(Break from shoveling).
(Shot overlooking the west side of the family farm).
We spent two weeks up in Iowa visiting family for Christmas. Grandma and Grandpa Fenton's house was covered with snow, they already had over 28” of snow and it snowed another 8” on Christmas Eve Day. The perfectly spotless blanket of white made for a beautiful Christmas morning. The natives seemed blind to the scenic beauty of it, my dad handed us a shovel and said “go see if its still beautiful when you are done”. For good reason, it get tiresome day after day. But for us it made for a perfect week. Eliza learned to love sledding, the faster she went the louder she laughed. Grandpa piled huge mounds of snow to build forts. I found my first pair of CC skis in the hay loft and Erin was a natural. Ike didn't care much for out the out doors (he was embarrassed about wearing his sisters pink princess boots). So he lingered inside making friends with Sam, the gigantic cat.
Dad took Jared and I out to the farm to shoot some rather large firearms. I got a new gun for Christmas (S&W .40). Its was only 8 degrees out that morning and windy but we couldn't pass up the chance.
We spent the week hanging with my brother Max and his wife Jodi, making Christmas cookies with Grandma and seeing aunts, uncles and family. The girl cousins all went sledding at the school hill. One of the best present we received was from my aunt. She took all my grandmas quilt blocks and old fabric and made all three kiddos quilts. We all got finished quilt blocks to hang on the wall. They turned out beautiful! Over all it was such a fun relaxing week enjoying the quietness of NE Iowa.
We then drove to Jared's parents home, which was the opposite of quite. For the first time in years all nine members of Jared's immediate family, five in-laws and kids were together. It was so good to get together and we spent many late nights hashing out game after game of Ticket to Ride. I hardly saw my children at all that week as they had someone at their beckon call to play with them. And they had a blast playing with their cousins. I read the whole Chronicles of Narnia series with my down time. Erin and Eliza spent the week playing dress up and dolls and Ike flashed his dashingly handsome smile to make sure he was being fed a constant supply of cookies. Ike decided it was time to talk. Within a week he went from saying nothing to almost a dozen words (one being cookie).
It would have been a perfect vacation minus Erin got sick on the way home. She threw up five time, so we drove straight through on the way home. Eliza and Jared were sick the night we arrived home and mom was thrust out of her restful vacation to into loads of puke laundry and having to carpet clean the van.
And now 2011 commences, I wonder what it will have it store for us!
No comments:
Post a Comment