Meet Gabby!

This is a picture of my cousin's daughter. She made me smile and laugh quite a lot in the last few days. When Shannon told Gabby that she had to get ready to go to Nana and Papa's to go see them and Alice, Gabby said: "Alice won't be there mom, she lives in wonderland and wears a blue shirt." Shannon convinced her that I would be there anyway and it was pretty funny when they arrived and I actually was wearing a blue shirt. Funny thing, it was the only shirt I had with me on the trip at that time. Cool that it was blue. The funnier part of this story was when Shannon was getting Gabby ready to leave Gabby said: "We can't leave mama, people will miss me." Shannon then asked who would miss her to which Gabby responded: "Nana, Papa and Wonderland." This is really the first time ever that I have not been offended by somebody refering to me as Alice in Wonderland because it was just so honest and cute and new. Wonderland is a great name. I may, in fact, legally change it. I won't even keep my last name either because of all the misspellings and I will just go by one name, Wonderland. I will be a part of the elite group of people who go by one name: Madonna, Jewel, Prince, Diddy, etc.

Another cute thing about Gabby is that when she was about one and was being explained the concept of Christmas, she decided that for Jesus' birthday there must be "happy cake." Each year my aunt and uncle buy a cake for Gabby so they can sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and blow out candles for him. I would think this were a weird tradition if the kids weren't involved but I highly enjoyed singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus yesterday. Here is a picture of the cake:

It was funny to watch as Shannon's other kid, Thomas, tried to blow out the lighter every time Shannon tried to light the candles, which said 2008. We did not help matters by all laughing at him when he tried this. He thought he was pretty funny and kept blowing the candles and lighter out about four times. So cute! I had a lot of fun playing with those kids while being in Green Bay. Really, when it boils down to it, I am sure I was supposed to be in Green Bay early. I honestly believe you are always where you are supposed to be. I really enjoyed seeing my cousin and aunt and uncle and of course seeing my Grandma Rita. It as a nice experience to have them all to myself for a change seeing I usually am sharing them with other family. It was a fun experience.

Enjoy a picture of my cute grandma when I surprised her the other day when my uncle went to pick her up for a hair appointment. She is so cute. I just want to fold her up and carry her everywhere with me in my pocket. Okay, so that is a bit morbid but I would like that thought, if we really could fold people up and carry them everywhere with us.

And here is a picture of the snow across the street from my aunt and uncle's, it was very high:

Well, I am off to have the family Christmas party in a bit. It will be so awesome to see everybody. I like that Christmas gets to be about a week long and not just one day. Good times! Cheers.

Green Bay Times

Today it was snowing. I think it does that a lot around here seeing the snowbanks are about at my waist in most places. Some are so big that the mailboxes look as if they were meant to be held up by the snow. It is weird. So, Utahns, you cannot complain about the little snow you have had so far(yes I know some of you are going: "but we just got six inches the other day"). The total here in Green Bay is about 36" and that is just in December alone! Crazy. I am regretting not bringing boots along.

Many of you did not get the end of my story of my flying adventure. I did get on a flight to Green Bay, obviously. The little ticket counter lady was very nice to me. I thought I would just come here seeing my parents had planned on driving here today. I figured I saved myself a bus ride(the only way to get to Rhinelander last night was to get on a chartered bus) and a car ride. The total of all the driving would have been about five hours. It was a good deal to get on a GB flight seeing that many flights were booked. My aunt and uncle picked me up and took good care of me. I am even without clothes because my luggage went to Rhinelander without me. Apparently, the luggage would fit on the later flights just not the people. My aunt and uncle provided me with pajamas and I just wore the same clothes today. It as nice to have an easy choice when it came to what to wear today! Ha.

I got to surprise my grandma because she thought I would be with my parents today. (The parents have not gotten here btw. They decided not to brave the weather and drive.) I went with my uncle to take my grandma to get her hair done. When she was getting in the car, I said: "Hi, grandma!" Luckily, that did not startle her and she was delighted to see me. Her appointment was in Walmart so it was convenient for me to go and buy a few things that I needed, like deodorant and a few shirts.

My cousin also came to visit with her two kids today. I had a fun time coloring with them and playing. They are so very cute. Unfortunately, I do not have my camera cord so you will not be seeing any pictures until that gets here. I am glad to know where my suitcase is but am frustrated about all the stuff I do not have. Sigh, oh well.

By the way, Happy Christmas. I hope that the warmth of the holiday is settling into your soul. I hope you feel the love of God and how amazing the gift of His son truly is. I hope you know that I know Christ is the Savior and that I also know that he still lives. He not only was born for us but the greatness of his life and the gift of his death was for us. I know that life's journey is all about learning and drawing closer to our Creator through Christ. Please take a moment and reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. I am saddened by the loss of that true meaning of Christmas. Some people might as well just call it Mas, because Christ is lost in all the presents, decorations, and food. I feel so blessed to know my Savior and to celebrate his birth at this time. I hope that all of you have a very merry Christmas and that you are surrounded by love and peace. Cheers!

The Traveling Alice Update

Here is the latest in the long saga. I read my ticket wrong and actually was booked on a flight to rhinelander for tomorrow. That would have made for difficult times because my parents are planning to drive to Green Bay tomorrow. Well I got on a flight going to Green Bay tonight at seven. My wonderful aunt and uncle are going to take me in for the night, saving me a five hour bus ride tonight followed by a two and a half hour car ride tomorrow. This is good news. I am hoping that this next flight will have no problems. If it does, I may just request a flight to Fiji and say sorry family...I got a better offer.

Here is to all of you having the Christmas spirit and to me getting it back! Cheers!

Alice's Hellish Traveling Tales

Here I sit in the Minneapolis Airport. If you were to talk to me about an hour ago, you would have encountered an optimistic traveler who was almost home. See yesterday I was supposed to fly out of Salt Lake and be in Rhinelander at ten last night. Obviously, that did not happen because my flight out of Salt Lake was cancelled due to "flight crew" issues. I was okay with that because I figured the snow was going to make me not fly anyway and I had mentally prepared for spending an extra night with the Bills.

I was excited to get to Minneapolis and see that the weather was clear and that my flight was on schedule. I was then even okay when my flight changed gates. Then I was completely angry when I found out that yet again my flight was cancelled. Looking back on it my mad panic was funny but I was not a happy camper. Luckily, I was quickly booked on a 9:15 flight to Rhinelander because all of the other people who were supposed to be on my flight were told that there were no flights to book them on until Christmas day. There was chaos everywhere and very angry people yelling at the counter lady. The Christmas spirit was high.

So here I sit after calling all the rental car companies and being told they have no cars available and finally accepting my fate to miss the dinner with friends from high school and blogging. Note to self: get pilot's license and a new plane soon!

Break Starts!

Friday was an eventful little day. It was the last day of school before Winter Break. We had a good time during our half day of school. The only class I had was Leadership. I really do love my students. Aren't they cute in their new sweatshirts? Each year it is a tradition at our school that our students are gifted a sweatshirt. For many of the students, it is their only present for the holidays. I really like the design this year. It is actually a zip up which is awesome. It is also not Navy like the twenty other sweatshirts I own.

After the students wrote some letters to former students who now serve in the military(also a tradition at our school), they then headed to the gym or cafeteria for some fun activities. I was over the basketball tournament in the gym. The students could also go watch a movie or play games. It was a fun time.

Then at 11:30 the kids went home. I went to lunch with some of my co-worker friends. At 2, we played a basketball game. We lost and only scored 3 points. It is turning out to be a frustrating season so far. The boys' team won though so that was good.

Last night, I got to go to dinner and a movie with one of my friends that I haven't seen in a few months. It is weird that you can live minutes away from somebody and not see them for months at a time. It was good to catch up.

I saw Four Christmases, which turned out to be a good movie. It is pretty funny. I didn't really love the morals that were taught at the beginning but it was an entertaining movie. I am hoping to watch a few movies while home too. There are always good ones out over the holidays.

Today, I got to sleep in which was glorious. I haven't been doing much of that on Saturdays thanks to basketball. I am about to get ready to head to the school to work on the sewing projects. It should be thrilling. I head out in two days and I am excited. Have a great Saturday!