Hope Springs Eternal

Today's post would probably have been more appropriate for the last week of December, but we were without Internet access then until January 4. We are going to take a look back at 2008 and reminisce.

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At the beginning January 2008, Sandy's new grandson was a little more than two months old.

Kobe, Jonas & Isaiah shortly after Jonas' birth

Jonas sleeping on the couch - approximately two months old

All three of the boys grew like weeds last year, but a baby's first year of growth is much more noticeable.

And now he's just a little boy playing in his brothers' bedroom while they're at school.

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We and our siblings were blessed with a wonderful mother. She passed away in May of 2001 after breaking her neck in a tragic accident in December 2000. We miss her very much, but we are also very grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the knowledge that we'll be with her and our father again someday. Edie wrote a tribute to our mother, and it was published in a book entitled "Mother's Wisdom." It was published in time for Mothers' Day.

Our mother's tribute begins on page 10.

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In July we embarked on an adventure that we constantly look back on with fond memories. We loaded up the car and took a 17-day, cross-country, 6600 mile trip to New York and back. We wish we could take similar trips every year, only for an entire month. Since we blogged our way across the United States, we won't rehash the whole trip again, but we are going to post a few of the pictures that we didn't post in July.

July 4 - We took this picture in Beaver, Utah. Evidently we planned our trip during the highest gas prices on record ever.

July 7 - This marker is by the creek in Kirtland, Ohio, where many of the early members of the LDS church were baptized.

July 14 - This staircase is in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and it's the same staircase that is shown in the movie National Treasure. In the movie, the sign at the bottom is imprinted with "Do Not Enter."

July 15 - This is a drive-by picture of the Pentagon. We didn't realize what it was until we were right on top of it. We also didn't realize that it was so close to major freeways.

July 19 - We received a comment from one of our readers asking us why we didn't take any pictures of non-denominational Christian churches, since we took pictures of every LDS temple we could and even one Catholic Basilica. Well we did take a picture of a non-denomination Christian church in Albuquerque, New Mexico, but we didn't see the name of the church. It looked like brand new construction and may not have been open for business when we took this picture. It was across the street from the LDS temple in Albuquerque.

That was such a great trip. We can't wait to do it again.

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At the end of October we, our sister and brother-in-law, our brother and sister-in-law and two little nieces, Sandy's son, daughter-in-law and three grandsons all went to Disneyland. That was a fun trip also, and we hope to be able to do that trip again someday soon. The trip home was a little slow, however. Traffic came to a standstill as we were approaching the Glen Helen freeway (we think that's the name).

This is what we could see from our car.

And this is what caused the very long delay.

Evidently, the trailer from a large truck caught fire and burned to a crisp. We don't know if it was caused by an accident with another vehicle, or if the trailer just spontaneously combusted. We didn't particularly care for sitting still in traffic for an hour, but we're glad we weren't involved in whatever happened that caused the fire.

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And then there's the politics of 2008. This isn't such a fond memory. In fact, thinking about it makes our heads explode. We can't believe that Al Franken was elected to the Senate in Minnesota (it is being contested, so we're holding out hope for a different outcome). We plan to do whatever we can to ensure that Harry Reid isn't reelected in 2010. We're hoping that Obama doesn't mess this country up so badly that we'll never recover. We now have a better understanding as to why our founding fathers left England to start somewhere else anew.

But we still have hope:

hope that people will realize that their right to choose for themselves is more important than anything the government has to offer -- and that those same people will fight for their rights before willingly giving them up.

hope that there will be many more trips and many more opportunities to see this great country, and perhaps a few other countries, before our time on earth is done.

hope that we'll be reunited with our parents someday.

hope that the generation being born and raised on this earth now are the best that the Father has to offer.

hope that the people of Minnesota really aren't going to elect Al Franken as their senator.

hope that the people of Nevada really aren't going to elect Harry Reid as their senator in 2010.

and hope, that no matter how bad things seem on earth sometimes, there is Someone who is better than the bad, greater than the evil, and more merciful than justice.

As long as we have hope, 2009 is looking good.