Week Forty-three…Oh My Poor Knees!

Aloha! This was Thanksgiving week and we had lots of fun, maybe too much! Here’s what we learned,

Monday was a Mission Devotional where Sister and President Holmes talked about the role of the tribe of Ephraim. Before that we drove over to the library and dropped off the 4 pies Mom made for Pie Day which she instituted. It was for the whole library and a lot of people brought pies. Also, we learned (and were not surprised) that a lot of people like pies. By the end of the day most of the pies were gone. Mom made a couple of cream pies and a couple of chicken pot pies. That’s what I had for lunch, some of just about every pie. Yum! 

I had a cool experience in the afternoon helping a guest with a problem on her family tree. She has an ancestor named Peter Andersson who is married to Anna Beata Svensdotter. Her problem was that there showed up as a possible duplicate a couple named Peter Andreasson and Ann Beata Svensdotter. The second couple only had a marriage record attached as a source, but they could possibly be the same people because they were married in the same parish as the first couple.

So we went into ArchivDigital and started searching the household records. Unfortunately the farms that were mentioned where they were born were not indexed at the beginning of the record like they usually are, so I learned that I would have to scroll through the entire book to find them. That took us about an hour, but we found them…both couples! They were indeed two separate couples living in the same parish, but not on the same farm. The guest was so happy to make that discovery. Happy days. 

When I got home I made English toffee to take with us to Vegas. It didn’t work quite as well as I hoped. Sometimes the butter separates from the candy during the final phases. Usually I can just take the pan off the stove and keep stirring and it will mix right back in, but this time it didn’t. So I had to just accept it wasn’t going to be perfect. After it cooled we tried it and learned it wasn’t too bad. 

Tuesday we got up and packed and then went into the library. We learned last Friday that they decided to close the library at 5pm all this week for Thanksgiving, so we worked doing the typical assignments and both Mom and I helping some families enjoy the Escape Room and then were able to leave a little early, since it was VERY quiet…not many guests. So we headed out about 4:45pm from Salt Lake, hitting rush hour. We finally got past that around Provo and had smooth sailing to Vegas, arriving there around 10:30pm. Brittany and Shaun and Chris and Julie and Carolyn and Lindsay were all still up so we chatted for a bit then headed to bed.

The next morning we learned that they had planned a hike for us. We went out by Lake Mead and hiked the Historic Railroad Trail. We learned that this trail is where the old

railroad used to be that they used to haul materials to the Hoover Dam construction site. We got to go through about 5 or 6 tunnels they cut through the hills. Fun times. I think we hiked about 4.5 miles and the kids all did great, running up and down side trails and rocks and singing like crazy. They all like to sing and we have learned that they can harmonize well and it’s nice to listen to. Plus it keeps them occupied as we hike and we don’t hear much complaining.

After the hike we came home and the kids played Smash Brothers while the Mom’s made pies and stuff for Thanksgiving dinner. I sat and watched the Smash Brothers battle which Chris and all the older kids played. I tried to learn what they were doing and how they use their special moves and other powers to win, but I still don’t quite get it. I am definitely not a “gamer” and really don’t have any desire to become one. It just doesn’t appeal to me at all. So I read a bit and just relaxed after our hike.

Thursday was Thanksgiving of course and we learned that Brittany had reserved the Thom Rd.

meetinghouse for us to use to have our dinner at. Also, Tammy ordered a bounce house for the kids to play in. I think Leland was in there for almost the entire time we were there, 10:30am until 4:30pm when the people came to pick it up. He only stopped for a short break to eat dinner. Speaking of dinner, it was a typical and great dinner. We also had tons of pies for dessert…banana cream, coconut cream, double lemon cream, berry cream, Oreo chocolate cream, pumpkin, apple and pecan. I had some of each

except the chocolate and pecan. One other cool thing was that we learned that Stevie and Robin and Robbie were coming to spend the day with us. Stevie called Mom last week and asked if we were going to be in Salt Lake for Thanksgiving. She told him no, we were going to Vegas. She thought they wanted to stop at our place on the way to California where they planned to visit Kenny and Steph and see some of their friends. Well, they did go to California for all of that and then drove down to Vegas on Wednesday night so they could do Thanksgiving with us. They called us Wednesday night to find out where we were meeting for dinner. So we gave them the address and they met us there the next day. It was great to visit with them. It was also great to see Bruce and Laura and Linda as well as Kieth’s kids and their families. 

So now comes the reveal for the title of this post. Besides the bounce house Tammy had set out some other games to play on the

grassy area beside the outdoor pavilion. They also brought a soccer ball and a football. Well Mark’s boys, Jaxon and Dallin were out there kicking around the soccer ball with Kyle, and Chris went and joined them. So they started playing a game and Chris and Jaxon were dominating, so Bruce and I joined in. We played a game to 13 of soccer and then a game to 5 of football. (editor’s note: the pic isn’t us. Nobody got one, so I added this just for visuals) Well, I learned that my old knees had not gone in those directions for many moons. I usually am walking straight lines or pedaling a bike, not going side to side and stopping

and starting so abruptly. Needless to say they started complaining not long afterwards. 

We had originally planned to play volleyball after dinner, but that didn’t happen, which I am now thankful for because I am sure it would have added to my knees stiffness and soreness. 

After we got everything cleaned up we headed over to Keith’s to watch the 49ers play the Seahawks. Most of us were rooting for the Niners and the Niners won. Wahoo! 

Friday morning I got up to learn that I had very sore knees. They were swollen and stiff. I had planned to go mountain bike riding with Keith, so I took some ibuprofen and hoped for the best. We went out about 10am and I learned pretty quickly that the ibuprofen worked for the pain, but not for the tiredness. There was a pretty strong headwind and when we hit the first couple of hills I immediately dropped behind. Keith had to wait for me about 3 times. Finally we got to a place where he said he was a bit nervous to ride because the wind…he had almost fallen over awhile back at this spot due to the wind and it was about a 20’ drop off…so I was very happy when he suggested we head back. It was much easier heading back because now we had a tailwind, as well as Keith avoided all of the hills. Oh the joys of age! Sadness.

The rest of the day I just sat around the house and rested and watched kids play Smash Brothers and napped a bit. 

Mom helped Jake make an apron. He had picked out some Harry Potter fabric and Mom helped him go through all of the steps to make it. He learned very quickly

and did really well putting it all together, especially the actual sewing part. We have learned that we have pretty talented grandkids. They all have different talents of course, but they are very good at the things they have learned they enjoy. After she finished helping him with the apron we packed up and headed to Keith and Tammy’s for Second Thanksgiving. We had leftovers of course, my favorite part being the turkey and cranberry on dinner roll sandwich. I learned the putting of the cranberry sauce on your turkey sandwich from Mom soon after we were married. It really makes the sandwich. After dinner we played Mah Jong with Brittany and Lindsay.  Mom won of course. We decided before we came that we would go back to Salt Lake City Friday night so that we could sleep in our bed and then get up and off to work on Saturday at 10am, rather than having to wake up early Saturday morning and drive and go straight to work. So off we went around 6pm. 

The first part of the trip was pretty easy and nice, but a little outside of St. George we started to get snow. It wasn’t coming down very hard and it wasn’t sticking to the road at all, so I was able to maintain the speed limit and keep on cruising, but right about Cedar City it started getting heavier and some was sticking to the road here and there and especially the little hill climb areas were messy so I had to slow down a bit and be a little more careful. Luckily all went well and we arrived in Salt Lake about 12:30am. My bike was on the bike rack behind the car and had accumulated quite a bit of ice, so much so that I couldn’t even roll it because the ice wouldn’t let the disc for the disc brakes slide through he calipers. So I had to carry it to the elevator and then put it out on the balcony so the ice wouldn’t melt and drip all over the floor. With that done we went to bed. Yay bed!

We got up around 8:30am and got ready for the day. It was a quiet day in the library. Not a huge amount of guests. We have learned

that is actually normal for this time of year. Mom and I both had Escape Room assignments and had to work in a separate short lunch. After our too much food at Thanksgiving lunch was just an apple and peanut butter and a string cheese stick. I need to lose some weight! 

When we were finished we left the library to learn that they had turned on their Christmas lights. Wahoo! We were so excited to see all of the lights. I was going to take pictures of the lights by the Conference Center but wanted to wait until it was a little darker so I decided I would go out later to do that, but my knees decided not to do that. I was too comfy watching the

end of the BYU game. They lost in double overtime.

Today we went to church and experienced something I have never experienced at church before. The musical number was done by a family in the ward and the father, the second counselor in the bishopric, accompanied them with his accordion. (I almost took a picture, but I know that they don’t like us to take pictures inside the chapel, especially when the sacrament table is set up for that ordinance.) Their choice of song was different as well. It was kind of a Scottish or Irish contemporary hymn. Just hearing the accordion made me think of my mom and all of the times I watched her play hers. Good memories. 

After church we came home and got ready to host the couples from our floor for dinner. Since the Henkels are leaving on Wednesday we thought we would have a little goodbye dinner for them. There are 5 couples that

live on our floor, but we were missing one, the Riddells. We couldn’t get ahold of them to invite them over. Maybe later this month when we welcome a new couple into the Henkel’s apartment. We had breakfast for dinner and Mom made some awesome biscuits and gravy along with eggs and bacon. Sister Flora brought some yummy cranberry muffins and the Roberts brought grapes and orange juice. It was a great dinner.

Now we are just relaxing and enjoying a quiet evening at home.

Love you all. Thankful for all of you as well.

BE GOOD!

Sister and Elder Mom and Dad