Christmas with the Fam - Part 2

We headed to Odessa to spend Christmas with Randy's mom and step-dad this year. Kristi, Andrew and Bella arrived at our apartment on Friday night (before Christmas) and we headed out bright and early (well it was still dark) on Saturday. They drive an Expedition so we all loaded up and headed out for a roadtrip to west Texas. We left super early thinking Bella would sleep most of the drive there. Nope. I think all of us (minus Andrew driving) slept maybe an hour on the trip out west. Here is Bella with her bunny from Aunt Rachel & Uncle Randy.

For someone who is 13 months old and got up super early, Bella was a perfect little traveler. Of course, it was fun to get to entertain her too. She loves her Aunt Rachel. :)

Sunday morning we went to church at Immanuel (where Randy grew up). It was so good to see friends who we hadn't seen in a while. Corey, Crystal, Robin & Larry, the Haynes', Monique, and I'm sure there were more. So if we saw you at church and I didn't list you, I'm sorry!

Sunday afternoon we were all a bit lazy. Bella was up most of the night, sick with a cold, so Kristi and Andrew were pretty tired. By Monday morning, Sonia was pretty sick too. She went to work anyways. Randy and I had lunch with Crystal and Corey. It was soo good to catch up and visit. That afternoon, we decided to take pictures for Sonia for Christmas. The last picture she had of all 4 (me, Randy, Kristi, Andrew) was from our wedding and Bella wasn't even born yet! So we dressed up and posed in front of her beautiful Christmas tree for some pictures we hoped she would love. Here is a sampling:

Tuesday we hung out and ran errands. Wednesday (Christmas Eve) was spent cooking, baking, and getting ready for Christmas Eve night. Bruce's daughter, Jennifer, and her family came over for dinner and to open presents. I forgot how quickly opening presents goes for little kids! Literally 5 minutes after all the gifts were handed out, they were open! There were some pretty happy boys playing with their new toys though.

Christmas morning we woke up and gathered in the living room for gifts and the Christmas story. Sonia found this neat story and made up a Christmas box for Bella that she can use year after year. In the box are things that represent the meaning of Christmas. The story is about Santa coming to visit and him telling the true meaning of Christmas by the things he pulls out of his bag. He has a tree, a star, an angel, a wreath, a candy cane, a bell, and some other things I can't remember. Each item represents something about Jesus.

After the story, we exchanged gifts. I got pj's and a cool scrapbooking bag from Kristi, Kristi got scrapbooking stuff from her mom, Sonia got scrapbooking stuff, socks, and pj's from me, Randy got an Academy gift card from Bryan, Bryan got an American Eagle gift card from Randy, Andrew got a tool belt from Bruce, and Bruce got house shoes and Cowboys pants from Andrew. It was funny because all the girls got something scrapbook related! The boys were just sure we had snuck some into their gifts as well. :) Then came the stockings! More goodies!

Finally Sonia got to open her special gift - the pictures! She loved them! I'm so glad we did them. They turned out really well.

We ate breakfast and attempted to take Bella to the park. Attempted because when we got their, all their baby swings were gone. Weird. Plus Bella wasn't feeling great so all she liked was the slide. I did get some cute pictures though.

We did an early dinner then got together and played Taboo - girls versus boys. Boys won. We were really close though. :) We wrapped up the night with Horton Hears a Who! It is a cute movie and really funny. Friday morning (early again) we loaded up and headed out on the road toward home. Ronnie and Lupita (Randy's dad and step-mom) met us on the road and drove in with us. They ended up spending the weekend with us and going to church with us on Sunday.

That was a jammed packed week! It was good to spend time with family though. Makes us wish we all were a little closer. So that's all for the marathon post. I started this one a couple days before New Year and am just now getting to finish posting it. Be looking for my 100th post coming soon!

CG Christmas Party

Our Community Group had our Christmas party on the Thursday before Christmas. We did chili and all the works. Afterwards, we had our white elephant gift exchange. Each couple was supposed to bring one good gift and one re-gift. There were some laughs on several gifts!

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Christmas with the Fam - Part 1

So I know it has been a while since I really blogged. Blame it on busyness and travel. Anyways, I have a few weeks to catch up on so here goes:

2 weeks before Christmas, Dad, Mom, & Daniel came down to spend the weekend with Randy & I and to celebrate Christmas with us. The weekend started with the boys heading out to shop and Mom and I making our Christmas dinner. We made monterrey chicken (yum!), green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, mac'n'cheese, and salad. It turned out great. So yummy! Afterwards we exchanged our gifts. I got a picture frame clock from Daniel, Randy got a shirt and book from Dad, Daniel got books from Mom, Mom got a Shark VX1 and drying rack from me, and Dad got a shotgun from all of us. We originally were supposed to only buy gifts for the person whose name we drew. That was until Randy found this super good deal on the shotgun he knew my dad wanted. So after working it out with Mom and Daniel, Dad got a huge surprise when he opened his present and found the shotgun he wanted. :) I think he really, really, really liked it. There were several other gifts - you can see them in the video below.

On Sunday, we went to church, then home for lunch. Mom and I headed out to do some shopping. It was good just to have some girl time. :) That evening we put on the layers and headed up to Grapevine to the Gaylord Texan to see their ICE Exhibit. If you have never been, you need to go. It was incredible - cold, but very cool to experience. We didn't take our good camera in because we weren't sure what the cold and humidity would do to it. Thus, our pics are not quite as clear as normal. We used Randy's old faithful camera - the one that survived the trip to India a few years ago.

Monday had a serious change in the weather - a super cold, windy front came through. We did a late breakfast of pancakes and bacon before heading out. Mom and I did some last minute shopping, while the boys went to Cabelas to do "manly" stuff. Monday also was Mom and Dad's 29th wedding anniversary, so we treated them to dinner at Outback - all of our favorite!

I am so glad we got to "do" Christmas with them early. It was a great weekend celebrating Jesus' birth and being with family. Thank you Dad, Mom and Daniel for coming to our home for Christmas! We love you!

Where are you Christmas?

So sorry it has been a while since I posted. It has been a busy few weeks. Since I last posted, my parents and brother came down and spent the weekend with us, I finished up all my work for December, my division at my company was sold, and we drove to Odessa where we are currently spending Christmas. Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it. It was all fun (well minus the cramming of 2 weeks' work into 1) and completely worth it.

While my parents were here we did our family Christmas with them. We also went to the Gaylord Texan ICE Exhibit in Grapevine. It was really cool. There were ice sculptures of all shapes and sizes. I have pictures but since they are on our old camera, I haven't loaded them to the computer yet. So you'll have to take my word for it that it was cool. :)

I also found out last week that my division of the company I work for is being sold as of 1.1.09. What does that mean for me? I'm really not sure. The new company did offer me a job with them as of 1.1.09. However the company is based out of Massechusetts. Right now we don't know if they will keep us in Dallas, or move us somewhere else. We're just waiting to see how the transition goes. Thankfully, we are staying in the building we are currently in for the next 2 months.

And Odessa....we drove from Dallas to Odessa today with Kristi, Andrew, and Bella. We haven't spent a Christmas together with Randy's family ever, and so we all planned it this year so we could. The added bonus is Bella is 1 this year. She was the best little traveler today on our 5+ hour drive. She is just starting to walk and is a ton of fun to be around. I promise I will post lots of pictures when we get home.

Random

So I have had a few things I've needed to blog about but since we got home from Thanksgiving, I just haven't had time. Here goes:

1. November 30th - November 30th marked 2 years since Randy proposed. Awwwwww..... We didn't even realize what day it was until we were going to bed that night. Sad, I know.

2. Work - Since we are taking a week and going to Odessa for Christmas, I will be gone for a whole week. That means what I normally do in 4 weeks, I must complete in 3! Fun times. So if you are expecting any emails or calls from me, they might be a little late. Sorry!

3. December 5th - December 5th is our 5 year dating anniversary. Cheesy? Sorry, but to me it is special. I've known Randy now for 5.5 years and we have been together 5 of them. Pretty cool.

4. I have done no Christmas shopping yet and do not even have my tree up. I am so behind! And the bad thing is a week of Dec is almost already gone so that is 7 days less that I get to enjoy my tree and all the Christmas stuff. :( I love Christmas, I do. I've just been so busy that I haven't had time to get all our stuff out and put it up. Maybe tonight. Oh and Courtney and I are going shopping tomorrow so maybe I can knock out my list in 1 day!

5. It is Friday and I am so glad. This has been a long, busy week. Nothing bad, just busy. I am ready to go home tonight, fix dinner and pull out our Christmas stuff. Randy is not into putting the tree up and decorating, but maybe I can bribe him with chocolate!

Thanksgiving 2008

I know you have all been waiting for the 400+ pictures we took during Thanksgiving. Well, you don't have to wait any longer. Here they are (well not all 400, but a few):

We took off a day early to head to Oklahoma to visit my family. Our visit was good - we helped Mom and Dad decorate their house for Christmas (well I did), Randy and Daniel went mountain biking, shot Randy's new gun and Daniel's bow, we played games, ate lots of food and stayed up too late. On Thanksgiving, we went to my grandparents' for lunch. Again this year, there was way too much food, but surprisingly not as many leftovers. My "little" cousins are getting bigger and have way bigger appetites this year.

We left Oklahoma on Saturday morning and headed south to Tyler for Bella's 1st Birthday. It is hard to believe she is already 1! Time flies! It was fun to get to see Randy's family and spend some time with Miss Bella. She loves her Aunt Rachel, but isn't so sure about Uncle Randy. Minus the picture below, she cried almost everytime he came near. Hopefully she will warm up to him during Christmas.

From Bella's First Birthday