Yesterday I went down to the fire station to donate blood for Joseph Menke's Eagle project. I had decided I was not going to donate blood anymore because the last two times were really bad. They had such a hard time sticking me. But this time went so smoothly I will do it again no problem. DelmaRae Menke, Joseph's mom, sent me these photo's. We really had a great time, the food was good and it was more like a party than a blood drive.
Well it's our 19th wedding anniversary and we are celebrating by being extra nice to each other and only doing things we feel like doing. It has been a good day for the most part. Sage and her friends broke down near Cheyenne, Wyoming. They are staying the night at Little America where the vehicle is being fixed in the morning. It was a little stressful there for a while but it is all ok now. I am making jewelry, watching movies and blogging. Marty is talking on the phone and doing elders quorum stuff.
Amber took advantage of the nice weather and took down the outside lights. We took down the tree and acked away Christmas for another year! Poor Luke has the "Nauvoo Gamboo" thats the name our family gave all of the icky illnesses that we get here. He has some sort of stomach virus and has been throwing up and "other stuff" since early this morning. Poor boy...we are taking really good care of him though.
Angelique, Chantelle and Adam are all headed to Utah so they invited Sage to go with them. Sage doesn't have work until February so she is going to spend January in Utah and then she will fly home in time to work at the Fudge Factory in February.
I was trying to get a good picture of Sage but she is so anxious to be gone I couldn't get her to slow down so every picture is blurred.
They were going to leave right after Sacrament meeting but meetings were postponed due to ice until noon so they left at 10:30. It got really icy last night. I hope they are careful. They are going on the I-70 to Denver and they are going to stay with the Hallman girls sister. Then head on to Utah.
We woke up this morning to 50+ Fahrenheit, the snow was gone and it was raining, pouring is more like it. Last night we had so much fog that driving was a joke. We were teasing Luke that his London weather caught up with him. It's crazy. A bit further south they were having a tornado watch.
This afternoon it's getting colder it's about 33 degree's. We are supposed to have freezing rain tomorrow.
This morning we went out first thing to haul wood! It is pretty warm about 41 degree's fahrenheit. Everything is wet and melting. We are taking advantage of this warm morning to get stocked up for the next storm.
Poor Luke didn't know what he was in for when he came to stay with us. Marty will work him to death. He never complains though he just works right along with the rest of us.
We just filled the trailer once. That should last us a few days. The wood we get is all from neighbors and friends who had trees blown down in storms and have told us we can haul it off. They usually just burn them in a big pile to get rid of the mess. Marty is good at tracking down free wood.
It only took about an hour and we were back to lounging around the house and eating. AAAaahhh I love Christmas Vacation!!!!
Well Santa Clause made it to our house. He even found Luke!
We spent less $$Money$$ on Christmas this year than we ever have.
Because we were planning our trip to Utah and because we were trying to be obedient to the council of the leaders of our church.
Everyone was tickled with the simple things that they got. Make up, bath supplies, Lacey go a small amplifier and tuner for the electric Guitar she bought last summer. Sage got a "Water Baby" like the one she had when she was very young, Amber got lots of lotions, perfume and a manicure set. Luke got a very cool tiger book because he likes tigers. Marty got an electric shaver because his died a few years ago. and I got a really neat smelly vase thing because I love it when my house smells like cinnamon.
Then my kids surprised me with a mothers ring. It has a garnet for Sage, and Emerald for Amber and an Aquamarine for Lacey. I LOVE it!! It's white gold and I feel like I have been spoiled rotten this year.
We all got a pair of slipper boots from Santa full of little toys and candy. After we opened presents Amber made bacon and eggs for breakfast and I went and took a bath with my cool bath stuff. Then we cleaned up and took NAPS!!! We all just laid around all day and had the best lazy day ever!
We drove to Quincy to watch "the Tale of Despereaux" and Marty slept in the car because he said he would be in a much better mood after a nap than he would after a movie. The movie was really cute and now I am dying to read the book.
Then we went to our favorite restaurant the "Best Buffet" and ate all we could eat Chinese food!!! Yummy!
Lynn and Sharon finally made it!!! The MTC sent them away a few days early because of the storms. They arrived December 24th at around 3:00pm. They said that there were over 40 cars off the road, upside down and some with people just climbing out of them, just in Iowa alone. We are so grateful they made it safe and sound. The alternator went out on their truck as they arrived in Ft Madison, so they limped along the last 20 miles or so. They are now driving one of our Saturns until Lynn can get the truck fixed. We helped them unload the truck right when they got here and WOW! I don't think I have ever seen anything packed so tight. I don't think they could have fit another thing in the back of that truck.
We had such a great day! The kids all exchanged presents.
Then we got to play "Duck, Duck, Goose" it took forever to get the rules figured out. (I'm not sure we ever did) but we sure had a good time playing games.
The up and coming singing sensation AABC or Double A B C gave a stellar performance Sunday at the home of Amber Steen, one of the A's in double A B C. The other A, Angelique has just returned to Nauvoo to visit her family for the Christmas holiday bringing the group together again for a few brief but exciting performances much to the delight of their fans. Double ABC is made up of Angelique Hallman(19), Amber Steen(16), Bryce Capener(16), and Chantelle Hallman(18). As fans we are looking forward to anything they do because they are so GOOD!!
