More COLD

Sheesh.  I feel so bad for the folks who come to Florida for a tropical Christmas when Mother Nature does stuff like this...  

This is what we woke up to this morning...  LOTS and LOTS of FROST!  The puppies didn't want to go outside, the horses wanted to come in...  But they are all snuggly warm in their blankets (the horses) so it's all good.

Anyhow - we had a wonderful Christmas.  Just a quick couple of pictures to show all the festivities...

This was our annual "Santa" in Indialantic.  We parked in Pop Pop's old driveway. (there wasn't anybody home...)  Just like old times!  Earlier we went to the home of our old Stake President to eat pot luck yummies and visit with lots of our ward friends.  They had a "play" but we got there too late and only caught the last song.  (taped)  It was a little chilly, but we had a good time!

Then home to watch White Christmas and enjoy a nice fire in the fireplace.

Then, of course, it was time for Christmas Morning and the annual Stockings...  We LOVE the leather couch, but it's COLD in the mornings!  Thank goodness for those fleece blankets...

Mom and Dad sent us this beautiful lamp!  It looks PERFECT on my little table next to the stone fireplace!  Rod got me a cool little western saddle on a saddle rack.  It looks great in front of the lamp!

Then on up to Rockledge for Christmas Dinner at Tim & Angie's with family and friends. 

  

 

Rod, George, Courtney, Taylor, Marvin (Angie's Dad) and Tim.
Kyle, Zach & Trace in the background behind Dad.

 

Rod (digging into Dad's FAMOUS fruit salad), Courtney, Taylor, Marvin, Janis.
The cousins in the background: Kyle (seated) Jim, Zach, Trace






Kyle, Trace & Zach.  Yup, Kyle needs a trim.



Tim, Angie and their friends Mike and ... his wife.  Sheesh.

Rod comes home for Christmas

 YEA!  Rod is HOME for Christmas!  We knew he would get here eventually... but it was touch and go for a little bit there...  


He had lots of fun surprising everybody.  As he was pulling into Cocoa, he called his brother, Tim at the shop and while they were talking on the phone, he pulled in, parked and tooted the horn.  (ok, I guess semi's don't "toot", right?)  The phone went dead and his brother came running out.  They were happy to see each other and catch up on all the latest news.


Then he headed to the house - called Jim and said he would be there around 5 or 6.  What he didn't say was he meant 5 or 6 MINUTES!  LOL  Jim decided to go visit a friend, but as he was pulling onto the road, some idiot in a semi parked right in front of him!  Dork.  Then he looked up and realized it was his Dad!  Another fun surprise!


Next he headed to my office.  I had been waiting for him for about 3 hours and perked up every time I heard the office door open.  I finally got tired of waiting and was busy working.  Had a big pile of checks to total so was running the adding machine.  When I got to the end of the pile, I glanced up and there he was!  I nearly had a heart attack!!!  (My roommate thought it was hysterical...)  


Unfortunately, by the time Kyle got home, he was expecting his Dad - but the other day he got him good, so it was fair.  I was talking to Rod on the phone on the way home, but when I got to the house said I needed to hang up so I could call the boys to bring the dogs inside so I could open the gate.  He said, "Oh, let ME!"  He phoned Kyle and asked him to open the gate for him.  Kyle came flying out of the garage - only to find ME sitting there.  He was so bummed!  


Anyhow - here's a picture of his pretty truck, parked in  our side yard.  He got it all detailed before heading home.  It got pretty dirty running through the slush and snow up north!

Rod's 2008 Freightliner Columbia
fresh after getting a bath from his 8100 mile December trips,
 through out the northern snow belt

On his trip home he was lucky enough to get to spend some time with some other members of his family.  Got to stop in Jackson, TN and visit his cousins Sandy and Anita.  Got to take the two beautiful women out for lunch.  They had a great visit.  

Sandy and Anita joined Rod for lunch in Jackson, Tennessee on his trip
going to Mobile, Alabama.

Sandy and Anita

He also got to stop in Memphis, TN and visit his Dad's brother and sister-in-law.  Uncle Charlie, Aunt Jane, their daughter Leah and her daughter Lauren continued that tradition of good southern hospitality.  It's so great to have family who are happy to welcome him into their homes!  One of these days he hopes to visit everybody!  

Uncle Charlie, Leah, Rod, and Aunt Jane
at their house in Memphis, Tennessee

Uncle Charlie, Aunt Jane, Lauren, and Leah
at their house in Memphis, Tennessee

Rod waiting for a load in sunny Southern California.

Parked at a truck stop in Superior, Montana after an all night drive through the blowing snow.

We are SO grateful to have him home safely.  He got lucky and doesn't have to return to work until 01-01-11!  

Rod Update

Rod is back on the road - this was his last warm day - out in California (again...)  Doesn't he look handsome standing next to his truck?????

And then my Florida boy got to drive in snow...  Welcome to Montana!

 








Unfortunately he didn't have time to stop in Butte - he blew through (ok, not "blew" his truck only tops out at 61....) on his way to Billings to stop for the night.  


However, on this trip he got to spend some time in Grants Pass, Oregon with his Aunt Virginia (George's sister) and her daughter Sandy and family.  They treated him like royalty... that good old southern hospitality.  (transplanted to Oregon...)  They are such nice folks - I wish they (or we) lived closer.  They fed him well and let him sleep in a REAL BED!  What a treat!

Now he's somewhere in Minnesota (I think) picking up another load and heading to Memphis, Tennessee.  Getting closer to home!  He's supposed to be here on Thursday next week... has another eye appointment to check on his pressure and then spend Christmas with the family.  He's only here for 3 days, so back on the road on Boxing Day.  Can't wait to see him again!!!!

Activity Day Girls

My darling girls and I made some "therapy sacs" tonight.  And some countdown chains.  They did everything by themselves and were really proud of themselves!  

The "sacs" are filled with rice so you can microwave them and use them to warm up cold body parts or as a mini heating pad on sore body parts. 


Notice in the background the awesome little sewing machine behind them.....  Last Christmas Nancy sent us all some gift cards.  I bought them from everybody and saved them until just the right thing came up.  Last night the right thing came up and I bought a great little sewing machine.  It's light-weight, cute, and does everything I need including button holes!   (and stretchy stitches...  something I never really mastered)  Remember all the cool knit clothes Mom made for us when she took those Stretch 'n Sew classes?  


Anyhow.  They decided to wear their countdown chains as necklaces.  They are Christmas Hershey Kisses in saran wrap.  One for each member of the family for each of the 12 days of Christmas.


Then they decided to wear their therapy sacs as hats.  

BRRRRRRR

I don't have any great pictures of ice and snow - cuz we don't have any.  There WAS a little frost on the grass this morning, but it didn't look very impressive, so no photos.  We are pretty chilly here though.  Especially Kyle!  He's out there washing cars all day!  We went out last night and bought him some warmer stuff to wear, he should be better off today...

Here's a quick peak at my fancy hotel room this past weekend.

I can't get the pictures to behave - and I DO need to get to work...  LOL  

Here's one last one.  Has nothing to do with anything.  It's our Christmas tree!  Hope you are having a great day and staying warm!

FIRST LOAD

Rod is an OFFICIAL KLLM DRIVER!

 And has survived his first load.  Just barely.  (grin)  Once he FINALLY got his truck cleaned up (they were supposed to detail it for him, but after waiting nearly 8 hours he gave up and did it himself...) they called him with a load.

Poor guy - if it could go wrong, it did.  

Started out by rushing off to do a last minute, gotta-get-there-right-now load without all the necessary information, so got lost on the way.  He managed to get there 10 minutes before the cut-off, but THEY were running late.  Once they FINALLY got him loaded (2.5 hours behind schedule), he headed out, but missed a road out there in the boonies in the wee hours of the morning and it took 20 miles to find a place to turn his big ol' truck around!  


Once he finally arrived at his destination to drop off some frozen chicken, he locked his keys in his truck!  Oh my goodness!  It took over an hour for AAA to get there and after messing around with it for nearly another hour, the AAA tech GAVE UP!  WHAT?????  30 minutes later another driver from the company showed up.  All the company trucks are keyed the same so he was able to unlock the door for him.  Sheesh! 

Then, loaded up on adrenaline, he hit the road to head to a town just north of Atlanta to drop off the rest of the chicken.  


Wow!  Quite an eventful and LONG first day.  Next he's off to Missouri.  Good luck babe!