Michael & Amanda and chicklets to call our own: Tennessee

I'm not sure how many posts I have titled Tennessee or how many I'll have over the span of my blogging life, but here is another.

I was able to visit my family for Christmas this year. It's only fair to trade holidays, we had Wamplers for Thanksgiving, so it's Roney time! Michael got the time off he needed, a little last minute, so he came too! Yay for being a family! This was the first time we had taken Ivan on a plane and we were a little anxious to see how it would go. Luckily we have breed an immaculate little man and he was perfect on every flight. We got to the airport a little early, thinking it would be super busy, and it was. We didn't wait for long and were able to board our flight. One of our friends gave us the advice to board the plane as late as possible, that way Ivan would spend very little time on the plane waiting for take off and building anxiety. We listened and that is some of the best advice I've ever received. We sat pretty far back on the plane and got some interesting looks as we boarded with an infant. But Ivan ate a bottle as we were taking off and slept the entire time. Our next flight was delayed by about 40 minutes and Ivan was awake the whole layover and repeated his first flight experience. The flights going home to Idaho were the same. Since we had a baby, and we didn't buy our tickets at the same time, we requested seats beside each other. We were assigned seats just prior to boarding. On one of our flights, we got on the plane and someone was in Michael's seat. We asked if he was assigned that seat and he said yes. So Michael had the flight attendant come and figure things out. Then she noticed that the guy in our seat was not assigned to that seat, he just sat there. Now his reasoning was that his wife and 2 kids were in the row in front of us and his other kid was in the seat beside him. So he needed to sit by his minor son and help with the other kids. The kid that was in our row was at least 12 if not older, so it's not like it was a 3 year old unattended. AND, his wife was just in the row in front of him. So he got sent to his original seat, only 2 more rows back (not super far away) and all we heard the rest of the flight was his wife complain about the hassle and ordeal she had been put through. The boy in our row was named Michael, now how's that for irony. But that lady turned around at one point and said to her son, well I'm going to make them give you free TV for the inconvenience they have put us through. She was really mad. I didn't think it was a big deal. Plus, it's harder to take care of a baby by yourself than a 12 year old. Grow up people.

Once we got to TN, it was a little crazy. I was getting all these home sick feelings and didn't ever want to leave. Well, until we walked outside. It was raining and about 40 degrees. So it was way, way humid. I forgot! And it just hits you like you've never felt humidity before, especially when it's raining and especially when you fly. I sure do like the weather here.

While we were in Tennessee, my niece and nephews were able to meet their cousin, my siblings were able to meet their nephew, and I was able to catch up with all my family. I really miss them. Especially my dad. He's such a cool guy and I really wish Ivan could get to know his Papa better. His Nana and aunts and uncles too, but if my dad is my favorite, I'm sure Ivan will just love him. We played tons of games from poker to nertz to rock band. We had family pictures professionally done. We hadn't taken family pictures since I was 2, so about 20 years had gone by without an updated photo. And now we have wives, husbands, grandbabies and all that to show off too. It's always a little crazy going back to a place I knew and still know so well and realizing I don't live there. It's so easy to fall back into sort of a routine, especially with seeing so many people you know. We had a get together with all the single adults from when we used to live there. Everybody is married now and half of us have babies. It's so crazy! And it's amazing how quickly things can change and people can change when you move away. We had Christmas too, we opened some presents, even though most of our stuff got mailed out here. Packing everything back up was fun. I took a scale and put just enough stuff in our suitcase to make it weigh 50 lbs. (50 lbs is the weight limit for a checked bag before they charge you an extra 50 bucks for it) And we still had to have my parents mail stuff to us! It was a fun trip though.

This is Emma, she was just so excited to see Ivan.

This is Emma, Paul Jr., and Ryan.

Paul Jr.

My brother Erich and his little doggie Buddy.

Since Michael served his mission there, we were especially motivated to see some people we knew from the ward. We saw 3 families in particular and I just miss them so much. I'm always impressed by their example and the influence they have over me in just the 30 minutes we were able to spend with them. It's so fun seeing people I used to see all the time and showing them my baby. I can't help but be super proud of him!

Family dinner.

Me and my Momma!

Another fun part of visiting Clarksville is seeing all the doggies. My brother recently got a pomeranian from craigslist. His name is Buddy and he is reddish brown. My mom still has Shadow, Blondie, and Paulie. Paulie just had puppies, fathered by Buddy. They are so cute, and don't tell Michael, but I've already called dibs on the party colored male! Then there is Mina, pronounced mean-ah. She is a purebred German Shepherd of all German lines. She is a beautiful red and black female. Her full name is something like Natasha Wilhelmina. Yep, that's a mouthful, so we say Mina. She's still a puppy, about 8 months, but she's huge. With my vet tech mind, all I could think about was the health of those animals. Shadow has seen better days, Mina had a yeast infection in her ears and Paulie needs a nail trim. But since she just had puppies, I spared her the torture. There's nothing I can do for Shadow. But Mina, oh Mina was in for it. I bought some ear cleaner, not the brand I prefer, but good enough, and cleaned her ears out daily. They were looking pretty good by the time I left, but my dad was supposed to keep cleaning them and I'm not sure if he's up for that.

Rock Band, can you count all 4 band members?

Mina

Wamplers with Buddy, for the record, this is the most comfortable couch I've ever laid my tush on!

We, of course, ate at some of my favorite places, like Casablanca, oh how I miss the Pollo Ranchero, and a couple other places. We did some shopping, and I found an awesome pair of hiking shoes. I've been looking for a long time, but haven't wanted to spend much money. And I searched for some Sperry knock-offs, but to my dismay, they either didn't have my size or were a little more than I wanted to pay. Oh well. Maybe next time. Well, here's some pictures of our adventures.