2011, RIP

I haven't posted in awhile, have I?

2011 has been a crazy year. It didn't start out that way, but it certainly ended that way!

Around April 4, the Suburban decided to die its final death while Meagan was driving it. I suppose we could have gotten the transmission replaced again, but the Suburban had 210,000 miles on it and was a gas guzzler, so it seemed like it was time to let it go.

After a couple of months of searching, we finally found and bought the perfect minivan. Yay! I finally talked David into getting a minivan, and he actually likes it. What I like about it the best? It takes half the gas the Suburban did. And when we took it in for its first oil change, that's all we had to pay for was an oil change. Wow. Not a single thing else.

The same week, I did a gall bladder/liver cleanse, that ended up being rather painful. Not long after, I decided to go to the doctor to see what was really going on inside me. I guess my gall bladder had enough miles on it, too.

After 2 months of filling out forms and begging for help, I finally got my gall bladder out. Man, abdominal surgery is painful. You'd think gall bladder surgery would be no big deal, but it was tough recovering from it. Between the pain and feeling loopy from the anesthesia, it took me a month to start feeling normal again. It's a good thing Mom and Dad and Sheri took care of me for a week or my recovery certainly would have taken longer. David and the kids did clean up the house while I was gone, though. I was impressed with that.

Oh, and I got to be in charge of the Ward pool party on mine and David's 23rd Anniversary. That was about 2 weeks after surgery. It could have been worse though, at least alot of people helped out. I wouldn't have picked that date if it were up to me, though.

Then we had the Ward Primary Sacrament Meeting Program on my Mom's birthday. I did choose that date, but only because I thought it would be easier to get it over with. And I thought most families would be home because school had already started and Labor Day wasn't until the next weekend. I was wrong. Next year we're doing the program mid-September. Live and learn.

About that time, Meagan and Zac decided they were for definitely getting married on Oct. 12 and they weren't going to change the date again. So we hurried and threw together a Bridal Shower and a wedding in about a month. Did I mention Meagan and I got to do all the corsages, boutonierres and bouquets? I might have enjoyed doing that if I'd had more time.

Meagan and Zac did get married and everything worked out OK. Poor Meagie was going to school, working full time (just for the weeks before the wedding, of course) and trying to put together a wedding all at the same time. It's a good thing she's young!

After I recovered from that, I decided the house needed to be cleaned out. We did get rid of lots of clutter, but I feel like a need a month off of work to finish. Like that's gonna happen.

Then, of course, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas all seemed to squish together. The Primary did its second annual Nativity Program for the Ward Christmas Party. We could have practiced more, but it turned out all right. Several people told me how great it was, so it must have been all right. The good thing? I was not nearly as stressed about it this year as I was last year. Like Meagan told me last year: "Mom, they're little kids. No matter what happens, everyone will think it's cute." She's pretty wise, Meagan is. Thank goodness she and Zac visit often.

And now it's all over and done and I have to say: alot of good things happened, but I would not want to repeat this year - especially the whole gall bladder ordeal!