Dec 28, Christmas traditions

Had a few good snow storms lately and ended up with a wonderful white Christmas.
On each Christmas eve we head up to the Little Alps for our annual tubing tradition. It is a tradition we have kept up since we were kids.  This year we had a huge crew and a ton of fun.  We counted over 70 people there from our group.  We had kids of all ages heading down the hill as it was snowing hard and heavy.  Perfect for a Christmas eve.

Christmas day was wonderful as we spent it with family and friends.

Aunt Garrity, Uncle Seth, and little John were here for Christmas, our kids love to play with and watch Johnny boy.

Nothing to report health wise. Sierra's swelling has seemed to stabilize, or we are just not watching that close. It will drive you nuts if you let it.  Lindsey and Sierra both have biopsies on Jan 14. Hopefully no excitement until then.

Lindsey's birthday is tomorrow. Big one one 11.  We have something planned, I am sure of it.

Stacy works New Years eve, totally excited about that. So it is looking like I will be chaperoning a kids party here. It's all good.

Couple of family pictures before the snow came.

 Tubing at the Little Alps

 Hunter and Gage in line for the next run

 Keanna just after an epic crash.

 Nick and his crew.

 Jake and his crew

 Michael after an awesome jump.

 Aunt Garrity and Uncle Seth. 

 Christmas morning just before heading in.  We get up, do chores, feed cows, eat and cleanup breakfast, then head in (behind the sheet) to see if anyone came by. 

 We had Christmas dinner at our house this year.  We had everyone here except Josh's family.

 Keanna showing off the marshmellow shooters. Brought back memories of the shooters we played with on Christmas day 2 years ago in the LPCH courtyard. Crazy, but those are good memories. 

 Sierra on her requested bean bag.

 Looking east from our place towards the Eagles after the storms.

Picture does not do it justice.

Yesterday, Sierra cooked a complete meal for a school assignment. She cooked spinach stuffed ricotta shells, cilantro lime rice, asparagus parmesan, with strawberry brownies.  She did an excellent job.

Last of all, a video of Michael Stephens jumping over me on the Little Alps tubing hill. 

    

Piano Recital and the Christmas season

Last 2 weeks have been active in the Christmas season.
We had the school concert with Sierra playing the saxophone, Lindsey on the clarinet, Hunter and Gage singing. It was weird have just Megan sitting with us.

We had the BBW office party at Geiser Grande, fun to have Aunt Cindy and Uncle Lynn drop in from Utah. they were up for a quick visit.

Tonight we had our kids piano recital. My mother has been their teacher for years and has done a great job.  All the kids performed and did good.

But what has really been on my mind is Sierra's swelling.  It is driving us nuts. The swelling comes and goes with her, and there is no real good explanation for it.  We have called Calif and Boise doctors regarding the swelling and slight weight gain. She is looking and acting fine so they are not worried about it....for now.  Her next appointment is January 14 with Lindsey for biopsies.

That's about it for now, all the snow is gone, and the kids are praying for white Christmas.

Wonderful to be home and all together for the Holiday. Have a very Merry Christmas.

Lindsey on the Clarinet 

Hunter and Gage somewhere? 

 Lindsey with her friends, Felicia and Novalee

 Hunter playing Frosty the Snowman.

 Gage and Range staying very focused of course.

 Sierra getting ready to play Jingle Bells

 Nice hat!

 And Megan gettin' r done

All of Mom's piano kids.with Grandpa getting the refreshments ready.

 Sierra dipping chocolates

That's my boy after is piano performance.

And Megsie

Gage's checkup and Tristen's fundraiser

Time to update
The Disney Dream is behind us and it's back to our cute little life.
The snow has melted and we back to school.
Had a great Thanksgiving holiday in Utah.
First we stopped in Boise for Sierra's stress test. They ran her on a treadmill to get her heart rate up, then did an echo on her heart. No great revelation, just confirmed some of the issues they are watching. She has a little 'non-conformity' on the right side of her heart. Basically her heart is not opening up like it should. This is probably the cause of the swelling, weight gain, and fatigue.  Her feet are swollen each night and her face is swollen in the mornings. Not sure how this is going to play out, but it is driving me nuts to see her retaining fluids, Stacy is not crazy about it either.

Anyway....after the stress test / echo in Boise we went to Logan to spend time with Stacy's family. Great time with her family.  We played basketball, shot guns, played pinochle, played night games, went shopping, ate plenty of good food, took the kids to the Jump Zone, went to the Preston light parade, slobbered over Ryan's bull elk mounts, and watched our beloved USU Aggies get butchered by BSU in football (that part was un-fun!)

 Jojo, Megan, Lacey, Mya, and Sierra

 Hunter and Mason

 At the Preston light parade and fireworks

 Megan and little Cooper (who LOVES Megan)

 My wife at pinochle

 It's a Merrill thing, (you wouldn't understand)

 At the Jump Zone

On Thursday, Gage and I did a one day marathon trip to Calif for a pacemaker and echo checkup. We flew to Oakland, took the BART (subway), then the Caltrain, then took a bus to LPCH. It was a fun adventure for the two of us. We had a little time at the hospital to say hi to many good friends from the 'Lindsey' days. We swung through 3 West and Room 3241, then to the hospital school to see Kevin and the gang. Had lunch with Stephanie, Wyatt, and Tristen Thomas. Tristen is now 2 years old and has been waiting for a heart for 62 days. Tristen looks great and we hope she can stay healthy until the right heart is available. Had a nice visit with Liz Niccum and Mary Burge. We still have a good support system in Calif if (when) we return for the next adventure.

 Gage felt pretty special. Leaving on the BART

 Transfer at Balboa Station

 The Caltrain at Millbrae

 The bus in Palo Alto

 The new LPCH under construction. This was a big hole in the ground 2 years ago.

 Hospital school with Kevin and the gang.

Tristen, Wyatt and Mom, Stephanie.

Gage's tests showed no real change. His heart is still riding the pacemaker, he is in the 5-10% brackets for weight and height.  He is still throwing random irregular heart beats. So they hooked him up to a 24 hour halter monitor to watch for crazy beats. I will FedEx the monitor back to California for evaluation. He is looking and acting great, so his next checkup will be in 6 months.  Unfortunately, we talked more about Sierra than Gage. Lindsey was not even brought up.

The Green turtle on his belly reads the pacemaker.

Next 'scheduled' visit to Calif is for Lindsey and Sierra biopsies on January 14. Hopefully nothing else before then.

After the checkup, our good friends Bob and Kaye Paugh gave Gage and I a ride back to Oakland for our flight home. We finally got back to our home at 1:30am.

On Friday, Stacy and I went to the Festival of Trees at the Baker City Event Center. It was a fundraiser for the local hospital. It was a dress up dinner/auction/dance and Stacy was looking smokin hot! I can't believe I didn't take more pictures. Anyway.... it was fun night to get out.

Last of all, we had the chance to go to Adrian to a benefit dinner for our good friends Tristen Thomas. It was great event with tri-tip steak and a benefit auction. It was a great experience for our kids to be involved in.

That's about it for now. The tree is decorated and we are counting our blessings.

 Mom's soup Sunday dinner in the shop. 

 Lindsey and her Beads of Courage