This week has been reasonably uneventful. For the most part, we have been closely resembling a convalescence home. I continue to struggle with what I now fondly refer to as the 4 week cold. Addison has been walking around looking like a chipmunk for the whole week. He still has a little swelling, and he still doesn't understand why he had to have perfectly good teeth removed at the cost of such miserable pain. Lastly, Ashlyn continues to find any reason she can to put on a brace. Her patellar tendonitis got worse, not better, and so she is going to have to wear a brace for at least another week. Cari and Abby are wondering if it's safe to live in this house.

On the upside, Addison and I were able to get most of the Christmas lights up while the temperature was still warm. We then got our first dose of what lies ahead. Not much in the way of snow accumulation, but it has been below freezing for several days now, and the girls think any amount of snow is enough.

Abby is loving Young Women's. It's difficult to figure out how she finds the time to do everything she does, and enjoy it all. She continues to excel at gymnastics, she is getting better every week at the piano, and she comes home from school each day with another tale of what wonderful things she has learned. (Mostly from her brilliant Aunt Mary Ann.) I hope she can keep it up.

Mandi, Jake and Kempton are scheduled to arrive on Friday. I am going to Salt Lake for a meeting, and will wait around until they get in, and bring them home. Although it's always fun to read Mandi's blog updates, it will be better to see them in person.

This weeks pictures are a stretch, but Cari feels like my writing skills alone don't cut it each week, and that pictures are essential. While I agree that pictures are nice, and should be included whenever possible, pictures for the sake of pictures may be the exception.

To finish this week off, I'm going to make predictions for next week. I predict that I will be over my cough. Addison will be over his swollen mouth. Ashlyn will be looking for her next brace, and something fun and exciting will happen to make this blog more interesting.