asking ward members to sign up.  Well, without prompting or asking, Meow-meow signed right up to sing a special musical number in Sacrament Meeting.  He did an awesome job.

A very weird thing happened.  This is Sugar Dust.  It's been a while since you have seen photos of Sugar Dust and there is a reason for that.

You see, Sugar Dust got out of the house OVER a year ago, and then disappeared.  We looked for her, but couldn't find her.  I mourned and that's when Nathan got me Cocoa Bean.  

Sugar Dust was chipped, but apparently whoever took her in did not take her to the vet either that or the vet never bothered to check to see if she was chipped.  So, how in the world did we get her back?  I'm glad you asked because it's a weird story.  I was at the dentists office for the aforementioned tooth issue to get it fixed.  While I waiting for the numbing stuff to kick in (I was also on nitrous at that time as well, so I was four sheets to the wind at this point), I got a phone call from an unknown number (I don't answer those, plus I was in the dentist chair at the time, so even more reason to not answer).  Anyway, I let it go to voicemail, but the number called back a second time.  I figured that it must be important and so I answered.  It was animal control.  Now before we continue, I have to tell you that Cocoa Bean had got out of the house about 7 days previous to this and I hadn't seen her.  Cocoa Bean is chipped, and so when they said they were from animal control, I felt relieved, and expected the next things they would say, would be, "do you own a cat named Cocoa Bean?"  That is not what I heard.  I heard, "do you own a cat named Sugar Dust."  It shocked me, I was flabbergasted, and didn't quite know what to say (in more ways than one.  You try responding when your mouth is all numb and you are on nitrous).  I somehow managed to stammer out an almost incoherent and confused "yes."  To which I was told that I could come and pick her up at the Davis County Animal Shelter.  I somehow managed to explain to her that I was currently in a dentists chair and I would come get her later in the day.  Fast forward to later in the day (my mouth was still really numb), I arrived at the animal shelter.  The first thing I asked them was if the cat they had was a white and fluffy Ragdoll and they confirmed that indeed she was.  I then told them that she had been missing for over a year.  Well that started a pandemonium at the animal shelter where everyone was crying and rejoicing in this amazing reunion.  I cried too when I saw her, and they all had to get pictures of me and her together.  She was in great condition and looked like she had been well fed and well taken care of.  I asked her where they picked her up at and they told me they picked her up on Gentile Street.  Now, in hindsight I should have asked where on Gentile they picked her up, but I was so shocked by that news that my brain didn't brain very well.  I can only assume that it was the part of Gentile down at the end of Whitesides (the street I live on) where they picked her up.  That means that someone nearby found her and took her in for over a year.  I have my suspicions on who it was because they've taken my cats before and claimed them as their own.  So now I have Sugar Dust back, but no Cocoa Bean!  Who does that??  Who finds a cat wandering outside and assumes they are a stray and then cat-naps them without trying to find out if the cat belongs to someone?!?!  Well, I can tell you who, but I have no evidence and so I can't really point fingers.  But I do know that they don't know how to recognize a stray from a well fed, well groomed, and friendly cat.  And I know this because on one of the many occasions that I confronted them about taking my cats, they told me that they thought they were strays.  I'm also not sure they know that cats tend to wander and just because there's a cat in your yard doesn't mean it is homeless.  I've got several cats that aren't mine that I see all the time in my yard and I leave them alone.  Heck, that one poor black and white cat that got got caught in the skunk trap earlier in the year wasn't my black and white Whitley.  I'm ranting now, and I should stop, but it's just so frustrating

Never fear though, Cocoa Bean showed up randomly one morning.

Where she had been, I have no clue.  She smelled like she had been trapped in a garage, and I know it wasn't my garage she was trapped in because I would have heard her yowling her head off.

I know, I know, I can't "assume" that the neighbors had her.  Cats do wander and can wander off for days at a time and then come back, but Whitley and Cocoa don't wander off very much.  Sure they go out, but they are always there the next morning wanting in, or if they don't go out during the night, they are there in the evening wanting in.  And all I have to do to get them running for home is to go outside and shake the treat jar.  Plus something odd happened to my outside cats earlier in the year.  They both disappeared for several days, which again, is odd.  Grignard is chipped, but Scoot is not (we couldn't catch him so he could go get chipped).  After a couple of days of them being missing, I was getting worried, but then they showed back up.  Both Grignard and Scoot are males, or at least I assumed that Scoot was a male, at that point he wouldn't let me get close enough to him to even pet him, and then when he did warm up to me, he wouldn't let me look at his belly, but I digress.  Scoot, while skittish, would always follow me around and hang out around me, and one time, after they had come back from their disappearance, Scoot was rolling around in the dirt, and his belly was shaved.  They only shave a cat's belly if it's a female, but his belly had DEFINITELY been shaved.  Once he became friendlier with me, I could tell that he was indeed a male cat, but he had been neutered.  Grignard on the other hand has not been neutered.  The only thing I can guess is that my meddlesome neighbors somehow managed to catch the both of them and took them in to get fixed.  I'm guessing the vet checked Grignard and found that he was chipped, so they couldn't neuter him without my permission, but since Scoot was not chipped, they apparently figured it was fine to neuter him.  I know that it couldn't have been animal control that picked them up because I would have got a phone call from them, at least for Grignard.  animal control isn't in the business if stealing your cats, neutering them, and then returning them.  No, someone else picked them up and messed with them.  My neighbors do know I have barn cats, they aren't a fan of me having barn cats because "the poor things are out in the elements," which they aren't.  They have shelter, food, and water, and during the winter I have a space heater for them.  But these specific neighbors told me that I couldn't possibly have a mouse problem on my acre because THEY have an acre and THEY don't have any mice ANYWHERE!!  Yes, they actually said that to me.  I have chickens, chickens require feed, where there are chickens, and where there is chicken feed, there WILL be mice!!  It's a part of the package.  Heck, even if I didn't have the chickens, I have an acre of ground, there will be mice with that much land!!  Anyway, it is possible that Cocoa Bean wandered off for almost a week, and if I hadn't been having so many issues with neighbors, I would have figured that is what happened, but I have my doubts, and I strongly think that the neighbors saw her, thought she was a new "lost" cat and tried to take her in.  Cocoa is part Main Coon, and if she doesn't want to be somewhere, you aren't going to keep her there.  Thankfully she hasn't disappeared again.  If I ever move from this house, it will be because of those dang neighbors (unless I finally can't hike up all the stairs in this house!)

Enough of the grumbling about the neighborhood cat issue, let's move onto other things now, shall we?

Jaina and I LOVE to go look at antique stores and we found this really cool one down in Orem.  That my friends is a bird cage.

I was a Mime in high school, and so when I saw this, I naturally had to get a picture of it.

We had our annual Christmas Nativity with Nathan's side of the family.

Stephen is holding my phone, and if you look closely, you will see that it is Jimmy that is on the phone.  Jimmy even participated in the events by putting a little bread basket on his head and was wearing his poncho that he purchased.  I don't know if you can zoom in close enough to see it, but it was fun to have Jimmy be able to participate and be a part of it all.

Now I'm holding my phone so that Jimmy can be in our family photo.  I may struggle with technology sometimes, but let me tell you it is a wonderful thing.  It's been so nice to be able to facetime with Jimmy every week!

Do you see what I see??  It's supposed to say Peace, Love, Wrestling.  We found that on Amazon and thought it would be a great present for Tiger Lily.  In our defense, it looked bigger on Amazon.  It looks like she's farting that heart!!  We returned it and got her something else instead, that is after we all had a good laugh.

Christmas 2024!!  Everyone loved their presents and we all had a great time....

Next up was Christmas at my parents house.  We surprised Jaina big time with this present.  It was so much fun!!

We also surprised Meow-meow big time with his present and it was also a lot of fun.

We surprised all of the other kids with presents as well, but Jaina and Meow-meow were especially surprised.

Whose this guy you ask?  Well, I'm glad you asked.  This is my little brother, Aaron.  After my dad had his stroke in November, Aaron had some time off from work and so he flew in to spend Christmas with us, and it was a good thing he did too.... I'll get to that in a minute.

My poor mom wasn't feeling very well on Christmas Day.  If it hadn't been for Aaron, I'm not sure we would have had a Christmas dinner.  But there will be more on that in just a minute....

After we did Christmas with my parents, we went and did Christmas with Nathan's parents.

I got everyone Dollar Store nerf guns so that we could all have a nerf battle.  It was hilarious.

And that my friends, wraps up Christmas 2024.....But we aren't done yet!!  The year still isn't over yet!!

What is up with all the teeth?  Well, I'd like to know the answer to that too!!  Welcome to "the mystery of the tooth."  Brought to you by either Norman, Ellen, or Aaron; we aren't sure who, but those are the three culprits.

Story time.  As I mentioned, Aaron came into town for Christmas, and on Christmas Day, my mom wasn't feeling well.  Well, she hadn't been feeling well for a couple of days.  Apparently on Christmas Eve they took her to the Urgent Care, but they were already closed.  On Christmas Day, she wasn't feeling any better (she's 82) and so Aaron and I were working on talking them into taking her into the Urgent Care.  Then problem was that Urgent Care didn't open until 1:00 pm.  I had to have Jaina back to where she is living by 5:00 pm and so the plan was that after I dropped Jaina off, I would go straight to my parents house to help Aaron and check up on my mom.  When I arrived at my parents house, Aaron was the only one there.  He said that it was around 4:30 when they left to go to the Urgent Care and Urgent Care had sent her over to the ER.  At that point, they weren't sure what was wrong, but they were putting fluids in her and running tests.  Later in the evening, we got a message from my dad saying that as soon as she finished the last bag of fluid, they would release her and send her home. (Yes, I know, I didn't tell you about the tooth in this blurb, be patient, we'll get there)

While Aaron was visiting, he was helping my parents try and declutter their basement a bit.  Well, when I got to my parents house on the evening of Christmas Day, I first set out to helping Aaron finish cleaning up from the Christmas meal and then we decided to go down to the basement and do some looking around in the crawl space.  While I was crawling around, I came across our old toybox.  I am a curious creature and so naturally I had to look inside of it.  There wasn't a whole lot of things in there, but I started looking through the things that WERE in there.  As I was looking around, low and behold, I found THIS tooth!!  There was a TOOTH in the TOYBOX!!  No one has any clue how or when it got there, nor do we know whose tooth it is.  There are only three options, so it's either mine, Norman's, or Aaron's.  So, now we have the mystery of the tooth on our hands.  I don't think it's an adult tooth because it looks way too small to be an adult tooth, but it has all of its roots!!  Personally I think it belongs to Aaron because he was still a kid when we moved to the West Jordan house, Norman and I were both adults and out on our own when we moved there.  But, it could have been in the toybox long before we moved to West Jordan, which would then leave me and Norman in the running for whose tooth it is.  Either way, it was highly confusing and extremely funny to find a tooth in the toybox!!  For the past several weeks, the tooth has been sitting on the counter at my parents house, right where I left it.  However, the other day I was at my parents house and now the tooth in question is sitting on my desk here at home.  Don't ask me why.  I'm not sure why I kept the silly thing and brought it home.

Well, while Aaron and I were rummaging down in the crawl space and puzzling over the mystery of the tooth, the ER couldn't figure out what was going on with my mom and they decided to admit her to the hospital.  We thought she was going to be released to come home as soon as she had finished her bag of fluids, but I guess one of the blood tests came back with something odd, and so they wanted to admit her.  My dad had to drive her up to the main University of Utah hospital.  He says he didn't get home and into bed until almost 2:30 am.  So, the day after Christmas found all of us up at the University of Utah hospital with my mom.  They had this really cute tree in the lobby and I deemed it cute enough to take a picture of.  I'm allowed to Deem things after all.  If you know, you know.  (My maiden name is Deem for those who don't know).

Aaron, using his noggen' and not knowing how long we would be at the hospital, grabbed the deck of Five Crowns before leaving to come up to the hospital.  So, to wile away the time while we waited, me, my dad, and Aaron played a couple of rounds of Five Crowns.  The first game we played, I skunked them and I have photo evidence of it.  In all my years of playing Five Crowns, I've never seen anyone end the game with only 9 points!!  

Later in the afternoon, Norman came by to visit.  We played another round of Five Crowns, in which I lost spectacularly.  My mom wanted a picture of all three of her children together, and it was afterwards, when I was looking at the picture that I realized that all three of us were wearing gray!!  We did not plan that by the way.  As for my mom, she spent all of the 26th in the hospital and had to stay another night.  They did let her go home on the 27th though.  They still weren't sure exactly what was wrong, but the figure that it was either a bad reaction to some antibiotics she was on or a flu bug, or a combination of the two.  Let me tell you, the holidays were way too exciting for my blood.  My dad has a stroke at Thanksgiving and my mom ends up in the hospital on Christmas.  At that point, I swore that if anything happened to anyone on New Years, I would lose my mind or something.  

Whitley getting YC skritches.

He LOVES his YC skritches.

Apparently I taste good.

See, Cocoa Bean, home all safe and sound!

Whitley all snuggled into stuff.

Thankfully, New Years Eve, AKA Jaina's birthday went off without a hitch.  Jaina, Eilee, Meow-meow and I had planned on going to look at antique stores, but most of them were closed, especially the one we really wanted to go look at.  We were told that they had an entire human skeleton, a real live, dead skeleton that once upon a time had been a real live human.  But you will have to wait until next year when I do the 2025 year in review to find out about that........Cliff Hanger!!  Anyway, we did find one antique store that was open and it was pretty cool.  The owners build their own fairy houses and such.  It was really neat.  After that we tried going to the mall, but they were closing, so we opted to going to Super Target to be silly and try on clothes.  While we were wandering around Super Target, I found this shirt.  By the way, we were down somewhere in Utah County!!  Why?  Why is there a shirt for NEW MEXICO in a store in UTAH COUNTY?!?!?  I found it so odd that I had to take a picture of it.

We had to stop and gas up.  This particular gas station has a McDonald's in it.  We've gassed up and eaten at this McDonald's before and this sign (and the two pictures that follow) were new.  This sign was on the door to the bathroom.  I found them to be extremely hilarious!!  Sorry not sorry to the snowflakes.

This one was on the wall right as you walked into the bathroom

And this one was on the stall door in the bathroom.  Apparently they really wanted to let everyone know that this was the women's bathroom!  I feel like there is a story behind this and I am so curious to know what it was.  If you have a problem with these pictures, let me tell you about the time a few years ago when two of my daughters were harassed in a women's dressing room at a public pool by a boy claiming to be a girl.  He was harassing them in the pool, and they couldn't get away from him, and so, they decided to go to the women's locker room, you know, the one space that SHOULD HAVE BEEN a safe space for them.  While in the WOMEN'S locker room, where they THOUGHT they were safe, and where they SHOULD have been safe, he came in because, you know, he "identifies as a girl."  Naturally my girls were upset and told him to leave, but he said he was a girl and so he could be in there.  He then proceeded to get into their personal space and say things to them like, "I don't mind if you get undressed in front of me," while looking at them like a predator.  They had no choice at that point but to grab their things and leave.  They didn't feel comfortable getting dressed, and so they left, dripping wet in their bathing suits (it was winter when this happened).  They complained to the front desk and were told that if he identifies as a girl then he has every right to be in the women's locker room, and this despite them explaining just how creepy and sexual he had been being towards them.  Women's bathrooms are for biological women only. There ARE only two genders!!  I will die on that hill. If you are too much of a snowflake and my comments here hurt your feel bads, well, you are free to unfriend me.  My daughters were sexually harassed by a boy pretending to be a girl.  We need to stop catering to this madness.  I also happen to know that currently at an eating disorder clinic FOR WOMEN AND GIRLS, they have some transgenders there.  The girls in that clinic are made to call these boys girls and treat them like girls.  They are fully intact boys, meaning they have a penis, (and I don't care one bit if they are on hormone therapy or not, or even if they have mutilated their body, your chromosomes don't lie and you can't change them), and some poor girl is forced to share a room with them.  I also happen to know that each and every one of those girls in that clinic are uncomfortable around these boys, but they can't say anything.  One of these boys, who has since move to the PHP side of things has been going around to the girls and telling them that he has "crushes" on them and is in "love" with them.  These are girls who have very serious eating disorders, and whom some of them may have been very traumatized by men in their past who not only have to deal with a wolf in sheep's clothing among them, but now have to deal with him sexually harassing them.  They are there to heal, not be harassed.  He's also trying to convince them that they are lesbians if they like him back!!  NO!!  JUST NO!!  This is not right!!  This SHOULD NOT and NEVER SHOULD HAVE been allowed to happen!!  And this particular boy then got very upset when the girls felt uncomfortable around him and didn't want anything to do with him.  Guess who will probably get into trouble for making HIM feel uncomfortable.  It's sick, just plain SICK!!  Men can never be women!!  It is a MENTAL HEALTH DISORDER!!  It should be treated as a mental health disorder.  It should never have been allowed to go as far as it has gone.  REAL women, REAL BIOLOGICAL WOMEN are being oppressed and having their rights stripped from them left and right!!  And the really sick thing is that women are blind to it and cheering it on!!  I will get off my soap box now.  

And last, but not least we get to see what Jimmy was up to during the month of December 2024.  Lots of photos from Jimmy for the month of December!!

We two emails from Jimmy in the month of December.  

The first is from December 16th 

Yea, mine labors have lasted a year. That's messed up. Aint no way it's been a year. Oh well, it has been a great year. Thankfully, I still have another year, I just hope this one doesn't go any faster than this last one. Although it flew by, it was still full of great memories, life-changing experiences, and learning the gospel in a way i never have before. I love it so much. I highly encourage anyone out there who is pondering on serving a mission. It is very worth it. 

What a fun week. The first week of this transfer has flown by. I love my companions. It's great being in a trio. Makes the day fly by. You never lose a conversation, and the work gets done quicker. We can easily talk to two people while knocking on a door all at the same time. Elder Patterson is a really funny elder. He's one of the most genuinely hilarious elders. It's great. Thankfully, I am no longer sick. We had a great chance to go to the temple with Brother meza. We also had a sweet exchange. We went on nellis Airforce base to do some service. It was sweet. We did some help at a thrift store. Had a fun exchange with some elders and did some fun stuff. And then another service at the Airforce base again doing the same thing. Had a wonderful exchange with a new eder named Elder earll. He's from Alaska. And he Loves to eat moose heart. We also had a few meetings with some stake people. And then, to top it off, we had a mission leadership council. Other than that, we just did this wonderful work. Great week, truly. That's pretty much it. Love you all. Miss ya much, luv ya bye.

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time of year. It's worth looking back to what you are thankful for. Today, I would like to express my Thanksgiving towards everything I have. 

Mosiah 2:19-21

19 And behold also, if I, whom ye call your king, who has spent his days in your service, and yet has been in the service of God, do merit any thanks from you, O how you ought to thank your heavenly King! 20 I say unto you, my brethren, that if you should render all the thanks and praise which your whole soul has power to possess, to that God who has created you, and has kept and preserved you, and has caused that ye should rejoice, and has granted that ye should live in peace one with another— 21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.

This scripture reminds me of how prideful the human species is. We have been given so much, and yet we don't recollect the living breath we have. Sometimes, we brush past the plan of salvation that we have and are in. Sasly we may even brush past the most important thing we have, the greatest act from the greatest being. The atonement of Jesus christ. "How can we boast?"

This holiday is a time to remember the things we have been given.

Alma 34: 38

 That ye contend no more against the Holy Ghost, but that ye receive it, and take upon you the name of Christ; that ye humble yourselves even to the dust, and worship God, in whatsoever place ye may be in, in spirit and in truth; and that ye live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow upon you

I am so grateful for the savior, I am so grateful and indebted unto my savior. I love my heavenly father just as he loves me. And I love my mission. I am so blessed to have a wonderful family. I am grateful for the scriptures. I am thankful for the Holy Ghost. I am so blessed to have a roof over my head, to have food and supplies to support me. I am grateful for the restoration of the gospel. I am grateful for the memories I have and the time I have to create more memories. I enjoy the daily walk with christ we all can live. I thank you all. I love you all.

I know this church has the living gospel of the loving Christ. I know because I have prayed to know. I am grateful for prayer and a testimony to have. And I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

And the second one is from December 31st

Merry late Christmas, and a happy new year. How's it going, everyone? Hope you all are doing well. We have been doing great out here. My new company is super funny. He talks to everyone and their dogs, and their dog's grandma. These past weeks have been wicked packed. We had transfers, which took up half the day. Then, the next day, we had to weekly plan and gather a ton of information for a stake meeting, and then we went to the stake meet. We then had a fun Christmas zone conference. We had this sweet spiritual training on keeping the commandments. Then we played a hole bunch of Christmas games and then finally watched the Polar Express(best chrimis movie), then we had to go to three district councils the next day. We had one full day on Saturday, then church on Sunday. On Monday, we were supposed to have a full day. But I got sick and was throwing up a lot, not fun stuff. Then we had our pday on Christmas Eve, and we played some pickleball. Then we weekly planned christmas Eve night. Had district councils on christmas and then had the rest of our day off, so we played fun games. Finally, I had a couple of full days to do the glorious work of the Lord from Thursday to Saturday, thankfully. Then, we had our mission leadership council on Monday. Very powerful. And finally, New years Eve today. And we have another keystone day of revelation, we're we get the full day to study the Book of mormon. I'm very excited about that. It's been a great holiday season. Sadly, not too much time to go and spread the word. The only times we had to go out and find we're filled up with lessons. But it's been a great week. Hope you all have a great new year planned. Love you all. God bless. Luv ya bye!

Finally made a Google photo, here you go:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/HLwjvuK4vqMQP4Cf8

With every principle comes a practice. Our mission president has taught us this. What a wonderful truth. And such an eternal truth. Now, how does this truth work? 

Let's look at the first principle we teach as missionaries and the first great commandment. 

Principle: God is our eternal, LOVING, Heavenly Father!

Practice: Love God with all you might, mind and strength!

The principle is an eternal truth that will never change. The practice is how we live that principle. How we can experience the principle in our lives.

That is why we have commandments.

2 nephi 2:13

13 And if ye shall say there is no law, ye shall also say there is no sin. If ye shall say there is no sin, ye shall also say there is no righteousness. And if there be no righteousness, there will be no happiness. And if there be no righteousness nor happiness there be no punishment nor misery. And if these things are not, there is no God. And if there is no God we are not, neither the earth; for there could have been no creation of things, neither to act nor to be acted upon; wherefore, all things must have vanished away.

Without a law, there is no sin, no righteousness, no happiness.

Principle: Happiness 

Practice: live the commandments 

Mosiah 2:41

41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

So, how does this tie in with the gospel?

John 15:10-12

10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. 11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. 12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

Principle: Filles with endless joy, abiding in Christ's love

Practice: keep the commandments 

As we keep the commandments, we partake of eternal Joy. We drink of the living waters. We abide in Christ's love, which pure love is charity. We gain faith as we live the commandments. 

I love this eternal truth. I love this eternal, perfect gospel. I love Jesus Christ. And I say these things in His holy name, amen.  

Wow, can you believe it?!?!  We've made it through all of 2024.  It was a wild ride, full of ups and downs.  There were A LOT of hard things that happened this year.  Some of them I could talk about, while some of them I couldn't.  But, somehow we managed to get through it all, and when I look back on it, I can see the hand of God in all of it.  I am so grateful that I am an Ordinance Worker in the Layton Temple because it has been my calm during the storms.  It brings me peace and joy.  While in the temple for those brief hours, my burdens are lifted and made light.  I am able to do things that normally I really can't do (like stand for a half hour to 45 minutes).  I literally can't stand in one place for that long normally, but in the temple, I can.  I can truly feel His hands supporting me, and as a friend of mine said, "we are serving those who are serving others."  I also love that right after my temple shift ends, Nathan comes to the temple and I take on the roll of a patron and we do the work for our ancestors.  I think being in the temple once a week has been the only thing that has been helping me keep my sanity in this crazy and mixed up world, and with all of the trials we have been through lately.  The temple truly is a light in the darkness for me and I am so thankful that I live so close to the temple, and that I can literally look up from where I am sitting right now and see the spires of the temple!  What a joy!!

I've learned some things from doing this years year in review......  I've learned that I need to make more pictures of my family and less pictures of the cats.  I've been told I can take as many pictures of the cats as I would like, I just need to take equal amount of pictures of the family.  My New Year's Resolution will be to take more pictures, that will be a challenge since I am hoping to get a hysterectomy on the 16th (which is in a couple of days, and will only happen if insurance can pull their heads out).  So, I'm not sure how many pictures I'll be taking for the first few months of the year, but once I have recovered, I will do my best.  

Anyway, thanks for joining me for this trip down memory lane.  I am signing off now, and I will see you again next year!!