Some other January doings

 Mike baked and I delivered cookies to the children in our new Primary class this year. Cute kids. Brewer, Ember and Elijah. This is year three for us.

Mike went through three weeks of at-home Physical Therapy for his knee, then started more at the PT office ( Also known as Pain and Torture.) He even fell on the ice going in there once! Yikes. No damage done, thankfully. He is improving almost daily.

I accompanied Mom to a variety of Dr. appointments and blood draws during the month. She got COVID and had to be quarantined for a week in her room, poor gal.  She missed one appointment with a Kidney Dr because of that setback. It could have been worse and she felt better after a week. It did take a toll, tho. 

I went out to lunch with Janet Seegmiller ( for my birthday. Which was in November. We are kind of slow like that). And I went out again with her and two other library ladies ( Sheri Butler and Paula Mitchell). I helped orchestrate that gathering. We will have to have a reprise, as one invited Library lady couldn't come due to her husband's death.  (Diana Graff) AND, I hosted a "Walking Buddies of the Past" luncheon at my house.  Nope, not a single photo of any of those events.

I ate out a few times with Mike, with Mom, too. 

I have outgrown my wedding rings and now must seriously do some diet adjustments.

Mike and I went to the Travel Expo together in St. George one Wednesday afternoon. And we had a free lunch at Jersey Mike's Subs, thanks to Ashton & Associates. We won a gift card from a drawing there at an Ashton event ages ago.

I attended the temple twice without Mike and once with him. I kind of miss working in the Temple Office.  But I do love having lots of free time, and we hope to become more regular Temple Patrons now. It's SO close-- a five minute drive from our house.

Mike's older sister, Anita, passed away early in January. There was no service, so we (I) sent flowers. There were two Chadburn cousins that passed, too. Gerald Chadburn and Riley Graham. Again, no services that we were aware of.

We had some good snow storms! Yay, water for our desert! 

I helped with concessions twice for the Cedar Valley Community Theater production of "Big Fish." It was SO good. Very enjoyable.

I started watching BYUTV 's "Wind at my back" series. It's old,  ( 1995) Canadian and I love it. Depression era times and experiences for families in a small town in Canada. I'm already on season two.😄. I also watched all of a PBS series, "Indian Summers." Educational, but too raunchy to recommend.

Mike and I have been loving spending some wintery evenings together playing cards and Settlers of Catan. Each time we play, he can stand to sit for a wee bit longer. Progress with his healing.

I donated blood in January(double reds!) And Mom and I saw. "The Boys in the Boat" at the theater. Good flick. 

I did some stuff. Yep, I did. And I love being able to take an afternoon nap if I want to. I love being retired.

January Women's Hiking Group

 January 20th. Thirteen hikers, two dogs, one 6-week old infant. 

Cloudy, chance of rain. Quite cool, but nice. Gila trail near Ivins. 

Ivins is behind me in this photo. It's pretty close. One ridge above us had large new fancy homes (Lava Ridge?).  They were over-looking Snow Canyon State Park. Close by us in some areas, but out of sight, was the highway. I could hear the cars. Hey 18, I think.

Fluorescent colored lichens always impress me. So many colors! This is just one.

Our destination was this slot canyon. This is Jessica Henshaw, our leader.

We saw petroglyphs!

There were 13 of us squished in there.

Red rocks, black rocks, LOTS of coral sand, green shrubs, pokey cacti. Juniper trees, Brigham Tea shrubs...it was a great morning in Washington county.

One month out from a new knee

 Well, he did it! Mike's about 3/4 of the way to being bionic. Haha. 

Two knees done, one in his 60's, one at age 71, so we hope they last a good long time.

And-- we are SO looking forward to walking without pain! He is well on his way. If the hips hold out, life will be good.

And if he could sleep at night, that'd be great, too. But overall? So pleased and happy with this past year's surgical procedures!!!

I don't know why his left knee looks so bulbous, but it's okay. Really. His RIGHT knee is okay, too, with all the new hardware inside and well-healed scar on the outside. 

On to physical therapy! He starts next week and can drive himself there and everything. He's been driving for a couple of weeks now

 Well, maybe one and a half.

January 2, 2024, and Knee Update

 The New Year found us puzzling and playing games and visiting and eating. We're so glad Nick's family came to visit and ring in the New Year with us!

Nick's family traveled home on Tuesday after lunch. 

And Mike is still doing well after knee surgery. Bruises are healing and he's close to 90 degree bend already.

The outer bandage is off. It had turned purple -pink and was kind of worrisome-looking. Nurse Mandy assured us it was normal. The surgical site is just covered with the Steri-strips now.  I do think Mike is getting a bit of cabin fever. But he just canNOT sit for any length of time( like in a car for more than 3 minutes). And he cannot sleep at night very much or very well. He IS good about doing his PT exercises on his own now, so that's nice. Braddock Englestadt comes to help and evaluate Mike twice a week. And he sees improvement each week. 

Happy New Year! And the Science of it all

 Ever wonder what happens when glo-sticks break and leak? Well, WE know now! Nick's kids have been wanting to do this experiment for a very long time. Fun times at the Liebhardt home, and we are happy to accommodate the furthering of scientific knowledge.

The formula is not oily, because it's heavier than water. It doesn't dissolve in water, but can stick together. By spoonfuls!

Just a spoon full of. . . . We are not quite sure. Bioluminesce of some kind, only CHEMICAL, not bio. 

MOST of the glow sticks remained intact.

Nick is stirring it into the glass of water. 

Nick is emptying out the broken one into a glass. The napkin he and Kaylee used to wipe off the stick is in the sink to Nick's left. It's VERY bright. The only lights on in the kitchen are on the Christmas tree in the corner.

The dark, window-less bathroom was where the first splatter happened. It's on the floor, on the toilet seat cover, on the rack of towels and washcloths. ( Those were later washed.)

And our kitchen sink after the EXPERIMENT was completed looked like a miniature far away Galaxy.

Sparklers with Nick's Family.  Emily nid NOT like the booming big fireworks going off over at the high school.

Rachel and Caroline worked on a jig saw puzzle.

Logan in his elf costume. So cute, even though he looked mad for the photo.

And Emily wanted her picture taken in front of the tree, too.

Nick's family arrived around 6 pm Sunday evening. We played games, had some snacks, the kids played with toys and played games with us. Rachel's learning Boggle, and Logan caught right on to Bears and Bees! 

Happy New year! 

Saturday evening, Dec 30, Gail's family dropped in to spend the night. They were gone ( heading to a family party in Joseph) by the time I came home from Church Sunday morning New Years Eve. We played some New Years Eve EVE games together.