The Great Escape

We're out like a fat kid in dodge ball.

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On Friday, we woke up ready for our little family's mini Christmas. We started opening presents and were planning for a big breakfast when we got several phone calls. A storm was on the way, and our planned drive to Indiana for Christmas should be moved up.

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Now I was excited to leave for Christmas. Amazingly, I hadn't left Knoxville since July 4th weekend. That's the longest I've been in one town since I left Pocatello for BYU. I was ready for a great escape. But Friday was our "Christmas day". It had been a crazy week, and a beyond crazy semester. It was a day I was really looking forward to. Not going to lie; I cried. But you can't control the weather, so our Christmas day ended up being spent in a unexpected packing craze followed by 9 hours in the car.

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9 hours in the car. Its a 6 1/2 hour drive. But that storm we were trying to beat? We caught the beginning of it. Tennessee's "mountains" were getting snow and we spent a decent amount of time going 20-30 miles per hour. Oh, and our sweet Carly has on ongoing battle with her carseat, and she's never been on a car ride longer than 30 minutes. However, one prayer was answered and she was practically an angel the whole time.

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Speaking of prayers. The storm started out as intense Southern rain. The only way to understand it is to experience it, but driving in Southern rain is akin to driving under a waterfall (I would imagine). Visibility was extremely low, and I just closed my eyes and prayed over and over again that the rain would go away. During this time, we climbed in elevation, and the rain turned into a blizzard. "That's not want I meant," I said in my next prayer.

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But we made it. Carly slept a great deal of the car ride, so her schedule is fairly destroyed. But she has been shockingly happy anyway. I think she likes all the attention. She is having a hard time sleeping in a new place, however, and I'm not sure how to remedy that (suggestions?).

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The next morning we woke to snow outside and reports of icy roads. We were very grateful we didn't have a 9 hour drive ahead of us.

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As for our little family Christmas? We managed to squeeze it in before we left (our apartment is in a state of chaos). I love our little family.

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And now we've escaped. Escaped school, callings, apartment, Knoxville. The baby is still here, but she's fun enough that she's worth the work. And there are a lot of people here willing to hold her. How lucky Chris and I are to have two amazing sets of parents that actually want to see us. Well, they want to see Carly, but it means we get to come too. For the next 3 weeks we have no plans, and that's the best part.