Christmas and the New Year Craziness!

Since I last posted, we have made it through the holidays! Christmas was amazing! Malone and I celebrated Christmas Eve Eve (the 23rd) at my parents house. We played games, opened some white elephant gifts, and just had a blast! Malone got a plastic fly swatter from my parents. We gave Ashley our goldfish. I wish I could say it was sad to see them go...but it was starting to become a pain having to find someone to watch our fish whenever we were away. Not sure if Ashley appreciated them either since they are still at my parents house. We handed out real Christmas gifts. We bought Ash and AJ a Yahtzee game! We got a Wii game and a Wii remote charger from Marshall and Tiffany. I think the big hit of the night were the marshmallow guns Marshall and Tiff got from Natalie and Chris. Genius! Everybody loved it, and there were marhmallows flying EVERYWHERE! We also played our traditional chimes (which gives us a headache by the end, but still fun), and games. The next day Malone got off work around 3, and we made it to his sister's house by about 5 for Christmas Eve. We always enjoy spending time with his family, and Christmas Eve is especially fun because Holly and her family always put on a Christmas Program. Her kids are so talented! Malone and I brought the chimes from my family  (since we used them the night before) and everyone got to play. I think Malone's Dad actually enjoyed it the most, haha. It was a hit!

Malone and I spent Christmas Eve night at our own house this year and had our own Christmas morning. It was really nice getting to sleep in a while and just taking it slow. Malone completely spoiled me, and I messed up on his gifts. Got him the wrong game, the wrong socks, and he spent more money than I did so I had more gifts than he did. I felt dumb, but he seemed happy anyway.I did get him a videogame he did like as well as a nice jacket.  He got me some jeans, a couple pairs of shoes, and a really nice winter coat that I LOVE. It's green and soo warm! Later that day we stopped by my parents for dinner and gifts. We gave them a big clock to go on the wall downstairs, and they got us a food storage rack, and some money. We had so much fun!  Later we went to Malone's parents where we had MORE food and played some games. It was a blast!!

Tuesday after Christmas Malone and I went with my parents, Parker, Tiff and Marsh and their kids to go snowmobile in Moody. We just messed around and pulled the kids on sleds behind the snowmobiles. It was so windy and cold, so we didn't stay too long. Malone took me for a ride and it was so SCARY!! He drove really fast and I thought we'd wreck. Luckly we didn't. But next time I decided I'd for sure wear a helmet.

Wednesday (28th) was Malone's birthday! We both had to work that day, but were able to celebrate and go to dinner at Texas Roadhouse that night. Afterwards we went to my parents for homemade banana cake and presents. Malone got a couple shirts, a hoodie, and a couple movies from me. My parents gave him a vacuum to clean the car out with. It looks pretty handy!

To also celebrate Malone's birthday and New Years, we went snomobiling in West Yellowstone with our friends Larin and Brian Christensen. We left late Friday afternoon just in time to hit the snowstorm on the way up. We checked into a hotel there and went over to visit Malone's parents. They have been working on remodeling a building for their new business there for the past few months. We had dinner and took a little tour around the place. Later we all went out for a walk around town to look around and get some hot chocolate. That night all four of us went for a swim in the hotel pool and hot tub and relaxed in the sauna. Sooo cozy! The next morning the four or us got up around 8 and were ready to snowmobile by about 10:30. I know, it took a while because when we were unloading the snowmobiles they had been completely frozen from the wet snow the night before. It took a while for them to warm up, and for Malone and I to get the tiedowns untied since they were frozen too. Larin and Brian had borrowed snowmobiles from their parents so we each had our own snowmobile to ride. We jumped on and went for breakfast at McDonalds... unfortunately we had missed breakfast by about 5 minutes, so we had lunch for breakfast. Once again, we bundled up and went to find the Madison Trail. Malone was in the lead, followed by me, Lerin, and Brian. The weather was perfect! A beautiful day for a snowmobile ride! The trail we picked was just north of town and was about 16 miles long. I haven't snowmobiled trails before so this was completely new to me. There was one point during our drive about 20 minutes in where I noticed my machine made a funny sound in the engine, like it was struggling a little. I waited a minute to see if it'd stop and it did. So I didn't make a big deal about it. I mentioned it to Malone when we stopped for a little break. He said not to worry about it, unless it happens again. We got going again, and about 10 minutes later, my machine completely stalled! Malone continued on without me not knowing I had stopped, and Lerin and Brian stopped with me. I told them my machine just stopped, and Brian sped ahead to catch up with Malone. Lerin and I just laughed about the situation and enjoyed the beautiful view where we were at. About 10 minutes later, Malone and Brian came back. Malone stopped by me and I could tell something was wrong. He told me he thought he just broke his leg. What?! How could that have happened? He was only gone a few minutes! Malone later explained that when Brian caught up with him, Brian called out to him that something happened to my machine. But over the sound of the engines and with helmets on, Malone heard "something happened to Danielle". I think he must have thought I was hurt and it was an emergency, so he tried to stop quickly but his sled hit an edge and started to tip. Malone stuck his leg out to stop it from flipping and was able to stabilize it just before he had to bail off. He wasn't sure if it was when he bailed off or when he stuck his leg out, but he injured his leg badly. After examining his leg, I could tell it wasn't broken and that it was probably a tendon. But we all decided the trip was over and we needed to get Malone to the ER. We all started up our machines to go. Lerin was standing next to her machine and had started it, turned to us, and suddenly her machine just took off without her!! It sped away over the bank and into some trees. It all happened so fast, we weren't sure how it happened?! The snowmobile suffered a crack in the plastic hood.. but was able to work fine. We all got on our snowmobiles and took off. About 5 minutes later my machine stopped again. Brian started it up for me and we left again. But my machine kept stopping, which prolonged us from getting back and Malone was in pain. Finally Brain switched machines with me and was able to keep starting it to get it back to Malone's parent's place. We got Malone inside and I put some ice on his knee, which was completely swollen by this point.  His Dad took a look at his knee and said he thought Malone tore his ACL. Meanwhile Lerin and Brian had loaded all the snowmobiles, which was so nice of them! We loaded Malone in our Trailblazer with Brian driving, and I got in the truck with Lerin. The boys led the way home. The roads were extremely slick from the wet snow the night before. Lerin and I were driving along and suddenly the truck began to fishtale out of control! After trying to correct it, the truck finally slid into oncoming traffic and off the road. Lucky for us there were no cars, and we had 4 wheel drive. Lerin pulled right out and was able to straighten out and get back onto the road. Luckily no damage, except for a little nick in the bumper from the handle on the trialer. The boys didn't even notice we had slid off, but called a few minutes later when they noticed we weren't behind them anymore. The slide off made me and Lerin so scared to continue driving, but we had to get home! After a really LONG drive, we made it home safe. I got Malone in our other car and I drove him to the ER.

Once we arrived at the ER, it took some time to get X-rays and have the doc look at him. The doctor concluded that it wasn't broken (just as I thought), but he may have torn his ACL (which is what we had already speculated ). He referred us to a specialist in Rexburg and gave Malone a prescription for some mild pain meds. The first night was really rough on Malone. The next couple days weren't that great either. I had to help him with alot of things, which he's not use to people doing everything for him. That was the hardest part for him I think. I borrowed some crutches from work so Malone could move around on his own easier. But we were finally able to get in to see the Orthopedist, Dr. Lee, later in the week. Dr. Lee said he was about 90% sure Malone has torn his ACL, but wanted to wait to look at it again when the swelling went down. We scheduled to go back 2 weeks later (the 19th). Today is the 19th and since we've been to Dr. Lee, the swelling has gone down alot, and it's not as painful. Malone is able to walk without crutches and rarely needs a brace. There is still a little bit of pain, but nothing much. And Malone is able to straighten his knee and bend it pretty well. He's been into the PT office I work at and has had the therapists stretch his knee a few times. Bending it more than 90 degrees has been challenging, but he has pretty good motion. We are hoping that when we go in today the dr. will find out for sure what is going on. I pray everyday that the tendons are intact and that Malone will get through this.

Two days after Malone hurt his knee, he got a call from BYU-I saying he was accepted for an internship on campus for the winter semester. He'll be managing a project there expanding the data center. We were both so excited for him! But the knee complicates things a little. And as I said before, he's been doing pretty well with it. Since starting his internship he's been able to walk around on campus okay and has been able to do the internship as well as go to work.

Even though everything that has happened this year has been completely crazy and has not turned out the way we had expected, on the bright side, everything has worked out considerably well. I thank Heavenly Father everyday for watching over us that day. Me and Lerin were able to get back on the road without any problems. Malone did get hurt, but he is okay and it could have been alot worse.  And even though his knee has hindered him somewhat, he has still been able to do his intership and go to work. And when we were afraid his internship would interfere with his work schedule, that worked out too. Malone has been going to work early at 5AM till about 8AM, heads to his internship from 8-5, and then goes back to work from 6-9PM. He is working enough hours for us to keep our insurance (which we're gonna need if Malone ends up needing surgery on his knee!). I cannot believe how much we have been blessed. I knew the day that everything happened, that if Malone and I have faith, Heavenly Father would take care of us, and he really has. He is so aware of us and I know that He loves us. This experience has taught me a few things and has brought Malone and I closer together, as well as closer to our Heavenly Father. I am grateful to have Malone in my life, and for the wonderful person that he is. I truly appreciate him and admire the man that he has become. I am so grateful for the gospel in my life and for the peace and comfort it brings me to know that someone is looking out for us at all times.