Lateral release

Nic's knee surgery was a success. The only hitch was that when the doc opened him up, he discovered that Nic's knee cap was off to the wrong side and he had to laser-cut a ligament to get it back in place in a procedure called a lateral release. (This was in addition to shaving away some messed up cartilage.) So we were told that the whole recovery process would be a little more intensive.

Really, the hardest part of Nic having surgery is trying to keep him from going crazy from sitting around all day and making sure he's taking his Percocet. I think I did a pretty good job though. In fact, I think the most painful part of the whole weekend was watching the new Indiana Jones movie.

And just as a side note: It is a rule of the hospital that the patient writes "Yes" on the limb that is going to be operated on. It just makes me wonder how many times doctors accidentally got the wrong leg or arm or whatever before they instated this rule.

Juicy

Each fall (for as long as I can remember) family and friends have come over to my parents house to make apple juice. Here's how it works:


1. My dad buys three to six bins (these things are HUGE) of three different types of apples.
2. People come over to the house to hand wash, grind, and press the apples and then bottle the juice.
3. My mom stocks the kitchen with tasty soup and other snackins.
4. I mostly eat tasty soup, snack, and talk to people--occasionally venturing outside to work.
5. My dad makes sure that everyone goes home with more apple juice than they feel comfortable with. Sharing makes him happy.

Here's a rare photo of me working the grinder with my dad this past Saturday.

Me and Nic--what a team.

The best part of making apple juice is seeing my dad. For those of you who don't know him, he is where I get my tendency to be somewhat reserved in a crowd--we both like to fly under the radar. But for two days each fall he is Mr. Social, making sure everyone has a great time and gets lots of juice. It's fun to see. Thanks for a great party Mom and Dad!

The Js

Josh and Jessica came to visit last weekend, which is always good times. They went to the BYU football game on Saturday, but the real fun started when I got back from California and we went to the Body Worlds exhibit, The Gateway, bowling, a movie, played cards, and ate sushi. I didn't have my camera but stole some of Jessica's pictures off of Facebook. It looks like they enjoyed some tasty frozen yogurt without me.

Here's Jessica and her little sister Caitlin, who is attending BYU.

Alexi doesn't look to thrilled about her choice of flavors.

Mom looks like she chose well.

I can't ever tell with Josh. He's so mysterious.

I couldn't bowl without first enjoying some Burgers Supreme. They forgot to give me napkins. The end.

Rock of Love--Halloween edition

With being sick and going to California, I've neglected to share some Halloween pics. First, our office party. A few of us in Marketing Communications dressed as Rock of Love. Minus all the Botox and other "enhancements," I'd say we did pretty well. Can you spot the real Brett Michaels?


Moxie and Sup were also forced to celebrate. Their only disappointment was not being able to lick all the little kids who came to the door.

Moxie's costume lasted all night.

Sup's, however, did not.


Instead of getting another costume, I also made Nic dress up as Brett Michaels and we went as Rock of Love to a neighbor's Halloween party. I didn't get a picture of Nic until after a lot of wig swapping.

Keeping busy

I got this link to a live feed of a litter of puppies and I'm totally captivated. They are growing up so fast!

I don't know what people did before the Internet.

http://cdn1.ustream.tv/swf/4/viewer.45.swf?cid=317016

I'm watching you, California

I don't know if it's the perpetual sunny weather, job opportunities, or a combination of the two, but California keeps snatching my friends and I don't appreciate it. It started with Chris about six months ago and now Alissa and her whole family have fallen victim to California's solicitations. So this weekend was my turn to check this place out.

Turns out, California is pretty awesome.

Alissa is just about ready to welcome baby Alice into the world. She pretty much has no choice but to be a surfer girl.

We're lucky all the laughing at The Improv didn't turn in to an early labor. Harland Williams was hysterical--but I can't repeat much of what he said.

Did I mention that it was 80 degrees?

Don't mind us. We're from out of town. In fact, Andrea and I both live in Eagle Mountain.

I knew that Chris probably wouldn't come back to Utah, but I still was holding out hope for Alissa--until this weekend. They have been Californiafied and I don't blame them, it's beautiful. So now I'll just have to look forward to many more weekend getaways and deal with the snow in between.

Thank you Alissa for a wonderful girls weekend and for letting me come again soon.

Ska-lloween

Most people know that Nic and I met at a concert six years ago, but not everyone knows that it was a reunion concert of a couple local ska bands (I sometimes try to leave that part out). In fact, the very first thing Nic ever said to me was "So who are you here to see?" Hey, it apparently won me over.

Well, on Saturday those very same bands reunited again for the first time since we last saw them--so of course we had to go relive the night we met.

We had tons-o-fun and danced our little hearts out--the big difference being we got to go home together, had to sleep in until 11 a.m. because we were out so late, and Nic's back ached all day yesterday from dancing.

If this becomes a once-every-six-years event, I'm scared to see how lame we're going to feel next time when we're thirty-two.