Happy Birthday, Ezri!

...a few days late.  She was very sick on her birthday and for the days afterwards.  Today, we headed over this afternoon to celebrate with her Baby Sharks cake.

She blew the candles out as Jessica was putting the cake on the table so we had to relite them so we could get the traditional "blowing out the candles" photo.

These are the baby shark family which had been on her cake.

She was excited to finally celebrate her birthday and loved her presents as well. It is fun to finally have your birthday when you are the "last" in the year to celebrate.
 

Jena's December

Jena is involved in two different performing groups--a dance class and a theatre class and December is the time for Christmas performances which includes extra practices and dress rehearsals.  If you know Jena, you know she lives for this stuff--the costumes, the practices, and performing and the wonderful friends and teachers she works with. We and (Jena) are blessed because of their service.

First it was a performance of her dance class on the first Saturday of December.  They danced at a retirement home in Bountiful....

Her group plus her teacher Mya

They danced to a number from The Grinch.  It was darling.

She then attended a dress rehearsal for her theatre group in Centerpointe and then we headed south to Sandy to their performance at the Festival of Trees (a famous fundraiser for Primary Children's Hospital).

As usual, the Christmas trees on display are incredible.  We took a picture of this Snoopy tree for our friend, Sister Jones, who is a big fan.

So many trees.......

Then the following Friday evening, Saturday morning, and tomorrow night, Jena is performing with her Friend to Friend group at Centerpointe Theatre.

posing by their tree before her first performance

The show was called "Light of Christmas" and feature many songs from Siamese Street.  It was a fun performance which made you laugh (and also cry those happy tears).

Jena was an angel in the Nativity scene.

They did a darling act from the 12 days of Christmas.  Jena's friend Maddie was the partridge in the pear tree.  She did awesome.

Jena also had a line during a section where they were talking about kindness.  Her line was:  Kindness is magic.  She did it perfectly--right on time.

This was the cutest song about the broken bell on Santa's sleigh that went 'Bong" instead of ding a ling.  The junior class did just a cute job of making silly poses to represent the "bong."  Loved it.

After the Saturday performance, we headed to the Christmas/cast party at a local church.

And from that party, Jena changed clothes and we headed to Davis Lanes for the first day of Special Olympics bowling.  This was the first time that she has seen most of her Comet Team members and she loved it.  Parents and friends were coming over and telling her how much they had missed her.  She told me about half way through "It is just like old times."  She loves this sweet Special Olympic family as we do, too.

And she did pretty good for her first day back and with three games of bowling which she hasn't done since 2019.  She got an 88, 115, and 90.

Despite the craziness of not being settled into our house, Jena has done great and she finds great joy in these activities and the people she interacts with. And tomorrow, she will have their last performance and then head back for her YSA Christmas Party.  So more fun times ahead.

Student(s) of the Month

About a month ago, Jessica invited me to the "Student of the Month" assembly as Zander was getting that award for his second grade class.  His was at 8:30 am.  Then a week before the assembly, she notified me that Liam's teacher had reached out to let them know that Liam was getting the same award in his class.  His assembly was at 9:15.  So, it became a two for one deal--I thought that was great that it worked out that way.

It was also pajama day at school--not sure if that is the look you want to see in your photos as a teenager, but makes it a unique photo op for grandmas.

The boys did not know beforehand so they wondered why we were all there sitting in the chairs at the back of the room with other parents.  They are new enough in the school to not know all of the routines.  They were happy to see us and happy to get the student of the month for their class.

Just one of the fun moments when you live by some of your grandkids!  I know that Niki and Cooper have gotten "SOAR" awards in their schools and Scarlett and James have gotten similar things as well.  For the most part, our grandkids like school and that is a good thing since it is basically their "job" as American kids.  I loved school (usually) and would probably go to school for the rest of my life if it was practical and I didn't have other things to do. I am sure there are a few more school classes in my future.  I have a list.....
 

"My" Remodel

I told Gary that while we are remodeling the house, apparently I also need to be "remodeled."  He assured me that it was the worth the expense and he didn't just want to "trade me in for a new younger model."

On December 3, I had the cataract removed from my right eye and will have the left eye done tomorrow.  People told me that it will be amazing how much colors change.  I was doubtful because I didn't really notice the colors changes.  For me, it was seeing in the dark and especially while driving that was getting harder and harder.  However, people were right.  Colors are so much brighter and intense that before.  Even my eye drops were a bright yellow--I had thought they were basically yellow-tinted.  Crazy.  I guess that changed so slowly and didn't impact life in the same way as the dark problems.  We chose to do the new transition type of replacement lens and it is remarkable how clear I can see with that eye.

Currently I am wearing my glasses with the right lens removed so that my left eye still gets correction.  By the end of the day, it is more likely that my left eye is tired, rather than my right eye.  As my doctor pointed out, it is a bit tricky for one eye to be corrected at the lens and the other one to use the glasses a inch away from the eye.

When you have cataract surgery, they do not put you a sleep.  I was not excited about the thought of that, but decided if millions of people could do it every year, I could manage it as well.  It was actually quite remarkable.  The untreated eye is covered, but all you can see in the other eye is bright lights.  They give you some medication to make you relax and not care---I had had something similar years ago in IVF treatment, but it left me with a feeling of being loopy.  This medication didn't leave any sense of anything. I remember thinking during the surgery that I could move or do whatever I want, but I didn't need to do anything, but lay there and breath.  I could hear them talking and the doctor would give me little updates along the way, but it was just a peaceful odd experience. Afterwards I didn't feel any side effects at all and Gary was disappointed that I didn't do anything silly he could report to the kids.  The whole surgery takes about 15 minutes.

It will be nice to get the other eye done tomorrow.

Then I went to the dentist for a checkup and cleaning and there is a whole other set of stuff going on with my gums and my teeth that need to be fixed.  One old crown needed to be replaced (half way through that process right now) and another tooth will need to be replaced (we knew it would need to be done eventually).  So, in January, I go in for more "repair work".

And I haven't even done my hearing checked yet. Unfortunately will probably some sort of reno for my hearing as well. Getting old has its disadvantages.

House Remodel

It has been and continues to be a process to get our main level remodeled, but progress is being made.

We hired our contractors. We have opted for two different contractors--one for the master bathroom (a friend who unexpectedly had some time due to a permit delay on a big project he is committed, too) and someone different to do the rest of the house.  On top of that, Gary Kerr and Gary are doing the library wall in the living room.

The master bathroom has been demoed which required us moving out of the master bath and bedroom into the office which required Gary to move his office out to the empty TV room.

Gary's temporary office

"New" master bedroom with our clothes
in the coat closet, Jena's closet, the office
closet, and in Jena's bathroom.

The old master bedroom is currently holding
our bathroom cabinets which we are going to reuse
as well as the new tub and other supplies for
the bathroom

The master bath--
the floor is now removed as well
Next step is for the plumber to come 
and move some drains and lines
for the new tub and shower

Part of this process is the "picking" of everything. Sean, our main contractor, said that I am pretty quick in making our selections.  That is what happens when you have been planning something for a few months.  I know what I like and what works for us.  Ironically, basically all of our paint colors are similar to the existing colors.  Even though change paint can totally change a space, I guess I am happy with our spaces because there isn't much about paint color that we will change.

One change I made reluctantly is the move to stainless steel appliances.  I am not a fan.  I like white and was hoping to have white again.  However, my options for white are fairly limited with the options we wanted for the fridge.  I either had to take the white glass option which I didn't like at all or pay WAY more for the appliances to get the CAFE white model with gold handles.  It was not worth the money to do that, so we made the choice to go with the stainless steel--the kind that "resists" fingerprints.

Gary Kerr, using my sketch, designed and is building (with Gary's help) the library wall in our living room.  Gary is a very talented woodworker and designer.  He built the cabinets, shelves, and mantel in our downstairs game room.  Although I didn't want to burden him with this project, I was delighted when he asked if he could build it.  It will make this special spot even more important.

The sign of construction--plastic to keep the dust flying through the house while they cut wood for the book shelf.

The work has begun......

Happy Birthday, Zander!

We had a bit of an early birthday celebration with Zander since I was having cataract surgery on Tuesday, December 3 the day before his actual birthday.  One fun thing about Zander is he is very expressive of his excitement about presents.  It is fun to watch him open his gifts and see his joy. Zander loves math and science and Pokeman.

He has a Pokeman cake but it is hard to see with all of the lights and candle action going on.

It is great to be nearby and celebrate these milestones with them.  Next up Ezri's birthday----

On the way home, we drove by the Ogden City Hall with their light displays.  We decided it was too cold that night to walk around but we still enjoyed the lights.

Although more and more people are getting permanent lights on their houses and provide changing light displays for every holiday and in-between, it is still awesome to watch our streets and neighborhoods all bit up for the season.
 

A Quick Visit with Sister "Leah" Holding

 

Friday morning (the day after Thanksgiving as I am still playing catch-up with the blog.) we headed to Sandy to visit with Sister Holding.  It is hard to explain the connections we feel with the young missionaries we served with in Ft. Smith Zone.  We love them and feel connected with them in ways which are hard to explain.  We plan on being connected with them forever.  Sister Holding is one of those.  We visited with her family up in Post Falls at the beginning of November before she came home.  And we went to her grandmother's home to see her and her family in person.  How wonderful it was to reconnect and feel those connections again.

We are excited to watch her grow as the rest of her life unfolds.  She and Jena have a close bond as well and it was fun to see that as well.  And her family was great, too.  Her grandmother was near our age and I instantly loved her, too.  There are people who are like that.  She mostly just sat and watched us interact with Leah.  She told me as we were leaving that she loved seeing that and to know that Leah was so loved while she was away in Arkansas.  I dare say that everyone loved Sister Holding.  She is a fun and wonderful person....and even though we are old, we are her friends forever.

And as an extra bonus, we stopped by to visit with the Beckstrands who lived very close to where we were at.  Double bonus to spend time with our dear friends...then home to get ready for the bowling.

Our mission is a blessing which keeps giving.

Post Reunion Fun

Since we already had "Thanksgiving" and we had left overs, Thanksgiving day was much more relaxed.  Jessica and family met us at the movie theatre and we all watched Moana 2 together.  Then on Friday, Scott and his family joined all of us (except Ben) for bowling and fun at The Rush.

This time we only had the kids bowling with adults providing technical support. Except for Jena who likes to bowl as well.

Then they headed to the climb wall and foam pit.

Several tried skating but Scarlett is definitely our pro.  I loved watching her skate.

It is a lot of work to help little ones figure out skating,  Niki and Cooper kept trying to get their strides.  That is a skill as well. It takes practice.

Family moments!

Saturday morning, Niki, Cooper and Ava painted rocks in the morning before they headed to the Russell Thanksgiving dinner and fun.  

Scott and Chantel and family flew home on Saturday afternoon and the Russells left early Sunday morning. It has been quiet since they left.  But how blessed we have been to spend time together building relationships and memories.  I love these humans!!!

And I took a nap on Sunday rather than working on the blog!!!