Christmas - 2007

Christmas 2007 will always stand out as special because it was the first Christmas in our new home. Susan loved hosting the kids, grandkids, her mom, and her sister all at the same time without it feeling crowded.Christmas also brings the annual "Pondtown Christmas" to Salem. Colorful lights shine on large trees at Knoll Park and small rafts hold lit trees out on the pond.

Of course kids put the fun in Christmas. Here are a few photos from our get together:

We have a tradition of making gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve. This year we were joined by several girls from Ben and Jordan's home. Nate checked to see if it was real candy.

You can see from this shot that we're not quite trained for guests like Eva. It's amazing how fast she can get her hands on things.

Any guesses where Kate did her Christmas shopping? And look how respectful Colin is.

Dylan loved his pirate ship. He dragged it into the theater room while his dad was watching Pirates of the Caribbean and played with it for nearly two hours during the movie.

Eva was quite enamored with her Pretty Pony. By the way, Ben is quite a cook and treated us to a multi-course Italian feast on Christmas Eve. He says he has a good deal because the girls at the home in Erda have to clean up the kitchen after he's done.

Here's Nate enjoying his dad's meal. By "enjoy" I mean he puts the food in his mouth, chews it a bit so he can savor the flavor, then throws what's left on the floor. It is not pretty but since he can't actually eat normally he deserves all the gastronomical pleasure he can derive.
Ben brought over the game "Rock Hero" and it was quite a hit with both big kids and little kids.

Our new home is Finished

It was always Susan's dream to build a comfortable home on the family farm. It was always my dream to build a house with a mountain view and open fields nearby. Today after eight months of work by lots of people, we have our dream home.

Cute Grandkids

Shelley had some new photos taken of her two boys. I had to share the results:


























Pretty handsome, huh?

Rolling along

My company had a great convention aboard the cruise ship Mariner of the Seas of the Royal Caribbean line. It was fun to have the whole ship filled up (3,400 passengers) with Nature's Sunshine distributors. Half of the group had never cruised before so it was a new experience for them. We had been working on this cruise for 2-1/2 years and we were able to "brand" the ship to help celebrate NSP's 35th anniversary. Our logo was everywhere--flags, banners, menus, napkins, ice sculptures, fruit carvings, desserts, etc. Our normal conventions are four days long with only a few of the meals provided, so this week-long extravaganza to the Western Caribbean with all the food you could eat was a big hit. Speaking of hits, an unexpected bonus occurred when one of the entertainment acts booked for the cruise was "Beatlemania". They made quite a splash. Susan loved them so much she went to both the early and late shows.


The only problem was the high number of casualties we had during cruise. Just before the ship sailed out of Port Canaveral, Florida a lady slipped on the pool deck and cracked her skull. She had to be taken off the ship. During the next two days we had two broken bones and several twisted and sprained ankles. After that we had a heart attack! At least no one died... that's happened three times before during conventions in my 26 years with the company--kind of embarassing for a health-oriented company.

Under the knife... again.

I had my left knee scoped in July. It's amazing how quick you can be up and about after that type of surgery, but it takes a long time for it get back to "normal". At least that's the way it was when I had my right knee done in December. I know... I'm falling apart! Well, in the process of limping around I managed to develop some tendinitis in my right foot. This went on for about a month, and then about 3 weeks ago I tripped a little bit and when I caught myself I felt a strain on another part of the right foot. At first I thought it was more tendinitis, but after a couple of weeks it started to feel a little different and more severe so I went back to the doctor. He said it looked like a stress fracture and sent me to his foot specialist. When I saw him a week later he told me I had a definite break on the Navicular bone. See below:




Here's an interesting coincidence... the foot specialist is Gene and Kristine's son in law, and he is going on the convention cruise with NSP! Anyway, he told me that the latest x-rays he took showed that the two halves of the broken Navicular bone had drifted apart 2 millimeters. This was not good because they would probably rub up against other bones of the foot and cause arthritis later on. He kept asking me about how I broke it and was puzzled when I described it in such a low-key manner. Apparently this type of fracture is usually the result of a traumatic injury. He recommended that he operate to screw the bone back together and also to see if he could find out why it happened in the first place. There was also the chance that he would have to put a bone graft from another part of the foot in between the fracture gap if he couldn't get the bone to come together cleanly.

This examination took place Tuesday, Oct 16 and he scheduled me for surgery the next day. He didn't want to wait until after the cruise because there was a chance to bone fragments would drift even farther. So this meant if was still going to go on the cruise I would be hobbling around in a cast from just below the knee down. I thought I would have the operation, then figure out what to do with the convention.

On the day of the surgery the doctor got backed up and didn't get to me until about 6 pm. The procedure took an hour and a half, and there was good news and bad news. The good news was that the two part fit together nicely and there was no need for a bone graft. The bad news was that the drill bit he used to start the hole for the screw broke off in the bone! He said it was nice and tight in there and it would be kind of a mess to try and get it out so he decided to leave it in! So now I have a screw and a drill bit holding my navicular bone together as shown:





During the operation the surgeon discovered that the blood supply to this part of the foot was not good. He called it "osteo necrosis" and decided this was why the bone was so brittle that it broke without a traumatic injury. See I told you I was falling apart!

I'm doing pretty good with recovery so far. The cast greatly limits my mobility but I have crutches and get around OK. Susan keeps saying I'm not a good patient--on the way home I made her take me to the new house because they just put in our granite counter tops and I had to see how they turned out. The ubiquitous stairs in our house also make it tough.

I decided to go ahead with the cruise convention. We have a wheelchair lined up and fortunately we're booked into a suite on the only level that has wide halls so that will make it easier. At least I won't have to go on any of the dumb tours, but the scuba diving is definitely out. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Not just any building lot...

In 1962 Susan's mom and dad, Helen and Cal Carlson, took a big leap and purchased 40 acres outside the small town of Salem, Utah to start a fruit farm. The price -- $100 an acre! For years they grew apples, peaches, an cherries on that rocky ground, and along the way, raised four beautiful daughters. Here's Susan and big sister Ann:



In those days the Carlson home was one of only a few houses in the area. Salem had one ward... now there are several stakes. Farm land that once sold for a hundred dollars an acre now sells for hundreds of thousands an acre. And while the Carlsons used to be out in the country, the city of Salem has now come to them!

Here's the "Harvest Ridge" subdivision that now lies to the east:





Some of the nicest homes in Salem are now being built in this area and we feel lucky that Susan's mother has allowed us steal some of her view to build our dream home on the old pasture.





We are excited about builing a house where both the Lehnhof and Carlson families can gather together and where our grandchildren can run and play like our own children did years ago.


(Ben spinning a tall tale to Shelley)

I believe that grandkids are the gift we receive to compensate for getting old. This weekend we got to take care of Colin and Dylan. Here's Dylan taking care of his little brother during yet another viewing of Shrek.

Alaska Trip with the Carlson Family

At the end of July Susan's mother Helen sponsored a wonderful Alaskan cruise for her daughters and their spouses. We cruised up the Inside Pasage and spent additional days with Ann's son Jason who is a radiologist at Elmondorf Air Force Base in Anchorage. Jason and his wife Rachelle were excellent tour guides and hosts and we had a good time with their family. My favorite activity was the salmon and halibut fishing trip out of Seward.

Any cruise is fun, but there is something special about an Alaskan cruise. The scenery is so pristine and majestic and the wildlife viewing (whales, seals, bald eagles, orcas) is an extra bonus. It's fun to be out on the deck as you cruise silently up to awesome glaciers.

At the Icy Strait port we went whale watching and add the exciting experience of a whole pod of whales (7 total) head straight for our boat. They submerged and came up on the other side!

Here is the harbor in Seward, the final stop of the cruise. After a few days with the Eves in Anchorage we returned here to board a charter fishing boat. We fished for halibut in the morning and silver salmon in the afternoon. All seven in our group limited out for both species.

Jason's son Cameron caught the largest halibut of the group.

Here's a lunker with a lunker.

When we returned to Jason and Rachelle' s house we set up a two-station fish processing center and spent several hours filleting and packing our 14 halibut and 21 salmon. We took them home in coolers packed with dry ice and they were still frozen when we arrived.

Alaska is an amazing place and we didn't have nearly enough time to explore. Hopefully we will have more opportunities in the future. We would especially like to visit Denali Park.