[ wednesday excitement ]

Well, today was a little exciting...and not good exciting. I had an eye appointment this afternoon, so I took the afternoon off of work to run a few errands and go to my appointment. My first stop (after gas - whoop whoop - only $31 to fill up the Durango!) was my Longaberger friend Betsy's. She lives out in the rural part of Kennewick. Well, I came down the hill by her house, hit ice, slid past the stop sign, and the only thing I saw in front of me was an embankment that led to a field. All I could think was NO NO NO NO - and OH CRAP! I hope there are no cars coming! I pumped my brakes like crazy, but they were completely locked up and so was the steering wheel. I was doomed.

Luckily, my car came to a stop before it went completely down the hill, but it was sure stuck. I panicked for about 10 seconds and then realized I had 4 Wheel drive! So, I put the car in 4 Wheel drive and reverse and GUNNED it. My wheels were spinning, but I wasn't moving. I tried that a few times, but didn't want to get too deep. I called my Dad (Thank God for my Dad!) - but he wasn't a lot of help. He just suggested to call AAA. Thank God for AAA. Just when I dialed AAA, a very nice man (Thank God for the very nice man) stopped. He said he almost did the same thing this morning, asked if I had 4 Wheel Drive, and said it would probably work to drive down into the field and drive up the hill. He asked if I wanted to do it or if I wanted him to do it. I said I would love for him to do it...I'd thought that maybe that would work, but wasn't completely sure. He got in the car, drove down the hill, did a U-turn in the field, and gunned it up the hill and MADE IT! I was so thankful! I had been thinking...I have all these errands to run and my appointment - if I have to wait for AAA, I won't get any of those things done!

I sure did not want to get out of the car then to take pictures, so I tried to get a few from the car before I left the scene. If you look real close - the dark black soil on the left hand side is where my front right tire spun when I was trying to back out.

And here are my tracks...they go nicely with the other three sets of tracks along that same embankment.

Whew. I hate winter driving. Hate it hate it hate it. (Sorry for the long story....had to document it though!)

So - I was able to get all my errands ran and even enjoyed 30 minutes at Starbucks reading this book that Jamie gave me:


It's a great reminder of the real reason we celebrate Christmas.

All while this was going on in my life, my parents were doing this:

My Dad was sworn in for his second term as Franklin County Commissioner. I'm sorry I missed it. It looks a little more official that the first time around when they were in their make shift Commissioner Room while the courthouse was being remodeled. I'm very proud of him. This represents many many hours of campaigning, talking with constituents, worrying about the election, etc. etc.

I made it back in time for Youth Group tonight. Tonight is one of my favorite nights of YG - we adopt families every year and bring them Christmas! Everyone in Youth Group commits to bring food and gifts for the people in the family - we sort and wrap all the gifts, get a Christmas tree, and deliver all of this to the families right before Christmas. It is so neat watching our Youth Group kids bring joy to a family! The families are always so touched and full of gratitude. Another reminder of what Christmas is all about.

These pictures are from last week's Youth Group Christmas Party. We had an Ugly Christmas Sweater Contest and a White Elephant Gift Exchange.

Ali and Mack were the top two Christmas Sweater winners....Mack won overall with his 3-D Christmas Trees on his shoulders. :) He won a $5 Burger Factory Gift Certificate.

And here are my sophomore girls: Ali, Kate, and Kellie. They were pretty excited to receive the game "Girl Talk" in the White Elephant Gift Exchange. (I was happy to get it out of the house - I think I got it at a Yard Sale when I was 10 or so. It has been well-loved - masking tape has been holding all the sides of the box together for quite a while.) They started playing right away - even running upstairs to find a phone book, where they would find their "future husband" halfway down the "H" page according the game. :) They are so funny!

These are the sophomore and senior boys: don't they look enthused? They actually had a good time, I think. As good as a White Elephant gift exchange can be. Not everyone leaves as happy as the girls in the picture above!

So, that's my excitement for today. I'm ready for a Kahlua and Cream and bed. It's snowing pretty hard outside, so I'm crossing my fingers for a 2-hour delay. Bring it on!