Day family newsletter - February 2012

Feb. 29, 2012

NEWS FROM THE DAYS FOR FEBRUARY 2012

We spent a weekend in Wendover just to get away at the first of the month, and stopped by Stephanie’s condo on the way home for a Super Bowl party. Both were good times.

I got the gumboo (basically a good chest cold) towards the second week that lasted for the next three weeks. After missing several days of work, I finally went to the doc and got a Z pack (antibiotic), slept with Vicks vapor rub on the bottoms of my feet with socks on, and drank herbal tea. One of the three cured me.

We had Steph’s kids over on the weekend twice in February, and enjoyed doing stuff with them. Saw Puss and Boots one weekend, got their haircut and nails done another. Katie and Bills Sofie turned one yr. old, and threw a nice birthday party. She is walking now and is a real cute! Stephanie’s Sarah celebrated her 6th birthday at McDonalds as well this month.

Debbie got t-boned by a drunk driver last week on the way home from work. She got two staples in her head, but otherwise was OK. Her car was totaled – the other driver had insurance, thank goodness.

We went to see Emma (Jane Austin play) at the U of U with Wiggins and Jackie one night. A great play – slow first act, but WOW – a great 2nd act and finish.

Linda and I took the long weekend over President’s Day and went to our St. George condo. We really enjoyed getting away again, even though it was short, and basically relaxed. A little cool, but OK. I finished readying A Tale of Two Cities (a hard read for me), then read right thru The Count of Monte Cristo in one week – a much better book I thought. Linda’s been reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Help. While in St. George we saw two good movies, The Descendents and The War Horse. We also rented another pretty good Woody Allen movie, Midnight in Paris.

Our legislators are in the middle of another interesting session –they want to secede from America, privatize most government activities, adapt several Amish traditions and customs, go back to prohibition, raise chickens and goats, convert Santorum to the gospel, and elect Mitt Romney for president.

Hardly any snow this year – only twice have I had the snow blower out, not because I really needed to, but spent money having it tuned up last fall after the hard winter last year. We’ve had no more than 3 or 4 inches a couple of times all year.

Kind of a slow news month, but it felt good. Love, Tom & Linda

Day family newsletter - January 2012

Feb. 1, 2012
DAY NEWSLETTER FOR JANUARY 2012
We had Katie and Bill’s little ones over for a sleepover while mom and dad took a day off for R & R. Jack is just shy of three, and Sofie is 10 months. Sure enough, Sofie awoke at midnight, and we couldn’t get her settled down for over an hour. Probably the strange environment and lack of mommy nursing to calm her down. With all the skills of a parent raising 4 daughters, I tried every trick in the book to get her to stop crying, as did Linda. Sofie is quite a character, even at 10 months. When I tried to smooth talk her, she gave me a look as she clung to Linda, and the look said “Don’t EVEN think about picking me up”. When I tried again, she said “Did you HEAR what I said?” And after another attempt, “Really? You don’t understand English?” Finally, Linda decided it may be a teething problem, and we went searching for gum numbing medicine. I did find some children’s Ibuprofen, but with no dispenser. So, I dipped my little finger into the liquid bottle, and put my finger in Sofie’s mouth several times. She reacted like you would expect sucking on a lemon might affect you, but after a few minutes, quit crying, and was willing to play peek a boo. She was finally content to lie in the crib again, but whimpered off and on for another 10 or 15 minutes before falling asleep until 9 AM the next morning. When she awoke, she was a little angle once again. She charms everyone to death, including Jack, eats like it’s going out of style, and is “this close” to walking. She has also got music in her bones, as demonstrated when she danced when music was played on our stereo. Jack surprised me before bedtime when he “stood” peeing in the big toilet. I’m not used to this with all the girls in my life.

Linda and I are buying another two weeks in the family condo by trading our 1/12th share for Linda’s stepsister’s 1/8th share. With the depressed real estate market, the additional cost is fairly reasonable. And we just mailed off a deposit to go on a guided New York City tour in August for 5 days. We can’t wait, and will see three Broadway plays while there. Enjoyed lunch with Deon while she was here.

We’re back on the every other weekend agreement with Stephanie to watch her kids Friday afternoon thru Sunday afternoon. Steph is on her last semester, and will get her associates degree at SLCC in May. Katie & Bill had us over for dinner one night and we talked politics – so much going on with the presidential primaries (thoughts of Palin last summer, but Romney in the lead, hopes for The Donald dashed, then Bauchman takes the lead, followed by Perry in August, then hope that Richie of New Jersey could tip the scales, back to Romney, but here comes Herman Cain in November, followed by The Newt, only to overtaken by Santorum, perhaps Paul next, but quickly back to Romney, back to The Newt once again, and Romney again? The musical chairs will stop come June, when only one chair remains).

Linda and I took Steph’s kids one weekend to see Dinosaur Land at Thanksgiving Point – very entertaining and interesting. That same weekend, Jessica (Steph’s 9 yr. old) taught me how to paste a photo into my emails. She said her teacher taught her how to do it. The entire Day family met for Jackie’s birthday at a Chinese place (P F Changs) downtown. Very, very good food and company! Linda gave me a trophy like plaque on Jan. 5th that says “Tom Day - 2002 to 2012 - Smoke Free - Congratulations”. We went to a play at the U of U called Find and Sign – a fairly new play that was pretty good. Just before the play started, I noticed a name plaque on my arm rest that said “Joseph D. Smith” 1869, farmer, bishop, helped built Cove Fort”. Got my religion this month.

I spent a Saturday getting Danny’s lease signed for another year, doing some errands and shopping with him, and driving to Salt Lake to see Julie Bertosh at a rehab center. She had quit taking her medications and stopped eating, so a trip to the ER ended up with her being assigned to a rehab center to try and get her back to a normal routine. Shelley met us for lunch prior to visiting Julie, after which we all visited with Julie while she did her physical therapy.

Finally, the gall bladder operation that Danny had on Jan. 25th. Thanks to everyone, Danny was looked after, well cared for, and is on his way to a full recovery. We’ll have to do this again in the near future when he has his hernia done, but the experience gained this last week will make the arrangements even easier.

Linda and I just sent a travel agency a deposit to go on a guided tour to New York in August – and see several plays while there. We had one night free, so I just reserved tickets to one play we weren’t scheduled to see called Book of Mormon – The Musical. I’ll be sure to give you a report in about seven months about the trip and plays. Can’t wait!

And that’s the news from the Days………………………………Love, Tom & Linda

Day family newsletter - December 2011

Dec. 31, 2011

NEWS FROM THE DAYS:

TOP TEN NEWS ITEMS FROM THE DAYS 2011

1. Sofie Boyd is born February 13, 2011. Big brother – Jack. Mom & Dad – Katie and Bill.
2. Debbie leaves American Express and starts new employment with Zion’s Bank.
3. Stephanie goes back to school at SLCC to get her degree.
4. Janssen reunion hosted by Shelley & Tom on September 10, 2011.
5. Blair, Wiggin’s (Jackie) daughter gets married on May 8, 2011.
6. Perhaps 1/4th of the Day household items disposed of in a garage sale- August 2011.
7. Utah defeats BYU in football - 52 to 10, September 17, 2011.
8. Tom & Linda meet famous Mormons from the 1800’s during St. George historic tour.
9. Linda fights off pneumonia and puts off knee surgery until after retirement in 2013.
10. Pumpkin the Cat, new male dominant member in our household, conquers and takes charge of Day household in his first full year of residence.

December News:

Attended Rhoda Wiscomb’s funeral – visited with numerous old ward members. A good friend, Curt Grinaker, died of pancreatic cancer after a yearlong battle.

We celebrated Debbie’s birthday at The Pie. Stephanie got us tickets to see the Christmas program at the LDS Conference Center – a very good program! Linda and I saw Annie at the Pioneer Theatre – wonderful musical. Danny had a great trip to the Farnes in Lehi, Utah for Christmas.

Christmas was wonderful. Stephanie came up the Sunday prior - she and Linda baked cookies of all kinds, made caramel popcorn and pretzel treats dipped in dark and white chocolate. I prepared Chex mix as well. Santa came, and Linda fixed her usual great turkey and ham buffet for the kids when they joined us Christmas afternoon for dinner and gift exchange. New Years celebrated at dinner with friends. We are grateful for our health and good fortune to live in a time when we have all the luxuries one could ask for.

Love, Tom & Linda

Day family newsletter - November 2011

Dec. 1, 2011

NEWS FROM THE DAYS:

It’s that time of the year again. Winter coming. Leaf raking, garden clean up, mowing the grass for the last time. Changing the clocks back one hour. Hate to see it this year as the summer got such a late start. And now Thanksgiving has come and gone.

Debbie hosted the Thanksgiving dinner this year – a group of 24! But everybody chipped in to help and it turned out great as usual. Debbie invited a guy from her work at Zion’s Bank, and he brought a few Florida dishes (his native state) which was a nice addition to our usual menu. And he brought some oranges as big as grapefruits he had shipped in from Florida. And Debbie invited another guy here on a work visa at American Express from India. It was interesting talking to him and finding his politics in India mirror our State vs. Federal power debates here in Utah’s legislature.

Linda and the girls who weren’t working went shopping on black Friday at 5 AM, a tradition for our family. I took Friday off from work and watched four of the grandchildren. In fact, they all stayed over Thanksgiving night so they would already be here and not have to get up so early.

I’ve kept busy reading the past couple of month – finished Oliver Twist, then read a memoir of Arthur Ashe, the great tennis player. Then I read a couple of great books called Killing Lincoln and The Poisonwood Bible. These last two I really enjoyed as the Lincoln book involved history, and the other, although fiction, traced African history over about 30 years starting in 1960. History is becoming my favorite reading subject it seems. Oh, and I also read The Last of the Mohicans.

Stephanie’s work took her to St. George for a couple of days, and she was able to use our condo while there. Steph had a great little birthday party for Jessica who turned nine this past month. She organized a fashion show, and invited me to emcee the event. Jessica and her friends are little diva’s, let me tell you! It was a lot of fun as the adults sat in a row applauding the fashion contestants as they walked down the aisle, changed into new outfits, and did it over and over again. It was an absolute riot!

While all together for Thanksgiving, we celebrated Bill’s birthday as well as Taylor’s 4th (Taylor is Steph’s youngest). And speaking of the younger grandkids, Bill and Katie’s little Sofie is 9 months old already, and ready to walk. She is sooo alert and cute. And her big brother Jack charms the pants off everybody. Kaylee ended up spending two days here over Thanksgiving giving Debbie time to work and get some shopping done. Debbie is enjoying her new position at Zion’s Bank.

Linda and I had a nice dinner at our favorite restaurant to celebrate my 66th birthday, and we all went to a buffet restaurant for Jessica’s 9th birthday. We were invited for dinner at Cole and Jessica’s recently. It was great to see them as well as be able to play with our great granddaughter, Emry. She will be 3 in April, and is a fireball. Never stops! And so cute and smart! Cole and Jessica did a great job landscaping their yard this past summer. Jackie & Wiggins came over one night to bake cupcakes for Thanksgiving & fix us dinner. What a treat! They look forward to buying a house soon &moving out of the motor home.

And that’s the news from the Days for November, 2011. Love, Tom & Linda

Day Family newsletter Oct. 2011

Oct. 30, 2011
NEWS FROM THE DAYS:

Chest colds have ruled the month of October….first me, then Steph, and finally Linda. I’m over it, Steph’s getting better, but Linda, after going to the Dr. and getting meds, and 2 weeks later getting more meds, one week later went in to the doctor again and found she had pneumonia in one lung. More meds, a lot of bed rest, and hopefully recovery soon.

Despite the illnesses, we were treated to another great performance of Thriller by Odyssey Dance at Kingsbury Hall. We had been the last two years, and weren’t going to go, but Jessica (Steph’s 8 yr. old) begged to take her again. What could we do? Linda and I joined the girls and grandkids one Saturday at This is the Place Park where they had a special Halloween theme – it was really nice. I convinced the conductor of the train that transports you around from spot to spot that my girls were my wives – this after passing Brigham’s winter home where he kept several of his wives. Another night, Stephanie and I went on a daddy/daughter date to a play at the U. Pioneer Theatre – The Tempest. It was absolutely magical!

Our garden produced 5 pumpkins this year, and Steph came over one night with the girls and they carved them all up for us. This happened to be on one of the weekends where we have been watching Steph’s kids while she concentrates on her school classes, but we had a wedding reception, and she took a break to watch the kids while we went to the wedding. Bruce Baird’s daughter Marcie was getting married.

We all getting together at Debbie’s house out in Herriman for Halloween this year. And while doing that, we’ll celebrate two birthdays as well. Jessica turns the big 9, and I turn sixty something. The kids always enjoy Debbie’s street where they do Halloween up big!

Jackie and Wiggins have kept busy helping out with Wiggin’s mom who underwent brain surgery for her brain cancer – she’s doing better than expected.

Debbie brought Kaylee over one Saturday night while she went out, and Kaylee enjoyed staying at Grandma and Grandpa’s house overnight. The next morning, Debbie took Kaylee as well as Steph’s kids to Wheeler Farm and got their faces all painted – check it out on facebook.

Linda and I went to a dinner/play called Witcharama (or something like that) at Gardner Village. It was a group of 5 with a band that sang, danced and put on a witch themed comedy skit throughout and after the dinner that was just top notch and very entertaining. We met up with a couple from my work and enjoyed the Halloween themed evening.

And now, a question….is there life after death?.........or death after life?

I look forward to see who will be the Republican front runner for president for the month of November. And December. I think there are still enough candidates announced to date to take their turns each month.

Here in Utah, our legislators did their 10 year redistricting after the census and made sure each of our 4 congressional districts were made up of at least 62% republicans so that the one lone wolf (or democrat) would be replaced by a republican for sure. And our gun toting state legislator, Carl Whimmer, has already been declared the nominee and winner of our newest 4th district. I’m sure Washington D.C. will love it when he brings his colt 45 holstered to his waist during national legislative sessions. No, not for Halloween, as I’m sure you were thinking…..this is the real west we’re talking about. Yahoo! Gideup, ride um, shoot um, show um who’s headin up this posse.

And that’s the news from the Wild West out here in Zion. Yesiree.

Love, Tom & Linda (although she doesn’t’ take credit)

Day Family newsletter - Sept. 2011

October 1, 2011

NEWS FROM THE DAYS:

I know the paragraph below was sent out earlier, but I felt it needed to be preserved in the annals of the family newsletter.

An eventful month and one where a word of caution ought to be noted. Let’s say a heated rivalry game is played between two competing schools, and instead of a typical close outcome, there is a, well, should we say, an absolute slaughter of one team by the other. Should the winning team boast of their superiority? Or of their outright domination of the inferior team? Or make jokes, or laugh at the downtrodden? A word of caution, as the winning team’s fans need to be humble, and comfort their suffering neighbors down south, or wherever they may live. And tell them that it would have been a close game except for a few turnovers. And that the game could have easily turned the other direction when BYU led midway through the 2nd quarter. And that this temporary setback will motivate and propel the team to a successful season, even though they lost the most important game of the season. So what? Life isn’t about football and winning, is it? So the winning side needs to say, “Good game – we were lucky to win this one. We just happened to catch you on an off day… OK, a way, way, way off day.” And life goes on, at least for the Utes.

And, now that BYU has won two games since, I guess this proves there is life after death…… after all.

Birthdays celebrated during the month included Wiggins, Stephanie and Kaylee. For Stephanie’s birthday, most of us were able to dine at The Training Table and have cake and ice cream. For Kaylee’s 6th birthday, most of us were able to join her at Boondocks, a fun center in the Draper area where they have eats, go carts and games of all types. We also had a nice get-together at our home while Christopher was home for a week off from army duty in North Carolina. Cole, Jessica and Emry joined us that night, and it is amazing to see how much Emry looks like her mom. She is really growing up!

Linda and I attended a play at the U of U Pioneer Theatre – saw Next to Normal, an excellent musical. We also saw a couple of movies, How Does She Do It, and one with the kids, a Smurf movie.

Stephanie decided to go back to school to try and finish her degree online, and found she couldn’t get her Univ. of Phoenix degree as she waited too long to start it up again, but is taking two semesters at SLCC to get an Associate’s Degree. Linda and I agreed to watch her kids Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon every other weekend to help give Steph the time necessary to study and successfully complete this project. So we have kids over a lot more than normal. One night, Kaylee also joined us for a sleepover the same weekend we had Steph’s kids. And on another weekend, we had Jack and Sofie for an evening (not a sleepover) while Steph’s kids were here. We’ve reverted back to when we raised our girls, and take the grandkids for a 7-11 visit while here, and down to the elementary school playground to ride bikes or play on the playground equipment. Linda gives them all baths, and we split up the kids so each one sleeps with one of us, except Jessica, of course, as she is more grown up and has her own bedroom downstairs which she loves!

Shelley and I hosted the Janssen cousin reunion on Sept. 10th at the Olive Garden, and were quite surprised with all the positive comments and praise. Thanks again for everyone chipping some $$, Deon for her superb invitations (hard copy as well as evites), and Shelley for all her preparations and work.

Debbie, after getting news about being laid off at American Express, landed a great job in the same area with Zions Bank. She started there this past week. Jackie and Wiggins received disheartening news this past week about Wiggin’s mom. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor and given one month to live. Wiggin’s father likewise was diagnosed with terminal cancer in just the past year and died. Wiggin’s family is from the Blanding area, and they are down there this week making family plans.

On a brighter note, it was a nice surprise to get a check in the mail from the sale of D & A’s condo. I took Danny’s check down to him to put into his Wells Fargo account, and will withhold sending him his normal monthly allotment for living expenses until he depletes his inheritance. I’ll put the money I normally send him in savings to earn some interest during this time. In the event I hadn’t mentioned it earlier, Deon is having Danny to their home for Thanksgiving, and Derek Farnes has invited Danny to their home for Christmas this year.

Linda and I are looking forward to retiring in April, 2013, if we can last that long. Only 1½ yrs. left!

And that’s the news from the Days. Love,

Tom & Linda

DAY FAMILY NEWSLETTER - AUGUST 2011

NEWS FROM THE DAYS:
Linda, Steph and Katie had a garage sale from our front yard early in the month, and we got rid of most things as we priced everything low. What was left I took to the DI, and we now have much more room in our home. We even got rid of our old hi-fi stereo with turn table and 8 track tape! It helped pay for the new front sidewalk we had installed to replace about 50 ft. of crumbling sidewalk. The city chipped in for 50% of the cost.

I attended Mr. Wilkes funeral and viewing earlier in the month. It was good to see Brent and Karin, who we keep in touch with, as well as Julie and Hans. And to hear stories about their dad and the old neighborhood. We also attended Jenna and Eric’s wedding reception (Kirk and Carolyn’s daughter) and got to see and visit with everyone.

Linda and I went to see Josh Groben in concert. A great show! Later in the month, we took off for vacation in St. George and loved every minute. We decided to join a bus tour of historic sites one day and ended up meeting Lorenzo Snow, Jacob Hamblin (he was sent to work with the Indians), Orson Pratt, one of the early women pioneers, and Brigham Young. Instead of the lady who conducted the tour explaining everything at each stop, the key character would come out, introduce themselves, and tell about their history and what they had done for the area. We then drove to Enterprise (not from Star Wars) and attended a corn festival – old car show, arts and crafts, food and of course, corn. We also stopped on the way to visit the Meadow Mountain Massacre site. We got spoiled with two free days at the Casablanca (a Mesquite casino similar to nice Vegas casinos). And we discovered a neat little store in St. George called Judd’s, and bought some “old” candy (like the little wax bottles – about 2 inches high where you bite the top off and drink the punch inside), candy cigarettes, an original Dr. Pepper bottle with the 10 – 2 – 4 as part of the label, and a package of Neccos (the round thin flavored candy about the size of a quarter). Anyway, memory lane.

We left St. George and saw two plays in Cedar City at the Shakespeare event, Music Man and The Glass Menagerie. Both excellent, especially The Music Man. We left there and drove the back roads up the Nevada/Utah border to Wendover, Utah. There we caught Engelbert Humperdinck in concert, and celebrated our 44th anniversary. He put on one heck of a show in their new concert hall. On the way to Wendover, I told Linda we didn’t have to fill up at Ely, Nevada – it wasn’t necessary. About 25 miles out in the desert from Wendover, the gas light went on. But luck prevailed, and we made it without running out of gas. Can you imagine the headline in the newspaper? A local elderly couple perished in the hot desert terrain trying to hike into Wendover, Nevada, probably to waste away their just received social security checks. They had apparently run out of gas, and died tragically with outstretched arms no doubt trying to reach the slot machine arms awaiting them in town.

And that’s the news from Salt Lake, St. George, Mesquite, Cedar City, Ely and Wendover. Love,
Tom & Linda