New Grandson

Cally and Jed had their baby this morning. He weighed 8 pounds 12 ounces. She actually went into labor Saturday, but the close contractions stopped after about five hours. She has been having contractions continually since then and finally went back into the hospital last night about 11 p.m. She is tired but they are both doing okay. I think they are going to name him Grey. He has a few blotches on his face from the hard labor. At one point they had Cally prepped for a C-section, but then the baby decided to cooperate.

Jake and Lindsay have decided on Lander, Wyoming as the location for their new home. We are glad because it is closer than other options. It is close to the Wind River Mountains and a couple hours from Yellowstone. Now they just have to find a house and sell theirs. Jake is enjoying his new job.

We will be adding one more grandchild in the fall. Jenine is expecting.

We are having a beautiful warm sunny day. It is currently over 60, which is good because on Groundhog Day I vowed to only wear Hawaiin shirts until it reached 60. I like Hawaiin shirts, but I am getting tired of the limited selection.

Update

I am having problems with the blog. I have lost the toolbar that allows me to add pictures and after contacting the Blogger help center I still can't so I guess I am limited to text messages only

The month of February has already been an expensive month. Ruth and I both had to get new glasses and Ruth has now got hearing aids.

We have had off and on snow since Dec. and it hasn't had a chance to all melt in between snow falls. When I got up this morning it was raining but before we left for the temple it was snowing, a heavy wet snow. We now have about 3 inches on the drive and it is to wet to use the snow blower and it just keeps coming.

Ruth and I also joined the Sports Academy which came with our prescription insurance plan. We are intending to use the facilities about three times a month. Right now we are in a water arobics class. They have two indoor pools and an outside pool for summer and all of the other facilities we could ever imagine. We think we will enjoy it.

Other than those things our life is pretty much just the same old rut. At this time we think we will quit the temple in June so we can go to Texas and after that we will probably try some other type of "Stay-at-home mission" for a couple of years.

Just enjoy your time with your children and families. It passes all to quickly.

Love to all.

Dad

Valentine's Day Competitions

We had a rather busy Valentine's day yesterday. Mariana went to sing a solo at the Indiana State School Music Association event in the morning. She sang "Rainbow Connection," and got a gold medal for her perfect score!

Isaac spent nearly the whole day at the Science Olympiad regional competition. He participated in four events: Junkyard Challenge (Where he had to make a scale out of a box full of various parts), Electric Vehicle, Herpetology, and Write it\Do it. He got a bronze medal in the Electric Vehicle and a silver medal in the Write it\Do it. His team looks very excited because they got the first place trophy this year. That means they will go to the state competition again this year.

From the Returned One

Well, everyone, I decided it was finally time for me to say something here. Yes, this is Sam. Things have been going along alright these last few weeks. I'm feeling fairly well adjusted to being home. I'm still job hunting, but it may be a while before I can find anything all that permanent, given the current economic situation. I have been enjoying being with my family, and I also got back from a campout earlier today that I really enjoyed. One of the things I missed on the mission was being able to leave the city. Other than that, nothing big so far. I'm hoping to go back to school in the Spring, though that depends on how my scholarship works and what kind of work I can find, so we'll see what ends up happening.

Last hunt for awhile

Saturday I decided to take Jake, Creed, and Jed hunting for pheasants because Jake and Creed are both likely to be gone by next season. It was a beautiful day, even though there is still a lot of snow around. Anette, Lindsay, Katelynn and Tagg also joined us. Brandon and Jenine had to work.

The dogs worked really well. We had lots of solid points. I'm tired of winter, but the worst of the really cold part should be over.

Sunday we had everyone over for the Superbowl. We demolished 10 pounds of chicken wings, a couple pizzas, and lots of other snack food.

We keep expecting Cally to go into labor any time, but so far she says she isn't even having any twinges.

Cache Valley in Winter

We miss living in the mid-west but Cache Valley has its own beauty in winter:

For some reason I cann't seem to add more images. I have several additional picture I was going to post. Sorry about that.

Dad