Wonderful holiday memories!

Festivities began on Christmas Eve EVE...that is what we call it. :-) It was our 2nd Annual Cousin party and this year Blake and I hosted it. The evening was such a blast! We did a $20 gift exchange, ate and drank till we were over full, and the highlight of the night was playing a game of left, right, center. Bradley (Blake's brother) won the pot at the end of the game. As you can tell in the picture, Blake thought he deserved it too since it was his own cash that got Brad into the game. Good thing Blake is such a nice brother. We were glad Bradley won. He deserved it! Good times and good memories!

This Christmas season was so much fun with a little girl to share it with. Blake, Aubrey Rose and I were quite busy going from home to home or party to party, but all of it was so worth it! Here are a few pictures of our memories.
Christmas Eve we celebrated with my side of the family. We had a wonderful time laughing, sharing, eating dinner, opening gifts and being completely entertained by Aubrey Rose. Oh, and we were busy trying to teach Aubrey how to walk!! I know I will probably regret that later on when she is running everywhere, but right now it is pretty fun to watch her take steps on her own.







Then, for Christmas morning we started with breakfast at my parents for a quick hour or so before we headed to Bill and Linda's to celebrate. Bradley, Blair, Blake's parents and the three of us celebrated and opened gifts and then shortly after, Linda's parents arrived along with her brother, Uncle Gary for more presents and an EXCELLENT lunch that Bill and Linda prepared perfectly. It was delicious!
Here is a picture after breakfast at my parents. We were done with breakfast and out the door to the next family time by at 9am.


And now at Bill and Linda's:










Then, we actually got to go home for two hours while Aubrey got to sleep. That worked out well and prepped her for the evening festivities. We went to Uncle Bob's by about 4:30. We had an excellent dinner of pretty much anything and everything you could think of. It was absolutely marvelous and so delicious! Thank you to Uncle Bob and everyone else who participated. We had a wonderful time catching up, meeting new additions to the family (whether they were babies or new boyfriends...we loved them all!), laughing, eating, more eating, taking pictures and making more family memories. It was a wonderful evening. In Blake's extended side of the family most of the cousins are all similar age as us, so it is always a joy to be with them and be enjoying the similar seasons in life together. After dinner we went to Aunt Carol's house with all the cousins and played games and talked some more. Thanks for another wonderful time to together!