Hit the ground running . . .

This week has been crazy!! Let me back up and tell you about my trip last weekend. We landed in Kansas City, MO. and drove 2 1/2 hours to Omaha, NE to have lunch with my uncle Charlie, my Aunt Joan and her husband, Fred. We had a great time just chatting and hanging out. They were talking about my Aunt Donna's clothes and my mom was wondering how much my uncle had left. My Aunt was a shopaholic and had A LOT Of clothes!! He still had two fur coats left that he didn't really know what to do with so he told me to try them on. I am now the proud owner of a silver fox fur coat. It's really pretty and it makes me feel like I have a bit of my aunt with me. After our visit we drove to my grandparents house in Casey, IA. It was about an hour and 1/2 away. It's always such a nostalgic feeling going up their driveway. It just reminds me of being a kid and driving for hours upon hours to get there. Here I am almost 34 years old (not for a few more weeks - ha!) and I still felt like a kid on that drive. How often as an adult do you get to sit in the backseat and be chauffeured by your parents? How about carrying on a conversation without being interrupted by the kids? My grandma is doing great. She's 89 years old and going strong. My grandpa is another story. We found out from my grandma that he's fallen 6 times since Christmas. Luckily no broken bones, but he's unsteady on his feet. He rarely leaves the house, and his recent little strokes have caused a lot of memory loss. Grandma told us that a few weeks ago he just went and sat on the bed and started crying. He told her that it just wasn't funny - he knows that his memory is going. Grandma cried too and told him that they will get through it. That's what 72 years of marriage does for you. Amazing!! The weather was freezing the whole time we were there. When we left on Monday morning the car said 0 degrees. The wind just went right through you so we mostly stayed in the house. We did make a trip to Walmart. The closest one is 30 minutes away. My grandparents really do live out in the country! We celebrated the February birthdays on Sunday and my aunt and uncle came to my grandparents house. We played cards all afternoon - it was a lot of fun just hanging out. When we left on Monday we drove through Corning to get back to Kansas City. It was the first time that I had been back since Grandma Talty died. I have tears streaming down my face now as I am writing this and thinking about it. We didn't go by her house - too many memories and just not ready for that. We did stop by the cemetery so that I could say a quick prayer. There was about 6 inches of snow on the ground and I was the only one to get out of the car. It makes me sad that chapter in my life is closed and that all of the memories I have of that little town are just that - memories.

Glad to be home and back to all the craziness of my life. Caden had a little girl with lice in her hair in his class, Grace had about 3 projects for school this week, I presented the inservice at school on Wednesday, Memrie was sick and we happily shuffled Caden around this week . . .Chris left for Daytona today to see the race with my dad and 2 of my brothers. Wouldn't trade it for the world :)