Family Fun

My brother, Paul, came to Utah to visit family for a vacation. He wasn't able to get Christmas off of work so he came up the week before. My sister, Tammy, came down from Idaho this past Friday in order to see Paul before he went home. On Saturday we went to the Nickelcade. I think the little kids had more fun than anyone else. I didn't realize just how many kid games there were. They loved to ride the rides over and over again, especially Cade.
Rylee loved any game that she could get tickets from. I think she liked getting the tickets more than playing the games. She sure collected a lot from everyone and loved showing off her loot.
Rylee wanted to play too so she climbed up next to Brian and tried to do what he did.
I just loved being around my nieces and nephew so I didn't do many games. This is me and Telena. She is such a happy little girl. She had stiches between her eyes recently so she has a piece of tape covering it still. That's what the thing by her eye is if anyone was wondering.

How many people does it take to hit all the alligators?? Well, it depends on the age I guess. Some of them would scare Cade when they came out so it would delay him hitting them. Hence the adults helping. They had a blast...especially when it got faster!
After the Nickelcade, everyone came to our house for lunch and to play more. The kids really wanted to play in the snow so we let them in the backyard. Rylee made a snow angel.
Cade liked to just treck through the snow. Here he is with Paul. He was the only one brave enough to go play in the snow with them!
Brian got out the snow ball maker and showed Rylee how it worked. She tried with much determination but just wasn't successful getting it out without it falling apart. She had fun trying though.
We also had a video conference with my parents in Arkansas as they were visiting my brother and his family. So we all got to see each other at the same time. It was really cool to have the whole family together...even if it was over the computer.

Brian and I also had our picture taken for a Christmas card while we had my sister around to take it for us. Here was one of the pictures in front of our house. I have such a handsome husband.
We look forward to spending more time with family this week during the holidays. My parents and youngest brother, Adam arrived in town yesterday afternoon. They stopped at our house for dinner on their way up to Grandma's house. It was so good to see them! After I get off work tomorrow we will go up and spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at my Grandma Seely's house. It will be fun to have little kids around for Christmas! We wish you all a Merry Christmas wherever you may be!

Month in Review with Pictures

I finally found the pictures I had forgotten about over the past month! Brian and I cooked our own Thanksgiving dinner a week and a half after Thanksgiving. It was really yummy. Luckily I have an amazing husband who cooked most of the meal because I wasn't able to do much in the kitchen at that point. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, peas, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and biscuits (shaped like stars).

Brian's plate

The beautiful display of food

Such a good looking turkey with homemade stuffing inside

Ever seen a person on crutches trying to miniatures golf? Well, now you can check that off your list of things to see in life! Brian and I went to Hollywood Connection for a party but I couldn't ride any of the rides or do too much with my recent knee surgery. I think this was like 2 weeks after surgery. So, the only activity we could do together was mini golf. It was slow going and I didn't score too well but it was fun and quite the experience. I sure was exhausted after being up for 18 holes. Too bad I can't say I beat Brian even on crutches!

Baby Steps

Last week on Wednesday I learned to walk again. I have seen little kids take their first steps before and it felt a lot like that. I had to reteach myself the proper way to walk. Surprisingly it took a lot of concentration to focus on how my right leg was moving and then to move my left leg the same way. I can relate to the determination that children have as they struggle to walk.
Who goes swimming in the middle of December?? Well, when the water is between 80-90 degrees and it's doctors orders...I do what I'm told. I'm getting more use out of my swimsuit right now than I have the past 2 summers!
At physical therapy they have a little indoor pool with three lanes that are different depths. For now I've been in the middle lane at 5 feet deep just walking: 15 minutes walking forward, 5 minutes walking backward, and then some squats to get my knee to bend more. It's interesting to say the least. It's kind of relaxing if I'm in there by myself but it takes some concentration. (Disclaimer: this is not the actual pool I use...it's not this nice!)

Christmas Pictures...as promised!

The long awaited pictures have finally been posted! Thanks to some polite reminders from Mike...I finally have pictures ready for all to see of our cute home decorated for Christmas. They are in no particular order.

Garland & Lights on the Stairway

Decorations on the utility closet door

Stockings everywhere!! (Maybe that means we'll get more stocking stuffers)

The clock with miscellaneous decor

My wreath! (Tried to be artsy with the picture)

Our front room (with the new couches)
We absolutely love the bay window for our tree & village!

My husbands pride & joy

Nativities & Stockings

We are so excited to spend the holidays with our families. We just can't believe that both sides are coming this year! It will be a full and busy holiday season but we are looking forward to spending time with loved ones.

P.S. - I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!

I just updated my blog to share some of the Christmas spirit and had to say how much I absolutely love Christmas time!! I can't wait to see and spend time with family.

Quick Update

I don't have access to all the pictures I've taken the past few weeks but I just wanted to give a quick update on the holiday seasons. For Thanksgiving we went to my aunts house up in Sandy. My grandma was there and one of my other aunts that lives in Salt Lake was there with her family. My little brother, Kyle, came with us too. It was so fun to be with family. It was nice and relaxing for me too. A beautiful meal was prepared by others and I got to partake of it! The food was delicious and the company was excellent. We played a game, Taboo, after dinner while making room for pie.

The day after Thanksgiving we slept in and then decorated the house for Christmas. It was so much fun to decorate our own home with our Christmas decor. It was fun (and took some creativity) finding a place for everything. For different reasons, we have tons of stockings, mainly that I have collected through the different apartments I've lived in. Basically we have a stocking or two in every room downstairs hanging from the doors. It's so fun! I have pictures that I will post later.

Also, the week before Thanksgiving we finally got furniture for our front room!! We have a couch and love seat. They fit perfectly in our front room and look really nice. We love them and can't believe we lived without furniture in there for so long! You will see them in the pictures with our Christmas decorations...coming soon!

Progress on my knee...it's coming along slowly because I haven't been able to walk on it. But that all changes tomorrow, Wednesday!!! YEAH!!!!!! I can hardly contain my excitement. I know my quad and hamstring muscles have atrophied from not using them for almost a month so it will take some time to get them working again but at least I can start to put weight on it and hopefully see more progress this way. The furthest I've had my knee bend is about 120 degrees. That's pretty good but then I had a few bad days so I'm working at it.

I will update more soon with pictures and about walking for the first time!! Sorry for another non-picture post...I know they're boring without pictures but you'll get a picture overload very soon!!!!