Christmas- Part 2 (Finally!!!)

For those of you who have been waiting anxiously for a week now to finish reading about our Christmas excitement.... :)

Christmas morning we awoke to find all that Santa had brought us....

Just out of bed and ready to open presents!

But first...the most important part of Christmas morning, the Christmas story!

One of the boys' gifts from Santa, a bow and arrow. Just like daddy's. Sort of...I'm not sure these bows and arrows are going to kill any deer.



Lilian was much more excited about the paper!

I think the presents kind of bored her.

Once we opened all the gifts, we finished loading our van and trailer. (Yes...we really did pull a trailer to Alabama in order to carry all that we would need for 10 days of traveling and gift giving/receiving.) My friend Sarah Beth decided in her blog it might be humorous to log all of the hours her family spent driving back and forth to and from Alabama. Before sharing pictures of some of the places we visited, I thought I should do the same.

• Spartanburg to Talladega, AL (Christmas morning) - 6 hours


• Talladega, AL to West Blocton, AL (Friday morning) - 1 1/2 hours


• West Blocton, AL to Tuscaloosa, AL (Friday night) - 30 minutes


• Tuscaloosa, AL to Shelby, AL (Sunday morning) - 1 1/2 hours


• Shelby, AL to Birmingham, AL (Sunday afternoon) - 45 minutes


• Birmingham, AL to Tuscaloosa, AL (Sunday night) - 1 hour


• Tuscaloosa, AL to Biloxi, MS (Monday morning) - 5 hours


• Biloxi, MS to Talladega, AL (Friday morning) - 6 hours


• Talladega, AL to Spartanburg (Saturday) - 6 hours
  

Yes...this is a lot of hours in a minivan with a 5 year old, 3 year old, and 5 month old. But, I am so glad we were able to go and see all of our family! This is the one time of the year that we get to see greatgrandparents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, 2nd cousins, 3rd cousins, etc. The boys loved every second of our trip and I know they are making great memories!

On Thursday and Friday, we spent our time with DJ's family. This is D.J.'s dad with our nephew "Baby Cade."

We also got to spend a day with DJ's grandparents, MawMaw and PawPaw. They had seen Lilian once before, but these are their first pictures with her.

The boys love to visit here because there are horses to look at, barns to explore, four-wheelers and tractors to ride, and lots of males to hang out with.

D.J. likes to visit here too!

On Friday night we spent time with my sister, Lacy, her husband, Luke, and our niece, Audrey, along with my parents. Saturday we spent the day with my mom's parents and her family in Tuscaloosa. Again, the boys had a blast! I didn't do a great job of getting many pictures, but here are a few.

Our Sunday was so busy that I didn't take a single picture. We had the priviledge of attending church with DJ's parents, as his dad preached his last sermon at his current church. He did a great job! We also spent the afternoon with my dad's parents and family in Birmingham. There were some great pictures taken of the 40 of us all there and together, but I don't have one uploaded on my computer to share.

Monday morning, my mom, Lilian and I made our way down to Biloxi, where my parents live. DJ took the boys on their first official hunting trip with my dad and father-in-law. While Ty saw 26 deer, he wasn't quite able to take his first shot. Micah, on the other hand, enjoyed running around at the bunk house with my dad. I think the two of them only lasted in a shooting house about 30 minutes.

The boys and my dad joined us in Biloxi on Tuesday where we did lots of playing and ate plenty of seafood. We also were able to visit with some very special friends of ours from our time in New Orleans where DJ was in seminary.

These are a few pictures of the kids at the beach. It was a little chilly so we didn't last long. But, long enough to get a few pictures and satisfy the boys' desire to play in the sand.

I think two weeks later I'm still playing catch up from all the time we were gone! But, as I said earlier, it was definitely worth it. I'm so thankful for all of the wonderful family we have and the special Christmas we had with them!