It was so nice to leave and visit our families for Christmas but it was even better to come home. This was one of the most stressful, fun, and busy vacations we have ever had not to mention most expensive. On the way to our half way point in Omaha, our car started making a funny noise. Needless to say it wasn't a good noise at all. We made it to Omaha where my grandma lives. We took our car to a mechanic friend of hers and it turned out that after being stuck there for 2 days 3 valves needed to be replaced in cylinder one. This was all thanks to Pep Boys who replaced our timing belt in August (we did this as a preventative measure) and they didn't get the timing right which over time hurt the car. We ended up renting a van to get down to Texas so that we would still have enough time to spend with our families. $1600 poorer we did end up getting our car back when we drove back through. On a side note, we are currently trying to get our money back from Pep Boys for the crappy work that they did.
Here is an overview of our Christmas break. I think this just might be the longest post in history but if you can stick it out, I hope you enjoy!
This was at dinner with my grandparents when we were visiting them in Omaha. It was so fun to see them!
Finally we're on the road again! Melissa and Maggie did very well together. Maggie entertained Melissa many times and we appreciated that very much!
YEAH! We finally made it and Melissa spent most of her time in her Grandma's lap!
Grandma also bought her a jumper and I can't describe to you how much enjoyment she gets out this thing! She can spend at least an hour in it just bouncing and bouncing!
And how can you resist these little feet?
Here's my sister Jenny. She is a big freshman now! Woot! I'm so proud of her!
Here's my mom's tree. She changes the theme of it every year. This year it was silver and touches of gold. It was so elegant and wonderful to look at.
We took a quick trip out to Arlington on Monday and made a pit stop at Wal-Mart. Here is the new Cowboys stadium taken from the parking lot across the street. It's so freakin' huge!
As a Christmas present for my parents, we redid the hall bathroom. I redid it when I was a Senior in high school. The kiddos were much younger then and now the duckies on the wall are a bit outdated.
Jon had to re texture the side wall. He is so professional!
We even bought them new tile and laid the floor. Jon was the main guy behind this project but I did help paint and hand him tile. He did a great job and they loved the finished product!
My sister Annie loved having the opportunity to feed Melissa. She is such a little mommy and will make a great one some day!
Being that we are on vacation, we had to improvise when it came to bath time. That being said we often took to the kitchen sink to give Melissa a bath. I have never seen her so excited for bath time! She figured out that she could splash the water and she just fell in love!
How can you resist such a cute baby?
Christmas eve morning I spent with my girls from high school. We shared time at Ihop and I haven't eaten that great in so long! After we came back to my house to smell Scentsy and see Melissa. It was so great to spend time with them!
Christmas Eve finally rolled around and we traveled back out to Arlington to spend it with Jon's family. His parents bought a new tree which I absolutely love! It's pre-lit with berries and wood pieces on it. It hardly needs any decorations at all because of this reason but it looks so beautiful and simple. This picture doesn't do it justice at all.
All of our nieces and nephews put on the Nativity for all of us.
And we had a few musical numbers by Jon, his brother Jim, and Bob and his wife Mary.
Then we got down to business and opened the presents. Melissa had the right idea but went about it the wrong way. Boy, she loves paper!
Here is the cute dress and toy that her Granny and Grandpa got her. She loves this toy! Anything that makes music and lights up is a great toy in her book.
We also spent time playing Guitar Hero on the Wii we got ourselves for Christmas.
Later I went out to find Jon and his nephew Bobby playing with Bobby's new toy.
The toy was so popular that Owls living in the neighborhood starting chasing it. Here were the two that I was able to capture in the tree.
When then came in to talk to Steve, Melinda, and Lizzie via web cam. Needless to say that everyone had a good time playing around with it. It was good to "see" them and we can't wait to visit them in March!
Melissa ended the evening enjoying her favorite drink. Mmmm good.
Christmas day was a blast! Melissa really enjoyed her toys and it was fun spending it with my family.
She had such a great time that she fell asleep on her Grandpa.
During her nap, Jon and Corey spent time blasting his rocket into the air. I just love this kid!
Nap time came to an end. We opened all of our presents and even created a present of our very own!
Before we went to bed we gave Maggie her present and even let her open it.
After Christmas we made our way out to Arlington to spend a week with Jon's family. We had a blast seeing everyone again. Melissa was able to spend time with her cousins throughout the week. Clay and Jack came over to play. Clay is a great big brother and had fun with Melissa.
On New Years Eve I went to visit my old coworkers. It was so much fun to see them again. I think that is the one and only thing I miss about working.
That night we celebrated the New Year at Jon's parents. Everyone came over to rock out on Rock Band and eat lots of good food! Melissa even got in on the action.
There's cute little Jack. He spent half the night wondering around with this hat on his head. He was so cute!
Good ol' Bobby! He such a good kid!
Here's Melissa with her cousin Claira. Claira was born exactly one month and one day before Melissa.
A baby in one arm and a fire arm in the other. Nothing is could be better in Jon's eyes. (BTW, it's not loaded.)
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
By the end of the night, Melissa had come down with the bug that was going around. She had spewed all over her Auny Mary TWICE! Needless to say she was all tuckered out. I got the bug two days later and Jon somehow never got it.
Do to our illnesses we weren't able to do the rest of our activities that we had planned but we had a great time seeing everyone. We went back to Greenville on Saturday night to spend our last day with my family before we headed out. The primary needed a family picture and we were able to be there that day. Here is my family form left to right: Jenny, Dad, Mom, Annie, Melissa, Corey, Me, Ricky, and Jon.
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