Here is the obligatory blogger Christmas picture post
If I don't sound so chummy on this post today, it is because my husband and I have some sort of food poisoning. It all started with my over eagerness to make a Christmas feast for 5 and my intentions to make dinner special since it was our first Christmas away from family. Green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, dinner rolls, turkey and.....and...spinach artichoke dip...i can't even type that without gagging.
I'll spare the details, but we believe the spinach artichoke dip has had us all yuckified.
Other than THAT Christmas was wonderful. I had my first White Christmas. Tears of joy streamed down my face when I saw the snow falling on Christmas Eve. It was beautiful.
{Who cares that my scarf doesn't match IT'S SNOWING!}
these pictures were taken on my phone and they aren't the best because the snow flakes were making my phone all wet.
Our first Christmas in Utah was so beautiful. We are so grateful for all of the miracles we have been able to experience. We wish you a Merry Christmas filled with the joy and love that comes with the birth of Jesus Christ, the light of the world.
Swallowing tears we said goodbye to our friends and family in Florida. I grew up there. The Sunshine state (which should be totally re-coined as the rainy friggin humid state). I was approached by waves of sadness. My parents and in-laws remain there. But it was time. Hubs was offered an amazing opportunity. So we loaded up the Budget truck and drove 35 hours to our new home in Salt Lake City, Utah (after that long haul I believe I can survive any type of road trip). I proudly embraced my title as co-Pilot and we pulled out late Sunday afternoon and drooooooove. First I must say that it was scary, for my hubs mainly as he couragesly volunteered to drive the 20 ft truck. We climbed into the uncozy like rear-view mirror-less truck and prayed for safety.
We had a theme song. We played this song everytime we entered a new state. It was kinda perfect:
We kept checking the side-mirrors to make sure our vehicle was still in tow and not on the side of the road somewhere. We drove to Adairsville, GA that day and crashed at the Holiday Inn Express for about 4 hours.
Our bodies thanked us for that power rest. We woke up and left the hotel at about 6am and drove. And drove. And drove. And drove. Tennessee. Kentucky. Illinois. Missouri. Iowa. Nebraska.
Our drive through Nebraska was rough. It was pitch black, no lights on the freeway, if that's what it was, we couldn't really see, but we were so determined to drive for as long as our bodies and eyes allowed us to. That night as our headlights cut harshly through the dark and then our beams became fixed on a large, like LARGE object about 20 feet ahead of us and positioned dead center of our lane. As our 65mph truck approached we realized that this was no object. IT WAS A COW. A poor humongous mama of a cow with black and white spots stared back at us fear stricken, frozen in the night. The wide eyed cow opened its mouth as to yell out. Hubs swerved to miss the cow and a large semi barely clipped the cows head on the left lane. That was scary. For all parties involved. Except probably the semi, who probably was listening to smooth Jazz and stuffing his mouth with Cheetos, the driver, not the semi. I don't think he even saw. The worst kinda funny part was that hubs had just picked up a hamburger at the rest stop and refused to eat it after we almost hit the cow.
We drove for 24 hours that day. We stopped right when we entered Wyoming. After driving through all those states our eyes begged for mercy. The Hampton Inn greeted us with open arms at 3am. Sleep was our best friend for 4 hours. We actually stayed and had continental breakfast. So good. Thank God for biscuits and to-go cereal.
Wyoming. Oh Wyoming was probably the most treacherous state to drive through. Its mean curves and rolling hills had the Budget truck begging to slow down. But when you roll with us, the power team and me as your co-pilot, scream no more Budget truck we musta get on home to good ol' Utah. You see, it was already tuesday, we wanted to be home in time for Thanksgiving on thurs. So we had a goal in mind.
In Wyoming a semi truck hit a deer and the deer leg hit the grill of our truck and became road kill. Sorry Katniss.
When we entered Utah, I felt peace, we had made it. That night we arrived at 1am at my brother-in-laws, where we rested before we faced unloading the truck the next day.
Pulling up to our new neighborhood was a dream. Our neighbors trickled out one by one, children too, teenagers, and helped us unload the truck. Blessing right? Amazing.
