Looking back on Christmas - traveling around Missouri

During the month, we drove to Kansas City three times!  The first time was on Wednesday, the 19^th to drop off a sister in the ward at the airport and to pick up Kirsti and Ryan.  Lizzy needed to be there by 8:00 in the morning so we left pretty darn early.  After depositing her, Steve and I attended a session at the temple since it is only about 15 minutes from the airport.  Weather in Denver was wintery that day so we knew that there was a possibility that Kirsti and Ryan might be delayed and, sure enough, they were.  They missed their connecting flight in Denver and didn’t land until after 8:30 p.m.  So, what to do with a whole afternoon of FREE TIME?????  Wow, what a gift!  We finished our Christmas shopping.  We found a couple of white shirts for Steve.  We went to a movie.  We ate dinner at Golden Corral.  We had a great time.  Driving home from this trip was NOT a great time, though.  TORRENTIAL rain in the KC area that didn’t lighten until we were half-way home.    The second trip to Kansas City was to pick Lizzy up from the airport the Saturday after Christmas.  Only I went that time and discovered a faster route to the airport.  After all these years, we will now go on I-29?  Who knew???  The third trip was to take Ryan and Kirsti to the airport on New Year’s Day afternoon.  We celebrated Kirsti and Steve’s January birthdays a little early by having bar-b-que at a restaurant called the Smokehouse.  Yummmm.

We drove to St. Louis for our traditional St. Charles adventure on December 22^nd.  Many of us attended a morning temple session.  Emily, Julina, Elise, Melanie, Steve, and I went to see Wicked at the Fox Theater that afternoon and then the evening was for dinner and shopping at St. Charles.  It was a LONG day – but gave many nice memories.

 Emily and Joe

 

Kirsti and Ryan

 

Steven and Tamara (thanks for making the dinner reservation, guys)

 

Elise and Sarah 

Smile, Julina!  Melanie is.

 

Noah sporting his raccoon hat he got with his St. Charles money

Oh, Lucy!

 I got to drive to Versailles…….Missouri, that is, on the 21^st.  WHY????  Well, the stake Relief Society budget had $100 allotted for quilt batting for our humanitarian projects and the absolute cheapest place to buy batting in bulk is at a small Mennonite fabric shop out in the middle of nowhere near Versailles.  So, armed with just a basic set of directions, I drove on interstate, I drove on state highways, I drove on dirt roads (and thought I was lost for a bit) to make the purchase of two HUGE rolls of batting swathed in pink plastic which I then bungeed into the back of the truck and now store in my garage until they are needed.  I had to do this before the end of 2012 because we use or lose the money given to us for the year. 

Finally, after I returned from getting Lizzy from the airport the Saturday after Christmas, Steve, Kirsti, Ryan, and I drove up to Clark to visit a couple of Amish stores – a grocery that sells food commodities in bulk and a bakery.  It was fun to show the kids the area and to see horse-drawn carts and folks in traditional Amish clothing.  And, we got some great deals.