Little Snow Blowers

It was with great sadness (seriously!) that Dixie realized she couldn't blow the snow thanks to her recent surgery. This meant that it was time to teach the boys.

They insisted on shoveling snow at first, but then realized that it would take several hours to do the entire driveway and consented to learning how to use the big, scary snowblower.

They did great! And now mom actually kind of likes sending them out to do her old chore!

Don't leave, Grandma!

Grandma Nala was kind enough to come pamper Dixie after her surgery. The boys were SO (!!!) happy to have her here.

Jake was very upset that he missed saying goodbye (he was at a scout campout) and Lander wanted her to come back as soon as she drove away. They sure love their Grandma Nala!

Grandma Nala and Lander take a few last pictures before she departs.

Bye,  bye Grandma! We love you!

Grandma gets cello lessons

Lander teaches Grandma Nala how to play "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on his cello

Surgery Club, Revisited

Pretending that it wasn't really a problem was no longer working, so Dixie finally had to get her shoulder fixed.

She had hurt it while lifting an unconscious patient more than 3 years ago and it was progressively getting worse.

Lander was worried that she would beat him in the "Surgery Club". Apparently, he is keeping tabs on who has the most surgeries and was concerned that his mom would beat him.

The shoulder surgery went well, with a full recovery expected with a BUT "you cannot do any exercise for 3 months."

THREE months!?! You have got to be kidding! Blech!

Tiffany brightened the day with this unexpected flower surprise. Josh was a little nervous, realizing that perhaps he should of thought of flowers first. Oh well! They were amazing! Most of the flowers lasted for 3 full weeks!

Thanks for the wonderful flowers, Tiff!

Concentration, Sir!

It was belt testing time for the boys and Grandma Nala was able to watch their performance. They were nervous, but they passed!

Instructor Laderman even allowed Dixie to demonstrate breaking a board using a side kick so that she could show off some of her skills to her own mommy.

A Tragedy & a Note

Lander had a little mishap in his room and the shattered stained glass picture frame that mom made was broken.

He was devastated.

And sure that he was going to be "dead meat" when mom got home.

He survived.

Mom wasn't mad, just a little sad. Has she fixed it yet? Not quite. Maybe she will get to it this summer...

"I'm being a missionary!"

I passed Jake and his friend, Thomas R, as they were out collecting fast offerings. This is something that they do once a month and the money is donated to the poor and needy.

It was really cold so I stopped to offer them a ride. 

They said, "No thanks. You know, we were just talking about it. We are out here walking, just like missionaries. Look! We are being missionaries!"

They were so happy and eager as they performed their Priesthood duty. It was the perfect ending to my day!

New Years at Badger Creek

The Anderson family invited us for a fun sledding adventure at Badger Creek near Tetonia. Badger Creek holds a special place in our hearts. It started what we endearingly call the "make it or break it" weekend while Josh and I were dating.

Dixie had invited Josh on an overnight trip to Ricks College's Badger Creek Outdoor Center sponsored by the ROTC class that she was taking. She invited Josh, who she had been dating for 2 or 3 weeks. (Crazy, I know). We went and on the second morning arranged to have Gramps pick up us so that we could visit Josh's grandparents, who Dixie had met once before.

While we were visiting the grandparents, a brutal blizzard struck up. We were stranded.

For FIVE days.

That's five days of no makeup,

no deodorant,

no clean underwear,

no glasses

During those five days, Dixie lost a contact lens, had to borrow Grams' deoderant, went commando so that she could have clean underwear and even slept in clothes provided by Grams. We ran out of eggs.

Good times.

Apparently, it was a "make it weekend".

So, it was with these memories that we headed back to Badger Creek with the kiddos (and their friend Keaton L) for some New Years fun.