We made it!!!!

Christmas in finally over! That was just wayyyyy too much anticipation! We enjoyed a couple days of R&R!! Oh, wait... no we didn't! Between driving for 12 hours, making sure all the Grammy's and Grampy's and Uncle's, and the friends that are as close as family, we're visited, and driving another 12 hours... we ran out of time for that! But it was so fantastic to be home! I did get one good day "alone" (alone means 2 kids for part of the day, and 1 for the remainder of the day) with Mom... or at least a few hours. I find it a little odd though that I made it through a trip to Spokane, or at least a visit with Mom and Grandma, with less than $100 dollars being spent. I guess that's what happens with Christmas-time in February! CJ did get to spend some quality time walking through deer country. He found a path near my parents in which close to 70 (by his estimation) passed right by him. Then at night he watched them feed in my parents yard. He was also fascinated by the fact that ,because his parents neighbor feeds them, they passed through his parents property allll day long!
Overall our drive went well. The snow in the passes was unbelievable! It was about 3 times the height of the guardrails! Thankfully the days we travelled we're bright and sunny!

So, I'm sure you're all wondering what all the anticipation was about (ok, probably not, and if that's the case just go ahead and stop reading now... but I know your curiosity is going to get the best of you... so just keep going).....

Yes, this was just our portion. The rest of the family actually opened their stuff at Christmas.

I'm not actually sure what would have happened to my mother had this gone on any longer.

Christmas at the Loncon's Highlights

Yes, 2 different tractors!

Eat your heart out Spence! I'm sure they will still be in good enough condition to pass them down to your children... although your children will probably have the real miniature versions.

(We will pray for your sanity through it all Allison!)

MAKEUP!!

oh yes.... MORE MAKEUP!

And just what every 9 year old dreams of...

an MP3 player!!

Not too long ago I tried to convince Blake that once, a looong, loooong time ago, there were actually real doctors, and lawyers, and really cool people who made it clear through high school without a cell phone. Not only did I make myself feel really old, and somewhat nerdy, but now I find myself at a loss of words that my 9 year olds most desired gift of the year was an MP3 player because... quite honestly... I wasn't even really sure what they were a couple of months ago!!

"Thanks mom! This is my best Christmas ever!!!!"

(Yes, he actually said it!! Ok, so he didn't mean it... but he said it!).

If you look close enough you will see the number 20 on the side of the box. This gift was the most highly anticipated of the whole event. If you look back to one of my first posts you will see that CJ and my Mom have had an ongoing battle about this particular race car driver.... the battle lives on.

And since I was always holding the camera you can't see me with my fabulous new pressure cooker! I made my first meal in it tonight! A roast... in just under an hour and a half! Ohhhh yes.... just like a crock pot but.... an hour and a half... and I didn't even make it explode! Anna... I'm thinking dessert to go with those enchiladas!! (because I wouldn't actually be able to cook the enchiladas in the pressure cooker!)

And to top it all off...

need I say more?

And I just thought this was too cute not to share...

So that's it... in a nutshell. Ashlyn even got to go shopping with Gramma Shawn, who also brought Kailey some marshmallow princess cereal!! Way to go Gramma, you won more points with that one!

Although, somehow Mom, Dad and JoJo got jipped in the pictures with Grand kids area. I will make it up to you... I promise.