Thanksgiving

This year for Thanksgiving we drove to Lewisburg to spend some time with our friends, the Bishops. Melanie did (and always does) an amazing job preparing a traditional Thanksgiving meal complete with 8 pies. We always give her a hard time about preparing so many pies and she always responds with, “it’s not Thanksgiving without trying a piece of all the different pies”. I do have to say her homemade from scratch Lemon Meringue pie was amazing and by far the favorite of the day. We had a great time, and like always when we get together with Stewart’s classmates the conversation is all about medicine and the things each are learning. After dinner and a good visit we came home and spent the evening quietly.

On Black Friday instead of going shopping with our non-existent money, we took advantage of the beautiful weather and went hiking in Fayetteville, WV. We found some fun trails that had a beautiful view of the landscape and had a great time as a family. We hiked two different trails Stewart carried Sophie on the first one and then we traded and I carried Sophie on the other. The trail I carried Sophie on was downhill until we turned around and then it was all up hill. I was so tired by the time we got to the top, we all cheered when we got to the car because we were not sure we were going to make it back; our legs muscles were sore for the next few days after.

We enjoyed the long weekend we got to spend with Stewart; time with him is scarce these days.

Stewart standing by the water fall we passed along the trail

Proof I took part in toting Sophie around



Sophie eating some snacks, and resting before we packed up and started another trail

Best family picture of the day

Stewart and Sophie

November

The highlight for the month of November was Stake Conference. Elder Neal L. Anderson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles came. Saturday evening I (this is Stewart writing) was able to shake his hand and thank him for coming. He was, all at once, normal, every-day, and ordinary, and yet when he shared his witness of the risen Lord I felt a power that I have seldom felt before. What a blessing to have apostles and prophets once again on the earth! The conference was refreshing and invigorating.

Earlier on in the month Sophie and I had 2 daddy-daughter dates. One weekend Becky had a sleepover with the young women in the ward. So that left Sophie and I home alone for the evening. I cooked dinner…and when I say I cooked I mean we went out for fast food. We played games and read books. Then the following weekend Becky was asked to chaperone at a church youth dance in Charleston. So Sophie and I were once again on our own. I cooked dinner again, and we played and read more books. Sophie loves reading books. She likes to take my finger and point to the animals and objects on the pages. If it’s an animal I make the sound of the animal, if it’s an object I say its name.

On Friday I finished my internal medicine rotation. It was my most challenging rotation yet. The environment was chaotic and unsupportive, but I guess that’s the real world, not school. I learned a lot, but I hope my next rotation is a little less stressful. Tomorrow I start my obstetrics rotation. I’m excited to deliver babies.

Speaking of babies, Sophie is now walking pretty well. She still falls down now and then, but she can go just about anywhere she wants to. She tries to say lots of words. Most of them require some interpretation by her parents. Water, for example, is ‘wawa’, grandma and grandpa are ‘gunga,’ and actually the telephone is also ‘gunga’ because that’s how she interacts with all of her ‘gungas.’ Mommy, Daddy, and Sophie are all ‘Dadda,’ no matter how many times we tell her that Becky is ‘Momma.’ There is however one word that she has mastered: ‘No!”

We are looking forward to the holiday season and wish you and yours all the best.