Ben's Birthday, Ben's Dentist Appointment, Thanksgiving, and Decorating

We have been up to a lot lately. I had my gallbladder removed on November 1 after finding out it was infected and causing me severe pain. I have been off for four weeks, and have enjoyed every minute. Marty was great. He keeps me grounded when I think the world is coming to an end since I have no pay check and lots of bills coming in: ER visit, surgery, dental bills (more on that later), no paycheck. In fact, I've been having to pay my work $250 per payperiod just to maintain my health insurance. Oh, and I got rear ended and paid my $500 deductible to have my car fixed while my insurance dukes it out with the other driver.

On the bright side, I have a wonderful husband and 2 energetic little boys who I love dearly. I have a busy calling, and am able to work with the BEST bishop in the church. He is just super humble and gentle. The BEST.

We celebrated Ben's birthday week November 7. It was fun. The highlight: taking the little darlings to Chuck E. Cheese:




I took with boys to their semiannual dental checkup. Jacob is a card-carrying member of the "no cavities" club. Ben, on the other hand, is the reason silver has sky-rocketed on the market. Because of some faulty dental work he had 6 months ago at a different dentists, he had 2 old cavities that weren't properly filled. They continued to decay, and he now has 2 silver teeth. They are called his "sparkly" teeth. He had to get Valium prior to the dental work. Here is a video of him 5 minutes after sedation. HILARIOUS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISYg9nCxbuc

We had a small Thanksgiving. Just us, Kellie, and Marty's cousin from BYU Idaho. Her name is Cassie, and Jacob loves her. She was quite delightful with the boys, and played UNO and went on numerous bike rides with the kiddies.


We have always used an artificial tree each year for Christmas. This year I wanted a real one with real Christmas tree smell. We found the cutest Charlie Brown Christmas tree. We had such fun decorating it. If you look closely, you will see where Ben helped hang the ornaments and helped decorate the nativity scene.





Last night, we decorated gingerbread houses with Jodi, Don, Jordie, Jacie, Dave and Danna. We had a lot of fun. The kids, namely Ben and Jacie, had fun piping the icing directly into their mouths. If you'll notice, Danna has a brace on her torso. This is what she wears keep her back positioned while it heals since having rods placed a few months ago. Happy Holidays!