HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANUARY. . .IT'S HER 60TH

I'm not sure she outdid Dad on his 60th in Disneyland,

or me on mine in Las Vegas, but she came pretty close. For January, it's not a one day thing. It extended throughout the month. Really. She must go to at least 22+ luncheons, not to mention a few dinner appointments thrown in.

 Here she is with several friends at Chevey's for a surprise luncheon.

Her kids gave her this moola for Bob and January to go for a little get-a-way in Monterey. 

 While she was getting a massage (courtesy of Diane) Diane slipped back home and with another friend, they flooded the house with balloons, steamers and all those postcards that so many of you filled out.

 Of course you have to have that special dinner with the family.

 All of them.

 Pretty nice looking for 60!

THROW BACK (to last) THURSDAY

"But other than that Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?"

After one of the worst nights EVER, and that awful ambulance ride to ER, I had no idea that it was Dennis Sr.'s birthday!

My ministering angel.

WEDDING BELLS

For those of you on the planet who haven't heard, Alexandra (aka Sashy) is engaged. Yes, this is the same fellow she started dating in high school. Curtis served a mission for the LDS Church in New York City Spanish speaking area. When he returned they decided to start their relationship anew and see where things would go. The rest is history.

 They have a "special" park and that is where he wanted to propose even though it was a tad chilly out there.

 Here is the bridge all ready for that special occasion.

 Both families were sort of "hiding" and didn't reveal themselves until after the proposal and she said "YES".

 Table decorations. "A" for Alex and "C" for Curtis.

 Here is that gorgeous ring!

 And a very lovely sentiment.

 Mom is delighted.

Sashy holding up fingers to represent her 22nd birthday! Some birthday!

SCHOOL DAYS, SCHOOL DAYS . . .

Kristin returns to school.

Kristin has decided to finish up her degree. In the past she has taken several classes for her own personal improvement and enjoyment that have counted toward this enrollment. They will only accept 64 credits. She still had 14 remaining. She has all her general education requirements. The big difference is now instead of $400 per credit, it will be $1,500!

Many universities offer a degree via the internet and she investigated several on line including Indiana State, Penn State and Purdue, but she settled on Arizona State. Several reasons for this but the main one was they were extremely helpful and it was close to home where it will be much easier for her to attend graduation, and of course it is her father-in-law’s alma mater, (along with Rhiannon, Eddy and Ashlee.)  

Each session is 7 1/2 weeks and is an excellerated course. The first one goes from January to March and the second from March to May so she will have some real concentrated studying during those semesters. 

Her degree will be 

Communications.

Erik is also excited about this new adventure. He knows that Kristin needs to be challenged and kept busy (like she isn’t busy enough with 4 kids, but that gal has a lot of energy!) Erik hopped on the bandwagon and bought her an ASU shirt, a Christmas ornament and a Sun Devil pennant.

I asked her how the process went and she said she sent them an email inquiry and within and hour and a half they gave her a call. After talking to her a few minutes they transferred her to an academic advisor who has called or emailed her every week. He (she) stays with you thorough out the program.

Everything she did was what you would have to do if you went to the campus. She had to do testing and a math placement and get her transcripts evaluated.

This is where she will do her studying.

(check out those pretty eyes!)

They offer many different programs and the tell you how much the books cost, classes cost, etc. 

She received one of her syllabuses and it alone is 12 pages long!

Here's her registration for Spring '15.

So good luck to Kristin on his new adventure! We all wish you well.

NEW HOME OWNERS

Derek and Jeanine are going to be first time home owners. There is a new development in San Francisco where Candlestick Park and an old shipyard used to be. They are developing a whole new community there. As I recall from the notes I took when Derek was telling me about it, there will be 12,000 houses, plus shopping, entertainment, etc. Their's is the 50th house so they got in on the ground floor.

Their house is 900 sq.ft. and has 2 bedrooms and 2 baths and the best part, almost unheard of in San Francisco, a 2 car garage! It is 3 stories with the garage on the ground floor, living area on the second and bedrooms on the 3rd. They have done the walk through and will move in sometime between January 15 and February 10. They are very happy to be moving back to the "City".

ARIA'S NEW CAR

When you get home from your mission you either go back to school or you take a break from that and get a job which is what Aria did. She is in sales, and is paid a salary and commission. She has an opportunity to use her Spanish on occasion and that's a good thing.

Now when you have a job, you have to be able to get to work. The folk's cars are pretty much tied up with getting them to work, and all the kids to their school activities.

It's time to get a car! Off Aria and Ken went to the same guy who Ken worked with on his new car. A few hours later, Aria had her new(ish) car and it is really nice.

It's a 2011Subaru Legacy and she has a name, Elle.

A girl and her car. It's a beautiful thing!

And here's a fun video that they made while waiting to make the deal. If this doesn't evoke some "comments" I don't know what will!

WHO IS THIS FAMILY?

While going through some of Dad's things, this picture fell out of his Bible. Dennis was with me as I had planned on giving the Bible to him since it had Dad's name inscribed on it and I thought he would like it. (Then I told him the story.)

Who is this family? That's what we asked when in 2009 we received this photo in the mail with no explanation.

 A few weeks later Dad received a phone call from Jack J. who we knew from the Church College of Hawaii days. Jack was a young teacher living in our ward when Dad was the Bishop. Jack had met this lovely young Polynesian lady and they had decided to get married. Because of his disability, the doctor told him he should not have children. As I recall, he had a very short life expectancy.  He decided to go to his Bishop for advice and a blessing. Dad did not know the reason for him asking for a blessing, but in giving him the blessing, he told him to "multiply and be fruitful" and apparently he did!

We returned to the mainland shortly thereafter and lost contact. Jack and his wife remained there at the college. After this family reunion, he spent some time tracking us down, and thus the phone call. 

(Dennis jr. thought this was a story to share.)

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year to my family and friends.

I'm very excited for this new year.  Yesterday I had my second round of laser treatment on my back, and this morning when I awakened, I could tell a distinct difference. The doctor said by two weeks, I should be feeling no pain. I'm on my way and couldn't be happier. Thanks for all your prayers and concerns. I'll keep you updated.

RESOLUTIONS:
There are two camps for making New Year's Resolutions. 
1. I don't make resolutions because I never keep them.
2. I LOVE making resolutions.

I fall in the second camp. I think it is always good to try and improve oneself. Making a resolution and WRITING it down and checking your progress is a good thing. Reasonable resolutions that are attainable can't help but make you a better person. 

I'm spending the day giving this a lot of thought. Since my back seems to be on the upward track, I feel so much more optimistic about life and am ready to conquer the world! 

Here's to a wonderful New Year. I'm thrilled that 2014 is OVER!