The oldest granddaughter called and told us that she and her brother had parts in their primary program and we were invited...So we surprised them...

It was so fun to show up on Sunday morning and surprise the grandkids...Primary program day is a special day for Grandpa and Grandma...It was so much fun..fast trip, but well worth it...

Angie also told us that she was expecting...we are so excited for baby boy Francom to join the family the end of April...

Steve and I are celebrating our 15th anniversary today...life is just good...

Steve, Amanda and I have celebrated our 8th temple sealing on December 21, 2010...

YIPPEE !!!!!!!!! finally caught up with the blog...I know I'll find a few more pictures, but atleast I am up to date...

Steve had right hip replacement surgery on December 15, 2010...

We were informed after the surgery that there is a lot of bleeding during hip replacement surgery...Steve bleed more than the normal patient...he was in surgery for 3 hours instead of 1 1/2 hours...his pain level took a long time to get under control after the surgery...Steve's level 5 pain tolerance is usually everyone else's level 10...so when he was telling the recovery nurse his level was a 10 I knew he was a lot of pain...

The picture above is a few hours after recovery and in his room on the 2nd floor...the machine was draining the blood from his hip and processing it through and then 4 hours later they would hook it up to an iv line and infuse it back into him...They did this 5 times through the night...usually they only have t0 do up to 2 or 3 infusions...
Steve's surgery was on Wednesday...this is the first time he was up and ready to walk on Thursday morning...the belt was used to hang onto him as he walked...

AND HE'S OFF...

it was very painful, but they start them walking within 24 hours after the surgery...

he had to walk around the 2nd floor twice before he could come home...

Steve was in a semi-private room...the older gentleman was very ill...

Steve didn't sleep very much and was ready to come home...Friday afternoon he made it around the 2nd floor twice and was so excited to come home...

Steve's new hip 10 days after the surgery...everything is healing and doing great...

So many prayers have been answered...

Steve continues to improve each day...it is a lot slower than he expected, but is doing what the doctor has asked so he can heal properly and get back to normal life...

My nephews knew how much I wanted to be home for Thanksgiving...so they took pictures throughout the day and sent them to me...

Kendall is always good to help grandma and grandpa
My mother always sets fun tables for any meal we have at her home...

Amanda does such a fabulous job decorating our home for Christmas...

Amanda decorated our tree red, white and blue again this year...I love it...Steve helped her with the platform and tree skirt...Amanda loves to make snow flakes and put them all over the house...it gives our home a fun wintery feeling...
The finished product...
A fabulous job...

So...Steve and I went to the grocery store on Tuesday after I finished parent /teacher conferences and bought food for our Thanksgiving dinner in ABQ

I love cooking in my kitchen...I have a lot of counter space and it just fun to cook in...I spent all day Wednesday cooking so Thursday would be an enjoyable day...I put a lot of food items in the crock pot after to warm up on Thursday and it also made clean up so much easier...

Sis. Bullock taught me while we were living in Japan to cook ahead and if you need to freeze the food and warm it up on Thanksgiving Day...I didn't freeze anything, but it makes it so nice not to have a lot of clean up at the same time you are trying to put a meal on the table...

I totally enjoyed making pies for our dinner...the one on the left is Steve's favorite...raisin pie...and the one on the right is apple pie...

I also make coconut cream and lemon meringue pies...

Our fabulous turkey...

Steve found a cooking show that gave instructions on carving your turkey...all three of us watched and then Steve did his magic on the bird...

We invited our neighbors to join us...

pulled out the nice china and crystal...

so enjoyed our time...we did miss being with our family in Idaho, but were happy we weren't stranded on the freeway somewhere...

A snow storm came in a few days before Thanksgiving that changed our plans to travel to Idaho...several of the roads were closed...

This picture is looking out my mom and dad's front window...the snow drift is over 4 feet high..

the one snow plow is pulling the second one out from being stuck...

Afterschool Chorus Veterans' Day Tribute...

Steve and I decided we wanted to do a Veterans' Day Tribute this year with our chorus club instead of a Christmas program...it was the most incredible experience...the kids worked so hard to learn all the songs...the picture above is during "The Salute to the Armed Forces"...We did 3 programs with standing room only...we had 3 Star General Baca come to one of our performances...He told the kids that he had attended several programs/tributes throughout his years in the service and nothing came close to what they performed that day...

We did a Tribute Wall with over 200 pictures of Veterans...It was so incredible to see the kids looking at all the pictures...parents and everyone that came to our school during the month of November walked through the hall...there was such a reverance ...
General Baca also brought a flag made by a prisoner of war...he told the kids the story and how the soldier found the materials to make the flag...words can't explain the feeling we all had as he shared this experience...something our kids and all of us will never forget...

We have traveled over 16,000 miles this summer starting Memorial Day weekend and finished the day before school started in August...

Totally enjoyed our adventure, but it was time to get back to school and stay home for a few days...we did do a few more trips, but not like this summer...Amanda was so ready not to have to travel...she is a trooper for going where ever we did...

Two of our most treasured trips to Utah took place when Dean received his Patriarchal Blessing and was ordained to the office of an Elder ...

Another one of our adventures this summer was to celebrate the granddaughter's birthday...love having birthdays with the grandkids...

My brother Doug's accident...An 18 year old girl ran the stop sign and T-boned Doug...he rolled several times...Angels were round about him...

My dad called to tell me about Doug's accident...it made my knees go weak ...He went to the hospital and was really bruised up...he was awake and heard and felt every roll the pickup made...he injured his back and had to have surgery to repair the damaged area...

Once I heard about the accident I felt like we needed to be in Utah with Doug and his family...so Steve and I made arrangements for our assignments to be covered for youth conference and girls camp...we had everything ready...and we packed the car and headed to Utah...I called my parents and told them what we were doing ...they met us at Doug's home...it was nice to spend the days we did with him and his family...that was just too close...life is too short and we need to enjoy and live each moment...angels were protecting him that day...

Girl's Camp and Youth Conference...

I was asked to be over the 1st years at girl's camp this year...thought we would spice it up with some fun activities for certification and then have an awards ceremony on the last day...the two YCL's that I worked with were so fun and so helpful...

first aid kits for the hike...
rope tying
first aid

camp sanitation

Heimnich Manuever

Poison Oak

camp recycling

Nature and beauty

Hike, Knot Tying and Bird, Flowers and Nature

camp fire and cooking

The final bouquet at the awards ceremony

In the middle of doing all the camp items...Steve was asked to do an activity for youth conference...we made 660 scripture marking cards...it was a very busy time for us...but we totally enjoyed working together...the youth really enjoyed youth conference and girl's camp...

Steve was assigned the Roswell Stake ...we traveled to the various areas to see the buildings and the surroundings...

I hate heights...my knees go weak...when we were at the entrance to Carlsbad Carvern and I looked into the whole...I became very nervous...Steve was really good to let me hold onto him during the one mile hike down into the cave...I felt so triumphant when we made it to the bottom...it was an incredible experience...

Always wanted to visit Roswell...it was so fun seeing all the alien items around...Amanda and I went shopping in the alien stores just to check it out...

Roswell Stake Center...lots of Pecan trees surrounding the church...

We were shocked to see the mesa full of windmills...they went for ever...

Every little town had a water tower with the town's name on it...

another one of the church buildings in the Roswell Stake...