Holidays

Christine is convinced that Christmas is not over. I'm sure she is confused because we started opening presents and having Christmas parties Thanksgiving Day and we finished opening our last presents on New Year's Day. Maybe next year she will understand.

Last week Jer turned in the first phase of his research paper. It is being published as a government document to help pass a law in Utah. Now he just has to go back and add more detail so that it can hopefully be published in a science journal. The most time consuming part is over and we are all so glad!

As soon as Jer had his paper turned in we finally headed out for Wyoming. I love going home! I think I forget sometimes how much I laughed as a child. When I go home I am reminded. We had a great time. We went target shooting and got a load of wood. The weather was great. Their was plenty of snow on the ground, but the sun was out. It was nice to get out and do some good old fashioned work. As much as I grumbled about it when I was younger, I find myself missing it now. It was fun to help keep the fire going. One morning while we were there my dad and I cooked pancakes on their wood stove. I am amazed how people were able to cook anything without burning it back in the day.

Of course we watched the Utah game while we were there. Go UTES!!! That was very fun. We ate chips with cream cheese and salsa and homemade cookies during the commercials. It was fabulous.

My brother Hyrum got a unicycle for Christmas. It was fun to try and ride it. My mom's attempt was so funny it brought tears to my eyes. Hyrum is getting pretty good at riding it. I bet he will be a pro by the time we go back to see him.

Even though we didn't make it to my parent's house for Christmas I felt like they saved lots of Christmas for us. We ate a tea ring (cinnamon roll), had cookies, went shooting, played basketball at the high school (I am out of shape!!). It was great!

Happy New Year. I'm excited to see where the New Year will take us. Jer will be done with school this year. It will be interesting to see where we will go for a job. There are so many options; Wyoming, Washington, Texas, Oklahoma, Australia, Alaska...The list goes on and on. It seems almost daily that Jer hears about another job he could get. Now we just have to figure out which ones he should apply for!