Happy New Year

A lot has happened this year.

Josh went to CA without us, started high school, had his appendix out, and got into symphonic band as a freshman. He  is playing the tuba.

Boaz came to Wisconnsin with us, started 5th grade - his last year in elementary school - and discovered that he loves to read.

I have finished the Old Testament again. I learn to love it each time I read it. I also understand it better with each time I read it. This year Craig read it faster than I did.

Craig started as a consultant and spent his work time in Kansas. Our family learned how to function with texting and phone calls. We treasure the time that he is home.

Thea went to Indiana, came back to Idaho and now she is in Oregon. We have loved the time that she spent with us. We have had memories climbing mountains, sung new songs, looked at snow differently, and now we miss her. She is amazing.

New babies joined our family, missionaries left and returned home. 

It has been a good year. We are looking fourward to another great year in 2015.

Oswald family I Jump party

Once again, I didnt pull out the camera. Others did, but i just chatted and watched the jumping and snacked.

Those that could gathered to play.

I  watched Ruby and Jocelyn climb the wall and sit at the highest point. They were running from Drew and happy to jump.

Mark jumped with his little grandsons.  As long as Grandpa was there, they we happy.

Josh and Boaz had fun in the dodge ball pit with Riley, Bowen, Tayvin and Bridger. 

Hailey's girls danced and jumped all over the place

You know the saying -- it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt.

Boaz will have the memory of running into somebody's elbow and getting a monster bloody nose. He did a good job of catching the drip, but his dad taught him the important step of pinching the nose to get the blood to stop. I ended up buying him a new shirt so he wouldn't have to wear a wet, bloody shirt the rest of the party.

It was so good to see everybody. The food was yummy. But honestly, it felt like we were just gearing up to welcome home Elder Jeff from Mexico on Saturday. That will be the last and biggest bang of this holiday season, then it is back to the grind of school and schedules.

Ice skating

We were invited to go ice skating with Craig's brother and his family. I made a hat for Boaz and decided to make hats for all of us.

I akded Brad to take a picture of us with our hats.

I hadn't worn skates in decades. I was a bit worried that I would be falling all afternoon. I started of almost hugging the wall. Both Josh and Boaz were ahead of me. They were brave and adventurous.

I was proud of them.

I was a bit gimpy on the ice. I kept my left leg firmly connected to the ice and only pushed off with my   right skate. By the end of the day, I was beginning to push off with my left skate too. I only fell once, when a lady fell right in front of me and I didn't have the room or the time or the skill to avoid her. She was way not happy with me and I think she harbored bad feeling for me for not avoiding her. She did hurt her knee. I don't think she had a great time.

I also lost control and spiraled down to my hands, but I stayed on my skates.

I was surprised at the different muscles that were talking to me as I was out on the ice. It was all good fun though.

Brad gathered us in the middle of the rink for a picture just before we were done.

Brad, Kris, Maddy, Jesse, Ashlyn, Bowen, Tayvin. We missed Tyson and Cindy - they were in Mexico visiting his old mission. Jesse brought his siblings.  I didn't get their names. They were much better on the ice than I was.  It was fun to watch them. The boy in front was on Tayvin's football team, I think.

We are easy to spot with our black hats.  They were not necessarily stylish, but they were warm.  They created lots of static, so we all had to use water and fingers to get our hair back under control.

 

Christmas family fun

Once again, I didn't get any pictures of the Harris family Christmas party. We headed south to SLC and meet up with most of my siblings. I took the popcorn and rolo pretzles that I had made for neighbor gifts. I also took some of the Christmas ham.

Deb hosted and worried a bit about the food. She supplied a ton of food. There was no way we could have eaten all that she supplied, just herself. But better to have too much rather than not enough.

I got to hold sweet babies. Millie wasn't too happy being passed off to me, but she did pretty good. Wyatt was happy to let me hold him and play with daddy. 

My boys got to hang out with my family.  Uncle Peter talked movies and books and let them know their parents were a little derelict for not taking them to the new Hobbit movie. Josh and Boaz totally agreed with him.

Hanging with the cousins is always a good thing. I  am going to have to remember to take more pictures.  Shame on me.

Merry Christmas

I didn't get any pictures of the slightly controled chaos of Christmas morning. I didn't get a picture of Craig's wrapping job. He wrapped four pictures beautifully with ribbons. Then he wrapped one present with four clashing papers.  One was camoflauge, one was colorful tulips, one was cupcakes and one was Star Wars - or something crazy like that.  So funny.  

I came to my senses and started taking pictures when the boys were all settled upstairs playing their new X-Box games. 

They were not too happy I had showed up with the camera.  They are enjoying our old living room furniture just recently moved upstairs.  

Boaz seemed to be unusually bugged and tried to hide from the camera.

But I caught this picture anyway.

Josh was a bit more resigned in his disapproval of the camera.

However he did put on the headset that Thea got them for Christmas. He looks like he is an airline pilot here.  

This is the new set up.  They had a good Christmas.

This is my Christmas.  New living room furniture. So comfy and pretty.

And a new computer to replace our ancient, virus ridden computer.  Now I have to learn a new operating system. I am still not too sure about how to get what I need from it.

Our love of Lindor.

And our Christmas miracle.  We woke up to a beautiful white Christmas. Our months of November and most of December have been unusually warm.

A question of time.

For days I have been thinking that today, Tuesday, was Christmas Eve. 

I got up thinking I had run out of time. 

I started wrapping the presents. Check. 

I made the boys help me with the neighbor gifts. Check. 

Then I figured it out, with a little help from Josh and Boaz.  They mocked me much. 

So now I have a whole day that I wasn't planning on before Christmas. I have so many things to do, but I had already written them off. Which one do I pull of the back burner?

We made it to 16 years.

Craig started the day in Kansas. They plan was he was coming home that night and we would have 30 minutes of our anniversary together - his flight was scheduled to come in at 11:30 pm. 

We texted back and forth through the day. I spent some time with Boaz at his class party. A ton of sugar later, I called Criag back (he had called during the chaos). We were both excited he was coming home. It had been three weeks since we had seen each other. 

The day drug on. I am fighting a chest cold. I ignored all the things I have to do and just chilled. 

I was gearing up for the ride to the airport last night and I got a text from Craig that his flight was delayed for two hours. So not happy. I set my phone alarm and took a nap. He was now scheduled to come in at 1:30 am. We would miss the whole anniversary. 

I woke up at midnight and checked to see how the flight looked. There was a mixup with the plane and they had to unload and get on another plane. He had been at the airport for ever. He had driven during the day to make sure the roads were good. 

I didn't get the story until I saw him at the airport. 

The flight originated in Canada. A passenger freaked out in the terminal and they evacuated, took care of the freak-out and started all over again. The reason for the original two hour delay. At Denver they all loaded on a different plane, except the new plane was already fueled for a return to Canada. With the passengers, luggage and fuel load it wa stop heavy for the airport in Idaho Falls. So they unloaded and waited for a new plane. 

He arrived at 2:30 in the morning. Most of the airport personnel were gone. Craig said there was just one girl working on the bags. It took about half an hour to get the bags in the practically deserted airport. 

The 30 minute ride home and we didn't get home until 3:30 am. 

I haven't really been up to do anything today. 

We did go to a baptism this morning. That was wonderful. I went to the store for milk and got stuff for neighbor treats. Those will have to wait until Monday. 

Today we enjoyed being together. 

A good start on year seventeen. 

High School Christmas concert

Today as I went to pick up Josh from school, he told me the him school band concert was today at 7 pm. He brought home his tux for the symphonic band for me to hem. 

I cut his hair because he refuses to comb it. It is naturally curly and it tends to go a bit wild. 

I hemmed his pants and ironed his shirt. We were ready just before it was time to go. 

The concert included the choirs. It was fun to listen to Christmas carols and watch the kids sing that I knew from the ward.  So fun to watch such talented girls sing fun songs. 

Symphonic band wa she last group.  Craig is still in Kansas, so I took videos of the three songs. Josh sat on the right side, stage front, last row. He had a huge, full size tuba that was way bigger than he was. I listened to him play the first song. As the only tuba, I thought I could hear him pretty easily. I must have been hearing the bassoon.

After the first song, Josh got up and walked off the stage.  He had to walk from stage right, across the back by he percussion and exited stage left. He came back with music in his hand. I had no idea what was going on. He was very composed and played the other two songs. 

After the concert, Josh told us what had happened. He had picked up the wrong music. He had the tenor sax music. He only played what he had memorized for the first song. Too funny. 

Our friend, Bart Brown, commented on how well Josh played. Bart had played tuba all through high school and college up until his mission. He said he had a good tone and he stayed on beat, which tends to be hard for tuba players - pushing that amount of air through all those pipes. 

After the concert, I made Josh pose for a few pictures. He had borrowed a bow tie and had given it back, so I didn't get a picture of the bow tie. 

The tuba is huge. 

I think it would be hard to balance that huge brass instrument. 

Great face. He must have been right in the middle of a story. 

He hadn't played the tuba since seventh grade. He is one of two freshmen in Symphonic Band. He is the only tuba. He's been playing it for only two weeks. Kinda crazy to get a concert ready in just two weeks, but Christmas comes when it comes and the new trimester started when it started. So after two weeks back on the tuba and starting off with the wrong music, Josh made it through his first concert with the symphonic band. 

Nativity scene

Our Ward Christmas party featured our youth. 

Josh was playing Joseph. I had to come up with a costume. I finally decided to get some cheap fabric from Walmart. I made a very simple costume. I am grateful for my serger, even if it takes so long to thread it. I finally had to get the right glasses to thread all four lines. 

Here is the result. 

We borrowed the walking stick from Aunt Sandy. It completed the look. 

The angel and the annunciation. 

The shepherds. 

The wise men. I really liked the authentic Eastern outfit from our local eastern member. He is an exchange student from China. 

Choirs of Heavenly Angels. 

Our cutie friend, Mia, as a beautiful angel singing with the primary kids 

Boaz was hiding, but I got a picture of Josh singing with the primary kids. 

I'm amazed

It takes longer to thread the serger than it takes to actually sew the project. 

This morning's project

Deb came up to quilt. Yesterday we made 18 blocks and put the top and back together. This morning we sandwiched and gridded the quilt. We are on a dead line, so we have half the binding done. 

There is still the quilting in the individual squares and the hand work on the binding to go. 

All before our neice's wedding just before Christmas. 

If you look close, you can see the quilt I am doing - trying to get it done before Christmas also. That is two quilt to do in 4 weeks. I believe in miracles. I wonder if this will qualify. 

We think it is fabulous!  

Baking day

Five and a half hours later, this is what we have. 

Trying to preserve the merengue and already it is damaged. Drats. 

Cookie pie. 

Apple pie 

Upside down pumpkin pie. 

Cream pie. 

The lemon merengue and pudding pie have a gluten-free option. Basically crust-less. 

Tomorrow I need to get up and make the stuffing and we are ready for the gathering. 

I'm glad I'm done for the day. 

Major milestone

He came home from school with broken glasses. Tape was holding a lens in the frame. I broke down and called Americas Best and set an appointment for today. His best friend has contacts, and his glasses have been misshapen for months. 

It took him about five minutes to learn to put them in. I should have taken a picture of the process, but this is the result. 

He can see!

And then sometimes mom is awesome. We hit Pizza Pie Cafe for dinner. 

Boaz was happy too. A good reward for being dragged around on Josh's errand day. 

I get to hug her today

Josh, Boaz and I headed to SLC for the fun. We met up with Brenda and Karly at the This Is the Place Monument. I tried to go all the way to Park City until I turned around and went back over six miles to the park. I have no idea how I missed it. 

Ivan talked us out of the University of Utah's campus and thought we were safe. I must have been really tired or something. 

Josh was frustrated with me. He finally started talking to me. It's a hard thing to inturup a teen when they start talking. He was fun to listen to, but not a great navigator. We'll have to work on that. 

Some pictures on a very warm November day. 

Sun in Karly's eyes and Boaz happy to be out of the car. 

Josh in his broken glasses. Raven just hangin' with the cousins. 

Brenda soaking up the sun. 

A rare photo of Ivan. 

Tim chillin'.

Mom chatting with Karly. 

Cousins. 

Ivan hiding behind a root beer bottle. Silly man. 

I have no idea what Brenda is thinking about here. A funny picture. Siblings. 

We met the rest of the family at a bowling alley and partied for the evening. I don't even know if I can name all the family that came, but I'll try. 

Willa, Pete, Kayla and her boyfriend Skyler, Tyrel, Katie, Charlotte, Amelia, and Alysa. My first time meeting Amelia, cutie baby girl. 

Debbie, Raven, Devon.

Carl and Ethan. 

Joe, Holly, Ben, Kade, Carter, and Dallin. My first time meeting Dallin too. Holly's sister, Natalie. 

Ivan. 

Brenda, Tim and Karly. 

Myself, Josh and Boaz. 

Mom.

This is the most of us together in a long time. We missed Gena, but plan on seeing her in December for Opal's wedding. 

Uncle Gary, Aunt Rene and Alayna. 

Tim's missionaries came for a bit to visit. So fun to see them. They were the ones who taught him in Oregon. So grateful for them. 

I hope I didn't forget anybody. I had to split them into family groups to try and keep them straight. 

This is the only picture I took at the bowling alley. Carter and Char became best cousins. If carter wasn't pulling on Char, Char was pulling on Carter. They followed each other around all night. 

Boaz bowled with Joe's boys. Josh bowled with my group. It was fun to see him improve. We had so many people that we split frames a bit. But we had fun and talked and laughed and ate and laughed and bowled and laughed. 

I missed Craig and Thea, but somebody had to hold down the farm. And they have had some good bonding father/daughter time in Wisconsin. 

Now we are back home in Idaho, Brenda, Tim, and Karly are almost back to the farm and Craig and Thea will be flying back on Thursday. We are left with sweet memories and promises of times to come. 

Family time is precious. I so love my family. 

One missionary home, three more still out. Love to Cooper and Cody in the field, and Jeff on Craig's side of the family. 

Josh and Boaz get to witness one more cousin come home. It's a good thing. 

Sunday we attended Church with Nicko and Britney as they blessed little Wyatt. Sweet little man that had so many people to coo over him and love him. 

Until next time . . . 

The day dreams are made of

That is what Brenda said as she came down for breakfast. They had spent the night and were on their way to SLC. She barely could stand to take time for Mini German Pancakes. Then they were on the road, 80 mph in Idaho. Speeding toward Karly and sweet reunions. 

Craig is in Wisconsin taking care of the farm so Tim could come with Brenda to SLC. Karly has completed her 18 month mission. Brenda has been so good about not visiting SLC while Karly served there. But now Karly is finished, Brenda came to SLC. These pictures are from November 4th. I'm a bit slow. 

This is Karly's last day as a full time missionary. 

With a compy.

Kimberly came out from Oregon to say hi. 

I actually wasn't there Tuesday. I waited until Saturday, so I could party with Joe and Holly too. But I did miss Kimberly. That was a sad thing. They look great. 

The family. Tim holding it together while Brenda just basks in her daughter's presence. 

What would we do without Tim?  He has been so wonderful. So glad he is part of the family. 

I was happy to get pictures and sad that I wasn't there. 

Post op

Yesterday we went to see about removing Josh's drain. An annoying tube sticking out of his abdomen under his belly button. The location was problematic because of waistbands and clothing rubbing and pulling on it. A few times it created pain as it fell and pulled while Josh was washing. 

I was worried because it was plugging up and wasn't draining like it used to in the beginning. 

The provider said it looked great, it wasn't supposed to drain like it did at the beginning. 

The longest time was the prep for the removal. Gathering the supplies, snipping the sutures, and last minute instructions. I held his hand, we counted to three, and she pulled it out. It had about a three inch long extension that was actually inside my boy. He said it was a weird feeling. He didn't expect it to be that long. And it hurt coming out. 

But now that it is out, he feels like seeing people again. After an afternoon of resting, he was ready to go to the youth activity and see his friends. He came home happy but exhausted. 

I'm happy to see him starting to go back to normal. 

Although he tells me he had an emergency appendectomy any time I tell him no for something, or even look like I might say no. 

A series of miracles

Two weeks ago I went to pick Craig up from the airport.  He was coming home for his weekend home. His flight gets in at 11:00 pm, so we got home close to midnight. We found Josh on the floor with severe stomach ache. We thought it was a horrible stomach bug. Saturday he felt better, but couldn't walk upright. We stayed close to home that weekend. 

He felt good enough to go to school Tuesday. That week, he continued to experience what I thought was gas pains. This past Monday I found him doubled over on the stairs and I started to ask specific questions. Where are the pains? Do you always feel it? I asked about bathroom experiences. 

I was horrified to hear him say it was always on the right, lower area of his abdomine. He could always feel it, but sometimes it was intense pain, other times it was dull. He had pain when empting his bladder. 

I looked online and thought I was going to research Krons disease until I heard right lower abdomine. 

I called Craig the next morning, determined I was taking him to the emergency room right after I got Boaz on the bus. I told him he couldn't eat anything that morning, we were going to the doctor. 

Josh didn't want to go. He wanted to go to band. He wanted to go to school. He thought it would be fine to go after school. I didn't listen and practically drug him to the doctor office. 

Craig told me to go to the Urgent Care. It opened at 8:00 and we were the first people there. Well, we tied with one other patient. 

She sent us over to the imaging center for an ultrasound. The tech was very nice, went for the radiologist. He came in and said the appendix was burst and the body had walled it off. He showed us the puss pocket that had formed. I felt like a horrible mother. I remembered the nasty "stomach bug" and knew that was when it burst. The radiologist had his raise his leg and sit up. Josh was able to do both things rather easily. That was amazing, he should not have been able to do either thing. 

We were told to wait in the radiology waiting room while they contacted the surgeon on call. We were warned not to leave the hospital. I had been texting Craig throughout the morning and called him after I got Josh settled. We were both horrified. 

I called my home teacher. He is a night driver and was home in the middle of he day. These things take some time and it was around 11:00 am. He promised to find someone and come within the hour. 

The surgeon called and said he was assembling his team.  He was getting him started on the strongest antibiotic and fluids. Josh was dehydrated, but he was happy hat he hadn't eaten anything. 

It sounded that it was happening fast, maybe too fast for my home teacher to come in time. I told him I was waiting for some men to come and give a blessing. He said that was the best, first medicine and there was certainly time for that. And he would be interested in knowing what was said. 

We were moved upstairs and got settled, as much as possible, into a tiny room. My home teacher called saying they were there and I gave them the room number. The blessing was short and sweet. Heavenly Father loves Josh, he was aware of what was going on. The surgeon was blessed to have steady hands and know what to do. He was blessed to heal quickly. 

They left and the surgery team came in. I recognized a friend. He is a nurse anethsitist and found a vein  for the IV. Josh unfortunately has my small veins, poor kid. 

The surgeon came in, wanted to know what was said in the blessing, and hurried everything along. The ER nurse was very kind and told me to get some lunch. He made sure he had my phone number and promised to call and let me know how things were going. I signed papers. We hoped for lapriscopy, but acknowledged the chance for a bowel resection. He was whisked away. I was left with my crochet in the tiny room. 

I headed down to the Cafe and got a bit of soup. Thirty minutes later I was back in the room checking my phone and counting double crochet stitches. 

The promised phone call came. It was still lapriscopy, it was going well, he would call if it became something more. 

More sitting, watching the clock, and crochet and the surgeon was there telling me it was over. He didn't have to open him up, but there was a lot of nastiness and he had a drain. He would have to stay overnight. He would come tomorrow after his surgeries and check on him in the afternoon. 

I waited for him to come out of recovery. Craig's mom had called earlier and she came and bright her brother George who was visiting. It was wonderful to see familiar, kind faces that I loved. 

Josh was brought in and it was over. Now we were focused on recovery, pain management, walking schedules, and killing the infection. 

George and Dawn stayed for just a bit and then left with smiles and hugs and good wishes to give us strength. 

School wasn't yet out and Josh was minus an appendix. I called and got Boaz situated and updated Thea and family. 

We had a few visitors. Kind faces to lift our spirits and strengthen our resolve. 

Thea got off work and brought Boaz to see his brother. I took the time to go home and shower and get things for the night. I missed the bishops visit. Shoot. 

I am amazed at how strong Josh is. He is doing so well. He walked with determination to get better and feel better. We toured the halls and I was grateful for his youth and strength. There were a lot of elderly patients. Every bed was filled. They were starting to double up in the bigger rooms and I was grateful for our tiny room. 

You don't get a lot of sleep in a hospital. Josh decided to go for a walk at midnight. Vitals taken every four hours. Various beeps and whistles from various rooms. 

Wednesday we were all about walking and walking and walking. Vitals and pain medications and antibiotic drips. 

We waited for the surgeon to visit and let us know if we could go home. We waited and waited and waited. 

I was about to go crazy. The surgeon had a full day in Idaho Falls. He appeared at 6. Probably the exact time he told me. I just hoped for sooner. The nurse said she doubted we would be discharged. We were waiting for him to poop. 

The surgeon authorized us to go home. Happy day. Three hous later we were still being processed.  The pharmacys were all closed, but I ran with my boy to the safety of home. 

Thursday morning I chased down his meds.  We waited for Craig to come in at 11:00 pm again. 

Today we had a surgical check-up. He is doing well we found out the doctor was almost at the point of opening him up. It was the worst he had seen in years. 

So many blessing have occurred in the past two weeks. By all rights it should have so much worse. 

But in the words of a very good surgeon, "faith, prayers and modern medicine" can work miracles. 

I believe in miracles. 

A love note

Boaz told me, "I love you, short, little mother."

He doesn't think that he needs to look up to me any more. 

He is already claiming he is as tall as me. 

Not yet. 

Quilting, quilting, quilting

Deb came up for a visit Monday and yesterday. Once we got into the sewing room, we hardly left it. We had a ton to get done. 

I've had fabric that my mom picked out for years. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it. It's not really my pattern or my colors. And I was always so far behind on my Christmas quilts. 

This year I am finishing my last Christmas quilt. I am almost done with it. 

Last time Deb came up we pulled out mom,s fabric and sewed the top. Deb found the pattern. It is simple, but very pretty. 

This time we sandwiched it and quilted it. All on Monday. We also sewed the binding on. Deb took it home to hand stich the binding and finish the thing. 

Some of my favorite fabrics are in this quilt. I love the sunflower batik and the water color batik. The horse fabric was given to me for this quilt by a friend way back in Oregon. It works well with the original fabric. I am so happy to have it done. 

Yesterday we started Opal's quilt.  Opal, our niece, is getting married in December. So we are feeling rushed to get it done. There is no way I could get wedding quilts done for nieces and nephews. But Deb wants to do it. So together we try and bust them out. This one was a total stash quilt. I bought a bit of neutral fabrics, but we used mostly what we had. 

Debbie has mom's stash from years ago and she is trying to use it all up. I admire her for being able to use someone else's fabric. This quilt will have a good mix of both of us. 

I took a few pictures of the sweat shop yesterday. 

This is the neutrals chair. 

This is the Reds chair. 

I sewed and Deb pressed and cut. 

We finished 24 blocks - 12 inch log cabins. The picture shows one on the ironing board. Each one has a cheery yellow center. 

Possible fabrics yet to cut. 

The Reds. 

Deb is better at using up scraps than I am, so I cleaned out my scraps and gave them to her. All the left over fabric from previous quilts. Little pieces, strips, triangles that are too small for me to d al with. I like at least an eighth of a yard to work it into a pattern. 

I am grateful that she wanted it. It's hard to throw away. But I had such a mind block on how to use it. She seemed thrilled to get it. A win-win. 

She said she will come back and we will bust out the remaing 18 blocks. 

Something to look forward to.