Hello, World!
This makes me think of the first program every computer science student learns:
main() {
printf ("Hello,World!\n");
}
It has been many moons since our last post - maybe 13 or so. And we owe you all pictures, more pictures! But I can't right now as I don't have access to them. But I have been thinking about our blog.
The last year has been busy, and fun, and hard. I suppose that would be like a normal life. We've had some vacations, fun, times with family, sickness, health, lots of work, and wish we had more time to tell you about it.
We're contemplating some retroactive entries (backdated) that will fill in some of the gaps, but we'll see. If we do, it will look like it hasn't been so many moons, but we want to backdate so the blog flows better.
Some of the big things going on:
1) Joanna still works at the library and temple. She has been so blessed there, and she loves working in the Lord's house and helping people there. She also works at the library still once a week, dutifully shelving books!
2) I (Daniel) am still working at the same place. There have been changes, as I predicted. Some good, most not so good, but fortunately while the companies want to play with benefits and time off and policies, my day to day work life stays the same, busy and interesting.
3) We got sick. We got some exotic virus at the end of September that
put us out cold for a month. Then lingered for another six! Our
doctors said it was an adenovirus. A particularly nasty strain. We're
feeling better again, but during that time we had to sort of check out
from everything but the basics. It really helped me feel grateful for
everything I have, including my health! We got it from a poor little 4 month old baby placed in foster care - we only had him with us for two days. He was a darling little thing but he was so sick. We worried about him for months as we suffered from the same illness. But we found out recently that he is okay and doing fine! That was good news.
4) Still working on that basement. We're almost ready for our 4-way inspection but our theater room is still in the planning stages and I haven't wired it yet. But the rest of the basement is pretty much ready for sheetrock! I had to take a hiatus for a while to catch up with work and to focus on yard projects while the summer was with us.
5) Speaking of the yard, we also have yard projects. We have plenty of things for our yard and home planned out to keep us busy for years. Joanna loves the gardening, and the flowers. This year, we cut a bunch of grass from the front yard and put it in the side yard, planted some bushes, and prepared to put in some curbing and flower beds in the front yard, which we'll finish next spring and summer. We're looking forward to it!
6) We took a family trip to California at the beginning of the year. My parents and brother joined us. We were up and down the Southern coast for 8 days. It was relaxing. It would have been more so if I hadn't been sick...
7) So many little things. We went to three home shows this year. So we can't afford them? That's half the fun in wandering through them. We took a trip north to visit Joanna's aunt and uncle in Idaho. We've had a good number of family outings. We visited the new Museum of Natural History in U of U's research park. We've tried a number of new restaurants, enjoyed the outdoors (when the smoke wasn't chokingly thick) and have generally kept busy with fun, projects, work, family, and service. The simple joys of life are in the day to day.
I'll look to see if we can do a few retroactive blog entries with some nice pictures. They're worth a thousand words, you know, and my hands hands can get mighty tired of typing... and your eyes might get tired of reading too!
I won't forget how truly filling afternoon tea was and what fun we had with mom and dad at Sunday brunch. It was a nice way to get away from everyday life while enjoy beautiful places and excellent food. Somehow it always works out that leaving home makes me excited to be back!