We spent a few days with my step-sister Tara and her family in Arco, Idaho, literally an hour outside the middle of no where. We had a blast and were so grateful for the Steensons and their hospitality. While there we got to tour the new temple in Rexburg. Believe or not, the inside is even more beautiful than the outside.
On Dec 29th, my Jones relatives organized a get together so everyone who hadn't already could get to know Sarah. This doubled as a baby shower in which we ate great cake and received generous gifts to help us get ready for our baby girl. Thank you so much! Two nights later we got back together for a New Years Eve party in which we acted out a murder mystery that had taken place at a 1955 high school reunion. As you can tell by the photos, we had LOTS of fun! Everyone was assigned roles to play, from the being the bookish type, to the jocks, hot rod lovers, homecoming queen and the posh. More than anything, this night was a celebration of being together and laughing, which my Grandma says we haven't been able to do much of this year as we've dealt with her breast cancer. With the recent news that it had gone into remission, we were able to let loose and have lots of fun.
After we confirmed that Wes and Lindsay had done the murder, we cut lose and celebrated the new year! We watched Grandpa win a close boxing match on wii, watched the ball drop in Times Square (pretending there was no time difference), and made lots of noise!
The next morning we had a great breakfast together:
Sarah had never been inside the Salt Lake Temple, so we made that a priority on this trip. There is no place quite like the Temple in Salt Lake City, both for its unique beauty and its importance to members of our church. It was a very uplifting experience to worship in the same building as my ancestors a century earlier. We also toured the Conference Center across the street, the 20,000 seat building where our leaders speak in bi-annual conferences to the 13 million members throughout the world.
On Dec 27th we flew north from sunny and warm Arizona to snowy and cold Utah. We were in good spirits about flying into the cold weather since we knew it was going to be so warm when we got home; this was the only winter I (David) would get! Grandpa and Grandma Jones were nice enough to pick us up at the airport, while my cousin and his pregnant wife Kim drove up to Brigham City and went out to dinner with us. Jon and I are basically the same age and have always been good friends so it was great to catch up and joke about our new adventures in having pregnant wives. 
Sarah and I did some walking around, enjoying the sights of Brigham City; both of them! Seriously though, I love this town so much. I especially love the LDS Tabernacle on Main Street, one of the most beautiful buildings the church every built. Brigham City is where both my parents grew up, and where my Jones Grandparents have lived my whole life. Their place feels more like home than anywhere else now that my parents have both left NYC.
While in Arizona we had a lot of fun putting together a 600 piece puzzle of the world. Once it was complete, we had my Grandparents remove all the countires they had already been to, and it was amazing to see the large chunks of North, Central and South America that dissappeared; they've been to virtually every country on these continents. He was a missionary in Texas/Mexico, and they served as Mission President in Honduras, MTC President in Argentina, Counselor in the Lima Temple Presidency and the first President of the Cochabamba Bolivia Temple. They're getting ready for a cruise around the southern tip of South America in which they'll see Antartica!
