Friday, January 23, 2009

We Found Him

We have found Thomas Jefferson Bates's father. His name is Zachariah Bates. He was born in 1781 in Virginia. Bill was the one who found him. Bill sent his DNA in and it matched with other DNA from this Bates line. He also found him on a census matching the ages of the sons that we knew about. This is a very exciting find and one we have wanted for many years. Bill has submitted some of the names for Temple Work. If any of you are interested in helping do this work contact Bill. I think he will do it sometime in March. This is a very wonderful opportunity so take advantage of it and do the work for our direct line ancestors.

Obama's Agenda

If you are interested in knowing what our new president has on his mind visit this website,
www.whitehouse.gov. It will surprise you what he has in mind for the future of this country.
He has already put into effect supporting international abortion clinics with our tax dollars.

Saturday, January 3, 2009

It All Begins.......

November 20th arrived before I knew it. I found myself aboard a Southwest Flight going to Utah. What a hassel. Going through security is quite the thing. I didn't know my computer had to be out of it's bag to go through security by itself. I held up the line getting it out of the bag and then I forgot to take my shoes off , so that took a few more seconds. I survived the experience and I was relieved when Rachel, Coy, and Daxton found me at the baggage claim.

The next day was the big event of TWILIGHT. How much I had looked forward to that. We met Kelley and her family at Appleby's for lunch. Our group included Rachel, Makette, Makalie, Jamie, Makette's Sister-in-Law and her two girls. The movie was fantastic. I enjoyed it very much and I look forward to the next movie.

Thanksgiving was our next big event. We had Thanksgiving at Rachel's house. I bought us our Thanksgiving dinner and cooked the Turkey. Danny and Tanya and their family joined us for the big feast. Matt and Jamie dropped by later that day and we played some games. It was a fun day. Rachel made homemade pies for the dinner and they turned out really good. I especially liked the cocanut cream pie.

The next day everyone got together to go shopping. I babysat all the kids with the help of Joshua and Megan, and Beverlie. I don't think I would have survived the day without them.
Everyone had a great time shopping. I think this will be a family tradition every year.

The next thing I did was to take Matt and Jamie shopping for their Christmas present. I bought everyone food storage this year. I hope that was ok with everyone. I got Rachel a water barrel for her food storage. I spent a couple of days with Matt and Jamie. I really enjoyed myself. They even let me listen to Coast to Coast.

The next thing I did was go to Price and spend some time with Makette and Danny. I stayed at Makette's. I had lots of fun with the kids. Thanks for all the checker's we played and thanks for watching movies with me. Thanks Makette for letting me stay. I babysat for Danny on
Friday morning, while Tanya went to a meeting. Ryan was a little afraid of me so he went with his mom. Trevor slept the whole time, so it was easy for me to babysit.

I spent Friday Night with grandma and Carol. I had a nice visit with mom and enjoyed watching the home video. The next day was our Christmas Dinner with mom and her kids. Bill and
Steven didn't make it because of the weather. We missed them. We went to the Red Lobster and had some very good meals. It was nice and enjoyable to have each others company and not have a big mess to clean up. I hope we will keep this tradition up. It's Bills turn for the family parties next year.

My next activity was to go to the THIS IS THE PLACE, Heritage Park. It was so cold but so enjoyable. They had a lot of neat things there. I especially enjoyed the live Nativity.
Daxton seemed to like the puppet show the best. Marshall and Coy really liked the train. When the train dropped us off to see Santa, Coy ran after it yelling for it to come back. It was so funny.
Madison wouldn't keep her mittens on so I think her hands got a little cold. We had warm apple cider at Brigham Youngs house, the kids wrote letters to Santa and then we went to the Barn to see the old man himself. There were live Reindeer, terrific Cristmas Caroliers, and Santa was wonderful. The whole thing was a wonderful experience. After the park I rode home with Matt and Jamie. We stopped and had dinner at the Cracker Barrel. It was very good. I enjoyed my ride home with them. Rachel had to work that night so she picked me up on her way home. It was really snowing that early morning.

Christmas Eve came sooner than I could believe. Our Christmas dinner turned out good. I cooked a prime rib for us and it turned out really good. I think everyone enjoyed it. The kids seemed to enjoy themselves. They were really excited about opening a present that night. They all got new pj's. All to soon it was time to go to bed and wait for Santa to make his appearance.

Christmas morning was lots of fun. I enjoyed myself very much. I'm so grateful that Rachel and
Cody would let me share their Christmas. Matt came and got me later in the Day so I got to spend Christmas with them too. Madison was so cute with her pretty princess doll. It is taller than she is. I read all their little books to them. Marshall and Madison took turns sitting on my lap while I read.

We celebrated Marshall's birthday this month also. Jamie gave him a really fun birthday party.
Coy wanted to take the incredible Hulk home with him after the party. We had to explain to him that it was Marshall's birthday present and Coy would have to play with it when he went to Marshalls house.

On the last Sunday of the month Rachel, Cody, the boys and I went to Price to visit. We met Chris, Makette, Brandon, Makalie, Kyle, and Amie for lunch. We had invited Danny and his family too, but they didn't make it. After our lunch we went to grandma's to visit. Rachel and Cody went to see a friend and Cody's grandparents. We all had a nice visit. Later that night I went over to Matt and Jamie's to sleep. I didn't get my two nights in because Tim and Jenny had come to take me back to Idaho. We did go to a movie before we left. Matt didn't make it because he was working. Jenny and I went with Matt and Jamie to look at houses. I hope they can get one soon. They need more living space and storage space.

I hope all of you have a very happy and great New Year in 2009.