Utah dinners at Karinas

this year we have been lucky to have dinners together for birthdays and some holidays. Austin is living at Karina's so that makes the party even bigger,,,literally! It is great to see how much fun we grandkids have together. We are blessed to live so close. We miss Val and her cuties so traveling to her home often helps/

JOYCE at University of Utah

Ny new  years goal is to finish writing my mom's story. For Christmas I finished copying her diary from 1939-40, when she was in Junior High and just entering into the Boy crazy stage of her life. Her diary was a Christmas gift which she started when her family moved to 1501 S 5th East. This is the home that I remember best. It was a few blocks from Liberty Park. Recorded and finding family stories and photos has been my passion this  passed year. I did not blog or write as much about my life as I did about those that influenced my life,,,my family history,, AND this continues to be our service mission-- working at the Orem Processing Center, being a second witness as we check titles, clarity, and searchablity of the content. We spent twice a week doing this FAMILY SEARCH mission and the rest of the time at Institute, the Temple, and serving the family

4 X's more Christmas fun

We flew to the Mercado's home on December 17 and left three weeks later. The time went quickly as we had Christmas. Karissa's Birthday, New Years Eve, and Best of all , Karissa's baptism. We skated, traveled to the biggest Christmas store and a delightful German town ,Frankemule?, watched movies, made jewelry, alot of healthy cooking, and Jim had many work projects. He made a wall desk for Victoria, organized the garage, and repaired various house projects. I loved to see how creative the girls are with their dancing, piano, and art work. Austin is a great gamer. Erik went from a none eater and wearing the same thing everyday, to wearing boots and changing his shirt! (mostly because it got very cold. He helped granma tell if her drink was warm or hot> he loves his "hot chocolate" and granma loves her lemon water.