January and February 2024

 The first two months of 2024 were quite normal with a couple of exceptions. There were also very few pictures taken, so this is a combined post.

New Years Eve: the youngsters played; we went to bed

Greek dinner, New Years night

Cousins' farewell as the Youngs head to Disneyland

TONS of editing on my personal history

Cousins Breakfast in January

The Colver kiddos ate tacos and slept over

Lunch at Kristy and Hank's in Sundance

Virtual Portuguese tutorials with Lucy Jane before she went to Lisbon

Ramen with the Taylor-Woodburys in SLC

Only Meg for Family Dinner in February

The Knee Replacement That Wasn't 

I quit walking after my broken-metatarsal surgery and I think everyone assumed it was because of my knees. It turns out, I was just lazy. My daughters thought I should have a replacement and get back into life. So in a visit with my primary care doctor I mentioned previous knee problems and she asked me to get some X-rays so she could see. The X-ray showed bone on bone and even a small divot. She was concerned and asked me to see an orthopedic guy. He was also concerned by what he saw. I scheduled knee-replacement surgery on Valentine's Day, made all the prescribed preparations, and showed up early on the morning of the 14th. I was fully prepped, ready to roll in. They were trying to find a vein for the IV when the surgeon arrived. I told him that I had been tempted to call him because I have no serious or persistent pain in the candidate knee. He was taken aback and as we talked it was evident that I hadn't made that clear to him in our initial consult. He explained that unlike heart surgery, this is an elective procedure and is to improve quality of life. Since my quality of life is inexplicably - miraculously - good, he said that given my lack of pain, if I were his father he would say, "Don't do it." So I didn't. I got dressed and went home. I have started walking again with SKT and doing over two miles a day with no pain the candidate knee, and only slight intermittent pain in the other.

The knee in question - why doesn't it hurt?

Hell, we even bought a walker

Souvenir - all that poking and they never found a vein

Meanwhile . . .

February Cousins Breakfast

View of O'Sullivan Peak on a walk with Tynen -

SKT and AW did their taxes in SLC after Cousins Breakfast

We are now well into March and nothing exciting has happened yet, but I am sure there will be something.

OXO

D.

December 2023

In preparation for Christmas, two angels showed up to help us get the house ready. Millie hung the lights and garlands on the porch, and Emily decorated the tree. Tender mercies™. Lucy Jane had a long layover in SLC on her way from France to ABQ, so we picked her up and spent the afternoon with her, joined for dinner by Madeline. The Youngs arrived shortly before Christmas and the Colvers popped in for a minute while they were in South County for Daniels grandmother's funeral. Christmas went according to tradition with food and tons of cousin time with the Soelbergs. Dorothy and Kreg hosted a lovely brunch in SLC for the Hansen cousins, and we had New-Years-Eve-day brunch with the Youngs at Provenance in Provo. We, as is our custom, went to bed early on NY Eve: it was midnight somewhere in the world.

Emily to the rescue

Christmas lights in SLC with Lucy Jane

Macy's candy windows

Greek Souvlakia with Madeline and Matt Montez 

(Lucy's friend from Reno)

Cousin love on the streets of SLC

Sister love

The Vernal cousins visited and Finn smiled

Annie and Opa joined us for Christmas Eve dinner

Christmas Eve joy

Ready to rumble

A sun stone for Kris

Christmas breakfast

Christmas afternoon in Spanish Fork

Sister love and beef Wellington

Puzzles, games, and cousins

Pizza from Marco's (excellent) where Holden works

Ensigns, Youngs, and the old folks at La Casita

The Hansen cousins together post-Christmas fête

A visit to Tucker the barista at Holy Water in SLC

A C+ croque madame at Provenance: 

too much béchamel and no Gruyère!

That's it. 2023 is a wrap.

OXO

D.

November 2023

With just one day of turnaround from Arizona, we headed to New Mexico to attend Clara's performance in Noses Off at Santa Fe Prep. We had some fun outings with the Hastings, but the most memorable event was when a pack rat chewed the wires in the electrical/computer system of our car during the night. We were ready to pack up and head home, but the steering wouldn't work. We had the car towed and left it for an overnight repair at the Santa Fe Honda dealer. They did an incomplete fix, but we left for Provo nonetheless with a partially functioning auto. Back in Utah, Honda of Orem completed the repair. The whole thing cost about $5,000.00. Fortunately everything was covered by State Farm. November also included Thanksgiving, beautifully prepared and hosted by Emily. I had a good work over by the doctors of Provo for bronchitis, skipped heart beat, and wonky knees (more to come on that front in January). Thankfully all went well and I am alive and kicking with a clean bill of health. And finally, we managed to meet Millie Kay in SLC for an impromptu Cousins' Breakfast.

Navajo taco in Cortez: the fry bread was a C-

The drive to NM is always beautiful

The play was tons of fun

A visit to our favorite Talavera store

Clafoutis for brunch and a slice flan to go: killing

my longing for Paris

Canyon Road for lunch at The Compound

New Mexico Museum of Art-Vladem Contemporary

at the Railyard

Angela Ellsworth was raised Mormon, and her Pantaloncini

series creates temple garments out of pearl-topped pins

Lee Bull, South Korean artist's fanciful chandelier

Piece by Yayoi Kusama who did the enormous self portrait 

at Louis Vuitton in Paris - she loves dots

New Mexico Museum of Art

Rick Dillingham's wonderful kiln-fired reassembled ceramics

Louise Crow's Yen-see-do

Lunch at Rancho de Chimayo

Santuario de Chimayo

Pilgrimage church known for its healing dirt

Abandoned crosses left by pilgrims

The start of a complicated journey of repair

Tasty!

Thanksgiving with the Ensigns in Spanish Fork

Madeline's beautiful charcuterie plate

That's Alondra, Meg's Venezuelan roommate

Yummy vittles

Cousin love

That brings us to December and Christmas. So there will be more.

OXO

D.