Baby Ashtyn

                                       She's now 7 mo. old-  We dropped Michael off from our weekend at the Lake, we got to play with our little Ashtyn , she is so darling,  Hard to believe she is 7 months old.  the time is going by all to fast.  She is the most adoreable little baby girl. 

Fun Sledding

Saydee

Boston

Saydee & her friend McKenna

Karlee

The boys went snowmobiling, Craig, Michael, Buck, we stayed here at the cabin Sadie Karlee in Boston and McKenna had a fun time sledding, we have so much snow this year!

Boston having a great time

Sadie's 14th Birthday

The Burbidge family arrived Thursday evening to spend the weekend with us, Sadie wanted to come to the cabin to celebrate her birthday she brought her special friend Mckenna, that she's known for eight years, they had a great time sledding.  Friday evening we all sang Happy Birthday and ate a yummy strawberry cheesecake ice cream cake.  We bought her a cute outfit the other day when we were shopping in Logan.  She love the color blue.  Her outfit was blue and gray, It was calling Sadie bugs name.

Happy Birthday Sadie, 14 yrs old.

Afternoon at Capitol Hill

Craig at Utah State Capital  Feb 2017

Debbie in front of the State Capital Building

We got up early Wednesday morning dressed for the day and drove to Salt Lake City.  Craig had an association meeting at the state capital building after the meeting we attended a dinner sponsoring our state representative afterwards our governor Herbert addressed the House of Representatives with his State of the State address.   While Craig was in his meetings,  I toured the state capital building I had never spent much time in there, only been there a few times over the years when the girls had their high school dances there.  The building is beautiful, the Tundra area is where we had our dinner, very honored to be in our state capital today.  Me meet our representative for the North area, Cache county,  Hillyard,  he has been the a state senator for 37 years.  Very nice to visit with him and his wife while we at our dinner.  Craig jokes that he might run for the Mayor of Garden City, Utah. now that we are living in the area.  Time will tell!

Our Utah State Capital building

Our Sabbath day

I taught my first primary lesson this week I only had three students not the big crowd like last week of 18 students.  We are back to our small ward without so many visitors this week, it felt good to be teaching again.  I have not had a teaching calling in over 10 years.   I said the opening prayer in sacrament and Craig said the closing prayer.  We had such a great sacrament meeting, I felt such a special spirit,  a young couple spoke, they moved in a month before us, they did such a great job.  Brother Finlayson comes from a family of 15 siblings growing up in Soda Springs, wow that's unheard of nowadays!  They are a young family with 5 children, reminds us of our Stacy and Chad with their young family.  They had lived in Colorado for the past 5 years, and wanted to be closer to family.  In looking for a new home they felt guided to live in the Bear Lake Valley.  They will be a great addition to the Bear Lake 1st Ward.  This has been a great Sabbath day to feed our spirits this day.  I'm so proud of my dear husband,  he is doing such a great job teaching the adult gospel doctrine class.  Fun to see him studying and preparing for his lesson each week.  He is a great teacher.  So thankful that he has this opportunity to teach in our new ward.  It is a great growing time for him and us as a couple to study the gospel together.  We are both teaching the Doctrine & Covenants this year.  They will be calling a new Bishop this coming fall 2017,  I can foresee Craig as a possible candidate.  My prayers go out to my Heavenly Father for my husband's growth in the gospel.  Pray that I may be a strength to him as his eternal companion.  Our time clock is running out, we are getting older.  Craig will be 62 this summer.  When I read his blessing I see him serving as a Bishop in our life time with the many talents he has to offer.  Craig is so good with people and the youth, he is great at communicating and talking to others.  He is very friendly, people love his Witt.  I would be be very honored for him to have this opportunity to serve in this area in our life time.  The Lord's will be done, just pray we can prepare and that he might be a possible candidate to serve in this area.  I have felt we need to live at the Lake at this season in our lives.  May we serve in building the kingdom of God on the earth in this part of the vineyard.  I'm so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives and the many blessing of the gospel as we strive to live it's teaching and serve in the church.   

Monday morning

Let it snow, let it snow, we are getting so much snow it snowed again all night and looks like it's going to be snowing all day today Craig is out snow blowing again, we are snowed in!! It is the most snow they have seen in many years.

Our Oldest Grandson

Craig and I's heart's are heavy right now, concerns for our Michael boy, he turned 18 this month and is at a very critical stage in his life, for the decisions that he makes at this time going forward. We have prayed and have tried to help for many years to prepare Michael to serve a mission, our first possible missionary in our family.  We have invested over five years in taking Michael and his brothers to church and helping him progress in his priesthood ordinances from Deacon to Priest.  Craig has been fortunate enough to be able to ordain him in those priesthood ordinances.  We know that if we had not invested the time he would not have advance this far in his priesthood ordinances.  The Chaudhry boys have an inactive Father.  Ryan got baptized but that has been as far as he has progress in the priesthood.  We have been praying for him that somehow the spirit will touch his heart and he can gain a testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ and become active for the sake of his four boys.  We have been praying for each grandson too, that they too can gain a testimony of the gospel.  We are so blessed to have the opportunity to have the true church on the earth today and all of its many blessings. The season is here now for out Michael to possibly go on a mission in the next six months, yet we can see he is not heading in that direction.  I have tried to get him to take seminary and he hasn't been going to church, he really just does not know the gospel as he should.  It's been such a struggle over the last five years in trying to get the boys where they could be spiritually prepared for a mission.  Craig encouraged Micheal this week to possibly think about getting his patriarchal blessing.  He felt the strong promptings while at the temple this week.  Craig texted him a encouraging message.  Michael texted back and said he was not interested in getting his blessing which is very disappointing to us right now.  We have hoped over the years that our Michael would serve a mission. It is looking more like that is not going to happen.  Shannon texted us this week that Michael meet with military recruiters this week looking at signing up.  She is alarmed too, asking what should she do and how to prepare for this.  We are praying for our Grandson to make the right choices in his life right now, for the path he should follow.  Michael has always talked about serving in the military.  He has been drawn to this, since he was very young.  When just three years old he would say he wants to serve and defend his county.  In the prayer circle in the Temple this week the ordinance worker offered a pray of protection to our arm forces,  which gave comfort to me in knowing this could the be the path Michael will chose over a mission. We are praying for him to make wise choices at this season in his life.

Working on My Family History

I performed the endowment session Wednesday for Sarah Elizabeth Bails- I came home to check on family search to make sure the temple work showed up.  It's so exciting the day you perform the ordinances it shows up on the computer system.  They have it recorded so quickly now, but there still is duplication, people are still resubmitting the same names and submitting them for temple work. In reviewing Elizabeth, I noticed that she is entered into the family group of my George Washington Bailes family and his brother Leftridge Bailes and Mildred Wiseman as a daughter in each family.  I had to do some research to make sure she was in the right family line- come to find out she had been sealed to the wrong family she belongs to Leftridge and Mildred- her temple work is complete.  I acted as proxy for her again in the temple.  But I guess for a reason-  I was able to take the time to recognize that she was being submitted in the wrong family.  It is so important to do the research on each name submitted in order to get it correct.  We have so many different people working on family lines and if they do not look at sources, it is every easy to make mistakes in submitting family names to family search.  The church is asking us to help clean up our family files, there is a a lot of matching and merging going on in order to clean up the duplication.  I had to work on her, it has consumed my mind and time in working on those two family group sheets the last couple days,  The 1910 census list she gave birth to 10 children, yet ancestry only had 8 children listed. and at the time the file showing up on family search did not have her children listed.  In working with ancestry family files I was able to find the child in family search and connect them all correctly.  It has been a week project for me. It can be a time machine for me.  I have to make myself take a break.  I love how the sources are being digitized and showing up instantly attached to a family name I'm working on.  I have to take the time to read the sources and attach one by one to make sure it is correct and attached to the right person linking each child with their sources, it grows, linking their families.  I need to have a cut off point. and get back to my direct family line.  This has been one of my collateral family lines I've been working on.  They are all part of the Bailes Family Tree!!

Temple Day

Craig and I got up early this morning, got dressed and drove to Logan to attend the 11 am endowment session in the Logan Temple, it is supposed to be cloudy and snowing today which is a  good day to attend the temple.  This will be our first time to visit the Logan temple.  I completed the endowment for Sarah Elizabeth Bailes and Craig completed Aurther Hicks a great uncle. Felt good to be in the House of Lord and feel the peace and quite of the Holy Spirit.  We got home about 2:45 pm just in time for me to start cooking dinner, I volunteered to take dinner to the Winter family, brother Winter fell in September and is paralyzed from the waist down.  They go to Salt Lake weekly for his therapy.  The ward takes them meals weekly, so we took dinner to their children tonight.  This has been our day to give service in the Kingdom of God on the earth.   "When ye are in the service of your fellow man, ye are only in the service of your God."

Our snowmobile Ride

Today is a beautiful sunny day once we got up in the mountains.  It was foggy and cloudy down by the lake, felt good to be in some sunshine.  We took the snowmobiles out and drove 70 miles over to Hardware Ranch to see the elk.  With so much snow they feed the elk in order for them to survive the winter.  On the way back I had a wiped out on the trail- I've got a good bruise on my leg.  Just driving fast down the trail hit a rut and the next thing I knew I was going side way full speed.  I hit the snow bank hanging on  and then tumbling off!  It hurt!!  My sled went flying down the trail.  So glad it didn't go off the road and hit a tree.  I laid there till the pain subsided, managed to pull my self up, walked slowly to get back up on my sled.  Craig came back looking for me.  I was ready to get back to the car, my tailbone was starting to ache.  70 miles is long ride !!  We were both really tired when we got home that's a long ways to go in an afternoon, the snow is so pretty my favorite part of the ride, seeing the huge tall pine trees covered in snow.

Debbie at Hardware Ranch- herd of Elk in the background

Very sore

I am so sore today from our snowshoe walk yesterday that I can hardly move today the muscles in my upper groin area are so sore and tender, I need a day of rest, Craig left this morning at 8:30 to go to Salt Lake City so I'll have the day to myself to rest he's taking his truck in for some repairs and maintenance and then he has to go to the bank to turn in papers to finish up our home equity loan he said he is driving out to Shannon's and see how their basements coming,  They need a loan to finish up the basement.  They will enjoy having it all complete.  Baby Ashtyn needs her own room.  On the way back drop off Dave's sunglasses that they left here over New Year's.  He is going to Costco too, to get things we need at the lake, so he probably won't be back till late tonight.  I'll be here about 10 hours or more by myself today, it will feel so good to have a day to myself- I can work on my family history.  I have so much to do.  Hard to do much when Craig is here. I need to rest my body today.  

A Beautiful Winter Day

Faith is taking the first step when you don't see the full staircase by Martin Luther King

Monday, Martin Luther King holiday, this is a lovely sunny, but cold winter day.  Craig woke up early at 7am.  I still wanted to cuddle in bed.  He is out and about before I even crawled out of bed by 9am.  He went over to help Gordan Sims get the ice off his roof.  Gordan is 93 yrs old living alone at Bear Lake.  Craig has been good about checking up on him.  Craig came back and started singing the hymns, he wanted me to join in,  a cheerful man today!  I fixed breakfast and tidy the kitchen, we had lots of dishes I left in the sink.  It is so pretty out today.  Feels so good to have the sun shining.  It was a cold gloomy day yesterday down by the lake.  Apparently up high in the mountain you could see the sun, but not so down in the valley, we were covered in fog and mist.  Couldn't see the sun all day.  So today feels really nice to have the clouds lift and the sun shine, it is clear with bright blue skies today. Craig wants to get out and enjoy the snow today.  Time to dress warm and head out for an adventure of exploring in the mountains covered with snow.  I'm not a huge fan of snowmobiling, but something my husband loves to do, so I'm trying to be a good sport and participate in things he likes to do.  It will be nice to get out and enjoy the beautiful surroundings of nature today.  Craig keeps busy, he is out snow blowing the driveway.  That seems to be almost a daily chore for him this year, there is so much snow!!  We got our snowshoes out, that the kids give us for Christmas.  We have not taken the time yet to try them out.  We took a  snow shoe walk across the lake over to Lakota and back, I burned over 600 calories.  I was tired when we got back, if felt good to be out in the fresh cold air, fun to get out and enjoy the weather.

Debbie taking a snow shoe walk

Letter To Michael

1/5/2017  Craig is so thoughtful to take the time to write this letter to our oldest grandson turning 18 years old this year.  The years have gone by all quickly, can't believe that we have a grandson this old now.  Michael is so loving with his new baby sister born this past year.  I can tell he will make a great father some day in watching him care for his baby sister.  

Oh my goodness, I can’t believe how fast time flies.  It’s seems like yesterday that I hopped on an airplane headed for Texas to go see my first grandson and bring home to Utah.

 I wanted to take a few minutes on this special day to tell you what a blessing and joy you have been in my life over the last eighteen years.  I know on several occasions I have expressed to you that you were the son I never had.  And that is true, you have been like a son to me.  My life has been so blessed having you in it.  I have and will always cherish all the times we have had together. I will cherish all the trips that you took with me to the lake.  Setting up Targets and shooting our Bow and Arrows, guns.  Planning out our days activites and knowing you were going to be right by my side.  The Scouting, the hunting, skiing, snowmobiling whatever it was we have had some great times.  Even working beside you is fun for me.  You have been an awesome worker, very dependable and have grown into quite the young man.  I am so proud to call you my Grandson.  I look so forward to many more memories for us. 

So more than anything else on this your eighteenth birthday I wanted you to know that you are loved by so many people.  Your Parents, Brothers and now your little sister, you Aunts and Uncles and of course most of all your Grampa & Gramma Symes. 

Michael we are so proud of you.  You have so many qualities and wonderful attributes.  There is much good in store for you in the future, I look forward to seeing you grow and mature over these next few important years of your life.  Always know that I am here for you.  I love you with all my heart, and pray for your success and that you will continue to always strive to do that which is right. 

Happy Birthday to you, my Captain buddy

Love ya Always

Granpa Symes 

My New Calling

My new church calling- I was sustained in Sacrament as a primary teacher, I will be teaching the 10-year-olds turning 11 this year.  I team teach with Sister Caldwell, she did such a great job teaching the kids, we had a large class this week, had many visitors being Martin Luther King weekend a holiday on Monday, so we had 19 children in our class today.  The children were all very good.  Craig asked me what I thought my new calling would be and I told him it would probably be in the primary, every time we move in a new ward, I'm called to serve in the primary.  This will be a good growing time for me to keep studying and learning the Scriptures.   We are studying the Doctrine and Covenants in primary too.  I will miss not hearing my husband teach in the adult gospel doctrine class, but maybe I can sneak in there from time to time.

Saturday- Our fun Snowmobile Day

Craig invited Peter Underlyn to come up to the lake on Friday, they went snowmobiling Friday and had a good time for the day.  We went out to dinner with Peter, had fun visiting with him, he slept over and stayed till about noon on Saturday.  When he left Craig & I hurried and got dressed in our warm snowmobiling clothes & took off to go snowmobiling for the afternoon, it was a beautiful sunny winter day.   On our way up there was a young man with his dogs was tracking a mountain lion they had it up in the pine trees, it was really fun to see her hanging on the branches.  I wouldn't normally ever get that close to a mountain lion in the wild but with the dogs barking I felt safe.  This was the first time for both us seeing a mountain lion in the wild.  We continued our ride and found the Skinner family, they hooked up with us and we rode up to the top of the summit to overlook the valley it is so beautiful !!  On Top you can see all round, breath taking, indeed a winter wonderland.  It was a perfect day to be out.  On our way back we came across Scott and their family sledding for the day also.  They had a crew of five sleds.  We all went out to dinner afterward to Cafe Sabor, we were really hungry from our afternoon adventure.  There is more snow this year than they have had in many years. 

Craig & Debbie on the Mountain Tops- snowmobiling- over looking Bear Lake

Depression

I felt a huge cloud of depression overcome me last night working on my family history.  I work so hard, faithfully and being accurate in my research of my ancestors.  We are recording ancestors names in the "Book of  Life" for their eternal progression.  It is very important to be accurate.  Then there are those who are not careful and do not source their ancestors, just for the sake of submitting a name for their temple work and preforming that ordinance. So important that the information submitted is correct for the ancestor and to prevent duplication over and over for the same ancestor.  It's so frustrating to me that someone on my Loveall family tree in family search, deleted my great-grandfather and my notes, they completely unlinked him and then submitted and sealed him to the wrong parents.  It has mess up the entire family tree for three generation.  I know it's not a perfect system and things have improved in how the great work is recorded, but it still is still very discouraging to me.  I can spend hours working on documenting my sources for one ancestor and then have someone come in and change it all incorrectly, makes me want to scream !! I will have to call family search today to see what I can do to fix the problem.  Something I do not want to have to make the time for, but it has to be done in order for the work to continue correctly. 

My Family History

Last night and the night before, I was reviewing my family history on family search and ancestry.com I had found that my great grandfather Joseph Hicks does not have his temple work completed so I had to get my Hicks files out and see where I left off I have several old pictures that are dated over 100 years old and I need to take the time to scan and upload on the digital sites.  I have not worked on this line since 2011, I can't believe it's been that long, I have had several of the Hicks brothers that we've been working on the completing the temple work.  I have about three more of them left to complete the family group.  I got really frustrated last night when I noticed I had a message from family search that a Brown name on my Loveall side could be submitted for temple work so when I went in to look and see who this ancestor was for temple ready ordinances I  noticed that my great grandfather James Jacob Loveall, his parents have been deleted from the FamilyTree and they had the wrong parents attached and children, and actually submitted the temple work January 2017 for him to be sealed to the wrong parents.   I'm so mad they deleted everything I had added on there it is a love hate relationship with family search, anyone that is a family member, cousin or distant cousin can go in and change things and if they're not careful in looking at the sources and making sure they are adding or changing the family file, a make big mistake can be made.  Which has happen in my family file on the Loveall family. Going to have to call Family search and take the time to fix the problem.

Daily Chores

I took the time today to give our bedroom a good cleaning it was really dusty, washed our sheets & did several loads of laundry, it feels good to have clean sheets on the bed and then crawling in bed with a warm heated blanket, feel so good with this cold weather up north.  We got lots of snow yesterday it snowed most of the day too, we are living in a winter wonderland.

 I've been listening to the news all day while cleaning.  Funny to watch all the fuss about Fake News being reported about President Trump being involved hacking the DNC with the Russians during the presidential campaign.  Trump's attorney had flew to Russia, by the end of the day looking at the attorney's passport, showing he has never been to Russia.  CNN News had blasted all day he had, which was proven not true.   Crazy how so many people feed into the Fake news that is being reported.  The Democratic Party is being such bad sports about the outcome and are trying everything to disgrace our new President to be.  We live in a very interesting time in history in how our world communicates.  Everything is seconds of time getting messages out to world.  It can be true or false and you have to be so careful in filtering thru the misleading information.  The media has become so liberal now.  It reminds me of the story in the Book of Mormon of the Great and spacious building of those dressed in their fine clothing pointing fingers of scorn.  The people of worldly values go with the wind with all the false information being reported.  Pray for the strength to not be deceived and be able to filter thru the false reports and stories and what is true.   

Our Temple Day

We ventured out on this very snowy day and drove almost 2 hours to Afton Wyoming to attend the temple.  We arrived just in time to attend the 11:30 AM session.  Driving the snow packed roads didn't know if we were going to make it on time.  It  has snowed all day, we completed our session and had lunch at Taco Time in Afton Wyoming.  Craig had a conference call to with his Utah Health Association board meeting today on our way back.  Prayed we make it back home Safely. 
We left at 9:30 AM this morning and it is 4 PM in the afternoon arriving home. so glad we were able to go to the temple today even though it was difficult driving there.  I have set a goal to at least attend the temple once a month if not more.  Craig  completed the endowment session for one of my uncles, Arthur Hicks on my Hicks family line from West Virginia.  “This work of the Lord is indeed great and marvelous, but it moves forward essentially unnoticed by many of mankind’s political, cultural, and academic leaders. It progresses one heart and one family at a time, silently and unobtrusively, its sacred message blessing people everywhere.”  ^{So grateful the blessing of the Temple in our lives and the opportunity to be a Savior in Mt. Zion for our ancestors.} 

Actions In Being Valiant

1. “To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to bridle our passions, control our appetites, and rise above carnal and evil things. It is to overcome the world as did he who is our prototype and who himself was the most valiant of all our Father’s children. It is to be morally clean, to pay our tithes and offerings, to honor the Sabbath day, to pray with full purpose of heart, to lay our all upon the altar if called upon to do so.  (Actions I can work on:  Not watch R videos,  I have let my standard slip,  nothing that is not up lifting to my thoughts.  more faithful in paying fast offerings this year.,  we did ok last year, did skip some months, better at fasting on fast Sunday more effort in pray monthly in our fast.) 

2.“To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to take the Lord’s side on every issue. It is to vote as he would vote. It is to think what he thinks, to believe what he believes, to say what he would say and do what he would do in the same situation. It is to have the mind of Christ and be one with him as he is one with his Father.” ( action:  taking the sacrament weekly, will help to remind me to obey the commandments, read and study scriptures daily so I can have the holy spirit with me, say more fervert daily prayers to invite the spirit of the Lord in my daily life,  Pray more with my dear husband.).

#3. “To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to believe in Christ and his gospel with unshakable conviction. It is to know of the verity and divinity of the Lord’s work on earth. … action: study church history study this year to learn more about the true gospel, which helps me to be more convicted in my action,  Knowledge is power!!

#4. “To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to ‘press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope, and a love of God and of all men.’ It is to ‘endure to the end.’ (2 Nephi 31:20.)...  action: Love everyone unconditionally we are are children of God.

#5.  It is to live our religion, to practice what we preach, to keep the commandments. It is the manifestation of ‘pure religion’ in the lives of men; it is visiting ‘the fatherless and widows in their affliction’ and keeping ourselves ‘unspotted from the world.’ (James 1:27.)  action:  service to others in need,  living and keeping the commandments of God daily.

Valiant In Christ

One of my goals this year is to become more valiant in my testimony in Jesus Christ what does that really mean?   I read a very good article in the January 2017 that has lots of encouraging thoughts to be more valiant in my testimony of Jesus.  “To be valiant in the testimony of Jesus is to ‘come unto Christ, and be perfected in him’; it is to deny ourselves ‘of all ungodliness,’ and ‘love God’ with all our ‘might, mind and strength.’ (Moroni 10:32.).   In one of the most remarkable visions recorded in holy writ, the Prophet Joseph Smith described the condition of those who will inherit the celestial kingdom after they have been resurrected and judged. This same section in the Doctrine and Covenants (section 76) also reveals the conditions and circumstances of those who are not fit for the celestial kingdom but instead are candidates for the terrestrial and telestial kingdoms. It describes that those that did not rise tot he highest level in our Father's house are those who were not Valiant in their testimony of Jesus Christ.   Imagine that for a moment. Would we forfeit the glory of the celestial kingdom, with all of its profound and everlasting blessings, simply because we were not valiant in the testimony of Jesus here on earth in our brief, mortal, probationary state?What does it mean to be valiant in the testimony of Jesus? A modern-day Apostle of the Lord declared:

“It is to be courageous and bold; to use all our strength, energy, and ability in the warfare with the world; to fight the good fight of faith. … The great cornerstone of valiance in the cause of righteousness is obedience to the whole law of the whole gospel.  Stand for What You Believe.   

Fast Sunday

We had a very nice Sabbath day it was Fast & Testimony meeting this week. It was nice to hear the saints in the Bear Lake 1st Ward get up and share their testimonies, a time for us to get to know who the members are.  It is going to take us time to learn names of everyone. The church is so unified  the same wherever you go, so we feel right at home feel with unity with the Saints in the Garden City area.  It will be nice to know their names and more about them as time goes by.  Craig did such a great job teaching his gospel doctrine lesson, he is a really good teacher, I'm so proud of him, after church we came back had dinner, read and study for a while our gospel study.  I'm enjoying the time sharing and talking with my husband, learning about the gospel together. I Love Craig with all my Heart!!

Saturday

Craig is going snowmobiling again with Todd Wade this morning.  He is enjoying the snow with his friends which is nice to see.  Being up at the Lake there have been lots of friends that want to go snowmobiling.  This past year he was going to sell his machines because he did not have anyone to go with him.  I know that he likes to go, living at the Lake this year we will have a lot of time to get out and enjoy the snow.  We had to buy me so new snow pants that got stolen last year.  Craig said he would take me out on another time.  Which is fine, I told him to go enjoy his time with the guys, they are much more aggressive in sledding,  I just like to stay on the trails.  I'm going to enjoy just staying at the cabin by myself and have some quite time.  I'm working on editing my blog from last year, so I can print it.  I have to read thru all my entries before I can have it ready for print.  It takes time, but I enjoy it.  It gives me time to reflect about our lives and see the many blessing that have come into our lives this past year.  It helps me to remember things I would have forgotten, if I did not take time to record my thoughts and feelings.  So this is what I will be doing for most of the day.

Winter Wonderland

We have mounds of snow at Bear Lake a big storm came in on Tuesday and it snowed all day Tuesday and Wednesday.  We left Wednesday afternoon in a snow storm, didn't know if we were going to get out of the Bear Lake valley, the roads were so bad with huge snow flakes falling,  The roads were very snowy and slow, as we drove further south the roads did improve, arriving in the Salt Lake Valley it was 40 degrees, a break from the snow.  The storm hit the valley that evening, leaving us a blanket of snow come Thursday morning, about 6inches or more at Tasha's house.  Sharlena said they closed school for the day in Logan from all the snow, and they started school a couple of hours later too,  they had so much snow in their area of town.  The snow storm hit hard and left a pile of snow everywhere.  The roads are slow driving.  It's the most snow we've seen here at the cabin in many years.  We drove back to the Bear Lake valley late last night, just so Craig could enjoy all the new power snow in the mountains,  Pray he has a safe day snowmobiling with Jason Skinner today. It is a beautiful sunny day and very cold!!  Coming across Logan canyon last night at 10:30 pm it was -20degrees.  

Getting My Weight Under Control

I got on the scales this morning and I'm up to 162.8, I pretty much have weighed this most of December I had dropped down to 159 when we were moving from all the stress and work moving, eating the Christmas candy and having the family here at cabin for a week, has popped me back up, I have got to get serious and get some weight off.  We shopped at Walmart in Logan last night and I bought some diet food to eat.  I'm planning on getting back on a rigid diet and get some weight off.  I don't like feeling so fat in the stomach, losing 10 pounds would be really nice, I will feel so much better, I really would love to drop down 20 pounds this year and maintain.  This is my most important goal this year to lose the weight and maintain it.  I lost it last year, but didn't keep it off,  I'm starting all over again, it is a constant struggle to keep the weight off.

My Mother

Mother is still up to no good, she will not quit communicating with the Internet scammers, it has dragged on for over three years now going on four.  She thinks they're her friends they just keep taking from her money.   She sent some receipts to me about her life insurance and in the middle of it was a receipt that she had money wired $300 to somebody in South Carolina and Debra Wessenberr, it is just so frustrating, I don't know what to do with her anymore, she just keeps lying is the crazy thing about it all.  Guess she is going to go to her grave with all this.  Just keep hoping she will come to her senses and give it all up.  She doesn't have the money to keep giving away. It makes me so angry!!  I just have to let it go!!  It is not my problem,  I've tried to help her, but if she continues to be dishonest there is not much more I can do.  It is just all so unbearable to me, that she will treat her own daughter this way.   

Relaxing

It has been over a week now since we have had family and grandkids visiting us for the new year holiday weekend and we have been babysitting Tasha's three kids while they are on a cruise.  We dropped them off last night.  Annie went to Trisha & Bucks for the weekend and the two boys at Shar's.   We got a huge snowstorm on Wednesday night and there is a mounds of snow everywhere.  the boys will have fun playing in the snow at Shar's house.   We left Wednesday in a snowstorm at Bear Lake and arriving back we have over 3 feet of snow here at the cabin, there's so much snow. Craig is excited to go snowmobiling today.  He has not had a chance to get out and really enjoy the snow yet with all the family here.  We went shopping last night for me some snow pants to enjoy the winter snow.  All our snow gear was stolen last year, so we are slowing having to replace it.  Jason Skinner called last night on our way home wanting to come up and snowmobile with all the new snow.  They will ride hard enjoying the snow,  I told him to go and have fun, he can take me out on another day.  I don't' ride as hard as he likes to ride climbing the mountains.   He got up early this morning and  took off for a day of snowmobiling with Jason.  I'm just staying in the cabin and relaxing, it feels so good to have a little bit of time to myself, that hasn't been for weeks, I'm constantly with my dear husband, it will be nice to have a few hours to myself.  A break from all the grandkids too.  I'm really tired today!!  It feels good to just relax and do something for myself.

Michael's 18th Birthday

Michael and Grandma Symes

Michael with his baby sister Ashtyn, they both have red hair and look so much alike

Michael turned 18 years old today hard to believe we are so proud of him he has grown into a handsome strapping young man. We picked him up today and took him to Chili's for lunch with his mom and his little sister.  We are so proud of him,  Hard to believe he is 18 yrs old!!

Michael with his Grandpa Symes - Craig took the time to type Micahel a special letter for his birthday.  Craig is very thoughtful and has loved this grandson as our own son, the son we never had.

Michael and his mother Shannon

It Snowing!!

Bear Lake a carpet of white

Snowing at the Lake

We are getting the biggest snowfall of the year so far we have over a foot and a half outside our cabin right now and it is still snowing a winter wonderland

Going for a Snowmobile Ride

Cute Winiston

Lincoln

Grandpa Symes & Annie

Craig and I are babysitting the three Thomas children Lincoln, Winston and Aniston while their parents on a cruise this week, yesterday we spent the day cleaning up the cabin from all the family that was here for the weekend.  I'm dead tired by bedtime,   Today we took the kids for a snowmobile ride, it's a lot of work getting us all dressed and outside in the snow, but it was fun for a short period of time, it's snowing today and there's quite a bit of powder snow.

Our little Annie

Birthday Notes

"Happy Birthday🎉🎊 Mommy !! Love 💜💜you so so much I'am so lucky to have you as my mom and to have you in my life !! Don't know what I would do with out you !! 💋💜💜from sweet daughter Shannon."

Note from my mother:  'Today is my daughter Debbie's birthday she is 60 today and New Years Eve was my son John's birthday and he is 58 yrs old, as I look at this photo I wonder where all the time has gone seems like yesterday when they were my little chicks under my wing now young ladies and young grown men ..This time of year has many happy memories and lots joy and happiness but also sadness because the love of my life passed away on New Year's Day on our daughters birthday, so as I go into a new year I'm remembering all those choice times  and thinking about the birth of my daughter and son and how special those days were in my life, a mother's love is eternal love, a special gift and my children are all special gifts from my Heavenly Father and so as I dream of the past and look forward to the future I want to let John and Debbie know how much I love them and wish that both have been blessed by their children and they had a wonderful birthday to be remembered.

Happy birthday John and Debbie  Family lasts forever."

Note from my half brother Scott:  "From one old Capricorn goat to another: "Hey, ya old goat! Have a great NEW year. One more trip around the star." 

Cue music, sparklers, and Chippendales.

Hope you have a most awesome birthday Sis. Miss you bunches. Make a wish on your cake that we get together this coming year." -  It has been 10 years since I have last seen my brother Scott.  They were here when I turned 50.  Hope we can make the time to get together this year.

A Moment of Silence

Our Yael, 4yrs old

Grandson hanging out playing games on their i-pads

We have had the Thomas family, the Burbidge family, the Noriega family and the Towner family, here since Thursday the 29th, today is Monday, January 2 and they have all left this morning.  It was good to sit down and rest for a little bit and have some peace and quiet, with 10 grandkids running around the entire time it was very noisy.  Now we need to clean up the mess, that's going to be our chore for the day.  Tasha and Bridger left early Sunday morning for a cruise, so we are babysitting Lincoln and Winston & Aniston for the week.  Lincoln says he's glad that he doesn't have to go home he gets to stay at Bear Lake!!  The grandkids do love coming to Bear Lake.  We will have our hands full this week babysitting the Thomas children.

New Year Resolutions

#1 Prayers morning and night more faithfully, need to improve, Craig and I have gotten way too lax in this area.
#2  Daily scripture study, pray for the Holy Ghost to teach me things I need to know at this season 
#3 Consistent workout schedule somehow, have got to lose at least 15 pounds and maintain it throughout the year.
#4  Making new friends in our new area, sustaining the Saints, building the kingdom of God in the Garden City 1st Ward.
#5  Attend the temple at least once a month and continue working on my family history, continue working on scanning and organizing our family photos to a digital format, preserving our family history
#6 Send in my Ancestry DNA, learn about my heritage.
#7 Figure out my computer storage of pictures and document, learning how to edit and store family videos.
#8  I want to be a witness and testimony of my Savior Jesus Christ, wherever I go- thinking of him more in my daily life.

Need to read often and review my goals for 2017.

A New Year

I enjoyed our lesson very much in Relief Society today, we are studying about the teachings of President Gordan B. Hinckley this year.  I want to be faithful in reading my relief society lesson weekly and making it a goal for 2017.  Another new year gone by, this is the time to reflect about my life and to make some new resolutions for the upcoming year.  I started out good half way through the year and then our lives changed so much that on my goals went by the wayside of completion, by summertime.  I need to do better this year, moving to Bear Lake is been a big change for us and anxious to get to know the Saints in our new ward.  Craig taught his first lesson in gospel doctrine, he did such a great job, so proud of him this will be a great learning and growing time for him in gospel study.  We are studying Church History this year.  I would like to set a goal to complete and study the Doctrines & Covenants with my husband this year,  I also would like to complete the study of the teachings of  President Hinckley,  I read his biography several years back and loved it.  He has been one of my favorite Prophets.  

Happy 60th Birthday

"Your the best Husband, Dad and Grandpa ever !! Thanks for making the most beautiful women we know have such a special day I am sure it met the world to her !! Happy 60 birthday Mommy you are so Beautiful inside and out you are the the supper glue that holds this family together !! 💜💜😘😘, note from Shannon, they were not able to attend our family gathering this year.

 

Trisha & Buck with Angel their new puppy

Happy 60th Birthday with our Saydee Bug 13 yrs old soon to be 14yrs old on Jan. 27th

Grandma Debbie with Aubrey 13 yrs old on Jan. 20th

Eating a Giant Bear Lake Pizza, for our New Years Eve Party, Lincoln, Winston, Boston, Jude, back row Saydee, Aubrey & Karlee, open wide for pizza!!

I had a really Fun happy birthday celebration combined with New Year's last night with my family, they surprised me with a firework show, birthday cake, singing happy birthday to me, they sprayed me with silly string, it was so funny, we all had some good laughs, hard to believe I'm 60 years old now!!  The years have gone by so quickly!! They all surprised me with such a great time!!