A couple weeks ago, Amy finally got over some extreme dizziness and headaches she suffered through for over a week. Unfortunately, when it first started we didn’t know what to do. We went to several doctors and then had an MRI done before we learned that they had no idea what the problem was. So, $500 later (yes after insurance! Seems a pretty hefty charge to hear they don’t know what the problem is) we still didn’t know what to do. Amy was sitting in front of me one night and I started rubbing her neck and found some really tight and knotted muscles. It was painful, but Amy allowed me to work on it for a while and by the next morning she was no longer dizzy. We think she slept on her neck wrong plus with her nursing and holding Grant all the time, she must have hurt some nerves as well as muscles. Anyway, she’s doing much better now.
That same week, I took my car into a mechanic to get the oil changed and of course was given a long list of items that needed to be done to the car. $220 later I left with the most critical items done. I’m pretty sure that car is not going to be around too much longer, but it sure has been a good one for us. Needless to say, we are now skimping to make our budget work. Raising a family is always an adventure.
We had a really nice trip down to Utah for Thanksgiving. Tuesday night we stayed at the Ruperts so we wouldn’t have to go all the way in one night. Wednesday morning we travelled to Tooele to help out throughout the day with cooking and getting ready for the meal. Since we had Thanksgiving with Ammon and Liz last year, we told the Olson’s we would spend this year’s Thanksgiving with them. Since most everyone was busy with in-laws on Thursday, we decided to have an Ashby Thanksgiving on Wednesday and have oriental food. It was wonderful and if it were up to me, we’d do an oriental day-before-Thanksgiving meal every year. Ammon, Liz, Dawn, Ray, and the Allens all joined us at Mom and Dad’s and we had a great time eating, talking, and just enjoying being together. One major down-side to the holiday was that we couldn’t find our camera before leaving and still haven’t been able to find it since. I’m hoping everyone who did take pictures will share them.
Thursday we spent the traditional Olson Thanksgiving breakfast at Steph and Pete’s home and then spent the afternoon for the Turkey dinner at Amy’s aunt Kristi’s home in Orem. Afterwards, we returned to the Ferguson’s to collect our stuff and talk for a while and finally, returned back to my parents to get the kids in bed (or at least we tried). Overall, it was a nice holiday and I didn’t eat as much as I usually do since I was thinking about my fitness test the following week. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday because, as Gary likes to say, it is unadulterated – no push for all the spending and selfishness until the next morning on Black Friday. This year’s Black Friday resulted in a Walmart employee in a New York being trampled to death by early morning shoppers. Thankfully, Thanksgiving hasn’t become so commercialized and self centered as people have made Christmas. Still, I think there is still so much good about the Christmas season.
Friday morning, Ammon, Travis, Ray, Dad, and I went on our traditional skeet shoot. We drove out South of Stockton and had a great time shooting and talking. That is one of my favorite traditions. On Friday afternoon Amy, Grant, and I went camping with all my high school buddies and their spouses. Ammon came too and it was a lot of fun to revisit our old memories and be reminded about so many things I’d forgotten. We went to White Rocks (Cave-Man-Condos) and it was cold but beautiful. We enjoyed trap shooting again, shooting Ryan’s potato gun, talking into the night, and having an amazing dutch oven dinner and gourmet breakfast. We returned on Saturday to the church where Liz and my mom had made a big batch of fish chowder and we met up with the rest of our family members. Those attending over the weekend included: Ryan and Rose; Derek and Maren & kids; Clayton and Ruth; Matt and Teresa; Stephen and his two kids; Ammon and Liz; Amy and Me & kids; and Camille and Scott Hadzik. An unexpected blessing was that Derek got a bunch of gear that needed small repairs, but that were fairly new, from a place he used to work and we got a couple jackets, kids backpacks, and a couple sleeping bags for only $10 – an early Christmas for us! I really want to do this again soon. It was so good to see everyone again.
We attended Church on Sunday, then headed home so I could finish some home teaching on the last day of the month. Someday I’m going to be better at that, but this time it was because families had to keep postponing. We were very grateful to finally get a good nights rest – unfortunately it had been about 2 weeks since we had slept at least 7 hours in one night and we were getting pretty cranky.
Christmas is in full swing now. We have our tree up and have been listening to Christmas music around the house. We watched “It’s a Wonderful Life” the other day and read “A Christmas Dress for Ellen.” We watched the 1st Presidencies Christmas Devotional and have been consistently reminded of how blessed we are. I did really well on my fitness test this time and Amy passed as well. We think we’ll probably get about $170. I kept chanting to myself during the run “Christmas, Christmas, Christmas…” and it helped me get through with my best time yet. One thing that I really liked from the 1st Presidency message the other day was when Elder Uchtdorf said that he believes the economic crisis the world is in will probably cause a lot of people to cut back on the amount they spend for Christmas and that this is probably a blessing in disguise because it turns us to the true meaning of Christmas. I hope I can always keep in mind what Christmas really means. We are trying this year something a little different to make sure our children know how blessed they are and remind them that Christmas is not meant to be a selfish holiday. They have been so willing to think more of others and it has taught me to be more like them. I am grateful for Christ’s perfect example of humility and gratitude and am glad to be reminded of his humble birth.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
It is so good to hear that even with the unexpected life is an adventure and every moment should be counted as a blessing. You are doing a good job as husband/dad/son/brother/friend/nephew:) Love Aunt Susie
You forgot to tell that Dad and I got to keep the girls while you went camping! And that on Friday all the women and kids stayed at Grandma's (while you men were shooting) for crafts! We had more fun than you did, Ha! Love you, Mom
Post a Comment