I could heartily wish this had not befallen

So . . . Hayden made a new friend yesterday, though the circumstances surrounding their meeting were less than ideal. The friend's name: Dr. Lee; he's an orthopedic surgeon. That's right, Hayden broke his left wrist--both bones--while snowboarding. As you can see from the x-ray, the radius was displaced, so I got to witness my first reduction (that's where the doctor pushes the bone back to its normal position). Hayden has no memory of the event, as he was enjoying a pharmaceutical cocktail of Fentanyl, Morphine and Versed at the time.

He's resting comfortably at home, sporting a temporary cast until the swelling goes down. He'll likely not have a permanent cast for a week or so. Dr. Lee did say Hayden should be okay to ski in about four weeks--with a cast on--if he's careful. I think he'll avoid snowboarding for the rest of this season. The doctor wants to keep a close eye on Hayden's arm, to make sure the bone doesn't move out of alignment, so he'll see him several times over the next month. Everyone else had an uneventful, if foreshortened, day at Targhee. Hayden got a helmet cam for Christmas, and one of the first things he did when we finally got home from the hospital was to check the memory stick to see if he'd recorded the wipe out that led to his broken wrist (no such luck). Stay tuned for periodic updates on his recovery, as well as Christmas pictures.

La vie est belle: j'ai fini avec mes examens

Je suis tres content. What? You say you didn't understand a thing I just said? Oh, that's right: you don't speak French . . . wait a second, neither do I. It must be all the delicious Swiss chocolate I've been consuming as a precautionary measure against psychological meltdown during finals week. It worked, too. I took my last final last Thursday. I don't know how well I did, and don't really care at this point. :o) Okay, that's a lie; I do care, it's just out of my control now. Update: I passed all my finals.

Today I delivered to my employer/professor what I believe to be the last of the papers/assignments that I will have to read/grade/review/cringe over until next semester. Actually, I enjoyed reading most of them, though it was sometimes painfully obvious that not all students are created equal in the writing department. The last batch of papers I read were the author portfolios for British Literature--the same class I took a year ago. It was interesting to see the varying levels of quality, as well as author choices. Two students chose Nathaniel Hawthorne, and one chose Robert Frost. Sadly, neither of these authors are BRITISH! Jane Austen was the top choice, with 20% of the students opting to spotlight the reigning queen of British Romanticism. (Go Jane!)

The boys have been revelling in their free time by spending large quantities of it in the pursuit of absolutely nothing, but I think we'll go skiing tomorrow. Parker went to the Christmas dance last Saturday, and had a good time, as you can see in this photo:


Oops! Clearly not Parker and his date. Hang on a sec . . . the picture was here a minute ago [sound of mouse clicks, fingers furiously typing]. Ah ha! Here it is:



Now that, my friends, is an attractive couple, yes? Parker looks nice in his new suit. Remember when he looked like this:


Who gave him permission to grow up? :o/

I did the majority of my Christmas shopping online this year, and everything has come save one package--its estimated delivery date is December 24th. I know that's cutting it close, but if it doesn't get here before Christmas, I'll just print a picture of the item to wrap up: "Here Hayden, this is what you'll eventually get--someday." :o)

I spoke in Sacrament meeting on Sunday. Fortunately, we have a bishop who is well aware of the craziness which is/has been my life this semester. He gave me a month to prepare, knowing full well what he was asking of me. I think it went well. It proved to be cathartic, forcing me to organize the thoughts and feelings that have been bouncing around in my head for the last year. I was asked by a friend if I'd post my talk here, but I think seven pages would be a bit much. Maybe I'll put it on my Weebly page instead, which can be linked from here.

Get a Life

That's what Hayden did on Thursday. He received his Life rank advancement and twelve merit badges at the Court of Honor. He tells me he's about 5 away from earning his Eagle.

Thanksgiving was bittersweet. We had so much fun over the break, but the absence of Paul's presence was very apparent. We spent an inordinate amount of time (Wednesday night, all day Thursday, Friday night) in Rigby, hanging out with everyone who came from Utah to spend time at Darla and Scott's house. I never counted how many of us there were, but it was a bunch. The food was delicious, and the conversation was stimulating. :o) The boys and I went skiing on Saturday at Grand Targhee. We were going to go on opening day, which was Friday, but everyone had trouble peeling the mattresses off their backs--late nights will do that. It's just as well--I talked to several people who did go on Friday. They said there were twenty-minute lines--not my idea of a good time. The snow was so-so, but everyone knows a bad day of skiing is better than a good day doing chores!

Parker is nearly finished with his night school courses. The boys all started their second trimester Monday. I've got three class days left in the semester, then finals. It's hard to believe. I went to the last TA seminar yesterday, and turned in a portfolio documenting the work I've done. Compiling it helped me to see how much I've accomplished this semester--no wonder I've been so busy! I finished my final research paper, my web page: an electronic portfolio of for my English class (it's linked on the sidebar for anyone who's interested) and I'm down to the last lesson for my online New Testament class.

Next on my list: reading research papers, more textbook work, and writing a talk. Yes, I got one of those calls from the Bishop a week or so ago. I'm just grateful he's given me so much time to prepare. I get to speak the Sunday after finals.