Happy Second New Year!

After a hectic start to 2008, Jeremy and I decided to start the new year over today. We took an unexpected trip to Utah on January 1 to attend my grandpa Welton's funeral. He was truly the best of men, and his funeral was beautiful. I loved being able to spend time with family and to reminisce and reflect on my life. Going to his funeral literally inspired Jeremy and me to be better people, and I'm grateful to my grandpa for a life well lived.

(I should just say here that I am sorry that we didn't tell any of our wonderful Utah friends we were in town. With everything going on with family events and the funeral, our short trip was just packed. I am sorry, though, and we promise to have more time on our next Utah trip.)

We returned home yesterday on a 6:00 a.m. flight from Salt Lake. Clara, mercifully, slept almost the entire leg of the first flight, although that made her quite squirmy in between Atlanta and Syracuse. The best (and weirdest) news about being home is that it was 70 degrees in Syracuse! We had five feet of snow in December, and now it's sunny and 70. How weird is that? (I'm sure we're in for it now and will soon be punished for being able to enjoy such pleasant weather.) The bad news about returning home was that through a series of unfortunate events our car battery was dead. Luckily, Jeremy and a friend got it jump started this morning, and now Jeremy is enjoying what is no doubt a spectacularly beautiful drive through the hills south of Syracuse.

So yes, our year got off to an unexpected start, but we're now excited to re-start our "normal" new year and dig our heels in for a great aught-eight! So far my only resolution is to have my teeth cleaned sometime this year. I am really shooting for the stars.

Happy New Year!

A couple of pictures: Here's our family near my grandpa's burial site. The next picture is of us at Sam's grave. My grandparents' plot is just a short walk from where Sam is buried at the Provo City Cemetery. I appreciated having our whole family together for the first time since Clara was born.