Vacay Part III

That's right Part III of my vacation! Who knew there was so much to write about! This is the last segment I assure you though.

Just like on my way out, I had lots of problems on my way back. Only this time they weren't from flying, they were from riding the shuttle! Here is the Shuttle Story:

First, the shuttle was 10 minutes late. No big deal, right? But once we are on the shuttle we wait for about ten minutes for a few people that never showed. Ok, stuff like that happens. Then we have to back track because the driver left people who were there at his last stop. So, before we even "get on our way," we are running 30 minutes behind. So, I am thinking "ok at least I am not trying to catch a flight, I am just going to spend the day with my brother and dad." At our next stop, the bus driver decides that he can go into the unplowed part of the parking lot and be just fine even though we are only picking up one person and that person is in the plowed part of the lot....and of course, we get stuck in the parking lot. After about 20-25 minutes of pushing and shoveling done by the males on the bus, we are freed and on our way again. I am now thinking "ok, we should be good from here on....what else can happen?" Well, we had to slow WAY down because of a snow storm. Then we had to pull over so the bus driver could clean off his wiper blades, then we hit stop and go traffic due to an accident. I was so ready to get off that bus after the hour and a half of DELAYS!! Thankfully, my dad and Logan were there waiting to pick me up!

I then got to spend the rest of Saturday and most of Sunday with Logan, Dad, Nola and Brayden! It was quite fun! And I am sooo thankful I got to see Logan again before he left on his mission. He actually reported to the MTC this morning! I love you Logan and will miss all your crazy text messages! Here are a few pictures from the weekend.

Logan:

Logan and I

Logan again ( a cutie, huh!):

Brayden, me and Logan:

Brayden:

My dad and myself:

Vacay Part II

Our vacation did get lots better once we FINALLY made it to Idaho. We enjoyed great homemade food (something that we never get in our home), fun and laughter with family and being able to be completely lazy! On Sunday when we got there, we kind of just hung around for a little bit and then when to both set of Josh's grandparents' homes. There was tones of snow the whole time we were out there. It was really bad for a few days especially with the wind. Josh's brother, Andrew, and his family all came for the week too. I am not quite sure which day they came; you know how it is when your on vacation, you have no idea what day it is. But we did have a lot of fun with them. On Tuesday we went to Paige's (Josh's sister) violin recital! She did a great job and so did all the other kids. I think it was on Christmas Eve that we went to a museum that had tons of Christmas stuff on display. On Christmas Eve, some of Josh's extended family came over and we played a game then the younger kids acted out the Christmas story. Christmas Day was great. We got awesome thoughtful gifts and were able to stay in our PJs all day!!! Josh's family got a Wii for Christmas, so a lot of time was spent playing that! We also got to talk to Josh's brother, Chase, who is serving a mission in Des Moines, Iowa! It was great to talk to him and it sounds like he is doing a tremendous job out there! We really had a great Christmas and were very happy that we were able to spend it with family! I didn't really take a lot of pictures, but here are the ones I did take:

This is our niece, Rylee, and Josh's mom, Jill:

This is Rylee again in the Gingerbread house...She kept asking if she could eat the houses that were in display :)

This is Josh and his two brothers, Taylor and Andrew with the three wise men:

For Some reason I only get pictures of Josh when he isn't looking:

Rylee:

Rylee in her princess dress and shoes with Taylor:

What I thought was a beautiful sunset:

Rylee "smiling" and me:

Thanks Wray family for a GREAT CHRISTMAS!

Vacay Part I

Well, I am back from my FABULOUS vacation. But then again, what vacation isn't fabulous??? Josh and I did hit many bumps on the way though. Right now I am at work and bored out of my mind, so who knows what this post will be like ;) First, let me tell you how our vacation all started....(Once again, no pictures from the no computer at home problem. That should be fixed soon though)

Our plan was to leave Cleveland on Saturday the twentieth day of December. This did in fact occur, but not quite the way it was planned. Nola (my stepmother, no she's not wicked) had listed us on a flight from Cleveland to St. Louis that left at approximately 9:25 in the morning; it had a good 30 empty seats on it, so we should have totally gotten on this flight. I told Josh that we should be at the airport at eight in the morning. He insisted that we really didn't need to get there until 8:30am. So, of course we get there at approximately 8:30. As soon as we walk in the doors, we see this HUGE line and wonder which airline it was for. Of course, it was for Southwest! I get a little upset and say to someone "I told you so." So, we wait in line for quite some time. When we get up to the counter, there is something wrong with how our itinerary was set up. There actually wasn't anything "wrong" with it, it's just that our bags wouldn't make it. So the lady takes her time to help other customers and eventually fix the problem, mark our bags and get us on our way. She told us that she would call down to the gate and tell them that we were on our way there. We drop off our bags and attempt to go through security, but of course we are both "randomly selected" for additional screening. And the TSA guys take their time searching us and our belongings. Once we are cleared, we have about 10 minutes to get to the gate. I run down there as fast as I can. I get there with FIVE minutes to spare; yet, the plane was already gone! The lady that said she was going to call down, never did and the plane left early because "everyone" was on board. I tried asking the lady at the counter where we should try to go but she basically told me she was "too busy."

We end up going to Las Vegas with thinking that if we don't make a flight out, then we will just drive the rest of the way up. The flight from Cleveland to Vegas left about 2-3 hours later and was suppose to be a four hour flight. The four hours ended up being more like five hours from a high wind that was blowing against us. In Vegas, we have to go to the complete opposite end of the airport to get to the gate that the flight to Salt Lake was out of. We didn't make the first flight; it was too full, but we did make the second one! We get to Salt Lake and are completely happy to be there. Then we go to the baggage claim. Our bags are no where to be found. We have no idea where they ended up! Did they make it on the flight to St Louis? to Denver? to Vegas? Who knows?....no one does! Since we were flying standby, Southwest wouldn't ship our luggage to us when it showed up so we wanted to wait until the last flight came in to see if it was on it. That flight kept getting delayed and more delayed. We missed all of the shuttles to Idaho. We ended up waiting another couples hours for our luggage that never came and then staying the night without our luggage at Josh's aunt and uncle's house! It was quite nice of them! They even gave us toothbrushes! We got up in the morning and luckily were able to pick up our luggage and make the first shuttle to Idaho! We made it to Josh's parents house at about two in the afternoon. Wow! It was totally one thing after another, but I am so glad that we were finally able to make it and then enjoy a GREAT week/Christmas with family! More to come about our actual vacation...

A New Kind of COLD!

Not having a computer at home and being REALLY busy at work has made it quite difficult to blog, which is why I haven't done so! Also, nothing too exciting has been going on. We had a GREAT Thanksgiving thanks to Brady/Julie and everyone else who was there! I didn't take any pictures though...The last couple months a little Oklahoma girl, me, has been living in Ohio and has noticed many differences between the two different places. The one that I have noticed the most lately is that of what "cold" really means.

In Oklahoma, REALLY cold means:

• somewhere in the mid-thirties as a high for the day
• upper 20s as a low for the night.
• a nice winter coat is needed but not much else
• the sun comes out at least once a day

In Ohio, just plain cold is when:

• the temperature high for the day is only in the mid-twenties
• The lows are in the teens
• the wind is blowing snow into you
• a winter coat, scarf and gloves are all FULLY NECESSARY
• you NEVER see the sun, always cloudy

I am a little worried to see what REALLY cold is like in Ohio...I'm sure I will be fine, but I will say that this whole no sun thing can get pretty depressing. I always get WAY excited when I see the blue sky! Anyways, like I said nothing too excited is going on. I just thought that I needed to post SOMETHING and thought that my observations would be enough for now. (Oh and I do want to apologize to my brother in law, Taylor, who said I need to post more pictures and less text....hopefully next time, Taylor ;)