Decorating for Christmas

We spent the Monday after Thanksgiving setting up our Christmas decorations and getting ready for the holiday.  It was quiet and we missed having Ethan help us, but I think it turned out well.

I am doing the 12 days of Christmas for Ethan and his companion so I had to get things done early to mail to them so they would have it in time.  I made a stocking for Ethan from one of his Church shirts when he was a baby and Bryan's tie.  We have a family in our neighborhood who does vinyl and embroidery so she put a nametag on the shirt for me.  It turned out really cute! Now I can get it mailed.

Yes, I know they have elder stocking at Deseret Book that you can buy but this was more fun!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is low key and quiet this year because of the pandemic.  We ate turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, etc., and then we went to Dixie rock to look around.  Courtney found a natural seat to sit in.

Bryan's Birthday Breakfast

 I didn't take a lot of pictures for Bryan's birthday, which makes me sad, but here is one of his breakfast.  He had an omelet (with mushrooms), hashbrowns and oj.

He had ribs for dinner with rice and veggies.  We didn't do a whole lot for his big day but we love him!

Walking Home and a Lesson

On the way home from work Courtney and I stopped at Harmons for some groceries.  She was driving.  We got out of the car, she reminded me to lock my door (since they aren't automatic locks), and then we went to leave the car to go in the store.  Suddenly, Courtney froze with a panicked look on her face.  She quickly turned back to the car and said "I think I locked the keys in the car."  Her face was hilarious and I burst out laughing.  I couldn't help it.  We looked and, yup, the keys were on the driver's seat and all the doors were locked. 

I laughed and said, "Well, let's walk home and bring back the spare set."  So we took off for our adventure walking home  It's not far at all so it wasn't bad but it was fun to walk with her and brainstorm about how to get the car home.  We finally decided that I would walk back to get the car while Courtney studied for her test.

We got home, I grabbed the keys, and then walked back to Harmons.  What an adventure.

I used the experience as my #givethanks the next day.

When I got to Harmons and got the keys, I sent this picture to Courtney:

She always checks her pockets and makes sure the driver has the keys before shutting the car doors now.

Soccer Gear

Courtney got her soccer gear for her 7 Elite club team.  They have a star for every year they have played with the club and they also have their initials on EVERYTHING.  She got a soccer ball and a bag too. Courtney's bummed that it's Adidas stuff and not Nike but nothing is perfect in this world.

This is her practice uniform but I don't think she will wear it because no one else does.

This is a game jersey.

Another game jersey.

Her jacket with the warm-up pants.

Kahoot

Courtney's class was doing an online Kahoot so they could study for a test.  She was doing really well and was excited.  She ended up placing 2nd out of all the students so she was celebrating.

Gum Graft

On November 13th,  I had a gum graft.  I had one tooth whose root was exposed so the doctor took a bit off the roof of my mouth and put it under the gum on top of this tooth.  It wasn't a huge procedure but apparently, I am hilarious under anesthesia.

Here's how it went down...

I took Friday off so I could have the weekend to recover.  The periodontist told me that it would be painful and it would be a good idea to have some time off to recover. Bryan drove me to the office in the morning and waited for me while I had the procedure done.

They checked out temperatures at the office and then took us back to the room.  Bryan stayed with me while they did the initial stuff.  The doctor put the IV in my hand and then he laid the chair back. Bryan left at this point.  The doctor told me he would give me something to relax before he gave me the "good stuff."  I remember breathing deeply and then the next thing I remember is sitting on the couch in our house and Bryan handing me some strawberry yogurt (which confused me because I knew we didn't have strawberry yogurt).  Anyway, I ate the yogurt and the next thing I remember was waking up at 1:30 in the afternoon.  I walked down the hall and Courtney was in the office doing her online class.  She asked how I was doing and I said "That was a heavenly nap" and she erupted in giggles.  Okay, whatever.  Then I texted Bryan because I wasn't in pain and the doctor told me that I would be in pain so I wondered if he had given me any pain medication.  He said he hadn't, so I took some Tylenol and sat back down.

When Bryan got home that afternoon he told me...the rest of the story.

Apparently, I was with it enough when we left the doctor's office to have conversations with the nurses but he was a bit concerned that they were letting me leave when I was pretty out of it.  We needed to pick up my prescription so Bryan drove to Walmart and, leaving the car running because it was cold, he ran in to get the prescription.  They told him it would be about 30 minutes so he went back to the car to wait with me.  I was out of it and hadn't moved, or so he thought.  He waited until it was ready, went back in, got the prescription, and then we headed home.

A little bit into the drive he heard me sigh and say "That was a heavenly nap.  Now I understand why Michael Jackson had them put him under to sleep at night. How did the doctor say the procedure went?"  Bryan would respond that the doctor said everything went well.

A few minutes later Bryan heard me sigh and say "That was a heavenly nap.  Now I understand why Michael Jackson had them put him under to sleep at night. How did the doctor say the procedure went?"  Bryan assured me that everything went well.

A few minutes later Bryan again heard me sigh and say "That was a heavenly nap.  Now I understand why Michael Jackson had them put him under to sleep at night. How did the doctor say the procedure went?"  He, once again, assured me that everything went well.

A few minutes later Bryan heard me sigh and decided to head me off at the pass.  He said "Was that a heavenly nap?  Is there something you have to say about Michael Jackson?  The doctor said everything went well."  He's a smart guy.

I guess this went on the entire drive home.  I don't remember walking in the house but Courtney said I walked in the house, kicked off my shoes, and collapsed (Courtney said it was "dramatically) on the couch.  Bryan said he asked me what I wanted and I said I wanted strawberry yogurt, so he went to the store to get me some.  When he came back, he gave me the yogurt (something I actually remember!).

Then Bryan went to work while Courtney did her online class and I slept.

The next day I was checking the photo roll on my camera and found this...

Apparently, I wasn't asleep the entire time Bryan was in Walmart getting my prescription. I am so glad I didn't decide to drive myself home because that would have been really bad.

We had a good laugh about the pictures and what had happened while I was out of it.  I hate having holes in my memory!

My graft has healed well and didn't have any pain, which was really weird.  I did have some bruising on my cheek so I decided to start wearing a mask at work instead of a shield so I could cover it up.  But it's all good now.

What an adventure.  I'm glad I can bring amusement to my family!  Ethan was laughing so hard when we told him the story the next Tuesday when he called.  So funny!!

Stuck Floss

Courtney is having a hard time flossing her teeth with the new fake teeth in her mouth.  She has the braces flossers to make it easier but quite a few times she has gotten the floss stuck.  She has to take the scissors and cut the floss in order to get it out of her mouth.  Hahaha!

Ethan went to the Temple!!

This is the entry from Ethan's mission blog.  I didn't want to write it all again, so I just copied it here for our family history.

Hey everyone!

This is Michelle.  You get me this week because Ethan didn't write a letter home because...he was in the Fort Collins Temple taking out his own endowments...and we were there!  So he was a bit busy to write home so I thought I would give you an update on him.

Ethan is doing really well.  When the Fort Collins Temple went to Phase 2 we were told we would be able to go through with him and we were so excited.  After a couple months of waiting for our turn, we were on a plane early Tuesday morning on our way to Colorado.  

Their zone had Zone Conference Tuesday so the rest of their Zone had p-day Monday, but since Ethan was going through the temple, they did regular work on Monday then took Tuesday as p-day and will attend a different Zone's conference on Wednesday.  Kind of crazy but the temple takes priority.

We were given permission to spend one hour with Ethan so we decided it would be easiest to take him and Elder Unruh to lunch before the session.  So we flew out of Vegas at 6 am, drove to Fort Collins and met them at Smashburger (Ethan's choice) for lunch.  It was so good to get to hug Ethan!!  Elder Unruh said Ethan was so excited to see us.  They had spent the morning doing laundry, shopping, and getting things done that they needed to so they would be ready to go through the temple.  It was nice that the companion was allowed to go too because Elder Unruh only has 3 more weeks left in his mission.  So we met them and got to eat with them for an hour.  They told us all about their area, the mission, and stories that we hadn't heard before.  (They got to help teach an MTC class, which I thought was really cool!)

When it was time, we followed them to the temple.  There were 3 elders going through for the first time.  We waited outside the temple until everyone was there and then we went in.  Since there have been so many fires, the temple grounds had ash all over.  They asked us to clean our shoes really well as we walked into the temple and I was amazed at how much ash was on my shoes that I didn't realize.  

The session was amazing and it was so good to be with Ethan in the temple, finally.

After the session, we took pictures outside the temple.  Then we said a really tough goodbye, but it was so great to see him as a missionary and so happy.  He is doing really great and happy to have finally gone through the temple.

So that's why he didn't email anyone this week.

-Michelle

Pictures from the temple:

Ethan and Courtney

You can see the ash on the sidewalk.