Steve's Knee Surgery

I just wanted to do a quick post about Steve's surgery. He went in this morning at about 9am to get his left knee worked on. He blew it out in 2008 and it has been periodically falling out of place. He's been wearing his knee brace the past 6 months or so to keep it in place, so we finally decided he'd better get the surgery done. Thankfully Dave was able to take him to the hospital (unfortunately I couldn't get off work). The surgery took about 2 hrs, then they waiting in the recovery area until the anesthesia wore off a little and he wasn't as nauseous. Dave then took him home and let him rest. When I got home he feel asleep most of the night but is doing well. Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers; we really appreciate it!


Waiting for the Dr to come in.


Shaving his knee to get it ready for surgery

His cute knee all shaved and marked for surgery ;)

Out from surgery and doing well

Keeping the cold water on his knee and the brace in place he's ready to go home!

Where has December gone ?

Wow December has been soooo busy and has flown by quickly. I can't believe it's the 20th already. Let me hurry and try to catch up on what's been going on.

The first weekend of the month was good. Friday December 2nd after work I ended up helping Steve w/ his portfolio/homework. Kinda lame I know, but we had to do get it done. Then we went and got a couple groceries. I made some ginger snaps. They turned out pretty good.

Then Saturday I slept in while Steve went and helped Dave put the tracks on the atvs to get ready for the snow. Then we went to a baptism for the oldest girl in our primary. We had a lot of support from Branch members. Then we went w/ a couple in our branch to dinner and festival of trees. It was really crowded but the trees were so beautifully decorated; it was incredible! We then went back to their place and played ticket to ride. I made some Carmel popcorn to munch on as well. We then talked w/ them until like 2am. Luckily I didn’t have early meetings.

Sunday as a presidency we gave the lesson from President Uchtdorf's message in Relief Society called, "Forget me not." We divided up the sections. I think it turned out really well. The Spirit was strong and I think the message came across as intended. We then had our RS meeting afterwards to go over Christmas party, which was that Friday the 9th. After my meeting Steve and I took a nap then watched the Christmas devotional. I made these pretzels; they were yummy. Easy too. Then I called and talked to Rose for a bit to see how things were going.

Monday the 5th for FHE Steve and I watched Pirates 4. I also worked on our Christmas Production Schedule, then put chicken, potatoes and stuffing in the crock-pot w/ cream of chicken. It turned out really yummy. As Steve said, "It's like Thanksgiving again!"

Tuesday through Thursday we were pretty much getting ready for the Branch Christmas Party. Picking up last minute items, and dropping off food for people to make and bring to party. Ironically the Jeep had a flat tire, so we were had to share the Corolla. Thursday, after the special needs mutual was over at 8:30pm, we finally got to set up for the dinner. We put up White Christmas lights around the gym, trees on the stage w/ pictures of the Savior, 12 round tables w/ 8 chairs per table, black tablecloths, table settings up, and our Christ display in the overflow up and ready too. In between setting up I also made a green bean casserole, dropped off a turkey and potatoes to make, and picked up a bunch of lights from a member to use. It was a late night. Tuesday we also found out we only had 6 water pitchers, so I found some for a good price and ordered them and rushed them of course.

Friday morning, the 9th, Pauline asked me if we could watch Charlotte that night while they went to Chris's work party. I knew I had LOTS to do, but figured she'd be good for us anyway. After I got off work we waited for Charlotte to come and the pitchers. Pauline dropped her off just after 6pm then we rushed over to the church (again only 1 car). After a few minutes I had the thought to have Steve go home and check to see if the pitchers had been delivered. He said as he pulled in the UPS man was trying to leave. Apparently he had left us a note on the door which said he'd try the next day. Steve then flagged him down and said he should have some packages for us. He wasn't too happy about looking in his truck again, but he did and found 3 packages for us (1 w/ pitchers in them and 1 w/ Christmas Presents). Steve of course "accidentally" opened his gift but he did get all the pitchers and brought them to the church just in time for the party to start.....so I guess we'll forgive him for cheating on what he's getting. :)

We asked people to come a little before 6:30pm so we could start on time. The Party went like this:

• The guests were greeted by branch missionaries as they walked in
• Went through the overflow which had pictures of the Savior, nativities and the video "Witness of Christ" playing, w/ lower lighting
  
• As they came out another set of branch missionaries who took their coats, then seated them to a table
• The guests were then shown where to get punch (cranberry-pomegranate w/ lemon-lime soda) and to guess how many were in the candy jars
• About 15 minutes later we had the Primary kids go to the stage and sing "Picture a Christmas" which was our theme for the night. Charlotte even decided to join in, though I don't think she really knew the words but she was still cute up there anyway, especially considering we had 2 girls and 1 boy total.
• President Thorup then welcomed everyone to the party and we said a prayer
• Everyone then got their food, traditional turkey, potatoes, stuffing, veggies, etc.
• About 45-55 minutes later we played a 5 minute video of "Joy to the World" (muted) while played "Breath of heaven"
• President Thorup then gave a short message including the poem "Teach the Children"
• We had everyone sing "Silent Night" together
• Had a closer prayer and were done by 8pm
• We had the branch missionaries then pass out small candy canes and copies of "The Living Christ" w/ a picture of the Savior on the back (laminated)
• We cleaned up and were all out of there by 9pm!
  

We wanted it to be short and sweet and to focus on the Savior. I think everyone could say they felt the Spirit and remembered Christ. We barely had enough food though . We had about 100 people show up. President Thorup said that’s the most people that have ever come to a branch activity! So we didn’t really have any leftovers which was good and Charlotte was pretty good too. We found some other little girls to play with while we were cleaning up. A lot of people came up to me and said this was the best Christmas Party they've ever attended, ever! It was really nice of them to say that. Most people had only positive things to say, which made me happy! It was a lot of work but definitely worth it! When we got back to our place we put "Tangled" on for Charlotte, put her in her pjs, then waited for Chris and Pauline to show up. She was no problem though.

The next day I went with Stacie and Kim (my sister in laws) to the Women's Expo in Sandy. It was fun. We watched around and looked at the exhibits but didn't really buy anything. We then went to Cafe Rio for lunch and got to just chat. It was just to be "just the girls" and get to know each other better. ;) Steve of course went fishing w/ Dave and Zach while we were gone. He also fixed the Jeep tire, which I was thankful for. There was a nail in it.

Steve working the fly rod
Steve and Zach in the cold water....don't worry they're wearing waders

Steve with his BIG fish ;)



That night we went downtown to The Roof to celebrate Dave and Joann's 35th wedding anniversary w/ all the kids and their spouses, no kids. It was fun to be w/ everyone and the dinner was great....though because it's December traffic was insane.

Sunday after church, meetings and home teachers, we headed up to Centerville to celebrate London's 2nd birthday. It was another fun get together ;)

Monday the 12th Steve picked me up after work since he was at the U taking some finals. We then stopped at Red Robin's for dinner. It was a fun date night.

Wednesday Steve got lucky and was able to take his State EMT tests, practical and written. Thankfully he got 2 emails just a few hours later letting him know that he PASSED both tests and can now be certified in the State of Utah as an EMT-Basic! We were SOOO thankful that he was able to take it before his knee surgery this week ....and pass of course. Big relief!!

Thursday to celebrate and get another trip out before his surgery, Steve went fishing w/ 2 guys in the branch. It was like 10 degrees outside, but of course they endured and had a great time.


Steve freezing while eating lunch

Steve's fish he caught, about 14 inches weighing 1 pound

This past weekend was rather busy and didn’t get to “sleep in” like we were intending, oh well. Friday the 16th after work Steve picked me up from work and we drove up to Centerville to watch our niece London who just turned 2 on Wednesday. She was good for us. She only cried for a minute or so after Stacie/Phill left then she was just fine. She watched a “Baby Einstein” video, played w/ her toys, played in the tub, and then we got her ready for bed. After I got her in our PJ’s we went downstairs and read a couple stories w/ Steve then we took her back upstairs, had prayers together, then I put her to bed. As I put her down I got her blankets and put them by her cheeks as she likes then said “night, night. Kisses.” She then shook her head yes and got up and gave me a kiss on the check. I then said “night, night. See ya in the morning.” She shook her head yes again then went right to bed. It was really cute. Steve and I hung out for a little bit till they got home then they came home and we talked till midnight or so. It was fun to visit w/ them some more.

Saturday we slept in a little, but not really considering we went to bed so late. I then made 2 batches of honey oat bread for the gift baskets we were putting together for the older members in branch. The batches ended up making 36 little loaves and 2 big loaves. After the bread got done we hurried over to the theater to watch “Arthur’s Christmas” with Dave/Joann and Stacie/Phill Jeff, Diane and all the grandkids. It was a really cute show actually. We then went to Winco and Wal-Mart to get the rest of the stuff for the gift baskets (oranges, hot cocoa, candy, candy canes, saran wrap) then went over to Ashley’s to put them together on plates and wrap in red saran wrap, tied and bow, then ran them back to the church building so the Elders could pass them out after church. Steve and I then went home and put together a small gift for my Relief Society sisters. I found this poem which I really liked, then put a nail w/ it. Steve helped tie the fishing line on each nail while I did the rest. We made about 64. While we were making them we watched a couple Christmas shows which were fun, “A Christmas Carole and Mrs. Miracle.”

Sunday I had meetings, church then a munch/mingle. That evening we went over to LuDean’s for Jerusalem dinner. We had plenty of good “finger” food, and then shared our testimonies with each other. After we hot home I decided to make rolls so they’d be ready to go for Monday when we went to Rose’s. Again we got to bed pretty late.

The next morning Pauline called us at 8 am asking if she could just come up to our place in a little bit then just ride out with us, we said sure and got up. After she came, at about 9am, we went to run some errands so Charlotte and she just hung out at our place, and Pauline took a shower and got ready. We then took them w/ us to Rosie’s and then went to her first court hearing and ended up being there all afternoon. We were there from 2 - 6:15pm, but in the court room from 4-6:15. Wow....talk about intense. Rose’s lawyer said at this rate its going to take a couple yrs. We then got a couple things at Wal-mart for Rose, then went back to her place and had dinner then came home. It was good to see Rose and the girls and my parents. They came down Sunday and made it back home tonight. It was short but sweet!

Steve finished all his finals last week and is done until January. His knee surgery is scheduled for Thursday, not sure what time yet though. We'll keep ya posted. Well we hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year if I don't hear from ya before then! Love ya lots!!! ;)