Merry Christmas Everyone!

I would have felt fine about missing last week's newsletter if I'd had nothing to share, but there has been lots going on this past couple of weeks.  It's hard to remember what you've done for two whole weeks, but I'm going to give it a shot.  I've a few pictures from last week to remind me.

We babysat Ruby while Crista and Matt attended their work costume party.  1920's style.  

Jennie gave Dan's family the game "Pie Face"  They loved it, but Yuna got stuck! (Don't worry, it was temporary).

Below:  Max, Maverick, Elise and Andy flew from Texas to Salt Lake, but got stuck in Phoenix until 3 am.  Roy finally picked them up at the airport at 4:00 am.

We had a couple of second opinions at a couple of different Doctor's offices.  First we took Roy to the Tosh Clinic in Salt Lake.  Our Bishop's wife had highly recommended them and urged us to get a second opinion.  We're really glad we did, because Dr. Vanborum determined that Roy did not have a "Jone's Fracture" as was previously suspected.  A Jone's fracture does not usually heal without surgery.  His break was just below the line that would constitute a Jone's fracture.  This doctor told Roy he should be putting weight on his foot--in the boot, of course, and he told him not to over-do it.  Being able to walk, even with a boot, has made all the difference in what Roy can do.  Dan had given Roy a blessing with our home teacher before we even decided on getting a second opinion, and we have definitely felt the hand of the Lord.

We also took Caitlyn in to a Maxillo Facial Surgeon for a second opinion on her jaw.  She has been seeing a pain specialist, who does not do surgery and does not advocate invasive procedures, but this new doctor has seen many patients with similar problems (though not usually 16 year-olds), and there are a couple of possible surgeries that can fix her problems.  Either (or both) options will require several months in braces both before and after surgery, but all of us felt good about the possibilities.

Grandma is happy to spend time with her two Texas Grandchildren

So is grandpa who loves an excuse for another trip to the train store

 Maverick loved the trains, too.

He's not much of a kisser, but he liked kissing himself in the mirror

Ruby and her smile!

There were about 6 pictures of Ruby's feet on my phone--hmm.
Wonder how that happened

This week we also had the opportunity to go to the orchestra and choir concert at Bountiful High.  It was fabulous as usual.  Even Max and Maverick enjoyed it--and it was 90 minutes long.  Mav had to be walked in the aisle a little, but not until the last 30 minutes.   We would have taken a picture of Caitlyn, but she was on the other side of the stage from where we were sitting, and with hundreds of kids (literally) on the stage and in the aisles, we really couldn't see her.

Below are pictures of our Christmas Eve Family Party.

So fun to have family at Christmastime.
Caitlyn, Crista and Effie chillin' on the couch

At our Christmas Eve party, I was showing Ollie how to put an olive on his finger before popping it into his mouth.  He watched me do it--and he was gung ho to try it, but when the olive got to his mouth, he wasn't any too happy about how it tasted.  He wanted to do the finger part, just not the eating part.  We know that Max loves his olives, however, because that's what he ate off his pizza.

Our big party is on Christmas Eve.  Christmas is a little quieter.  You can see we all had a great time. Sunday morning our church was cancelled we had so much snow.  Our building is up a steep hill and we have quite a few elderly in our ward as well.  Also, the plows must have been busy, because our street wasn't plowed until the afternoon.  It made for a very relaxed Christmas, but I probably would have loved the meeting with lots of Christmas music.  We'll hear it next week.

 

Everyone got a little sleepy towards the end of the evening.  Merry Christmas everyone!

A broken foot

There is never a convenient time to break a bone, but I have to say, this month, this year, seems particularly inconvenient for Roy to trip and break a bone.  He fell on his way into the garage on Tuesday morning.  There were some shoes in the way, and Roy felt there was enough light that he didn't need to turn on the one in the garage, so he didn't see the shoes.  Now he is unable to put any weight on his foot for at least a month.  In two weeks  the Doctor will decide if it will heal without surgery or not.  I am praying for the moisture this winter to be rain, not snow in the valleys so I don't have to clear walks myself.  I can't read these x-rays very well, but I'll put them in here anyway.

At least we were able to get through Monday evening before this happened.  We had a "street" party at my house on Monday.  This was started by my neighbor, but it was more convenient to have it at my house--we invite just our street and the circle connected to our street, for an evening where everyone brings appetizers, and we do a little sub for Santa.  It's supposed to be in lieu of neighbor gifts, and it sort of works, but there are still a lot of people in the ward that do neighbor gifts that aren't connected to my street.  I don't love doing this party, because most of my friends in the ward don't live on my street, so I can't even invite them.  I found out last year that though people love to come to the party, no one else wants to host it.   Anyway, I offered to do it one last time--the neighbor that started it always does the invitation and handles the sub for Santa details.  It's pretty easy because we just give everything to the bishop and let him distribute it.

Luckily, that was the only holiday party we had scheduled for the week because I came down with a bad cold on Tuesday that was worse on Wednesday, and finally eased up around now. (Monday morning).  Caitlyn caught it on Friday, and Jennie says she may be coming down with it.  Isn't that always the case in December--the month you really want everyone to be healthy.

We are looking forward to Elise and Andy coming on the 17th.  Sara's not looking forward to surgery on her sinuses on the 16th.  Nick is taking two weeks off (originally to spend time with Andy and Elise, but now to take care of Sara).

I was able to spend a little time with my sweet grandchildren this week.  Ori and Effie came over Wednesday for a couple of hours.  I made play dough for Ori and she loved it.  She played with it almost the whole time.  Effie was really sweet and happy and took a little nap.  Adrienne made dinner for us Thursday night to show her love for her dad (with his broken foot), but she didn't bring the boys in.  And Jieun made lunch/dinner for us Saturday for the same reason.  I told her it would be much appreciated, but that their family should stay and eat with us, which they did and we loved it.

We are so blessed to have such a loving family--everyone has been so willing to help us out at this time.

I hope this letter doesn't sound negative.  We know and are very aware that we have lots of blessings. We have been enjoying this Christmas season a lot.  Roy and I have been watching lots of Christmas shows in the evening and getting into the holidays spirit.

At church our Bishop's wife asked me if Roy wanted them to bring the sacrament to him.  I said, "He's at church in the YSA ward."  Roy got up early and went to all his meetings.  Nothing can slow him down--well, not very much anyway.  He is a little slower with that cumbersome walking tool he has.

Christmas! Bring it on!

Progress on the house:  The tile floors and showers are mostly done.  The paint is done.  We are still waiting for a little rock on the front of the house to be completed, then they can pour the driveway and sidewalks.  We are told we'll be in before Christmas, but I don't believe it.  We have pretty much decided to stay here regardless, so we won't have to move the week of Christmas.

This is Ori at our new house.  This was taken a
 couple of weeks ago, but it could have been taken
yesterday.  Nothing has changed in  this part of the house
 since then :(

Same as previous caption

 Yuna shoveling on the first major snowstorm of this winter--at least she had something to do while her sisters were at school.

Last week I failed to mention that Roy and I ushered in our Christmas holiday by attending the Messiah Sing Along at Abravenel Hall.  We have done this almost every year for the past several years and it is a joyful way to celebrate the beginning of the Christmas season because it helps turn our hearts to the true reason we are celebrating--the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

We've had a few other events that have helped us usher in the holiday.--We attended the play, "It's a Wonderful life on Thursday evening with Christine and Steve.  It was almost as touching as the movie.

 Roy and I were invited to a Christmas party at Mountainland Design (because we're spending a lot of money there).  We didn't have a lot of time because it was also the night of the skating show, but we went right on time--for the food!  And it was worth it.  They had all sorts of small plates--Lobster rolls being our favorite.  They also had shredded short ribs with a slice of gouda on a bun, a scallop dish, a delicious chocolate mousse cake, etc.  We really enjoyed ourselves.  We got to dress up, too.  I wore a dress I haven't worn since our cruise to Antarctica.  There were a couple of pictures taken of us at the event, but I'm not sure how we'll get a hold of them.
After this party, we hurried to the South Davis Recreation Center to get ready for the ice show.  This year I opted to do a number with my grandchildren, which meant I didn't really have to skate much.  I've mentioned all the practices we've had.  The number actually went pretty well, amazingly.  The video is on my Facebook page.  Caitlyn's performance is posted on her Instagram.  Check them out.

We've eaten out for dinner this past week way too much.  I can tell when I have a lot of salt.  Book Club at China Garden Wednesday night, Sushi Monster with Christine and Steve Thursday night, Friday night at Mountainland Design, and Saturday night we ate at the Bountiful Rec Center for my employee holiday party.  It was catered by Texas Road House.  We were a little late because we took pictures of Caitlyn's Dance group at Little America in Salt Lake (Christy Cunningham's suggestion), so the food wasn't very hot.  The chicken was dry, too.  But it was a free dinner!  After that party we bought pizza's with Caitlyn's employee discount from Papa Murphy's for Sunday dinner.  Most of the family is coming over to eat and this is a way to keep it super easy.  It was only $30 for 5 pizzas.

Below: Caitlyn and friends at the Christmas dance.

 Roy with Weston Stagg, one of the YSAs.
Roy helped out with a YSA service project Saturday morning.
  One of their regular service opportunities is to prepare or
serve food at St. Vincent De Paul's.

This week's sewing project