The Year in Review

Okay, so I made a list of all the things that happened to us this year and realized while Ray has suffered, endured three surgeries, two ER visits, an ambulance ride, three months of chemotherapy, dealing with an ileostomy, wearing a chemo pump, having an open wound for eight months, wearing a wound vac, having a second open wound for four months, having me care for that first wound by cleaning it out every other day and repacking it, being visited twice a week by a home health nurse for the second wound, having at least one doctor visit a week and sometimes three, not being able to work or get out of the house; I have been to Orlando, Butler, Moab, Mia Shalom and Butler. I enjoyed two wonderful visits with Katie, Nathan and Josie, I have been able to go to work every day, take care of myself, feel healthy, do things with family and friends and enjoy life. What a very lopsided year for us!

Remind me never to complain or feel sorry for myself.

What we did enjoy together is a wonderful visit with Nate and Josie while Katie was in Europe, having Katie and Megan here for our birthdays, Easter, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas, Megan's phone calls and texts, Katie's daily visits, Nate's texts, phone calls and web cam visits, enjoying two phone calls, weekly e-mails and regular letters from Lauren, visits from friends, and quiet evenings home.

Thank you for your love and friendship, kind words and prayers, support and help!

Happy New Year!

Christmas

I wanted to share a little poem SL shared on her blog on how to simplify Christmas gift giving:

Somthing they want
Something they need

Something to play with

Something to read.

I am thinking this will come in handy for upcoming birthdays and Christmases. You could even combine the want and play parts! I wish I had heard it when our children were growing up. To tell the truth, by the time a few Christmases had gone by, I had resorted to 'play with' gifts that could only be played with out side...sleds, skates, scooters, bikes....that way there were no small toys all over the house all of the time!

We enjoyed a fun and interesting Christmas day. Nate texted Katie at 6:30 a.m. to see if we wanted to do a "computer" call (Josieism). Of course we did and we got to see her play with her new toys, very fun for us. Plus we got to talk to Nate and Kate. We opened up Lauren's letter and read out loud to the whole family her sweet testimony and love for her family. Then we opened the

present she sent us...a dead cockroach.
We did not have the reaction we did to last year's gift of an alligator head as we were quite wary. It is a good thing we read the letter first! We decided to take a nap after the early start. Katie and Megan were out until 1:00 a.m. watching a movie with the B's. Around 11:30 the phone rang and we got to talk to Lauren to set up the time she would call AND hear the Atlantic Ocean in the background. What a way to spend Christmas morning. We ate a leisurely breakfast and decided to find out what Santa had brought. About that time, the doorbell rang and we had a nice visit with an old friend. Once again we went back to seeing what Santa had brought and the telephone rang. This time we got to talk to Lauren for real. She told us that she found the cockroach crawling on in her cupboard on her clean dishes. She captured it, put it in a jar with a tight fitting lid, and it took three weeks for it to die. Yuck! We had a most enjoyable visit and it was so good to hear her voice! All in all it was a very nice Christmas day! The best part is that we got to spend it together as a family, even if half our family is in the eastern part of the U.S.!

Sharing our love really is the best part of Christmas.

Merry Christmas!!!!

We just finished up our annual Christmas Eve party at Grandma Scott's which used to be Grandma Boshard's and now Aunt S. and Uncle A. live there, but are happy to still have us all over. For the first time in four Christmases all of the Boshard kids were here. What fun. Only half of our kids were there. The other half living on the east coast were very much missed. Annette and Alex were there, too. Oscar, David and Abraham joined us this year. Everyone shared a talent and it was most hilarious and sometimes serious. We have some pretty fine talent among us. On the way home, they stopped to carol for Ray and came in for a visit. A very nice end to a very long day.

Some things I did today:

1. Washed a load of clothes
2. Dried the washroom floor
3. Went to store for drain cleaner
4. Tried to unclog the washer drain
5. Continuously all day long poured teapots full of boiling water down said drain
6. Made heart shaped sugar Christmas cookies with sugar on top-no frosting
7. Made whole wheat potato rolls
8. Cut up lots of veggies
9. Wrapped presents
10. Made dill dip
11. Simmered meatballs in strawberry jam and ketchup (and yes Kate, I used Heinz)
12. Made 7 layer bean dip
13. Made potato rolls
14. Drank hot cocoa
15. Ate cake

Phuture Photographer part 2

How do you keep a small child happy during a long car ride?
Give her a camera!

Daddy driving

Self portrait

Grandma

Snowy woods

Cold hillside