After Church this morning Nina decided she wanted to go for a walk. I was game for another “stroll” along the greenway. It was a very nice walk with lots of children out on their bikes, inline skates, skateboards, and kick scooters. Of course, it was a very pleasant day. Cloudy days here must be a rarity! There was a slight breeze that, when we started, felt a bit chilly but when we were ending felt quite nice.

Church today was a different Ward than last week. We attended a very nice testimony meeting, including a testimony from a woman visiting from Italy. A few years ago she was approached by some missionaries for pointers on how to teach English as a second language. Since that was her occupation, she was willing “as long as they didn’t try to convert her.” A couple of years later she was baptized. Another highlight was after meeting, a fellow came up to me and said, “Roland Smith?” I looked up and it was a fellow that worked for me for several years when I was at AMI Semiconductor. After that company was sold (and I lost my job), he moved to the new company’s headquarters in Phoenix and took a position there. It was good to see him. He’s definitely one of the Really Good Guys.

Memorable from last night:

Jackson has been very hesitant about holding his new baby sister. Even that was an understatement! Finally last evening, on Madeline’s one week birth anniversary, he consented to holding her. About an hour later he was finally convinced to give her up so she could be changed and fed. I think he’s found a new soulmate!

Tomorrow afternoon I’ll fly back to Idaho Falls and drive home to Pocatello. The weather here in Chandler, Arizona is 64º, 32% humidity, and no wind. In Pocatello right now it is 30º, 35% humidity, and 20 mph winds with a forecast low of 10º. Here is better. One benefit of being here is nice weather for walking. Nina and I took advantage of that this afternoon.

My plan was to walk a mile and a half. Past walks had shown the right route to take to make a nice walk of that distance. Nina wasn’t so sure she could walk very far. Her foot and her back are bothering her. We got started, and as we reached my planned turning-around-point, the RunKeeper app said we had gone 0.9 miles. Nina’s competitive nature kicked in and she wanted to do something to make it an even mile at that distance so she could get two miles in (we continued on my plan). When we got back to where I was planning to walk back to the house, Nina kept on going so she could get her full 2 miles in. Good for her. I got my planned walk, she got more than she planned. Outdoor walking will go away for me for a couple of months except for those rare occasions when the weather is nice enough for me to walk between buildings at work.

Another activity today was to take grandson Austin to gymnastics. I did a short video:

The total time at the gymnastics center was an hour and a half. The place was BUSY (as the video suggests). That by itself was fine … however there were some very over-the-top parents there for whom gymnastics are not intended to be fun. I was glad to be done with the place.

Grandson Colten spent the day today at Comicon dressed as one of his favorite anime characters. He had a great time. He said he’d like to change something about the wig because it was so itchy and he had to take it off later in the day.

He’s a freshman in high school … and has to do a science fair project. The idea / plan for the project is due this coming week. High School science fairs are kind of brutal. Not only do you have do something that demonstrates the use of the scientific method, but you get graded on it as well. I’m interested in what he eventually decides to do. He loves math … and genuinely dislikes his geometry class (it’s boring). I can sympathize with that feeling. On the other hand, he’s looking forward to calculus … maybe next year?

On New Years Eve Nina and I drove up to Mesa to see their Christmas light show. It was very nicely done. Of course, the weather here is delightful and the walk around the display was very pleasant. There were a lot of people there, many just walking around and enjoying the ambiance.

There are two reflecting pools. One is a large pool between the visitors center and the Temple and the other smaller up closer to the temple. The Christmas Creche was set in the smaller of the two pools. As we were coming up to the this part of the display, a young girl (about 4 years old) was walking backwards up the ramp towards the pool. “Be careful, sweety!” her dad admonished here. “You have to watch out for people.” Turns out that wasn’t the real concern. As she walked backwards, she came to the ledge around the pool, and tumbled backwards into the pool. Her mother ran up and pulled her out of the water, absolutely drenched. While the weather was OK (no wind and about 50º), she was definitely cold. That ended their evening at the Temple!

Spent the afternoon crashed in bed. Came down with the chills, was so cold, and sprouted a fever. Feeling better now, but that came on like gangbusters. I probably have exceeded my sleep quota for the day and will be up much of the night. Not good.

Nina and I took advantage of some great Allegiant Air fares and flew down to Mesa, Arizona over Christmas. Number 3 daughter Jaelene was due to deliver a daughter in early January. But, since she has consistently delivered early, we were sure we’d be there for the birth. As luck would have it, that’s what happened and Madeline Elizabeth Kimes was born shortly after midnight on December 28th. Although a “lottery” was posted on the fridge, no one picked the 28th. Since it was an unfunded lottery, no one lost anything, either.

As a safety factor, Nina’s return was set for a few days later than mine (I go back to work on the 6th) along with the right to change her flight at no additional cost. Allegiant Air flies to Idaho Falls from Mesa on Sunday and Thursday evenings. It’s a pretty good service, but you get exactly what you pay for. Want a reserved seat? That’s extra. Want to check a bag? More $$. Want a carry on? Same thing. Checked bag weighs more than 40 pounds? Open your wallet. I rather like it. We’ll do this again.

Meanwhile, grandmother Nina is reveling in a brand-new baby. I’m very much enjoying “no snow”!!! (And a new grand daughter). Life is good!

Tour reservations opened on Monday, December 30th and the public open house begins in mid-January (as I remember). We stopped by this afternoon to take a couple of pictures. The building is on a busy intersection with not much around for the time being. I had no sooner stopped than a police car pulled in behind and asked us to move along as the traffic is too dangerous. So, away we went.

I’m a bit sore today. The text from FitBit kind of summed it up: “You overachiever! You exceeded your goal by 2,667 steps!”

That wasn’t the plan. Nina wanted to visit with her friend Kathy who lives about a mile south of where we’re staying. So, I walked there with her and back by myself. Later in the afternoon she suggested that we walk over to Albertson’s as she wanted some apples. That turned out to be more than a two-mile walk round trip. Total for the day: 5.92 miles, 13,104 step, 6 floors (it seems like I’m forever going up and down the stairs!).

Then, on the way back from Albertson’s, Nina decided to jazz up the trip a little bit:

Life is good down here.