Sensible Shoes

What do you do when the weather is 10 degrees and most of your shoes look like this? First you dig for that coupon you know you had somewhere for $10 off any pair of shoes, and head for the mall. When you arrive, you find that the store you have the coupon for is nowhere to be found. Disappointed that you can't use your very valuable coupon, but also desperate for some shoes to wear to church, you decide you are desperate enough that you will actually pay the department store price. Much to your delight, upon entering the shoe department, you see they are having a sale on shoes! After admiring all the new fashions and picturing yourself in those sexy Stilettos that will make you at least 5 inches taller, and reasoning that the extra money you spend will save you the cost of altering the pants that are too long for you....you come back to reality. The only problem now is to find something in your size. There are plenty of shoes, but each time you request to try a pair on, you are told they don't have it in your size. You get the impression that the shoe salesman thinks you should settle for one size bigger where you will have a lot more to choose from. You compromise on one pair and get it in a size 61/2 instead of a 6, and tell yourself that when you're not cold, your feet will swell and they will fit just fine.

You head home with your sensible shoes in the bag, and are happy to have found at least one pair of something other than black. Navy blue dress shoes will give you a little variety right? Sunday morning comes and you decide on the blue skirt. You wait until the last minute to put the shoes on. When you do, you notice they don't feel quite right. You wonder if your right foot is really that much bigger than your left. You look inside the right and left shoe and discover they have given you a different size for each foot. You change clothes and put on the other pair that could pass as dress shoes, only to realize that the 6 1/2 are too big and would require thick socks to make them not slip up and down like flip-flops. Finally, because you are now going to be late if you don't hurry, you slip on the flats and call it good. You head off to church in your sensible shoes. You have saved the coupon.....maybe those sexy Stilettos are still a possibility.

Robyn and Joe's Wedding . . . One for the Books

I haven't seen it yet, but evidently some of the pictures of Robyn's wedding reception made it into Aunt Jeri and her daughter Amy's new book. Several months ago, Jeri called and asked me if we had any pictures I could send her from Robyn and Joe's reception that she could use in her book. She was hoping we had some showing how we had decorated. I looked through all the pictures I had and was a little disappointed that we didn't really have any showing how pretty it was. So I sent her what I had and then forgot about it thinking none of them would work. Well....evidently a few of them did work. In an e-mail from Jeri she said that Robyn's wedding pictures made it when even her own daughter and her sister-in-law's daughter's pictures didn't. So.....surprise.....Robyn and Joe's reception can now be called "one for the books"!

Back to Parking in the South 40

Which car will it be..... After sitting behind the wheel of the Nismo 350 Z,

and checking out the new GTR, which is a handbuilt, race prepared/street legal car of which only 2500 will be made for sale in the U.S....

We drove home a new Altima. You'd think we'd at least have gotten a different color so we'd look like we're driving a new car. I think red was our second choice. Oh well.....I'm not complaining. It's new, it smells new, I don't have to dig for my keys because it's keyless, it has a navi so I won't get lost, the seat warmers work great, and, best of all, there are no annoying dings in any of the doors. Therefore, I will be parking in the south 40 for a while. Oh, and just so you know....it has already been to the carwash and rained on the next day.

Our Crazy Christmas

Sorry I've been missing in action for the last week or two. Between jet lag and a ruptured disc in my back, I've been absent in more ways than one. The drugs are great, but leave me without much of a brain. Bob is concerned that his wife will soon be on her way to rehab. Move over Brittany!

We left Nashville on December 18th and flew to Salt Lake City where we spent a few days at Robyn and Joe's house. This picture shows little Parker with a few of his "favorites". He has become attached to his Elmo slippers, his Thomas the Train pj top, and his sippy cup. We just happened to catch a picture of him with all of them. Our few days in Salt Lake City went by way too fast. It was fun to see all the snow and experience that wonderful "White Christmas" feeling. It's been a long time since we've seen real snow. We don't get real snow here in Nashville. A weather reporter described the man made snow in the mountains like skiing on a snow cone. A few days in Salt Lake City, and we were in the air again bound for sunny San Diego for Christmas. We hated to leave our Salt Lake kids behind, but knew they had a great Christmas planned with Joe's family. They are blessed to have lots of family close by.

We arrived in San Diego to wonderful sunny weather. We took a drive up the 5 Freeway and took in the sights and sounds of the California we have missed so much. Yes...this is what Christmas is supposed to look like...

and sound like! Bob found K-earth 101 oldies on the FM dial. He was in heaven!

Now this is the crazy part. Do we actually miss this? It's crazy when you feel at home on a freeway that looks like this!

One of the highlights of our San Diego trip was taking the family to the Del Mar racetrack to see the lights. Yes it is California....and they do charge you to drive through with the other hundreds of people to see these lights, but it was fun. Little Blake gave us a scare when he grabbed the steaming hot chocolate out of his mom's hands and took a sip. He was so shocked by the experience that he actually threw up into a grocery bag we had in the car. He recovered faster than the rest of us did. Note to self...hot chocolate should not be so hot next time. We stuck the bag on top of the car and continued our slow drive to the beginning of the light show. When asked what we had on top of the car, Devon just told the guy it was some garbage. He took it off the top of the car and threw it away for us. I wonder what he would have thought if he had know what it actually was!

We had a very cooperative angel and two reluctant shepherds, but were able to catch this cute picture of them on Christmas Eve. They were so excited and cute to watch as they acted out the nativity story for us. Of course, the baby Jesus in the basket of straw was emptied a few times, but we all loved watching them.

Bob decided he wanted to be in charge of the food for our Christmas Eve dinner this year and cook his very first beef tenderloin. His good friend Gary gave him instructions on how to prepare the meat and cook it. Devon was a bit heartsick when he saw that part of the preparation included three kinds of mustard, but he even loved the result. Way to go Bob! We think you've just worked yourself into a new tradition!

Of course, after the traditional picture on the staircase before the kids were able to look at what Santa brought, we had our Christmas morning breakfast.

There's nothing like a warm December day at the beach! Isn't this how Christmas is supposed to feel? I think Michael would have liked to stay longer and bask in the warm California sun, but Christmas night found us back in the airport heading for Salt Lake.

The next night (Dec. 26) we opened gifts and celebrated with Robyn and Joe. Parker came down with the flu and wasn't feeling very well for our last leg of our trip, but he was still excited about everything that was going on around him.

We had dinner with Bob's family and were able to catch up on nieces, nephews, brothers and sisters. There's never enough time to do all we would like to do, but thanks to a devoted family, they always make time for us. Thank you for taking the time to get together with us.

We received news that my cousin Kathi passed away on December 23rd and were glad we were able to attend her funeral on the 27th of December. So young, so soon....she will be so missed!

Needless to say, this was a crazy Christmas! Six airplanes, packing, driving, shopping, wrapping, stressing, worrying, laughing, hugging, celebrating, cooking, cleaning, kisses, and lots of tears. Such joy in the happy moments and such sorrow in the sad. We saw it all this Christmas!