Christmas Trip to Amarillo

For those of you that are keeping up with the Blog I will update you on our trip to Amarillo for Christmas with the family.

We left the morning of Dec. 24 at 7:00 am and it is about a 5 1/2 hr trip. We knew there had been some snow in Amarillo and that it was moving towards Dallas; but we never guessed what we were in for. Snow in our part of the country is - here comes the beautiful flakes - watch them hit the ground - now they melt.

A little over an hour into the trip at Bowie, TX, which is about 45 mi south of Wichita Falls, the steady rain quickly turned into snow flakes. In less than 5 miles the trees were white. The next 5 miles saw the ground turn to white. Then we had to be a little careful with our driving as snow was just starting to accumulate on the road.

We then saw our first car in the ditch. And another and another and then one upside down! We were still 30 mi from Wichita Falls and the snow was really coming down and it was really starting to accumulate. By the time we reached the Love's gas station just before getting into Wichita Falls we were really ready to take a break and I thought the way things were going it might be smart to top off the fuel tank. By now we had seen well over twenty cars in the ditch.

We made our brief stop, topped the tank, worked on the freezing windows & windshield wipers. I guessed there was 4 to 5 inches on the ground. As we started going through Wichita Falls, on their new overhead freeway system 4 lanes wide on each side, we couldn't believe the number of cars and big rigs having trouble. First we saw two 18 wheelers on the other side jack-knifed into eachother with wreckers trying to pull them apart and the traffic backed up behind them. Just then two cars spun out about 50 yds in front of us. They touched slightly and one hit the outside wall. We got around them and the snow was getting very deep on the road. Small cars were beginning to have trouble as they were now dragging in the snow. We were fortunate to be in the F-150 and have the clearance needed to get over the snow and ruts.

As we left the town we thought good riddens to W.F. and their traffic, now we can get out on the open road and be safer. Wrong. Immediately the visibility became horrible as the wind was now blowing 50 mph and nothing to block it. More cars in the ditch. It is about 40 miles to Vernon and so we thought if we make Vernon it would get better.

Between the visibility going down to complete white-out conditions and the amount of snow on the road we were going 13 mph. Sometimes up as high as 18 and sometimes as slow as 8. More cars and more cars in the ditch on both sides of the road. Some in the last few minutes and some an hour or so ago. Oh, and we hadn't seen a snow plow yet - but then they really don't have snow plows in Wichita Falls, Texas. We were still about 30 mi from Vernon and we were now about 5 hrs into the trip and Vernon is supposed to be half way.

We were beginning to loose count of the cars in the ditch, they were not so important any more as we were struggling just to see and keep going, but we know it was over 40. As Lori drove I would roll the window down about every 10 min and stick my arm and head out the mindow and work on the windshield wipers - this was becoming a big problem and they were really icing up. Now we were 6 hr into the trip and still about 20 mi from Vernon. That's right 10 mi in one hour. No where to go - going back didn't look like any better proposition than going forward and we were in the middle of nowhere.

Another 10 mi in an hour and now we were 10 mi from Vernon. We finally had to pull over - we could absolutely see nothing from the blowing snow and our windshield was icing up too much. We struggled to find a county road so we could get over just enough so we wouldn't get hit - maybe 10 ft off the road. We had to be careful too that we wouldn't get stuck. We sat 45 min, finally thought we could see 50 ft instead of 10 ft, and got the courage to start out again. Now we could go 20 mph! More cars and big rigs in the ditch as we came up to Vernon. Over 50 cars now in the ditch and many big rigs, several of them jack-knifed. From Vernon to Memphis, TX it steadily got better but still more cars in the ditch and more and more big rigs jack-knifed.

Whew - we were finally out of the snow, Lori was on edge, we were all tense, and the girls were half frozen from me opening the window so many times to clean the wipers.

The trip took over 10 hrs. We found out latter that they had over 16 inches of snow with 50 mph wind and virtually no snow plows. We also found out they had closed the road from Wichita Falls to Vernon shortly after we went through and it was closed for over 24 hrs.
Wow, What a trip! Merry Christmas indeed!

Herb's photos of Shane's new Marina Installation

Lake Tanglewood, Amarillo TX.

Marina was built between mid Oct & mid Dec. It has 28 boat stalls.
(Click pics to enlarge)

Christmas Play & Polar Express

Grant & Sloane had their Christmas play for church last Sunday called "Colors Of Faith". Grant was part of the rainbow (of course his favorite color orange). Sloane was an angel and leave it to her to pose with Baby Jesus in the manger! The congregation got quite a kick out of that! We went on the Polar Express last Thursday and had a lot of fun! This is our fourth year to go and the kids still love it! They got to wear their pajamas and meet Santa himself! Needless to say they were very excited! The Lindstroms are looking forward to the trip to Texas for Christmas and seeing our family that we miss so much!

Sloane's Nutcracker Debut

Sloane danced in her first Nutcracker performance on Saturday night. She was a little sheep and did an excellent job! She knew all her steps and even managed to wave to us in the front row!

Grandma Corky braved the cold weather and drove up to watch Sloane dance.

We all know how much she loves the Nutcracker and she was very proud to see her granddaughter perform in it! We all enjoyed having her visit and had fun going to see the play "A Christmas Story" on Friday night. It appears as if Sloane has taken to ballet more so than soccer. She was so adorable that she brought tears to our eyes seeing her up there onstage!

The BIG 2-1-!!!!!!!!!

This is a pic of the gang: Amy, Jenna, Me, Beth, and Becca and the pre-party! This is my very first shot at the bar that Becca bought me, it is a Royal ___ I think most of you can fill in the blank! :o)
Well it finally happened, after much anticipation and excitement, I turned 21. At 12:00 am on Dec 3 I went to my first bar, Dirty's, in Stillwater, OK. I had a ton of fun hanging out with some friends, and had some pretty yummy shots!

It was a ton of fun!!! And I know Mom is happy that I am finally legal!

Thanks for all of the wonderful birthday wishes! Love ALL YALL!! ;o)

Christmas Tree Farm

The Schramms at the Christmas Tree Farm in Greenville, TX. The rain caught us this year.



We were talking about how many years we have been cutting our own tree and we think we started when Brooke was 4 - so that's about 17 yrs.



Layne & Dad acting like complete Dorks!

Halloween

For Halloween Grant was a doctor, Sloane was Cinderella and Brian went as a Carnie (aka Joe Dirt).  He seemed to fit in well while helping to run the Ferris Wheel!  He was very popular with the white trash girls attending the Halloween Bash in downtown Flagstaff!  We made a Gravy-O in our front yard that the kids helped with.  (That is Sloane's word)!  They had a lot of fun trick-or-treating and Joe Dirt had fun drinking him some cold beer!

Grant's 1st Piano Recital

Grant had his first piano recital in October and did very well!  He played two songs, one a duet with his teacher Miss Michele.  He is really enjoying learning to play the piano and is doing great!

Layne & Dad at TMS for the BIG Race!

Went to TMS for Layne's birthday...
It's kinda a dad & daughter thing!

Pace car delivered by Chinook Helicopter! Way cool!

Erica - Halloween Vampire!

Skiing Pics - Shane's Boat....

Erica










Erica & Sheridan holding hands.


Erica & Sheridan jumping off cliff - Ute Lake.













Erica skiing, Ute Lake.









Erica Skiing - Lake Tanglewood

The CRAZY month of October

October has always been a crazy month, but this one is over the top!

On October 7, we had our annual DHOP....delta house of pancakes. This is where we invite everyone from the greek community, and all of stillwater over to our house to each unlimited pancakes, sausage, and bacon. All of our proceeds go to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Its is always a lot of fun, and this year I was back in the kitchen flipping pancakes. Let's just say that I am not longer craving pancakes. HAHA

Then this weekend was Homecoming Weekend. Mom, Dad, and Layne came up for all of the festivities! Friday night was walk-arounds where a TON of people walk around all of the greek houses and see the house decks....which are huge designs make out of chicken wire and pomp. Weird, I know!!! The overall theme this year was Branded for Life, and Tri Delta/Beta got most spirited!! On Saturday we all went to the parade and then tailgated with some of my girls and all of our parents! It was lots of fun, but a little bit cold!! The game was really late, but we BEAT mizzou!! (I would also like to give a shout out to all those K-State fans, yall KILLED A&M!!!!)

Next week is Initiation Week, and since I am New Member Educator, this is my last major duty of my term in office! A lot has been leading up to this and I can't wait to initiate all 51 of my new members! Then on Friday, Amy, Beth, and I are going to Baylor to spend the weekend with Amy's older sister, Blaire. We will go to the OSU/BU game on Saturday...in ORANGE of course! It will be lots of fun to get away for a little road trip. We are going right through Dallas, but not stopping...I think mom and dad will be okay with it! HAHA

So as you can see I have been really busy up here in STILLY!! Hope everyone is having a great fall season! Love YALL!!

......and layne jennifer needs to post some pics of this weekend!!!!!!!!
(Recommended Links on righthand side of page for OSU SlideShow)

Ball State & Homecoming Week

HEY GUYS!

Well I've been pretty busy lately! I got home from Ball State last Sunday night and then starting the next day (Monday) was homecoming week.

Let's see, Ball State was awesome! I got there around 1 and my assistant coach (Amber) picked me up at the Indianapolis Air Port and took me to campus just in time to hear my head coach (Michael) give the girls their pre-game speech. They played Bowling Green and beat them 1-0, it was a really good game. Then my host took me back to her dorm and we got situated and met the rest of the freshman hosts and recruits and went to dinner at the Pita Pit on campus. After supper we went to see a movie and this time the whole team joined us. We saw the animated movie called cloudy with a chance of meatballs. It was really cute! Then Paige and I went back to her dorm and hung out for the night. The next day, Saturday we had breakfast at the food court in her dorm and then she went back upstairs to get ready for practice. They had a short 30min walk through practice just to get the girls out of bed and loosen them up after yesterdays game. Then we had lunch and walked to the football stadium to see the first half of the football game. Then we went behind the stadium to watch the girls field hockey team play Missouri State. The soccer girls and the field hockey girls are good friends because they all room together. After that we had some down time and we just watched tv; and had an early dinner with Michael and Amber at a little hamburger restaurant. Then later that night the team got together for a "Task Scavenger Hunt". We were divided into 4 teams and we had a list of goofy things that we had to do. Such as: Kiss a stranger, get your butt signed by a stranger, put your gum on the gum tree etc. I was really fun! And my team won! Then they had a game the next day (Sunday) against big rival Toledo. They team lost in the last 2 sec. 4-3. It was a heart breaker because the girls played really hard. Then Amber took me back to the airport and I flew home to HOT Dallas!

Our Homecoming theme this year was "Take a Walk Through the Jungle". So we got to dress up everyday in different attires. Monday: The Lion Sleeps Tonight; wear PJ's to school. Tuesday: Go the the Jungle Gym and Dress Like a little kid. Wednesday: Go Bananas and dress mixed matched. Thursday: Dress in animal print. Friday: Mums a garters. It was a great senior homecoming with lots of fun!

No soccer lately! TOO MUCH RAIN! welll that's just my update.

Love, Layne

Herb & Brothers - Quick Family Reunion

Left: Win, Hilbert, Dale, Lenus, Ralph, Leon

Hilbert & Corrine met with Hilbert's brothers at Ralph & Barbs in Guthrie Center, IA. Several children and grandchildren were also present. These pictures were thanks to Darci - she posted them on her Facebook.

Hi All.. Corky and Herb arrived yesterday in RAIN !! Not so bad today.. much cooler.. We are having a lazy day..BUT, Cork and I did go to Chetopa and get some wine.. Sooo watch out !! It's on ice we're having it for lunch !! Didn't want any to go to waste.. Boys are farming.. someplace.. Bye, Gma M and Corky

Anniversary Day!

Hapy 50th Martha Jane & Stan!

Big Weekend in Alma, KS

Marty & Stan opening their "Memory Book".

Marty's mouth is open - What a Surprise!

Everyone is helping....











Alli celebrating her birthday while everyone was in Alma.


Early Alma morning - leaving for home on Labor Day.

Remembering Bob Mayhew

Aunt Ruthie, Corrine's sister, lost her husband, Bob Mayhew in May of this year. There was a small funeral in Tennessee, where they were living.

This weekend, in Pomeroy, IA, there will be a memorial service for Bob. Corrine, Alisson and Alyssa are attending along with the numerous people they will see from Iowa.

Ruthie, our thoughts are with you this weekend, as we are remembering and memorializing Bob.

Mark, Lori, Brooke & Layne.

Grant & Sloane's 1st Day of School

Grant started the 2nd grade a couple of weeks ago.  As you can see from the photo he looked like Rocky after a fall from his bicycle.  Sloane started Preschool a few days later and has now become quite the fashionista and picks out her own outfits!  Some days are better then others!  They are both enjoying school very much and mom is enjoying a little quiet time as well!

SENIOR! 1st Day of School

Layne's first day of school for her LAST year!

Rosie's 5th year to go to school.

Hope it makes it one more year!