Happy Merry Chrimas

The new foretold disaster this week, which actually wasn't too bad. It was supposed to snow BAD and it ended up being warm enough for mostly rain after an initial flurry. It's supposed to keep snowing this next week and be even colder, so we are feeling blessed to have our new vehicle. And even moreso since I was on a terrible and muddy road in Williams to see a patient, knowing full-well I would not have even TRIED in the Prius. Good timing. (And planning).

A whole lotta pot for Christmas.

I went on a run earlier in the week (before the weather), and felt really good. I wasn't sore at all, my knees felt pretty good during, and only all my other joints hurt instead. It's a step up. And it felt good because I needed some cardio.  

Rog's gift of matching knives for our friends. 

I was off on Christmas Eve, which was the worst snow day. I watched Rog play bball with my old chums and chatted when they were subbed out. We made some Christmas deliveries and were disappointed the breakfast place we wanted to try was closed with no sign of opening soon. We went back to the house, I took a nap, made bread, and napped some more. 

Later, we went to Carol's for hot chocolate and homemade donuts, which is a tradition that I really like. I chatted with Karen and Josh, Uncle Sam, and Carol for a while before Roger showed up. And I took another nap and tried to scratch my leg off from some mysterious bug bites that appeared. 

It still fits (with no room to gain any weight).

We had a nice Christmas. Sleeping in. Homemade bread toast and hot chocolate. Some good scrips. Rog was so happy with his fishing vest and leather stuff and hiking books and waffle iron. And I was happy with my books (among other things). We went up to Page for second Christmas with Rog's family and we got a quarter of a HUGE wheel of cheese. And I was happy again. 

World Domination.

Rog got to play some games, including real board game Risk with his family. I got some delicioso mashed potatoes and played with a new remote control for my camera. I read a book and chatted with MGH - who was very excited about her new food and coloring books and less excited about another jug of PB pretzals (sorry dad).

Trev & Jamie

I spent the first part of the week prepping for a YW activity. Still working on the part where the YW are in charge, but that's mostly because they're being flaky right now. But they weren't the only flaky ones, which is how we ended up being in charge of this week's activity anyways. So we got some gifts together for some families as well as all of our incoming and less active YW. And we delivered most of them, which was nice to get the girls to do. 

My work had our cookie bake-off on the day that it snowed super bad and also Roger forgot to put gas in his truck and the gas cap froze shut and also I had to go to a bunch of sketchy places. So I was late. But I still got a plate of cookies and won third place - receiving some decorations, a candle, and a gift card. And it's always nice to hang out because I like these people. 

I had a sweet one-on-one boxing class with Felicia because all the Gore employees are out of town apparently. But it was the perfect mix of conditioning and punching, so I loved it. 

Rachel has been planning a favorite things party with a $5 limit (where you bring 3 of the same gift), so it was nice to hang out with a bunch of older ladies. I contributed reusable hand warmers and received a hair towel (that someone donated because they don't have hair...), Elantris (a Brandon Sanderson original), a card game, and a hair trimmer. And snacks. 

My surprise for Roger when he got home. 

Jake and Mama Fish picked me up for the airport, which was super nice of them. The security man tried to take my elk meat and Roger sent a bag of snacks through the scanner for me and waved through a window. My Phoenix flight was delayed for a few hours and then Mama Sama was too tired to pick me up so Trevor did. Which I felt a little bad about since he was the one getting married. But it was good because I had to educate him about the term 'clapping cheeks'. 

Lauren and I had a sleepover and I was almost warm enough. The chins picked me up for breakfast at Tru Religion in my own vehicle (after braving a locking seatbelt and a snow tornado to get it here). We were all glad Greg stood in the cold to save us a spot. Trevor and I locked knees in a phone booth to get coloring supplies and Violet fed me all her unwanted fruit. The Chin paid for premium OJ and we all had our fill and more. 

Instead of lounging, Greg, Chin, Mama Sama, and I went to Reid Moon's bookstore to get Dad his Christmas present to himself - a Bible page from an original Bible. Kelly got a free half page (you're welcome) and the manager told Lauren that she was mad because the James 1:5 page is supposed to be 2-3x the price we paid and they forgot (you're welcome again). #spiritualgifts

Them.

The coolest part (and you're welcome x3 for this) was that Reid showed up, I happened to know him, and he happened to think it was worth his time for a chat. Dad only threw out any possible connections they might have (Roney, Proctors, Lauren, Area 70 stuff, you get it). He got to touch lots of old church books and only cried a little. Then Mama Sama came in with the winning question - Reid's absolute favorite possession - Dimick Huntington's coffin cane. 

The short version is that temporary coffins were made to transport Joseph's body back to Nauvoo for a burial. Then the mob was coming, so they ended up not getting the nice coffins in time, so the ones at the ceremony were filled with rocks. Emma asked for a plank off of the original coffins before they finished sealing them up and replaced the plank. She then split this plank into 12-16 long pieces of wood and gave them to the people that had Joseph's back the most (not necessarily apostles or whatever). 

Dimick Huntington is the guy that rowed Joseph upriver on the Mississippi after he escaped from another jail, until his hands were cut to the bones. He made Joseph a pair of boots at no cost. He never asked Joseph for anything, but he did ask Emma for a lock of Joseph's hair when preparing the body. He got a strip of wood, which was made into a cane, and the hair was placed in a glass section at the top. 

The coolest part about this cane came later. Heber C. Kimball spoke about the coffin canes later and about how special they were. And then he said this: "The day will come when there will be multitudes who will be healed and blessed through the instrumentality of those canes, and the devil cannot overcome with those who have them, in consequence of their faith and confidence of the virtues connected with them." And then he showed us letter upon letter of stories testifying of the truth of those words. And then we touched them. 

And we were almost late to Trev and Jamie's wedding. I did have time to brush and pull some sticks out of my hair (not even an exaggeration unfortunately). And then we had a chill ceremony where Trevor's foot fetish was revealed, took some pics, and ate some grub. It was too cold to play games, so we went back to the Provo House. Two games were played in six hours and I avoided both. We had a nice chat and catch-up before Lauren and I headed back to her place. We chatted some more and she even fed me before I drove back to Flag.

The car is good, being home is better. And knowing that I have a little more clearance and snow capacity is really nice. And Roger made me some steak and shrimp and we had cider and that's his whole grocery trip for this week so pray for us. 

New Friends (plz no)

Workwise, not my favorite week. It's holiday season, so either people's vitals are through the roof or they will never see me. My new favorite is this old dude that wakes up every day at 3pm and refuses to see me before that. (And by favorite, I mean not). 

I went to the doctor's on Tuesday morning for a "10 minute appointment" that they were already running late on 30 minutes into their workday. So I was there for an hour (fasting) for an actual 3 minute appointment. Yeesh.

Me @ the Celtics for not playing team ball.

It was our last week playing city league volleyball for a bit since they're not doing tournaments anymore and I already have people begging me to open the church Monday nights again. We're going to hold off for a while because people are hurting and will be out of town for the holidays. 

We met up with Rog's work friend Jay for a late night at Buffalo Wild Wings with the Suns v Celtics. It was not our best games. But those wings thoooo. 

The Xmas Parade. 

Saturday I got a free ticket to my YW's dance performance of the Nutcracker. I probably do not need to go to another ballet, but it was nice to see them perform. I got out of there for a quick gym session before heading to a baptism to support a less active family and their bomb 8-year-old.

Rog and I picked up Grandma to introduce us to our favorite pizza joint - Alpine Pizza. Where I met their new waiter as of 1 week. His name is Viktov from Ukraine and he got a divorce with no kids, took a trip to the states, was drunk when getting an Uber one night and lost his money. Hence the new job. 

Dinner. 

We walked around downtown to restock our oil supply, check out a photography shop with some hot (free) cider, and meet Frank, the Scottish man who just opened a sewing shop with classes. We were surprised that there was also a parade planned downtown for the exact time we were there. So we watched a lot of that until Roger was too cold. 

We had a chill Sunday. It was the YW's first time teaching a lesson and she did awesome. The presidency volunteered to fill in if the teacher isn't there. And then we ate so much food, took a nap, talked to the fam's, made some chocolate peppermint cookies, and watched WOT. 

Sad Scalenes.

The week was rough. I spent a lot of it trying to figure out my neck situation. I have had problems with my scalenes freaking out on rare occasions, and this is the worst bout yet. It makes me want to rip my clavicle out and makes my neck feel really sensitive. I still played volleyball and went to my lifting class. But I did no other exercise, use the theragun, heat packs, and self soft tissue work. Val even helped try to calm it down one morning. 

My counselors came in clutch in YW this week and I felt a little bad. Especially since I've never been to YW with them, only briefly introduced the new teaching methods to the girls, and hadn't planned any activity for Wednesday. So they covered the lesson and helped the girls check out the Christmas lights with some hot chocolate. Bless. 

Work was busy and I was overwhelmed with a bunch of last minute changes, so I was glad Friday rolled around. In my spare time, I've been rereading conference talks and working on a new Etsy study guide for spinal cord specifics. So look forward to that if you're in the game. 

Saturday was the busiest day. I worked on my snatch form with Chris. It's getting better, but slowly. Not helped by my squirrel brain. Then I sped down to Phoenix to visit Cenita, who has been an absolute angel and picked up my new toy all the way from deep Mesa for me. She really is the best. She does me solids all the time and lets me stay with her whenever I have crazy stuff going on last minute and makes a mean keto green bean casserole. It's always good to catch up with her and we were pleasantly surprised at our coordinated outfits (the black shirt, ponytail, and crocs, lol). I owe her a lot. 

I sped back up to Flag pretty quick so that I could help set up for the ward Christmas party. Which meant I actually had to go. And Roger happened to rat me out when they were looking for someone to play the piano for a sing-along. Thanks, bud.

Sunday was also crazy. We had Paislee and Marshall with us in Sacrament and then had a good discussion with them during Sunday School. We had a short respite and then returned for Stu's birthday lunch with grandma and too many games. We also got a Christmas tree and I took the kids with me to see the lights while we picked it up since Grandma Sandall insisted. We will be taking no more Christmas decoration donations, thank you in advance.