From Blue Skies to a Cloudy Gray!

After our very long trip home on Thursday, we came home only to find we could not get in our driveway. It seems Indiana had somewhat of a winter blizzard while we were gone:) I believe Indianaplis and surrounding towns received 12 inches or more in just a few days and some counties were on snow emegencies. Luckily, this meant Tayler did not fall too far behind and actually went back to school on Friday, ahead of his class, as they had been out of school for two and a half days and he had already completed the week's worth of school work. My agency and the church were also closed for a few days so that was a relief as well. But, enough positives! Let me give you a quick recap of our afternoon. We were all tired after a total of 26 hours in the car and even our legs were weak and shaky from being in the car for four days. Our emotions were probably a bit shaky as well:)

All we could think about was coming home, unloading the car, and resting. But, instead we came home to this! As you can see in the pics, our driveway was blocked by a few feet of snow. As Tayler begins to realize that no one has come to feed his fish he had just purchased a day before we had to leave, he begins to have a major melt down. A friend was scheduled to come and feed them, but she was unable to leave her house as her driveway was also blocked off by snow. So, Tayler is crying as Brian tries to jump over the mound of snow to get in the garage and retrieve a shovel.

Let's just say no shovel was going to do the trick. Tayler is now out of the car determined to "jump the great divide" in an effort to save his fish. All I could do was try to comfort Tayler as he is frantically trying to push open the door that is also blocked by snow. Well, Brian was able to shovel enough snow out of the way to get us somewhat up the driveway (although, afterwards there was a green substance coming out of the bottom of our car)that can't be good, right? I go inside to find Tayler discovering his dead fish. I console him as Brian goes to the local diner and finds two men with a plow truck. They tell us they'll give us a deal and only charge us $40.00 to get in our driveway! That is a good deal they say as they have been charging from $75.00-$130.00. What kind of deal is that? So, without many other options, we hired them on the spot. But, we had to wait for them to finish their meal first!(I am sure they even got dessert after making such a profit on us:)

So, they do the job and after spending way over our budget on our unexpected trip, what is another $40.00, right? Tayler calmed down about his fish and cleaned out the tank.........only to clog up the sink with rocks! So, while we were waiting for the nice men to come and plow our driveway, Brian took apart the pipes in Tayler's sink to get the rocks out. Just lovely! To top it off, the next morning Brian's battery went out on his truck, which was another $60.00! Gotta love the cold weather! However, one good thing that came of the snow was Tayler was able to shovel our neighbors sidewalk on Saturday and earn $10.00 to replace his fish! (see pic above)

Unexpected trip to Southern GA!

Right before I was due to fly home Sunday night from Durham, Brian called me and told me his maternal grandfather had died. I tried to reroute my flight to Atlanta, but that did not work out. So, I flew in Sunday night and got home at about 11:00 pm only to turn around an leave Monday morning for our long trek to Southern GA. It was a four day journey with three different resting stops. We stayed in Nashville the first night, Valdosta the second night, and finally Atlanta on our way home. Being in Southern GA was such a charm. I was able to meet Brian's mother for the first time-I know...I can't just put out a statement like that and not explain but in effort to catch up on blogging, I will save that story for another time:) Everyone was so lovely. Their accents I just couldn't get over, along with their true southern hospitality. The men were quite chilvarous and the ladies were proper. It was so cute-or "darling" as they would say.

In an effort to give some background on Brian's grandfather I will share some of his story. Brian's grandfather, George, met his grandmother, Emma in high school. They were high school sweetharts. But, George went off to Pharmacy school and War World II. They both found love in other places and were respectively married for about 20 years after which both of their spouses passed. George left Ohio (where Brian's mother lived growing up and Brian's birth place)and moved back to GA to care for his mother. While in GA, his mother mentioned that Emma's spouse had also died. George and Emma reconnected and the rest is history. What a cute love story. Emma loves telling the story! Emma and her first husband adopted two sons and one of those sons (whom I got to meet) later adopted three children. These adoptions are what first led to Brian thinking about adoption as a child and how he would someday like to adopt. It was neat meeting the family that has formed my husband in many ways.

One funny thing while we were there was where we had to stay. Let's just say you might be a red neck if.... you check into your hotel inside of the Stuckey's gas station that also has a Dairy Queen and Burger King. I guess you could say our room was fit for a king and queen.....not hardly! Brian and his siblings along with their mother were joking that we were staying in quite a palatial setting as we tried to think of headings for this post. I wish! It was far from it! But, luckily, we only stayed one night as any of you who know me well, know that any hotel where you check in at the gas station screams nervous breakdown for me:)But, I got over it and we all survived!

The pics here are of Brian with his mother, siblings, and his grandmother Emma. Brian's mother was just beautiful and Tayler quickly became her favorite grandson when confused he asked, "how is that your mother? she looks 38!" Brian's mother, Nancy, lives in Tuscan, AZ. (We hope to visit soon and see the beautiful painted desert and Grand Canyon) Brian's brother Scott, lives outside of Minneapolis, is married, has two sons and one child on the way. He is the Director of a non-profit working with International Students. Brian's sister Elizabeth or Liz as we call her, lives in Nashville. She is an artist and musician. She is recently back from studying in Italy. Mrs. Emma (as everyone called her) was so sweet as she embraced Tayler right away and whisked him away to introduce him to all of the family.

It was truly my pleasure meeting everyone and I hope to only continue to get to know all of them better! I am blessed to have met them all. To read about George, access this link. http://obit.mclanefuneralservices.com/obit_display.cgi?id=380130&listing=Current

Jackson's 3rd birthday!

I traveled to Durham last weekend for my nephew, Jackson's birthday. The theme was Curious George or as Jackson likes to say "Curious, Curious George." The party was fun and Durham was beautiful. We were able to do a few semi-hikes while I was there as the weather was much warmer than here in good ol' Indiana with our recent negative temperatures.

I was also able to meet a cousin while I was there that lives, ironically, down the street from Rachel. She is a cousin on our mother's side. She is a bioligist and preserves wet lands....very cool...and she is a fellow vegetarian which is nice:) Overall, the trip was wonderful as it always is when I visit with Rachel and her family. I can't wait to go back next month when baby Julia is born!

P.S. (Yes those are pics of the set up and gift bags-I had to document them in true commentator fashion.:) Also, gotta love the pic of Jackson and his Elvis impersonation:)

Super Bowl Fun!

We hosted some of the middle schoolers at our house for the Super Bowl. COLTS WIN!! Mostly everyone in our house was happy with that:)

Fun with Friends!

Saturday night, I attended a dinner party with some friends from work. My friend, Amanda, hosted the party. Earlier in the day, I also got four inches cut off of my hair at Aveda. Aveda is the best place ever! For, seventeen dollars, you get a mini massage, a facial, and your hair cut. They even have a coffee bar. That alone is enough for me to recommend the experience to everyone. It was awesome!