1 Happy holidays in Dixie

In the three pictures: Grandpa reading stories to two-year-old Peter; Claudia and me on the Gulf Coast at Ocean Springs, Mississippi; and Grandma holding newborn Aaron

On Christmas Day Claudia and I climbed on a midday flight in Salt Lake City, after visiting at the airport for a couple of hours with Chris, Camilla, and Sam (who had arrived in Salt Lake that same morning from Everett, Washington, to spend five days visiting in Utah), to go visit Paul, Eliza, Peter, and newborn Aaron in Georgia.

We left Salt Lake just before a major winter storm hit Utah and were able to make connections in Chicago. Flights at Chicago's Midway airport had been canceled the previous two days, and Midway airport was closed the day after we went through there. We then flew to Birmingham, Alabama, rented a car, and drove two-and-a-half hours to Paul and Eliza's place just northeast of Atlanta in Duluth, Georgia.

We were in the Southeast from the evening of December 25 until the morning of January 5. And had a great time. We mostly hung out with Paul, Eliza, and the grandkids. Some days we went shopping. One day to Zoo Atlanta.

Paul and Eliza were able to get tickets to the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans on Friday night, January 2. On New Year's Day we all drove together the six hours to Ocean Springs, Mississippi, about 90 miles from New Orleans, to the closest motel we could arrange at late notice. (Ocean Springs is near Biloxi, which if we remember correctly, is where Lyle spent some time early in his Air Force career.)

Friday morning we went to the beach on the Gulf Coast, enjoyed the balmy temperatures in the low 70s, and explored the Ocean Springs and Biloxi area. That evening Paul and Eliza went to the bowl game, and Claudia and I tended Peter and Aaron in the motel room and on TV watched Utah beat Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. A great night.

The next day (Saturday, January 3) we headed toward Atlanta. When we reached Montgomery, the capital of Alabama, which was three hours from our motel and about another three hours short of Atlanta, we realized the keys to Paul and Eliza's car and apartment were still back at the motel in Mississippi. We turned around and drove back to get the keys, turning what would have been a six-hour trip into a twelve-hour drive. We finally got to Atlanta around 3:00 Sunday morning.

Fortunately, Church meetings didn't begin until 1:00 in the afternoon, so we could all sleep in some. In fast and testimony meeting on January 4 Paul blessed their baby, Aaron Marvin Challis.

Early the next morning (Monday, January 5) Claudia and I drove from Atlanta back to Birmingham to catch a flight to Las Vegas and then a second one home to Salt Lake City. We left Paul and Eliza's place an hour earlier than we needed to because we forgot to factor in that Georgia is in the eastern time zone and Alabama in the central time zone. We hit all four of the continental U.S. time zones that day, since Las Vegas is in the pacific time zone and Salt Lake in the mountain time zone.

It had been a great trip. We hated to come back to winter.