Merry Christmas

Willis Christmas Feast

Kyle's mom had everyone over on Saturday night for the dinner they usually hold on Christmas Eve. Not everyone will be able to get together on Christmas Eve this year so they picked another night. Except for Alex, who was with his Dad, the whole family was there. Kevin, Lynda and their kids were even here from Arizona for the weekend.

Hydee, Kyle's mom, went all out. The table was a masterpiece which would give Martha Stewart a run for her money. Dinner was incredibly delicious. She served prime rib, lobster and crab with many wonderful side dishes. It was as good as any 5-star restaurant would have
served. We sure appreciate all her hard work for us.

We spent the night and went to church with Kyle's parents before coming home to go to Gracie's 2nd birthday party. We got to spend time with all of our family this weekend. What more could we ask for?

A Busy Few Days

Thursday night we went to dinner with Jon & Jo's family and Grandma Pauline to celebrate her 81st birthday. I sure hope when I turn 81 I'm still going as strong as she is. While we were there Uncle Robert and Kim showed up and ended up joining us for dinner. They are in town for a few weeks for a visit. They have gone to Boise to see Tara's new baby but will be back for Christmas. After dinner Kyle and I finally got our Christmas tree in the house with a little help from Dad. As I got a strand of lights on the tree and half of them immediately went out I was reminded why I have had an artificial pre-lit Christmas tree up until now. Eventually we found enough working lights that we were able to get the tree decorated. Mom and Marlee pitched in and decorated the rest of the house for us. It's nice to have family around to help out.

Friday night we went to Willard with my family, Susan and Craig's family, and Karen Luthi to drive through the campground and see the Christmas lights display. It is quite the show and the kids loved it. They got to see Santa Claus again and Gracie didn't like him any better this time than she did before. After seeing the lights we ended the evening by going to the Center Street Grill for dinner.

On Saturday we drove to Salt Lake in the snow for the 3rd week in a row and went to the Forgotten Carols. It was as wonderful as it has been the other times I've attended the show and we really enjoyed it. We spent the night at Kyle's parents house and got up early Sunday morning and went to The Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert and The Spoken Word with his parents, Aunt Sally, Darren and Katrina. It was an amazing concert and we were so glad we were able to go.

A Very Busy Thanksgiving Weekend

Our Thanksgiving adventure started out with us going to Salt Lake on Tuesday night to stay at Kyle's parents. Kyle had a root canal at 7 am Wednesday morning down there and I didn't have to work on Wednesday so I went with him. He had an appointment with the foot doctor at 11:30 and his foot is healing up well. We then continued our round of doctors by going to his regular heart doctor at 2:30 for a check up there. All in all things looked good.

We spent the holiday on Thursday with Kyle's family at his parent's house. We had a fantastic meal and enjoyed a great time with the family. We missed Kory and Mandy and their boys but everyone else was there and it was fun. We left there Thursday night and came home.

Kyle really wants to have a real christmas tree. I'm quite happy with my fake prelit one but it obviously wasn't going to make him happy so we got up at 6:00 on Friday morning and went somewhere up West of Soda Springs in Idaho with Kyle's uncle Dick, his friend Gary and Gary's family in search of the perfect tree. I immediately found the perfect tree but was informed it was too skinny, wasn't bushy enough and had weak branches. At that point I realized my opinion was not really going to matter nor was it really wanted so I pretty much kept my mouth shut after that.

We did finally find a tree that I think might fit in the house and Kyle started to cut it down. I looked at him and realized that wasn't the best idea and so I took over and finished cutting it down. I should have know when he let me take the saw that he had overdone it. I finished that one and headed over to cut the tree he had picked out for his parents. I realized he hadn't followed me and saw him getting up off the ground a little ways away and asked him what he was doing and if he was okay. Of course he said he was. He walked over and layed down in the snow by me and I asked him what he was doing. His response was that he was checking to make sure his heart was still beating. While walking over to me his defibrilator had shocked his heart and the force of it had knocked him to the ground and he briefly lost consciousness. According to the paperwork given to us when we left the hospital this means his heart had stopped completely. Take a minute and imagine what would have happened had his heart stopped on that mountain and he hadn't had the defibrilator put in. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be with us today. We weren't within hearing distance of anyone else and I wouldn't have been able to get help in time to save him. I consider it a great blessing that he had the surgery when he did.

Saturday afternoon it was back to Salt Lake for the Willis family Pie night with the Willis side of Kyle's family. There was lots of delicious soup and yummy deserts. We got to see Kory and Mandy who we had missed on Thanksgiving so that was great. The Ute fans were in mourning and Linda was celebrating BYU's victory. The Ute fans were definitely the majority. It was a fun weekend, but my back has had enough and I've spent the last 2 days in bed on the heating pad and ice pack.