This post is so long in coming... but here it is. We had such a treat this Christmas to get to see both sets of our parents. My parents had Christmas away from home for the first time... well, in at least 31 years because I never remember then being anywhere else. We had to share them with my brothers, but we got them the week before Christmas. It was great, we loved it, but I think we may have scared them off a little with how crazy my boys were leading up to the holiday.
Christmas Eve morning we drove out to my brother Bret's house. Honestly, it got off to a very rocky start... but the food was really good. My sister Debbie was the only sibling not present, so as a gift she ordered us all food from Omaha Steaks which we thoroughly enjoyed for dinner. I missed having her there.
And what's Christmas without a reading of A Night Before Christmas and a good family sing-a-long, and by good I do not mean the quality of our voices but the quality of the songs.
My parents and my kids in front of Tammie's retro flocked tree...
Chase and Piper
Christmas Eve we drove back home so we could wake up Christmas Day with Santa Claus coming to our house. SO MUCH FUN! It was a fun day in our jammies, playing with new toys.Early in the morning on the 26th we loaded up and drove down to Derek's parents in Texas. When we left it was 11 degrees here, and when we got to Texas it was almost 70. That was a nice change. It was the "off year" for Derek's family, but most of us were still there except for 2 siblings and their families. We had 17 people staying in one house. And it was great. Everyone got a long for the entire week and it was fun to see everyone. Derek's sister Megan has twins who are almost 1 1/2 and they are so cute! I think she should give me one of them - after all she has TWO girls and I don't have ANY!
We did tons of stuff while we were there. One night was at Main Event with bowling, the arcade and laser tag. Bryce was tall enough to do laser tag and I don't think he knew such fun existed.
We also go roller skating every year.
My boys had had a lot of practice for our annual gingerbread decorating since we live in such a gingerbread crazy state, see here. Austin just looked so cute holding that big bag of frosting.
This is the "house" Derek and I did. Cheese crackers for the roof, peanut butter for the sides, and yes, that is Baby Jesus guarding the Santa's jail. I don't think the Mormon Trail Center Visitor's Center would take this one...
We were also slightly insane, and apparently still feeling rich at this point, and we took the boys to Six Flags. Bryce was big enough to do some of the more serious Roller Coasters. Austin had no fear - he loved every ride. Chase however really, really hated the Ferris Wheel and I made them stop to let us off.
Derek's parents have "The Round Table" in their family room, and rumor has it this may be its last Christmas with the family. My boys were encouraged to shake their booties on it...and one of the legs broke even more...which is what I think Grandma had in mind to hasten it's departure.
OK, this next picture is from Chuy's Tex-Mex restaurant. In Nebraska if you go out for Mexican food and you order enchiladas you have two choices for sauce - red or green, and both will come from a can. It's depressing. Chuy's has no fewer than 7 different sauces. We love Chuy's, it's affordable, their kids meals are great and it's not from a can, and drove 15 miles to Arlington to get it. We also really enjoyed Chik-Fil-A while we were there (Austin was just desperate to go there to play in the tubes) and Blue Mesa Grill, another Southwestern fave. Nebraska has some good restaurants, just not Tex-Mex.
Here's Derek's parents with our kids.
It was a great trip. I'm lucky to have such fun inlaws - on both sides of my family.
We did tons of stuff while we were there. One night was at Main Event with bowling, the arcade and laser tag. Bryce was tall enough to do laser tag and I don't think he knew such fun existed.
We also go roller skating every year.
My boys had had a lot of practice for our annual gingerbread decorating since we live in such a gingerbread crazy state, see here. Austin just looked so cute holding that big bag of frosting.
This is the "house" Derek and I did. Cheese crackers for the roof, peanut butter for the sides, and yes, that is Baby Jesus guarding the Santa's jail. I don't think the Mormon Trail Center Visitor's Center would take this one... We were also slightly insane, and apparently still feeling rich at this point, and we took the boys to Six Flags. Bryce was big enough to do some of the more serious Roller Coasters. Austin had no fear - he loved every ride. Chase however really, really hated the Ferris Wheel and I made them stop to let us off.
Derek's parents have "The Round Table" in their family room, and rumor has it this may be its last Christmas with the family. My boys were encouraged to shake their booties on it...and one of the legs broke even more...which is what I think Grandma had in mind to hasten it's departure.
OK, this next picture is from Chuy's Tex-Mex restaurant. In Nebraska if you go out for Mexican food and you order enchiladas you have two choices for sauce - red or green, and both will come from a can. It's depressing. Chuy's has no fewer than 7 different sauces. We love Chuy's, it's affordable, their kids meals are great and it's not from a can, and drove 15 miles to Arlington to get it. We also really enjoyed Chik-Fil-A while we were there (Austin was just desperate to go there to play in the tubes) and Blue Mesa Grill, another Southwestern fave. Nebraska has some good restaurants, just not Tex-Mex.
Here's Derek's parents with our kids.
It was a great trip. I'm lucky to have such fun inlaws - on both sides of my family.
2 comments:
I'm still bummed we didn't come up to see you. Looks like you had a crazy, busy, fun time!
Your gingerbread house is hilarious! And your cute boys are growing so fast. Wish we could have enjoyed some Tex Mex and warm weather with ya:)
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