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.

2 Quote of the week

"Karl G. Maeser was taking a group of missionaries across the Alps. As they reached a summit, he stopped. Gesturing back down the trail to some poles set in the snow to mark the way across the glacier, he said, 'Brethren, there stands the Priesthood. They are just common stick like the rest of us . . . but the position they hold makes them what they are to us. If we step aside from the path they mark, we are lost' (Karl G. Maeser, Mormon Educator, 22)" (Boyd K. Packer, "The Spirit Beareth Record," Ensign, June 1971, 88).

3 This week in our family

Mon, Jan 12: Seaira Nichole Cleverly-Burdett's birthday [Lyle]
Tues, Jan 13: Lyle's birthday
Tues, Jan 13: Claudia Susan Hodson's birthday [Dean]
Tues, Jan 13: Paul & Eliza Challis married 2004 [Dean]
Wed, Jan 14: Dale's birthday
Wed, Jan 14: Joshua Frederick Price's birthday [Lyle]
Fri, Jan 16: Easton Higley's birthday [Kay]
Mon, Jan 19: Martin Luther King Day
Mon, Jan 19: Next issue of newsletter

4 Bits and tidbits

Lyle and his family
I talked on the phone with Lyle on Tuesday, January 6. He has a new e-mail address, which is lyle13@cableone.net. He reported he had four Thanksgiving dinners in Washington when he was up there a month ago and five Thanksgiving dinners before he went. He said he was "pretty much turkeyed out."

Lyle reported that Terry is out of work and that Stan and Randy were both laid off for a few weeks around the holidays but are now back to work. Tami's baby is doing well.

Family Christmas gathering
Lyle reported to us that the Idaho portion of the family got together at Dale and LeAnn's house for Christmas. We have no further details than that.

New Year's Eve in Peru
Karen reported: "New Year's Eve was busy to say the least. We had 10 new missionaries plus 6 other missionaries and their companions waiting for us at the office at 7:00 a.m. when we arrived. The six had to go to Immigration to get their carnets. The Nuevos had their training and welcome interviews, then we had a luncheon at president's house at 1:00 p.m. then off to the stake center for our change meeting which lasted until 7:00 p.m. We dashed home, changed, and caught a bus to the Area Office arriving at 8:00 p.m. We played some games until 11:30 when all of us had to leave. We got off the bus across from our street at midnight, and Kay gave me a kiss in the middle of the street welcoming in a new year. The Romanian Embassy, which is catywampus across the street from our apartment building, had a very nice fireworks display which lasted for about 20 minutes. We had a birds-eye view from our 4th floor apartment. Since I had been up since 5:30 a.m. and Kay 6:15 we were both really tired and fell into bed at 1:00 a.m. We had no problems sleeping through the lingering fire crackers."

Jesus Works at Wells Fargo
Camilla recently reported concerning her two-year-old Sam: "The other day Sam and I were at the bank doing a deposit for work, and a man with long brown hair and a beard walked by. While we were still in the car, Sam pointed at him and said, 'Mom! Jesus! That's Jesus!' Sometimes Sam will put my brown headbands around his chin and call himself Jesus too. I guess it's a good thing that Jesus is in his thoughts throughout the day. I guess the next step is to teach him that Jesus wants him to be good (and not to do 'jell-o body' and throw fits in the store when he wants a toy truck he sees!)."

5 Our family 50 years ago

What our family was up to during the early months of 1959, based on entries in Dorothy's Oregon Diaries during January 1959. The full text of her diary can be found online and is updated daily, exactly 50 years to the day after it was originally written. The family at the time lived on an 80-acre farm in the Big Bend area of eastern Oregon but were in process of selling it and looking at something over by Nampa or Meridian.


Mon, Jan 5. Ivard put squash on & peeled potatoes & I made scolloped potatoes for supper. He got up about 3: & went down to Bishops & told him we'd sell out for $24,000. he said he'd be up to look at it.

Wed, Jan 7. Mr. Bishop came & looked at ground.

Fri, Jan 9. Came home & went to bed & Ivard slept about an hr then he got up & tended Jackie. & when he got her to sleep at noon he came back to bed and we were just about to sleep when Mr. Bishop came up talk price for our place, said he'd give us $18,000. cash. We will let him know in few days.

Mon, Jan 12. Ivard wet down to Bishops & sold him our place for $18,000. We will go to Caldwell Wed. & fix up papers. At 3: we went to Nampa & Ivard signed up for unemployment & he stoped in at a Realty Co. & saw about places.

Wed, Jan 14. I came home from work & we went & got Mr. Bishop & went to town to close the deal on our place. Jackie & I sat in car & waited for them for 3 hrs then he backed out because he wanted to see Bob about fixing ditch again & because we said it was a 80 acres & the deed is 5 acres less. Dale was 7 years old today. he got cords, sweater, 2 pr. levies, 3 pr. socks, 2 pr. shorts & 50 cents & card from Lyle. Gail came from Utah.

Thurs, Jan 15. I came home from work & Ivard Jackie & I went to Nampa to Robison Reality & he took us all overy valley looking at places. found the one we wanted in deer flat, 6 miles out of Nampa, $41,000. for 40 acres, 4 bed room house, nice yard.

Fri, Jan 16. Lyle called tonight, wanted to borrow money. I came home from work in the rain. Me & Jackie went to bed about 10:30 & Gail woke me up at noon. We got ready & Gail dropped Jackie & I off at high school to watch Vale murder grade school in basketball. I don't have to work tonight, laid down awhile. then we got ready & at 6:30 Ivard & I, Kay, Gene & Ray went to Adrian to ball games. J.V.'s beat Notus & so did the Varsity.

Sat, Jan 17. Ivard & I went & got Mr. Bishop at 8:30 & went to town & made out papers on sale of place. have to go next Tuesday again to sign them & Mr. Bishop will pay off barn & Simplot then we get our money when Deeds come back from Vale. Came home at 11: & Gail & Lynda were here & we took them & all the kids to see a couple of places we found we liked, one at deer flat & one at Merridian came home & made barbacue & cooked corn on the cob & made Brownies & we ate & played Penochle. At 6: Ivard took Kay & Gene to Adrian to catch bus for Homedale & at 6:30 Ivard & I, Gail, Lynda & Debbie went to Homedale to game. J.V's won & Varsity won 60 to 57, sure exciteing. Gail & Lynda stayed all night.

Sun, Jan 18. Kay, Gene, Ray, Dean & Dale went to Priesthood and Sunday school and Gail left for Blanches.

6 What in the world

Sugar Bowl
Utah beat heavily favored Alabama 31-17 in the Sugar Bowl on Friday evening, January 2. Our daughter Eliza and her husband Paul were able to get tickets for the game in New Orleans. See his and her accounts of the awesome event. Claudia and I, who had gone to visit Paul and Eliza in Georgia over the Christmas holidays and see our new grandson, went with them and tended two-year-old Peter and three-week-old Aaron in the motel room during the time they were at the Sugar Bowl.

Our son-in-law Vince Oveson, a devoted Ute fan, went to the airport in Salt Lake to greet the returning team. He was quoted by the Salt Lake Tribune:

Among the dozens of fans was Vince Oveson, 24, of Murray, who described himself as a Ute fan since birth. Decked out in a Ute hat, shirt and jacket, he waited with his wife and his parents.

"We really didn't expect them to take control like they did early on," he said. "We just want to welcome them home, tell them we're proud of them, and if we get some autographs, that's alright, too."

Final poll of the season
Utah, the only undefeated team in the country, ended up number 2 in the AP poll and number 4 in the USA Today poll. Florida was number 1 in both polls.

Boise State, with only one loss, ended up number 11 and number 13 in the two polls.

7 A final word

When I was growing up, sensing the Lord had blessed me with a gift for writing, I toyed with the idea of becoming a journalist. I took journalism in both junior high and high school and was editor of the school paper my freshman and senior years. I imagined an ideal life would be to live in a small town somewhere, perhaps something like the Mayberry depicted in the old Andy Griffith Show, and publish the town’s weekly newspaper.

Life has a way of happening other than the way we dreamed it might.

And yet maybe not. Here I am cranking out a weekly family newsletter again, and though the frequency has wandered through the years from quarterly to monthly to weekly, we are 37 years into the project. That represents a lot of writing. And a worn out pencil or two. And I just keep writing. It’s something I have to do.

For more than a third of a century now you have had to endure my ramblings on topics that matter to me, mostly themes relating to the gospel, history, or the family. I hope it’s been worthwhile, maybe even enjoyable. The Lord’s been good to me, to all of us, and that in the end is what my writing is all about: to bear witness of Him and His goodness in our lives.