Fun in Georgia

The day after Christmas we got in the car and started our 15 hour drive to Athens, GA to visit my brother Rob, his family, and my (Susan's) parents who were there visiting!
Along the way we stopped in Knoxville, TN and got to see some friends, it was so good to see them again!!!

Dinner with the Tucker Family

Fun at the Mall with the Trumble Family

Once we arrived in Georgia we had loads of fun being with family... We jumped on the trampoline, we watched movies, Rob showed us around UGA campus, we did crafts, we took walks and runs, we went out for an adult dinner, we talked, and we loved every minute we were there (except for the 24 hour stretch of Grayer having a stomach bug -- yuck!)

Jumping with Cousin Bea

and Grandpa


and Uncle Rob (I took this picture right before Bea body slammed Rob, you can see her ready to land -- Ouch!!!)

Grandpa and Grandma Christensen

The following pictures are of Grayer with Grandpa and Grandma, I thought they were cute so I had to share :)


Pretending to sleep

Rob, Flori, and Susan in Rob's office on campus

Proof that I ran Rob's 5 mile hill run. Thanks Rob it was killer but it was fun. I had a great time running with both you and Flori while we were there!

Bea and Grayer in their "snowman feet" shirts. Flori got this craft for Bea and Grayer, we used their foot prints to make the snowmen, they turned out way cute!

This was what our car looked like only half way done with our trip back home to NY. The weather was beautiful on the way down and NOT so beautiful on the way back up.

Christmas at the Gilchrist home

This past Christmas was our first Christmas with just our little family of three! A while back my (Susan's) parents decided they were going to spend Christmas with my brother and his family in Georgia. So we decided that instead of flying home to Idaho like we usually do we would stay in NY and do our own little Christmas!!
I must admit I was sad not to be going home to be with family, but I was pleasantly surprised at how wonderful and fun it was to celebrate as just our own little family!

Upstairs Tree

Christmas Eve we cooked our own little Prime Rib dinner (in honor of my Grandma's annual Christmas Eve Prime Rib dinner). Later that evening we went over to some friend's house for games and dessert. One thing I have learned since we moved away from Idaho is that there will always be friends that become like family and help fill that void. We are lucky to have many friends who are like family to us! After we got home that night we put Grayer to bed and met up with Santa to set up for Christmas morning:)

Christmas Eve Nap

Prime Rib Dinner

Even Hermione joined us for some Prime Rib:)

Grayer with the Scott kids -- they all got new Christmas Pajamas

Christmas Day we got up and went to early church. It was a great meeting with lots and lots of wonderful music!! Grayer is at that perfect age where he gets excited but not too excited that he wakes up at 4 in the morning to do presents, so we were able save presents until after we got home from church.

New Christmas pajamas

New Christmas Sunday outfit

Downstairs Tree

Coming downstairs to see what Santa brought

Checking out the Stocking goodies

New Geo-Trax Trains

New "Toy Story" pajamas

Legos from Grandma and Grandpa Christensen

Andy opening his massage appointment from Mrs. Claus:)

New Eastman Sweatshirt

After presents we made our Christmas Breakfast of ham, eggs, hash-browns, cinnamon rolls, grapefruit, and hot chocolate!!

Grayer enjoying his eggs
(In case you're wondering about the band-aid on his head... No, he was not injured he got "Cars" band-aids for Christmas and wanted to wear one on his forehead, he left it there for 2 days.)


Later that evening we were invited to some other friends house for Christmas dinner... see what I mean about wonderful friends?

What a wonderful memory this Christmas will always be for us!! I guess the only downer was Andy hurt his neck really bad the day before Christmas Eve and ended up needing to take muscle relaxers which kind of knocked him out so he was asleep on the couch in between events, but oh well we still had a great time together!!