Wisdom Teeth

We got home last Tuesday and Thursday Jon went in to have his wisdom teeth pulled. I wasn't sure how he would be, this was his first time ever under anesthesia and I thought it would be his first time ever taking narcotics. Jon did just fine coming out from surgery and he never took the narcotics. He hasn't had too much pain, so he stuck with the Ibuprofen instead. We did a lot of relaxing last weekend, but we did get some work done. Because Jon didn't take the narcotics, he didn't sleep much, so he was able to get some things ready for school. We are glad to be back home. Classes started today for the new semester, so Jon will stay busy with work and I am still enjoying being home. I'm struggling with getting up early again to teach seminary, but hopefully I'll get back on schedule. We are excited for this new year and hope all of you have a wonderful 2008.

A night on the Town

While we were in Utah, my parent's took the three of us kids with our spouses/significant other out to dinner at Biagi's. We dressed up in our formals and had a wonderful dinner and fun evening together.

Dad & Mom

(Randy & Rosa)

Nick & Chante

Nicole & Scott

Tara & Jon

Utah

We flew to Utah on December 27th to spend the rest of our vacation with my family. It was much quieter at my parent's house, which was wonderful. Friday the 28th was a fun day. We got to see our friends Adam and Marisa from Bozeman for a couple of hours. Unfortunately it wasn't longer than that, but it was so good to see them. We also had a Reed family Christmas party that evening. We didn't have great attendance due to the weather, but those of us who were there had a good time. I got sick that evening which changed the rest of our stay. Jon ended up getting sick too, with a cold Saturday evening. Both of us were under the weather for several days. We spent a fun filled New Years Eve with Mom & Dad, Nicole & Scott, and Jon's sister Heather. Four of the seven of us didn't feel well that night, so we didn't have a wild party. Heather left around 10:00 and Mom went to bed at 11:00. The rest of us stayed up until midnight, although Jon and I wished we'd gone to bed. We just didn't feel very well. Jon got better much quicker than I did. I ended up getting a sinus infection, but luckily it wasn't as bad as others I've had. I got on an antibiotic and started feeling better after a few days. Once we both felt better, we tried to get everything in that we had wanted to do. We watched movies, played games, went out to eat several times, went shopping (just the girls), played the wii and had fun spending time with family. We also got to meet Nick's girlfriend Chante. We'd heard so much about her, and how wonderful she is, so it was fun to finally meet her. She fits right in with our family. We had a great time with both families. It was hard for me to say good-bye to my family. I love living in Mankato, it's just hard living so far from family.

Harper's

The Harper Family

Josh, Ben, Brent, Jon, Jeff, Daniel

Heather, Kathy, Jenn

The seven Harper kids. Their last Christmas at home.

Christmas Eve

Ashley, Austin, Alli, Dustin and Makenzie dressed in their pj's.

They were so excited for Santa to come.

Jon with Braden, Austin and Asa, waiting for

the Christmas Eve program to begin.

The actors for the Nativity.

Christmas Update

It's been a while since I last posted. We have been busy and we were out of town for the holidays. Things have been a little busy since we've been home and now I finally have time to get to the blog. We spent Christmas in California with Jon's family. Thankfully, we had four days to rest and relax before the rest of the siblings arrived with their kids. We love our nieces and nephews, but it gets a little crazy and loud when all nine are staying in the same house with 13 adults. Yes, there were 22 of us staying in one house for five days. We had a great time, and everyone got a long for the most part. Christmas Eve was quite the event. The kids had so much energy, they were literally bouncing off the walls with excitement knowing Santa would be coming. It was a little overwhelming, but a lot fun seeing their excitement. Wouldn't it be fun if we could get that excited about Christmas every year? Oh wait, Jon does get that excited every year. He didn't show the usual excitement this year that he has in the past. He wasn't feeling too well and with all the kids, he just couldn't compete. Christmas morning was one big party of opening presents. It was a little crazy and there were presents and wrapping paper everywhere. The kids had a blast playing all day with their cousins and their new toys. The adults relaxed, played games and took naps. We had a great time in California, it was the last Christmas Jon's family will have in their house. His parents are hoping to sell the house this year, so it was wonderful that everyone was able to make it home for Christmas. Jon's mom said she couldn't remember the last time she had all seven of her kids home for Christmas. This year she had all her kids plus 13 more for Christmas.

Snow & Ice

Saturday we got the biggest snow storm we've had since moving here. We got an accumulation of about 5 inches of snow. For those of you who have lived in the midwest you will know what I'm talking about, when I say we got freezing rain. I'd never seen freezing rain, so this was my first experience and what an experience it was. Jon and I bundled up and ventured out to Olive Garden for dinner and when we came out, my side of the car was a sheet of frozen rain. I couldn't believe it! The next day driving home from church, we noticed that the trees were frozen. The white on these trees isn't snow, it's ice. Each branch and twig is completely covered in ice. The whole town looked so pretty while the sun was out. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures while the sun was out, this picture was taken as the sun was going down. Jon assures me that I'll have many more oppotunities to take pictures of the frozen trees. I guess this won't be our last experience with frozen rain. (You might want to click on the last picture, so you can view it full size, to see the ice on the branches.)