There hasn't been a lot going on for us.  It was so good to see everyone for the holidays and then there was a little let down.  We put away the Christmas things.  I didn't get a picture of the angels that we put up over the tv on our tall slanted wall.  They all fit!  It was so good to see them out again with the checked stockings.  They brought back happy memories.

I relaxed and read and Dad got busy with the year end/year beginning business:  got the cars inspected and registered, income tax started, homeowner's exemption applied for so our tax will be less next year.

Susan and I had raked the back yard of all the leaves and gathered up 6 bags.  Dad and I raked half the front and got another 2 bags and he took all of them to the dump.  Feels cleaner inside my head somehow to have them all gone.

Friday Dad took me for a little ride to a stand by the road where a guy was selling pecans.  He bought me 10 pounds!  It was my Christmas present.  Should last for a long time.  I love that he remembers that I love them and even if he doesn't even like them he is willing to get them for me.  He's a nice man.

Another thing that I really like is that he is going to the temple with me every other Thursday.  He isn't able to sign up for the Thursday shift because he is busy at the peanut butter cannery every other Thursday, but he is willing to go with me when he's not assigned there.  So this week he went and it was so nice to have him there.  He means to study Spanish (when he isn't needed to serve on the shift) so he can serve the Hispanic patrons, but there was a brother missing and the coordinator asked Dad to fill his spot so he served mostly all day doing what needed to be done.  He did get to study some and  feels good about the Spanish he is learning.  He feels he can almost do what is needed already.

I have been working on some family history.  I have found a new cousin!  She apparently died young because my mom never mentioned her as she was recounting her aunts and uncles.  She is Irene Neal, daughter to John Balas Neal and Sarah Caroline Pegg.  She is listed clearly as a daughter on the 1880 census but somehow we missed it before.  Now we can get her tucked into her family where she belongs.  I'm concerned about the four missing children of Christian Link and Anna.  They apparently died before the family left Russia.  Or they stayed because they were married and settled.  Don't know.  How do we find out?

Did you know some of our family came from Russia?  They aren't Russian, but German.  Apparently they moved to Russia when there was so much political upheaval in Germany.  There is a whole "Germans in Russia" organization so there must have been lots of people that did that.  Maybe they will have some information we can access regarding these lost relatives.

Just 10 more weeks for English class.  Counting down the days.  Then we will switch temple to Wednesday mornings and have the days around the weekend free to make trips to Utah and Illinois and California!  Makes it a lot easier to plan trips to have the ends of the week free.