Day 582

Wow.  It's been a very exciting past few days.  Sorry I haven't kept up with this... I didn't have internet access for my laptop and have formally given up blogging on my phone.

Sunday:
Kimmy had to work another midnight to 8 am shift.  I'm glad she doesn't have to do that anymore.  She slept for a while when she got back and I did some packing and cleaning.  I did a little studying, but mostly I just got ready for our trip to Springfield.

I think we finally left around 4.  The drive was fairly uneventful, if I recall.  It was a bit windy, but largely uneventful.  Shortly after arriving at Kimmy's grandparents' (where we stayed), it occurred to us that we'd forgotten all of our toiletries.  So we made a couple quick stops to the dollar tree and Walgreens so that we could do the important things... like brush our teeth and I could take out my contacts.  We spent the rest of the evening talking with Kimmy's mom and grandparents.

Monday:
I was officially initiated into Kimmy's Christmas tradition through the making of noodles.  It was fun.  They make the dough from scratch, then rolling it out and cut it up.

Eventually everyone went to their various family functions, Kimmy napped, and I studied.  I was able to get a lot done, so that's good.  That evening we went to have Christmas with Kimmy's dad's side of the family.  I met some new people and ate really good food!

Tuesday:
It was Christmas!  After we got up we all went over to Kimmy's cousin (Amanda)'s house, had breakfast, and opened gifts.  Then we had breakfast part 2!  After breakfast I played with Cole (Amanda's son)... someone had to help him break in all his new toys!

After talking with various family members for a while I took a nap.  This is a rare occurrence for me... but I felt way better afterwards.  And I woke up just in time to eat dinner!  I have great timing.

Dinner was fantastic. We had mashed potatoes, green beans, sweet potato casserole, beef, noodles, and green stuff.  And they gave us many many leftovers!  :D

But then we had to go home :(  We had a long trip ahead of us and wanted to get back before the storm got bad.

When we got home, we feared that the cats might have destroyed something.  Thankfully the house was in tact.  The only issue we came across was that beans had gotten somehow peeled the cardboard back from the bathtub and gotten stuck underneath it.  But she is now safe.

So the end.  We have lots of cleaning to do today... so that'll be fun!