We're back!

Well, we made it through the Christmas vacation! Don't get me wrong, I love Christmas! But sometimes the stress of December just wears me out. Our boys are off track in December, which means that if I'm not totally ready for Christmas before then, I'm in for a litte bit of a struggle. But all turned out well. The boys finished swimming lessons, Jordan had his piano recital, all shopping got done in just enough time to load up the trailer to head out to Texas to celebrate Christmas with my parents, and no one is sad because they didn't get everything! (I always worry about that!) Just know that we are working on our "New Year's Letter" instead of the yearly Christmas update...

Christmas in Texas was awesome! I so love being with family! The drive there wasn't as bad as Aaron feared it would be. Luckily, the boys spent a lot of time sleeping, watching videos, and playing games. Everytime we passed the "Midland, Texas - home of President George W. and Laura Bush" sign, I wanted to take a picture. My sisters took me shopping, which was a lot of fun. I sometimes forget how much I hate looking like a slob, and they remind me that I'm not as dumpy as I feel. I even got boots! It was great to see cousins play together - and share diseases... which is another story...

Then there was Christmas morning. So many kids, so many presents! We all opened presents at my sister's home, so it was quite the gathering. When I say "we", I mean our family, my brother Chad and his wife and 4 kids, Kelly and her husband and 3 kids, Julie and her husband and son, and my mom and dad. Santa was good to us this year.

We spent a day out riding atv's and motorcycles (thanks, Kelly and Larry!) and I only got stuck in the mud twice... (thanks, Justin for rescuing me!).

All in all, it was a fun time to remember. We came home with lots of presents, the family trailer (thanks, Dad!), a cold for Aaron, an eye infection for Levi, a stomach virus for Jordan, something wickedly intestinal for Jacob (Kelly has had to clean her carpet twice and replace some of the padding for because of those two), and a lot of fun memories - except for the throwing up parts.