Wow, it's 2008! A lot has happened since our last post. We had a very nice, quiet Christmas in Cheyenne. Isaac and Sophia had so much fun ripping open their presents. Savannah opened her first gift and it was a soft, plush horse that plays music. She loves horses, and was perfectly content with her gift. She didn't feel the need to open any more gifts the rest of the morning. She just sat and hugged her horse. Don't we all need to be more like that and be thankful for the little things and not expect the world!! Isaac was excited about his wonderful gifts, he got a digital camera, markers, crayons, a whole box of paper, winter clothes and other misc. stuff. Sophia and Savannah received a darling little pink kitchen complete with a seperate fridge and freezer. They only like to play with it if I'm there with them, I hope they gain more interest later. They got several accesories to go with it like a play mixer and toaster. They also got a shopping cart, Santa's helper wasn't thinking when she only got one, they are constantly fighting over it and it has spent lots of time in the storage room in time out. Nick got me a nice T.V for the kitchen, which has gotten lots of use. It's nice to have some entertainment while I'm preparing dinner. We had a nice spiral ham dinner and just enjoying being together as a family. A few days after Christmas we loaded up the mini van and made the trek to Utah. The weather was not great, we were up against the wind and the blowing snow drifts. We made it to Midway and had a nice visit there. The next day we were on our way to St. George for the Larsen Christmas party. It was a fun night, but we were all disappointed that Lowell and Marilyn weren't able to make the trip. Gordon and Debbie are always to sweet to host the family and make us comfortable. When Isaac got out of the van he said "It's summer here, there's no snow." The weather really was pleasant and I remebered why we wanted to live in Southern Utah. We spent the rest of the week in Hurricane with my family. Nick planned a few climbing outtings with Gordon and a fishing trip with my brother Ryan. We had a fun New Year's Eve Mexican Fiesta where we enjoyed a salsa and nacho bar. It's always fun to be with family, we love our visits home. On our way back to Cheyenne, we stopped for a quick visit to check on Lowell and Marilyn. We were happy to see that Lowell looked more healthy and getting back to his ornery self. (Just don't ever buy him Nalley brand pickles, make certain they're Western Family!) We love you Lowell!! Then we were on the road again. We were making good time and things were going smoothly when all of the sudden we drove into snow drifting across the road. We had to slow way down for traffic and then we were at a dead stand still for 3.5 hours. The roads were icy and the wind was blowing fiercely. We were sitting there wondering what was going on. Finally traffic started moving at a very slow speed and we made it 20 miles to the next town. That was from 8:00 -11:30 at night, and we were tired and beat from the drive. We had Lyf(brother-in-law) book us a hotel in Rawlins, MO. We got the last room, and we got a fairly decent nights rest considering there was only one bed. We were treated to a nice hot breakfast and we were on our way home. On our way home we realized why we were stopped in the middle of the freeway for so long. We saw one diesel accident after another, and that was the next day, I'm sure there were other accidents that had been cleaned up already. We counted ourselves blessed for not being one of the accidents, sitting in the car for 3.5 hours and spending the night in Rawlins was a small price to pay. We were happy to be home.
