Food Donations/Ward Party

Our Ward has the tradition of doing service for our Christmas party.  Usually, we go to the Utah Food Bank and help out but this year it was decided that we would help Tam's Treats.  Quite a few children in the District don't have food at home.  Tam's Treats takes donations of food kits that are given to those children so they have food for the weekends.  Packets of easily prepared food are given to the kids and then they make their own food.  Each packet has 2 breakfast items, 2 lunch items, 2 dinner items, and 2 snacks.  Bryan volunteered to oversee the donations so our house looked like a storehouse for a while. I was amazed at how many things we were able to collect from the members of our ward.  We had enough food to make 200 food packets which will help 100 kids have 2-weekend meals.  It was fun to watch the kids help make the packets at the party.

When we finished, Bryan put all the packets in the back of the truck so he could take them to donate.  It was amazing the generosity of our ward members.

Next year we are hoping to do twice as many food packets next Christmas!

Sweatshirts

Our library has a place called "Makers Space" where they have a Cricut, 3D printer, and a bunch of other things that you can use to be creative. We have made t-shirts before and Courtney wanted to do a couple of sweatshirts. I think they turned out really well.

YW Activity

The YW were wrapping presents for their YW activity.  Courtney felt good enough to go but she was a bit self-conscious about her puffy cheeks.  She really wasn't too swollen from her wisdom teeth but you could tell that something was different.  She said they had fun wrapping though and it was good for her to get out.

Wisdom Teeth Removal

Courtney's wisdom teeth were starting to get too close to her nerves for comfort.  We made an appointment and had her wisdom teeth out.  We went to the same doctor who took Ethan's out years before.  Courtney had done her research.  She wanted to see if she could avoid swelling.  We went to Harmons and bought her a bunch of pineapple juice.  Apparently, there is a chemical in the pineapple juice that helps with inflammation.  But in order to get the benefits, you have to drink a lot of it.  Courtney found out that she doesn't like pineapple juice.  She decided to take the swelling over having to drink the stuff.

Courtney's appointment was at 11 am so she had to fast all morning long, which isn't her strong suit.  But she did it!  They called her back and I got to go back with her for a while.  They explained what they would do and then excused me to go and wait for her.  

The anesthesiologist had a hard time finding Courtney's little veins.  She isn't sure if she passed out or if he finally got the vein and she went out quickly, but she remembers them laying her back, putting oxygen on it, and then she felt lightheaded.  She can't remember falling asleep but she was mad to wake up because she was having a good dream.

If you are wondering, no, she wasn't goofy when she woke up.  But as you can see from the photo below, her personality was a bit enhanced.  Her inhibitions were gone and so things she would usually just think, she said out loud.  She got really excited about the vanilla flavored chapstick they gave her (she really liked vanilla) and she was so proud to explain to me what all the numbers meant on the oxygen/blood pressure monitor meant.  It was fun.  They won't let you take videos in the office because they have found that teenagers get more exuberant when they see someone taking a video.  They found that the teenagers hurt themselves while trying to act crazy for the video. So I just got a picture of her.

She did a great job and didn't have too much pain the first day. The pain medication as great for her.

Courtney's hobby

When Courtney gets bored, she grabs paper and her markers to make art.  She looks up saying online and then makes them her own with a twist.  She is amazing and I keep telling her that she needs to figure out how to make money off them.  I try to take pictures of her stuff so I can remember it.

I love her handwriting!

Live Nativity

We decided to get tickets and go to the Live Nativity at Tuacahn.  There were a lot of people there, which was great to see.  In years past, it hasn't been very well attended when we have gone so it was nice to see so many people.  They have changed it a bit since we were in it the last time, but the message is always the same. It was cold so we took hot chocolate, blankets, and wore coats. I was so glad we took the time to go up and watch it.

Insulation

We are finishing the basement and the insulation is done!  We are slowly getting things done.  The electrical and plumbing have been roughed in.  We now have the insulation done so now I need to figure out the drywall.

We had insulation put on the top 2 feet of each wall and then between rooms for soundproofing.  We had soundproofing insulation put in the ceiling to mute the sounds of people walking around.  It looks crazy but it's supposed to keep the basement cold in the summer and warmer in the winter.  

This is the living room.  The bathroom is on the left (Courtney's right).

This is Courtney's room.  The closet used to be the closet for the 3rd bedroom but Courtney's room was a foot smaller (or something like that) than Ethan's so we moved her closet to make it a bit bigger.

Courtney's closet is on the left and the right part is where her closet used to be.  This makes her room about 4 square feet larger than Ethan's and gives her a nook for her bed.

This is Ethan's room.

This is another angle of the living room.  The bathroom is on the left.

It is starting to take shape.