Linda's funeral Friday August 31, 2018

•  Eddie's family.  Eddie is holding hands with his wife.  I don't know the rest of them.

They talked about Linda's love of BYU football games at the funeral.

They bought Navy blue Y ties for the pall bearers.

Linda's funeral flowers

All of Steve's kids came to the funeral and stayed to the lunch after the funeral.
One of them offered to take a picture so I would have proof they were all there.
Audrey and Trevor were there for Phil.  I don't think Rachelle was there.

Steve bought this TOP floral arrangement from Us.  (Me, Dennis, Janice
Phil and Steve)  I only paid $10.00 and Janice paid $30.00 so unless
someone else gave him big bucks, Steve probably paid over $200.00 for
this spray.

It was probably the most expensive spray due to the largest number of
roses.  Steve always buys roses.

I don't know who the other sprays are from.  But the money spent on flowers.
There were over 32 bouquets or plants.

I think they took all of the sprays on wire stands to the cemetery.  Except
the BYU ribbon bouquet.  Janice told Mark he had to keep that one.  Look
at it, it would be really cheap to make, and I think it was one of the
nicer ones there.  Definitely the most creative.

I got a daisy arrangement.  Janice took pictures of all the flowers.
I think my flowers are one of the white Daisy ones in the photo with five
arrangements.  (second to the last photo)

The Painters Hands Vocal Solo at Linda's Funeral. I played this music to accompany the solo.

Danny Hales' mother in law sung this solo.

This is NOT her on You Tube.

The music was really hard and almost more than
I could do with the emotions of Linda's death.

The first time we practiced it took us 30 minutes to get
through this song.  Neither of us had ever done the song
before.

As I listen to the song AFTER the funeral, I think it has
an apt message about the untimely, early death of Linda, but
I totally missed the message BEFORE the funeral.

JetBlue raises its baggage fee prices. It’s now the highest in the country

The problem with baggage and other airline fees, is that is difficult to determine
the total cost of the ticket before you book. i.e.  Adding $30.00 bag fee to your ticket
price could make several other airline's tickets cheaper.

Bloomberg's is the better story.  See link below
Orange text is Bloomberg's story.

JetBlue Airways raised its baggage fee prices so that they’re now the highest in the country.
JetBlue Airways Corp., which for years let passengers check luggage at no charge, became the first major U.S. carrier to bump the fee for a first checked bag to $30.

JetBlue’s fee for bringing a second bag on a flight jumped from $35 to $40 and raised its third bag fee from $100 to $150, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the story on Monday.

The fee for an oversized bag hiked from $100 to $150, according to the report.

Those who sign up for Blue Plus fares — which costs about $10 to $15 more than the standard economy ticket — will receive a free checked bag among other perks.

, JetBlue’s decision to raise its prices comes as the airline attempts to overcome economic woes.

Airline fuel prices jumped 42 percent this year, damaging the company’s second quarter. JetBlue had “an excellent first quarter” for 2018, according to Forbes,

In fact, JetBlue cut jobs in its New York headquarters and increased the fee of its same-day flight changes to help with the economic troubles. JetBlue also created a fee for those using standby tickets.

JetBlue ranked as the fourth-largest airline in the country earlier this year, according to Time magazine.

Delta Air Lines Inc., American Airlines Group Inc. and United Continental Holdings Inc. charge $25 for the first bag and $35 for the second. Fees for a third piece of luggage vary. Southwest Airlines Co. is the only large U.S. airline that doesn’t charge for a single checked suitcase.

Herb Scribner Deseret News

Mary Schlangenstein. Bloomberg's.

SEPTEMBER 3, 2018
I am updating this post rather than adding a new post.  Less than FIVE DAYS After Jet Blue
raised their baggage fees, United Airlines did the exact same fee.  This is a satire story,
which points out that United made the announcement on Friday afternoon, the three
day Labor Day Weekend holiday.

Yet, after JetBlue announced that it was raising baggage fees to $30 for the first bag, United stepped in to join the latest nickel-and-diming ensemble.

As my colleague Bill Murphy Jr. reported, the airline chose the classic bad news PR dump time -- late on Friday -- to announce its intentions.

United Airlines raised their baggage fees to match JetBlue

Photos of Linda

Danny took this photo of Linda holding his baby three days before she died.

Audrey posted this photo on Facebook and I copied it.

 Linda and I as babies.  How old are we?  I am 18 months older.

Jeff is still in the hospital-the same hospital Linda died in

It will be Seven days tomorrow since Jeff's surgery and he
is still in the hospital.

He has been throwing up, but seemed to stop for a couple of days
over the weekend.  However Jeff started throwing up again this evening.

They don't know what causes the vomiting and can't get it stopped.

Someone speculated it has something to do with the drug withdrawal from the
E cigaretts Jeff smokes.  Which we are speculating he can't do in the hospital.

Linda Hales passed away in surgery

Linda died in surgery for the break in her pelvic bone on
August 26.

I went to the American Fork Hospital and spent about two
hours with Linda and Mark in the morning before she passed
away.

I got up and hurried to get to the hospital before everyone got
there and was able to do that.  I left about 11:30 when a doctor
came in to talk to her about the surgery.  He sat down and appeared
to be staying so I left.

They tried to resuscitate her for 10 minutes and then came to ask
Mark what to do.  Eddie said if she had been dead for 10 minutes
to let her go and Mark agreed.

I am a Facebook Conversation starter.

There are 3,493 members of this Republican public group.  They are supposed
to be from Utah, but the administrators went for volume rather than keeping
it local Utah people.

I didn't know Facebook did this.  My posts in this group look like the
one below with the conversation starter below my name.  So far
no one has said anything to me about it, so I am guessing not to many people
know about it or even recognize it when reading the posts.

You're a Conversation Starter

You're great at making posts that people find valuable. Your conversation starter badge will show up next to your name on comments and posts.

Peggy Burdett

Conversation Starter

Member of Utah Republicans - UnOfficial Group since November 4, 2015

Badges will appear on comments and posts in Utah Republicans - UnOfficial Group

Conversation Starter
You and 6 others created the most engaging posts in Utah Republicans -

in the past month

Linda fell and has a small crack in her hip

Linda stumbled and jammed her hip a couple of weeks ago.
They did an X-ray and didn't find a break, the pain has increased
the last couple of days to where she has had trouble walking.
She had an MRI this morning and there is a small crack in the
hip.  She will be having surgery probably in the morning to pin the
bone.

She is in the American Fork Hospital.

Phil's Rachael Romero got married (Technically Ronelle's Rachael by first marriage)

Rachael posted this with these photos.  As far as I can tell NONE of us, my
brothers and sisters got invited to the wedding.  I am trying to figure where
it was.  Where is Traverse Room Brick Canvas?
Best. Day. Ever!!! ❤️
It only took six years but we finally made it official. 8•25•18 @speenyodle @bray35petrsn @lulu_pete @camtpete

Jeff is still in the hospital

Jeff was throwing up yesterday.  They did a CT scan on Jeff
yesterday about 2:00 p.m. and Janice couldn't find out the
results before she went to bed last night.  When she called
Jeff's wife, she didn't even know about the CT scan.

Janice and Jill have had both of Jeff's kids since Monday.

Both Linda and Jeff are in the hospital.  Mark Hales saw them
taking Jeff for the CT scan.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

I am 68 years old and all of my life the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints has regularly announced the name and
said don't use Mormons term.

This recent announcement by President Nelson has received
by far the most publicity of any of these announcements
that I have ever seen.  At first I thought this was really it
and the name would change.

Sadly, this is going to be like all the other announcements,
just with more attention and publicity.

Mark and I have debated over what the revelation to Joseph
Smith made the Name of the Church.  (I don't mean to imply
that President Nelson didn't have revelation)  I firmly believe
that using the name of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints eliminates LOTS of problems for the church,
the biggest one being that "Mormons" are Not CHRISTIANS and
don't follow Christ.

Mark's Grandmother used to accuse me of following either
Joseph Smith or Mormon NOT CHRIST.

But in my opinion WHEN the prophet is serious about changing
the name of the church, he will change the name of the MORMON
Tabernacle Choir, change the domain of lds.org and mormon.org
BEFORE he announces don't call us Mormons or LDS again.

The biggest fly in the ointment is THE BOOK OF MORMON.  One
story I read about the name change clarified we would still use and
reference The Book of Mormon.

I firmly believe The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
is the name that the Savior would want the church to use and hope
that President Nelson will work hard to change the name of the church
to reflect the revelation I believe he received.

Yahoo Video Mormon President Nelson-don't call us Mormons

Mark Hale's Nephew Died.

Linda and Mark have not had good luck recently.  Mark had emergency
gall bladder surgery August 10,  four days before Linda's voice box
surgery August 14 and then Mark's oldest brother's son died on
August 17.  He was on a business trip working and someone found him
dead at his desk.  They are doing an autopsy.  Greg's mother died of
cancer a few years ago, so Greg's father hasn't had the best luck, having
both a wife a child proceed him in death.  Greg was 56 years old.


Don Gregory Hales (Greg)
1962 ~ 2018
Don Gregory Hales (Greg) passed away unexpectedly August 17, 2018 in St. George, Utah while on a business trip. He was born to Patricia and Don Hales January 24, 1962 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Greg married his high school sweetheart, Terri Leigh Busch in the Salt Lake Temple on March 8, 1985. They enjoyed 33 wonderful, adventurous years together and raised 3 beautiful children, Spencer, Zachary and Mia.

Donald Gregory Hales Obituary

Jeff had surgery on his stomach

Janice is being really vague about Jeff's surgery.  They operated to fix
whatever stomach problem he had and Janice says she doesn't know the name
of the surgery.

In the process of whatever they did, they nicked his gallbladder so they
took that out too.  I will probably never find out specifically what the
surgery was, unless Jason knows.

Maybe I will try to call Jason later and ask.

BYU graduate Kickstarter Invention

IDAHO FALLS — It started with a problem. Ethan and Kinsee Abbott were poor newlywed college students, and Ethan wanted a place to work out.

They couldn’t afford a gym membership, and there was little space in their small apartment for exercise equipment.

So Ethan, a Rigby High School and BYU graduate, decided to make his own.

“I’d go to Home Depot and buy scraps of wood and pieces of copper pipe,” he tells EastIdahoNews.com. “At nighttime, I would try to put different prototypes together. There was sawdust all over the carpet and glue on the table, but I finally got to the point where I felt it would work.”

Ethan created fitness handles that gave users a complete upper body workout. They were compact, lightweight, easy to travel with and could fit in a drawer.

He hired some Brigham Young University engineering students to perfect the invention, and CrossGrips by Jayflex was born.

“They are multi-gym fitness handles. You can use them for a bunch of different exercises — pull-ups, sit-ups and push-ups. Plus, you can attach bands to them and use them that way,” Ethan says.

BYU graduate invention explodes on Kickstarter

Donate to Kickstarter project

Susan got a new Job!

She is at the same company that makes dog food.

It is located in Springville where all the manufacturing places
are.  I can't find that I posted anything when she started.

She was in Customer Service which is a terrible place to
be.  There were only three or four including the boss,
and they frequently spent days in production on the floor,
lifting and moving heavy boxes and crates.

To make matters worse the company cannot meet the
order they have.

Susan is now in Quality Control, which won't have to
deal with the customers who want to know when they
will get their orders because Customer Service does that.

McKay is FOUR MONTHS OLD

This is Natalia's Facebook Post.  I think McKay was 4 months old yesterday

Four months! Mckay has advanced so much this month. He is so happy with the sweetest personality. He is going to daycare full time which Simon loves and the other kids adore him. He is fascinated with the baby in the mirror, discovered his toes, has an adorably shrill giggle, can growl like a dog, and (his most proud achievement) can pull his pacifier out and put it back in. He still loves the water and being held. Sadly, he has outgrown his bassinet but isn’t sleeping through the night, so he’s been crashing with momma and daddy. Maybe one day we can get a full night of sleep and finish a movie without pausing it ten times. #fourmonthsold #monthlymilestones #mckaydays

Air Quality in Utah worse than ever

The wildfires in the west are creating the longest, and worst
unhealthy air quality in Utah I can remember.

My chest hurts when I breathe, elsie's nose is running, and Noah says
he doesn't feel well.  Mark is coughing so hard he
almost chokes.

Maybe it will rain enough to stop some of the fires and
the air will be a little cleaner, although that is not predicted
in the forecasts.

The three-day air quality forecast anticipates orange or red air quality in several counties in Utah through Tuesday as smoke from wildfires blankets much of the state.

In Utah County, red air is in the forecast Monday and orange for Tuesday and Wednesday, while orange air is expected in Salt Lake, Davis and Weber counties Monday through Wednesday.

Red air quality is considered unhealthy for all persons while orange is considered unhealthy for sensitive groups, such as those with asthma or other breathing problems or the very young and very elderly.

Poor air quality over the weekend contributed to an increase in visits to doctors for problems associated with breathing in the smoky air. 

Several wildfires burning in Utah and surrounding states are contributing to the air issues, including the Coal Hollow Fire in Spanish Fork Canyon. 

Fox 13 news