January 2020 Part 4: Idaho Trip

We traveled to Idaho to see Mom for Martin Luther King, Jr. weekend. My eyes were still struggling with reading, so I borrowed a pair of my dad's reading glasses to read, and Brian laughed at me for looking so much like Dad. I now understand why Dad would perch his glasses down on his nose! 

The kids were in heaven with all of the snow!! 

Brian was less enthusiastic, but he still went out to dig out the snow from on top of the window wells for my mom.  

And saved Gabe from the elements. 

My mom had this massive icicle around the chain that helps with her raingutters. 

I can't help but wonder if their tongues got stuck, but I don't remember any negative fall-out, so they must have been okay. 

We made sure that we all went sledding down the hill near my mom's house. The Idaho winds made for some interesting drifts and trails, but we had fun, and my mom shuttled us up the hill after each run. 

Did I mention the drifts? 

After the last run, my mom headed home, and we finished getting everyone into our van, only to discover that Brian had parked it a little too far off the road, and it was stuck. Brian tried pushing us out, and when that didn't work, we gave Michael a quick lesson on the car and Brian and I tried to push it out. 

We finally gave up and called Mom to come back for us. She brought a tow rope, hooked it up between our cars, and easily pulled us out. 

After church on Sunday, we made a quick stop at the cemetery to say hi to Dad. I can't even tell you how much I don't like seeing my name on a headstone. 

I sure miss him. 

We had a pretty relaxing Sunday. Rachel and Gabe got Mom to hook them up with art supplies. 

Rachel made this book for mom. 

We got to see Grandpa and Grandma Linville, probably for games, probably for Sunday dinner as well. I made them both take a selfie with me. 

On Monday, we headed back home, but on the way through Idaho Falls, we helped Mom pick out a new living room set. Gabe got a little bored sitting on all the couches and decided playing in the other furniture pieces was more fun. 

 She decided on a set, and then we said our goodbyes and drove the rest of the way home. Thank you, Idaho for having snow on the ground and bare roads for us! 

January 2020 Part 3: Rachel's Dance Fireside

 In January, Rachel's dance studio put on an amazing Fireside about worth and seeing ourselves positively. It was so amazing! I hadn't been so moved by dance performances since attending the dance devotional at BYU. We weren't allowed to take photos or video during the performance, so I got to just sit back and watch my beautiful dancer. I was so proud of her, and so inspired by the whole evening. After her performance, we were able to take pictures of her in her costume and give her this cute bouquet of flowers.  

She had quite the support group there: Nana, Papa, Lea, Skyler, Michael, Brian, Gabe, and I, and since my mom couldn't make it, we got to invite her friend Elsie to watch too. 

Getting a picture with our little family was really difficult. Normally, we're all better at this. 

Kirt had to take off as soon as her team finished, so we didn't get a picture of him with Rachel, but we got this one of Nana! 

Afterwards, we went to the BYU Creamery for dinner and the traditional after-performance ice cream. 

I wish everyone could see how much she lights up the stage when she performs. We're so proud of our Tiny Dancer! 

January 2020 Part 2: Our Eleventh Anniversary!

On January 10, 2020, Brian and I celebrated our Eleventh Anniversary. The traditional gift for the eleventh anniversary it Steel. Brian got me a stainless steel spatula, because nothing says love like a spatula. 

He also got me roses and one of my favorite candy bars. 

I got him a stainless steel tie bar that has his initials on the front and "You're STEEL my hero" engraved on the back 

And I made him a cake. 

We went to the temple to participate in a sealing session. 

 Of all the decisions that I've made in my life, marrying Brian was the best and the easiest one. I'm so grateful everyday that I have him not only in my life, but I have him as my partner in crime, my best friend, and the co-captain of Team Saville. 

January 2020 Part 1: PRK

On January 2, 2020, Brian drove me to Hoopes Vision so I could have PRK eye surgery. PRK is similar to Lasik in that it uses a laser to correct vision, but where Lasik makes two cuts/corrections with Lasers--one to make a flap that opens up the inner part of your eye, and one to actually correct your vision, PRK only uses the laser once.  Instead of making a flap with the laser, PRK basically uses a chemical solution to dissolve the top layer of your eye to get deep enough for the laser to correct your vision. Lasik has a much faster and smoother recovery than PRK. Unfortunately for me though, I didn't qualify because my corneas were too thin to create the flap, so PRK was my option. Here I am, just before the procedure. 

The actual surgery wasn't too bad. They did a bunch of eye tests just prior to the surgery and gave me some pain medications. For the actual surgery, I laid down on a special table thing and they tucked me in with a warm blanket, they even gave me a stuffed animal to squeeze. It was a strange sensation having the drops put in that dissolved cells in my eye, and a little nervous-making to know that a laser was working on my eye. The entire process went really quick, once I got into the chair. When I was all done, the checked my eyes again, gave me some cheap sunglasses,  called Brian in to get me, and sent me on my way with a warm cookie. 

They also sent me home with a canvas bag with my glasses, eye drops, eye protection plates, and tape. 

I had to sleep with these things over my eyes for a week. 

My eyes were really sensitive to light for those first few days, so I wore sunglasses constantly. 

And they eye drops made me look like I'd been crying a lot. 

After a few weeks, I finally got to put eye make-up on again... I was pretty nervous about taking it off at the end of the night since I wasn't supposed to rub my eyes in any way for another 6 months or something. 

 There was one day that was insanely uncomfortable for me. I wanted to scratch my eyes out! I felt like there was glass under my eyelids. I wondered what in the world I had been thinking! I couldn't drive at night for a month at least, and I was a little bit concerned when I didn't have 20/20 vision in both eyes by my 1 month check up. I barely had good enough vision to drive! However, by my 3 month appointment, my vision was great, and the doctors marveled at how quickly I had recovered (it can take up to a year for your eyes to get 20/20 vision after PRK!) 

I've worn contacts since I was 12, so I hadn't realized how much contacts protect your eyes from stray hairs or even accidentally getting the mascara brush too close! But, not having to worry about contacts has been AMAZING! I'm so glad that I was able to have this surgery! For years, I dreamed of opening my eyes in the morning and being able to see everything clearly, and now that dream is a reality! I'm so so grateful, especially now that I'm on the other side of PRK!