Happy New Year!!!

I can't believe it is 2008 already. Time sure flies, even if you aren't having fun, though we did have a few great weeks in Indy. It's been quite a crazy few weeks in our house or out of our house. Things really never slowed down since Thanksgiving, truth be told. One Christmas party after another, then we all had a bought with the stomach flu, sans Jack, lucky dog. Right before we were heading home to Indiana for Christmas no less. Our trip to Indy was an easy one, fairly uneventful. Made great time, only took 12 hours, which is awesome. Especially with the three little people in the car who can never agree on when it's time to stop and use the bathroom. But they were all troopers and really didn't even argue much along the way. We got into Indy the Thursday before Chrismtas, and then were joined by my brother Jon and his family on Friday, we had lots of fun with them before they headed to Michigan to be with Lori's family on Christmas Day. We all went to church to listen to my Dad's solo in the choir, which was by far the best of everyone, and I'm not saying that because he's my Dad. I'm saying that because there wasn't much competition. :) Love you Dad!!! (LOL) I know a joyful noise. :)

Then after church that first Sunday Dad and I drove DJ to downtown Indy for the Colts/Texans game. A first for both DJ and I. I'd never seen a pro game myself, but DJ was as close to heaven as he's ever gonne be I think on earth. He loved everything about it, and was listing off everyone's stats and everything else he knew about football. It sounds very impressive to his Mom even if I have no idea what he is talking about most of the time. Here is a picture of he and I at the game.


Then we had Christmas morning at Mom and Dad's with my other brother's daughter's. It was lots of fun to have so many kids there on Christmas morning, always makes it more exciting. My mom loved having everyone there I'm sure. And it helped take some of the sting away that Bruce wasn't able to be with us. But he was there in spirit and in voice, as he made these before he left for Iraq to give the boys for Christmas. He did the voice boxes and I stuffed them after he left. I can't seem to post the video so here is a pic of the boys with them.





Jon and Lori and the kids came back down from Michigan and joined us a few days after Christmas, when we threw Mom and Dad a surprise 40th wedding anniversary party. Thier anniversary is actually at the end of January, but since this is the first time we've all been together in like 5 years we decided to do it now. It was a great turn out, and it was nice to see so many of my parents friends and families come out to help us celebrate. My parents were so excited and really surprised, it was so fun seeing the look of disbelief on thier faces. It meant so much to them to see all those faces looking at them when they walked in to the restaurant. So kudos to Lori who really did a great job pulling this off. I'm so glad Jon married someone so organized. :) And it was a great time to get pictures of the grandkids together. Who knows when that might happen again, with all of them growing up and going off to college!!! Here is a pic of the whole family, except for of course Bruce, who was surely missed by all. :)


Then of course we all rang in the New Year together at Mom and Dad's. It was great, we had a Texas Hold'm tournament, which Jon and I won. We had so much fun. We had some old friends there and some new ones too. It was a great visit over all, and we all had a really great time. I always love going home. And it really made this holiday bearable with Bruce being gone. So to all my family, thanks for putting up with me and my rugrats for 2 weeks. I know it's never quiet when we come home, and secretly you are glad to see us go, so you can get your house back and some peace and quiet, I can't blame you. So until next time, we love you guys and miss you all. Thanks for making this such a wonderful Christmas and New Year's for the boys and I.