Dear Friends:
This is the second post about our Christmas trip to Utah. At the end of the last post, we had just celebrated a wonderful Christmas morning. It truly was great...and I enjoyed watching my family open their gifts. The joy was pretty abundant. Then, things took a different turn...
For a few days prior to Christmas, I wasn't feeling 100%. I've had a small hernia for over 6 months. It was an umbilical hernia, and it was hurting a bit more than usual that week. On Christmas day, it was getting worse. I had hoped to just "tough it out", but noticed that my skin around the hernia was starting to turn a different color....
My wife was smart enough to convince me to go to the nearest emergency room. This was actually the hospital (Utah Valley Regional Medical Center) that I was born in ; ) As it was Christmas Day, the place was emptier than usual. I was lucky to be seen almost immediately. They examined me and decided to conduct a CT scan to see just how bad things were. After the scan, they decided that I needed immediate surgery, as part of the stomach lining had pushed through the hernia, and was being "strangled" (meaning that the tissue was dying).
I was taken directly to an open operating room, only an hour later. Nobody had scheduled elective surgery, so the OR was totally available. The funny thing was the surgical assistant. I don't have a picture of him, but he worked as Santa Claus during his off-hours. His beard was completely white...I was wheeled into surgery by Santa on Christmas Day!
The drugs were starting to kick-in at this point....
Hours after the surgery, I tried to take a walk down the hall of the hospital, and made it...slowly. It wasn't the most graceful, but it meant that the healing wouldn't take longer than usual. The next day was kind of a blur, as I was finally discharged from the hospital. Not exactly the Christmas I had planned for...but everything worked out OK.
The next day, my parents and some of my siblings came over for a visit. It was really great to see them...although I was pretty tired.
One of the reasons that everyone came to visit, was to open a present that my mom had prepared. Each of us received a gift, and she wanted us to open them at the same time. What I opened was a shocking surprise. Mom had created one of the most unique gifts that I've ever received. It was a "memory book" with a separate personal history memory for each day of 2016. Seriously. That's 366 separate memories, which information and pictures for every single entry:
It's like someone just handed me the first draft of my own personal history!! Because I had to remain at rest, I tore through the entire book in just a few days. It was so FUN to read. Many of the items I had completely forgotten. It brought back so many pleasant memories - I have to continue writing everything that this book helps me to remember. It's a labor of love...and she created one for every single sibling (seven), as well as my father!! It took her the entire year to complete...just amazing.
Over the next couple of days, the kids were able to use any gift cards that they had received at Christmas. The Build-A-Bear store was quite popular...and the kids had a blast there:
The kids visited with my family and exchanged presents. I'm glad that my brothers and sisters are so easy for the kids to get along with:
We drove to downtown Provo, to see the nearly completed Provo City Temple. It's a beautiful structure - and can't wait to return and see the interior.
I love capturing moments like these...where L and G-Man are getting along so well. Here, they're watching comedy videos from Studio C:
For Christmas, I gave my wife the option of a new car. We had been talking about it for quite a while, and I decide to surprise her with it. We decided to buy it in Utah, as the number of vehicles with all-wheel-drive were much more abundant. Needless to say, she was pretty excited about the whole thing:
One morning, we went to breakfast at the nearest Cracker Barrel. It's one of my Dad's favorites, due to the Pecan Pancakes that are available there:
It came time for New Year's Eve, and we had some special games and activities planned for the kids. It seems that the kids were definitely ready to party:
One of the activities involved playing a new game called "Pie-In-the-Face". It involves a mechanical contraption where you place your face directly in front of a spring-loaded "hand". On top of the hand is usually whipped cream. You turn a crank multiple times and it releases the "hand" on a variable number of turns. This means that you never know when it's going to "throw" the "pie". The tension is palpable...
Here's a video clip of my turn at the crank.
The night was really, really fun. We had silly string battles, dance parties, fireworks...and plenty of treats. It's a fun way to celebrate with little kids.
On New Year's Day we celebrated L's birthday. She was turning 5 a few days later, but would be traveling in the car, on the way back to Austin. We held the party at a Nickel City - a local arcade that provided access to video and arcade games for only five cents each.
We arranged a "party room" inside the facility - and it was a welcome oasis from the loud game machines outside. Both sides of the family came to help L celebrate her birthday:
She loves to dress like a princess, so the tiara was a welcome accessory ; ) She patiently unwrapped all the gifts...which was amazing, considering this was just days after Christmas:
My sister and brother entertained us with an epic performance on the Dance Dance Revolution machine. G-Man watched in awe ; )
That evening, my family drove up to Salt Lake City, to see the incredible Christmas lights at Temple Square. The number of lights, and the dramatic lighting around the beautiful buildings was simply breathtaking. Despite the face that it was 15 degrees outside, the views were still stunning:
This is my wife's favorite tree at Temple Square...and it was literally covered in red lights. The glow was striking:
Around the grounds of the LDS Headquarters, they had Nativity scenes from around the world. I, obviously, love the one from Asia. It looked Japanese to me, but could have easily been Korean:
I think the portion of the grounds that touched me the most, was the delicate, graceful Nativity scene - located just outside the Visitor's Center. It was peaceful and powerful. A great reminder of why Christmas is so extraordinary:
That's it for part 2. Come back for part 3, where we finally make our way back to Texas...with a stop in Dallas!
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