Connie is 10 days into recovery from her left knee replacement and is doing well, has pain and sleeps a lot.  She is going to physical therapy and has been good about it.  She isn't sure that she wants to do the other one now, but that may change if this is successful and she heals up pretty soon.  She does not get out much except for therapy but she has a good attitude and is pleasant.  Thank you for all the prayers and well wishes.

IT ALL STARTS MONDAY

Monday Mike and Allie get here at midnight, Kyle and Samantha at 2:40 am and Ash and Cort will get here in the evening sometime. I do not know if Cali and Joey are coming here going to Joey's family but they are all leaving for Rocky Point Tuesday morning for a couple of days. We are hoping to go down for Rob's baptism if they can work out the arrangements and permission. The rest of the group and these earlier arrivals come back to our house on the 26^th and 27^th so that we will have 7 couples plus us and 23 grandchildren for a few days. We are psyched.

Time to Get Started Again

We have had a couple of Christmas celebrations with the whole family at Mazatlán, again at Mazatlán and at Las Vegas.  This year we are preparing for one at our Gilbert home.  We are putting everything in to it that we can.  We have extra room if we need it, have been buying food, and various other things to make it a good time.  Our biggest desire, other than that our family enjoy the visit together, is that we are able to take a family picture.  All seven married couples appear to be able to attend, and we have 23 grandchildren with no one that we know expecting, so this could be a picture that would be good for a while.  Mike gets out of law school and they are coming, Linh and Isaac are coming from South Carolina, Kyle and Sam from Oregon and the rest are coming Orem and Lindon.  Marion has chemo on the 23rd but we think they will be able to come on the 27th.  We are really excited.  I have decided to start blogging again so we can keep in touch a little better. 

Remodeled bath by Kent Adams

Grandma Jone's bathroom is remodeled and we have Kent and Sue Adams to thank for it.  It was a big job but we got it done.

Alaska

 We were gone about 12 days with Pam and Gil Greer, actually a present from them, to Vancouver, then up the coast to Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Anchorage and Fairbanks Alaska.  We stayed in the Princess lodge at Mount McKinley and then another Princess lodge on the other side of the mountain, where they call it DENALI.  We saw bears, glaciers, wildlife, mountains, rivers, and beautiful landscapes.  The mini suite was fantastic, the food excellent, the travel easy, the company superior and no motion sickness.  We are going to do this again.

 

Big Changes at Easy Street

Take a look at these two pictures and tell me what has changed.  Yes, Merle showed up this morning and took out ONE scrub.  Thank goodness it wasn't two.  Then he crushed the satelite dish with his mini backhoe and no more dish.  Mom's roses are blooming and we are ready for guests.  Sam and the kids are going to come Friday and Mike and Allie will come sometime this next week.  We start as Columbia River Temple workers on Saturday and we will learn English and Spanish and serve during the time we are here.



Emigs and Earls

Jason's family came first and stayed a couple of days, then Joe & Cali came with their family.  They stayed with Joe and Lori for a couple of days but came over when Ashley's group showed up.  We will get them up in the morning.