Night Skiing

McKay is healing, but has had more pain the last few days.  I think he's having muscle spasms.  He is mighty brave, but he will be glad when he gets feeling better and can go out of the house more.  He is really stuck here!

On Friday nights our friends Meridith and Scott come to watch Alex and McKay so that Todd and I can get out on a date.  We are so grateful for them -- Meridith is a nurse, so even when the boys are sick or recovering from a surgery, we can usually still go.  (They're probably better off with her than us!)  Meridith and Scott bring their 2-year old with them, and we adore him and are so thankful for the wonderful way they all take care of our boys.  (Sorry Scott -- the only picture you that I could find was from our New Year's Party last year... hence, the crown.)

On Friday I had been feeling kind of cooped-up and stressed out, so I didn't know what I wanted to do on my date with Todd.  He came up with a wonderful plan.  We went night skiing at Sundance and then had dinner up there at our favorite restaurant.  We had so much fun!  The weather was perfect, it wasn't crowded, there was a full moon, and neither of us fell.  It was wonderful to just relax and have fun!



Last night, Abby and I went to the BYU production of Phantom of the Opera.  It was terrific!  I could hardly believe how beautiful the talent, costumes and set were.  We had a great time.  What a blessing it is to have BYU nearby and to be able to have such amazing entertainment.  That is really quite a show!

And finally, Abby and I have been busy decorating.  I thought of this cool way to hang up Abby's artwork -- I love it and we can interchange it when we want.  I put two strings up in my craft room, a small one in the boys' room, and one in the hall.  It is so cheerful!

And Abby created a wonderful photo wall above her bed.  She is so creative!  I love her cheery yellow walls with the turquoise accents!

And finally, I couldn't resist a picture of my sweet Abby knitting!  I taught her a few years ago but she didn't do much, but this Christmas she started a new project... and I am working on socks!  It's very fun.

Man of Steel

Last week McKay had surgery on his back.  It was his third spinal fusion surgery in the last year, this time on his neck.  He now was metal all the way up and down his spine.  He had the surgery on Thursday, and he was able to come home on Monday.  He'll be out of school for a few weeks.

The day after the surgery McKay was already happy and smiling, even though he must have been in a lot of pain.  He really is one of the toughest people I've ever known.  He can go through things that would make most of us cry and still be cheerful.  McKay, you are amazing!

Christmas all over again

Hi.  Abby here...Mom's making me post.

Another Christmas has come and gone.  We went on our annual Christmas Eve sleigh ride up in Midway and had a great time.  Our driver could do a really good Donald Duck impersonation.  :)

For Christmas, Santa gave us a trip to DISNEYLAND!  We're going in February.  I'm super excited, Disneyland is basically my favorite place ever.  And Dad got a Kindle.  Cool cool.

We also saw The Hobbit.  I went with Dad at midnight when it came out, and I went again with Mom during the break.  It was so good!  It was visually gorgeous and the guy who played Bilbo was awesome.  We loved it.

I also saw the new Les Mis movie with my friends.  Again, visually it was a beautiful movie to watch.  Overall I thought it was so well done and the actors they picked to play the characters were great.  On the musical side of things...the actors were all really talented, but some of them were more talented in their acting than they were in their singing, in my opinion.  When Valjean sang "Bring Him Home" I didn't get the buzz that I normally get when hearing that song sung by someone else.  (I was probably picky since we had just gone to the Alfie Boe concert, see previous post)  The girl who played Eponine was fabulous though, I loved her voice.  She was probably my favorite.  And Marius and Cosette were pretty good too.  Mostly it was just Bring Him Home that was a bit of a letdown.  But overall, I really did like it.  Worth seeing for sure.

This weekend Mom and I were in Denver.  The reason we went was to see a Vincent Van Gogh exhibit at the Denver Art Museum with my grandparents.  It was a fabulous exhibit.  The art geek side of me was in heaven surrounded by all these paintings that Van Gogh himself had done.  Seeing them in person is nothing compared to seeing them in a book.  We both discovered some new favorite paintings of his.  The exhibit was also really educational and we learned a ton.  One cool thing was that Van Gogh kept a journal, and throughout the exhibit there were lots of little quotes from him. 

"One can speak poetry just by arranging colors well, just as one can say comforting things in music."

"I'm an artist...those words naturally imply always seeking without ever truly finding."

"How much there is in art that is beautiful, if only one can remember what one has seen, one is never empty or truly lonely, and never alone."

We also had fun playing in Denver and eating yummy food.  We had a great time.  And I got some cute shoes too, which is always a plus.

ALSO, last Sunday Downton Abbey season 3 started!  This is a big deal, folks.  Mom and I are kind of addicted.  And tomorrow we'll watch episode two!  It's like Christmas all over again!  Matthew and Mary are quite adorable.  :)