Happy Birthday Devin!

 Devin turned 13 on Monday!  Thanks for all of the calls, texts, and birthday cards!  This year he decided he did want to go to dinner.  We tried a restaurant we had not been to before, except for Gage.  Gage had gone with some friends at work, and brought home some leftover fries, which Devin loved!

We still haven't had his birthday dessert yet because he can't decide what he wants.

The sister missionaries are so wonderful!  They come and visit Haley and Gage weekly, working hard to get them to attend the singles ward weekly, to pray, and read their scriptures.  Sister Finua (I hope I spelled that right, she is closest to the front) is from West Valley and is always trying to get Haley to give them a service project.  So, yes, they are cleaning up Alofa's poop!  There is definitely a special place in heaven for them.  Sister Orton is in the back, and is from Cedar City!

It has been so cold here this last week or so, with temperatures dropping well below zero at night, and staying below, or barely above zero most of the day.  At first Alofa was fine, but after noticing ice stuck to her nose one evening, we decided it best to bring her indoors.  She is sporting some darling pink booties, to keep her from scratching up the hardwood floors, and some green painters tape to keep them on.  She loves them!  Not really.  She hates them, and gets quite aggressive when we try to put them on, or take them off.

Friday night (date night), Haley had just returned home earlier that afternoon after taking Alofa to get a bath.  Because her undercoat is so thick around her neck, Haley had to take her collar off so she could dry.  Brad and I were getting ready to leave to go to dinner.  Brad was holding the door to the garage door open for me, and had just opened the car garage door, when guess who comes walking around the corner?  Before we even realized what was happening, Alofa was out the door, down the stairs, out the garage, and running across the street.  After two near death experiences with cars, losing all of but one of her booties in the snow, Haley upset thinking we were never going to catch her, and all of us chasing her for 40 minutes, at two degrees below zero, through the fields, across streets, into backyards, and finally coaxing her into the car at the charter school below our neighborhood.  We were all frozen, exhausted, a bit irritated........and I'm pretty sure Alofa thought that was a fun game she would love to play again!

Just when we thought we would never like having a dog less........how much do we love Haley? :)

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Some additional updates, Brad is teaching the Valiant 9 primary class, I am now a Nursery Leader.

Haley has taken on a part time job at the Under Armor store at the outlet mall near our house.  She is planning to visit Utah again the 19th - 23rd, providing the weather cooperates.  She didn't want to drive the Hyundai, so she applied for a car loan to buy Brad's FJ Cruiser.  She has been working so hard to build her credit.  With a credit score of 734, she qualified, but needed Brad to co-sign because of her limited time working at her current jobs.  So, I guess Brad will be getting a new truck for Christmas.