A Missourian Holiday

Just thought I'd give an update on our holiday travels and such. We left for Missouri on Friday, Dec 23rd and returned home on Sunday, Jan 1st. The actual loading of the moving truck was a total pain in the rump with a moving truck rental reservation getting screwed up by the nearest rental facility. That set us back a good 5 hours. But we got there despite the fiasco.

We arrived (Mom and I, driving in separate vehicles) close to midnight. There was not any snow, a blessing in disguise. I must admit my first few hours in the house were not happy ones. It was cold. And ugly. And I was so super tired. And we brought our pup, which annoyed me. Not fun.

The next morning was cold and we had a truck full of stuff to be unloaded. Our odd new neighbor, JR, helped us unload, allowing us to be fully unloaded by lunchtime.

As the day wore on, we ventured outside to view the property and that made the "what did we do!" feelings go away. A bit. I had been feeling overwhelmed by the amount of updating needed (floors, walls, etc). And the dirtiness. And all the stuff to be unpacked. And the FLIES. There were so many, many FLIES. Thousands of them. Buzzing around everywhere. GROSS! But looking around at the beautiful property and thinking of the possibilities made it bearable. Ish...

That was Christmas Eve. Christmas day arrived with a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree, filled stockings, and a few presents under the tree. The kids were delighted that Santa found us there. But I was sad that their Christmas presents were few and that awesome new sled that Grams bought each child went unused. We were fortunate that a kindly new neighbor came by with a Smoked Turkey (home raised and home smoked, cool!) that made our Christmas dinner a delight. Yum. Church was great. The Branch is super friendly and excited to have us.

The rest of our visit was a lot of unpacking, cleaning and organizing, sending kids outside, cleaning up doggie "messes", cleaning up FLIES... It was chaotic, but fun. FYI, if you are potty-training a pup, don't go on vacation IN THE CAR to a cold place. For some strange reason, the pup will choose the carpet inside to the frozen grass outside. And then you are stuck re-training when you get home. Weird.

We visited an animal auction (Dan went to 2), checked out the local area, learned about Pamida stores (a mating of a Dollar General and a Wal-Mart, LOL), saw a lot of Amish people, got to know JR a little too well, and made friends with the horses down the street. And the kids had their first "this is how you play outside" and "this is how you climb trees" lessons. Sad, but true.

The flies, the FLIES, THE FLIES! Seriously Mom and I were near a breakdown from those nasty suckers! In every room. Buzzing near your head. Going down your shirt... Thank heavens a nice thorough bug fogging of the entire house has ridden mom of these buggers. For now...

Now we are home. I miss the place a bit, surprisingly. LOL. I am currently able to shop anywhere I wish within minutes (its an HOUR to Target from Gentry!), but the desire isn't there. I was very glad to be home, though. Walking into my home was such a delight. My floors were so FANCY (compared to old nasty linoleum and crusty shag carpeting)! And my own BED! FANCY!!!

I am missing my Dallin really badly. I am setting up a Skype account, so I can see him each day. Hopefully that'll help. I have to tell myself it isn't gonna be too long. I may be venturing up with Emma in a month or so for a visit.