The play by play of the past few days.

My Dad flew out for the holiday fun. He arrived on Tuesday afternoon and left today, Saturday.

Wednesday- A day filled with shopping, decorating, cooking and entertainment. We started off our day at the mall where my Dad and I checked out the shoe selections and for the first time ever neither one of us bought a pair. (Mark that one on your calendar.) Then, we searched for a Christmas tree. With no luck in the shoe or tree department at the mall we headed to good old Kmart where we bought our first real size tree and some decorations. Let me just say, that I love our tree!! We spent what seemed like forever trying to pick out a tree but after some debating decided to go with a 6.5 foot pre-lit GE Xmas tree. Don’t get me wrong I love real trees but a fake tree just seemed to be more practical for us, especially since we will be going home for Christmas. The tree is great. It actually looks like a real tree and putting it up was an absolute breeze. (I was watching Dad and Chris put it up- But it looked easy enough to me.) Some other pluses about our tree is that the needles aren’t going to fall out and…this is the big one, no lights to untangle!! Do you understand? No lights to untangle!! Genus idea!!

While the men put the tree together I was busy speed dialing my Mom trying to figure out how to cook the turkey. Really, it isn’t all that difficult: just pull the “stuff” out; slap on some oil, herbs, salt and pepper; preheat the oven; throw it in a cooking bag; and wait. Walla! Four hours later the turkey was done, the tree was decorated and we were enjoying a flick on the idiot box. We rented Thank you for Smoking and LOVED it!!

Thursday- A day filled with pain, more cooking, napping, sight-seeing, burnt potatoes and over eating. My morning started off with my back hurting so bad that I had trouble bending over and walking. Every step or bend felt light someone was sticking a knife between the vertebrae in my lower back and twisting. Thank goodness I cooked the turkey the day before. I sat on the couch and peeled potatoes and watched the parade, which is not as interesting as I remember. After I mashed the potatoes I put them in a crock pot. (This is one of my Mom’s tricks.) After the potatoes were done I decided to nap while Dad and Chris went on a sight seeing trip towards Helena (with the fishing poles loaded just incase). When the guys made it back I checked on the potatoes and, needless to say, I ended up burning them. Ugh!! How come that never happens to my Mom? After I rounded up the burnt potatoes and store bought rolls we headed to base where we completed the Thanksgiving tradition of over eating and I found out why maternity pants rock… they stretch.

Friday- A day filled with driving, more shopping, negotiating and Outback! Friday morning we got up and fixed a great breakfast of cinnamon rolls, eggs and ham. Yummy! Then we headed toward Bozeman. Our neighbor’s were having Thanksgiving at their house and planned on being home all day so they let the dogs out for us making the Bozeman trip guilt free. About three hours and 4 restroom breaks after our departure we arrived in Bozeman. We started our Bozeman adventure at the Museum of the Rockies. The museum was good. It was both educational and interesting. I was surprised to see how many people were there. The place was packed. (In my opinion, for what it is worth, it is a much better tradition to take your kids to places like that the day after Thanksgiving than battle the crowds at the mall check out counters.) After the museum we drove around looking for furniture stores. Bozeman is a cool town and has a lot of the stores however; most of them have furniture priced for the rich and famous. After a few stops we were directed to a little baby boutique where the owner just about drove us crazy. Maybe it would be different if my Dad and I (especially Dad) didn’t know as much as we do about retail but the guy really was an idiot. He was trying to sell pre marked furniture (crib, changing table and dresser) for a store that was going out of business at a price higher than the marked price and he wanted to sell the furniture as a set only. I won’t bore you with the details but the gist is the guy was annoying and Dad had to work his magic to buy only the crib. It’s really beautiful. It’s solid wood, and converts to a toddler bed, then a full size bed. I love it!! [Thanks Dad!!]

After we got the crib we went to eat at OUTBACK!! Man, was it good. I had the usual: Alice Springs Chicken, cheese fries, and house salad with ranch- delicious!!

Saturday- A day filled with SNOW, leftovers, football and homework. It started snowing yesterday when we were in Bozeman and hasn’t really stopped. Dad’s flight was delayed a couple hours. In fact, it was almost canceled. Now, I am going to heat up some left over Alice Springs Chicken, pour a big glass of sweet tea, watch some college football, and read for my classes.