10/15 - 10/20

On Sunday evening we drove to LA. We stayed at a really nice hotel. Did you know that Sheratons allow dogs? On Monday we went to an RV show there. It's supposed to be the country's largest. We saw several RV's that we really liked. The dogs stayed at a groomers while we were at the show. We then drove home that evening. Joy started getting sick on Sunday night. She didn't quite get over it until this morning. Yesterday and today have been beautiful! Highs were in the low 80's. Tonight it's cool enough that we're wearing sweatshirts. We've been going and going so much. Tonight we decided to stay home and just cook out. We finally got our fire pit out. I'm blogging by the fire! That should be a song, eh?

Our anniversary

So after church with Brenda & Elaine on Sunday, I had an uneventful flight back to CA. It was much prayed for, believe me! On Monday, Brian & I dropped the dogs off at the kennel and drove to LA. Brian didn't go with me to Ohio due to lack of funds on our part. On Monday evening, we went on a tour of LA. After the tour, we went to bed for a couple of hours. Gina Yutzy and Emily Mayer and their husbands had flown to LA for a week's vacation. I worked with Gina and Emily waitressing at the Der Dutchman for many years. We met them on Tuesday for "The Price is Right". I couldn't sleep, so we decided to go ahead and get in line. We were #1 and #2. We were in line by about 12:30 am. We had to stay in line until 6 am, come back at 7:45, stand in line until after 8, then get back in line at 9:45 and stay there until the show started at 2:15. It was a long day, but we were excited when we got to sit in the front row. You can see us on "The Price is Right" on December 6th. Brian sat on one side of the contestants' seats in the front row, and I'm on the other side. One of the men who sat in line just after us got to go onstage! He was so excited. He watches the show every day! After the show, the others went back to their time share in Palm Desert. I surprised Brian by taking him to Chipotle. We split a burrito because we had dinner reservations at a nice restaurant for our anniversary. There was one across the street from our hotel. (I had seen it earlier that morning when I went with Gina and Emily for a little breakfast. He had gone back to the hotel for a nap.) We decided not to go out to eat that night. We slept 14 hours instead. Wednesday morning we went to the Farmer's Market across the street from our hotel. It was really neat! We then went back down to Hollywood Blvd to see the stars on the walk of fame and Kodak theater where the Oscars are held. We drove to a place where we could see the Hollywood sign pretty close. We then headed home, because we had to get the dogs out of the kennel before it closed. What a fun little trip for our anniversary!

Mom's Birthday

On Thursday (her birthday), Linda called Mom and told her that they were bringing supper over. Of course, by that time Mom knew that I was coming, too. Wes, Linda, and the kids showed up. We were trying to stall. We finally set the table. Mom had gotten us a table cloth--it was too big, so we just folded it under. We put the lasagna 0n. Just as we were finishing up, Grandma, Carolyn, Bill, Fannie, and Clara Louise (Dad's family) showed up. Mom said, "I think you need to set more places at the table." The table cloth was the perfect size. Jeff, Karen, & kids came, too. Of course, this party was supposed to throw her off.
She kept asking what I was doing Saturday. I just kept saying that I was spending the day with Wes & Linda. I told her that they were picking me up between 9 & 10. These were not lies. On Friday, we worked on her pictures. On Friday evening, Cody called and invited Mom & Dad to his baseball game on Saturday morning. Dad (in on the surprise) said that they could come. His game started at 9:30. I had to call Dad because I couldn't find the ice cream freezer. I told Dad to tell Mom that Wes and Linda's ice cream freezer was broken (not a lie), and they wanted to borrow theirs. I forgot that I had to get some things at the grocery store, so I actually drove over to Jeff & Karen's instead of having Wes pick me up. We grilled the burgers for lunch and made home made ice cream. We had everyone park at Shiloh (around the corner from Jeff's house). We wanted everyone there by noon. At the game, Karen invited Mom & Dad over for lunch and to see their new concrete patio outside the basement door. We had a two-pronged attack planned. When Karen called to say that they were on their way, we all went to the basement. We all hid on the patio. When she came outside, all of her kids and grandkids (minus two who had been there Thursday) were out there. We sang "Happy Birthday", then headed upstairs. When she got to the top of the stairs, her brothers and sisters were all sitting in the living room. They had been in the bedroom when Mom got there. She was speechless for a few minutes. I hadn't seen my aunts and uncles since our wedding 8 years ago. I think that it had been a few years since all of her brothers and sisters were together. Mom said that when I called about the ice cream freezer, she thought that maybe we were doing something in the evening for her birthday, but she never thought that it would be anything like we planned. Dad bought pizza for supper. We had a great time together. I was trilled that we actually were able to surprise her. We had debated whether we should do something for 70 or 75, but we decided that we might as well celebrate 70. Dad is going to be harder to surprise. We talked about celebrating 71 or 69--you never know!

Can anyone top this?

Let me tell you a little story about airplanes! It all started when I decided to go home to Ohio to surprise my Mom for her 70th birthday. I worked Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights. After working all night on Tuesday, I went to the airport Wednesday morning, October 4th. My flight was supposed to leave at 11:35 a.m and I was due to arrive in Columbus at 11:10 p.m. Beverly Yutzy was going to pick me up. Sounds great, right? There were some concerns in the family about me sneaking into Mom & Dad's house in the middle of the night and causing Mom to have a heart attack on her 70th birthday. They need not have been concerned. When I arrived at the SLO airport at 10 a.m., I was told that my flight from LA to Chicago was cancelled due to "weather" in Chicago. After some debating, I chose a flight out of LA to Chicago at 11:25 that night. That meant that I would have an 11-hour layover in LA. I would then arrive in Columbus at 9:25 am. I think that one of my options would have been to leave on the first flight October 5th from SLO and go through Dallas, arriving in Columbus Thursday afternoon. That would have let me sleep before leaving, but I didn't want to lose Thursday in Ohio. In addition, I called Brian about a half hour after he left the SLO airport to make sure that he got home o.k. When I hung the phone up, I noticed that I only had two bars left on my phone battery! My charger was in my suitcase. My phone has a terrible battery. (Today I made a 10 minute phone call and my battery went to one bar after being plugged in for 14 hours last night.) I had to call Beverly and tell her not to come because she had to work. I called Dad and asked if they could pick me up. We decided that we would go out for breakfast. So I left SLO at 11:35 and arrived in LA at 12: 40. American Airlines didn't want to give me a flight, hotel, or food voucher because the delay was due to weather. However, there were flights leaving for Chicago, so I'm not sure why my flight was cancelled. The agents told me that they could probably get me a discout on a hotel. I was too tired, and I had very little battery left on my cell phone (for an alarm). I was afraid to leave and then have to try to get back in time. I laid down in a quiet area and slept for 3 hours. When I woke up, there were two people sleeping behind me! I ate something, then went to my gate area to wait. I sat against a wall (the seats weren't comfortable enough to sleep in). When I woke up two hours later, I was sitting there with my mouth open and two guys staring at me. I had a nice flight to Chicago. It didn't leave until 1 am, so I was actually in LA over 12 hours. Brian stayed up (not even a nap) until I got on the plane to Chicago! Remember, he hadn't been to bed since Tuesday afternoon at 4 pm. I got to Chicago and when it came time to start boarding the plane, they announced that our flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems--our plane was still in Columbus. Other people that were on this flight got flight vouchers and food vouchers, but I didn't since my original delay was due to weather. They told me that I had automatically been re-booked on a flight to St. Louis then Columbus that would arrive in Columbus at 3:20. That's when I kind of flipped out. I said, "I could have driven there by now!" (Of course, I shed a few tears before). I settled for a flight that left Chicago at 1:05 pm and was due to arrive in Columbus at 3:50. I spent 7 hours in Chicago! I tried to get on two different standby flights to no avail. I called Dad several times. Mom figured it all out after a couple of calls. After we boarded the plane and drove out to the runway, the captain announced that there was now "weather" in Columbus, and that we had to return to the gate to get more fuel in case we had to land at a different airport. I really started crying at this point. I also started praying. I had no idea where my suitcase was by now. We left late (I have no idea what time because I also did not have a watch). We got into Columbus at 4:15. I got off of the plane and went down to the baggage area. My suitcase was sitting outside of security. I picked it up and went outside to see if Mom & Dad were circling around outside. I tried to call Dad twice, but the call didn't go through. I went back inside to see if they were in there. I saw Mom standing there and my phone beeped "Low Battery"! How's that for provision!! Miracles do happen. We got to Mom & Dad's about 5:30. I was tired, but once I got there, I woke up enough to enjoy the birthday party.