Minnesota Visit

The day after Christmas, we loaded the truck back up and headed for Mom's in Minnesota! JaJuKaKe and Eric also arrived that day. We spent the evening out at David's family's, which was fun!

We celebrated Christmas on the 27th. Julia & I dressed the kids up for fun! Keira & Serena wore matching dresses! We had bought them last January when Julia was still pregnant with Keira. I remember buying that 18-month size dress for my 5-month-old Serena and thinking how big it looked!!! It actually is still a bit big on her, but it definitely works! The girls were so pretty all dolled up and Kaden looked adorable!

Kaden and Serena playing piano. Serena thought it was fun to shadow Kaden. Sometimes Kaden thought it was fun and sometimes he didn't, heehee!!! (Sorry Kaden! But don't worry, the next cousin is going to be a boy!) ;)

Julie had of course brought her puppy Amy along. Amy & Rocky hit it off pretty well once they sorted out how much of Amy's jumping and nipping at Rocky was acceptable! ;) In spite of the size difference, they obviously both enjoyed having another puppy to play with!

Puppies at play

Christmastime also means BIRTHDAYS for Julie & Kaden, so we sang to them and had a little birthday celebration before getting on with our Christmas celebration.

Birthday girl!

Birthday boy!

Blowing out candles together

Julia & I with our girlies :)

The whole family...not too bad for a self-timed pic, huh!

Opening presents. Serena got so many BIG presents! Lots of really fun things! I could hardly wait to get them home so she could play with them!

Julie & Eric gave Serena this little 4-wheeler. It didn't take her long to figure out how to make it go frontwards & backwards! She of course LOVES the buttons! ;)

Rocky and Amy once again...this tug-of-war doesn't look too unfair to you, does it?

I think Amy wants to be a hunting dog like Rocky when she grows up. Rocky's favorite place to sleep is on Jordan's hunting gear and Amy caught on pretty quickly that that was the 'cool' thing to do. If you're going to hang out with the hunting dogs, you gotta sleep like one too! ;)

The kiddos

One of our big plans for the time we girls were all together was to do a little wedding dress shopping with Julie! We looked at dresses at the bridal boutiques in Fairmont and in Easton. Julie was so pretty in all the dresses...I'm glad I'm not the one who has to pick just one!!! It was so fun to go dress shopping!!

Serena had a ball at both boutiques. The mirrors and the dressing rooms with curtains for doors were just SO exciting for her!

Serena & Keira (once again in matching outfits Julia & I bought them a year ago!) playing under a wedding gown Julie was trying on

On Thursday, Jason & Julia headed for Vegas for Jamie's wedding, Jordan headed back home with the doggies, and Eric & Julie headed back to AZ. We had bought a ticket for Serena & I to fly home on the 5th, so Serena & I settled in for a week with Mom & Jess! It turned out to be a really busy week! We babysat Kaden & Keira until Saturday. Friday night, of course, was the New Year's party!! :) That was a lot of fun, and I was so happy to be able to be there for that! Saturday afternoon, JaJu got back and that night we had the Andersons over for supper and games. On Sunday, we went to church and I got to see Scott & Alayna and their boys!

Serena & I waiting to leave for church

Serena & Grammie

Me & my girl

Grammie & her grandkids! (Kaden, 3; Keira, 8 months; Serena, 17 months)

JaJuKaKe left Sunday afternoon. Over the next few days, Mom & Jess & I made the most of the hours they weren't working. :) Mom & I had brunch at Perkins one day, we all went thrifting in Fairmont on another day, we watched a couple movies, etc. It was such a good time of togetherness!!! Wednesday, we drove up to the cities and ate at Cracker Barrel and shopped at Target & the M.O.M. before it was time to head for the airport. I wrote about our fun day and Serena's first flight on Daily Serena.

After 2 1/2 weeks away, it was good to get home; but what a wonderful 2 1/2 weeks it was!!! There's so much more I could have written about, so many more pictures that could have been posted! I'm so thankful for that time we had to spend with our greatly-missed families!!