What a trip!

Well, we are back here in Dampville, OR. It was a crazy roller coaster of a vacation, but we loved every minute of it. Our families are incredible and we wish we could have spent more time with them. We saw very few of our friends, but cherished every moment. We got into town on the 21st and spent the first 4 days with Brandon's side of the family--2 grandmas, mom and dad, 3 brothers, 1 sister-in-law, 2 nieces, 1 nephew, 1 girlfriend, and two cats. Needless to say the house was bursting at the seams. There was never a dull moment and the earliest Brandon got to bed was at 2:30...much later than our normal bedtime (9:30)!!! We also attended Phil's wedding (one of Brandon's best friends). It was a beautiful ceremony and gave us a chance to connect with some other best friends. At noon on Christmas day, we made the trek down to my parent's house in Monument. There we were greeted by 3 brothers, mom and dad, 3 dogs, a TJ, and a random house guest. My family was glad to see us and had the next 4 days jam packed with things to do such as seeing the girls I used to nanny for, driving through a snow storm to see my brother, and shopping at the outlet mall. We did have several miracles such as surviving an almost deadly car accident (if you're curious, you can ask us about it later) and Brandon finding his lost wedding ring in the snow. I think the highlight, though, was just being able to have coffee with my mom and relax for a minute:)
It was a great getaway and we were sad to say goodbye, but it's good to be "home" again (even though we arrived 2 hours later than planned and sick from the worst turbulence ever).
Appropriatly, the rain was here to welcome us home along with our foreign cab driver who made us listen to ricky martin on the drive home. we have spent the past few days cleaning out the suitcases, enjoying the quiet of our little apartment, and looking forward to the next trip home.

this is Brandon being "santa" on Christmas morning--handing out the gifts for his family...he did a great job of keeping everyone on schedule so we were able to leave for the next house on time:)

these are the cherry pies that my mom made on Christmas day....i decorated them:)

our attempt at the annual family picture. (brandon's side of the family is coming soon)

these next three pictures are of my girls. i miss them so much and it was so good to hang out with them. and for Christmas they got me a scarf, two coffee mugs (which they decorated themselves) and a starbucks card...i think they know what i like:)