One big, fat, long post...and tons of pictures.

So I had all intentions of dividing the past month up into several posts, but once I started uploading pictures I decided it was easier to just upload all of them (and that's ALOT). I realize that this means that I have actually posted an entry containing 44 pictures (I believe that is a record for me)...but I figured, what the heck? People like pictures. And if you don't, it's not that hard to scroll down! :) I also apologize to those readers who also read my sister, Kristie's, blog because several pictures are definitely repeats from her Christmas post.



Anywho, I flew out to Virginia with Sawyer on Dec. 14, five days before the rest of the crowd arrived. It was kind of nice to have some time with my mom and help her get ready for everyone else. We've always considered ourselves good 'last minute' hostess's, so we had a good time scrambling to get everything done! It was also nice to get there before the blizzard and all the travel chaos hit. Sawyer and I had a nice 3.5 hr direct flight (it arrived an hour early! when does that ever happen?!)...completely stress free! I was very grateful. Nathan was supposed to arrive on Saturday, but I looked ahead at the impending weather on Thursday night and found out that United had already issued travel waivers to anyone traveling to Washington DC on Saturday (this meant that he could change his flight without a fee...did you know they do that?). He managed to get a flight on Friday morning, and his connecting one in Denver was the last to leave that day due to the blizzard out east...the rest were canceled...whew! For a play by play of the rest of the crew's travel disasters, see Kristie's blog! In a nutshell, they rolled in the driveway about 4 am on Saturday morning...all in one piece! We were all super lucky! We spent the first week, including Christmas, at my parents house. The following week we headed to the Massanutten Ski Resort. We had a blast! I'll leave the rest of the story up to the millions of pictures to follow!

Took advantage of the opportunity for some family photos! Syd's boyfriend, Mitch, was able to jump in on a few of those ;)...he was there for a few days before Christmas. It was so fun meeting him! Thanks for coming, Mitch!
Sawyer and I went to preschool with my mom one morning (she teaches music at a preschool a few times each month...she's so great at it!). Sawyer had a blast! He especially loved the jingle bells!



Jake and Sawyer got to know eachother a little better this time. It was so fun to see them interacting!


I wish I could say Sawyer was being loving and giving Jakey a hug...but really he was just falling over and using him as support! Either way it's pretty dang cute!
Wes got all the guys a fire starting thingamajigger...As soon as we were done with presents they headed out to the porch to make a fire in a cake pan. Boys will be boys...

One of the things my mom, Sawyer and I did before everyone came...picked out a Christmas tree and decorated it! That was a fun night...

After the blizzard! We got close to 2 ft! It was a record for any December snow in Fredericksburg, ever! Waffles the morning after everyone finally made it here. I think I'm running off about 3 hrs of sleep at this point. Stinks when no matter what time you go to bed, your kid gets up like clockwork...same time everyday. Pictures at church
We all made the trek to our favorite downtown Bakery for lunch...Eileens! It was a fun day!
David loves it when Nathan plays with him (despite what the grumpy face might suggest!). Sawyer thought it was pretty cool too!
Struggling to survive until midnight on New Years Eve!
Cookies galore!
The adorable Christmas dishes my dad got our mom! She loved them. So did I.
David's teachers at school help him pick out gifts for everyone. These are the sweet ties the boys got! They even sing Christmas tunes!
And these are the sweet socks we got from David!
Sawyer working on his presents.
Kristie and I made a Brag Book for my mom to keep in her purse. Full of pictures of, what else, Jake & Sawyer!

We went to an awesome indoor waterpark at Massanutten. The kids loved it! So did we!
Sawyer was very interested in David. I thought it was pretty cute.
My mom built these boys a fort when we got to the resort.
Gotta love bathtime!
Tubing! My favorite activity at Massanutten! I will say I was terrified the first time going down but after that it was pure fun! We went down all linked together and even hit the bumper at the end a few times! It was awesome!
Our little pod flying down the mountain~!



The lazy river at the water park.
Ok so I had to include these pictures of David sledding. He loved being pulled up the hill (above).

Going down was another story (below)! I will never get over that face!


Sawyer could only move his eyeballs. We had him bundled up pretty good.

Nathan being Nathan and snowboarding with the sled.
And another one of Sawyer all bundled up and immobile. Cracks me up.
The End! You made it!