We have been fairly healthy here this year. The process of aging continues to happen. John and I have more creaks and aches but life goes on. The kids are doing well, and the grandkids make life happy for us.
John continues to serve the Lord in the temple three days a week. He really likes helping out there. He did take time to put down sod in the back yard, install some cabinets in the laundry room and the pantry. When helped move Joe and family to Lakeside AZ. We drove over to Round Valley and visited with friends for a couple of hours and then made our way to Greer to visit with Aunt Jody. Along the way we saw how bad the fire hit the area but the area was also coming back nicely. Our truck had to have some work completed on it so we would have visited more, but we were stuck in Lakeside. He also helped John and Melissa finish up their basement this past year. He has started playing racket ball with one of the temple workers on Monday and Friday. This man is in his 70's and continues to beat the socks off John. If you know John, he is very competitive and he has had to eat humble pie. The funny thing is that this man is partially deaf and doesn't see well either; so this is like adding salt to the sore. He is improving, but will have to build of his endurance.
I have been adjusting to a new grade level this year. I have found that fourth grade is a great grade for me to teach at this time of my life. I really like teaching fourth grade and the curriculum is fun. As I am get older, the little ones tire me out more and I don’t have as much patience as I used to. The older kids are more independent and can spend more time without as much teacher help. I don't have to be so much of the "mother" to them. They can think on their own and be creative. I have a nice class and they are great workers. I go back to school next week and then I have two weeks of teaching and I am off again for three weeks again. Mid-term grades are due when I come back from off track, so I will have to spend some off-track time working on those.
Because of this change I no longer work at the temple on Saturday mornings. Maybe I can start up again when I feel more comfortable with the 4th grade.
I am still teaching the grandkids here piano lessons on Thursdays after school. The little girls started this year. It has been hard to stick to a regular schedule. Hopefully the new year will be a little smoother. The kids are learning. Practicing during the week isn't a priority, so it is going slowly. Mom wants them to be able to play Church songs if they are needed to play in church. I can get them that far with my skills, but if they want to be better pianists they will have to get lessons from someone else.
In August, We helped Joe move to Lakeside, AZ where he is working in Whiteriver at the hospital. He is a Govt. employee now. He decided to take that route for some of the benefits that he can get in return for some of his time. He doesn’t like just doing x-rays or working with the Native Americans too much; but they will pay off his student loans. He is planning on giving the Govt. two to three years there and may come back here to work after that. We miss having them around but he is trying to get out of debt. He sometimes drives over to Round Valley to work at the hospital there also on his days off. He has two kids in school (a second graders and a kindergartener) and two at home with mom. Those are the three year old and the youngest who is 18 months. They couldn't sell their home, so they are trying a short sale, but basically had to walk away from the house. No help from the Govt. with that problem.
In late October, Halloween weekend, we went to NV to see Jake and his family. We had a great time with them. We helped carve pumpkins and enjoyed visiting and spoiling the grandkids. They finally gave up on keeping their house. A man up the road had a rental come available, and they moved in there. The bank just kept moving the foreclosure dates a month at a time, so it was always looming over them. The bank wouldn’t work with them, so now they have an overpriced home on their hands. Jake said he wasn’t going to pay any more on a house that isn’t worth what his mortgage is on their home. I am glad that they moved a little less stressful for them. Jake and Erica have two kids in school (a fifth and 1st grader) and a four-year-old at home. Erica works at a pre-school and she takes Ashlynn with her. Jake also has new job with a small company as an accounts receivable and payable person. He says it is much better than the manual labor he was doing.
As for Christmas, I now believe that if there aren’t any little ones here to watch open presents that it is not much fun anymore. John and family came over later in the day and had dinner with us and opened presents here. They have five in school now. (A seventh grader, fifth grader, second grader and two kindergartners). The baby, almost a year old, is home with mom for a half day. Can you believe our little twins who are doing well are in Kindergarten. Those two are doing much better now. They are small for their age but are growing. The baby almost weighs as much as they do now.
Jane also came over for Christmas. She is still busy working with first graders at school. Since she isn’t married yet, she has been doing some travelling with her friend Erica Ladewig from Eagar. They travelled to NV, then to Disneyland in CA and a trip to Washington is in the planning stages. She has been running in races lately. I think she wants to run in a half marathon this summer. She is dating a young man from Wyoming lately and maybe that will work out for her.
Joe and Jake’s family members stayed in AZ and NV this year for Christmas. We did speak with them on the phone, but definitely different not having them here.
We haven’t had much snow or moisture lately. Last year, John had snow plowed at least 6 times with heavy snows. This year, he hasn’t even had to use the snow plow. He has shoveled about 2 times. It is sad because it has been very cold. If you had some snow on the ground it would make it easier to understand why it is cold. Hopefully we will get some moisture soon in some form.
We have worked on a few projects around our home. The grass sod is now in and we put in a few more cabinets in the laundry room and pantry. We hope to work a little now and then on the basement. Hopefully, it will be a pay as you go project. We put up a few walls at a time as money permits.
Anyway that is about all that has or will happen here in Herriman, UT. We hope you all have a great 2012 New Year.
Love John and Nancy Finlay
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