Christmas Eve and Morning 2014

This was a very significant Christmas.  First and most important, it was our first Christmas with grandchildren!  Yeah and one on the way in 2015.  Second, for the first time since our first couple of years of marriage, Grandma Hall didn't have Christmas Eve at her house.  Instead we decided as a family to move it to the Monday prior to Christmas so that the grandchildren can stay rather than trying to rush off to meet obligations at their other extended families parties.  As a result of both of those, the third thing we decided was that as a family with grandchildren we were going to hold our special holiday time together on Christmas Night with dinner, games, and whatever.  Christmas Eve they can spend with other family or just their own family. 

 

This year for Christmas Eve, the four of us (Ben, Jena, Gary and I) headed out for Chinese food (this year-Panda Express) and then watched the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Program and another Christmas show.  Then we hung our stockings in our shortened but still crazy Train with Gary in the lead.  Ben headed back to the CRU for the night and we headed to bed to dreams "of sugar plums" or whatever dancing in our heads.

Christmas morning:



Youngest to older to retrieve the stockings

New ornaments from Jessica and Elessia

Jena has taken over Jessica's job of shopping with Gary for my gifts on the day before Christmas.  She also helped him wrapped most of the gifts as well.  I sometimes use random Christmas people to put in the "From" slot so Jena does that as well.  I loved this one from "Trees".  Makes sense with the tag.

I still hang up all of the stockings even though "Santa" no longer fills Jessica's, Scott's or Tosha's.  I love seeing them hanging over the fireplace and love the colors and design of the stockings.  Jena is campaigning for new stockings as she would like one with her name on it.  I am resisting because these are history for me.  I feel justified because Jessica told me that she likes seeing the stockings hanging over the fireplace at Christmas time, too.

As the youngest, Jena passes out the presents to each of us.  It was a great relaxing morning and I was content.  I was glad to know that each of my kids were surrounded by people they love and love them and having a good day.  I am okay that my kids are growing up and having sweet moments with their families.  That is what I wanted for them.  It only will keep getting better for them as they love their mates and strengthen their families which they are building.

 

Of course, it helps that I knew that they all (except for Jessica and Elessia who were in Arizona for the holiday with Elessia's family) coming for dinner and games that night.

 

We headed over to Scott's and Chantel's to enjoy a bit of Christmas morning time with them and Scarlett.  That will be part of our tradition for the families who live close by that we will try to make a visit during the morning.  Scarlett was happy as usual and loved trying to rip open the presents.

 

Opening a present

It snowed on Christmas morning so Scott got a bowl
for Scarlett to check out.  I don't think she was impressed.

New clothes for Christmas
 

We headed back home and began making our preparations for Christmas dinner.





Where to start...

It has been a fun December with more fun to come.  I had to review the photo gallery in my phone so that I can remember the things I want to include in my posts for the month.

First, we have an amazing "Hawaiian Christmas Party" with shredded pork, pineapple, and rice for dinner with our ward.  We had a very nice musical program with the nativity.  The highlight of the evening was when the MC announced that the children needed to get their coats on and head out to the field by the Stake Center because our special visitor was arriving.  The MC had already announced that Santa had had a problem with his sleigh and got stuck in Hawaii but had found some alternate transportation.  As soon as I stepped outside, I could hear the sounds of a helicopter--yep, that is right, Santa arrived to the Walnut Grove Ward in a HELICOPTER!  How cool is that!  The helicopter flew over a couple of times and then landed in the baseball field and headed out of the cockpit to the cheers and singing of the crowd.  Even people in the neighborhood around the Church were on their decks watching the arrival.  I didn't know I would want a picture of Santa's arrival so no pictures, but just imagine the excitement of the kids.  Ward members said their kids were telling everyone about the helicopter.

(Less you think our ward has more ward budget than your ward--a ward member had a connection who arranged the arrival.)

That was the beginning of our Christmas celebrations for the year.  The following Tuesday Jena had a party with 11 other girls from her Special Olympics team, there were programs and assemblies at school, activities at Church.  Having only one person still in school it wasn't as crazy as when all five were home.  With Special Olympics Bowling with Gary and Uncle Allan on Mondays, YW on Wednesday, working at the bowling alley on Thursday, and theatre class on Friday, Jena has a fairly busy typical life of a senior.  On top of that, she has also had play practices at school for their upcoming musical in January "Spelling Bee".  Often she was going straight from play practice to her next activity.

We did get our Christmas tree and other decorations put up prior to our adult Christmas party:

I love this picture of Jena.

One highlight for her was her Christmas program of her theatre class.  She is in a class called "Friend to Friend" and includes people with disabilities from age 15 and older.  She has enjoyed this class although it is very different from her other theatre experiences.  The teacher is awesome and loves what she does.  They performed their Christmas concert on December 13 at the Centerpoint Theatre "BIG" stage.  Jena was thrilled.  I have to say that I was teary most of the performance.  I wish you could have all been there.  Here is an sample of what you missed.

Performing "Santa Baby"

"When You Wish Upon a Star"
Jena was the first one out on the stage during this number.

One of the group numbers

 They sang about 10 numbers along with dancing.  It was awesome.  Near the end they showed a slide show of the kids with a parent (the one who picked them up one day).  When the lights came back up, each performer was holding a single red rose.  Then they asked a parent to come up and get their rose because they were grateful for the support of their parents.  As I walked to the stage in front of Jena I just started crying seeing the other parents getting their roses and hugging their child.  Jena handed me the rose and told me thank you and I love you.  You got to love that girl.

Then they ended their program and their teachers announced that there was going to be a special visitor.  I don't know about you but Special visitor in December usually means "Santa Claus".  Look who came on stage with them:

Olaf--a star from the Disney movie "Frozen". 

Olaf was much more exciting than Santa.  They were so excited.  They had a short dance party with him and all got to talk and hug him if they wanted.  Unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the stage so didn't get a good picture of Jena hugging Olaf.  It was so fun to watch them dance.

Cast party:  Jena, Kaitlyn and Emily
Kaitlyn came to watch them perform.

Jena, Gary and Grandma Hall headed off to lunch and I headed down to visit Ben who was still in the hospital in Salt Lake.  Then we all met up at home and finished our plans for our Hall Almost Annual Adult Christmas Party--Year 24 we believe.  We loved it and enjoyed having new and old friends join us for this annual event.  We played some games including the Newlywed Christmas Game, Christmas Scene Competition (think paper plate on your head trying to draw a scene being described to you), and "Two truths and a Lie" (where people had to tell two things that they really would want for Christmas this year if money wasn't an object and one that they wouldn't want.  Then we tried to guess which was the lie.  My lie was going with Gary to a Dallas Cowboy game.  I personally would be happy to go to a Cowboy game but Gary doesn't like the Cowboys so it wouldn't be fun to take him with me.)  And of course we did a white elephant gift exchange and for the first time ever the same person who brought the lizard this year also took it home again--the first repeat!

We are already trying to figure out something unique to do for our 25th anniversary year of our party next year--maybe a reunion with people from Texas and Hong Kong coming!  Start planning now to join us :)

In between all of this partying, I finished up my final papers for my first semester of graduate school.  I have loved school so far even with being sick and I look forward to my next semester.  However it is nice to have a break to get ready for Christmas and trying to do some spring cleaning while I have extra time.

I also still have the great opportunity to watch sweet Scarlett on Wednesdays when Chantel and Scott are working.  She is really working on sitting up and one Wednesday that is about all she wanted to do.  She loves this ball even though it rolls away and she can't get it in her mouth.  Being a grandma is pretty great.

Learning to sit up

I updated my pictures on the refrigerator with some newer pictures of Niki and Scarlett.  I love seeing their smiling faces every day even when I can't see them in person.  And now it also includes updated ultrasound pictures and baby bump pictures of Jessica.

 

The partying continued through this past week and Jena had a birthday party as well to attend.  I was excited for Friday to finally arrive as we were gathering for a family dinner for the gender reveal party for Jessica.  That deserves its very own post!!!

Happy Thanksgiving 2014

Our Thankful Board

I hung this board in our entry and the idea was that we would have everyone who came to our house write something they were thankful for on it.  However with the month we had, not many people came into our house and when they did, I didn't think to have them do it.  There is always next year!

As I mentioned, I spent Thanksgiving at home without any of the food or trimmings and that was fine.  It was a good day of getting better.

Gary and Jena went down and visited Ben and ate a nice Thanksgiving dinner at the cafeteria at the hospital.  They both returned stuffed they reported.  Then in the late afternoon they picked up Uncle Allan and headed over to Mom Hall's for 49er Football (sad night as they lost) and "Leftovers" which was another huge meal in itself.  They felt like they had a good holiday all in all.

Jessica and Elessia stayed in Salt Lake and went to a movie before they both headed to work.  Jessica had the day off but volunteer to work for someone who had children so they could spend part of the holiday together.

Scott and Chantel and Scarlett had a fun day at her parents.  Scarlett was the highlight of the day, of course.

Tosha, Austen and Niki spent the holiday with some friends although it didn't go exactly as she planned. It was okay, she reports.  I am sure that Niki was the center of their dinner as well.  Austen reports that his friends are complaining that Niki is making all of their wives baby hungry because he is so mellow and happy.

They just found out that Austen has orders for Okinawa and has to report there by the end of May.  Gary's first response is no, you don't get two trips a year there to visit them.  Hopefully I will get one at least--I am thinking next Christmas would be a good time.  We will have to see.

I am not sure what my dad and Karla did on Thanksgiving but I am happy to report they didn't starve as my dad is still checking on me through email.

So things worked out.  We have a lot to be grateful for.

Happy Thanksgiving, one and all!

A Bowl Of Soup

Despite the fact that I have been a Relief Society President, when I am sick, my first thought isn't to call her to let her know that I need meals.  Besides, Gary, Ben and Jena are old enough to manage feeding themselves.  And frankly the first three weeks I was too sick to talk to anyone.  I think I didn't even email my dad until right before having surgery.  I feel dads have the right to know those types of things before they happen but I was just too sick to do it sooner.  So basically few people knew about the stone in October and we just kind of flew under the radar so to speak.  Then as my friends found out, we were harassed by them for not letting them know and we reminded them of times they had done the same to us and we all laughed and life goes on........but I kept being sick and Ben was getting worse.

On November 11 at 11:00 p.m. I got home from school and listened to my voice mail.  One message was from the Relief Society President telling me that a single lady I visiting teach was having surgery the next day and could I bring her dinner Wednesday night.  I was reviewing my Wednesday in my mind as I listen to the next message which informed us Ben had been taken to the ER.  Of course off I went and it wasn't until 5:00 a.m. Wednesday morning that I was home again.  The second night I hadn't gone to bed before 5 a.m..

It seemed like a simple thing--take a plate of dinner to my beloved sister, but that morning at that time, it seemed way more than I could do.  I knew that I had to make another trip down to visit Ben that night and I had to sleep sometime during the day and my health was so shaky that I wasn't even sure I was cooking dinner.  So I composed a text saying that I would need someone to do this task for me.  I didn't feel bad as I realized that I really did have a lot going on, but I was sad.  I would loved to have taken food into her in her time of need.

Sometime in the morning I got a sweet text for Betty Van Orden, our Relief Society President--who is one of the sweetest people in the world--saying that she was bringing us dinner that night at 5.  I wrote back a response saying we were fine but just take care of Elaine.  I didn't hear back from her so that is how we left it.

At 4 I headed to catch a nap before driving to Salt Lake to see Ben.  I asked Gary to stay until about 5:15 just in case she was bringing dinner despite my text.  Sure enough, promptly at 5, I heard the door bell and voices as she and her husband dropped off homemade chicken soup, bread, and a cake.  Gary and Jena ate and then headed off for their evening activities and obligations while I slept.

It was dark and quiet in the house when I woke up at 6 p.m..  I heated myself a bowl of soup and curled up in the lazy boy chair in our bedroom to eat it before heading off to Salt Lake. Literally as I took the first bit of soup, my whole being filled with love--like the soup had been filled with magic dust.  It made me cry as I felt as if I could physically feel the love that Betty had for me and her thoughts about me as she made the soup that day. And that feeling of love expanded to my sisters in our ward and then of course I felt strongly the love of our Heavenly Father and our Elder brother, Jesus Christ.  That's a lot from one bit of soup--far more than simple words can express.

I ate only that soup for three days anytime that I felt I could eat something.  It became like manna to me at a difficult time in my life. I want to never forget that experience and I hope that some day in some way I can play it forward.

And we have benefited from other meals as I was sick this past week and each one of them bring with them the love and joy of friendships.  We are so grateful for all of them and their service to our family.

"Tangled Weave" or "I'm Human Again!" (you add the tune.)

I have two titles to this post and since I couldn't decide I am using them both.(the titles are actually kind of important to me.  I am odd that way.) Two titles but no pictures.

We will start with the "Tangled Weave" angle:  (Spoiler alert:  If you aren't into kidney stones, you can skip this whole post.  This is for my family who may get kidney stones themselves sometime in the future although I certainly hope no one does.)

As I checked back I see the last post that I wrote about having kidney stones was called:  "14 days and counting" referring the number of days I had been dealing with my kidney stone.  Unfortunately, the "and counting..." proved to be prophetic as I ended up counting and counting more days in which I was dealing with this kidney stone which had been removed on Oct. 3.  It was the gift that kept giving, I guess.

So, when I last wrote I was waiting for the stent to be removed.  That happened on Oct. 14.  It was a quick and simple procedure which they did in the office.  I was so excited since many of the issues I was having were likely due to my body's reaction to that tiny bit of tubing.  When the doctor removed it, he indicated that there was still lots of swelling and healing going on in the bladder and tubing and that I would be very sick for the next few days but then I should start feeling better.  I wasn't happy to hear about the "very sick" part but figured to be better in a few days was awesome news.  He was right. I was miserable.  I went to one of my classes that night but couldn't stay for the later one and was back in bed for the next four or five days.

And it dragged on and on.  I continued to be sick to my stomach and feeling like I had a constant bladder infection with pain.  I would have some periods when things would calm down and I could sit at a computer and work for an hour or two.  I would also have times of severe cramping and pain where all I could do is lay on the couch with ice and heating pad at the same time.  Ice for kidney pain, heating pad for everything else.  It didn't make sense to me that I was still feeling so sick.  Finally at the end of October (mind you this was all going on with the rest of our lives still happening--hence the tangled weave.), I finally called the doctor again and left a message with my current symptoms.  I got a message back for the nurse:  "It sounds like the other kidney stone is moving.  You need to come in today so we can check it and see where it is at and if it is safe to try to pass."  Shock--neither Gary or I had been told that there was a second stone in my kidney!  It took some time to have that sink in and I really didn't like the idea of going through the past month again with a new stone.  In addition this was the Tuesday just prior to Halloween and the UDSF Conference so I was not in favor of dealing with a kidney stone at all.

Gary and I met with the PA, redid the CAT scan and sure enough, he reported that the stone had moved down the tube.  He assured me that it was half the size of the first one and that I would be able to pass it on my own without surgery.  I asked for a promise that it wouldn't happen during my speech on Saturday, but no luck.  He gave me a prescription and off we went to wait for the stone to pass.  It took me all afternoon to deal with the fact that there was really another stone--I know it sounds dramatic but somehow learning about the second was harder than the first.  The first one I was in such pain I was just glad that they knew what it was and that it wasn't forever.  By now it had been a month and it felt like forever.

Right before I left for school, I picked up our voice messages and found one from the PA.  He said that as he reviewed the former CAT scans with the new one, he realized what he thought was a stone was actually something located outside the tube and a non issue.  The stone itself was still in the kidney.  However since the kidney was still not draining appropriately that I should continue taking the medication to help the tube in the healing process but if I didn't feel better in a week, I needed to come back in.  Good news, bad news--stone still there but maybe not going to impact that week's activities.  Stones can actually remain in your kidney and cause no problems for your entire life.  It is when they move that the problems start.

Slowly it seemed like I was getting better but it was very slow--kind of two steps forward and one step back.  Unpredictably I would have a bad few hours or a day or two when I was back in bed and then it would be better for awhile.  But I continued to have a feeling like a bladder infection although I had no fever.  The week went by and I called and asked for another week of medication as I felt I just needed to keep healing.  By the next week, I should have gone in but was too busy with Ben and catching up with life.  Jena had a doctor's appointment that week with our family practice doctor so I gave him my sob story and he gave me more Flomax which was the medication to keep the tubes open and healing.

Then on November 19 I had another bad day--Gary gave me the "look" and so I called my urologist.  The soonest they could see me was the Tuesday prior to Thanksgiving which was 6 days away.  Oh well. I hoped I would be better and could cancel the appointment.

I was good enough by the weekend that we were able to watch Scarlett on Saturday for a few hours and then attend a play at the Hale Theatre ("Catch Me If You Can" excellent).  I didn't sleep great that night but got up and got ready for Church.  Unfortunately (or actually fortunately for my ward), I got very sick to my stomach and ended up at home for the day with all of the signs of a stomach virus--vomiting and high fever.  That is never fun at any time but when your bladder is already stressed, it doesn't make things better.  I felt miserable again very fast.

It has now been almost 2 months--how much trouble can two kidney stones cause?  A lot.  It didn't help in the middle of it a friend posted that she was in the ER with a kidney stone in Seattle.  A week later I emailed her to see how she was feeling and she sent me back a link to someone singing "It's a beautiful life" or something sappy like that.  Once her stone passed she felt back to normal....I felt like a slug on a bug!

Tuesday morning I was still throwing up and running a high fever.  I hate going to the doctor's when I am actually sick and I wasn't sure my urologist really wanted to see me sick.  On the other hand, I wasn't better and the holiday weekend was coming up.  I spoke with his staff and they indicated that I should come in--wearing a mask, of course.

Four and a half hours later, Gary and I headed home after two shots, two prescriptions, one CAT scan, one urine test and 1 bag of IV saline solution.  It was determined that I had a virus and a massive bacteria infection in my bladder (which I think I have had for the entire time.)  In the middle of all of the bad news and procedures, we were also told that the second kidney stone was gone.  That was the high point of my week.  It meant that I really could get better and that all of the pain and days of discomfort over the past four weeks had actually been worth something.  I couldn't make it to school that night as I still was running a fever and all of the other illness stuff but I was so happy to know I was really finally maybe getting better.

We did cancel Thanksgiving dinner at our house with our kids and my dad and Karla which was sad.

However Thanksgiving morning was the day that I woke up and actually felt like I was better both from the virus and the infection.  I spent most of the day by myself but I actually found myself singing "I'm Human Again" out loud several times during the day as the evidence of healing was everywhere. 

I didn't sit around a Thanksgiving dinner table and tell what I was grateful for but I was very grateful for health and medications to fix things when things go wrong.  The other thing I have been so grateful for is Gary.  He has been amazing!  He has taken care of his life (which is quite full already) plus the running around with Jena, plus making sure they ate, and spending time just sitting with me watching TV for awhile.  He took me to appointments even through the pictures in the urologist office gave him "the willies".  He kept life moving and happy even as I laid on the couch for days on end.  Jena and Ben also looked after me bringing me water or juice.  And of course the other kids were always checking in by phone or text.  Families are awesome. No one should be sick alone.

And now it is December 1 and I would say that I am almost back to normal and NORMAL is good.  It is amazing how our bodies work when they are working right.

And that is the final end to the story of the kidney stones. Whew! (Well, actually there is one more short little tale to be told.  It will be in the next post:  "A Bowl of Soup".)