springdellgirl

Ringing in the New Year...

Once Christmas was over things went down hill in the excitement department around here!! I've got a bit of the post-holiday blues...or the January blues...or maybe the January "grays" would be more appropriate...and my stint as a "shut-in" isn't helping!!

Two days after Christmas Ailey had her surgery...she had a tonsillectomy and an adenoidectomy. Things went well. Reilly and Kameron stayed at my Mom's house and that helped a lot. Ailey had to be at the surgical center by 7:45 am. One of my friend's daughter's had had the same procedure done at the same place so she was able to give me a lot of helpful advice. We got to take Ailey back and change her into her little hospital gown and footies. We met with the anesthesiologist and her doctor. But the worst part was handing her over to the nurse and walking out!! It was hard. Then the waiting seemed like a lifetime...but it was really only about a half an hour...an hour counting recovery.

Ailey did great. She is such a little trooper!! Even that afternoon you really wouldn't know that she had even had surgery. Our biggest challenge has been to try to get her to take it easy! She's done pretty well with keeping hydrated and my kids are freaks in that they like the taste of medicine (I hope this isn't a proclivity toward drug abuse or alcoholism!!) so she would just slurp the medicine down. The last few days have probably been the hardest in that the scabs are coming off and this has been the only time she has told us that her throat hurts and that she needs medicine. Other than that she is doing fine. It was nice that we had the surgery done over Christmas break...Tyler had the week off between Christmas and New Years... and so we were able to hang out while she was recuperating...nice but boring. She isn't supposed to leave the house for 10 days. She's gone in the car but not in anywhere so that's why I feel like a shut-in...I was in pajamas for days!!

FYI: No more snoring or sleep apnea episodes...she doesn't make a sound!!

The day before New Years Eve I did go out briefly for my DREADED Young Women's hike! We had to meet at the Church at 6:45am! Before the crack of dawn!!

Yes...I did drag Tyler out of a nice warm bed to snap my picture...it's all about the blog!! ;)

We got all our girls and then drove over to another church building on the north side to meet up with all the other wards. Then we drove to our hiking spot. We hiked Mt. Baldy. For all of you who are from Utah...It was not a mountain but really a glorified hill...but in about 18 degree weather and snow, fog, and ice it felt like Mt. Everest!

Our group

Valynn, Jayni and me. Hideous picture! Plus...the 80's called: They want the knitted headbands back!!

Some of our girls...I finally got Nicole to take off her full face mask/hat thing!

The top

Our activity was that all the girls were to make a banner that represented what they stood for...a la Captain Moroni and the Title of Liberty. The girls all did such a great job on their banners. We got to the top and sang "I walk by Faith" and "Army of Helaman" and said the Young Women's theme. Our Stake President spoke along with our YW Stake President and her counselors. Then the girls went one by one (this was the REALLY cold part) and unfurled their banners in the wind and read what they had written on them. The spirit was actually very strong on that EXTREMELY cold hill and the camaraderie between all the girls was neat to see. The two bonfires and hot chocolate, muffins, and fruit at the bottom made it all worthwhile!

Our Young Women's Theme for 2006 was: "Arise and shine forth that thy light may be a standard to the nations" (D&C 115:5). It looked really pretty to see all the banners whipping in the wind.


Our New Years Eve...wasn't "Rockin"...It was very low-key. We had been invited to our friend's house for a New Years Eve Party but with Ailey's surgery we just stayed at home. I didn't mind too much. I'm not really into New Years Eve even if I am going somewhere. I really just think..."What's the big whoop?" I am usually still too exhausted from Christmas to get all excited about another big celebration to cook and entertain for...I know...I'm a party-pooper!

We usually eat Tyler's family's traditional Christmas food on New Years. Tyler is Norwegian...VERY Norwegian...and so he will make Lefse (a kind of flat bread made with potatoes...kind of like an tortilla) that is really good and rosettes (a delicate fried-cookie type thing that you dust with powdered sugar) also really good.

The shut-ins...making lefse...in jammies!

The little tonsil/adenoid-less helper...Notice the lovely hair cut...thanks to Kameron and his supposedly blunt "Kindergarten" scissors...my baby has a mullet!!!!

We also make beef and cheese stuffed crescent rolls that Tyler's mom makes and drink frappe (these are NOT Norwegian :) ). Who doesn't like raspberry sherbet and 7-up?? We played a bunch of games with the kids. We played a never-ending marathon of "Chicken Foot" a dominoes game that Stacey taught us last year and it has been a hit ever since!

We also played a lot of Battleship (Thanks Sykes!) and later on Tyler and I played Trivial Pursuit 80's Edition (Thanks Brett and Marissa!). I LOVE trivia games!!
The best part of the night was when the clock struck midnight. Ailey went to bed around 9pm but both Reilly and Kameron stuck it out until midnight (Kameron's first time!). Growing up in Springdell (a small community up Provo Canyon) there was a New Years tradition that I still like to do to this day. When we were kids at midnight everyone would come outside to wish all their neighbors a Happy New Year and all the kids would grab pots and pans and would walk around and around the dell banging them like crazy. (Springdell is a circle of about 20 houses). So at our house...forget blowing things and tooters...we grab the pots and pans and wooden spoons and bang the heck out of them. Every year we lose a wooden spoon or two, due to EXTREME enthusiasm, and this year was no different. This can go on for quite a while and I am always the last to stop. (I've got to get all my aggression and aggravation with the past year out some way) Tyler usually has to remove the pot and wooden spoon from my hands but beating those things is better than therapy!

On New Years we took down our trees and put away all our Christmas decorations!! Our house seemed really drear!! I organized our whole house...pretty much every room... (a shut-in can really get quite a lot done!). I made Tyler buy more plastic bins and boxes than you can imagine and then I sent him out on a quest to find plants (I needed to spruce up the house). Finding plants in January is no easy task.

We watched a lot of DVD's, ate a lot of food, and rarely showered or got dressed! Yehaw!

The girls and I did have a pedicure night. We (Reilly and I) are addicted to pedicures. I blame my aunt Bonnie and the fact that we have a little nail shop down the street. Bonnie comes to the lake and does all of our nails...she has all the good expensive nail polish...all the equipment...she will do flowers, french pedicures...whatever you want. This has inspired her little protege, Reilly. For Reilly's birthday she got a bunch of nail polish and equipment and then she got more for Christmas...She is quite the little "artiste". She has had to be. I hate feet...and now that she is older and sweatier I don't like doing her toes!! (Side note: this made what I had to do for the Christmas "Would You Rather" game so vile...I had to wear John's sweaty sock fresh off his sweaty foot!!) Ailey didn't want to be left out and ran through the house yelling "me too! me too!" when the fun began.

Our handy work!

So...Happy New Year! I have made a bunch of resolutions. I am a typical Type A goal setter. For 2006 I set 68 goals for myself and accomplished most of them. I won't bore you will them or the ones for 2007...suffice it to say most are the usual...get in shape, be more patient, pay off debt, read my scriptures, travel, have more date nights, learn to do something new, spend more one on one time with my kids, do more service, share the gospel...leave my house....get out of jammies!! I can't tell you how excited I am for book club next week!!