Christmas

It was very odd and a little lonely to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day without our extended families this year.  We still had a wonderful time and loved spending so much time together...but it was a different experience.  We let each of the kids open a gift on Christmas Eve night and then the little kids woke us up before the sun rose to open presents.  Considering the sun rises at 8 am this time of year that's not a hard thing to do. 

We flew in to Texas on the 26th and were picked up by David's parents so we could celebrate Christmas at the lake with everyone.  We had a wonderful time and the kids received tons of presents.

After we celebrated at the lake we went to Grand Prairie to celebrate with the my family.  The kids were thrilled to be with everyone and opened more gifts than we have the ability to carry home with us.

On New Years Day we took my parents, brother-in-law and nephew to the land in Trinidad to shoot guns and ride the 4-wheeler.  Everyone and all of the dogs had a blast.  It was a nice way to celebrate Texas before we head back.  

Levi shot his first gun.  :-( 

 Kaleb seemed to be a pro with shooting the gun already.

Our flight back was quite awful.  We had to fly our dogs back with us and we could hear them barking as we were boarding the plane and disembarking.  They also made a scene at the DFW and SEA airports while we were handing them over.  The kids combo of eating food they're not accustomed to and not getting enough sleep over the past week caused them to be a little monstrous on the flight back.  Ashley was lucky that she stayed longer to be with her mom and friends because she would have been embarrassed by it all.

Not sure when I'll be ready to fly back with the little kids to DFW again.