Christmas

Better late than never right?

We had a great Christmas! We spent over 2 weeks up in Oklahoma which was a great break from unpacking. More pictures to come from the trip but let's start with Christmas.

We always spend Christmas Eve with Jonathan's family because they're crazy and open all their presents and do everything on Christmas Eve (just kidding, but we're still arguing about what we're going to do with our kids once we spend Christmas alone)






After having a wonderful dinner and day with Jonathan's family we went to my house for the traditional Christmas Eve celebrations.

The Nativity:




The cousins matching pajamas:

Poor Bryce had strep and was not too happy, still very cute though!


The next morning Kirsten was very excited to see what Santa brought for her. We went and saw Santa at the Mall in PA and she told him that she wanted a dog for Christmas. Santa asked if her mom cared and Kirsten said she did. So, Santa said that he could not bring her a real dog if her mom didn't want one so he would bring her a pretend one. From that moment on she was sure she was getting a pretend dog for Christmas and, sure enough, Santa pulled through.


Aunt Emily gave Kirsten an Easy Bake oven. which
is awesome I always wanted one of those!

Bryce checking out his new car
Colton helping his uncle Justin
Eric and Emily.

We had a great Christmas!

Trip to Midland

Our first, and best, stop on our way to Texas from Pennsylvania was Ohio to see our great friends, the Binghams. We knew them when they lived in Oklahoma. They were so nice and it was so great to see them. They took us around Cleveland to see this really cool market, the rock n' roll hall of fame, and some other cool sights in the city. Our camera didn't work so we didn't get any pictures of that. They made us feel at home which was so nice considering we were homeless at the time.




Kirsten had so much fun playing dress ups with
Daren and Kelsey.

While we were in Ohio we took a trip up to Kirtland.


John Johnson Farm




The biggest icicle Kirsten had ever seen.
And thanks to Jonathan for teaching
her about swords.


My very favorite church history site. I love
the room where the school of prophets met.


Kirsten loved playing with the nativities in the
visitors center.

When we got back from Kirtland Jonathan and Lynn went to the NFL Hall of Fame

When Jonathan got back we had to say good-bye to our friends and we headed down south. We hung out in Louisville at this really cool park along the river.

Kirsten was really good on the trip. She is a talker and would get in these moods where she would talk for like 3 hours straight. It was funny, but exhausting.

Our next stop was Nashville. I really liked Nashville. I didn't take very many pictures but I did take one of this.

This is an actual life size replica of the Parthenon, and the closest we're going to get to the real thing for a long time.

Then we headed down to Memphis.

We decided that we were going to go to Graceland and just park and walk around after we heard that it cost $27 to go inside Elvis' house. We got there and discovered that parking was $8. We saw the heartbreak hotel and Elvis' planes but we could not for the life of us find his house. We saw hundreds of people going toward this building so we followed. What we found was that in order to even look at Elvis' house you have to pay the $27 dollars and take a bus over across the street. We were so annoyed by this that we just left. And of course Jonathan had to get our parking money back too. His ability to argue his way into a deal is both useful and humiliating.

After our disapointment at Graceland we drove down the road to the supposed "best bbq in Tennessee". I've never had bbq in Tennessee but this was pretty good.

Jonathan with his ginormous pulled pork sandwhich.

We stopped by the hotel where Martin Luther King was killed.

A quick stop at the DQ for some ice cream along the road.

Chillin' at the hotel. Kirsten loved staying at so many hotels.

The next stop was Little Rock which was still really beautiful.

We finally made it to Oklahoma. We loved hanging out with Jonathan's Grams and Gramps.

Kirsten loved spending time with Carrie and Mike's dog, her "little sweetie" Cheerio. This picture is for you Carrie and Mike.

Colton taking a bath in Grandma and Papa's sink.

Kirsten got to decorate Grandma and Papa's tree. It was really exciting especially since we didn't have a tree this year.

And we finally made it down to Texas.

Last Weeks in PA

A few lasts in PA...

Last time we went to the mall. We spent a lot of time there in their little indoor playground. Kirsten thought it was awesome that there was a tree inside the mall.


Kirsten's last time to hang out with her friends Michael and Jorja. Cole was there earlier too.


My friends took me out to dinner for one last hurrah!

Brittany, Jen, Kellianne, Meredith, Jami,
Stephanie, Amy, Michelle, me, and Sara


Kirsten's preschool had a little going away party for her on her last day. They invited me to come, it was so fun to see Kirsten will all of her little friends.

Brooke, Maddie, Jonah, Miss Kim's daughter,
Danny, Aakash, and Kirsten (in her happy birthday
hat since she won't be able to celebrate her b-day there)
checking out Colton.

Singing 5 little monkeys.

Kirsten peaking at me through the glass.

Me spying on Kirsten while she played outside.


It started snowing when we left Kirsten's preschool.

We decided that we'd better try the famous Cheez Whiz Philly Cheese Steak before leaving. I gotta say I was not too impressed.


Wegman's is the most AMAZING grocery store in the world and they have the best donuts and muffins. This was our last visit there.



The mover's showed up a day early, which was a little stressful to say the least, but it also meant that they had to pay for a hotel. This is what it looked like in the morning from the hotel window.




I attempted to take Kirsten to the Jumping Monkey to see her friends one last time. It took me 45 minutes to go the few miles from the hotel and when I got there it wasn't even open. We were very sad to not be able to see our friends one last time. But it sure was beautiful.


The covered bridge we'd pass on the way to church. Not a good angle, taken out of a car window.

This is what our house looked like as we were driving away with tears in our eyes. We loved PA a lot it was a really great 2 years!