Day shift, and a very merry Christmas

Who knew day shift could be so exciting?? Jeff's been on afternoons for a year and while we're quite accustomed to it by now, I am so excited for him to switch to days! He found out yesterday and since then I can't stop thinking about the possibilities! I'm so excited to have a "normal" schedule again. I can't tell you how much we've had to miss out on because of his schedule. It'll be nice to have a social life again!



For some reason I always have a hard time writing about the trip I just returned from. Maybe because I feel obligated to. Either way, it always sounds weird when I write it out. Kind of, well, really boring. So in an effort to change that up a bit I'll just give you some bullet points of my week and a half downstate for Christmas.

• There were 26 people at any given time at Mom and Dad's.
• We spent Christmas morning with Jeff's family
• Adrian received books from his Grandma and Grandpa that were given to Jeff as a kid (with little notes inside)
• I made it to coffee with the girls
• We bought a new computer on our way home [insert big grin here]
• I *finally* found boots, they weren't suede as I had wanted but they are gray
• We seem to be missing someone on Christmas every year in my family, this year it was the families of my sister Sara and my brother Brad (And they were missed! Hopefully we can have a Christmas with all of us one day but it's getting harder and harder as each family grows.)
• 1 o'clock was my earliest bedtime, those [insert Jeff's family name]'s sure are night owls!
• Adrian was a peach both traveling and visiting except for a few hours
• We were able to see every member of both families with the exception of Sara...guess we'll just have to make a trip out to Minnesota! (We saw Brad's family for the last two days once they returned home.)
• I consumed an average of 36,000 calories a day. I'm surprised that I'm not having sugar withdrawals. Oh wait, I've been wolfing down my messed up toffee so I'm good til that's gone.
• Little Ava is adorable! We were finally able to meet Jeff's youngest cousin.
• I missed my grandparents who were in town for Christmas.
• I cut Dan's hair before we left and he was telling me stories that I didn't quite understand and then he finally told me "Heid, you should laugh at my jokes." Well, that got me anyways!
• Kendall really loves her Momma and usually isn't content with anyone besides her or her Dad. Oh yeah, and me. I've been told a few hundred times that I look like Amanda so I'm wondering if she was confused...either way she was more than happy to come to me!
• Grandma and Papa Freddie gave all the grandkids hats made by Julie L. I absolutely love Adrian's hat, and it's a little big so it may fit him next year. Yay!
• My family got a Wii for Christmas so that was basically the entertainment around there. Jeff's family got one last year so we could play no matter where we were! What a fun system! *Someone* got so into bowling that they put a bump in the carpet from sliding so hard! (Don't worry, they got it all flattened out again.)
• It was so nice to feel like we could actually enjoy our families since we were there so long (although Jeff did come back home to work for two days). Surprisingly (or unsurprisingly?) enough, I wasn't anxious to get back home.
• Jeff's vacation falls in March this year so we have two trips planned already. I'm glad I have something to look forward to after getting back to reality!

I'll have to post more pictures later (some possibly stolen from facebook) I didn't get pictures of half of our dear family.

...Or if you'd like, Amanda, Jennifer, and my Mom have pictures posted. Yeah, that sounds easier. ;)