New Year's Eve

I cannot believe the year is over already.  It went by so fast.  What a great year it was though.  Since Nathan and Hannah had the New Year's Eve dance, we had our family celebration early.  We did our annual smorgasbord dinner.  Justin picked boneless chicken wings, Nathan picked cream soda and crackers and cheese, Hannah picked Totinos pizza, Isaac picked cheese dip and tortilla chips and I picked french onion dip and chips.  We also had left over sugar cookies and almond m&ms.  A nutritious meal.  We ate and watched some football.  I was feeling a little better than earlier in the day and was able to get off the upstairs couch and move to the basement couch.  This had been me most of the day.

 Nathan and Hannah left about 7:45.  They both looked great.  Thankfully, Josh was going so he could drive.  He is also 18 now so he can drive after midnight.  The dance went from 8:30 to 11:30 and then they had a cereal bar from 11:30 to 12:30.  

 Isaac picked a movie for us to watch at home.  He wanted to watch Point Break 2015.  He had watched it at a friends house and really wanted us to see it.  The original Point Break came out when I was a teenager.  It was full of extreme sports and adventure and I could see why he liked it.  Justin and I enjoyed it too.  We still didn't quite make it until midnight.  Justin fell asleep about 11.  I asked Isaac if he wanted to watch something or just hang out until midnight but he said he was ok.  I felt like I had a fever so I was ok that he didn't care.  Hannah and Nathan woke me up when they got home to let me know they made it.  It was about 1:15.  They both had a good time.

Goodbye 2016!

Christmas

The kids always come running in at 5 am.  This year, I woke up and looked at the clock at it said 5:01....then 5:02 and I wondered if no one had set an alarm.  At 5:03, Isaac came in and asked if they could go down.  The other two may have slept in without Isaac's help.  We had a wonderful morning opening presents.  Everyone was very happy with their gifts. 

Santa brought Isaac a drum set

 Hannah got some bedding, a jacket and a gift cards for new clothes.

 Nathan got a special effects pedal to make his guitar be able to do pretty much anything.

By 6:30 we were done opening presents and started getting ready for church.  I was feeling good enough to go.  We just had sacrament and Hannah and I sang Away in a Manger with a group of other mothers and daughters.  I loved hearing the music about the Savior.

When we got home, we made our breakfast of biscuits and egg gravy as a tradition but added sausage biscuits as a southern tradition for Nathan as he doesn't like the gravy.  The rest of the day was spent lazying around, eating left overs, watching movies and Isaac and Justin put his drumset together.  We moved our bikes out of the exercise room and put them in there.  You can still hear them upstairs but definitely more quiet than if they were in his room.  Of course, we would have to take his bed out so they would fit there!  He gets to start drum lessons the first of January.

Hannah cleaned her room and put her new sheets and pillows on her bed.  I better tell the story of the cat pillow.  The kids are always bugging me about having a pet, cat or dog.  Justin and I saw these hideous cat pillows at Walmart and thought it would be so funny to get them for the kids.  Each kid got a different color of cat.  We had them open them up at the same time.  Their faces were priceless.  I think they secretly love them.

 We were able to Facetime with my parents and Justin talked to his parents on the phone.  It was also nice to text siblings and friends and wish them a Merry Christmas as well.

Christmas Eve

We had a really nice Christmas Eve.  I was feeling really good.  I slept for awhile during the morning and then had Nathan make "Christmas crack" or candied Chex mix to take to their home teaching family.  He did a great job.

Hannah had requested funeral potatoes for dinner so I had her make those.  I supervised.  Justin and the kids got the rest of dinner ready.  We had a nice dinner with ham, rolls, stuffing, peas and potatoes.  Marianne Potter came over that afternoon and brought us a game as a present.  It was called Speak Out.  After dinner, we played that.  It was a little gross as you would spit or slobber with the plastic things in your mouth.  It was funny though.

 You would have to say things and try and get others to understand what you were saying or do challenges.  Below is Hannah trying to drink water without spilling.  She failed.

 Hannah and Isaac had to blow a wadded up kleenex across the table.  We had to spray and wipe the table down afterwards.  Ha.

After the game, we decorated a few sugar cookies for Santa with left over stuff from when the Hurdles came over and then we read from Luke 2 and then opened up our Christmas Eve pajamas.

 Hannah wanted a picture with her brothers on the stairs.  They weren't really into it but I thought it was cute that she wanted one and they were talked into it.

Then, we watched a movie for a little bit and the kids went to bed so Santa could come.  I think I overdid it helping get ready for Santa but hey, it's Christmas Eve!  Justin and I got to bed around 1 am.  I actually made it sleeping upstairs instead of the guest room.

Surgery

On December 20th, I had surgery.  I had needed a hysterectomy for a couple years and finally decided to get it done.  Justin and I headed to the hospital around noon.  It was an hour away.  I had to check in at 1.  I put in the directions on my phone but when we got to the address, there was no hospital.  Luckily, the hospital wasn't too far away but it was crazy to find our way to the main entrance and parking was horrible.  I was a little late so Justin dropped me off by the front doors and then went to park.  As soon as I got there, they took me right back for preop.  Justin got there and they let him come in for a few minutes.  This is what I looked like when he got there.  The warming blanket felt so good.

 Everything went really fast.  They were rolling me away about 3:30.

 As soon as they got me to the surgery room, they put me to sleep and I don't remember anything until about three hours later.  It took me a bit to come out of anesthesia.  I was really glad to be able to get to my room and see Justin.  It was about 7:15.  Such a great after picture.  Yikes.

One of my good friends, Stacy Winstryg, had sent flowers and Justin had carried them around all day.  It was such a sweet surprise.  They were beautiful and the vase was so cute.

I wanted Justin to stay with me for a little while but then wanted him to go home to be with the kids.  They brought me chicken soup and crackers around 8 and he left around 9:15 or so.  I was feeling really good.  I had more pain when I went into surgery than when I came out.  I was so thankful that I had no nausea!  I didn't really feel like I needed a pain pill but took one on the recommendation of my nurse.  I didn't really get any sleep as my blood pressure/heart rate was really low and it would set off an alarm every few minutes.  Low is normal for me.  The nurse told me to move my arms and take deep breaths to get the alarm to go off.  Finally, around midnight, they changed the settings so it wouldn't go off unless it got lower.  They had me walk around 12:15 am and I felt really good.  Justin came back around 10 the next morning to take me home.  On the way home, I was feeling good so I told Justin to stop at the mall so we could pick up one thing we still needed to get for Hannah.  I walked in but sat on a couch right by the entrance.  He brought me some chicken enchilada soup.  On the way home, I started having pain in my shoulder/upper chest.  I had been warned that they put gas inside to help them with visualization and that it gets trapped and is painful until it works its way out.  By the time I got home, I was quite unconfortable.  It was so painful!  After I could lay down, Justin got me all set up in the guest room.  He was so sweet.  He really took great care of me.

Joy to the World

Our ward had a Christmas fireside tonight.  Songs from all over the world in different languages were sung and nativities displayed.  

We also brought food from other countries to share.  I had signed up to bring beignets for France.  I was also singing in the choir.  Nathan was playing guitar with Jared and Daniel Watson for some ladies singing Oh Star Bright/Estrella de luz.  We had to be to practice after church and then an hour and a half early before the program.  I ran out of time to fry all the dough.  Justin was awesome and stood over the hot pan for over an hour cooking them and Hannah took over with the powdered sugar.

 What a good hubby and daughter!

 The guys did a great job and the song was beautiful!  

The choir sang The Music of Christmas to kick off the night and then Betelehemu, an African number.  I had no idea what I was singing but it was fun.  We ended the program with Silent Night with the first verse sung with a duet in German and the choir coming in for second verse and choir and congregation singing first verse over.  There was plenty of food to try after.  It was a nice evening.

Sugar cookies with the Hurdles

The Hurdles were leaving town for Christmas and New Years so Charlyce wanted to get our two families together before they left.  We had planned on going to their house but they had had a stomach bug off and on that week and even though they were all feeling better that day, I did not want to risk a left over germ getting us.  We had a taco bar for dinner and then made sugar cookies.  Being with the Hurdles is always fun!

 JD 

 Hannah

 Mindi 

Isaac.  I had gotten candy corn for Halloween but we never used it so decided to put it out even though it isn't very Christmassy. 

 Tyson

 Nathan

 Izzy

Wilson 

 Charlyce

Sequoyah High School Christmas Concert

Last night was the Sequoyah High School Christmas concert.  I had several of my YW in the choir.  Nathan and Kate went along with me to support friends.  A couple days before, I went to the Creekview choir concert and one of my young women, Taylor Rethke went with me to support her friends.  It was nice to not have to go alone.  Both schools did a great job.  After the Sequoyah performance, some of the kids came back to watch a movie and I went and got them pizza.

Ryland, Chandler, Kate, Ammon, Nathan, Abby and Cydnee on top.  Substitute Daniel for Cydnee on the bottom.

Christmas Devotional

Tonight was the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.  We had the Potters over to watch it with us.  I made brownies and they brought ice cream.  So fun to have great neighbors!  We all laughed at Josh and Nathan sharing the big chair.  You know it is BIG when they both fit comfortably.  Isaac was very happy to photobomb the picture with his knee and face.

Mom and dad visit/Thanksgiving

We had such a wonderful visit with my mom and dad.  I am so thankful that they were able to come and spend nine days with us!  They got to Atlanta Monday, the the 21st around 10 pm.  Justin and I had attended a funeral of some friends in the ward's son that evening and went straight to the airport after so we were in church clothes.  It was kind of like a date.  We got there a little early and ate dinner at Popeye's in the airport.  After mom and dad arrived, they were hungry so we got them a bite to eat as well and then headed home and straight to bed. 

 My washing machine had broken earlier in the week and Justin and I decided we should replace our 19 year-old dryer as well before it stopped working.  The new washer/dryer was getting delivered that day and they were hauling away the old ones.  We just hung out at home while we waited for the delivery.  Since the room was empty and dad was here, we decided to replace the flooring in the laundry room as the lanolium that was in there didn't fit and was turned funny.  Dad was up for his first thing on my daddy-do-list!  As soon as the washer/dryer was delivered, mom, dad and I we went grocery shopping for everything we would need for Thanksgiving and then after dinner, dad and I headed to Lowes to pick up flooring and supplies we would need for that and also some faucets for the kitchen and Hannah's room for more things on my list:)  We didn't mean to replace the flooring that night but we got home and just kind of started doing it.  It actually went really good!  We found some laminate flooring that looked like wood which was perfect for a laundry room.  It actually went really smooth.  We were finished around 11:30 pm.  I love being able to work with dad.  Justin and Isaac helped out a little as well.

 The walls were pretty banged up so I puttied some spots so I could get up early and paint the wall where the washer and dryer would go before dad hooked the new ones up.  I had a week's worth of clothes to catch up on so we needed to get started.  Wednesday was spent switching laundry, folding clothes, watching Halmark movies while we folded, baking rolls and pie and dad made a huge batch of yummy cookies.  Of course, mom and Hannah had to break out the new puzzle she brought so it could be off the table before dinner the next day.

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner and enjoyed the day hanging out, watching football and playing games.  We ate early enough that we could have left overs for a late dinner.....and of course pie!  Everything tasted so good.  Nathan had to give grandma grief and hide in the picture.  We had a lot to be thankful for this year!

Mom and dad and I also took a nice walk and I made them stop and pose for a picture.  They are just so cute.

 

Friday was the first day of work at Hunter's Christmas Tree Farm for Hannah and Nathan.  It was Hannah's first time working there.  She was going to work a half day and Nathan a full day.  Hannah was quite nervous but very excited.  It was a nice, warm day.

Isaac was sure he would be bored all day while the other two were working.  Mom helped entertain him by playing some video games with him.  I was shocked!  She gets so motion sick.  She made it a couple rounds on the car racing and it made Isaac's day.  

We decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go and play tennis.  Dad, Isaac and I drove to the courts and Justin and mom walked to the courts.  We played doubles.  Mom said she was good to watch and take pictures.  She only almost got hit once.  Justin will brag that he won every set we played with a different partner so he had to be the winner factor.

 Who knows what Isaac was doing.  We are still paying for tennis lessons.  Ha.

 Mom and I drove to the tree farm to pick up Hannah while Isaac started his craft project my mom brought.  Hannah had a great first day!

 Hannah went shopping with some friends and the rest of us relaxed at home and then watched the Boise State foodball game.  They ended up losing to Air Force.  Nathan had a good first day of work and came home exhausted.  They sold lots of trees.

We had hoped to get back to the temple this year with everyone to do baptisms but with the kid's work schedule and the temple being closed and closing early, we were not able to get there.  Nathan and Hannah both worked Saturday.  Hannah worked another half day and Nathan ended up getting home early around 3.  Justin had never been to the tree farm and dad and mom wanted to see the kids working so we all went to pick Hannah up.

It is nice that Nathan could drive them both to work and hiself home!  Dad spent the day working as well.  He changed our leaking kitchen faucet and then he and Nathan put up a cabinet in Hannah's bathroom and changed her faucet that was not working.  He got to watch more football as well.  We ordered pizza for dinner.  Pepperoni pizza, always a favorite for dad!  We also watched a Halmark movie.  Justin and dad just love them.  Ha.

Sunday, we put up the Christmas tree.  

 I guess we wore dad out!

 I love Christmas lights!

 The kids went back to school on Monday and Justin took the day off so we could take mom and dad out for the day.  We decided to take them golfing.....city style that is.  We went to TopGolf.  It was a lot of fun.  It was definitely different from anything they had ever seen.  

 After golf, we went out for chinese food.  We tried a chinese buffet that we had not eaten at before and it was good.  We all ate way too much!

Tuesday was a special day.  Unfortuntely, Justin had to work.  Dad, mom and I went to the temple.  We each did a family name for the endowment and then we did sealings.  Mom and dad sealed a husband and wife and then we sealed seven daughters to their parents.  Hannah did all the work finding the names. 

  Since last year when they were here mom and I chose where we ate after the temple which was mexican and not a favorite of dads, this year we let him choose.  He wanted breakfast.  We tried a place I had been told was really good.  It was called The Original Pancake House.  Mom had coconut pankages that were really good.  Very sweet.  I had pecan waffles and they were really good as well.  Dad got a traditional eggs, pancakes and bacon meal and was happy too.  I felt very spoiled to be able to spend the day with them and have dad take me out for lunch.  Dad also finished his daddy-do list as we replaced the hallway light for the stairs to the basefment.  It was so dim.  We put in a new fixture with brighter bulbs.  

We had to leave for the airport Wedensday morning at 4:45 am.  No traffic though and they had a smooth flight home....very long from Atlanta to Seattle and then short from Seattle to Boise.  Love having them visit!  We miss being close to them but love having them all to ourselves when the come.