Christmas 2022

 We had a nice, but chilly, Christmas. The weather slowed my sister and her family from getting down here before Christmas morning but they made it later in the day. It was nice having a big Christmas with my parents and sister and family. They brought their big little dog Moose (there is a lot of Moose in a not big dog body). Moose is a very sweet dog but not a dog that was loved my our dogs. It was a lot of work keeping everyone happy and not fighting. I'm still not sure why our dogs didn't like Moose. 

That didn't stop us from having a good time. Lots of good food and sweets!  Merry Christmas!

This & That

We noticed that when we turned on the hot water it was SO very hot, much hotter than normal. Sean went down to the utility room to find a sauna. Hot water dripping off of every surface in the room from the steam coming from the water heater. The temperature switch failed and locked on full blast.  We found a date scrawled on it of 9/28/01.....it had a good run! Sean got a new one installed and we're back to having normal hot water. Thanks Sean!

 

Sean celebrated a birthday a few weeks ago and we pampered him with a heated throw blanket and heated eye massager. The poor guy works in the basement and is cold all of the time so we're trying to get him warmed up. The problem with being warm and cozy is that it makes him tired. Ah the glories of working from home!

Max got to star in a small play that one of his classes puts on every year. This year's play was about toys that come to life. Each child was a toy and had to memorize many lines. They all did a fantastic job!

If a warm body is sitting on the couch then there's a good chance all three dogs will be piled on top of that person. This is Sean's normal spot and of course all three dogs are happy as can be.

I was wandering around a thrift store the other day and found an elf suit for a dog. It was a whopping $1.99 so it had to come home with me, I figure it would fit at least one of the dogs. Well Kevin was the unlucky pup that it fit. I laughed and laughed, Kevin was not amused. A few minutes later the outfit was found on the ground, he somehow got himself out of it.

Sean and I were in Tucson for Halloween so my folks took Max trick-or-treating while Wesley handed out candy at Jessica's house. Before we left we found this epic Halloween house in town that was decked out with every decoration you could imagine.

The kids carved pumpkins like they do each year. This year was Garfield (Max is obsessed with vintage Garfield stuff) and Peter Griffin (Wesley does a spot on Family Guy Peter Griffin impersonation).

Sister Act Jr.

We got back from Arizona just in time to see Wesley preform in his High School's production of Sister Act Jr. He played the lead detective, Officer Eddie Souther. Those kids knocked it out of the ball park! They did so good. Practice for the play started back in August with musical camp where they started singing the songs and figuring our who should be who in the play. 

It's been such a joy seeing Wesley sing in these plays! I added a video of his solo in with the pictures. Such a proud parent!

Gift of Life

 Sean's Dad has been having problems with his kidneys for a few years now and Sean offered to go through the testing to see if he could donate one of his kidneys. This past summer he drove to Tucson and under went rigorous testing for two days and found out he is a very good match for his father. The middle of October he flew to Arizona to undergo the surgery to donate a kidney. He had to be there two weeks before the surgery date and two weeks after. I flew down there and joined him a day before the procedure. We spent the evening walking around, seeing some sights and eating with Sean's family that all flew in that day.

Max loves cactus so we spammed the kid with cactus pictures.

 

Super proud of this guy for doing this!

The morning of the surgery we were at the hospital bright and early and got checked in. Rich and Randi arrived and also got checked in but his surgery with the donated kidney would be a few hours after Sean's.

Jeremy and Rich

Randi, my waiting room partner.

The surgery took 6 hours which was quite a bit more than planned. It was a long, anxious day but everything went smoothly. Rich received the new kidney and it started working right away. His numbers were improving immediately. It was truly amazing. Sean was in a recovery room and I was finally allowed to go see him at close to 6pm. He ended up staying in the hospital for three nights before heading back to our Airbnb. 

When Rich was out of surgery they wheeled him past Sean's room.

Those three days that Rich and Sean were in the hospital recovering were pretty memorable for me. Randi and I went for walks each day. It was pretty hot out even in October in Arizona so we didn't walk real far but it was nice to get out and get some sun and laugh. It was so nice to laugh! It was a pretty anxious time so laughter was needed. We would get lots of cactus pictures for Max and go get drinks on our walks. I looked forward to it. Each morning before heading to the hospital Sean's brothers Nate and Jeremy and Randi and I would meet at the local breakfast joint to talk and stuff our faces. 

Speed bumps are called Speed Humps in Arizona. I find this funny.

 Sean finally felt decent enough to get discharged Sunday morning. It was time for him to recover at our little Airbnb for two weeks before flying home. 

Our little downtown bungalow Airbnb. Walking distance to a lot of fun stuff.

Soaking up the sun.

Sean spent the next two weeks lying down or pacing the apartment to keep circulation up. He eventually starting walking with me to get food downtown. I made sure to find an Airbnb within walking distance to many food options (and shopping). We were just a few blocks from the University and didn't know we were nearly next door to a frat house when booking the place. Combine that with Homecoming week and it was a pretty noisy experience some evenings. We aren't early to bed people so it wasn't a major inconvenience but it sure did get rowdy some evenings.....a bull horn was used several times. One evening I got out of the shower expecting the normal ruckus and it was completely quiet. I peeked my head out of the door to find a cop car parked in front of the frat house. They didn't make a peep after that!

 We hung out with Randi and Rich most evenings, bringing take-out to their place. It was nice catching up with them. 

 I was fascinated with some of the giant cactus and succulents I saw in Tucson. Especially the Agave plant. It's so massive and prehistoric looking! I really wanted to bring one home with me. I know they can't grow outdoors in our climate, but possibly overwinter it inside and put it out for the summer. I looked online trying to find someone selling some Agave pups but they were all selling larger plants, I needed something tiny to fit in my carry on bag. Seeing as these plants grow like weeds with tiny plants popping up all around the adult plants I decided to just find a public area and pluck a tiny agave pup. I plucked two and they came home with me in my luggage wrapped in a wet paper towel. I planted them when I got home and they are doing really well! I bought a baby Saguaro cactus at the Tucson airport too. It got its own seat on the airplane.

An adult Agave, aren't they fabulous!

Sean had his post op appointment where everything looked good and they told him he could fly home. We were both very excited to go home! I sure missed my kids. I am very thankful that my parents were able to watch them. The kids had fun with their grandparents while we were gone. 

I love happy endings!