Back from Stephenville

We made it back home from visiting the parents. At the last minute hubby began to feel better and was able to go too. I was very happy that he felt like going. In 20 years, we have only been apart once and I was not looking forward to being apart this year. We had a really good, but exhausting time. My parents actually live in a small community called Shelby which is outside of Stephenville near Lingleville. Stephenville and the surrounding area is smack in the middle of dairy country, so it has a very "unique" smell. Since they don't live inside the city, the computer access is dialup, the television is satellite, and your cell phone rarely works.

We left here on the 23rd and arrived at Mom's around noon. Dad got home from work shortly after and announced that he had the rest of the week off. My Mom works for the school district so she is off until after the first of the year and my Dad is a surveyor. Mom had a roast almost done so we sat down and ate a late lunch when Dad got home. After that went for a walk in the pasture to exercise the dogs and work off our lunch. We also had to run in to town to pick up a couple of items we had forgotten. While there we decided to pick up chicken for dinner. There were three of us picking out items to order. It didn't sound like we were ordering very much, but when we finished the bag was so large it almost didn't fit through the drive through window! Needless to say, we snacked on leftover chicken for several days.

On the 24th we went to the cemetary to visit my grandparents grave, went to a couple of other cemetaries to get some of the geneaology info my Mom was needing, and then went to my parents favorite restuarant called Mary's. By the time we got home, my uncle had been calling looking for Dad to go help with feeding the cows, so we went wandering around the property while Dad and my uncle fed the cows. When we got home, we just had left over chicken for dinner and then relaxed while watching a couple of movies my brother had brought home from work (he still lives with my parents).

My family is not big on exchanging gifts. Instead we spend the time just being with each other. On Christmas Day we got up and I helped my Mom cook a yummy meal of ham, chicken and dressing, potatoes, corn, okra, lemon bars, and fruit salad. We all ate too much so we decided to go Geocaching to work off our lunch. My parents really enjoy Geocaching, but won't go without us. Also, their GPS unit is very outdated (it is one my brother used when he was in Iraq). We had a great time Geocaching and then came home, went for a ride on the 4-wheelers, and watched another movie. Well, actually, I think we all fell asleep before the movie was over, but we attempted to watch a movie.

On Friday morning we packed up and headed home just after breakfast. We made it home in the early afternoon and were completely exhausted - even the dogs. Everyone got a bath and took a nap.

I will write later about the non-human members; they each have a unique personality and role in the family.