White Out

We made it home!!! Thank goodness.

.

After we left Fort Collins on Thursday morning we hit a long stretch of pure ice immediately after hopping onto Interstate 25. From there to Cheyenne, WY it was pure hell. My fingers and hands were sweating like crazy. One truck passed me at 40mph, hit the ice wrong and swiftly flew into the ditch in a giant cloud of powdery snow. Luckily from Cheyenne the roads cleared up and we were able to make pretty good time until we hit Kearney, NE. The storm must have just blown through there because it was a war zone. I wish I had taken photos but the sun was down by then. Over thirty five to forty cars & trucks overturned on both sides of I-80. Eleven of those were semi-trailers. Ever seen an overturned semi?? How about 11? Scary. One of them was so badly mangled and twisted that the cab was turned an extra 45 degrees underneath the back trailer. Awful. We had a near fatal accident from a passing semi over a snow-drift filled bridge but luckily it missed us by inches, all Dave kept saying was "We're dead. This is it. I can't get away from him."

.

I did get a couple photos of them on the way home. This one was being pulled up by a crane.

Dave's oldest sister and her husband made it in from Missouri an hour or so after we did Thursday night. They had a similar experience on the drive in. The six of us spent the night chatting at my in-law's house, sipping beer and trying to predict the weather for the weekend.

.

Christmas day arrived and we woke up to a white out. Blowing snow, 50 mph winds and no way to get out. Sadly, Christmas dinner was supposed to be at their house. No one made it. :( I did however, give Dave his present as soon as everyone woke up. I wish I had thought to take a photo but I didn't. I gave him a brand new, semi-automatic Mossberg shotgun. He loved it!! Then he surprised me with a little black bag.

Earrings!

The rest of Christmas day was spent watching movies, drinking and eating. I did manage to sneak away for a bit and get some pics of the Christmas decorations. Dave and I didn't decorate at all this year so it was fun to see so much holiday cheer in his mom's house. She had two full sized Christmas trees.

Plus a ton of these porcelain Santa figurines. Each one has different features and different props. Her mother (Dave's grandmother) makes them, we have one at home but the poor thing never saw the light of day this year. She even sews all their little clothes!

I had a couple glasses of wine in me by this point...weirdo.Look who is on the family wall now....The view outside:See that little dark rectangle behind the truck?? That's my Jeep. :(

There was about 3-4 inches of snow total but with the winds it created 4-8 foot drifts all over the place. Unfortunately they live out in BFE on a minimum-maintenance road so there were no snow plows at all. After 24 hours inside even I was getting bored.

As well as a bit tipsy and full of sugar.

The next day (Saturday) Dave's step dad decided to take his giant four-wheel drive tractor out to plow the roads for us. He got stuck about two miles down the road. IN. A. TRACTOR. The drift that nabbed him was 6 feet high and 50 feet long. This is my brave husband going out with his brother-in-law to dig out and rescue the $60,000 tractor. It was the most entertainment I had all weekend...Sadly only a few family members made it out on Saturday night, Dave's other sister being one of them. We had a good time, playing darts & card games, eating too much dessert and drinking too much wine. Dave's mom even made prime rib for everyone on Friday. Speaking of food, I bet you're wondering where all my food pics are right? Well, I only have a few. All taken with my iPhone. But all good!

.

Saturday Lunch: Salad w/leftover prime rib, sauteed mushrooms and honey mustard dressing.

Saturday Dinner: Homemade potato soup & a multigrain roll with ham. And wine. :)Sunday Detox Lunch: Ruby Tuesday's salad bar. A little bit of everything....

There you have it, my snow-filled, wine-induced, Christmas weekend. It's pretty strange to think that I didn't leave the house once from Thursday night until late Sunday morning! Poor Dave, his step dad & brother-in-law were going insane.

.

Which brings me to the best quote from the entire weekend. Chuck (brother-in-law from Missouri) received a phone call late Saturday afternoon from a friend. When asked how he was doing - his response, (in a thick, Southern accent) was "Well, I'm about to go nibble on the end of a gun."