ice ice ....and a baby

As most of you experienced, the snow, ice, and freezing temperatures set in on Christmas day while we were visiting our family in Newhope. We ended up staying an extra night due to the weather. We typically come home on Christmas day in the afternoon in order to have Christmas at our house. We stayed until Wednesday and then made the journey back home. It took us a little while to get home once we hit the Hot Springs area because the bypass was in bad shape.
Trees were everywhere and traffic was slow going.

We were glad to get home.

But I wasn't sure why after the second night with no electricity

It was freezing at night and Alex spent each night getting up to keep the fire going.

We had entertained the idea of taking our annual Christmas trip to Branson for several weeks and just never figured out a good time to go. I started asking Alex about going again since we had no power at home. He went back and forth on whether we should go or not because snow and more freezing temps were in the forecast for the Branson area. Around noon on Friday Alex called me and said that if I would get everything together for us to leave soon, we could go to Branson for a couple of nights.

I grabbed some (still dirty due to no washer/dryer) luggage and we headed to Branson.

We all had a warm Mexican meal, took warm showers, and washed all of our clothes once we arrived.

We spent the next couple of days shopping, eating, and checking out a couple of places that the kids loved. We took them to the Titanic for the first time. The girls loved keeping track of their characters throughout the museum and finding out if they survived at the end.

 

And, OF COURSE, we could not pass up the Dixie Stampede. It's our family tradition. The girls have a blast every year.

 

Alex got word the first night that we were in Branson that our electricity was back on....figures.

At least I got him to go before that happened or we wouldn't have had our mini-vacation.

The power then went out a couple more times while we were gone but all was lit when we got back home.

It has been SO nice to catch up on cleaning out the refrigerator, washing clothes, and getting settled  back in.

 

I get to face the real world again tomorrow. Back to work.

The girls are out the rest of the week and get to go spend it with their cousins and grandparents.

 

Oh- I can't forget to mention the "baby" part of this post.

Seth and Rachel gave my parents the best gift ever for Christmas this year.

 

I can't wait to meet this little one and I hope I get spoil the little bugger often!

 

Happy New Year!!!