Thanksgiving 2024

My girls have been able to visit the giving machines that align with the church's Light the World campaign. I've never been and was excited when they came to Red Cliffs Mall. There was a big line because the giving machines leave on November 30th. 

We spent Thanksgiving at Grandma and Grandpa Campbell's house but they weren't there. Lol. Justin and Rachel's family and Jared and Emily's family were there. Justin and Jared made the best turkey! Everything was so good. 

I didn't take any pictures of us getting a Christmas tree. Jared and Justin's family both came. Merril didn't want to get his foot wet so he stayed in the truck. Maxine and Juliet helped me saw down the tree and get it loaded. We're strong girls. Merril's almost better and the pins come out next week. The tree got home and we got it decorated. Yay!

We have amassed so many ornaments! I don't know it I'm going to be able to keep collecting them from cool places. It's a lot! We might need to whittle out some of the gift ones. I love remembering our adventures when we decorate the tree! So many cool ones!

Applebee's Because We're Silly

Sometimes it's hard coming up with a new place to go out to eat. I asked Merril if he'd come with me to Applebee's. Merril's so good natured that he agreed. He got the bourbon street steak and an oreo shake. Evidently, we were bougie tonight.

 

Getting Back to Normal

Merril is able to walk on his foot now so he's getting more done. However, he's not supposed to get his foot wet because the pins are sticking out of his toes. If they get wet, infection has a direct pathway into his bones. So, he has to keep his foot dry and he is wearing a garbage bag on his foot. On the days that he works a lot, his foot gets tired and he's ready to rest at the end of the day. He's getting better!

 

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year: Baja

Despite Merril's foot, he was able to go to Mexico with team for Baja. He's trying to convince me he's taking it easy. But look at that face! He's loves Baja.

Shawn's race bike ended up dying part way through the race so in the end, there was only one race bike.

There was a big moon for the race and Merril snagged this.

Even with pins in his toes, he rode a few small road sections of the race course. They wrapped his boot in a garbage bag and duct taped it to keep out any rain. He had to shift with his heel. What a crazy guy! Everything went well though and everyone got home safely. He took the knee crutch and a scooter but by the end of Baja, we was walking in the boot and said his foot was feeling pretty good. "It was a miracle of Baja!"

Utah Tech

Maxine started at Utah Tech this fall but I haven't gotten a picture of her yet. She's excited to be taking classes again but misses Utah State. I feel for her, life is crazy like that sometimes. She never wanted to go to Dixie. It's fun to have her back at the house though. She probably won't live in the basement for very long. She's almost 22 and I understand if she wants to get out there and live her own life. 

She was able to perform at an open mic night at the college though and I was able to go watch. She performed one of her own songs, I'd Peel An Orange for You. She got a lot of good feedback from the audience. 

He Won't Go to Bed

Mark and Maxine are the two kids in the family who tend to stay up later and sometimes they stay up together. I'm glad she's home for a bit to make these types of memories with Mark. He looks like a fish to me in this picture. How is his eye like that?

I guess he decided he needed to try and fit in the nightstand? Lol.

 

Surgery Day

It was time for Merril to get surgery. He was excited to get it done so that he would have some time to recover a little bit. He still wanted to go to Mexico to help support the guys who were racing in the Baja. It seemed to me that the nurse indicated that it was going to take an hour for surgery, so I went for a walk. The surgery center is located close to the St. George Temple, and that's where I ended up walking to. It was kind of chilly. My face looks cold. I came back and still waited for another hour, but they said he did great. Now he's got pins in his foot, and he's not supposed to put any weight on it until it starts to feel better.

He was in pain for a few days but then it started to feel better. He didn't even need pain meds 4 days after. So that's great!

Maxine's Feeling 22!

For Maxine's 22nd birthday, she wanted to go to Ninja. We made this elaborate plan to drive to Cedar City after she was done with work. Her birthday fell on a Tuesday. We tried to go right after work but it didn't happen because Ninja isn't open on Tuesdays. So we decided to go to Sakura instead. We thought the wait wouldn't be too bad on a Tuesday night but it was over 45 minutes. But we were hungry and we didn't want to go anywhere else so we waited. 

It must be the place to go if you have a birthday because everybody was getting the adorable little birthday dessert. We ordered sushi and it was amazing and now Maxine is 22. Wahoo!

She asked for a snowboard for her birthday. Dad and I were able to find one and now she can go to Brian Head to snowboard! 

I'm just going to tack this on here. Merril got a walking crunch so that he could get around a little easier without actual crutches or knee scooter. It's working out pretty well!

This Little Piggy

 I was making dinner and was almost finished when Merril called me. He'd been riding his dirt bike when his foot hit a rock and bent his foot back. He said it immediately went numb and then hurt a lot. He was wearing his boots, knee braces, helmet, and body armor. His left foot was hurting and he was driving to the fire station to get checked out by the EMTs. They got his boot off and said it looked like it needed an x-ray. I met him at the new Hurricane ER. He drove himself. He said it felt like there had been a walnut in his boot. I had to get a wheelchair to get him from the truck. 

The ER doc ordered some x-rays. Wade was here, cracking jokes and making us laugh. 

The x-ray showed two dislocated toes: his piggy toe and the one next to it. The ER doc tried to hurry and reduce it while Merril was awake and it was too much! Merril said that was the most pain he's ever felt. 

The next option included sedation. They gave him a ton of sedative and it didn't knock him out. He was loopy but still conscious. Two ER docs tried to reduce it but no luck. The on-call podiatrist from St. George was going to come over when he finished a procedure. So I ran home to eat and decided to grab my glasses in case it got late. 

The podiatrist arrived around 10:30 p.m. and sedated Merril and tried to put the toes back. He yanked and pulled and they wouldn't go back in. Merril woke up and we were told to go home and not put any weight on it and surgery was the next step. The podiatrist thinks that some of the tendons or other soft tissue is in the way of the toes. We'll follow up on Monday.