State of the Family

Tuesday we had the State of the Union address, Wednesday was the State of the State (Utah for me), and in the absence (I think) of any State of the County or City addresses going on tonight, I offer you the State of the Family. My family. Feel free to sit with whomever you want as you read this. Applaud when you feel like it. Stand if necessary. Here it is.

My fellow family and friends: it's an honor to sit here at my keyboard and put into words my thoughts and feelings about our future, as I look back over the past year and review our progress.

Economy

I am happy to report that the Dalton economy is basically sound. We save a little, and we're frugal. Everyone is supportive of that philosophy, which is awesome. We incurred a little debt last year, but we're whittling it away steadily and hope to be out from under it in a few months without too much pain or additional sacrifice. Daltonboy continues to work hard to support our family, and he does a fantastic job of it. (Applaud here, please.) Our goal this year is to purchase only what we need. I've started a blog about this project with my sister, and we hope to share stories, insights, and fun resources throughout the year.

Infrastructure

Nothing pleases daltonboy more than the sound of snow sliding off our awesome new metal roof. No more leaks, no more life-threatening forays onto the roof to shovel before it starts to rain in our living room. Pure bliss!

So far we've collected twenty bags of leaves. Our hard work in the fall means fewer bags of wet, rotting leaves in the spring, and it is my hope that this year I can keep the yard looking less like an abandoned property and more like a home where people might want to visit. The garden last year was an unprecedented disaster. I'm pretty sure I poisoned the soil somehow, and will work to rectify that and grow champion tomatoes this year if it kills me. Or at least tomato-sized tomatoes.

We added a family member for part of the year, with the return of daltonman from a successful and life-changing proselyting mission. Then we added another family member with the marriage of daltonman to Belle, and lost daltonman at the same time when he moved out to live with his wife. Every last one of us views this as a win-win.

We are now a four-car family. This is great as it enables people to get where they need to go, but not great as our insurance bill is insane. Fortunately, people with incomes are paying for their own insurance. I love my convertible Miata, and had a lovely summer. The winter months are turning out not to be quite as fun, as the car weighs about 200 pounds and doesn't like to stay on the road when it's slippery, but we must take the good with the bad. Still, if anyone wants to trade me their SUV from November through April, I would not say them nay.

Health

We still have insurance, which is great. How grateful I am that we have the ability to see our health care providers without fear of being bankrupt. Sadly, we forgot to enroll in a different plan last year during open enrollment, so we're still stuck with this ridiculous HMO. My fault. I'm sorry. Still, this year we will be taking advantage of several benefits available to us. We continue to see the dentist regularly, and have our eyes checked. We get annual physicals. Some of us use the mental health benefit, and that's a great blessing. Some family members were introduced to the miracle drug of Adderol, which has been a "where have you been all my life" experience, and I commit to you that our house will not be without it again. This year we're adding chiropractic care to our list, due to the fact that someone sneaked in during the night at some point and twisted my spine up like a pretzel.

No one has any serious illness so far, and we hope this trend will continue into the foreseeable future. The advent of the (mostly) vegan diet should help. I hope to run a half marathon this year, and it is my sincere hope that continued support (read: nagging), along with good example and subsequent results of radiant health, will motivate more people in the household to get some exercise.

Jobs

People are responding nicely to the chore chart, and most of the time chores get done on a weekly basis. I love that I haven't had to mop the kitchen more than a handful of times in the last year. My goal for this year is to have the bathtub scrubbed, rather than the current usual practice of waving a wet rag over the surface and chanting a cleaning spell. Also, I'm hoping to discourage the practice of using dishes and leaving them strewn across the counter instead of stacking them. Seriously. Unless a dish is shaped such that it will topple a stack (tip: most aren't), it doesn't require personal space.

Busboy continues to work for a major hotel chain, which he enjoys; daltonman works for a phone survey company, and Lola got her first paid work last year when she snagged a role in the soon-to-be-released Liken film, "Jonah and the Great Fish." Lola also signed on with a talent agent last year and has had several opportunities to participate in local productions.

Education

Only one of us was in school last year, and now four of us are. That seems like progress. Lola is a junior in high school, Busboy is at UVU, and daltonman and Belle are at USU. Lola made great strides in making up some lacking credits over the summer last year, and hopes to make up the rest this summer in order to enjoy a stress-free senior year. We are confident that she can do it.

Religion

Well, we all still show up for church every Sunday, mostly without complaint. Daltonboy is serving as Ward Mission Leader, I am still the Stake Primary Secretary, and Lola is super excited to be a Super Youth Camp Leader for her last year of girls camp. Lola is also (sort of) looking forward to this summer's Pioneer Trek along the Mormon Trail. We continue to enjoy the blessings and peace that come from daily family prayer, scripture study, and weekly Family Night. We love our Savior and trust that He will continue to advocate for us--and that we will have continued prosperity as well as the support we need during times of trial.

And that's about it, folks. Overall, I think we're doing pretty well. I have great hopes for the coming year, and hope that God's blessings will rest on us all.