Afton.

The day after Christmas we took a long snowy drive to Wyoming to spend a few days with my family at the Barn.  I hadn't been there for several years, and was excited to be there in the dead of winter (for the first time EVER).

Here's the pictorial (and oh-so-brief commentary) of our adventures:

Grandma.

Grandpa.

Dos de mis hermanos, Rob y Marty.

Cousins: Catfish and Ash.

The "after Christmas" white elephant gift game. 

(No such thing as too many white elephant exchange games!)

Our cute cousin, Lincoln, just wasn't getting ANYTHING he wanted, no matter how many times he got to choose.

His save-the-day Dad (mi otro hermano, Matt) even asked for the bubble gum machine so Lincoln could have another pick.

Bill was loving the mittens.  We sent them to school with Lex, who swore she would never wear them. She did. One week in Rexburg was all it took.

 No Goldsberry get-together is complete without a rousing showdown (or two) of Aggravation.

The accommodations were lovely,

 as was the view.

Scones - Goldsberry style - for breakfast. Yum.

Sledding and snow-mobile fun:

 (Yes, that is Bill being pulled up the hill.)

Bill and Shilo.

Grandpa, Marty, and Kim.

 Mauri and Meredith.

Matt and Grandpa.

 Mauri and Bill.

Meredith and Marty.

Grandma and Grandpa.

It was so cold, I was glad Bill's nose didn't turn black from frostbite.

Puzzles (Larkin, Evelyn and Rob),

more Aggro,

and a little after-clean-up Tetherball.

A parting shot of the Barn and the seldom-used pathway Bill shoveled from the side door.

Such awesome company. Such a great place. Such a fun time.

Christmas Day 2012.

I have the worst memory. I love this blog because it helps me to remember what I forget. Important things. The sands at the bottom of the hourglass. That is why I am determined to keep it up. For me, not for you (but you are welcome to enjoy it).

So even though it happened a month ago, here's the Christmas low-down (mainly pictorial):

 Austin taught us how to play this game (actually BEFORE Christmas because I had a similar game called The Settlers of Zarahemla, which we had NEVER played because the rule book was just that... a book). LOVED IT. Probably because I won a few times ;-)

Since most of what Bill got were "tops" (long story), I had some fun with his boxes.

Austin and Britt gave us this awesome magnetic Aggravation game board that they made.

Ava and Jack both got a new toy.

The toys didn't stand a chance.

Jack is such a toy lover.  He figures out how to get stuffing, squeakers, plastic wrappers or bottles out of any toy within minutes, leaving a mere shell behind. And he still loves dragging the empty shell around. Every time he goes outside, he has to take a toy with him. Saturday we brought in a good half dozen frozen-stiff empty-shell toys to be washed and placed back in the toy basket. It was like Christmas all over again for Jack. Ava likes toys only when she can use them to tease and annoy Jack. It's quite entertaining.

Christmas morning was lovely.

Austin and Britta had to fly back home later that day - it was so great that they were able to come and spend Christmas with us this year!

We spent the rest of the day doing laundry and packing for our big Wyoming-Utah-Idaho-Utah adventure. Read more about THAT tomorrow.

Pre Christmas festivities.

The evening of the 23rd, Taylor and Lynnea headed up to stay with Dan and Sharen (Lynnea's parents) for Christmas. Before they headed off, they gave and received gifts.

It was great to have them here, no matter how brief their stay.

The Billats invited us over for their traditional Christmas Eve dinner, Nativity Song sing-a-long, and Candy Game the next evening. We have been so blessed to have such great neighbors and friends.

Afterwards we headed home for our traditional gift-opening of pjs. (Ooops. Did I spoil it for you?)

Even the pups had Christmas Eve presents to open.

New oh-so-soft kennel blankies (in animal print, even). Yeah, I know what those pups like.

Next up: Christmas.

Family pictures.

We tried.

We were going to be ALL together for only 24 hours right before Christmas.  Sunday (the 23rd) would be the perfect day to snap a few family photos for a card.

Even though Bill had arranged to be home a little early from church that day, Lex had to work until 4.  By the time she got home, daylight was quickly waning.

We gathered the gang. We set the camera timer. We tried to keep our eyes open. We smiled.

This was the best we got:

Oh, sure, there are lots of things we could have done differently to have better results. We could have nixed the flash. We could have adjusted the focus. We could have used a more compatible camera setting for the lighting.  I love the phrase, "It will do." For whatever reason, it helps me get past the imperfection. Another mantra for the new year.

Thanks to Austin's quick skill on Photoshop, the final result was this:

The most important thing was that WE WERE ALL TOGETHER.

I doesn't matter that I didn't order the pricey uber-cute cards from some specialty online printer (even though I really, really wanted to - luckily the not-so-great quality pic made that sacrifice easier). It doesn't matter that we didn't have a tricked-out camera, or that we don't even know how to get the best pics from our point-and-shoot.

I love these people (and pups) and we were ALL TOGETHER.

A few other shots from our 15-minute-dinner's-almost-ready photo session:

I have the best family ever.

Reunited.

I am determined to rally (unlike the Broncos last week).  I am going to do a massive post catch up.  Mainly pictorially, since a picture paints a thousand words, and I am too darn busy to make much sense on the commentary.  Written expression takes {me} time.

I prefer individual posts scheduled to post on different days rather than a lengthy multi-topic one, so keep your eyes peeled this week as I sort through the sands at the bottom of the hourglass.

On with it.

Back in December, in honor of Jack and Ava's first birthday (on the 21st), we invited Elvis and Priscilla over for a family reunion.

I had envisioned a fun family get-together as we chatted with Sheila and her kids (the breeders), and as the dogs got reacquainted.  I haven't had a moment to research if it's psychologically damaging upsetting unsettling to reunite pups and parents after many months apart.  I was curious, however, to see if the pups had any memory at all of their birth parents. (I'll admit, I call myself Mommy when talking to them.  I have no shame in it.)

Elvis, the old DOG, immediately came into the house and {marked} the leg of an end table, then, after a harsh reprimand from his owners, promptly did it again.  Then he came over and gave me a little squirt on my leg.

Change of plans.  My vision of friendly, casual visiting, cozied up in the family room, watching pups-and-parents rediscover each other while we sipped hot cocoa, would not be happening.

We stayed in the entryway. Conversation was a bit awkward (it would be humiliating to have your dog act so... male-dog-with-all-his-stuff -like).  But it was fun to observe similarities.  Ava has Priscilla's bark-y I-don't-like-strangers disposition, and Jack was more like Elvis.  Happy to be here.  Happy to let you know he's been here (Jack does NOT mark, thankfully, and hopefully doesn't get any ideas from observing his pops).  Happy for anyone who will offer to rub his belly, to do so.

We recalled when we first saw Jack and Ava.  How BIG Elvis and Priscilla seemed.  Now, these 9 months later, Jack outsized them all.

Priscilla's expecting another litter.  We asked to be informed when the puppies were old enough to have visitors.  Britta and Austin, who were at this grand reunion, talked about how fun it would be to see the new litter, too.  THAT would be awesome: for Britt and Austin to have Jack and Ava's little brother or sister.

Okay, so I had more commentary than was time-prudent.  I'll curb it in the next post.