Christmas Time!

I think my parents had a fun-filled Christmas..
How could you not with children around?!
Rebecca and her family got here on Christmas Eve. 
The noise level went up.. and the fun began!
Tian loved riding around with G-Pa's (Dad) walker, and they thought it was fun to try out the extended toilet seat!
We played games, ate too much food, watched more Hallmark and other Christmas specials, and yes, continued to exercise!
Mom has taken over my pedometer, wears it everyday trying to walk more each day! (Here is a picture of the chart. At the end of the day she faithfully has me read the mileage.. small print!)

Dad spends time on the bike and makes sure I jot down his mileage and time as well. What? I never knew my parents were so competitive!

I'll post some pictures below, and give a little explanation.

 Marshall & Kory surprised Mom and Dad and came for the weekend before Christmas.. the second surprise was Marshall singing at church.                     "Oh Holy Night" has never been sung better!

What a surprise Dad got, when he looked up to see who was in the Ranger sitting by Derek! 

Mom gets a little nervous watching the boys jumping so high!  Mom and Dad watch from the window!

A fun game we got for Christmas.  Dad was a little bored, but the rest of us had fun!

All week Trey was a little hoarse.. but Sunday, right before church wanted to play a song for G-G and G-Pa.  (Look how beautiful Mom's purple shirt looks on her) 

 

 

 Justin had to take the picture.. sorry, we should have gotten him and Tian in the picture, but Tian had already left for church with Bob and Derek.

Keeping up with my parent's tradition.. I have stapled their Christmas cards on ribbons on their closet.  I snuck in there today to get a picture of it!  They love looking at all the notes and pictures from their friends and family!

Last night  Oregon played against Texas.  I asked Mom who she was rooting for, she said, "Well, I guess I better root for Oregon!"  Hip Hip Hooray, they won.. Maybe that was a good sign.

SURPRISE!!!!

We've been so excitedly waiting for a big surprise for mom and dad.
This is how we did it...
Daily, Bob and Derek go out and get the Ranger, bring it to the garage and load dad into it.  While they are doing that, mom and I get dad out to the garage and put all his warm clothes on him.  Well, today we started the routine... and guess who was in the Ranger... Marshall!  It took a minute for dad to look up and see him, but WOW.. what a big surprise!  Because Marshall had a hood on, Mom couldn't really see him at first.. But when she did, she joined with dad and were both so excited!  Kory then slipped out from the freezing shop to watch the fun reunion!  Now we are ready for a  weekend with Marshall and Kory!
(Because everyone is in bed.. I am going to hurry and post pictures from our busy couple of weeks!  A little explanation along with the pictures)

 Derek overheard Bob and I talk about the surprise.. we didn't think he heard.. He almost gave it away twice today!

Thanks Marshall and Kory for making the drive!!! 
Can't wait for the Sunday surprise as well!


Mom is wearing my pedometer these days. She is just curious to see how far she walks during the day.  Yesterday it was 4.25 miles.. Yup.. It started with our family, who along with 2 other families were assigned to clean the church, then we went to an Elementary School Music Program, and then at night we went to the High School Christmas Program.  Dad got pushed a lot.. mom walked a ton!
Dad continues to ride the stationary bike.  He averages 2.5 miles a day. 
Go Dad!

Mom brought from home, many of her knitted hats.  Tuesday on our way to Sisters we took them to the tree at the library.  Each year they collect hats, scarves and gloves for those in need.  (I need to take mom with us so she can see all of them)

We've heard the temperatures in Utah have been cold, with a ton of snow.  Well, we got a little snow (Mom says the snow is different than Utah snow.. dad says it sparkles), and we've had cold days!  First thing in the morning, mom checks the temperature!  

 

It doesn't matter to Dad what the temperature is, or how snowy it is, he continues to want to go out with Bob and Derek to check on his "girls" (Cows) and make sure they are fed and the ice gets broken.

This picture was taken on a late afternoon feeding.  Can't remember what we were doing, but it was around 5:00.  Dad loved the lights from the Ranger shining on the sparkling snow!

 

As we drove home from the ward Christmas party.. it was -11.. yup, you read that right!

Got to love Santa and his elf!

 

Did you all love the Sound of Music with Carrie Underwood? Looks like I got this when Mom was resting her eyes, but Dad loved it.  They especially enjoyed the "making of the Sound of Music" program that was on a couple of days before the big performance.

Along with that, we got a copy of the Boy Scouts of America 100 year celebration.  That was spectacular! 

 

Our friend Phyllis took mom to her church's Senior luncheon.  Phyllis is so good to my parents.  Mom had a great time, yummy food, and fun games and music!  Thanks Phyllis!

Mom and dad are getting gifts already and it's not even Christmas.  Mom doesn't know which Garrett sent her this awesome, beautiful box of soups.  Will the real "Sneak" come forward?!  Thank you!  We can't wait to try them!

Well, I want to join the rest of the family.. sleeping!  So I will close this little post, and say goodnight! 

They love getting phone calls, and (if it wasn't dark in their room I'd go take a picture) hanging your Christmas Cards up on their closet!  Thanks for keeping in touch.  Mom misses Utah (Thanks Gina for sending the inversion report, and Dee and Donna about the snow and cold temperatures there), and all her friends!  But we are trying our best to make our home, HOME to them!

 

A Thankful Thanksgiving!

Mom and dad enjoyed everyone's phone calls.  Friends and family seemed to call off and on all day!  Thank you for keeping in touch, they enjoy being in the know!
They especially liked Skyp-ing Marshall's family in Washington.  They were excited to see their newest great-grandson Lincoln.  What a special treat for them.
Bob fixed a great smoked turkey, and a regular oven cooked turkey.  Mom enjoyed the smoked one the best!  (She also can't wait for a pumpkin pie breakfast)

Some days dad gets around so good, other days much slower. I have noticed on the days we go out and work on the exercise bike.. he has a better day.
(He now has me keep a chart of how many miles he goes.. the most in one sitting was 4 miles) Mom is starting to get the hang of the Elliptical.  She doesn't know if it's good for her knees.. What do you think Marshall?  She has gotten quite good at ping pong, foosball and air hockey (But no one beats Derek)!

 

Dad supervised me hanging up the lights on the tree.  Funny, mom said, "Glen go show her where to put them".  I think for a minute mom forgot that it's not that easy any more.
Daily, Bob takes Dad and Derek out to feed the cows.  It's dad's highlight of the day.  He comes in cold, but oh, so happy to have seen the "girls".  He can't wait for the calves to be born.  They aren't due until March.  If he has his way... they will stay.  We all want them to (but everyone knows that) stay... dad is so happy. 

Bad picture, but I ran out while Bob was loading up the hay.. so I could get a picture.. can you tell it's a cold day?
It still amazes me on how quickly he pulls himself up into the Ranger.   And the other day he and Bob went to pick up some farm equipment.  No big struggle, he just got himself up into the truck with hardly any help.  I think his Physical Therapists would be amazed.. but like Bob says.. "when there is a will, there is a way"  (More exciting than walking up and down the halls!
Mom stays busy dusting, and doing laundry.  She does take a few moment here and there to catch up on mail and the news!

 Yes, mom is dusting my plants!!!

Bob is so patient, explaining farm stuff to dad, and making sure Dad understands what they are doing and why it needs to be done!

 

 

 

(Bob fixing something that a cow messed up... Dad, right there in the Ranger asking what happened.. Also, Dad LOVES the sunsets.  He'll come in and ask mom if she noticed the magnificent colors of the Sunset)

Would you ever guess that dad loves celery.  Yup, I cut up some the other day and it was gone in no time.  Mom thought he needed some dip, or peanut butter, no... he just loved it.. Oh and another thing that he snacks on are Pistachio nuts.  He'll just shell them and eat a whole bowl of them.
He enjoys Bob's yummy breakfasts.  No problems with him not wanting to eat.. most days.  When he has his finicky moments we know it's just the medicines that cause him to not have an appetite.. but we keep trying new and different foods!  We've been playing games.. Uno, war and Bingo are Mom's favorites, Dad hesitates playing, but will usually be a good sport!
Monday after game night, Mom had us come to the window.  Three deer were looking for some apples under our tree!

 

You've got to "Move it, Move it"

(Alright, for all you that have kids, you know that I hear that often from the title to a Disney Song!  Madagascar I think)
We are trying to keep Mom and Dad active!  Move it or lose it!
Bob is so encouraging to Dad.  "You're doing great Glen"  "Just a couple more steps"  "Look how far you've come"
I checked out some classes that I thought my parents would enjoy attending at the Senior Citizen Center.  When I dropped them off I felt like I was taking my children to the first day of Kindergarten.  Mom seemed to enjoy it much more than Dad.  Dad said he was a boob.  I asked why... he said that he couldn't do anything.  Mom interrupted and said that he did good!
I took a couple of pictures of them in class, and it seemed like they moved more than if they hadn't have been there.  When I saw dad's arms over his head.. I thought, "Wow, that's more than I've seen lately."  The class is 2 times a week, I'm hoping they will return.

 One of the sweet ladies that attended the class came over and asked if she could give Dad a back rub before class!  How nice was that.. Then she went over and did the same for mom!

 I'm sure I wasn't suppose to take pictures, (without the other people's permission) but I couldn't resist!

Dad supervised Bob on "cleaning up" my grow boxes!  Bob is so good about taking Dad out, even if it's just to watch him work!

 Sweet Rod and Deanna Cooper came over on Monday night with cupcakes.. Wow, 3 weeks in a row we've had treats!  Everyone loves Mom & Dad!

"Uncle" Chris Argentos surprised us and sent us 5 CD's from his singing group!  Mom and Dad love all the fun music from Broadway to Christmas to the Legends CD!

Daily, Dad looks outside the front windows to check on 'his' flock of geese.  Well, he had the perfect view from the exercise bike!

We finally got  both of them out to the exercise room.  Dad amazed us.  I was hoping he'd be able to peddle the bike for a bit... Look at how good he did!  1.75 miles.  HIP HIP HOORAY.  Mom went from the elliptical (She was a little nervous getting on it) to the health rider (She felt much more comfortable on it).
The weather is blustery, and will continue for the rest of the weekend.. so hopefully since we won't be going out to blow mole hills, we will do some more exercising!

Busy, Busy Week!

This week was "spooky" busy!
I think mom and dad enjoyed Halloween, Sisters, Decorating Fun, Mole Hole Blasting!
Before I put out pictures of the Fun we had, I'd like to thank mom and dad's friends and family who call to check up, chat and send their love for mom and dad.. My mom loves seeing the phone say 801 numbers, or family names that come up on the caller ID!
Every day dad asks Bob when they were going to go out to feed the cows or blow the mole holes!  Seriously, amazing how he is able to get up into the Ranger.  Bob, Derek and Dad went on several more trips in the truck... today wasn't ask easy for him, but we need to keep doing it, Bob says it will make him stronger, and since Dad has the desire to go out and get out.. we will make it happen!
I reserved the "Elizabeth Smart Story" book from the library... mom is enjoying reading it (I'm surprised she stays awake long enough to turn the pages, although they usually aren't out of bed until 9:00, which I think is great).
I'll download some pictures and give you a little snippet of what went on that day!

If you were to have called on Monday it was "Merry Christmas" from mom.  Yup, Snow on the car! 

This is one of Derek's finest moves!

Mom and Dad enjoyed driving to Sisters to watch Derek at TKD.  Dad kept commenting on Derek's "sweet" attitude while he was kicking, hitting and jumping!

 

I should have taken a picture of Mom and Dad with Derek in his uniform, but while he was changing, I snapped a picture of them waiting!

Wednesday we got ready for Halloween, and the Chili Cook-off!  Mom was amazed at how many pots of different chili came (We expected 18 pots, and we got 27), along with cornbread!  Sorry, the Young Women were in charge so I didn't get a picture of them with their muffin tins filled with different kinds of chili!

This is mom helping Derek with his Trick or TREATS that we delivered on Halloween!

Our neighbor Teresa loves seeing my parents.  She brought treats over for us... just the start of more "yummy" goodies, because of mom and dad being here!

 Mom helped me make a Halloween Chex Mix filled with candy corn, reeses pieces and other yummy addicting flavors.  Mom was in charge of cutting and punching out shapes, while Derek wrote to each of his friends!

Later, Derek sat with Grandpa and showed him the scrapbook that Derek works on, with all his comings and goings.  Dad seemed interested.  It  was good for Derek to explain what he was doing, where he was, and what the event was all about!

Dad's most favorite thing to do is to be outside... Derek, Bob and Dad have been spending most afternoons out taking care of the mole infestations, feeding the cows, and just being outside!  Bob has been a TROOPER helping Dad get in and out of the vehicles, and always encouraging Dad to keep walking, even when Mom thinks that he should sit and be pushed in the wheelchair!

Dad loves watching, noticing the mole hills and keeps counting the cows!

 My parents are loving the Hallmark movies.  When we have to leave, we just turn one on that we've taped for them.  They are now running a lot of Christmas shows... too fun!

 Mom and Dad are eating well.  We are finding some fun things that Dad is enjoying!  Last night we went to Costco to pick up mom's Rx, we decided to have dinner there.  Oh, my goodness, before I got back from the pharmacy, Dad had already eaten his polish dog!  Then to top it off, Bob got him a big chocolate yogurt dessert... he had that eaten by the time we got home.  It's huge to find things he'll eat.  I think Friday nights will be our Costco Dinner night.
Well, I better end this.. It's Saturday, I better go direct mom on where she can dust next!