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!