Christmastime in PA

Once we finally arrived the Manmillers were having a Christmas party at their house so it was nice to come in to a huge meal and lots of people we hadn’t seen for awhile. We had a great time catching up and the gift exchange is always a blast. Needless to say Sunday was a down day for us and it was so nice to stay in and veg a little…we ate leftovers, watched a little football and did not drive anywhere – thank goodness!

Monday night we saw Dustin’s best friend, Shane and his wife, Erin and went out to dinner with them. Tuesday night we met up with his Dad and step-Mom for dinner. Wednesday night we had a date night with Doug and Colleen and their kids watched Abby – it was so nice to be with just adults and not have to worry about kids. Christmas Eve we spent with Dustin’s Grandparents, Mom and Sister and saw a few of his Aunts and Uncles as well. After that we went to Doug’s Parents for dinner and then Colleen’s Aunt’s for dessert. It was a long day of visiting so we got home and fell asleep to the Christmas Story marathon.

We woke up Christmas morning at the Manmillers and had so much fun opening presents with all of them. We had yummy baked French Toast and Cinnamon Rolls for breakfast. After the morning festivities were over we all took showers and got ready and headed over to Colleen’s Mom’s House for Christmas Dinner and spent the rest of the day there. We were so blessed to spend Christmas with the one’s we love.

Saturday concluded our week-long trip and headed back only hitting a little bit of rain until we got out of PA. We were so excited to finally get home and I’m glad there is no traveling in my near future! :)

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Our 29 hour trip to PA

This year we decided to spend Christmas in Pennsylvania visiting Dustin’s family and friends. The Manmillers invited us to stay with them for a week and spend Christmas Eve and Christmas with their families.

We decided to leave Friday afternoon after the RCR Christmas Luncheon and thought for sure we would be ahead of the snow storm that was on its way throughout the East Coast. We left the house at 2pm despite the sleet that had been coming down since 9am and the snow that started falling an hour earlier. We figured we’d be fine and would just plod along even if it took us a few extra hours to get through the weather. Being from California I’ve always seen on TV during the winter the stories of folks stranded for hours on the highway in inclement weather and had yet to realize that we were going to be one of those stories. As we were driving we started counting the numerous NC drivers who don’t know how to drive in snow that were off in the snow bank or had wrecked somehow. Counting 27 in the first hour of our drive was a little scary. As we got on 81 North we laughed at the folks who were going South as the traffic was backed up for miles. Little did we know we too were going to be stuck soon. We got to Blacksburg, VA and the traffic trickled along for 3 hours. Once we got through the clear I was talking to my sister, Chris on the phone and she advised that even though we had 3/4 tank of gas we should top off just in case we get stuck again (she had heard of NY folks stuck on the highway earlier in the week and highway patrols were having to bring them gas to keep their heaters running). So we took a bathroom stop and filled up the tank. It was a good thing we did because not far past our stop we got stuck behind a few cars and big rigs who couldn’t make it through the snow because the highway hadn’t been plowed. We sat for 13 1/2 hours on the highway!!!! Praise the Lord we had enough gas to idle that long with the heater running and that we had packed enough snacks and water and that we happened to be stuck right next to a rest stop so we could use the bathroom. The whole event was so unreal I still can’t believe we went through it. So the next morning the cars were dug out of the snow and we were able to pull away…I think Abby learned the Hallelujah chorus because Dustin and I could not stop singing it! Through the mountains of VA the roads were still pretty bad and it felt like we were driving through our yard full of snow going 30 mph. Amazingly enough through all of this the Lord kept us calm and we didn’t kill each other and Abby was really good(thank you portable DVD player and Baby Einstein) until about the last 2 hours. We stopped at a rest stop and changed her diaper and she did NOT want to get back in her car seat…can you blame the kid? She was so miserable from being in that car that she didn’t even want Dustin or I to talk and she squawked every time we started to. It actually became quite comical and the humor of it was what got Dustin and I through to the Manmillers.

So a trip that normally takes 8 hours took us 29 hours as we arrived in the middle of the Manmiller’s Christmas Party looking a mess at 7pm on Saturday.

Needless to say I am going somewhere sunny for Christmas next year…who’s up for Orlando and Disney World?

These last few pictures are what we saw after we got stuck as we drove along the road. The big rig must’ve just happened before we drove by because there were guys running across the highway to see if the driver was ok. God definitely had His hand on us our whole way there!

Christmas with Mom

This year we celebrated Christmas early with my Mom as she was leaving Tuesday to fly to San Antonio, TX and we were leaving Friday to drive to PA. My sisters had sent our presents early enough so we all could open there’s at the same time. We gave Abby a few gifts from us and then took a few to PA for her to open on Christmas Day. She definitely has present opening down pat. Some highlights were a Kipper the Dog DVD and lots of puzzles. One of my sisters sent 3 large boxes of diapers for the twins – what a great gift! There was a total of 648 size 1 diapers and we realized that would last us about 2 – 2 1/2 months. I think that was one of my favorite gifts! The puppies also got gifts from Auntie Chris, Uncle Jonathan and Cousin Carl…Chris had made some stuffed bones and ropes out of old jeans. She knew that Gracie and Zoe will tear them to shreds so she reinforced them really well. They were excited to play tug-of-war. We had a great time and then headed to the Christmas Cantata at church afterward.

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Ladies Night Out & Holiday Cookie Exchange

Mom and I decided that we wanted to host a Ladies Night Out and Holiday Cookie Exchange and invite the ladies from the church that had reached out and befriended us in the past year of attending Meadowview. We had such a great time with dinner, dessert and 12 different yummy cookies to exchange. It was so much fun to chat with everyone and not have to worry about kids. We thought it would be fun to have a spring tea but then reality set in when we realized we would have the twins here by then…anyone else want to host it?