Family Road Trip ~ Indiana Bound!

I, seriously, couldn't wait for this trip.  It had been almost two years since we had been to Indiana, Kris just moved into a new house and Alex graduated from high school.  Despite the 10 hour drive, I couldn't wait to go!

Of course, nothing we do can go smoothly.  We had the van in the shop to get something fixed before hitting the road.  Wouldn't you know...it wasn't ready in time.  Ugh!  We decided that we would just get a late start.  Who says we had to be on the road at 6:00am?  Ok.  I was ok with that.  Well, after talking to the guy at the car place, Jon found out that our van wouldn't be ready to be picked up until 1:30ish.  Seriously?!  Ok, that meant a serious change of plans.  I really didn't want to wait another whole day to leave.  I was dying to go!  The packing was all done and we were, literally, just sitting around waiting to leave. We talked about leaving after picking up the van and just driving halfway.  But then that would require paying for a hotel.  Bummer!  Oh yeah!  "Jon, do you have any hotel points we could use?"  "YES!"  Phew!  Jon's travels to the rescue!  He had just enough points for a hotel stay!  Sweet!!  Thank you, Lord!  On the road we go!

Stopping halfway was a great idea.  Breaking up the trip made 10 hours in the van not seem so bad. 

We finally made it to Indianapolis and were ready for the task of getting ready for Alex's graduation party.

 Everyone helped!  It is so true that "many hands make light work"!  Kris couldn't believe how fast everything was getting done.  I was just happy to finally be able to help.  The one thing I hate about living far away is that I am never around to help.  I was so happy!

 Ok, so maybe not everyone helped.  (:  The girls had to paint their nails for the party!  To be honest, I was couldn't be happier to see these three painting their nails together.  They don't get to see each other often enough. This is, totally, what they should be doing together!

 These kids had so much fun playing together!

It made my heart so happy to see them all playing together so nicely!

Aunt Kris was more than willing to take a break to snuggle with Luke as he woke up from his nap!

Grammy took the boys to her house for a sleepover.  Fun times!

One of the things that Ben was most excited about on this trip was to get Aunt Becca's old saxophone.  He couldn't wait to try it out.  It needs some serious work since it hasn't been played in 16 years, but he was excited, just the same!

PARTY TIME!!

It was so nice to see so many people that I hadn't seen in so long!  There were some people I hadn't seen in so long that they had never met Luke!  Crazy!  I hate that it takes a big event to see some people, but it makes the time together that much more meaningful.

I love this girl!  I can't believe she is done with high school!

After the "formal" graduation open house, family and close friends headed over to Kris and Scott's house for more visiting time.  Thank goodness for their amazing back yard!  So much fun for everyone!

Uncle Brian bought all of the boys Detroit Tigers shirts and had to have a picture of all of them.  Could these boys be any cuter???

Since we don't all get to be together very often, we (well, it might just be me...) hate to miss an opportunity to take lots of pictures.  The last time we did this was at Nolan's first birthday, so it was definitely time for some updated pictures!

It took a lot of tries to get some pictures that actually turned out good.  

Here are my favorites:

Beth, Kris's best friend since elementary school, and her son, Collin,  were so much fun to hang out with.  Some of the nicest people I have known!

I forced the cousins to get their pictures taken together too.  Seriously SO cute!  I love these kids!!  (We are missing Haley, or this would be all of the cousins.)

Silly pic (:

Grammy and my boys.

We went over to Grammy's house and played for a little bit. (:

The girlies :)

Taking advantage of snuggles!

Oh. My. Goodness!  I just love looking at all of these pictures!  I love my family SO much!  I hate living so far away!!

Abby liked to make sure we knew that it was her birthday week.  We decided to have a little surprise party for her since we were with family.

She was pretty surprised!

I can't believe that this girl is going to be a teenager in a few short days!

This is where we spent a lot of time for the week.  The perfect place to hang out!

I really wasn't ready to come back home!  I had so much fun all week long!  I was so happy to hang out with family.  I was thrilled with the way that all of the kids got along.  Even Luke was a pure gem!  He always had someone to play with.  Nobody ever complained that they were bored or that anybody was being mean.  It was just awesome!

I couldn't be more thankful for the time that I had to spend with family!  I hope it won't be too long until we can all be together again!

Missouri: Christmas/New Years

I've said it a million times.  I hate living so far away from my family.  I still believe that living far away makes our times together that much more special.

Since we live so far apart, and we were all able to, we met halfway to celebrate Christmas together.  There isn't much to do in Sullivan, Missouri, so we were able to spend our time together just being together.  (:

Of course our time together started out (rather quickly) with lots of pictures being taken.

Of course, who doesn't love opening presents?!  That's always fun!  We all exchanged names, so it was fun to see what everyone came up with for the person that they chose.   The gifts were great!  We are so blessed!!

I'm telling you, it was SO nice to get to just hang out and visit!  I was so happy to just get to be there with my mom, sisters, brother-in-laws, nieces and nephew!  (And my husband and kids, of course!)  I didn't need to do anything.  I just wanted to be with them!

We saw our first snowflakes of the season (Yes, at the end of December!)while we were in Missouri and Luke couldn't have been happier!  That little guy couldn't get outside fast enough!  He wanted to "make footprints" in the snow.  Grammy was happy to take him out and Luke was able to convince Daddy to take him out again later.  Luke loves everything about being outside, no matter how hot or cold it may be!

We didn't do nothing the whole time.  We played a lot of games!  I laughed SO much and so hard!  Gosh, I love being with my family!!  We have so much fun together!

We had dinner at a local eatery.  YUM!!

See, more playing.  This is actually how we spent New Year's Eve.  What could be better?!  The people working the front desk at the hotel probably weren't thrilled that we made ourselves at home in the breakfast area, but it was so nice that we were able to spread out and hang out without being all crammed in hotel room.

And, of course, there were more pictures!

 

It is always hard to leave and drive in opposite directions, but I am so thankful that we were able to get together and have so much fun together! It was the perfect way to end 2012 and start 2013!

OBA 2012

(OBA = Oklahoma Bandmasters Association)

The final band contest of the year is the biggest!  It is the state marching band championship.  This year the contest was at University of Central Oklahoma in Edmond.

The Bruin Brigade is ready to take the field!

I have a video of the show, but I can't seem to get it to load.  Maybe later...

That's my boy!

SO proud of this kid!  He LOVES marching band!

The trombone section.

Of course, there has to be a silly one.

Proud mom and dad!

This day didn't go the way the band and staff would have liked.  Unfortunately, they didn't make finals.  It was a bit of a blow, but we are so proud of all of the hard work that all of the kids have put into this season!  I couldn't be more proud of Ben!  He jumped into marching band with two feet back in July and has loved every minute of it.  It has been a long time since Ben has been involved in an activity and to find one that he has loved more than anything has been so exciting!  He never complained about the early mornings, late nights or any of the hard work that marching band demanded.  He gave it all 100% everyday.  I could see Ben being involved in music for the rest of his life.  He just loves it!  I am disappointed to see the marching season come to a close, but he still has three more years!