Week in Review 11/27/16

I have been looking forward to this week for a long time.  Kim and I both had some vacation time so we both took off the whole week.  One whole week!  A whole week to spend with Kim (who I don't see nearly enough) and to get some much needed projects done, and to put up our Christmas decorations.  Well . . . the best laid plans.  I should have known better.  I spent most of the week in bed with the stomach flu - YUCK!

Consequently my list of things to accomplish was scratched.  I tried to make the most of my down time by laying in bed watching sappy Christmas movies on the Hallmark channel.  My first choice would definitely have been to get projects accomplished, but watching Christmas movies was GREAT!  I LOVE watching Christmas movies - I think it probably has to do with the fact that I love happy endings - and I got to indulge in watching a LOT of movies.  The very best part?  Kim laid in bed and snuggled and watched several with me!  If my stomach didn't hurt so much it would have been perfect!

Luckily I felt good enough that I was able to go to the high school play, The Little Mermaid.  

It was a truly fabulous production!  I am in such awe of the talent that was demonstrated by the cast and the production staff.  I have seen many productions and I have to place this performance as one of the best I have seen.  The costuming was unbelievable!  And the sets - wonderful!  It is so hard to believe that it was done by high school students!  I'm so glad that I was able to make it.

Waiting for the show to start

Thanksgiving was great!  The Olsen gathering was quite small this year, but still very nice.  Barb graciously took the lead and coordinated all of the food and beautifully decorated the tables.  Kim went a little crazy this year with three different types of cranberry sauces (all of which were yummy!):  cranberry pear, cranberry grapefruit, and cranberry blueberry.

Justin showed up for pie.  

Natalie brought her "Speak Out" game and so we played a short game after dinner.  What a hoot!  We took turns placing (clean) dental tools in our mouths that held our mouths open and read nonsense sentences from a card while everyone tried to guess what we were saying.  It was ridiculously funny!

After Thanksgiving dinner Shandra, Kalel, and Raelyn came over for a family fun night.  We watched the movie Zootopia.  It was very cute!  And then we played some games together.  It was a great evening, relaxing, fun, family time.

Friday morning Kim and I stayed in bed and watched another Christmas movie - heaven!  Since I decided not to go shopping we didn't really have much on our agenda.  I did do a little cyber shopping and we put up some of our Christmas decor and I worked on a wall hanging for my mantle while Kim put up the outside lights.  It was perfect weather for putting up lights - warm and sunny!  Later that evening we joined the Parrishes for a date night.  We were going to go to a movie but decided just to stay in instead.  We ordered dinner from the Maddox Cabin and enjoyed a great meal with great company.  After dinner we relaxed downstairs and watched Christmas with the Kranks.

We have been blessed so much by having the Parrishes in our lives!  They are more like family than friends.  We haven't been able to spend much time with them lately, so this date night was very appreciated.

Saturday was my last clinical at the University of Utah Hospital for this semester.  It will be nice to have Saturdays available again, but I will miss the students and hearing about the things that they learn.

THIS WEEK I AM GRATEFUL FOR:

Gratitude.  Being grateful for the many gifts, talents, friends, and blessings in my life allows me to be more appreciative and less selfish (a work in progress).  It is so wonderful that no matter what our circumstances may be, we can always find something to be grateful for - and that gratitude brings happiness.