~Home Sweet Home~

After being away from our house for 10 days, traveling to and from a few different cities, living out of suit cases and bags (a lot of them!), visiting lots of family, meeting best friend's 7 week old baby, spending quality time with those that we love, celebrating Christmas four different times, watching Rylie get spoiled by all of her grandparents, comfortably accepting that Rylie's routine got a bit muddled...we are home!

And after 10 loads of laundry, an entire day spent reorganizing, deep cleaning, packing up Christmas decorations and being reminded by my husband that "seasons must come and go"...I feel settled again!

This Holiday season was, once again, BUSY! But I really wouldn't be able to accept it any other way. The weekend before Christmas, my mom, step-dad, sister and niece all came for a visit. I bought Taigen and Rylie matching Christmas pajama sets, Brian made a delicious prime-rib dinner, and we settled in by the fire and opened gifts...ma-maw and pa-paw sure do know how to spoil their two grandbabies. Rylie quickly went from having zero "little people" sets to having four different sets! We had such an amazing time with them!!!



The following week, we left Oklahoma and headed to eastern Kansas...where we stayed for over a week. We spent several great days with Brian's parents and were able to get together with both of his brothers and their families. Brian made another prime-rib Christmas dinner and we had a heck of time trying to get all four grandchildren settled for a nice picture! Rylie was spoiled with lots of gifts; in particular, she was given one special gift that was put together by her Grandpa Tony...a wooden rocking horse!



Then it was off to central Kansas, where we spent the rest of our vacation with my dad, step-mom, brother, sister and Sky. Rylie is so blessed to have so many wonderful family members who absolutely adore her. We basically relaxed with the family, cooked, baked, played games, enjoyed another Christmas dinner, and had a fun time watching Robert push Rylie around the house in a cardboard box! The ground was sparsely covered with snow but we made the best out of it and dad pulled Robert and I on a sled, behind the four-wheeler. We had a blast!! On New Years day, dad and Peg hosted their annual "Game Feed" and had over 60 people at their house. They made BBQ duck, pheasant noodle soup, deer something or other, bacon wrapped dove and duck...and much-much more! My list does not do them justice for what they prepared for that day.

But all good things must come to an end...and we were homebound on Saturday night. I included today as part of my vacation and I'm so thankful that I did. It can be a bit hard to go back to work after staying up late and sleeping in for 12 consecutive days. But it's all in the attidude. And with Rylie already back in her normal routine and with my house clean and orderly again...it's time to start working on my goals for 2010!

Thank you, everyone, for letting us overwhelm your house with luggage and for allowing us to turn your home into our vacation spot! We enjoyed seeing all of you very much and look forward to the next visit.

Oh, and thanks for making it imperative that we get Rylie a toy box...SOON!

Sending Our Love!