One Pheasant Hunt, One Thanksgiving, One Naughty Dog, One Old Tree...

Grandpa Swenson took Tyler and Nate pheasant hunting--and of course he also took Ziggy.  She is the best little bird dog around. It is so fun taking her out to do stuff like that because at home you can tell she is getting older and more tired, and her bad leg bothers her sometimes...but when she is hunting or on a horse ride or out in the mountains she runs around like a little puppy again. It brings us all so much joy!  Tyler got 2 birds--he's a crack shot!  But now I have to cook pheasant for dinner....

For Thanksgiving this year we went down to Moab with Eric's parents, Katie and Jessica and their families. It was so nice to get away--any time we can get away during this COVID crisis is a blessing. Our big trips to DC and Italy were cancelled, along with many other small trips.  Being stuck at home with many stores and restaurants closed has been hard.  I get tired of looking at the walls of my house everyday!  So we high tailed it out of here for the weekend.  It was not a super regimented trip, which was nice. The boys went mountain biking (of course there are no pictures of that because it was BOYS) and I went with the rest of the group to hike Delicate Arch.  It was beautiful, of course.  I get nervous near the drop offs--people die here!  Last year Jessica came down and the day after they hiked the arch some kid fell and died there.  So, my "nervous mom" is justified I think. I made Maggie and Joey promise they would go slow and, just for my sake as an early Christmas gift, stay away from the edges.  They did. I only had to panic a couple times.

It is fun to get to explore all the cool places down there--it is so gorgeous.  I think we take it for granted--but there were people from all over the world hiking in Arches Park that weekend.  

Here's the group on the way up to the arch.  This is the steep part of the climb so it was a welcome break to stop and take a quick photo!

We also hiked out to landscape arch--the longest arch on the planet.  It is getting pretty thin!  Huge chunks have been falling off over the past decades.  Who knows how much longer it will be there!  But at least we got a picture.

Everyone except me and Joey (there wasn't enough room) went Jeeping out at Fins N' Things.  Looks like they had a good time!  My family had done that a year or two ago so I was okay sitting out.  Joey and I went shopping and bought everyone in our family some socks.  Here's the group in their little caravan. They adopted a Red Jeep truck who was afraid to go on some of the stuff but Eric helped coach them through it.  

Here's a rare moment of Maggie and Joey walking nicely together and not arguing.  Those two are either best friends or the worst of enemies. There is no middle ground!  So I have to cherish the moments when they are getting along.

When we were up at the arch Joey found a spot to sit down and it was the perfect photo opportunity!  This isn't even posed!

More arches....

We had Thanksgiving dinner at the Sunset Grill, where my family had eaten there a couple Thanksgivings before.  It was delicious and we all left very very full!  And the scenery is unbeatable.

So on to the dogs--I love Ziggy--she's been in our family for 8 years now and she is THE BEST DOG EVER.  I would get 5 more if I knew they could be like her!  But then there's Pepper--who I kind of like but still often just tolerate her.  She has some good points...

She is very snuggly which is fun because Ziggy usually isn't (mostly because I trained her really well to stay off the furniture ha ha).  Pepper doesn't roam the way Ziggy does, and she's very soft, and loves her people (us).

BUT!  She is naughty when she's not being supervised.  If we are around she is generally pretty good, but when she knows she's unsupervised (even if I'm in the shower or something--we never leave her inside alone) she is a pain.  She chews everything...including chapsticks, Maggie's glasses, Eric's snore mouthguard, ornaments, the blender lid, you name it...if it is out and on the floor or within her reach it is fair game.  Now she has also taken to chewing up packages left on the porch...ARGH!  

I'm hoping she grows out of it--I keep trying to watch her to get her to chew things while I'm around so I can ZAP her, but she won't do it when I'm watching or even hiding.  So my best bet is to just make sure nothing is left out (which I am good at but my kids are not) and hope it is just a phase!!!!

I mentioned in the title about one old tree, well, here it is....

This is what we call out Ghetto Tree.  It is the tree in the basement where we actually have presents and Christmas morning. Yes, half the lights don't work, it is extremely sparse (this pic makes it look WAY better than it actually does), it is always crooked and it is just cheap.  But we bought it back in Maryland (!!!) when we didn't have money for a nice tree and have had it all these years.  I asked this kids this year if I should buy a new tree to replace it, and they all said NO!  They love the ghetto tree and all it represents--our family growing from just Eric and I back in Baltimore, all the way to now--all 6 of us growing together.  So we will keep the ghetto tree, and look at it every year as a reminder of how far we've come, and what really is important. 

In other, unfortunate news, I had to have surgery yesterday to have my gall bladder removed.  It has been quite a saga which I will give you the short version of--about a year and a half ago I started having severe pain just under my left ribs.  It was so bad!  So I made an appointment with a GI doctor but they were booked out about a month or two---a couple weeks after the pain started it went away almost as suddenly, before my appointment.  So I figured it was just a weird fluke or something and cancelled my appointment (wrong choice, I know).  Then months later it came back, same place, just as severe and sudden. It got so bad that there I was, crying at the Christmas Eve Family dinner table in front of all of Eric's family.  Eric said, "That's enough, were going to the ER" so we did. On Christmas Eve.  When I was there they didn't do any tests or anything, just had me drink a numbing solution.  Then asked if I felt better. I didn't really, but it felt different.  So then they said I had an ulcer.  They sent me home with ulcer medication.  It did not seem to make any difference but I thought they must know what they are doing so persisted until finally, just as before, the pain suddenly went away.  Well back in September the pain came back. As bad as ever.  I immediately started taking the ulcer meds but they did nothing.  I told Eric I didn't think it was an ulcer and neither did he.  I debated for a while and finally decided to go to Urgent Care (after the ER blew me off last time I didn't want to go back there).  I just knew something was wrong.  I'm glad I did--the PA I met with was so attentive and listened to everything.  He ran some legitimate blood work and I was diagnosed with pretty severe pancreatitis.  Based on the history, he said this is most likely my 3rd bout of it and I've been extremely lucky to not have had serious complications as often pancreatitis can cause.  After more tests and scans they found out I have gall stones which were 99.99% surely causing my pancreatitis.  I met with a GI specialist and he said I should get my gall bladder removed because there is a high likelihood I will continue to get bouts of pancreatitis and my "luck" of not having severe complication will run out someday.  He emphasized how he was surprised and that I am very very lucky to not have been deathly ill or had permanent pancreas damage etc.  The risk of recurrent bouts of pancreatitis were much more dangerous than having my gall bladder out.  Anyway, so after some more specialists and appointments I finally had it out yesterday. Overall I'm doing ok. I've got a lot of pain and discomfort but that's to be expected.  I'm trying to take it easy and follow the doctor's orders.  Joey has been helping--he made me ramen last night...

He put about 5 cups of water in it so it tasted like noodle water, but the effort was sweet.  Hopefully recovery will be quick and I can enjoy a fun Christmas in a few weeks!

Oh, I have to tell one more story--Joey has a Tote Goat, like a little off road motorcycle thing he got last Christmas.  A few weeks ago he was riding it up to his friend, Wyatt's, house and thought he ran out of gas.  So the house he was in front of, he stopped at, went right up to the door (didn't know them) and told them he was out of gas and can he get some from them!  Lol, the gumption on that little guy.  Well it just so happens he stopped at the absolute right house--not only was the older couple not some creepos, but the guy was into dirt biking and rebuilding old cars and such, so he knew about this kind of stuff.  He wheeled the tote goat over to fill it up but saw the front wheel was about to some off!  He got on it and rode it a bit and then realized the brakes didn't work either! (Neither of which I knew).  So he told Joey he would fix it for him while he went to his friend's house--and not only that, but that Joey could take this man's own tote goat (that goes way faster!) to Wyatt's!  Joey was hesitant because he probably felt nervous taking the guy's tote goat, but he did.  So while Joey was off playing, with this guys tote goat, this nice man (who just happened to be Jake's good friend, Breyton's, grandpa) fixed the brakes and front wheel (the front wheel was a temporary fix because he didn't have the right bolt) and filled it up with gas for Joey so that when he stopped there on his way home it was ready to go.  Isn't that amazing?  Some people are just good, and helpful and kind.  We did not know this couple but Joey made sure to tell us we needed to bring them a treat to thank them.  We sure did!  They couldn't have been nicer.  It's just nice to know there are still lots of good people in this world.  And I'm happy to know these two now!