Christmas 2008

We were really excited to be able to make it "out" for Christmas this year. Despite our excitement, we daily watched the weather, and with the forecast looking gloom, we began to make plans to spend Christmas by ourselves in Idaho. Happily, we awoke Christmas Eve morning to sunshine, so we loaded up the stuff and RJ, and we headed East.

We arrived across the state line in Wyoming safe and sound. The road began to be long and we were tired of traveling. RJ, our adorable son, was a super traveller. He either slept, played, or ate the entire journey. What a good baby! Dale, our faithful driver, decided to try to arrive in Cheyenne faster. His decision was not awarded, however, and we were pulled over for speeding outside of Elk Mountain, WY. Luckily, the highway patrolman was in the Christmas Spirit and let us go with a warning--surprising since we were technically going 19 mph over the limit (we didn't know the speed had changed to 65). Dale slowed down, and we arrived in Cheyenne tired and happy.

Christmas morning was fabulous with RJ. However, we were slow on the presents, so it was almost time nap time when we began to open them. The day progressed nicely; we spent the day opening presents, eating food, and playing games. Oh, and RJ spent the day playing with toys and sleeping. Mid-afternoon we loaded up the car again and headed to Colorado.
We arrived at my grandma's house safely and into welcoming arms. I think Grandma was excited to us, but maybe it was just to see her great grandson. Who knows?...Oh well, we know she loves us too.
We spent a quiet evening opening presents (again), conversing, and playing with RJ. The next morning (December 26), we spent playing with RJ while Dale slept. About noon, my great aunt and uncle came by. It was so exciting to see them and to introduce RJ to them. In my opinion, my great uncle and aunt would be RJ's great-great aunt and uncle. However, I learned that the terminology would be RJ's great-grand aunt and uncle. Who knew? Probably everyone out there but me. I still think my way makes more sense.

Anyway, we all had a quiet lunch together and a noisy "photo session." Then we bid a good-bye to my Great Aunt Betty and Great Uncle Bert. A little while later, we loaded up the car once again, bid a good-bye to Grandma and Aunt Charli, and we headed back to good ole Cheyenne. While driving, we decided that we were doing too much driving. Oh, how we looked forward to the entire Saturday without driving! Saturday we spent just relaxing and playing games. RJ spent most of the day sleeping. I think we wore the poor little guy out. When he was awake, he played.

Finally, Sunday, we headed home. Home, Home, Home. We were so happy to arrive safely back home. Christmas 2008 was wonderful. We were so glad to see family and we are grateful to all of them for having us and letting us visit.