Sunday family dinners are a highlight. Natalie comes up from Provo about once a month to join in on the family gatherings.
Madison participated in a school play called BOTS. She is on the top row, far left, wearing red.
She is third from left in this photo.
Glen had decided he would rather stay home and watch BYU's game more than he wanted to go to Hale to see Beauty and the Beast.
Rebecca always (very happily I might add) is willing to step in and use an available ticket anytime it is offered to her, so she used Glen's ticket.
Dad thought Glen's idea was a good one and wanted to watch the game with him instead of going to the play, so we got Sarah lined up to use his ticket.
Then...Nani got sick and so Caroline was using her ticket.
Then...Glen got sick, so Dad and Mom both opted out of the play date to stay away from germs and so Brooke got to use Mom's ticket.
I was the only one going from the original five, but I really enjoyed being with my girls and these two granddaughters.
As always, it was a very elaborate set with many changes and was fascinating to watch.
Rebecca had been so happy to finally be able to wear shoes again. Then the regression happened. Her toe had begun to ooze a lot of pus and was hurting a lot more. (More news on this later in the post...) She wore a surgical boot to the play.
We had dinner after the play at Olive Garden--a favorite of all the girls, and not a favorite of the guys. Glen was so happy being able to stay home watching the game and eating cold hot dogs for his meal. No one can understand his love of that meal!!!!
Klarissa posted some family photos which I enjoyed seeing so very much. We miss being able to see Abe's family and Jacob's family very often since they both live far away from here.
Rebecca dealt with her constantly-pus-dripping toenail bed for a week before seeking medical help (at Dallas's and my insistence!!). She was sure the toe just got irritated when she pulled off a bandage that had gotten stuck on the sore and re-irritated it.
The swelling and increased redness of the toe and increased pain to step on her foot was alarming for me to once again see.
She went to urgent care (at this point it had been 10 weeks since the sepsis illness began -- SHEESH!!). Lots of blood was drawn to test for different things. Diabetes, gout, and rheumatoid arthritis were some of the things that were ruled out.
She had a culture done of the pus and it came back positive for strep. YIKES!! Something new to deal with.
She had a recheck with the doctor a few days later. He told her to keep her toe wrapped as that will help it heal quicker. He is going to extend the antibiotic an extra month once she is finished with this round of medication. This girl is going to be on antibiotics forever it feels like.
Despite the sore toe, Rebecca did not miss any of the family gatherings when Jacob's family was in town. Jacob, Laurie, Luke, Logan and Claire arrived in the wee hours of Wednesday morning. Natalie and Emma had driven up from Provo to be here when their family arrived.
We had a nice time together on Wednesday. The youngest cousins really enjoyed playing together. It is always nice to see cousin bonding happening. It was also fun to have a big family game-playing session.
The game playing continued Thursday morning while waiting for the turkey and potatoes to cook and for the Thanksgiving Day company to arrive.
Mom had done an excellent job getting a huge dinner organized for the Ward family Thanksgiving feast. It was a wonderful thing to have Mark and Michelle and their family here for the festivities as well.
Kade had some happy news happen on Thanksgiving. He lost his first tooth!
This was not only a Thanksgiving Day celebration for Mark's family, but it was also a farewell for Caleb and Natalia. They are going to spend the next 33 months in Vanuatu as Peace Corps volunteers.
They will also be helping out the Mission President in that area. Caleb's medical experience will be greatly appreciated in the mission.
It was a wonderful day filled with family and love and much gratitude for the many blessings we enjoy.
The day after Thanksgiving Dallas, Rebecca, Nani, Glen and I had tickets to the Gentri Christmas concert held at the Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City.
It was such an excellent concert. You can't go wrong listening to beautiful Christmas music. Really got us into the spirit of Christmas.
We joined Jacob's family at Costa Vida for dinner. Because, after all, who wants to cook the day after Thanksgiving?!?!
It is funny that crutches are in the photo. They do not belong to Rebecca. Another woman in the restaurant had a foot problem, so the crutches belonged to her.
Madison had begged for us to set up Christmas that day so she could help decorate the tree. Rebecca so kindly helped her with that project while I was setting up the rest of the decorations around the house.
Saturday's BYU/Houston football game was another highlight of the Thanksgiving trip for Jacob's family. Glen promised Spencer a football game again this year, so he decided it would be fun for Spencer to see the game with his cousins.
The only problem was the game started at 8:30 p.m. and the weather was freezing. Jacob had extra tickets, so Caroline decided to go as well to see what the experience was all about.
The grandkids participated in the pre-game activities
Sure looked like a cold experience to me! I was never so happy to be in our nice warm home all evening, and also to be able to get to bed at a decent hour.
Glen said it wasn't too bad the first half of the game. After that, their feet got pretty cold and it felt like they were walking on ice chunks getting back to the car.
They didn't get home until 2 a.m. Glen and I were getting up a mere 4 hours later to get ready to go to the prison. Short night for the ball game crew.
It was also an early morning for Jacob's family who had to get to the airport to catch their plane back to Omaha.
Ben's family had left the day after Thanksgiving to fly to New York for a week for Haley's brother's wedding.
Sarah's family spent the Thanksgiving holiday with Jeff's family in Cedar City. 'Twas the season for family traveling.
