Seriously! This poor kid.

I got a frantic call from Natali on Thursday night, October 16th- Andrew was hurt bad during his soccer game.  It seamed to be his knee.  I knew that with most knee injuries the ER can't do much so typical Lisa, I tried to convince her to just take him home and take him to urgent care in the morning (it was late enough in the evening that we were looking at another ER visit just weeks after his shoulder one).  She said his knee was bad and he was screaming whenever his leg was moved.  She started crying at this point because she was so worried about him so I gave her the go ahead and they headed to the ER, again.

Meanwhile, once carrying him to the back of Natali'd car, his team finished the game to win the championship.  They had AI add him to the team photo.

His collision with the goalie must have been pretty back because he managed to fracture the end of his femur and tear his ACL.  It would be a few weeks before we knew for sure about the knee but for the next few weeks his leg would be entirely imobilized to let the femur heal.

He looked pretty silly going to church that weekend because his roommate had to leave early and couldn't put his shoes on for him.  Yes, for several weeks Andrew's roommate helped him get socks and shoes on everyday.  He also helped him get meals and did his laundry for him.  What a saint!

Andrew finally got in to see a doctor who recommended surgery, so we got it on the calendar and I booked a hotel room so I could stay with him while he recovered.

Day of surgery, November 11th,  he marked the correct knee in pen and got ready to be put out.

A few hours later surgery was over but it was another couple of hours before Andrew was fully awake and ready for some food.

The doctor said the ACL replacement went great but the cartilage damage to the femur was pretty intense and probably explained a lot of Andrew's pain.  He cleaned it all up so it should move smoothly now and hopefully it won't cause pain in the future.

I got him to the hotel and got him some lunch then he fell back to sleep and Natali stayed with him while I grabbed his meds.  

Grandma and Grandpa Dame brought the two of us dinner on their way to Arizona for the winter and we watched the BYU game together.  

And thus began our next few days together.  He slept a lot.  I kept him feed and iced and made sure he did homework.  Washing his hair was a dangerous endeavor but after him almost falling the first time we had a better plan the second time.  Natali made frequent visits and I took him to campus a few times to see some friends.

Then Friday Kate rode the bus from Rexburg so she could hang out for the weekend.  I loved the time with my kiddos.  

And we were all very interested in seeing his knee unwrapped at PT.  The girls and I hung out and encouraged him while we moved his knew the most he had in days.

Andrew was still in a fair bit of pain if he was up much but he was going crazy in the hotel room.  So that night we went out to Olive Garden.  While there, Mack texted that Blake was going to be born that night.  What a week!

Saturday we met up with the Wilford boys and Derek Salisbury for lunch in the Cougar eat.  Everyone was getting excited for the football game but I had to give them all hugs and head home.

It was hard to leave him so helpless but I was grateful Natali was around to help him as needed.  So glad she is such a helpful oldest child.  I'm not sure what Andrew would have done without her.  She got a handicapped parking pass and gave him rides to school every day.  He had some rough days, weird swelling, and calf pain but he managed it all while going to school and still attending every football and basketball game he could.  It was a pretty brutal first semester.

Sleepy Hollow and Halloween

Emily was excited to sign up for the new Musical Theater class this year and was thrilled when she got cast as the heroin, Katrina VanTassel in "The Headless Horseman".  She wowed everyone acting like the prettiest, most desired girl in town.

She had a solo singing about Brom Bones, her love interest, and playing hard to get.

She had such a blast with the whole class and we were all super impressed with what a high quality show they pulled off without any after school practices.

She didn't love the orange dress but she definitely stood out in it.

They performed three nights and the Wilfords and Grandma and Grandpa caught the last show.  It was fun to hear them all laughing at the silly characters and the well timed jokes, pauses, and effects.

The show was appropriately performed the week of Halloween.

Lily's friend made this perfect sign for Lily so they could match for Halloween.  Emily decided last minute to be a crazy cat lady so she could wear PJs to school.  I told her no real cats.

Halloween day we met Lily's friend for lunch, where Chick-fil-a kindly gave the girls free food for dressing up as their mascot.

They rode the Scheels ferris wheel and took some weird pics before coming home and getting the gang together for some trick or treating.

Iowa Weekend

Friday before the sun was even considering shinning it's light we were headed to the airport on our way to Iowa to visit the Bernards and watch another BYU football game.

Greg met us in Des Moines with the rental car (he was coming from another work trip) and we stoped at Windsor for window plant tour.  The girls loved learning about windows and the Dr. Pepper they got afterwards for our drive to Ames.

Phoebe and the girls jumped right into fun with just dance, aerial silks, and playing with Louie.

Grandma and Grandpa Dame arrived later that evening with Rachel and we all enjoyed chatting before bed.

The next morning we took Louie out on a walk in a lovely forested area.  The Bernards were happy to let Louie run Emily up and down the trails.

Then we got our layers on and headed to the game.

The Iowa State fans were so kind, several of them stopping us on our walk and wishing us a great stay in Ames.  One group of tailgaters even let the girls have some donuts.

Phoebe represented for the Iowa State fans around us and they would high five her whenever their team was doing well - which was most of the first quarter.  But after halftime we dominated and the Cougars ended on top.

Emily and Rachel ran to edge of the field and snapped some pictures with Bear Bachmeier..

Then we walked back to our car but Grandma, Grandpa, Laura and Anson weren't back yet (their seats weren't by ours) so the girls played in the backyard of a home that Aaron owns but doesn't live in right now (we used the driveway for free parking).

They smashed several mushrooms of this size or larger.

And this outdoor tree house was begging for a photo shoot.

Sunday morning we went to church, played some games and played with the animals before heading to the airport.

Another fun weekend with cousins thanks to BYU being in the Big 12!

What the squirrel tail?

I woke up from my nap and found this on the floor...yes, it is a squirrel tail minus the squirrel.

Emily, at the suggestion of Spencer (thank you 🤦Spencer), put the tail in a mature of salt and Boraz to preserve it.

So now we have a preserved squirrel tail.  Those cats continue to surprise and terrify me.

Easton's are back in Yellowstone

Thursday after school the girls and I headed to Rexburg.  We had a bit of a late start and didn't arrive till about 9:30pm.  I made the choice not to pick Greg up at the airport but to have him Uber to the hotel.  That left the girls about 30 minutes to see Kate's place and chat with her roomies.

At which point I got a phone call...Andrew separated his shoulder playing soccer and it was hurting way more than usual when that happens (this is time 4 or 5).  Natali was at the game so she took him to the urgent care -except it seems to have been the ER (not looking forward to those bills).

He got some drugs, a sling, and an order for an MRI and PT.  Good thing he was planning to take it easy this weekend  driving around Yellowstone looking for animals and watching conference.

The next morning Kate met us for breakfast and it was decided that Lily would stay behind with her and hitch a ride with the BYU Provo kids on their way through Rexburg.  Kate chose to skip the Yellowstone stuff and just hang with her friends (I think she likes college).

The Provo kids left after Friday classes and got to Gardiner a little bit before Greg, Emily and I.

Meanwhile, Emily Greg and I entered the park for free (thank you government shut down 🤦) and enjoyed a nice grizzly spotting,

a lovely hike,

and a second grizzly (this photo was taken from my phone, that is how close it was).

The other kids made Emily jealous by spotting this great grey owl.

We also saw this black bear as we exited Lamar Valley and met up with the other kids in time for the BYU game.

We left at 6 am the next morning and found the same black bear,

lots of elk, and a far off grizzly.

We were back in time for the kids to sleep through most of the first session of conference (6 am wake up not so good for watching conference).  They did stay up long enough to learn that a new prophet wouldn't be sustained at that meeting since Pres. Nelson had only passed away a week previous to the conference.

Between sessions the kids went out to mammoth and hiked around and found a black bear and cubs, I stayed home to nap and bathe.

After the second session we headed out to explore and found a hike we had never been on to a beautiful waterfall.

On the way in for the night we lucked out seeing a pack of wolves running across the hills near Gardiner, it was through a scope or binoculars for all of us but there were more than 10 wolves so still really cool.  And sometime in all the crazy we wished Mack and Nani a happy birthday!

The next morning's am drive and been slow until we lucked out in the Lamar Valley seeing a fluffy coyote.

And just when we were going to turn the car around and head back the car in front of us stopped for bison.  While waiting we looked around and Andrew spotted this lovely red fox as well as a bull moose off in the distance.  

It was fun to watch the fox running, stalking and just hanging out.  It was a great morning.

More sleep kids during the Sunday morning session though.

After the morning session the Provo kids hit the road.  The rest of us were scheduled to stay another night but in Lily and I were ready to head home and Greg and Emily decided that would be okay but Greg wanted to go the long way through Grand Teton.  So we pack up quick and hit the road managing to drive for 3 or 4 hours in a blizzard made for not such great views but some beautiful landscapes when the sky cleared.

The Provo kids hit snow as well and stopped to show Miguel some of the geysers.

We eventually pulled out of the bad weather, crossed the continental divide and enjoyed the beauty of Grand Tetons.  We even managed to spot one cute little black bear shaking a tree.  It was a long ride home.  The girls climbed in bed at 11:30 and I left them skip first period for which they were grateful.  It was a lovely weekend filled with family, animals, and conference, although I'm not so sure that should be a repeat combo.