Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn.

(Nate here) This week I went skiing with Karl, Betsy's brother, on Tuesday, and with my buddy Trent on Wednesday. My number one objective was to not get injured.

On Wednesday, I also signed Aspen and Isaac up for ski lessons. They had a blast. They were signed up for level one, but got bumped up to level 2, and even got to ride the chair lift during their class. After their class was done, Trent and I took them on the lift a couple more times. Isaac is a little daredevil--on the slope we were on, there was an easier way down, and a steeper incline. Isaac took one look at the steeper hill, and didn't even think twice before taking off at full speed.

Dude, you totally got like 3 feet of air that time.

Vacation has officially started. This morning, we made a little trip over the park by Jere's house for some sledding. We built a jump, of course.

JingleBoogers

if the video doesn't play click here

Tonight was Toby's winter band concert. He plays the French horn, and he did a really good job. As you can see in the video, Toby was being his usual, humorous self at the concert.

Advent Begins

We follow the tradition of my family and sing carols by candlelight on each of the four Sundays before Christmas. (This year, however, we missed Sunday, so we sang on Monday.) Of course, the most exciting part for the kids is lighting the candles. Second most exciting is blowing them out!

Deck The Halls

We finally got to trimming the tree tonight. Everyone had a great time hanging ornaments and remembering who gave them that particular one and who made this ornament and when they gave it, etc.

Hazel was un-decorating the tree as fast as we were hanging ornaments. I thought that hanging the plastic ones on the lower branches would be safe...NOT!! Hazel would take one off, pull the figures off the bases and throw them on the floor. Needless to say, our tree has no ornaments on the bottom half of the tree, except garland, and I don't think that will last long either. But we all had fun, even after trying to take pictures!

S'more pics from camping...

More camping pictures

Enchanted Thanksgiving

A few years ago we started aThanksgiving tradition to do something non-traditional for the holiday. We've deep-fried a turkey, had a luau, complete with a roasted pig, smoked turkey take-out from Rudy's (the worst BBQ in Texas!),etc. This year we went camping with Mike and Mindy and family to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area. We had a lot of fun. It was perfect weather for camping...near 80 during the day, near freezing at night. (Needless to say Hazel wore three fleece sleepers to bed to be warm enough.) So we had three days of fun, playing in the fires, climbing trees and rocks, hiking and spending time together. We only had one child fall into a cactus (Alex, who tried to wipe the spines on his hands off on his pants, which were also full of spines. Thank goodness for a kind camping neighbor who lent us some tweezers.)

We hiked to the top of Enchanted Rock to watch the sun set. The Native Americans long ago thought the rock was enchanted because it would groan and creak. (Because of cooling and heating during the day and night, the rock creaks. It is actually taller during the day in the summer by a couple of inches.)

Everyone at the summit marker.

This is the second time that we have camped at Enchanted Rock. Here is a picture of the kids today...
This is a picture of the kids from 3 1/2 years ago. I can't believe how much they've grown. Time really flies!The kids were good hikers. On the first day they did about 5 or 6 miles, then another mile and a half after dinner. Another day, we did 3 or 4 miles. They sure slept good those nights! Hazel rode in the back pack with Nate. The kids had a lot of fun climbing on the boulders and finding "caves". We bought a smoked turkey from Rudy's again (very tasty). Nate make an oven from a cardboard box to reheat the turkey. We also used the oven to reheat pizza the day we arrived, to pop popcorn (the kind you have to shake like mad over heat to have it pop up like a balloon), to heat our sausage biscuits and reheat the cherry pie. I think we'll do this trick again!

Our Thanksgiving dinner!

Post Thanksgiving rest.

Switching Horns

Toby is in band at school. He wanted to play the french horn from the beginning, but all the beginners had to start on trumpet. Toby is doing great! His private lesson teacher has called a couple of times just to praise Toby's progress. Toby really enjoys playing, which is nice because he doesn't complain about practicing. He has a concert in December. He is really looking forward to that. Maybe we can get a clip to post next month, if I can figure out how to do that.

Lost in Lost Maples

About 3 months ago, we planned a backpacking trip for this weekend. (I hadn't yet scheduled my surgery so I had planned on going, but didn't for obvious reasons.) But Nate took the kids and went anyway. Lost Maples is one of the few places in Texas that has actual fall colors in the trees. However, because of the drought, it wasn't that spectacular. Anyway, Just as Nate was loading up, the straps on his pack broke. So they stopped at REI on the way to get a new one. They left around 4:30pm. At about 7:30 Nate called to say he was lost. (I gave him bad directions, said he should stay on the 71 instead of the 290.) So he got turned back onto the right road. He called me at 9:30 lost again. (Not uncommon, this state park is hard to find, even in the daylight.) So Nate and the kids stayed at a motel and then got up early to go hiking. (Probably easier than getting there and hiking a mile in and setting up a tent in the dark at 11pm). They had a fun time. There are a bunch of trails there. The kids and Nate hiked about 9 miles. Isaac says that Nate ruined their fun by getting them back on the trail after getting lost in the park. The trails were steep in places. But it was perfect weather for hiking, cold in the morning and then warmer in the afternoon. I wish I could have gone. But I'm tired after just cleaning my house today. (I'm not used to long recoveries after surgery. I guess I'm an impatient patient.) But we're going camping next weekend with Mike and his family. That will be fun!!

This is how Toby entertained everyone on the long ride home! How does he come up with this stuff?!? They are Whoppers candies.

WARNING!! This won't be pretty

This is a picture from last night, 3 days post-op. The bruises on my cheeks and chin are moving down my neck. Now they are turning yellow and purple. They look worse than they feel. (Nate says I should have done the surgery before Halloween and gone as a car accident victim.) The swelling has gone down some on my face. Mostly I am still numb, which makes eating a bit difficult. Half of my lower lip has feeling but they don't touch yet. My lower eyelids are numb too. My teeth dry out and my nose feels cold on the inside. But I can't feel anything but my tongue. And then there are these twitches... It is a very strange feeling.

Things I am Grateful for

I am so grateful for Vickie coming to help out after my surgery. Nothing would have gotten done without her help. I have a clean house, all my laundry done and happy kids. Thank you so much Vickie. I really appreciated the help.

Here's a few other things that I am grateful for.

1. A blender to make smoothies and purify everything else

2. Rubber baby spoons that fit into my mouth

3. Liquid medicine, especially painkiller

4. Pillows

5. Good, understanding kids and husband

School Spirit

Aspen and Isaac both received awards at school for perfect attendance and honor Roll and good citizenship. Aspen's class sang at the assembly. Fortunately, Grandma was able to go to watch. Then on Saturday, Aspen's jumprope team, The Hotshots, performed for the first time at the school fall festival.

Looking back

25 years ago:

1. I was eight and got baptized.
2. I had my first slumber party with my friends.
3. I wanted to be a singer like Crystal Gale (I loved her knee length hair).
4. I had a pet cat named Klinker.
5. I loved getting hand-me-downs from my cousin Bonny.

20 years ago:

1. I was 13.
2. I had the most horrendous haircut of my life: mullet that was permed & looked like an old grandma). I don't know what I was thinking.
3. I was the only girl in my gym class that did not wear a bra.
4. I played the piano and the flute.
5. For this one year, I was taller than my sister, Erika.

15 years ago:

1. I was 18 and a freshman at BYU.
2. I was there when my youngest brother, Axel, was born.
3. I had no car, and so I rode the bus, my bike, or walked a lot.
4. I wanted to be a forest ranger.
5. I threw up, for only the second time in my life, after drinking a half a glass of tap water in India. I was so sick that I crawled in bed with my parents.

10 years ago:

1. I was 23 years old.
2. Nate and I had been married for two years and had 1 year old Toby.
3. We were moving from a summer internship in San Jose, CA back to Chicago where Nate was getting an MBA.
4. I was pregnant with Aspen.
5. I got the second worst haircut of my life: I asked for a short hairstyle and ended up with a boy's haircut. I cried for a week.

5 years ago:

1. I was 28 years old.
2. I had 3 children: Toby 6, Aspen 4, Isaac 2.
3. I was on pet dog number 3.
4. We lived in a house that was built in 1970 and had a center door knob on the front door.
5. I spent an entire summer with my kids in Utah (I was homesick).

1 year ago:

1. I had a baby, Hazel, after a six year break. It was like being a new mom and starting over again.
2. I had jaw surgery for TMJ and was on a liquid diet for 3 months.
3. I started gaining weight and put on 15 pounds, after I had the baby.
4. I started having insomnia.
5. I started blogging.

Today:

1. I am doing the hardest thing ever in my life by trying to recover from this last jaw surgery.
2. I am grateful to Nate and Vickie for taking care of me and my family. I can't do any of it right now and they are they best.
3. Hazel finally likes me again. She's gotten past my very swollen face and just wants to sit with me.
4. I still have insomnia. Thank goodness for Ambien.
5. I'm dizzy and slow and way out of whack because of the meds. I don't like this out of control feeling.

My new face

I went to the doctor this morning. Here are some pictures that they took during surgery before all the swelling. The first is me before. The second is my new chin. The third is an xray showing all the plates and screws (41 of them) that they put in my jaw. The surgery was the last one to fix my TMJ. Three years ago I had to wear a splint to reposition my jaw. Then for another 18 months they adjusted my bite with braces. Last year they fixed the hinge in my jaw. I recovered from that for a year, still wearing braces. This time they enlarged my upper jaw, leveled the lower jaw, and brought it forward. In addition he straightened my chin (it was pointing to the side due to the unevenness of the lower jaw) and the septum in my nose (which is connected to my upper jaw) and cleared my sinuses so that I can breathe better. He didn't know how I was breathing as well as I was before. However, because of all the swelling, I'm not doing so good right now. If I can just get through the next couple days and all this tightness and pain then I'll start feeling better about all this. At least for the most part everything is numb. Mostly I feel a lot of tightness and pain associated with the swelling. I'll be on a liquid and very soft foods diet for the next 3 months. (At least I'll not gain the holiday 15!)