CHRISTMAS BREAK

We got to spend Christmas weekend up in Logan at the Franks.

(Will's little leg cracks me up in this picture - babies are so flexible.)

William got to be baby Jesus, in the Frank Family Christmas eve Nativity program. It's crazy to look back and see how big he was getting and yet how baby and floppy he was at this time. 

The funniest part of he night was definitely cousin Mason, who was one of the three sheep. But he didn't want to be a sheep so his mom told him he was an albino donkey and he ran around going

 "hee haw hee haw"

Trevor used a few more days of his paternity leave to come down to St. George and spend some time with the Fisher family after Christmas. With a new baby and a new fiance, it was the only chance we had to be all together before the wedding. It was so great to be in warmer weather & spend more time around Braden & Tori. While everyone was in town we caravanned up to our place for William's baby blessing on New Years Eve. 

Then family pictures up Snow Canyon.

 WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

ALL BECAUSE TWO PEOPLE FELL IN LOVE

The siblings + spouses. I don't think I could have picked out my sibling's spouses before hand, but they are both perfect. 

THE GIRLS

THE BOYS

We always knew my family was Team Trevor

The real debate is who's the funniest Laura or Christian? His only flaw was breaking up with Laura before Christmas break - haha Kaaren will never let him live that down.

Most recently we added Tori to the bunch. We all wondered who Braden would end up with and what type of girl he was interested in. Lets just say he hit the JACKPOT. Tori is cute, smart, sweet, witty and thoughtful. We just love her!

While in St. George we met up with some friends & Laura's in-laws for ice cream. Will got to meet his Godmother, and my life-flight nurse, JAN! 

We also went for a hike up Snow Canyon and even found some rocks that I could hike up. Will was almost 2 months, and he pretty much slept the whole hike. With all the working adults we didn't have a ton of time all together, but we got in a couple rounds of pickle ball too!

Almost six years out from my accident, I'm still not exempt from those waves of grief and loss. Nature is where I feel most at peace and it's my favorite place to be and explore. So when we arrived at Snow Canyon I was so excited to explore. I'm well aware that I can no longer enjoy nature the way I used to by running and climbing around. But I know I can still get out and enjoy nature with the abilities I do have. When we arrived a couple of family members mentioned a hike and overlook and suddenly our group was splitting up. Now I had no idea how long they'd be gone or where the hike was going, but I knew I couldn't go. So we parted ways and tears immediately began to swell in my eyes. I missed those types of adventures and my old body.

Now don't get me wrong I still want others to enjoy those hikes & adventures, but no one had really talked about this detour and I didn't have a chance to prepare and cope with this before hand. I think I was most upset that no one had communicated this beforehand and then there I was facing my loss of mobility. 

It turned out the hike wasn't that long and the group met back up sooner that I'd imagined in my mind, but I was still in the midst of those waves of grief and loss, as I slowly tried to walk up the trail one painful step at a time. 

After giving myself time to feel those emotions and understand what was going on and I explained to my family why I was upset. We were able to go on and enjoy the rest of the hike and even find a rock that I could climb and hike up with my crutches.