No Place Like Home

After being gone from home for about 10 days, it is always fun to watch the kids' reactions to arriving home!  It was very cute!  Eden was excited to sleep in her own bed again, Bella said she couldn't remember what our house looked like (HA!), the kids were excited to see Ryder again (and Ryder was beyond excited to see us again!), Bereket found all his toys new and exciting again, it was just time to be home again!  I found myself grateful for those feelings we all had that we were glad to be home again, even though it was hard leaving family after having such a wonderful time together!!

It's hard to even know where to start after being away from my blog for so long, but it was a nice break, not just from my blog, but from many things!

We went to Sierra Vista, where my sister lives, for the first couple of nights and crammed into her little place to have Christmas together, before our rental house came available.  My Dad, Mom, Grandma Irene (Mom's mom), and Kaylin all arrived together in one car on Christmas evening.  We celebrated our "Christmas dinner" together on the day after Christmas so we could all be together.  It was an interesting experience having so many helpers together in my sister's tiny kitchen, but it was what you call a real bonding experience (smile!).  

This was our full carload on the way to AZ!

 

 

 

 

 

the kids w/ Auntie Crystal's dog, Halo

Katreese & Halo

Katreese getting Halo "dressed" for Auntie

there he is in his Christmas' best!

presents!!  Love this expresssion!!

Katreese opening her gifts

Cy, what have you got there?!

Bella with her gifts

Bereket's happy expression

Of course, every one got a border patrol shirt from Aunt Crystal.

Eden with her shirt on.

Bella thought her shirt was a bit too large!

Auntie Crystal with the towel Katreese made for her.

Gma Shirley opening her new PJs

Katreese with her shirt

Katreese with her new quilt Gma Irene made for her!

Bella proudly showing off her new quilt too!

Little B with his quilt

Love this pict - Cy looks very happy and proud!

Eden with her new quilt and the busy quilt maker, Gma Irene!

Treva and her quilt!  WOW!

making some dressing!

Crystal was taking pictures.

The crew for our Christmas dinner (well, not everyone because there wasn't enough space!)

 

my mom, Treva, and Cy are missing out of the picts

Halo getting friendly with Cade and I

Bear in his new shirt his Momma made!

What better thing to do than take a hike after such a large meal?! 

Bereket thinks he has it pretty good!

Bella is leading me in stretching exercises at our break.

Love this pict of my Dad and my man talking it up!

AND what better way to spend an evening besides playing games!

We were playing the telephone game of all things!!

Funny telephone messages!

This was way too funny!  My grandma and mom laughed so hard!

trying to be serious so they can pass the message on!

DAD laughing along!