Our First Christmas

John gets Christmas kisses from "his girls"!

Christmas 2008 has come and gone...it's hard to believe! We started out Christmas vacation with a houseful of company! John's brother Tim and his 3 kids were planning to come stay with us starting sometime the afternoon of Saturday, December 20th. Due to a forecasted snowstorm, they decided to drive in Friday night. We were expecting them sometime around 1 or 2 a.m. (technically, Saturday morning). John & I had just finished getting beds ready for them when Tim called to tell us their sister Neomi, her husband and their 3 kids (including 3 year old twins!) would need a place to stay. They were supposed to go to John's parents house, about 10 minutes from us, but the winds had been blowing the snow hard that night, blocking the road to their house. Thankfully, we had plenty of blankets and sheets, Tim was bringing some air mattresses in addition to ours, so there were plenty of places for all to sleep. We went from 2 people in the house to 11 just like that!!! Saturday morning we made (John's) Grandpa Voeller's recipe of buttermilk pancakes, served with John's dad's famous breakfast sausage! I observed when we asked the kids if they wanted sausage, most said no...when they were told it was GRANDPA'S sausage...the eyes lit up and the answer quickly changed to YES!!! In spite of not planning for that much company, we made it through the weekend. Fortunately, when Kristi did the shopping for the staff party held at our house, she had overbought what was needed...a week later, all this food came in handy!! Neomi & family ended up staying at our house until Sunday. We even added a local niece, Lexi, to the mix! What's one more kid when you already have 6 in the house!!! We're not sure who had more fun---Kona playing with the kids, or the kids playing with Kona! They did do a great job of wearing her out!!!

On Monday, Kristi & John's niece Katie did some shopping, meeting up with Aunt Neomi & Grandma Voeller, eventually ending up at Rori's PreSchool program (another niece). That night, Kona & Kristi went to Kona's final puppy class...then came home to pack for their trip to St. Louis. Tim and family stayed at our house, with the stipulation that they shovel any snow that fell while we were gone!!! Tuesday morning we left for St. Louis...we left late due to a snowstorm in ND...finally arriving at Kristi's mom's house at 3 a.m. Christmas Eve morning. Kona did GREAT in the car! She slept a majority of the 17 1/2 hour drive.

We enjoyed our time in St. Louis visiting Kristi's family and friends. Kristi's nephew, Avery, spent a few nights at Kristi's mom's house while we were there, so we had the opportunity to play with him a lot! We enjoyed our time with him! We came back to ND on Tuesday, the 30th. We spent New Years Eve the same as last year...sitting at home, eating pizza from Papa Murphy's...with John being sick! Two years in a row he's sick! He was told it better not become a tradition!!!! All in all, it was a great Christmas...we enjoyed our 1st "official" Christmas as a married couple...and we are excited to see what God has in store for us in 2009!