A momma, her girl, a funeral, a few airports and some unexpected family time Part I

We made it home in time for dinner with our boys Thursday night--not CHRISTMAS dinner, but we managed a bite of Mexican Food at a restaurant on the way home. Christmas dinner came Saturday night when we had "Christmas" as a family.

BUT--how wonderful to have been "stranded" with family and not stuck in an airport like some people.

We left Wednesday morning and headed to Portland to fly out. We landed in Seattle, boarded our next flight and we were on our way to Sacramento where we met my dad who was driving through on his way from Reno to Grandpa's house in Tulare (about four hours from Sacramento). My daughter is amazing and such a great traveler! She played at the airport, ate when I offered her food, slept on the plane and in the car.

Then we got to Grandpa's and met up with my Aunt Joanie to start working on the "logistics" side of things. Grandpa had a lot of stuff. Books. Papers. Pictures. Plates...plates from everywhere in the world. He and Grandma collected them anytime they took a trip. I counted 86 plates on the walls and I know there were some stored in the cupboards. I brought four home with me from trips I remember taking with them.

BUT...enough words. Here's the first round of pics:

There was some unpacking and undressing...


There was some wearing of Great-Grandma's Christmas Apron...


...and Great-Grandma's Jewelry.


Then my cousin showed up and we played and ate snacks together.


And then I was tired and crashed out.


Next up: pics of the funeral. But first, because we're home we have some other stuff to work on. Dinner. Baths. PJ's. Stories. Bedtime.

We're home!

FINALLY! More pictures and details of our trip to come later!

Portland or Bust!

Here's my girl doing her best to get home! We head out for Portland tomorrow! Tonight we're going to Christmas Eve service at my auntie's church, eating a ham dinner and then getting packed up! We'll hang out with my brother, sister-in-law, nephew, auntie and cousin in the morning and then head to the airport tomorrow morning. Pray we make it home!

One more flight down...one more to go!

We are in Los Angeles until Thursday when we (hopefully) fly back to Portland. This weather is so strange!

Anyway--we're having fun hanging out with my brother, sister in law, nephew, auntie and cousin. At least I am not stranded at an airport sleeping on a floor trying to figure out how to feed me and Tori. God is good.

Off to play with the fam!

I'll be home for Christmas....

well...sort of. My flight was canceled today thanks to the kickin' storm rolling through the great northwest. I'm at a friends house in Sacramento until tomorrow when I take a flight down to Los Angeles for a few days. I fly out of LAX to Portland Christmas day at 4 PM.

Ugh. Super sad. But there is a reason.

Headed out!

You may remember I posted about my Grandpa being in the hospital several days ago. Saturday night he went home to be with Jesus and see Grandma. He gets to celebrate Christmas where they celebrate it best!

I leave tomorrow on a (too) early flight out of Portland and into Sacramento. Tori and I will meet my dad who is driving through Sacramento from Reno on his way to Fresno. He'll pick us up and we'll drive the last three to four hours with him. He'll also be taking us back to Sacramento Sunday morning to get back home in time for work and normal life on Monday.

Pray for safe travel for all of us. Pray for peace for all of us. Pray for peace and an incredible testimony for those who knew Grandpa and will be at the service but don't yet know Jesus. Pray for Tori to LOVE flying and to be (unusually) mellow and well behaved for me.

As always, thanks for praying...

Walkin' in a winter wonderland...

For those of you who live somewhere that gets a lot of snow, bear with us. We hardly EVER get snow and its quite the novelty when it shows up! SO...my kiddos woke up to a light (very light) dusting of snow on the ground and got all sorts of excited about it. It has continued to snow throughout the day which means school cancelations are likely tomorrow. WAHOO!

Andrew: "Can you say snow?"
Tori: "SNOOOOOOWWWWWW!"


Andrew: "Good job! High Five!"


Andrew: "Now we watch the snow. Isn't it awesome?!"




And now we play in the snow!







Yes, Tori's gloves are too big and make her fingers look broken but it was the best I could do. This child INSISTS on wearing gloves JUST LIKE Andrew's and refused to leave the house without them. *heavy sigh* Oh well! Could be worse: she could refuse to wear gloves all together and then we would have freezing fingers. So I guess gloves that are too big are better than nothing!