Justifiable January

As tradition has it, Dale went ice fishing on New Years Day. However, he had to go with friends this year because the kids weren't around. He went with Dee Child and the Charlesworth boys, Wiatt and Kaden. They caught a couple and had some bites, but mostly had fun in the great outdoors. 

Garrett and Zandra went cross-country skiing New Years Day so they enjoyed the outdoors as well.

We had two birthdays this month---Lindsay and Amie. Happy Birthday gals! One year older, but one year wiser!

Danica started her job at Conservice, a utility bill management company. She's learning what it's like to be the new girl on the floor, but she'll get the hang of it and will definitely love the paychecks that come in.

She went skiing a couple of times on her days off to Beaver Mtn. and Sundance with friends. 

She's learning how to budget and balance her time. She's also playing on an indoor co-ed soccer team and so far the teams only lost one game. She's been able to score some goals and is loving being back in the game, even if it's on a smaller scale.

Dale had his annual USBA conference at Little America in Salt Lake and I tagged along. While he was in meetings I was pampering myself by reading, doing catch up in my journal, sleeping or visiting with the ladies. I've always enjoyed my Little America stays because it's so relaxing.

While we were in Salt Lake we went and test drove a couple of cars. Dale's been looking for an  AWD car for us for the past few months. He got on the internet and was checking out cars and found one for sale in Logan that had just been posted. So on our way home we stopped and checked it out and took it for a test drive. We ended up buying it two days later!

A 2012 Subaru Outback AWD. It's in great condition and has low miles. We found out that the previous owner leased it for 3 years and was a 92 year old guy! 

We ended up selling our 2006 Sonata in 12 hours and got what we wanted out of it! What a way to start the year off, huh?

I took on a new look and got my hair colored one solid color instead of doing highlights. It's now brown, with a hint of red in it. It took awhile to get used to at first, but I think I like it. I've had quite a few people not recognize me at first though, which is kind of funny. Call this my mid-life crisis month. I'm driving a Subaru and have brown hair!!

Dale and I went to Oakley, ID for a weekend visit. Then I went with Amie to Twin Falls, ID and helped her set up a booth for a Bridal Faire. She was promoting the Haight Home Bed & Breakfast that she manages. We sat at the booth and gave out business cards and information about the place. Hopefully our efforts pay off for the business.

Dale watched Jaxson and Kennlyn play in their basketball games. Both teams won and Jaxson got a basket for Grandma!  Then Dale took Matt and the kids rabbit hunting and played with them. It was a quick trip, but good. On the way home we stopped for gas in Burley, ID and paid $1.59 for gas at Smith's! . I had a .10 credit per gallon from my rewards card, but still $1.69 was lower than we've seen in Logan!

Earlier in the month, the Mallory's also took a family ski trip to the local ski resort, Pomerell, for a day. The kids are getting the hang of it and have no fear of the mountain.

Kennlyn is loving school and her class had a special visitor come. She was in the picture that went viral on the schools website. We have a celebrity among us.

After finishing up the DIBELS testing, the next day, I caught the Salt Lake Express Shuttle for the airport to head to Virginia to help Andrew and Lindsay move back to Cache Valley. 
I was grounded for an hour in Salt Lake because of a storm and then got delayed for a half hour in Denver because of weather as well, but I made it! It was a long day that started at 5:00am, but it was good to see Andrew, Lindsay and the kids.

It was Andrew's last day working for American Helicopters. They treated him well and he learned a lot. Good memories were made as well as friendships.

They had their apartment pretty much cleaned and the truck pretty much packed when I got there. A guy Andrew works with and lives in the apartment complex they live in helped him move their things and his wife tended Titan and Eloise so Lindsay could pack and clean. I just got the benefit of being Grandma and mostly played with the kids.

The next day we finished up the final cleaning and packing and ran some errands and then were off for Utah! 

We drove through some of the areas in Ohio where Andrew served his mission. It was fun to hear him share his memories. He even found the apartment building where he first stayed in Lorraine, OH. 

The kids were good travelers, it helped that we let them out to run when we'd stop for gas. We stopped for the night in Perrysburg, OH. We were all pretty tired and a soft bed did the trick. Titan was my sleeping buddy throughout the trip.

The next day was a long drive, but again stopping for gas and to eat helped break it up. The roads were pretty good, we ran into some rain and some light snow, but nothing too bad. As we drove past Council Bluffs, Iowa I thought of Danica and the memories she make while there.  We stayed in Lincoln, NE the second night. Stopping to get some sleep and letting the kids get the wiggles out sure helped. I loved cuddle time and reading books to them on my Kindle before bedtime.

Then homeward bound!! One thing we found interesting was the varying prices in gas. The lowest we paid was $1.67 in Ohio and the highest we paid was $2.45. I don't remember where we were for that one though, but it was closer to home.

We left Mannassass, VA on a Thurs. around 12:45 pm  and pulled into Hyde Park, UT Sat. night around 11:00 pm. (We did have a little unexpected stop in Bear Lake, but thanks to the kind patrol officer we got off the hook of having to pay any fees. Andrew was driving, not me) The kids were great travelers, I never heard a "Are we there yet?", but they were sure ready to get out of the car when we would stop. 
Andrew wanted to get home to see Garrett and Zandra before they moved to Salt Lake, so we pushed the pedal to the metal.

I only drove 7-8 hours in the whole trip. Andrew drove the rest. He's a die-hard Hansen. Titan is too, he very seldom fell asleep in the car. He was good company and I learned how to play Sonic and watched some fun movies. He learned how to play Solitaire (kind of) and watched a lot of movies. He and Eloise are also good singers.

It's good to have them back in the Valley! We helped them move into their new home in Smithfield, UT once their truck came. (They stayed with us five days) Lindsay already has it looking like home, with pictures on the walls. She's been so excited to have their own place. The kids love having their own room and the playroom under the stairs. 

It will be good having them close. I love hearing Elosie call me Grandma Debbie and Titan's hugs and I love yous.

Garrett and Zandra went and saw an ice castle in Midway,UT and ran into a cousin, Parker Lazenby! That made the trip even more worth it.

While I was in VA, Dale helped Garrett and Zandra get the majority of their things moved into a storage shed and get their apartment cleaned. They also loaded up the Tahoe and their car with the things they were taking with them.

I got home from VA, on Sat. night and Sunday night Dale and I followed Garrett and Zandra in the Tahoe and helped move them into their new home. They're renting the basement of a kind lady for 3 months while Garrett does his training. He got the hook-up from his past employer, and come to find out, she's the sister of a guy in our ward! Garrett had been commuting to Salt Lake for two weeks, so moving there is wonderful. 
Zandra got a job transfer with Olive Garden and will be working at the Murray Olive Garden. They lucked out, because the house they're living in in just 2 miles from Garrett's work at Academy Mortgage and Zandra's commute is only 10 min. 

Then they found out that Elder Boyd K. Packer of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is in their new ward!! Can't wait to hear if they ever get to meet him.

We've talked or texted with Nate and Kim. They know how to stay busy. Nate had a bit of a scare one night when he was running. He was on a wooded trail and had his headlamp on and had an owl swoop down at him multiple times. That helped his run go a bit faster! Luckily no one was hurt; Nate from the owl and the owl from Nate's flying arms. I'm sure he'll be back on the trail challenging the owl again soon.

Having Andrew, Lindsay and the kids here brought Garrett and Zandra back for another weekend.
All of the guys went ice fishing (Titan even went) and the gals has some fun hanging out.

The Super Bowl was another big draw that putlled them back as well. We were all cheering for the Seahawks, but they lost it in the last play... hmmm, I wonder if that offensive coordinator and head coach are having nightmares?

It's been a fast and furious month, but I wouldn't of changed it. Maybe that's why I called it Justifiable January.