Just my own fam "dam" ly

John and Pauline decided to spend Christmas at their cabin again with Suzanne's family.   (I don't blame them it is a very peaceful place)

So she held the annual P.J. gifting party the Sunday before.  

The O.G.'s

The rat pack 

The girls with Baby Alice 

Because we live so close to extended family we aren't used to spending major holidays with just the six of us.    We opened up suggestions with the kids about what to do on Christmas Eve.  I insisted we go the sing along at the Capitol Hill ward  since Emily shared in a sacrament talk a couple of weeks ago that singing the Christmas music and hearing the bells has been a major part of feeling the Christmas spirit.  Ice skating was at the top of the kid list!   Bart didn't share his opinion happy to spend it with us so off we went up to Steiner skate rink for some early afternoon skating before the sing along. 

Having a bummed leg makes me the official photographer of ice skating.   It's a hard job but someone needs to document the day for the blog.   Emily informed me when the youth were planning on an ice skating activity, she made everyone laugh when she impersonated me trying to get everyone to stand close and get a picture.   She's hilarious even if I pretended to be insulted and called her mean for making fun of me.  

They closed the rink sooner than we were expecting and since we were already in Salt Lake we had a couple of hours to kill until the sing a long.   We decided to go out for a lunch/dinner but discovered most restaurants are closed Christmas Eve.   Cheesecake factory was open so we decided to put on name on the wait list and stroll around City Creek Mall while we waiting.    The 45 minute expected wait time turned into 1 hour and a half, they were out of our favorite dishes and the service was so crappy.   Despite the mishaps we had fun playing the texting game cup pong on our phones.  

I also insisted that we do not start opening presents until after Sacrament meeting.   It was not up for debate so the kids didn't give me too much grieve about it.  

I loved opening the gifts not feeling like we were in a hurry.   I cherished all the giggles, hoorays, hugs everyone shared.  

Spencer got his pro scooter he really wanted and it was in red too.  

I surprised Aaron with a subscription to crunch labs with Mark Rober.   It's the gift that keeps on giving and will put his thinking fingers to work.  

Jane got a lot of little cosmetic and a cosmetic fridge to go in her bathroom.  

Emily's list consisted of the things that make her happy.  Clothes and Shoes. 
  

Last summer I discovered the genius behind those popular Stanley cups.  They fit in your drink holder, have a straw and are easy to grab with the handle.   I found a knock off Wal mart one that has suited me fine, the straw is garbage on it but I had too much pride allow myself to be too trendy.  My girls decided it was time to step up and be a 'real" Utah mom.    My sister Raquel gave me one too and I'm humbled to say I love my Stanleys.  I have one that lives in my car and another one that everyone drinks from because it always has the coldest best water in the house.    I guess the only shame is in denial that "I actually am a utah mom so I might as well embrace it and the stanleys that go with it.  

The Girls got Bart a pair of shoes.  New Balances for the win!

The rest of the day we relaxed and prepped for the coming week at the Pace Party and the Cabin.   I just love this Fam 'dam' ly of mine!

The greatest Gift

 For years whenever I would hear the piano guys rendition of "Oh Come Emmanuel", I have told my girls the greatest gift they could give me is someday play this together for me.  

This year they were asked to perform together in our Christmas Sacrament service. They chose the song "Oh Come Emmanuel".   

Words can't express the the feelings I experienced that blessed Christmas day.  The spirit was so strong.  It made Christ part of Christmas this year for me.  I thought my heart would burst with so much pride and love as they shared this gift with me.  I have the most amazing daughters.    They've worked so hard and never quit and now they make such beautiful music.   

Zoey + Zippy

In November Spencer started wondering if Elves have babies at the North Pole and if Zoey would ever have one.  I told him Zoey would have to get married first and she was still single the last time we saw her.      A few days after Zoey's arrival she brought her boyfriend to meet us and asked us to name him.   Aaron was set on Zac but the rest of us said he needs a name that ends in Y to match Zoey and her reindeer Drippy.    Somehow Zippy came about I suggested his middle name could be Zac.  We filled out his certificate with the name Zippy Zac and taped it to the back of the Elf book with the date he came to visit.    

It's around the middle of December and I text my mom/sisters this picture saying guess who got engaged last night.

My mom replied probably before seeing the picture.  'Oh no!  and then follows up with 😂 I thought it was one of your girls."   I reply Zoey is pretty much one of my girls.  She's been part of the family since we moved into this house. 

On Christmas Eve we woke up to find that Zoey and Zippy were married.   Thankfully Zoey discovered the barbie bin in the storage room that had the perfect wedding dress for her.   Some of our stuffed animals were invited and I'm sure it was a beautiful ceremony under the 'Jane tree'.   

Spencer loved waking up bright and early each morning in December.  First he would look for Zoey and then he would open the corresponding day on his Pokemon Advent Calendar.  

Here is the other places we found Zoey each day.  

Dec 1st she arrived with the advent calendars and her reindeer Drippy.

Zoey was so thoughtful to bring Christmas P.J.s and comfy's early in Dec.  Really helps since December is a month of P.J. parties at school. 

My kids thought Zippy must be cold traveling to and from the North Pole each night so we gifted him some Christmas sweaters from amazon.   Emily was a bit jealous after seeing how epic they were wish they came in her size.  

Zoey overheard Aaron saying he wishes she would hide in places more challenging.   The next day after a long search that ended in a game of hot cold the boys found her and Zippy inside one of the ottomans.  

Poor Drippy got thrown across the room in anger.    Good thing the North Pole has a state of the art hospital and Drippy is the forgiving sort of reindeer. 

Emily suggested that the Elves take dancing lesson from Miley Cyrus.  She got the biggest kick when we discovered them hanging from wrecking balls the next day.  

It's almost the end of Christmas break and we are near home driving back from the Escalante cabin.   Spencer gets a real sad voice and says "I don't want to go home."  I say "why you love being home?"  He replied "When we get there Zoey won't be there because she will be gone to the North Pole."    

Number 6

 The past couple of years my toe intermittently would act up and throb.   I'd take it easy for a while and it would go back to normal.   At the end of the summer I somehow jacked it up pretty bad and just hobbled around in pain.  I finally bit the bullet and went back to my orthopedic doctor.    The x-ray confirmed bad  Hallux Rigidus arthritis in my big toe joint.  Basically every time my toe bends the bones were rubbing into each other causing the pain.  He told me the options were to wear an expensive carbon insole in my shoes at all times to prevent the soles on my shoes from bending.  I could treat it with cortisone shots for a while but their effectiveness would wear off over time.  The other option was a surgery to fuse the joint together so it would never bend again.   I told him I would buy an insole and think about the cortisone shot.    

    As I thought more about the options I realized they were just band aids to prolong the inevitable sixth surgery on my foot I would need to have.   Besides money talks.   I met my out of pocket max on a high deductible insurance plan being hospitalized with covid.   Doing the math I realized if went ahead with the surgery now it would be $0.  If I waited even until January it would be well over $4000.  I quietly mulled over these thoughts in my head until the spirit whispered do it now you won't regret it.   Like many things in my life once I get the green light from Heaven everything falls in place perfectly and quickly.  I called and the surgeon who is usually incredibly hard had an opening right before Thanksgiving.   This meant that I could work Monday and have a whole week without having to take leave.   With Christmas break I ended up only having to take 3 weeks off of work.   

    I kept pretty quiet about my surgery only telling essential people.   I asked Bart to give me a blessing and told him to ask our nice older home teacher to help him administer to him.   Brother Erasmus is the sweetest man who occasionally shows up with donuts, cookies, cakes asks us how we are doing and quickly leaves.   I didn't want to feel like a charity case like the other emergency hospital stays so I thought he would be a safe bet to not say much.   I called that wrong because before I got home from the hospital the Relief Society was calling about bringing me in meals.    I can't tell you what a relief it was after the freezer meals and left overs were gone to have hot balanced meals come through the door.   

    It was rough to go 6 weeks non weight bearing but there were many tender mercy's along the way.    1.  I attempted to track down a  knee scooter that my insurance would pay for.   The first place I called said they had one and to stop by with the prescription.  I did during office hours but nobody was there the phone went right to a voice mail and they never returned my call.  I called a couple other places my insurance listed but both said they do not carry knee scooters.   I resorted to calling the dr office and they said the day of surgery they could arrange for one to go home with me.   Well day of surgery comes and the nurse called up to the department and they weren't in yet but promised they would track one down.   In the meantime my surgeon came in and I mentioned the knee scooter and strongly recommended getting one with big rubber tire wheels for better stability etc....     I ended up not going home with a scooter because I discovered I could use some FSA money I had set aside to order a big wheeled one from amazon.   I placed the order and was a little disappointed that it said it would take a week to get here.   After a couple of days of hobbling around not able to hold anything and my arm pits were killing me I said a prayer before bed that my scooter would come quicker.    I wake up the friendly amazon driver knock and Bart opens the door to a huge package.  It was my knee scooter!!!!  

view as I would scoot along so grateful for my clasper and a basket to put random things in

2.    I was worried  about taking narcotics after the surgery.  I'm not against them and think they are a God send when needed but I have too many memories of getting uncontrollably emotional on them and crying hysterically to Bart that he doesn't love me.  I also hate that unsettling feeling when you are coming off of them.    This was the first foot surgery I wouldn't be able to take Ibuprofen (I was told firmly from my surgeon who took care of my stomach after the ulcer exploded) that I must never ingest Ibuprofen again.    I've always been team Ibuprofen instead of Tylenol so I was even more worried about having to take narcotics longer than usual.    I left the hospital with narcotics in my system and a  couple bottles to take as needed but they put a nerve block in my leg that numbed my lower leg and foot.   I didn't feel a thing once it settled in and I opted to go back and get another one because I wanted to spend Thanksgiving at Sarah's house 2 1/2 hours away and thought I would travel better if it was still numb.  So for 48 hours after the surgery I hardly felt anything.    Once the numbing wore off I was able to Rest, Ice, compress and elevate (RICE) my foot taking only tylenol.  The pain has been minimal and I feel so blessed by it.  

3.   I am so grateful and lucky Bart honors his priesthood and was able to give me such a comforting blessing.  The love and gratitude I felt from my family through the blessing has sustained me.   He assured me that in time all the pains in this part of my foot has caused me will go away and I'll return to my normal state.     This phrase has given me the patience I needed when I went to my check up to get my stitches out and they sent me home for another week because they swelling still needed to subside.  When the  Dr. told me to listen to my foot instead of giving me an exact date when I'll be out of my boot I was reminded of the phrase again.  

4.  I've wondered if I was born with two strong legs if I wouldn't need the Lord in my life.  I may never know this but I do know that in my P. blessing I was told that I was willing to come to this life knowing I would face this.   I've been told in a couple of blessings that in the resurrection my body will be perfect.   This time around being so close to Christmas my gratitude that Christ sacrificed his body so everyone will be resurrected.  It was his free gift to each of us.   I'm humbled and overjoyed that no matter what stupid mistakes I make I'll be handed back a body with two strong legs.  I can't wait.  I tell my kids I might be slow now but in the next life I'm going to run a marathon, challenge them to a leg race and wear some smoking hot high heals!!!   

But for now I'll keep slowly walking along doing what I'm meant to do in this life grateful I can!

Whistle while you work part 2

  Bus story in Spencer's words.....

Mom today we had a substitute bus driver.   I was the last one on the bus because Aaron had to stay for Junior coaches, so I had to show him how to get to our neighborhood.   He started whistling so I started whistling.   He then said "How do you know how to whistle".  I told him I've been whistling since I was a baby.   So then we started whistling together until he dropped me off at the bus stop.  

Winters with Ty

 Emily was asked to the Winter's Dance by Ty Spillet.   He asked in the most yummy way!

She didn't take a picture of how she responded but she told me she cut out a large piece of fake grass and wrote on it.   "I bet your grass I'd love to go to winters with you". 

Emily had an angel hands event that day so she met up with them in the afternoon to make ugly sweaters.   Then they went and took pictures.  

Then they went on a fun scavengers hunt at Scheels, ate at the Blue Lemon and made their way to the dance. 

After the dance they made gingerbread houses at one of the boys in the groups house.