More Snow Fun

Lots more snow means lots more fun in the snow. I tried to get some of my kids to come make snow angels with me but they were big wimps and didn't want to get cold. So I just went ahead and made them myself!!!

Andy, Tyler, and Cameron were playing in the snow by pulling a sled behind the neighbor's 4-wheeler. Cameron finally mastered the tuck and roll for those times he fell off. They even got mom to get on for a snowy sled ride.

Carson City or Bust

Cameron finally made it home from Carson City this morning. I only got to talk to him for a short time before he left for school but he said, it was fun, they drove through two snow blizzards on the way home, and he was never eating at McDonalds again. Which explains why he as in the bathroom so long this morning!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We have had two full days of constant snow. I bought a new car this year, a Rav4, but I haven't been able to drive it because it won't make it up my hill of a driveway. I got a fuel economy model instead of the safer 4-wheel drive model. Right now I am thinking that wasn't a smart decision. We were coming home from Cedar City on Saturday and there was a semi truck that slid off the road. We stopped behind the Highway Patrol vehicle and when he told us to go ahead around the truck, my Rav4 couldn't get any traction and I couldn't get started again. Unfortunately the exact place I had to stop was near the top of a hill on Panaca Summit. It took me 20 minutes to finally get going, but to do that, I had to reverse all the way down the mountain to eventually find a spot that I could get traction again. It was quite nerve racking.
Tyler has enjoyed throwing snowballs at the house but the dog has had to be in the house most of the day. Yesterday Andreas, Tyler, and I rode up to the sand dunes and water tower on 4-wheelers. It was a lot of fun but I must say, my face just about froze off. I believe a ski mask is in my near future!

Senior Ball

This week was the senior ball and this was a picture of Jonathan and Andreas being escorted by their mom, me!! It is sad that Jonathan is so excited to graduate and get on with life when all I want to do is keep him home.

I danced with Jonathan for the post escort dance and Heidi danced with Andreas. Don't we look so cute!

Jonathan went to the ball with Kayzha Ottley

Andreas went to the ball with Eva Chau

Good News! Cameron competed in an essay contest at the middle school to see who could go to Carson City to observe the Nevada Electoral process. He really was excited about it and hoped he would win. Well as I am sure from my "Good News" statement, he did win and will be leaving Sunday to witness more of our governmental process. There was only one boy and one girl from his grade that was selected to go so he was pretty excited. He will have to take lots of pictures and put together a slide show of the experience.

Surgery Update

Jonathan's surgery was Tuesday and it was pretty rough on him. He was in such an immense amount of pain and as his mom, I hated seeing him like that. It took them quite a long time to get his pain under control and I think they were just pumping him full of pain medicine to see what would work. We were one of the first surgeries of the day and Jonathan was one of the last patients to leave that day. Unfortunately we had to get back for physical therapy that same night so we finally packed him up and he had to cowboy through it. Luckily the Physical Therapist was willing to come to our house because once I had him home I was not going to get him back in the car! But he did have to actually go into the physical therapy office the next day and start the torture. But today is Saturday and he is doing TONS better and can get around and do his therapy without being in complete pain. I think he still is enjoying having his personal nurse and asks for a foot/ankle massage at least three times a day. He did say that maybe having knee surgery on both knees wasn't such a good idea to do at the same time.

I received an interesting call this week. I guess they have a couple of openings on the Hospital Board of Trustees and since no one ran for the elected positions they are recruiting people to fill the positions. I was approached to fill one of these positions. I am a little apprehensive because I haven't even attended a hospital board meeting, but I am also excited to learn something new. As far as I can tell it is a four-year term so it is a long commitment but we shall see how it goes.

Knee Surgery

Well this week has been an exciting one. Jonathan did go to the doctor and we found out that his knee was worse than previously expected. He not only tore his ACL, but he also tore his medial meniscus. So his surgery is scheduled for Tuesday before Thanksgiving. They are also doing surgery on his other knee to fix some painful problems with his Osgood-Slaughter disease. And lucky him, he has to start physical therapy that same day after his surgery. I guess I have to start locating a wheelchair for him.
On a side note... Dan Frehner (Henry's dad), is having knee surgery the day before Jonathans. He got an infection in his knee and they had to remove his knee replacement and has had 6 weeks of IV antibiotics. These Frehners and their knees!!!

Knee Problems

Well what do you know. I was so excited that football was over and Jonathan's body could finally heal! Well it didn't take but a couple of days and he was off playing racketball. You guessed it, he hurt his knee AGAIN. He came hopping into the house and now he can't even put pressure on it. I got him into the orthopaedic surgeon the next morning and he thinks he has a torn ACL. The doctor doesn't know how he even finished the football season because he thinks it was from the previous football injury two weeks earlier. Jonathan got an MRI the same day and we are awaiting the results. Looks like knee surgery is in his near future.

Forever Family

This was everyones favorite picture

We took our annual family picture in Pioche this year.

Sad Day of Football

Well Jonathan's football team lost in the Division Playoffs today. He played quite a bit of the game and wasn't hurt so that makes me very happy but I am sad that they missed out on going to the State Tournament his senior year.

We Have Spirit, Yes We Do!

This is Henry during Homecoming week at LCHS. It was spirit day and you guessed it...the school colors are red, black, and white. You have to love all the school spirit he has.

Andreas

This is Andreas Hultgren, our foreign exchange student from Norway. He has enjoyed playing "american football" and has actually been pretty good at it. He has made plenty of touch downs and quarterback sacks. His coaches call him "Viking"

Football

This football season has had its ups and downs. Jonathan has had a great year when he is not injured. His body has taken a huge toll. He has knee problems, leg problems, and back problems. But yet he still keeps on playing.

Carlsbad/San Diego Zoo Trip

Well we made the long journey to Carlsbad California again to go camping over the long Nevada Day weekend. I have to say that it is one of my favorite family vacations that we go on. We had such a big group going this year that we took two vehicles. Our trip consisted on Henry and myself, Cameron and Tyler, Kennen Lee (a nephew), Andreas Hultgren (our foreign exchange student from Norway), Toby (another student from Finland), and Sabrina (another student from Germany). We only have Andreas (Andy) living with us but the other two were invited along to enjoy some California time with us. We left Friday morning and basically drove all day to get there. We stopped at Primm Nevada and rode the roller coaster, which everyone enjoyed. That is except Tyler because he still hasn't gotten the nerve to ride roller coasters yet. I told everyone that we don't make many stops but it turned out we stopped just about everywhere. I think the 8.5 hour trip took us 10.5 hours. But we finally made it and set up camp. Saturday we spent the whole day at the beach where everyone frolicked in the ocean. Tyler was building sand castles with some of our other friends that go to Carlsbad during this same weekend. Sand castle building always has a way of turning into a mud fight. Sunday we went to the San Diego Zoo because that is Mom's "happy place". I think everyone puts up with going again and again because I love it so much. This year the highlight of my trip was feeding the giraffes!!! I was so excited that I could hardly constrain myself.