Christmas 2007

Grandpa is Back on His Feet

The news from Albany is that both doctor appointments went very well today. The "miracle of the foot" is that Grandpa's foot was so painful yesterday that he could not even walk in to the bedroom last night, so Grandma wheeled him to bed in the wheelchair. When he stepped down on to the floor from the wheelchair, he felt a pop in his foot and the pain was immediately gone.

This morning he still felt fine, walking on it like normal. Dr. Ashdown confirmed that his problem was not a bone spur, but something called something like "sygmoiditis". The great thing was that Dad got a manipulation/realignment (which I guess is the treatment for it) on his own, and needs no further treatment at all.

This afternoon Dr. Gaekward, the hernia surgeon, said that his incision is healing normally and he will see him again in three weeks. No more antibiotics or pain pills! Yeah!!

He will be set to celebrate his 89th birthday on Saturday.

Snowy Weekend

We got a lot of snow this weekend down here in Provo. The kids were loving it, but it made the driving a little hectic. We even had to go rescue Tracey's mom who got stuck on a little hill close to our house. We had planned to go to Temple Square tonight to see the lights, but decided against it with all the snow and cold weather. Tracey had a nice birthday yesterday and we are going out to her mom's for a family party tonight. We were glad to hear that everything went well with Kyle's and Grandpa's surgeries.

Grandpa's Surgery

I just spoke with Mom on the phone and Grandpa is doing really well. The surgery went as planned and Grandpa is feeling good. He ate a big dinner tonight and plans to go home from the hospital in the morning.

Grandpa's foot has been bothering him and he found out he has a bone spur. It looks like he might be in for another surgery, but he's hoping that's the last one for awhile. Uncle Chad wants to take them to Palm Springs in January so he has to be in good shape by then!

BYU basketball game

BYU really took care of U of P, as they should have. the place holds 4800 and it was probably 4000 full. BYU fans were 3000. It was like a home game for BYU - albeit in a smaller gym. The Brazilian just about shot the team into a deficit in the first half, but Cummard and Plaisted played well and kept them ahead. then everything fell in the first 5 min of the 2nd half. it was a fun game to attend. the kids had a great time, and the snacks were much cheaper than the at the blazers.

it is raining a bunch here in portland, and some roads are flooded. but no worries for my short commute. hope chad had little trouble on his roads.

post-surgery report

All is well with the knee. Surgery went well and I am back at work today. there is some aching in the knee, but overall it is less painful than i thought it would be. so i am taking it easy, but the recovery should be fine. and we'll go cheer on BYU tomorrow night against UofP.

Slideshow Tool

As you've seen below, you can add a slideshow to the blog. Sometimes that will be easier than posting a whole bunch of pictures. There are several sites that you can use to create the slideshow (Picassa, Flickr, Photobucket). I used Photobucket because it seemed to have the most options. Just go to www.photobucket.com and sign up for a free account. Then you upload your pictures and create a slideshow. To put it on the blog, you need to share the slideshow and click on the blogger icon. I can provide you with the user name and password then at that point. It then automatically creates the blog entry. It's kind of fun. Let me know if you have any questions.

Family Pictures Slideshow

We're back

We made it back to Utah without any problems. The roads were clear and the kids were great. Thanks again for such a great time. The kids really loved being with their cousins and had a lot of fun. Here are a few of the pictures we took.

kyle moving to IR

i'm officially on the injured reserve. i went to the specialist today and had x-rays and a MRI on my knee. i have a torn meniscus. so i am having arthroscopic surgery on 11/28. should take 4-6 (maybe 8?) weeks to get back to jogging again. i'm just excited to know what is wrong and get started on getting it corrected. i have been just dealing with it for way too long. so wish me luck!

Saturday in Provo

It was good to hear that Grandpa is doing well. It has been an anxious week as Tracey's grandma has been in the hospital as well. Fortunately both are doing better now. It was another beautiful day here. It got close to 70. It's been nice to be able to have the kids still playing outside.

Our resident Indian even showed up today. Logan likes to make his own costumes (all out of paper).

We had a cool Elders Quorum activity today. One of our Elders is part of our local sheriff's office and runs the Utah County shooting range (up Spanish Fork canyon). We took the Elders out there for some shooting today. We even got to shot the machine guns. My right hand is still pretty sore so I shot left-handed, but it was still fun.

Grandpa Roderick

Hi,
Grandpa has just finished his endoscopy and they found an esophageal ulcer caused by years of acid reflux that he didn't know anything about. It will require no treatment other than taking prilosec or nexium to heal up the ulcer and to neutralize the acid reflux. The Dr. wants him to stay one more night in the hospital for a bit more assurance that the bleeding is controlled.
The very best news for his symptoms.
We'll keep you posted
Ross and Duretta

Rainy day in Sherwood

Sorry I'm late to the party! Thanks for setting up the blog.

All is well at our house in Sherwood. Kinsley and Caden are taking piano and learning Christmas songs. Kinsley is taking a 4H sewing class with a friend and has a sewing machine she is learning to use. Caden started 3rd grade basketball and is excited about that. Some of the boys on his team are from his soccer team. Caden also has been invited to be in a special art class at school. Quinn seems to be enjoying first grade, but he won't ever say so. Today was the first day in his school life that he woke up and said "I'm excited to go to school today." We found out his class is having an ice cream party. So we are hoping for many more ice cream parties. Quinn is also enjoying reading a lot right now, which is really fun for us. Cameron loves preschool and really loves to draw. Cameron is a happy kid, for which we are grateful.

Jen is busy as ever. Primary, chauffeur, teaching at the school, running, and everything at the house - it all seems to get done marvelously. My life is family, work and church. That's all i do. We are excited for Thanksgiving. I'm looking forward to turkey and venison. Have a great day.

Grandpa Roderick

Hi--

No photos today--just an update on Grandpa Roderick. He was having a lot of pain so he went to the doctor late yesterday, and was diagnosed with a hernia. So they were going to schedule surgery, but Grandpa was in a lot of pain during the night and this morning, so they told him to come to the hospital at 9:30.

However, they did an ultrasound and found that there actually was no hernia. Maybe it was a kidney stone? He is home now, more comfortable, and the pain has subsided, at least for now.

We are very relieved if he does not have to have surgery.

Update later--
Mom

Fall 2007 Videos

Here are a few video clips from the past few months:

Luke's Idaho Trip

Luke returned from his successful elk hunting trip to Idaho last night. For those of you that haven't heard the story of how this trip came about, here's some background: Luke has a cousin, Robbie, down near Eugene who makes a very good living doing construction, real estate investing, and other odd ventures. He's very big into hunting (as their whole family is), and he is good friends with some people that own a hunting lodge in Idaho (http://www.mountainviewelk.com/). He decided earlier this year that he was going to pay for Luke and his brother, Josh, to go on a guided elk hunt at the lodge. He also paid for their dad and one friend to go along and stay, but not hunt. For those of you that aren't hunters (like me), it's probably important to note that these trips can be very expensive, as much as $14,000+, depending on what size elk you choose to shoot. Of course, I confirmed at least 10 times that we would not be stuck with any of the bill at the end of the hunt, and was assured Luke would only have to contribute gas money for the drive.

So they left for their adventure on Friday morning, planning to get both elk on Saturday, then drvie home Sunday. Josh found his elk first and decided he was willing to pay $2000 to upgrade to a bigger elk than Robbie had paid for. I had already made it clear to Luke that if he decided to do that, he would be finding a 2nd job when he got home. A few hours later, they saw a huge bull that one of Robbie's friends had wounded a few weeks earlier, but it hadn't gone down at the time. It was still out with the herd, and the owner wanted it removed since it wasn't completely healthy. So Robbie covered the small additional cost to upgrade to that bull, and Luke took it. Luke's bull ended up scoring exactly the same as Josh's, which basically means they are the same size and have similar racks. Needless to say, Josh was a little miffed that he had to pay $2000 for his, while Luke didn't pay a dime.

Probably around the same time the baby comes, we'll also have a new addition hanging in the garage. The thing is way too big to fit in our living room!

Halloween at the Parrishs

I think a blog is a great idea, although I know that I will probably not post things as often as I should. I know that Austin loves to see pictures of his cousins, so this will be fun.

We had a great Halloween this year. We decided to go with the Star Wars theme since that seems to be Austin's favorite thing lately with his Lego sets. They had a great time! We went to the ward trunk-or-treat and Ethan just ran around the whole time. He was crazy!

Anyway, things are going well for us. Austin loves school and Jackson is getting used to him not being home. On about the third day of school, Austin woke up and told Jackson he was getting ready to go to school. Jackson's reply was, "Again?!" We also have added to the family with three sheep and 26 baby chicks. So in about 4 or 5 months we should have some eggs for you, Rie! We can't wait to see everyone at Thanksgiving!

Halloween pics from Provo

We're a little late in getting our Halloween pictures out. The kids had a great time this year. It was a little challenging getting them to decide on their costumes. I think that each changed their minds three or four times, even right up to Halloween day. Colby finally chose to be a BYU Cheerleader. Logan went with two costumes this year. He was a cowboy at school and the Red Power Ranger for trick-or-treating. Cooper was going to be a cowboy, but changed to a pirate on Halloween. It was a lot of fun and we even had good weather this year. Hope everyone had a great Halloween.

Another Story Teller

We have another story teller in our family. Cooper has recently taken a big interest in books and reading. Today he decided to read Are You My Mother? for us. Hope you enjoy it.

The Christensen Family blog

It is time for the Christensens to embrace the electronic age.

I've been thinking for some time that our family needs to have a website or a blog. It is probably more for us outside of Oregon because I feel that we are out of touch sometimes. I think it would be fun for us to have some where to communicate and share the things that are going on and post pictures and video. I know that our kids would really enjoy reading about and see pictures of their cousins.

We don't want this to be a big burden to anyone. We don't need to have a daily post. It would be nice to have each family post something once and awhile. Even the kids could write little posts here and there.

Please give us any feedback, questions, or concerns.

Thanks,
Joel