Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Wow... The holidays are over. We spend so much time gearing up for them and then all of a sudden, they are gone. Kind of sad....

Christmas Eve was spent at our house. We invited Ryan's parents, Rick, and my parents over for dinner. After dinner, we went downstairs and played Wii Sports. Golf is pretty popular with the older generation in our family!

Christmas was a fun and exhausting day. I worked from midnight to 6 a.m. and got home about 6:45 a.m. The kids woke up about 7:30. We opened gifts and hung out together until about 9:00... The favorite gifts seemed to be Rock Band for the Wii, Mini Hog RC Helicopter, Barbie Cash Register, Cabela's Outfitter Camera, and Playskool Bouncing Balls.

The rest of the morning was spent playing with new toys, eating breakfast, and relaxing. About 11:00, I was so tired so I decided to lay down for a little while. After a couple of hours of sleep, we headed into my parent's house (about 4 p.m.). We didn't end up getting to go to Ryan's parents' house. It was a bummer not to be able to exchange gifts on Christmas Day with everyone on that side of the family.

The rest of the evening was spent hanging out with my mom and dad and Steve, Andrea, Ashley, and Andrew. We opened gifts (thanks!), played the Wii (love Rock Band), and ate yummy food. All in all, we had a good day and gave and received some fun gifts.

Tonight my parents and Kailey's friend Katelyn came over for New Year's festivities. We played games, tried to get the new computers and webcams to work with Skype, and ate a great steak dinner. It was nice to have a low-key evening and spend some time with my parents before they leave for Alaska.

We hope that all of you had a wonderful Christmas. We hope that 2009 brings health, happiness, and prosperity to your families.