I Can't Believe She is in the 2 Numbers!!!

Where has the time gone? Brailyn is now 10 years old! We celebrated the special day yesterday at Mema's house. Brailyn chose to have an ice cream cake with no chocolate. She does not like chocolate cake or chocolate ice cream. Yes, this is my child and no, I do not understand.....but it is okay! lol

Happy birthday to a super sweet, amazing girl! Brailyn is now in the "2 numbers".....10 years old. We love you!

Here are a few of her presents:

She was a little nervous getting her picture here with the candles lit. She said, "Is my hair flammable?" lol

Savannah, sweet Savannah!

Rob and I had the rare opportunity to take an anniversary trip. Quite an accomplishment when you have a large family. The timing just worked out though. A church friend we know manages a hotel. He was giving away some free gift certificates for certain hotels to anyone he knew that wanted them. We saw the one for Savannah, Georgia and asked if it was still available. It was. It had to be used by Dec. 31, 2011. We decided to make reservations for Dec. 27-29. Our 26th wedding anniversary was on the 27th. Brianna was available to babysit most of the time because she was on Christmas break from college. Plus, she took a few days off of her job. Not because of this, but just because she had taken a few vacation days around Christmas. Tanner was here to fill in when she did have to go back to work though. We figured we would not have that opportunity again any time soon so we went for it. It was such a nice, refreshing break. Everything went great, except when on our first night Rob got pulled over for having a brake light out. Then we got a little lost trying to find our restaurant. It all turned out though. That first night we ate at Moon River Restaurant. It was delicious!

Then, the next day we went to downtown Savannah just to walk around and shop. We didn't really see anything we wanted.....except lots of delicious food. Goodness, if I ever go back I think I will lose 10 pounds first so I can eat it back on! Just kidding, but seriously there are so many temptations. We shared a huge piece of pizza for lunch. Then later we ate a piece of cheesecake at a little cafe. Good thing we were walking all day to burn some calories!

For dinner we ate a Lady & Sons (one of Paula Deen's restaurants). It was delicious too! In order to eat there, you have to go in the morning to make reservations. Rob got down there before 9 a.m. to stand in line. Wow, I am glad I do not live too close to this place. I would be in big trouble it I did!

The next day we came home. We took a small detour in Kingsland, Georgia to drive by the old motel we managed back in 1986 when we were newlyweds. It has changed names and they took out the pool (filled it in). It used to have a great big pool in the front and then name was Camden Motor Lodge. It is now called Camden Inn and Suites, which I think is a very gracious name for this place. :) We came home to find everyone alive and well when we got home. Of course, we did phone home each day of the trip, lol. We are so thankful everything worked out and we were able to have this rare, but nice opportunity.

Christmas Day 2011

We had an amazing Christmas again this year! What made it so amazing is family. I just love the "joy" of the Season. Santa was good this year, but it was the "family" time and traditions and the joy of giving that makes the season so special. This year Christmas day was on a Sunday, so we did things a little differently. We got all dressed and ready for church BEFORE any gifts were opened. Then, we each opened only a couple of gifts until after church. We went to church hungry because we didn't want to give up our traditional pancake breakfast Rob makes. We only had Sacrament meeting so it wasn't such a big deal to wait.

I did not photograph very well this day. I still wanted to put a picture of Rob and I up though.

Brailyn is so diligent about writing the sweetest letters to Santa:

This picture is a cheat because they had already been in the front room, but we wanted to do the traditional picture of the kids entering the room. They had not seen any gifts yet, so it was not a complete cheat. :)

Jordan and is silly faces, lol. However, I am sure he really was this happy inside. haha

Tyson was not feeling well so he does not look so happy here. He never is very smiley in pictures though......so it is nothing new. :)

We had our pancake breakfast after church. Then everyone enjoyed their presents. Then later that day we went over to my mom's house for a turkey and dressing dinner. We watched a Christmas movie. Then on the way home from there we looked at some more Christmas lights. I am now the proud owner of an iPad! The children all pitched in and got me one. I was sure surprised. I was wondering what was up when the night before they told me I needed to wait until Christmas day to open the gift from them (the kiddos). I never suspected that though. I love it! Everyone had a a great day! We all received some amazing gifts, enjoyed delicious food, and had lots of quality family time. What a Merry Christmas we had and I hope you all did too!