GIANT POST---you have been warned!

Still here. Still kickin'. Trying to get back into the swing of things. We were gone to Texas for almost three whole weeks & we loved every minute of it. I just wanted to share some of our crazy Christmas with you.

Santa came to our house here in California on the 16th before we left for Texas. He was really sweet this year and I am sad that I didn't have a camera to catch all the fun gift opening. Thankfully we do have a very cool video camera and Rusty got it all on video. The girls were so excited to get to open presents so early...and so was I!

So on the 18th the girls and I hopped on a plane to Texas. Well, let me say this right. We were supposed to hop on a plane to Vegas, then to Denver and then supposedly on to Dallas. (This was a good idea to me, because I thought that if I got off the plane every so often and walked around, it would help me not swell really bad) Whatever! The day before I got a phone call from the airline that my flights were all cancelled due to weather in Vegas. Huh? Yeah, apparently Vegas got hit with a snowstorm and they got a whole six inches....crazy!! So my sweet husband who apparently has patience of a saint took care of everything and got us rearranged flights. This time to Aspen, then Denver and finally to Dallas. (Oh ps..there were no straight through flights to DFW if you were using your miles this late in the game) So, yay, I was super excited, we'd be arriving in Dallas around 3 or 4 that afternoon. I'm pausing here because it's fixin' to get ugly!

Thursday the 18th arrives, everything is fine, we arrive at the airport around 5:30am. No flights are cancelled for us. We take off and on the way to Aspen the flight attendant comes over the intercom and says there is a bad storm headed our way so they may go ahead and just head to Denver, but if they think we can safely land and the storm isn't going to get too bad then we'll land in Aspen. At this point I'm thinking, "Please, oh please just head to Denver"....nope we land in Aspen. It's snowing. But not horrible. We get out of the plane, go through security again in Aspen (by the way, I have never seen so many women wearing fur, diamonds and heeled boots in one location in all my life. It was quite the sight!) and the girls and I get something to eat. They reloaded us on the plane thinking that they had about a 15 minute window of clear sky to take off....no they didn't. It came a blizzard. You couldn't see the mountains surrounding us or much of the runway for that matter. It was pretty to see the snow and the girls got to touch it. Plus and this is a huge plus, the girls were awesome. They never fought or cried once!!!!! I can't remember how long we were there, but I know we missed our flight from Denver to DFW. Rusty was a huge help and got us new flights to Texas for like 5 that evening. That way we couldn't miss it. We finally took off from Aspen and it only took like 40 minutes maybe to get to Denver. PS I am amazed at how these places get their runways cleared off. I didn't feel scared once. In Denver we run down to American Airlines to get our new boarding passes since we were having to change airlines and they inform me that I have to go get the boarding passes from United because they had the originals. WHAT....but, but the lines at United is like a two hour wait and my flight for Texas takes off in like 45. He says he thinks I can make it. Well, I try. I really do. (Use your imagination here... 8 month pregnant woman with two kids and carry-ons running through the airport) I tried just using the kiosk thingy, that didn't work. So I got in the line. The girls sat down against the wall and played and read. The line really took about an hour and a half. Needless to say, I missed my 5o'clock flight. While I was waiting I called United and got some new tickets that the lady at the help desk would be able to print off for me. The girls passed out in the floor of the airport while I was in line waiting. When I finally got up to the courtesy desk I told her what was happening and that there were supposed to be tickets for me in her system. There were NO tickets. I almost cried, but I was so tired I couldn't. So we got other tickets for a 7 something flight. Then I woke up the girls, ran back down to American, got our new tickets, grabbed us some Micky D's (after not eating all day, this stuff was AMAZING!!!!) and sat and ate and waited for our new flight. It got delayed a little, but not bad. While we were eating though, we decided it would be fun to see how swollen I was since I hadn't sat down in a while to check. I wish I had snapped a shot with my phone. My ankles and calves literally had swollen wider than my shoes...I had giant cankles!!!!! Hannah and Mallorie thought it was hilarious...I worried I might die....just kidding, but I was a little. Anywho, we finally made it to Dallas...my luggage arrived before us. Not sure why we couldn't get there with it, but who cares at this point. I was happy to see my parents and just as happy to get to Texas. The next morning when I got up my ankles were back to almost normal and Rusty flew in directly to DFW with no problems except for a rude cab driver in Dallas, but that's nothing..

While in Texas we had such fun. My sweet sister in law and mother in law threw me a baby shower. I did expect some family members there, but her house was full of family and friends. I was so shocked. I haven't seen some of these people in years. That made all the horrible travelling from the day before seem so worth it!

We had Christmas at Mom and Dad's Sunday and got so spoiled as usual. They gave us a Wii as a family gift. That was such fun while we were there. Everyone played and had such a blast.

Rusty and I also got to meet Becky's boyfriend (finally). We really liked him. Totally laid back good guy. Oh and ps after they went back to Lafayette Dad got a call from him totally asking for "permission"....you know the question I'm talking about. Oh yeah, Becky's engaged!!! Christmas Eve he purposed and she accepted! We are all so happy for her and her ring is beautiful.

Sweet!

Anyway, we had Christmas morning with Rusty's Mom and then that afternoon with his Dad. Everyone was too generous this year, we were so spoiled. And too well fed if you get my drift. I won't say any actual weights, but Rusty gained like 7 pounds in week. Unbelievable!! (I'm mean and just wanted to throw that in there)

Here is the girls with Rusty's little brother and their cousin Grant. This is not that early...they all just make it look that way!




Lively group, huh!? Oh another awesome ps...Tiana, Rusty's sister, the one sitting there looking all excited...preggers! Oh yeah, due in August. I can't wait to have my first little niece or nephew!



Here we are at Rusty's Dad's outside taking pictures. Cutie Mallorie also taking some pics.

While in Texas the girls got to ride Poppi's 4-wheeler...which they loved. To all of you helmet police out there who might take offense to this pic, too bad!I know the first pic was ultra fuzzy, but I had just got that new camera and was trying to take pictures in the dusk and couldn't find the right setting. This second picture just makes me laugh because it looks like they are about to run over Mally. They were actually going in reverse, but it's just funny.

Here is a sad picture for you...Hannah with poison ivy on her face on a Friday.Hannah with her face completely swollen Sunday morning with the poison ivy.

Let me give you some back story on this....

On like Tuesday she had some spots under her eyes. I figured she has sprayed perfume and it had irritated her eyes. Everyday it got a little worse, but we bought the pink medicine...you know the stuff...I don't know how to spell it though, so you just have to guess. We went to my grandmothers on Saturday with it all over her face and some anti-histamines in her system for the itchiness. By this point we know it has to be poison ivy. On Sunday she woke up like this. Poor baby didn't even look like herself. She said she looked like an alien. A little trip to minor emergency, a steroid shot in the hiney and a prescription for cortisone rub for her face and we are now almost all better. Apparently Rusty and a lot of his family are highly allergic to poison ivy, oak, and sumac. Not me...I've never had a case of this stuff! This scared me so much.

So, there was our Christmas. For New Year, we stayed up all night ringing in the New Year, but just barely. We were yawning at 8:30pm! Plus I worked on making a bunch of crosses as gifts for girlfriends while there. This is so much fun. And they look so pretty hanging on your walls.

I hope everybody enjoyed Christmas and New Year, got to be with your loved ones and ate too much food. We are now only FIVE WEEKS away from meeting our newest addition to the family. Keep us in your prayers as we prepare. I have the most wonderful girlfriends and church in the world who are taking care of us with multiple baby showers. I truly did not expect to get any showers since this is my third baby, but these ladies are going above and beyond. I am so blessed to have them in my life.

Have a good week and hopefully I'll post again really soon!