Christmas in Washington

We had a wonderful Christmas! We got to spend the holiday up in Washington visiting my family. It was so great. There was lots of snow, good food and good company. It's definately getting crazier now as our families grow. We now have 4 little ones (plus one on the way) that make the festivities more festive. Kate loved playing with her cousins Hayleigh and Hayden. Cousing Cayla is still a tad too little to be interesting to Kate, but we got some good smiles out of her. Cayla's such a happy little baby and almost always has a big grin on her chubby little face. Hayden is ALL boy (and I mean ALL boy) :) and Hayleigh is so smart and independant. She's quite the fashion queen and likes to dress herself. I tell ya, some of her outfits are pretty creative! :)

As an early birthday gift to Chris, my mom gave him all of my dad's old guns. In all Chris inherited two shotguns, a rifle and a pistol. He could hardly contain himself he was so happy and to this date I believe he's taken tham apart and cleaned them at least 3 times each. Fortunately, my friend Eliza lives out in the country and as luck would have it, she got her husband a shotgun for Christmas. So, they invited us out to their house to go shooting. Chris was in heaven! My sister, Kim and I joined him for a little while - until our feet froze, then we went back to the house. And, guess how Chris spent his first Saturday back in Oklahoma...shooting! He's found a new passion. Thanks Mom (and Dad)!!

Kate had her first experience in the snow. Chris had a dream of making a huge snowpile and tossing Kate into it, so that's what we did...except she didn't like it as much in real life as she did in his dream. :) She didn't mind too much, but I think the falling scared her a bit. After that, we just stuck to walking around in the snow, which proved to be plenty challenging for her skill level. We tried to get her to taste the snow but I think by then she was a little too wary of the white stuff. So, we picked her up and posed for some pictures. She seemed a little more at ease in our arms and we got some cute pictures. (see slideshow)

Our wonderful trip to Washington was dampened just a tad by the trip home. Thankfully Kate's a good traveler. Our flight from Spokane to Denver was delayed 4 hours, which caused us to miss our connection to OKC. So, we got to spend a night in Denver. Because we were traveling with firearms we had to claim our bags in Denver and then re-check them the next morning. Let me tell you, with a baby, Christmas presents, car seat and a gun case that was a feat in itself. Plus, since guns are firearms, you can't just pick them up off the conveyer belt. You have to stand in a long line at the baggage claim office to claim them (except in OKC...apparently they don't care about firearms much there). So, by the time we arrived in Denver, got our bags, hotel reservation and meal vouchers it was midnight, and it was a very appropriate time for a sick (and nap-less) toddler to finally break down, which she did. After a very long couple of days in airports, we were glad to be home.

All in all, it was worth it!! It was so great to see family that we don't get to see nearly enough. Thanks for such a great trip!! Merry Christmas!