Snow Day with Ben, Amy, and Taylor

Our college grandchildren came down for a Thanksgiving

dinner and a sleep over that culminated in a super, fun snow day.

 This is a snow sculptor in training. 

 You  might be married to a red-neck if you find a gun 

laying on the floor in front of your refrigerator.

Grandpa took the brave on tube rides behind the four-wheeler in the field.

Sarah-Jane and Amy.

Ben

Hans and Grandpa

Amy and Taylor

Before and after.

When all were cold enough, we moved to target practice.

Among the best days ever!

Elder Ben Mitchell returns

Elder Ben Mitchell returned home on January 4th.  What a day to celebrate.  He holds the distinction of serving in four calendar years.  He left in December 2016 and returned in January of 2019. 

Ben with the other returning missionaries.

Ben with his mission President and mission Mom.

Ben and his mission Mom.

Ben and his forever Mom.

Ben and his buddy Ethan. Any tears for Ethan were tears of joy!

Ben and Jessica

Ben and his family.  He said Anna had changed the most.

Ben and Amy flew into SLC on January 7th for the first day of school.  Grandpa and I picked them up from the airport.  This is them outside Amy's apartment. The cooler contained a few groceries to get them by until their mom arrived two days later.

          Ben, Amy and Taylor took time 

to go see Grandpa Marvin. 

                  

We went out to dinner at Olive Garden for Amy's 19th birthday on

 January 10.  We had strawberry short cake back at her apartment.

Another day we bowled at BYU.

That was the day Laura flew home. 

Primary School Kit Project

Our primary class saved money for this project all year.  Each time the girls brought their scriptures, they got to feed Shorty a quarter.  When considering a project to do with the funds at Christmas time, I was drawn to the humanitarian school kits.  The girls seemed equally excited.  On the last Sunday before Christmas we put the kits together.  We had enough money to get all the supplies but the notebooks.  The Primary helped with those and I found remnants and made the bags.

We had two bags from each fabric.

We set up in the Cultural Hall to put them together.

These are the girls who were there to help make the kits. 

Makia Ballow, Keira Pettit, Macee Ercanbrack, JaLeigh Burton,

Lily Echols, Yazzie, Phaedra Slade, and McKinley Mitchell. 

On January 2, 2019 we took our kits to the Humanitarian Center.

Only four girls were able to go: Jaleigh Burton, 

Lily Echols, Kiera Pettit, and Macee Ercanbrack.

Can you see Shorty on the ground in front of me?

After our kits were received, we went on a tour.

These are ton bails of donated clothes.

People from all over the world can find employment here.

Each article of clothing is sorted by hand.

These smaller bundles are labeled for content and delivery.

This bulletin board shows the employees who found 

permanent work in each month and where they came from.

This display shows the content of the school kits.

This logo is used in countries that don't accept 

donations from Christian Churches.

We learned about the areas of focus for Humanitarian efforts.

A small room houses gifts from countries all over the world thanking 

the church for their humanitarian aid.  This is from No. Korea. 

Note: I found it interesting that the building that houses the Humanitarian Center was once the Remmington production plant.  A place designed to spread destruction, is now designed to spread relief: from bullets to blankets!  The weapons here were turned into plow shears for certain. 

We went to Temple Square after our tour and viewed 

The Craftsman, a meet our members film.

I introduced the girls to our tradition.

We stopped in Provo on the way home to roller skate.

None of the girls had ever done that before.

Kiera and Macee                         Lily and JaLeigh

I learned to love these girls this year.  

I'll always consider them to be partially mine.

My Retirement

My official retirement date was January 1, 2019.  It was a great way to start the year.

Our children pooled their resources and bought 

us a trip to Hawaii to celebrate my retirement.

I was honored at Board Meeting on January 16th.

Kim gave a tribute. I got to say a few words, too. 

My bus driver friends came to support me.

I had great family support, too.

Memories from my years as a bus driver

I started driving school bus in August of 2000.  It was an accident.  When I applied at the District early that year, it was to be a sub-teacher, because of my teaching degree.   As I waited for the secretary to accept my application I felt a strong impression to put “/bus driver.”  I try not to argue with Heaven, but I admit I looked up and mentioned that I did not want to be a bus driver.  Again the impression came to include “/bus driver.  What choice did I have?  Little did I know that there would be an almost immediate need for a Levan driver with Roni Jo Larsen taking a job with UTA.    I was called within days and offered a bus driving position.   I trained that summer and became a route driver in the fall.

What a blessing this job has been. How could a job be better than getting paid to drive your kids to and from school, and to their school and athletic activities with a comp ticket in?  I have so many memories of being with our children as a driver. Over hearing some parents talking about a “little white girl from Juab” who was holding her own in the shot put at East High School was awesome. The image of Andrea running down the sidewalk waving as I pulled away from the old Nephi Elementary School each morning is forever etched in my mind. Luckily for me, I love kids.  There are some conversations and shared experiences with students that I will treasure forever.  I have made the “forever” kind of friends among the other drivers.  I have felt part of a team and always knew there were many who had my back in a pinch. 

I have visited places and met people I never dreamed I would.  I’ve been in the art studios of Greg Olsen, James Christensen, Al Rounds, Liz Lemon Swindle, and Katherine Peterson.  I attended the Olympics and experienced the Long jump up close and personal.  I also attended a Special Olympic Ice Hockey game.  There are few experiences more thrilling than being in the Tabernacle or Abravanel Hall during an All State or Honor’s Choir performance, or being with an athletic team enjoying victory in a tough play-off game or track event.  Choir trips have always been a favorite.  I was with them at a recording session at BYU and I can’t imagine a Christmas without a JHS choir performance at Temple Square.  I loved going with the Speech and Debate team when Mr. Swenson was the coach.  He asked me to judge a few simple competitions and that was insightful as I experienced the depth and wisdom of our youth.   I often visited a temple while waiting for a group. I will never forget one student asking, as I dropped them off for a competition at Bingham High School, “Are you going to the temple today?  We always do better while you’re in the temple.”  That’s when I was certain bus drivers can and do make a difference.

Bus drivers are allowed a “five mile radius” travel clause on activity runs. Because of that, I have been to at least a dozen temples and I can report that some have better bus parking than others. My kids will tease me forever because of the number of amazing deals I found “shopping in my school bus.”

Being in court to respond to a current student’s accusation that I was speeding uphill on the day he wouldn’t let the loaded bus back in the driving lane near the brink of a hill was a singular event.  All the while, Kim A. and RaDawna were laughing hysterically but silently in back, making that experience more amusing as time passes.  In retrospect, the day I chose to avoid a concrete retaining wall while popping an illegally parked car’s head light from its socket, gets funnier as well.  A bus behind me took off the side mirror.  The frantic driver returned just as an officer arrived to point out his error and high-light the learning curve for us all.

Bus driving comes with some scary experiences, too. .   I will ever be grateful to the coach who decided we should turn around at the Sun Dance turn-off the day an avalanche closed all but one lane in Provo Canyon and created a growing lake behind the blocked Provo River.   Most of the terrifying driving experiences were weather related or included unbelievably tight parking.  I will never travel to Carbon, Monroe, West Lake H.S., or Emery without remembering  snow packed icy roads;  ice packed high lights and the cave-like view through a snow packed windshield;  high cross winds that forced open the passenger door and required someone to hang on the roof air vents to keep them closed;  head lights approaching us on the wrong side of the freeway near Salina, blinding fog;  or the unbidden tears that formed as the silhouette of windmills in Spanish Fork Canyon appeared in the late night frozen haze.

Looking back, I can honestly say that the mountain of wonderful memories and experiences as a driver tip the scales decisively, when weighed against the dark, discouraging or dangerous ones.  Thanks to Juab School District for 18 plus years of driving! 

McKall's wedding 1/12/19

McKall and Saxon were married in the Payson Temple on January 12, 2019.  It was our first exposure to the new changes in the sealing ordinance announced on January 1st of this year.  I loved the changes and felt immediately how they will unify and strengthen men and women in their roles as husband and wife, mother and father.

It was a chilly day, but that didn't diminish the joy of the day.

This is Saxon's family minus the two 

brothers who were serving missions.

This is the whole Kenison clan.

McKall and Saxon with Gord and Kim 

and Tom and Jeralyn Sorenson,  grandparents.