Off and flying! 2014

   Into the new year already!  The holidays were enjoyable!  On 20-DEC, I traveled to Wichita, KS to start my holiday in my new house.  One down-side was that our kids weren't there.
   Steve and I spent Christmas alone, together.  Sounds romantic, I know.  But Steve only got Christmas Day off of work so there wasn't much to do. I made a late breakfast, we watched movies while drinking adult beverages and eating popcorn, cheese and crackers, and generally just treasured our time together and counting our blessings.
   Steve and I celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary on 30-DEC.  That's a long time!
   On New Year's Eve day we journeyed north to the paternal home in Le Mars, IA.  There we were joined by all 3 kids and their guests/family.  Jeff and Marie brought our grandson, Samuel.  Geoff's guest was his girlfriend, Jenna M.and Lynne brought along her boyfriend, David O.  We were house guests of Steve's brother Doug. (A BIG THANKS to Doug for hosting 9 people and 3 dogs for 4 days!!!!)
   We rang in the New Year at a Reiter family gathering held at Steve's sister Mary Beth and her husband, Tom's house.It was GREAT to see family members again!  Some of them I hadn't seen in person for over 6 months!
   Thanks, Tom, for making the good chili to share. Other family members brought goodies to eat too. Of course, there was way too much food to eat.  In fact, enough for lunch the next day.  BTW, I brought "Pride of Iowa" cookies that I made in KS that day before.
   My sister, Tina S-R, stopped by on NY'sD to see her grand-nephew Sam.  She took pictures and had a gift for Sam. Samuel, by the way, is already 9 months old!  Even though I'm his Oma, he is one good-looking boy!
   As always, time flies too quickly when you're with family.  On Saturday, Steve and I were the last house guests to leave Le Mars.  We returned to KS to finish out the holiday break.
   The weather on Monday was evil.  So very cold over all the Midwest US.  Many schools and activities were cancelled.  I returned to Iowa on Tuesday, 07-JAN.  Back to work!

MY NEW YEAR RESOLUTION:  I'm going to update this blog at least once a week. I resolve to do so.

Happy 2014 to all of you!
Theresa