3rd Week of December

Here are some highlights from the 3rd week of December.

Buddy, our elf, is watching a show under the Christmas tree, eating gold fish.  Carter lost another tooth.  The boys had Lego Advent Calendars this year, so each day counting down to Christmas they opened a new Lego (small figurines).  They also had 2 chocolate Advent Calendars.

Great quote.  Flashback to last year for Carter (fishing) and this year (at his gymnastics class).  

Steve is making progress in the attic (Lego Room).

On Tuesday, Carter had his Spanish Christmas Program (grades 1-5).  Each class sang a Christmas song in Spanish, then they sang one together at the end.  Carter is in 2nd grade, so his class went 2nd.

Carter Spanish song at Christmas program.

Carter Spanish Christmas song.

Cute kids!  I worked downtown this week, so I hurried home to make it in time for Carter's program.

They all did awesome!  Their excitement was fantastic!

Dave came to watch as well.  They didn't have a Zoom, so unfortunately others couldn't join that way.

Fun comparison from last year to this year (he has his front teeth in now).

Going by the SLC Temple on my way home from work.  Wednesday evening I went and did Initiatories at the Draper Temple.  Funny we saw a tow truck carrying a UPS truck one day.  It was really tall!

After I got back from the temple, we had dinner, then went over to Draper Park to look at the lights.

It's always fun to see the "tree of life."

Great quote.  The kids of course wanted to play on the playground for a while, even though it was dark.

Steve sold more firewood.  A lot of people want the wood for their wood burning fireplaces in their house during the winter, and we've got a request for wood to use to smoke a pig.  Next year Steve plans to have more wood available in the winter, as it's still selling.  

Cute Hudson asleep w/ his hands above his head.  Firewood ready to sell.  The stairs Steve built in the wall going up to the attic/Lego Room.  Cute Hudson ready to go!  Steve bought a few chairs on clearance to use out on the boat while hunting, as they swivel and the legs can be adjusted.  This way they don't have to sit on buckets anymore ie a little more comfortable.

On Friday, I worked from home because I went to have a MRI done on both of my hips at 12:30pm over at Altaview Hospital.  They first did an Arthrogram to put contrast dye into my hips which helps visualize the structure of the joints.  I wanted to get it done as it's been 6 months since I went to the ER w/ extreme hip pain.  I wanted to see if anything has changed and/or if further inflammation buildup has occurred.  

It definitely wasn't fun to have injections put into my hips.  They did that first, then I went over to the MRI scanner to take pictures of my hips, each side taking 20-25 minutes each.  I had to hold really still on a really hard board.  It was really uncomfortable.  They were nice though and played Christmas music for me both during the arthrogram and the MRI, so that was nice.  After it was done, I came home and worked the rest of the day.  The initial results came in saying both hips have a small labral tear (we knew the right had one and I suspected the left had one too since I'm weak on that side), but no further inflammation, so that's great!

On Saturday, December 21st, Steve and Nyles went duck hunting w/ our neighbor, so I took Carter and Hudson to the aquarium.  We got there shortly after it opened so it wasn't as busy, but soon got busy.

The boys played in the playground for a while, then it got busy, so we left to see the animals.

Fun animals!

Cool sea-life, like sharks!

We played outside for just a little while, but most of it was roped off for the night light events.

We then went to Sam's club so they could get a salted pretzel from the food court, and I got some groceries.  Hudson wanted to stop by the Toyota Dealership across the street (where we bought our Sequoia), to play on the pirate ship for a few minutes as well.  Buddy the Elf brought some M&Ms for the kids.  After lunch we went to the library and a park to play.

Nyles and our neighbor Cory Milne ready to shoot ducks.  Unfortunately they didn't get any.

Pretty sunset picture I took from the playground.

Sunday morning, we had only 1 hour of church.  We had a wonderful sacrament meeting w/ music and a speaker about Christ.  It was beautiful.

Quick family pictures.  Piper getting in a stretch.

We then went over to Pauline's house for dinner and fun.  We had tacos, then decorated sugar cookies.  Then the kids acted out the nativity scene.  No one wanted to be Mary, so Nyles volunteered ;)  Hudson was baby Jesus, and Carter was an angel.  We sang songs in between reading the scriptures.

We then played a few games, then did a white elephant gift exchange.

It was a fun evening as usual.  Thanks Pauline!

Back at home, Carter getting licks/loves from Piper before bed.  Buddy the Elf went camping :)

It was a fun week.  The kids are getting excited for Christmas!

Great quotes: