Its The FINAL COUNTDOWN!!!!

Picture loud, rauncous, headbanger, 80's music in the background. Its not actually playing, but whenever I think of the above title the music is ringing in my ears. I seem to have spent way too much time listening to 80's Rock Music in my youth. You'all can forgive me for that can't you.

Only less than 8 days until we board our plane and are Hawaii bound. Hope, Hope, Hope for good flying weather. I have only had one truly bad flying experience in all my years of flying. When I flew to OK for Drave & Kristas wedding the plane made a very sudden drop and was being bumped about as if we were on some central America potholed road in the sky. I gripped the arm rest so tightly that my hands and fingers turned white, all color left my face, I must have looked pretty bad because the elderly gentleman sitting next to me started patting my hand "It's going to be ok honey, now don't you worry, these pilots know what they're doing, ect...
And they did of course. We landed safe and sound. After which the pilot got on the PA and spoke these comforting words, "Ladies & Gentlemen, I apologize for the bumpy flight, However, we were able to keep the airplane on the very outskirts of the tornado, I hope you enjoy your stay in Tulsa." WHAT??? Did that guy just say TORNADO? But, after I got safely off the plane little Miranda who was about 9 at the time said," Oh, J....I am so glad you are safe I was praying, and praying cause you were up there in that tornado. Ahhh, what a sweetie.

This time however I am not flying to OK in Tornado Season. No I am flying to Hawaii in the middle of winter via Denver (I see no problem at all here, do you?), with my loving & patient hubby, who I might add, hates to fly. I'm sure everything will be fine. Heh, heh. Well if everyone is praying for us I'm sure it will be.

Currently I am going through my piles of clothing and trying to figure out what to pack. I just know if I try on a thousand different ensembels I will hit upon the perfect outfit to wear to dinner our first night. As for the trip out there I shall wear a pair of jeans, good tennis shoes, a t-shirt, covered by a warm sweatshirt. And possibly a floatation device.

Thats Right I AM the Party Momma

Up & At 'em Bright & Early

I had a horrible headache last night. My body is still trying to recover from being thrashed about by a semi. I woke at about 4:30 this morning and after 30 minutes of tossing & turning I got up & dressed and went to work on the house. Started a load of wash. Cleaned the kitchen and walked for 30 minutes on my treadmill. Not wanting to waste this running start to my day I woke Emily & Alex up for school at 6:15. Their bus comes by at 7 :20 and I knew Em needed a shower, and Alex tends to be extra slow on Mondays. So after the usual Monday morning crisis they were dressed and shoed and ready to head out the door. About 7:30 Emily came back in and told me they must have missed the bus. Oh pish posh I say, she is probably just running a bit late today give her a few more minutes. So they waited. And waited and waited. Well gee they must have missed the bus. Emily says "Mom, did you know that today is Martin Luther King day?" WHAT?? Perhaps I should check the school website.

No School Today. My childern are overjoyed. I am slightly embarrassed.

The News of my demise.....

has been greatly exagerated. Thank Heavens!

As most of you have no doubt heard by now I wrecked our new van last Friday morning. Don't try to take on a semi--99% of the time you will lose.

I hit some black ice on the way to grandmas and flew (like a bullet shot from a gun) through a stop sign. I had absolutely no traction so couldn't turn or stop or do anything. There is usually no traffic on Falcon road at that time of day so I thought I might make it to a stop on the other side of the road. Problem is there was a small semi-truck & trailer on Falcon and well, I hit him. I hit the trailer not the truck so the driver is uninjured. That is truly a blessing.

Amy & I are both ok. My neck is still pretty sore on the left side, and Amy is accquiring her very first black eye. It actually just started turning colors yesterday. Before that it was just very red. She hit her head on the door, but she has bounced back from this very quickly.

I just heard from the insurance company that they have totalled the van (no, really??) So I am without a vehicle, and now without a payment also. We will need to be finding me something to drive, but hopefully not until I get back from Hawaii.

On a lighter note, Alan & I went to the pool this week and practiced snorkeling. It was a bunch of fun. Hopefully we will get to go once or twice more before the trip so we will be semi capable when we go out on the snorkel boat.

Yesterday Amy & I went to Grand Junction with Mom Mc and dropped her off at Aunt Lenores. The Amy & I went to JCP and had her pictures taken. It was the first time I've had them taken professionally since she was a year old! She will be five next week. I am a HORRIBLE mother. Time passes much more quickly the older you get and I just let it get away from me. I didn't intend to have her picture done, but we pulled up outside the mall and I thought "I could be going to a funeral today for this little girl, instead of taking her shopping", I realized how close I came to losing her and decided then and there that we were doing pictures. So I rushed in a bought her a new outfit. She looked adorable by the way. The lady didn't have any other appts. that morning so she took quite a bit of time with her. The pictures will be in Jan 21st. I will post some online so you'all can see how cute she is.

While I was there Uncle John called and said that Lanise had a baby girl!! Yey! I am so happy for them. Of course we had to stop by and see her on the way home. She is a beauty.

All your phone calls, thoughts & prayers have been greatly appreciated.

Still Alive & Kicken'

So rather than dwell on all the horrible stuff that happened last year I have finally decided to post again and let you all know what I am truly thankful for in the year 2009. I know it isn't Thanksgiving anymore, but just work with me here people.

1. I am so thankful to be in the Faith & to be able to raise my children in this wonderful home with their awesome daddy. I know too many people for whatever reason don't have this.

2. I'm thankful for Alan, who has to be one of the nicest, kindest, best looking (ya'all get the drift) men I have ever known. It has been an absolutely amazing 15 years with him.

3. I'm thankful to only have less than 30 days until our trip to Hawaii!!! Can you believe it?? I still drool over the beach pictures daily. Sis & I talk several times a day about our upcoming vacation. Working out every single detail ahead of time, because I am such a "Type A" person. I must be in control at all times. Plus I just really like to plan.

4. I'm thankful the youngkids finally came to our house last Sunday just to hangout and I didn't totally stress out about everything. They wrestled in livingroom (after pushing the new furniture against the walls), they played the Wii for hours, they ate chips & pop, and cake, and pretty much whatever we had in the house. All in all a very good day.

5. I'm thankful Aunt Debbie Smith got to come and visit us for a weekend even if the reason for her journey wasn't the happiest. (Bro. Buds Funeral).

6. I'm thankful that I have 5 healthy happy kids who occasionally drive me crazy.

7. I'm thankful to have so many people I can truly call friends. Some that I only get to see very occasionally and others who are an almost daily part of my life. It is a great feeling to not feel like the social outcast that I was in grade school. To finally feel grown up enough to know what true friends are and how to be one to all of mine even if I sometime fail at the attempt.

8. I hope you all know how much I love and adore you. You West Coasters who I miss so much. You Okies whom I don't get to see enough of and all the others who I have not had the privelage to meet face to face yet. Someday, maybe. I'm even thankful for the lurkers out there who are too shy to come out and say high.

Thanks for listening to my trials and travails of the last year and lets hope for sunshine and happiness in 2009.

Missy Dog

When we moved here 6 1/2 years ago we were presented with a 1 yr old puppy. A beautiful border collie. The kids named her Missy. She quickly became part of the family. She also became heavy, noisey, and hyper ( but we won't go there right now). During the summer drilling season Missy would jump into the back of the pick-up and head out with Alan & the boys to drill.

When we returned from our various trips she would greet us with barking, whining (where Have you been?), and licking everyone. We have had Missy longer than we have had Amy!!

Last Monday Alan was building fence in the field and Missy got under the pick-up and was ran over. She died about 20 minutes later. It was pretty sad for all of us. How do say good bye to a pet. She was more like a member of our family.

I will be soo0 happy when this year is over. I am tired of death. Tired of losing the people I love when they are much too young to die. Missing little Josiah today terribly. And my Mom, and my Uncle Ben, and Aunt Betha, and Josh, and, and, and. I will be happy to ring in 2009.

An unexpected gift

I have been blessed with many friends throughout my life. Some are around for a short time and then I don't see them anymore, and there are those that have been around for most of my life and will always be. But no matter cause with most of my friends we are able to pick up right where we left off weather it has been 2 days or 20 years, the friendship never dies.

Before we left for Oklahoma I was reading Mrs. Mom Wests' blog and there was a picture of a friend of mine from Oklahoma that I had not seen for 16 (thats right SIXTEEN) years. This friend was in a terrible car accident about a year ago and in that accident her back was broken. I had been pretty distressed about it at the time, but had heard that she had recovered for the most part. Anyway, I saw this picture of her and thought how wonderful it would be to get to see her again.

The Saturday before Thanksgiving we were in Parkland at a little pizza party at Lora Jacksons (one of those life long friends), and there were many, many people there. We hadn't been there long at all when this friend (Charlotte) walked in the door. We must have hugged each other for five minutes straight!! I was so happy to see her again. She had brought her childern up from Purcell for the evening, kind of a spur of the moment thing. I really feel that the Lord just put it in her mind to be there, as a special gift to me. We had such a wonderful enjoyable evening. I have pictures but left my camera at the church the other day. I'll try to post them later. Sometimes the very best gifts are those that are unplanned and completely unexpected.

In addition to that we were able to spend the first part of Thanksgiving week with Evan & Sarah as they were in Oklahoma the same week we were. What a great time we had. Also a very unexpected gift. The lady at a convinence store thought Alan was Evans dad. I don't know if he will ever live that one down. Sarah took to calling us Nanny & Poppa McCracken. Just cracked me up!!

We had a super great time at my sisters house for Thanksgiving. Tons of yummy food, and my sis had invited a family over that had no relatives in the area. They are from Kentucky and could not drive back for Thanksgiving. They were a really nice family. Our family has an ornament exchange after dinner and it was quite fun this year, with all the ornament stealing and hiding. My sisters oldest son Alan Wayne is engaged to get married to his highschool sweetheart. She is a lovely lady and fits in quite well with our family.

Friday after TG my sister Cindy and I spent a lot of time shopping together. It was a bunch of fun. Saturday we started home and drove straight through. Went to church at home Sunday and had a great meeting. Bro. Richard & Sis. Krista were here. As were Gale & her family. We had such a great meeting. But I'll let Neena tell you all about that.

So our lives have been crazy busy lately. That time of year I suppose. Just found out this morning that my Uncle Russ & Aunt Priscilla will be here tomorrow. It will be nice to see them again. If I don't post again for a while its because of all this busyness.