Disneyland and Legoland!

What a great trip! We went to Disneyland, Legoland, and Seaworld the 1st full week of December. We went with the Woods who are family and close friends. They have 2 kids also. Sarah's "favorite, favorite, favorite" part was kissing Mickeys nose! Taylor's favorite part was Seaworld. At Seaworld he asked why they didn't let him to his "tricks" with the whales because "you know I'm a whale trainer too mom". Sarah was brave and went on splash mountain, thunder mountain, and the Matterhorn among other things. She didn't have a smile on her face but she didn't fuss about it much. She would smile so big when we told her she was being brave. Thad asked Taylor to go on Space mountain with him and after mom chickening out he looked at Thad and said "Ok dad I'll go with you" in the tone of a parent having to ride a kiddy ride. The parades were spectacular and everything was decorated for Christmas. Here are some pictures:

We came home on the 14Th in the snow. We hadn't planed on leaving until the 13Th but with the snow coming to the NW we left a day early on our "nothing to do" day. On the 17Th Sarah had surgery. She had a Pharyngoplasty and ear tubes. She had a hard time with her breathing and had to stay in recovery for quite awhile. Finally they removed her tongue stitch and she started to do better. It was a bit touch and go of whether they would need to put a tube in for her to breath. We just prayed and knew that whatever she needed would be best. She is doing great after a couple of fevered nights and she's talking so good. She sounds a bit different to me but I love to hear her say 'b' and 's' sounds now. The Dr's said she has allot of scaring and may need another surgery. She is such a trooper her strength runs deep.

My sister had her 2nd hip replacement on the 15th. She was at OHSU and wheeled over to visit us at Dornbeachers. The previous surgeon used a screw on head the last time which made the surgery alot easier. Ida (my sister) is still trying to recover. Please keep her in your prayers.

We are gearing up for Christmas and it's so fun to see the excitement on the kids faces. Taylor asks everyday if it's Christmas. We've gone sledding a coupe of times. We now have about 1 1/2 feet of snow and it's still coming. Soon we'll have to groom our own sledding trail. We hope you all are having a great week and enjoying the little things in life like: neighbors who shovel your sidewalk, people who hold the door for you, and treats brought to you by friends who are thinking of you.

On another note we said good bye to Thad's grandpa Routson yesterday who passed away the Wed. we were gone. He is such an important man to us all. The Wed morning we heard he passed away Thad gathered our family and told the kids. With tears steaming Thad told the kids that we wouldn’t see grandpa again and Taylor said yes we will with Jesus. Thad said grandpa’s body was sick and Taylor said no dad he has a new body now. So with the heart of a child we say good-by to a wonderful man who always had a twinkle in his eye. We are reminded that Christmas is our hope of seeing our Savior and some of us sooner than others.