Thanks to all of you for making our Christmas so great.  We appreciate your thoughtfulness to us.  We had a huge snowstorm on Christmas night and woke to a foot of new snow which was amazingly beautiful because the skies were bright blue.  We took a ride through Benson, Weston, Malad, Cherry Creek, Portage and home.  A great day!

A wonderful Christmas and a great ride through nearly a foot of new snow.

VERN & CO. working on a project just moments ago.

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Our snow-filled backyard covered with Christmas lights

Saturday morning in our neighborhood -- season's first real snow!

Important Birthday Coming Up

Velda Gibbs Harris will be 89 years old on December 18.  She has been an outstanding mother and grandmother and continues to be an example of happiness, positive attitude, feistiness.  She loves her family very much and would love to write letters but she can't get her arms up onto the table without lifting them and then they are in just the wrong position to be comfortable.  She asked me to tell all of you that she loves you and that she is looking forward to seeing some of you at the annual Harris Christmas Party.  You are her life -- the thing that keeps her going.  Give her a call to wish her Happy Birthday!

Come What May And Love It

Our beloved apostle, Elder Wirthlin, passed away at the age of 91.  He was at work in his office at his usual time of 7:00 a.m until 5:00 p.m. He went home and passed away in his sleep.  What an amazing example of good humor, dedication, and kindness he was to all of us.  In his last talk, given in this last General Conference in October, he talked about the importance of a good attitude.  He said that we need to laugh more often, look at things from an eternal prospective, remember the law of compensation, and trust in the Lord.  He always remembered his mother's statement "Come what may, and love it."  Interestingly, I was lying in bed at the very time that he passed away and I was thinking about him.  Of course, I didn't know that he was ailing, but I was thinking about his age and his talk about attitude and his wonderful sense of humor.   What a great man.  

Things are getting closer and closer for sending our mission papers in.  Dad is having his stress test this morning and I have an exam tomorrow. If all goes well with those exams, the only thing remaining is a photograph to attach to the papers and they will be ready to go.  Amazing how exciting the prospects have been and as it gets closer how nervous I am about leaving.  Wondering where we might be in a few months and the thoughts of being away from family for so long is hard.  Leaving mom is a very difficult thought.