MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Hey!!!

Well, we made it to AR safely!!! Let me start off with Saturday morning -

So we got up at 4:15 Saturday morning and were backing out of the driveway by 5:15. We had everything we needed in the car, and Pebbles was all settled into her bed in the back seat. On Saturday we drove from our house to Sikeston, MO.

Indiana is the ugliest state I have ever been in.. Sorry to every one that lives there, I'm not trying to offend anyone. Illinoise was a little prettier then Indiana, but not by much, not until we got into the mountains closer to the Missouri boder.

We had perfect weather. Although it was cloudy and overcase all day Saturday there was no rain until the last hour or so of the drive... And boy did it pour!!! Our visibility dropped to pretty much nothing. And we slowed from 70 mph to about 40. So we decided that we would stop as soon as we found a good place to.

That brought us to Sikeston, MO.... Big mistake, we won't be staying there again!!! We ended up staying at the only hotel we could find, which was a Days Inn. That was the mistake... We have vowed to never stay at a Days Inn again. We've stayed in a few different ones, all in different states and had nothing but trouble. But I'll focus on the one in Sikeston, MO. First of all the room smelled like dog pee, horribly!! It was so terrible. So I decided to take a nice hot shower before bed... OMG!!! I ended up with a cook shower and cried the whole way thro it... It was horrible. I don't think I've ever taken a shower so fast. lol... So it was not going well!!! We put a blanket on the bed to sleep on cause it just looked so nasty in there, and used our own pillows to sleep on, then covered with another of our own blanket... Thank god I brought blankets with us!!! lol ... It was terrible... I did manage to get about 6 hours of sleep, I don't know how though!!

And this isnt even mentioning the fact that it was POURING down rain, but of course that's not Days Inns fault lol...

So we set the alarm for 6 a.m.... which was 5 a.m. to us. And we were on the road by 6:45 Sunday.

It was such a gorgeous day on Sunday... Sunny and about 40 degrees... We made it to Russellville at noon... We made excellent time...

Pebbles was such a good girl the whole drive... She mostly stayed in her bed, but sat in lap for a while at times. Which was fine. And everytime we stopped she tinkled so that wasn't an issue. But I know it was stressful on her because she just ate today for the first time since Friday night. But she is fine... just pooped.

So as I said we got to the hotel (Comfort Inn - we have stayed here before and enjoyed it) around noon on Sunday. Our room wasn't ready yet, so we headed on out to Mommas to go to lunch with them. Pebbles didn't like Momma's dogs (I knew she wouldn't). So Momma kept them on the back porch while Pebbles was inside with us.

We went to lunch with Momma and Andy and then headed back to her house. We hung out there for a while and then came to the hotel to shower and get ready for dinner with my Daddy. It was great to have a HOT shower!!! And we love the shower head!!! It's better then the one we got at home!! We gotta get us one of those! lol...

After we showered and I prettied up we went to La Huertas!!! I tell ya, I've been looking foward to this since frikkin July!!! This is my favorite restaraunt... They have amazing mexican food.... I swear I could eat there every day! lol...

We met my Daddy and Carolynn at La Huertas and had a nice dinner. Then my Daddy did something that put me in total shock. He gave us a $500 check for the baby!!!!!!! I'm still in a lil shock over it and don't know what to think. It's just such an amazing gift. I thought he was writing a check for our bill which was $35. It looked to me like he was writing a check for $50 and I thought "how nice to give the waiter such a big tip". And then he handed me the check. I was a little confused at first and just said "thanks" and then when I looked at it I kinda shouted "Oh My God"! lol.. My Daddy explained that it was to help us get whatever we needed for the baby and that he was done "baby shopping" (except for a snoopy fish pole of course!). lol... I was just so shocked to see that he had done that. It was truly amazing.

After dinner (and the big shock) we went to my Grannys. We totally surprised her, for some reason she didn't think she would see us until Christmas Day... She's weird like that. lol... And takes everything personally. She asked if it was okay for her to fly up on March 12 or 13 next year and stay until Momma left on April 5th!!! I was like "yea sure that should be fine"... OMG!!! I hope this doesn't happen... I just don't think I could handle her for that long, and I really don't want her around when I go into labor. I don't want to hurt her feelings or anything, so I'm trying to find a nice way to get out of this. I'm thinking about telling her that it's WAYYYY to close to my due date and we are not driving the hour and a half to the airport to pick her up. So why doesn't she fly up on March 28th or 29th? By then I should have had the baby and she can spend a week with us and leave when Momma does. I really hope this doesn't upset her. You never know with her cause she has that depression problem and takes everything you say as a slam against her. I know she's going to think we don't want her there and then just not come at all... I don't mind her being there for about a week, but that's it. And honestly, that's pushing it a little. But I'm working on not feeling guilty about this, because this is our time and it's not going to be an easy time on us, so I really don't want to deal with her feelings on this issue... It is our decision... But I will tell her the nice "Why not wait until after the baby is born" way. Hopefully it will work and she won't get upset about it. It kinda pisses me off that I feel like I have to do it this way. I should be able to just say "we want it to be just us" and leave it at that, but I can't do that with her cause she'll take it personally. Anyways, whatever.... We'll find out tomorrow when I tell her.

Today we went to A to Z with my Daddy and Carolynn. We left Pebbles at my Mommas house while we were there, and of course she was fine! Momma said she searched the house for me and kept wanting to go outside (cause she saw me go outside when we left). But the other dogs were kept away from her and she was fine. But didn't nap at all today! lol... When we got back from A to Z we just hung out at Mommas house till almost 330.

At 330 we headed to my Grandma and Grandpa McCurleys. Honestly, I was really nervous about this because of the relationship with my Grandpa since I've been with Paul... I used to be a Grandpas girl, and since I've been with Paul he won't hardly have anything to do with me, and won't say two words to either of us... It's such a stupid thing, but that's the way he is. Of course there's a lot to the story, but I'm not going into that right now. So the point is I was nervous about this. Especially knowing Lyndon was going to be home. (Again, a whole other story I'd rather not delve into right now).

But we went out there and things went fine. Of course Grandpa didn't say two words to either of us, but Grandma talked and talked. Lyndon saw our car there and I'm sure got upset and has let Grandpa know this.

My Daddy had just killed two deer and Lyndon was bringing them up to the house. He didn't see us cause we stayed inside, but he saw our car. Paul got to see the deer, this is the first time he's seen anything like this.

So we sat and talked to Grandma, Grandpa went and layed down (left the room) when we went in the living room. I gave everyone their Christmas gifts. And everyone opened them right away, except Grandpa... He hadn't opened it by the time we left, so I don't know if he will or not. I knew we wouldn't be invited to Christmas Eve dinner because Lyndon and his brood were going to be there, and I didn't ask. Grandpa started barking orders at Grandma that dinner needed to get made so of course she jumped up and started doing what he said. And he took off into the kitchen... This was his way of telling us it was time for us to leave, so we did. I went to say goodbye to him and all he said was "yea, we'll see on Wednesday at your baby shower". He never said anything to Paul... Of course Grandma was all over us hugging and stuff. Dad was covered in deer blood (from cleaning them) and we gave a little hug and left.

Dad said he would call in the morning to wish us a Merry Christmas and stuff. They are heading back to TX tomorrow and we won't see them again. He's talking about coming up to see us in September. That'll be a nice time. And Cooper will be old enough for him to play with a spoil by then lol...

After we left Grandma and Grandpas we went back to Mommas... Pebbles was still there. And when we got there all the dogs were together in the house. So Maisy and Booger must have settled down around Pebbles and they were doing fine. As soon as Pebbles heard my voice she came running full force and jumped right in my arms!!! It was so cute. She was fine there, but I know she is so nervous and anxious all the time, especially when I'm not around. But Momma said she did great. And just laid on the couch with them and stuff.

Of course because of all the excitement, Pebbles didn't nap today. So now she is sound asleep on the bed next to me as I type this... I mean she is CRASHED!!! It's so cute. She's just so tired. lol... I have never seen her this tired... Its kinda cute!!! Her eyes are glazed over and she's just so relaxed and tired... Sound asleep!!!

And damnit, she got fleas!!! Just a few, and we picked them all off of her, but damn!!! I'm so upset about this. But atleast we got them all off of her. And we'll give her a flea bath in a few days... It totally sucks.

Tomorrow we are going to my Grannys for Christmas to open gifts and have the yummy lunch she always fixes on Christmas day... Turkey and Ham and mashed taters and mac n cheese etc... YUMMY!!!! lol

Well, I'm going to go be like Pebbles and crash... I am so tired! lol... I think I've written everything here that I wanted to. So I'll write more later when I get a chance.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!