The girls invited me to go with them to see the movie "Wicked." Little did I know, but I accidentally wore pink. Apparently green or pink was the color of the day. Who knew??
Apparently all three Goldens were aware of the movie color scheme.
And then there was Sarah...who wore black. She was the designated photographer.
We picked an awesome movie theater. Every chair in there was a recliner. How divine!! I love watching a movie with my feet up. (And it's easier to take a little nap in these chairs!)
We did a quick after-movie dinner together because Sarah was in a hurry to get somewhere.
Glen shocked me one day by suggesting we have a date going to the Festival of Trees. Our general opinion is the trees are way overly decorated.
These are some of my highlights.
The section of gingerbread houses is always interesting.
Our friend Carole Hymas decorated this gingerbread house.
We have a family update. Kade and Jonah BOTH have missing front teeth.
There is more family news that was not fun to hear. With all the infection going on in Rebecca's foot (here's the latest updated photo), we certainly were not happy to hear about more Golden foot troubles.
Little Miss Madison was complaining of an itch. She had a swollen ankle and was walking with a limp. WHAT IN THE WORLD??!!??
When infection was noticed going on in that sore, she was immediately taken to the doctor. There was no explanation as to why her ankle was swollen or even what was happening to this girl. She was put on the same antibiotic as her mother.
A few days later an updated photo showed the sore getting better and her ankle bone very prominently showing once again. That was weird!!!
Off we flew to Omaha on Friday the 13th to see Jacob's family. Our reason for the visit was Luke and Claire were performing with the Omaha Symphony.
Jacob picked us up at the airport and took us straight downtown to meet up with Laurie, Logan and Claire at the Symphony so we could get a quick dinner together at Pickleman's Gourmet Cafe.
We all had tickets for Saturday evening's Symphony performance. Laurie gets two free tickets each year and asked if I would rather use the free tickets this evening instead of waiting until Sunday evening like we did two years ago. I love being able to go twice.
I thought going this evening would be better because we were already right there, and then Jacob wouldn't have to go out Sunday evening to drive me downtown for the performance.
The only worry I had was the weather. It was just drizzling outside, but everything was getting covered with ice. We had walked on a couple of ice patches just walking across the street to the restaurant. I was scared going back to the car, and rightfully so. It was getting icier by the minute.
Laurie and Claire were dropped off right at the Symphony where they went in to see if Laurie could use the free tickets that night. She came back outside to get me. When I stepped out of the car and onto the icy curb, I slipped and fell.
I had tried to be so careful and was devastated when I felt myself falling. Fortunately, my arms and my knees took the brunt of the fall, but I still fell forward hurting my chin and landing on my right front tooth. OUCH!!
After getting up and assessing the situation, I didn't have any broken bones and it didn't feel like I had too much damage done to my tooth, so I went into the building.
I was pretty shaken up from that fall, yet counting my blessings that I had my gloves on and didn't have bleeding hands. Both knees were very sore--especially the left one. My tooth hurt, but I was so thankful I hadn't loosened or broken it. My right shoulder was really hurting as time went on.
Another thing that was bothering me (and Laurie) was we were extremely worried about her driving us home on those slick roads.
Thankfully, Laurie read Jacob's text at intermission which informed us the guys had just gone a short way toward home when they both said there was no way they were letting us girls try to drive home on those bad roads. HURRAH!!!!
The guys (with good-natured Logan in tow) were hanging out for hours at a sports bar eating wings and watching games until the Symphony performance was over.
Another great thing happened at intermission. I went into the restroom to try to get a better look at my front tooth. While in there, I was moving my arms all around trying to figure out what my shoulder injury entailed.
During those movements, I felt and heard my shoulder pop. The pain diminished and I was able to move it without pain. What a blessing!!
We had great seats at that show--just four rows from the stage. Claire is in the black dress taking their bows.
Jacob was so kind to escort me safely to the car. I rode home with Glen and Logan. In case anyone thinks I am exaggerating about how bad it was--here is proof of what we were dealing with.
We were able to get safely to Jacob's neighborhood taking Dodge Street and driving slowly. So thankful for that blessing. But then the excitement began. Their whole neighborhood was a sheet of ice.
Luke had been out that evening and was unable to get his car in the driveway. He slid down the street and was able to stop the car across the street. I don't know how he was able to walk across the ice-slicked street safely, but he did.
He had called to warn us of the predicament we were up against. Glen tried getting in the driveway from both directions. Finally, the car did its own thing on the ice and ended up smashed into the gutter drain at the corner in front of their next-door neighbor's home. That was it for us.
I kept looking at the whole sheet of their neighbor's three-car driveway ice rink, two sidewalks and a little incline to get into Jacob's garage and felt like we were doomed. So close, yet so very far away from safety and warmth.
Logan braved the trek and found it safe to walk on the lawn and up right next to the neighbor's garage doors. Glen then was able to hold tight to the car doors to get himself out and back to the trunk and somehow got our luggage out of the back and made the trek across the treacherous path to Jacob's garage.
Then it was my turn. Logan was so kind to help me get safely out of the car, onto the grass, and then he helped me traverse the sidewalks and driveways safely. It was so scary (especially after still being so sore from the fall from earlier). I went into the house and started to unpack. I could not handle watching Jacob's van trying to get up the driveway.
He made the attempt and when the van started sliding backwards, Glen helped Laurie and Claire get out of the vehicle. He got behind the vehicle (he said it was sliding very slowly--see why I couldn't bear to watch??!!??) to open the trunk and get out the three bags of ice melt Jacob had bought on his way home.
Both guys were worried the cars were going to slip down the road and run into Luke's car. The first order of business was to get Jacob's van into the garage. Logan helped spread the ice melt on the driveway in front of the van. Traction was gained from the ice melt and the van made it into the garage.
They didn't want to leave Jacob's car in the gutter for fear someone would slide into Luke's car and then slide down the road and hit Jacob's car. So the guys and Logan got busy using the ice melt to get Jacob's car out of the gutter and into the garage.
They used the remaining ice melt to get Jacob's car out of the gutter. But the car only made it to the end of the driveway before it would slide back. They were out of ice melt, so Logan got busy scooping up the used ice melt and throwing it in front of the tires. That did the trick and the second car made it into the garage.
Laurie took this photo. I was still suffering from PTSD from my fall and could not even look out to see what was happening outside.
I was so happy to see everyone finally inside the house with two cars safely in the garage. Luke's car would have to wait until morning when the temperature rose a bit and the ice began to melt.
And then we saw blood on Jacob's face. As he was trying to get into his car stuck in the gutter, he fell, broke his glasses, and got this cut near his eye. So glad his eye wasn't harmed in the fall. SHEESH!!!
It was one horribly eventful evening that I never want to live over again. I am just hoping my front tooth didn't experience enough trauma to cause problems in the future. So far so good. It hurt for about a week, but the gum stayed healthy and the tooth appears okay. The dentist didn't even want to see me.
And look at the news headlines the following day about the storm we found ourselves right in the middle of.
Logan had been instructing me to walk like a penguin with my feet close together taking tiny steps. Too bad I had to step up onto the curb and was unable to walk like a penguin at the point of the fall. YIKES!
I absolutely loved Emma's Christmas tree all set up in the basement where we were staying. It made it feel so Christmasy and made for an excellent night light.
Another thing I loved in Jacob and Laurie's home was the new built-in desks and cabinets in their office/music room. What a beautiful set-up for two computer work stations. Love it!!
Thankfully, Saturday was a better weather day. The ice was melting. Glen offered to drive Laurie, Luke, and Claire downtown to drop them off at the early Symphony performance so Laurie didn't have any driving scares.
In between performances, we all met at Upstream Brewing Company for dinner.
We had a little time to spare, so we walked to the nearby candy store that is gigantic and has so many kinds of old-time candy and other old-time memorabilia. Such a fun store to walk around in.
The two performers all ready for the show.
Luke's singing group got to be lobby singers for 20 minutes before the show began. Luke is the one on the end.
Time to find our seats. They were definitely not the fourth-row seats like we had the night before. This time we sat behind the big blue sound board and I found it to be very distracting.
Logan liked sitting there to watch what was going on, and he said his favorite part of the Symphony was when there was a loud screeching sound and the sound board guy was going crazy pushing all the buttons to try and get the sound to stop.
The director stopped mid-song, turned around, look at the guy and asked if they could begin again. It was kind of funny, but I sure felt bad for the sound man.
Luke's group was up in the choir seats. He's the one standing to the right of the tall guy in the middle.
Blurry photo, but can you pick out Luke to the right of the tall guy?
There's Claire in her black dress almost stage center.
It had been an enjoyable performance in a lovely venue.
But, to share Glen's chuckle from the night before after surviving the ice storm, he pointed out this saying hanging on Jacob and Laurie's wall and said he shares that sentiment.
We were happy to have a nice, relaxing Sabbath Day at home the next day, after attending church in the morning. Glen and I flew home Monday morning. What an adventure we had in Omaha!!
