We did nothing special on Monday, New Year's eve. We did have a brief visit from Casey about noon. I had texted Katie, thinking they would have left on Sunday to drive home to Denver. Nope. They've been stuck in town at Casey's brother's home with sick kids. The twins took turns being sick--one on Saturday night, all night throwing up, and one all day on Sunday. Needless to say, they didn't go anywhere on Sunday. And on Monday is was so snowy! The roads would have been awful to try and travel on, so they are waiting another day.
Today is Tuesday and it IS sunny. Cold, but sunny. We got about 4 or so inches of snow on Monday, as it just came down off and on all day long. It was quite lovely.
This morning my phone weather app said it was 5 degrees. Brrr.
Katie and Casey did finally get out of town, but it was close to 1 pm. They are going to have one long drive home! But they really got to see a lot of people. Not everyone, but a lot. And their kids basically got two or three Christmases, so what's not to like, huh? It is a lot of driving, but I'm so glad they came for a bit and were able to do so much.
In the snowy Monday afternoon, I did venture out to run an errand for Mike's Mom. He went over later in the evening to take her a card and flowers. New Year's eve was the 10th anniversary of John's passing. We probably should have invited her over, but it was so cold and slippery and we just wanted to hunker down and veg out, not entertain.
To celebrate the new year coming in, Mike watched tv and I listened to an audio book. We did play a few games with Eric and and Matt (who was there for a small amount of time), but not for long. I think we were in bed by 11 pm on Monday. We had a toast with some special soda that was a Christmas gift from our neighbors (coconut lime Italian soda? It's in a fancy bottle.) I really did NOT want to put out a bunch of junky food for just the two of us, so I didn't. We had three good meals that day and certainly didn't need any more!
But, today for lunch we had some of the "fancy party" foods. And we ate Eric's left-overs from his party, too! And we'll have shrimp for dinner tonight because it wasn't quite thawed by lunch time. Lunch time was pita chips and dip, mini sausages, sushi. We've been loving the apple juice and drink it all the time. It does take quite some time to thaw out a full gallon of the stuff, however.
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This year, Mike and I wanted to donate something through the Humanitarian giving vending machines on Temple Square. Only we were not going to be on Temple Square during that time frame. Since we had family who were planning to be there, we gave them some money and asked that they do it for us. Gail's family took it and went with their kids. Gail wanted to add some and buy a goat, but her "kids informed (her) that that was dumb" so they didn't get a goat. But they DID get
2 chickens
Eye exam with glasses
Mac and Cheese (food for Utah Food Bank)
Fill a BackPack (lunch on weekends for free lunch student)
Fingerling fishes (for sustainable fish farms for food and income)
Cool, huh?
I was searching around at work on Wednesday, looking at websites about the Giving Machines to find out how much a goat or a chicken was. What I found out was that the lines for the SLC giving machines was long! I had no idea I had asked my family to do something so time-consuming. I pictured them just walking up, making a selection and walking away. Nope.
We also gave money to Donna's family, they matched it, and these were their selections:
Fish to start a fish farm (x 3)
Eye exam and glasses (Butch's choice)
Menstruation kits for 5 girls (Donna and Angela's choice)
Polio vaccine for 100 (Elizabeth's choice)
I am so thankful to Gail's family and Donna's family for taking the time to do that for us and for reporting back to us, as well. I think those "Giving Machines" are the neatest thing and encourage people to truly give. But we can always give--not just at Christmas time. It's easy. If you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints, just add something on your regular donation form. If you're not a member, it's still easy to donate to humanitarian projects and the money will be used wisely.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I'm looking forward to the new year coming and what great things are happening with our family in the year to come!
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