Jason, Megan, McKenzie, Landon, and Matthew: December 2010

...Until we meet again...yesterday Uncle Jeff flew back to Norway. He will be there until sometime around June. Jared flew back with him! They are going to have a blast together! Blake is on the end. He is from Arkansas. He is a missionary in Africa where Jeffrey was. They are great friends and have remained friends since Jeff moved on to Norway. Blake had to fly to Atlanta on his way back to Africa so he just stayed a few nights here and hung out with Jeff. Jeff, Jared, and Blake all spent the night with us on Wednesday night. Then Thursday morning they all left for the airport. Jeff and Jared headed to Norway and Blake flew to London. He will be there through the weekend and then head back to Africa. It was so great getting to see Blake again!

Wow! What a very busy few weeks it has been for us! On December 14th Jeffrey flew in from Norway. He stayed with us for the first week he was home. Then on Saturday the 18th Bom and Pop flew in from New York for Christmas and stayed with us until Tuesday. Tuesday morning I took Bom and Pop to Madison and Jeff to meet Granny and Granddaddy. Tuesday night was our Christmas Eve. McKenzie was really excited this year and has really begun to understand everything! We took our time and just opened our presents and had a nice breakfast. We went out for lunch to celebrate our Christmas and then took poor MG to the doctor. She had a sinus infection. It would not be a holiday if that poor child was not sick.

Thursday morning early, we got up and went to Granny and Granddaddy's house for their Christmas. It was a great time as always. Granny is such a great cook and made the traditional meal with both turkey and ham and all the fixings. We go to see Jason's cousins that we only get to see a few times a year. It was really fun to catch up with them. After dinner we did gifts and then we were on our way again.

Our next stop was Madison to Mom and Dad's house. It was so fun! Aunt Kim and Uncle Mark and the cousins, Nick and Alex flew in from Utah and of course Bom and Pop were there too. It was so fun because we have not seen all of them since last Christmas. McKenzie and Tate picked right up. They are so precious with each other. One minute they are best friends and the next they are fighting it out. We have not seen UB and Aunt Amber or Tate since the weekend before Halloween. Which was way too long to go with out seeing them. However, we really noticed a difference in Aunt Amber's tummy! Baby Woolie is growing and growing! We are so excited to meet this new addition to our family. McKenzie is convinced it is a girl and she wants it to be purple. (She calls her babies by their outfits rather than naming them...and purple is her favorite color!) It seemed like a whirlwind and in no time at all it was time for us to move again.

Christmas Day morning, we got up very early and drove to Jason's parents house in Young Harris. The weather was awful. It was snowing and the roads were all icy. I was so scared. We have to go right over the top of this huge mountain to get there. I did not think we would ever make. it. It was a very stressful drive. We do not have a good snow plow system down here at all, like New York has. We did make it safely, thank God! And the snow...continued to fall! It snowed all Christmas Day night and the next day. We spent Sunday inside and just hung out. We had played in the snow a lot on Christmas Day. However, it is hard when you don't have the right "get up" to wear. McKenzie was only out for about 10 minutes. We do not have snow boots or pants and the poor thing was freezing but wanting to keep playing. She loved the snow and after it was all done, 9 inches had fallen! That is the most I have seen since I moved to GA in 1992! It was very exciting! We managed to make it out on Monday and head for home. We had a 3 hour drive that ended up taking about 4 hours. The roads were still very bad until we got about half way home. Our snow at our house was just about all melted when we got home. We were all exhausted from our travels and family time. However, it was a great Christmas!

Our Christmas: