In all the drama and stress of Erica's arm dislocation, I didn't mention much about Justin's trip with the biggles to Wyoming. Sarah got 2 antelope tags so they went 8 hours into Wyoming (nearly Montana) to hunt antelope. Justin sent me these pictures at the diner they stopped at on the way up.
No one has loved a burger as much as Henry loved this burger. Justin said he was being all noisy eating it. Look at that smile!
They arrived late Thursday night and only got a few hours of hunting in Friday morning when I called to tell them about Erica. Their concern for her kind of took the fun out of their trip and they came home a day earlier than planned. Sarah didn't get an antelope but I think they all loved getting out and away and doing something different and seeing some new places. Plus Henry still talks about that burger.
(Not the prettiest part of Wyoming. I've driven across it on I-80 and seriously wondered if God fell asleep when he created Wyoming.)
When they got home late Saturday night, Erica was so happy to see Henry. She woke up and came out of bed and gave him a big hug. Those two. I slept much better that night having Justin home as well.
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I've hit a weird stage of my life. I've held onto lots of things from my childhood for my kids to enjoy and use, like this Care Bears money bank. But now my kids are growing out of these things and bring them back to me. What do I do with them now? Put them back into storage for how long and for who?
The kids have discovered Casino Yahtzee (Or "casinyo" if you're James) in the game closet. I bought this game for $1 at a yard sale before Sarah was born. It's a fun game so I get it. It's just funny to me how they get on a kick sometimes.
Erica got her cast off last Tuesday. She had people signing it right up until that morning.
She didn't want to get it off because she said her arm still hurt inside. But then the next minute she'd yell "it's so itchy!" I'd never seen a cast put on or taken off before so this was super interesting to watch the saw.
She started to cry pretty good when they laid her freed arm on her stomach. It was so stiff and sore and it freaked her out. After a few minutes she calmed down. (You can still see her red eyes) She kept the cast so she could shoot it.
Then they took more x-rays. She's a pro now. All the bones are right where they should be so that means it healed correctly. We go back in a few weeks to see if she needs physical therapy.
Onto Thanksgiving! As a Syme family tradition we did a taste test. Since we've been missing out due to covid, we doubled up and did 2 taste tests this day.
First up, peanut butter. Meredith and I made 24 tasting plates of 7 kinds of peanut butter.
These were the 7 flavors.
Our conclusion was that they all taste so similarly-- just buy what's on sale. Except for Adams All Natural. Just throw that one away.
After dinner we did a taste test of chocolate milk. Here are the 8 brands.
Meredith, Lisa, and I filled 176 small cups so everyone could taste and compare all 8 flavors.
Darigold, Tru Moo and Mountain Dairy (Smith's) were the winners. The almond and soy varieties aren't fooling anybody. Blech.
And in true Thanksgiving spirit, my kids made 24 turkey napkin rings.
The day after Thanksgiving we loaded up the car and drove to a super secret forest to cut down a Christmas tree. We've decided this is the best way to get a tree and I decided to never divulge the location so that we can return each year. Justin's parents provided hot chocolate and doughnuts. We had 5 trees to find for the family.
I found the one I wanted right away. I left it to find Justin and the tape measure. Then I couldn't find the tree again. "It was right next to an aspen tree" was what I was telling everyone as they helped me look. Ha! Nadine was actually the one to find it because it was such a good looking tree.
Justin's hunting skills translate nicely to tree hunting.
Then we looked for a second tree for us--this one for cutting apart for wreaths and garlands, etc. Sarah cut that one down.
Both trees turned out to be the best looking trees we've cut down in the forest. After much deliberation and making Justin and Corey try out each tree in the living room, we decided to use the one I'm holding because it just felt right. And it was the first one I found so it just made sense.
Everyone else found their trees so quickly too. Tree hunting never goes that successfully. No one got stuck in the snow, no one had to deliberate and settle for a lame tree, no one got lost. We didn't know what to do with the rest of our time.
Oh wait, yes we did. Guns.
Erica hung her cast from a bush and Justin got out the .22. She didn't have the flexibility or strength or arm length to hold the gun herself so Justin held and aimed and she fired 10 rounds.
Her doctor was interested in how this turned out so we'll be sharing these pictures with him too.
Conclusion: Casts are not bullet proof)
And then we all had a turn shooting at a cup we found.
James repeatedly pulled the trigger as fast as he could. I don't know why I expected him to do it any other way. Pow pow pow pow pow pow pow pow pow pow!
Then we drove over the mountain range and ended up in Sanpete County and ate lunch in Fairview.
Erica did her country report on Egypt yesterday. This is her doll Cleo, short for Cleopatra.
As I was raiding my mom's Christmas light collection, I found this plate from my childhood. My mom thinks it's the last one of it's kind. Isn't it weird to suddenly find old stuff? It's almost like time traveling for a second. My sister remembers tracing the fruit with the tine of her fork waiting for dinner. I remember that too. Who wants to fight over the plate?
I've got the tree mostly decorated and I've got plans to put evergreen branches on everything. I'll share pictures next post.
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