christmas/ new year's recap

 We were able to fly home for Christmas and spend 2 1/2 weeks with dear friends and family! We had such a blast and the kids LOVED seeing everyone (of course, so did we!) :) Let me just preface that I didn't get pictures of everyone we were able to see (boo)...and I didn't post nearly even half of them on here :) If you want to see more, our picasa link is to the left... :)
Nearly the entire time we were back, it was in the 50s and even 60s instead of the usual 20s and 30s....thankful for the great travelling weather, bummed about the lack of snow ;)
We flew into MN and were with Nick's family there over christmas. We did drive to Southern MN for one day to see my brothers since Caleb and Josh were both going to be gone by the time we go to IA (Josh was in from the Hawaii for a few weeks on leave and Caleb was leaving the day after we would get to Des Moines). We spent the day at my Mom and Stepdad's lakehouse playing Scrabble and just chillin' :) It was so fun to be together, and I'm glad we got to see Josh before he headed back to Hawaii.

We went to church Christmas Eve and then to dinner and a White Elephant (so fun!) with the Morrison's. I forgot how much I love white elephant gifting...and the food was so YUMMY.

Christmas Day we had a yummy tea ring, the kids had stockings, and we opened gifts. It was chaos. Nana had a lot of help ;)

We got to see Ray and Ellen quite a bit too. So glad! We went to their place Christmas Day evening.

The day after christmas, we went to spend a week with my family and see friends.

We were able to spend quite a bit of time with my mom and Rob as well as my dad and Pam.

 We drove to Boone one morning to see Nick's Grandma Jane. Her walker was a hit with the kids ;)

 We had christmas with my dad and Pam the day after we got into town. So much fun :)

The Saturday (New Year's Eve) before we headed back up to MN for a few days before we flew out, we had a little get together so we could see friends as well as celebrate Addy's birthday.

We got to see Zeb, Bekah, and the girls (we also spent that evening with them), Amber, Tommy and Miles came by...a dear friend from college, Dave, stopped over....and my dear friend, Ashley came with her oldest, Abby. So fun to see everyone...I just was lame and didn't get a ton of pictures.

We spent a few more days with nick's family in MN before we flew back to Cali.

It FINALLY snowed up there, so we got to go sledding the day before we left. Adelyn had been before and loved it. Mason LOOOOVED it. Check out the kid's face in the pictures ;)

a HUGE thank you to our families for being so patient and gracious with us ;)

We had so much fun seeing everyone and can't wait to get back again soon!

xoxo

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