I can see! (and other updates)

These pictures are from Ardenwood Farms, where Henry and I went with Lael on her first fieldtrip last week and had a great time. We all spent two weeks in Utah for Thanksgiving break and had lots of fun with the cousins. I had Lasik surgery there and so far it's been a success! I have 20/15 vision in one eye and 20/20 in the other. Although it still goes in and out sometimes, which is a little disconcerting, and I have the expected dry eye issues, it's still been pretty good. I was able to do Lasik because I used the Hoopes Vision Center and they had the latest lasers, which took less tissue and corrected my vision with an impressive 10 seconds in one eye and 11 in the other (the lasers out here would have been around 45 seconds in each). Also, instead of creating a plateau, with light aberrations around the edges, the new lasers curve with your eye. I think I had better results because of the newer technology, so I am happy I had it done in Utah, even though it was definitely a factory.


We did a lot while we were in Utah, and it was good to have a break! I went to the New Kids on the Block concert with my sisters (yes, again!), we stayed a night in Midway and Erik went scuba diving in the Homestead Crater while Oliver and Lael swam with Grandma Olson (I couldn't swim because of my surgery and Henry was too young). We also stayed two nights in Wolf Creek. We had an awesome Thanksgiving Day at Dan and Clare's. It was definitely an eventful trip. I made a bad call on the way there and we ran out of gas, which put us back an hour because we had to call AAA, but we made it! We watched Clare's family slaughter their turkey, which was interesting. I do want the kids to know where their food comes from, and I guess that was one way to show them. It didn't deter them because that's about the only thing they ate was turkey the next day. That same day we sadly ran over a dog on the way to Wolf Creek. It was running down the middle of our lane and there was nothing we could do, so we were sad and tried to find the owners. But for the most part our trip was very good.

We met Allie, Carl's fiancé and had dinner with them and Caitlyn and Erika at the Mayan. We also got to see other friends we haven't been able to catch up with for awhile. We are back and things are in full-on holiday season (along with the usual craziness of the Boosters, overwhelming amounts of homework, Scouts, the dog ...). So I can't promise I'm going to be great at keeping things up to date but I'll try! We're going to Washington D.C. for Allie and Carl's wedding, so we're excited about that. Hope you are having a great December!