Happy Belated New Year everyone!

I think this will be the shortest update on record! I just finished posting pictures for you to see and spent the better part of the day purging the boys' bedrooms of toys they don't play with or are broken, but mostly just cleaning it out. (Tomorrow I do the bathroom. How many expired items do you have in your medicine cabinet?) Hunter's room took forever and he is no help at all. I just want to go and spend my remaining time sitting in front of the TV ignoring Mt. Laundry next to me. I'm imagining that pile would make one nice pillow....

Our drive up north was the best. The boys rode well, the roads were clear; we had no issues at all. My poor husband on the other hand had the worse time. It took him much longer than normal because he was driving up on icey roads and in the snow. Thankfully he made it up there safe and sound.

Like last year we had no plans until the rest of my sister's arrived the day after Christmas. So the boys and I attended my moms side of the family get together on Christmas Day. Tiff and Mark actually arrived earlier than in years past and were able to join us there.

We spent Christmas morning with the IL's, went to the get together mentioned above, and returned to stuff our faces some more back at the IL's that night.

The next day we had our holiday with Amanda and Saturday, a gift exchange with my dad. Our boys opened their Santa gifts at the IL's. Check out the picture slide show to see what Santa brought Dev. Hunter's big gift was a Nintendo DSL. (Bryce can share in Devin's present.)

We had fun in the snow, fun with the Wii, fun playing board games and enjoyed each other's company while making one heck of a mess in the house (five kids and seven adults staying the night with more coming during the day!) Of course, those who enjoy the hunt went on a few geocaching adventures! Check out my other blog to read about those.

Tim headed back to Ohio the Sunday after Christmas, but the boys and I didn't come back until the following Saturday. Those last few days were pretty rough for Dev and B. They caught themselves a stomach bug and had a bit of a fever and both threw up, but thankfully on different nights! Our last night there I considered staying another day because Bryce was up every hour fussing. Before we left my dad gave me a roll of paper towels and a garbage and said if I'm prepared for the baby to throw up then it won't happen, and he was right! The ride back home went just as well as our ride up.

Except for a few Christmas decorations Devin had brought into his room, our house is back to its original state .

I'm sure I've missed something worthy of sharing with you, but I didn't keep track and I'm impatient to get this up. I've been home for a week now and should have done this before!

I hope you all had a safe and happy New Year and wish you the best of health and good fortune in 2009!

Yo