Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! We hope you had a wonderful New Year's Eve...let us tell you a little about ours...

We got up at 4:15 a.m. and were on the road home by 5:20 a.m. The trip was great...our kids are actually very good travelers! We just wanted to be home before all the "crazies" hit the road, so we took our time on our stops...eating lunch at Cracker Barrel in Phoenix, our favorite place to eat when we're doing the Farmington trip! Anyway...the trip was going fine. We were on schedule to arrive home by the 4:30 football game (the trip takes 12 hours...we gained an hour on the way home!) when just as we passed Palm Springs, the I-10 came to a stand still!

Now, usually Shane drives, but he was getting tired, so I took over just before Blythe...my FAVORITE place on earth...NOT! So, here I am inching along on the freeway. I'm sure those of you who know I got a navigation system for Christmas are wondering why I just didn't find an alternate route home...well...I left it in my bedroom...because why would I need it for a trip we know like the back of our hands...big mistake! We were about 20 minutes from home by this time...without traffic. I was going about 5 miles/hour when Parker said he had a headache. Shane gave him some Motrin and we continued on our way. About 30 minutes later (by this time we were only to Banning) Parker says the music is too loud and asks us to turn it down. By this time I'm sandwiched between 3 semi trucks...then it came...the dreaded phrase NO parent wants to hear when she is stuck on the freeway...Parker announced that he felt like he was going to THROW UP! Shane quickly gave him the brown bag from Cracker Barrel we had in the front seat...and then it happened...Parker threw up...as I was stuck on the freeway with no place to go! Of course, there was a hole in the bag, and it started getting all soggy...so Shane was frantically emptying out a plastic bag of dirty clothes and he gave that one to Parker.

Well...within 5 minutes, Parker (his face as white as a sheet) was asleep, Shane was cleaning up the mess...mumbling that he should be driving and I should be cleaning it up...and those of you who know me know that at this point I'm about to lose it myself just from the smell and I'm counting my blessings that I'm driving and not cleaning...or we'd be in real trouble!

I finally got off the freeway in Beaumont. Well...we made the mistake of taking 8th street. Another bonus of the day...we actually got to drive by a person getting arrested in his front yard!

It only took us an hour and a half to drive that last 20 minutes of our trip...and we were finally home! Turns out, Parker was just car sick...and had eaten way too much candy!

So, I'm sure as you can imagine...we were exhausted by the time 9 p.m. came around! Shane and I watched the ball drop in New York on ESPN while we waited for the crazy guy to jump onto a building on his motorcycle...then we decided that it was 2009 in the east coast, so we got out the Martinelli's and toasted the New Year with the kids!

Yeah...this is as "CRAZY" as we were about to get last night!

After the big toast, we put the kids to bed, watched the "face-painter" episode of Seinfeld, and then got in bed! Shane was fast asleep as midnight hit the west coast...I was totally creeped out by Dick Clark's orange face...way too much make up on that poor guy! I watched the ball drop, said, "Happy New Year!" to myself, and fell asleep!

So...I guess you could say that 2008 went out with a bang for us! It was definitely a day we won't soon forget! We hope you had a wonderful New Year's Eve and a great New Year's Day!

Happy 2009!!!