Christmas 2012

This year's Christmas was a huge success.  We spent Christmas Eve with my family at my mom's house.  Chafin and his adorable family were able to fly in from North Carolina, and Quincy was there.  Amy's family was planning on coming, but were all taken down with the flu.  We had fun but still missed them.  We were able to get to Enterprise in time to spent a little time playing games at our friends the Drakes.  When we got home P.J. the elf had already arrived.  P.J. is the kids favorite part of Christmas.  We changed in to P.J.s and started the movie Elf in my bedroom.  The kids all slept in my room and Royd and I stayed down stairs.  5AM arrived and the kids could not last any longer.  They lined up on the stairs preparing to examine their loot.  Dace was first, and went straight to his stocking followed by Taya, then Reese, and finally Quade.  They were all so excited about their new sack packs and candy that they did not even notice the ginormous pool table in the room.  It took at least five minutes before Taya spotted it.  We had a good laugh over that.  We spent the rest of the morning playing pool.  At around 2:00 we loaded up sleds, four-wheelers, and tubes to go play in the snow.

For future memories I thought it would be fun to recap what the kids got for Christmas.  I wish I had a list from past Christmas memories.

Taya: pink chair, earrings, skinny jeans, boots

Dace: Legos, hermitt crabs, coloring book, snow boots, BYU hat

Quade: wallet, money, jeans, sweater, headphones

Reese: a one egg frying pan, jacket, Madden 13 video game, shoes (Reese also got a Gerber knife from grandma)

Dad: work boots, salami, Baracuta knife, gun case
Mom: a flash for the camera, and super cool workout clothes

Family Pictures 2012

We finally got them done.  We still were having a hard time finding the perfect spot.  We settled on the park in Washington.  I won't I lie it was a little scary.  As we wandered around to settle on a location, we stumbled upon what the boys affectionately called a hobo village.  We took a few pics very quickly, and ran out of there.  I think I have enough for the yearly Christmas card.

Family Pictures Part I

I really wanted to have our family pictures taken some place different this year.  I thought that it would be a perfect opportunity while we were up north for Thanksgiving.  We drove for hours find a spot.  It was so cold every where we went that we did not get very good pictures. Everyone look as if they were in pain.  Here are a couple we took in Park City.  We planned to try again down south.

Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we were invited to celebrate with my Aunt Alice's family.  We met long lost cousins, at food, sang, danced, and played games.  It was a Hawaiian themed Thanksgiving.  My nephew, Jaqson, left the following Wednesday to start his mission in Hawaii.  They put on this party every other year. We plan to join them next time if they will let us.

Subtalar Implants

We have known for a long time that Quade has had extremely flat feet.  Lately he has been having a lot of trouble with his ankles collapsing inward when lifting weights and playing football.  We took him into a doctor to see if we could get him some orthodics to put in his shoes.  The doctor informed us that he needed surgery.  After getting a second opinion we decided that it would be the best time to do it.  His ankle had extra space in the subtalar joint.  This cause his foot to collapse under pressure.  He has been walking on his heels his entire life, because the front of his foot had no support.  The procedure went very smoothly.  He had to get the biggest implant they make because the space was so large.  He spend one week in a wheelchair.  Another three weeks in walking boots.  Then he was able to walk around without the boots (carefully) for another two weeks.  Last week was the first week he was able to start any physical activity  and it was basketball tryouts.  He felt a little out of shape, and his feet hurt badly after each practice.  He toughed through it and MADE THE TEAM!  I am so proud of him.  He is not fully recovered his feet still hurt a lot, but they get a little better each day.  After the surgery his feet are narrower and longer by about a half inch.  He has also started to grow.  He is going to pass me up in a matter of weeks.

Fall Sports

I really love fall sports.  It is so fun to watch the kiddos play and have fun.  This fall everyone was involved with something.  Dace had a fantastic time playing soccer.  He made goals every game.  He really gets into it.  Taya had the opportunity to be on a cheer squad.  She is actually pretty darn good at it.  She flips around all over the place.  Reese played another year of football.  He hits so hard.  He plays fullback and middle linebacker.  He is pretty amazing.  we just need to convince him that he doesn't need to run through kids when he is running the ball.  He was a lot of fun to watch and he is getting better every game.  Quade had his first year of real high school football.  He played receiver, free safety, and he deep snapped for the J.V. team.  He had to cut his season short due to the surgery he had on his feet.  He was still able to letter in football.  His team was so supportive of him as he recovered from the surgery.  Overall it was a pretty successful season.