The weekend flew by, so it was super nice to wake up to a snow day this morning! I plan to spend the day relaxing, organizing, and enjoying time with my girls and Jake.
Friday morning, we slept in, had breakfast, then packed up and got ready to hit the road. We drove to Council Bluffs, IA Friday night, which is about 2 hours from where my Grandma is now buried.
Friday morning started with egg casserole.
We stopped in St. Joe for dinner. We went to First Ward, which is the oldest saloon on this side of the Mississippi. It’s a super adorable place. I texted my friend who is from St. Joe about going there and she reminded me that she took me there once when we were in college. I had totally forgotten. We enjoyed getting to sit at the bar and chat with the girls tending bar. Jake and I almost always sit at the bar when it’s just the two of us. We love meeting new people.
Road trips call for delicious snacks. I LOVE Sour Patch Kids.
We stayed in a hotel in Council Bluffs – the Holiday Inn that is connected to the AmeriStar casino. We got to the hotel about 9:30PM. We talked about going to the casino to walk around, but we were both so exhausted, so we changed into PJs and crawled into bed. The breakfast the next morning was delicious. We shared a waffle – my favorite!
After breakfast, we drove the rest of the way to Early, IA, which is where my Mom grew up. We met everyone at the cemetery where my Grandpa and Mom’s youngest brother are buried. My Mom lost her youngest sibling when he was 2 years old (I think she was 8?). All of the kids (there are 3 girls and 1 boy) were playing in the front yard of their house and the youngest, Jason, ran into the street and was hit by a semi truck. He died instantly. The whole family saw it happen, which I can’t even imagine. My Grandma was excited to get to Heaven to see Jason again. She is buried in-between my Grandpa Ron and Jason. The burial service was beautiful – my Grandma would’ve loved it.
After the service, we had a luncheon at the church, which is the church where my parents got married. The food was delicious.
The church is so pretty. My Dad gave us a little tour of the area, and we spent time with my family and a lot of friends who loved my sweet Grandma. Here’s a picture of the inside of the church. I loved the light coming through the stained glass.
Our time with everyone went by way too quickly, but we drove the entire 7 hours back home Saturday, so we wanted to get a fairly early start. We hit the road about 1:30PM. Jake drove all weekend. He’s the best. And pretty easy on the eyes, too.
We made a few pit stops for necessities – coffee and food. We ate at Charlie Hopper’s in KC and it’s the coolest place! We shared a Cajun chicken sandwich.
Thennnn we got dip cones. Jake likes butterscotch, I like chocolate. And yes, he has a mouth full of ice cream here…
My friend, Jordan, came by to let our girls out for us. She left this Penny from Heaven necklace for me. How sweet is she? And how beautiful is this necklace? I love it so much.
It was so nice to wake up in our own bed Sunday morning. The girls and I slept in, which felt incredible. I got this Elmo toy for Eleanor for Christmas and Lu was pretty upset that she couldn’t play with it. She sat like this, staring at the toy and crying until I moved it out of her sight.
I made a massive bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. It was delicious.
I LOVE our tree. So much. I wish we left Christmas decorations up all year.
After breakfast and a little relaxing, Rhea and I headed out for some miles.
I didn’t time our run all that well…about a mile in, it started sleeting on us. We knocked out 6 miles, but the last few miles were pretty miserable. Rhea was not happy with me…
After our run, I grabbed our groceries, then came home to meal prep. I got this text from my friend, Sam. I made the casserole again this week! YUM.
After I meal prepped and did laundry, Jake and I headed to Brew Co. for dinner. It was their 22nd anniversary, so we wanted to go celebrate with them.
After dinner, we came home and watched part of Sound of Music, then crawled into bed. Jordan and I had planned to meet at 5AM to run long, but the weather was starting to get a little sketchy, so we met at 5:30 and just did 4 miles, then we hung out in a coffee shop and relaxed. As I was walking out the door to meet Jordan, I got a phone call saying school was canceled. I was glad we got our miles in before the roads got too bad! It started sleeting on us toward the end of our run, but it wasn’t anything too bad.
After running and coffee, I came home to eat breakfast with Jake. Here’s the delicious casserole – same as last week. I forgot to put cheese on it when it baked, so I just added some when I heated it all up.
Jake is off work today, too, so I am excited we get to spend the day together. We are getting some projects finished around the house, but I definitely see a nap in our future.
Happy Monday, friends!
Thank you so much for the update. I hope I can follow the blog. The site was saying I needed to enable cookies and I wont so not sure how I got this far. Nimble fingers sometimes.
Hi, Kris!
Hmm. That’s strange. Have you subscribed to the blog? That might help! On the side of the homepage, you put your email in the subscription box and each day the post will be sent to you. That might save you some trouble!