Christmas!

So, this is very late but I am proud of myself to accomplish a post before a month has passed! We mostly enjoyed being able to spend time with family and friends and the time seemed to fly by! We began the break by visiting my family and exchanging gifts (thanks for spoiling us as usual!) and then we went to Brian's parent's house in Hempstead and began the 12 hour trek to Branson, Missouri. How do you accomplish this with a 12 month old? Thank goodness for technology-Madison loved watching movies and Veggie Tales on the trip.

We arrived late on the night of the 23rd and Madison was so excited to get there she didn't want to go back to sleep. We all had our own way of dealing with the lack of sleep the next day and Brian's approach was very humorous!

One of the best parts about vacation with family for a mom= A BREAK! I was very lucky that Uncle Brent immediately began helping and became Madison's favorite very quickly.

Brittani also helped out tons-I loved this picture of the two working away on their computers!

Here we are Christmas morning opening up presents and enjoying family time! We had lots of fun and the girls got to go see National Treasure 2-which was very good!

Madison came down with RSV and required extra work for some of the trip. Then I became sick and passed something to Brittani and then to Brian. It was lucky that we had the extra time to recooperate-so even though we were in a new, exciting town- some of the time was spent just laying around.

Don't worry-we weren't too sick! We still enjoyed a lot of the attractions. I loved the shows and wished we could have stayed for a couple weeks and saw them all. The first one we went to was called Amazing Pets and it was really amazing what these animals could do-Madison loved watching their tricks!

We also went to the Jim Stafford Show and Brian and the boys enjoyed "57 Heaven" which had an amazing collection of classic cars. The most amazing was the Dolly Parton Dixie Stampede-but unfortunately no cameras were allowed. As far as talent goes, I was amazed at the show "Six" which had six brothers who sang acapella and were able to make the sounds of the instruments for their songs with their voices! They were very entertaining.

Our last day there, Hal and Jolynne watched Madison while we went to Silver Dollar City which was similar to an amusement park with shows and shops galore! Unfortunately a lot of the roller coasters were closed because it was too cold but we still enjoyed ourselves. I loved this Christmas tree!

After dark there was a parade that went through the little streets. The little city was covered in christmas lights and it was so amazing!

All in all, we had an amazing time and wished that all of our family could have been there. We are so greatful to The Black's for making such an amazing vacation possible. We mostly enjoyed the opportunity to reflect on the Savior's birth and the many blessings that have been bestowed upon our family.