GOOD BYE PRESIDENT HINCKLEY, WE LOVE YOU

Just in case my family members didn't know, I'd like to publicly announce my love for our President and Prophet of the Church, President Hinckley, who passed away today. He was loved and admired by many. His keen sense of humor was wonderful.He was a witness of Christ and a Prophet of God. He will be greatly missed by all who loved him. He is now happy with his eternal sweetheart, Marjorie, who he has missed so deeply since her passing. We will never forget him. God Bless you President Hinckley for your never-ending diligence. You wore yourself out in the Lord's service, the way you wanted to; "like an old,worn shoe". We love you.

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Scroll down for post I did before this one.

Some things we did while recuping from knee surgery

The week I had surgery was actually a busy week. Some things I was able to do and some I had to skip due to my knee and then I got a cold that wiped me out. But here are a couple of things we were able to do: Jessica, Jeff and Madison flew in from Missouri and stayed with us Thursday night till Sat. morning. It was a quick visit but we were so glad they came to see us.

I had Sam pose and show off her adorable whale outfit at Dominic's birthday party. He was so cute. Jill did an excellent job of decorating and making the train cake from scratch. And, the pizza was actually delicious like Round Table should be. Remember when we went there during the holidays and I said it was the worst RT pizza I've ever had? Well, it must have been the cook! Hopefully, he doesn't have a job there anymore.

We were also invited to two wedding receptions and a snow trip. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it to any of them. :( The knee is healing well. On Monday I go to my post op to see what my next option is so I can excercise on it again. Have good thoughts for my knee please.:)

Christmas fun and unbelieveable rainstorms

We had an absolutely wonderful time visiting with everyone. Thank you all for coming and making the sacrifice to travel here. I know it was a challenge with little ones.

Christmas Eve found us at South Landpark looking for Fairy Tale Land to be open. But it was closed so we walked around a lake and fed the ducks. Sadly, this is where Jake and Kerrie lost their camera as seen hanging around her neck in this photo.

Hannah's favorite plaything was the container of pine cones on the hearth. She loved climbing up there and throwing the pine cones down to the floor.




Hailey knows how to smile pretty for the camera.

Sam and Dominic and David and Jill were able to come over on Christmas Eve so we could have one time all together. David had to work onChristmas and New Years Day.
Little Hannah and her daddy opening up her gift on Christmas Eve.

Allie was happy with her gift. I love her huge smile. Kaden got to be "Santa Claus" handing out everyone's gift from under the tree.

CHRISTMAS EVE AND CHRISTMAS DAY WAS WONDERFUL AND BUSY. SANTA CAME AND EVERYONE RECEIVED FANTASTIC GIFTS. THE CHILDREN WERE ADORABLE. WE MISSED THE STEVENS FAMILY ESPECIALLY THAT DAY.

Left, Thayne and Ella sweet dreaming. Right, the girls were caught playing Barbies. :) Oops, Kaden is there too.

After everyone else left, Jake and Kerrie and Allie got to do a little more with us. Here is Allie on Sunday wearing her new Christmas dress. She looked so cute in it.

Allie decided to lay in the middle of the floor medallion while she was helping Grandma "undecorate" the house. Then she and Tigger made friends.

It may be hard to see from these photos but these are trees that were blown over in the storm. The big one is from the front of our house in the stream bed. Two other trees of the same variety inside the fence and on the corner also blew over. We also lost two tall eucalyptus trees on the back of our property. Dave spent hours cutting the branches off that were against the window (media room) and over on the back neighbor's property. This Saturday, we are the ward's service project. Hopefully, the trees will all be gone and cleaned up.