I LOVE my {family}

I think I have the BEST family ever! From my little family of 5 to all our parents, grandparents, siblings, and in-laws. Whenever we go to Utah we have so much fun. Things just pick up where they left off the last time we were there. Everytime I come back I sink into a lonely funk for a few days because I just miss them all. Christmas was great this year.

The kids spent lots of time with their cousins...

...and aunts! (it's weird that Alina and Landon are Auntie and Nephew - they are best freinds, mostly)
A game of Uno with the Perigo cousins
Jantz and Landon are inseprable when they're together too. Landon often waits to "see what Jantz is going to do" before he decides what he wants to do. I love how mellow Jantz is - he's always so so nice to my kids and a great example to Landon.
These kids are the youngest grandkids and the great-grandkids of Grandma Meier. When I was their age I was one of the oldest kids and the only girl. Until Kelcee came along. Look at her now - the oldest of the "youngest grandkids". They all get along so well. They just play and play - which is why this picture is the way it is - I took it just after they opened their presents. It was like pulling teeth to get them all together and they let me take only one picture before they jumped down back to their presents. But aren't they cute in their matching jammies Grandma Meier made for them? Where she got all those Santa shirts, I don't know but my kids, at least, love their Christmas jammies.
This is the kids listening to the Christmas story Grandma Meier read to us.

This is what happens when Cameron and Cordell get together - at least once a trip to Utah there is a wrestling match. The kids like to get in on it too. No one keeps score though - that's a good thing!

Sadly, I forgot my camera when we went to Cameron's family's Christmas party. If anyone wants to email me some pictures from that day, I'll take 'em! We had a lot of fun with them. A yummy Sharlene Special - Roasted Pork Tenderloin, opening presents, reminising with stories and home movies, and putting together gingerbread houses and of course a Perigo clan inside joke, but none the less funny, a rendetion of "Shuddapa you face" sung by the Perigo Sibling Chior.

On Christmas Eve we spent the evening at Grandma's house. With Grandpa Joe there and my cousin Jason and my kids there was 5 generations celebrating. It was quite the night! Including Auntie Kim's made-up song called "family tradition" Seriously funny and seriously true. Kim I need the words to that song! (I guess Cam and I come from families that like to sing!)

Christmas Day brought more tradition. First off presents, of course! The kids loved everything they got except for "Bee Movie" I threw in for Austin. He opened it and tossed it on the floor saying, "this is for Landon." (I really bought it for them to watch on the way home and Austin liked it in the car so, not so bad after all.) Then on to breakfast featuring "Omelets in a bag" - the best Christmas morning breakfast, ever. So easy and little cleanup:

Put up to three eggs in a freezer grade ziploc bag. Add cheese, salt, pepper and whatever else you like in your omlet (mushrooms, peppers...) and zip up bag. Place in boiling water for about ten minutes mushing the bag occasionly to mix and check for doneness.

After we play for a while we all get ready and head off to the Mess Hall at Hill AF Base for

more food. All you can eat. It was fabulous this year.

And lastly, the Christmas day traditions end with a movie (at home this year, while the kids napped) and you guessed it, more food - we cook crab legs and baked potatoes and yum yum yum (this is why I gain 5 pounds every year!)

In the midst of all our partying we made a lot of time for relaxing too. Jared and Steph hung out a lot, which I loved. They are fun to be around and we just laugh all the time.

We also made time for "Benjamin Button" and Sandys Resteraunt with Jared, Steph my parents and Cameron's parents. Good times.

This little one finds entertainment no matter where he is.

The kids went from playing dress-up to playing in the 18 inches of snow Utah got while we were there to playing the Wii and back out to the snow and then running around chasing each other.

And just to prove that the drives not so bad here's a picture I took while we were driving. The mountains are beautiful. It seems as if they open up for while you drive along. Okay, Wyoming is not the prettiest state but once you get back into Colorado it's pretty views again.

And if your still skeptical about how we can make a drive just take a look at this cutie! The kids are world-class travelers. They watched movies and sang songs, read books, and ate an ENTIRE package of Oreos - that's what happens when Mom falls asleep and doesn't regulate! But who cares, they were happy and we brushed their teeth REALLY well when we got home!