Steve's new Freedom 1-27-11

Steve went into his dr. appt. with his walker...he was so hoping to get rid of it today...Steve will still keep in around while he is out an about...but he is now using his cane...

He was so excited...

Steve hasn't been out of the house except to go to Physical Therapy and the Dr. since surgery,

and he hasn't gone grocery shopping since our Thanksgiving dinner shopping...

what a thrilling day it is...

Steve also tied his own shoes for the first time today...

Life is just fabulous and so many prayers have been answered...

Steve's Hip X-Ray...1-27-11

Steve's new hip...it amazes me how far the new hip, shaft goes down into his bone...the shank is made of titanium, the ball is made of ceramic...between the ball and the socket is polyethylene ...the titanium shaft goes into the ball as well...

Steve learning to use his cane and to do stairs...a huge day for Steve...1-21-11

He did it...YIPPEE !!!!!!!

Steve at Physical Therapy...1-21-11

FABULOUS NIECE...THANKS AGAIN FOR TAKING CARE OF ME...

My niece, Cortney and her family...

The Guys helping clean up the farm...cutting down the walnut tree...

Pat and Glen
Mom and Dad's home and mountain scene...

Mountain in front my mom and dad's home...Lunch Creek...

Glen, Tyler and Brock helping...fall clean up at the farm...

Dad and Mom

Garth and Dad...cutting down trees and farm clean up...

Brock, Travis and Garth...pulling up the mail line...

The walnut tree that my dad helped plant when he was a little boy...

The tree's down...

Fabulous markings for the walnut tree...

Brock and Tamrie were married in the Idaho Falls Temple on December 17, 2010

We are so excited for Brock and Tamrie...we didn't go to the wedding due to Steve having surgery...so appreciate all the pictures sent our way so we could be a part of everything...

Doug and Jenny and family...

Jenny, Katelyn, Doug, Kassidy, Kali
Jenny and Doug

My parents and sibblings...

Doug, Pat, Garth, Annette, Glen, Gayla and Mike
Part of midnight auto...missing Kendall...
Love my family...enjoy visiting with them and just having fun...laughing...chatting and just being together...

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...