We Wish You ...

. . . a Merry Christmas-Happy New Year-Happy Birthday . . .

When we get together, we get all our occasions together too! Buck finished up a crazy schedule (nine days straight with just New Year's Day off) to the tune of a couple of bonus days off--four in a row! This worked out well, because we could schedule an overnight stay at my parents' house to celebrate all of the above :) Dad flew in from CA, the northern brother and sis-in-law made the drive, and the local sis and crew flooded the house with enthusiastic humanity. Oh, and there were donuts ;) Buck took two of ours and my bro CJ to do a little breakfast reconnaissance. As you can see, Brennen found one that looked sandblasted with sprinkles . . . so colorful :)

I should back up--when we arrived originally, we found my older younger brother just waking up from a long winter's nap. We insisted he put on shoes and a coat (or flip flops and a hoodie, as 16-year-olds do) and took him to get some tacos! Later, he saw the receipt and said, "$50 for tacos? That's a lot!" Well, yes. We can't seem to eat out as a family for lunch under $50 and for dinner--well, we won't even mention that ;)

I lost my train of thought . . . choo choo . . .

So, Sunday, I gave my sis her birthday gift--a pictorial collection of all the bison photos our family has intentionally taken on her behalf since she spotted the trend a few years ago :) My youngest brother opened his gifts painfully slowly, just because he can . . . :) My little nephew and Caelan also opened birthday gifts--but, I just realized we never sang or ate cake, lol! We are birthday party failures ;)

This time of year, all three on the right are 14!

Soooo cheesy--on purpose! :) You better be excited I didn't just give you cash, lol!

Funny birthday kids :)

Happy hugs!

My oldest younger brother kindly gave up this forgotten toy kit, stashed away in his closet. G$ worked on it for two days and finally got the car put together and driving via battery power. His dad might have helped a little ;)

And that was our weekend in a nutshell--good conversations, good cousin/uncle time, a little bit of video game VR immersion, and lots of laughter. It's good to be together :)