Happy Holidays!

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and are enjoying this wonderful time of the year. We returned last night from our "Grandma Tour." In 9 days, we drove through 5 states, saw all 6 grandmas, all 3 grandpas, cousins, aunts, uncles, and many friends. We had a fun time and Gabi did great in the car, but were we ever glad to get home! Here are a few pictures from our holidays:

Gabi had more fun with the paper and boxes on Christmas than with the actual gifts.

Daddy & Gabi on Christmas morning.

All dressed up in her Christmas dress ready for Christmas Eve Mass

4 Generations -- Grandma Mary, Great Grandma Dorothy, Mama, & Gabi

The LaMay family at my parents house in Iowa on Christmas Eve

Visiting with Great Grandma Genie in Alliance, NE on our way through

Having fun with Gio at Grammy Joyce's house

"This Christmas business is exhausting!" Notice the Wyoming lounge chair -- a Christmas gift from Grammy Joyce & Papa Dave

So, our travels started Friday, the 19th when we headed up to Buffalo, WY for a quick weekend visit. We attended the Green Christmas party, so we got to see all of Joe's Grandma Phyllis's side of the family. The Monterastellis met us in Buffalo, so Gio and Gabi wore each other out! Now that Gabi is walking, they have lots of fun chasing each other, playing, and stealing each other's sippy cups (well, mostly Gabi stealing Gio's). We also got to catch up with Chris & Tracy Jons in Buffalo as well.

On Sunday afternoon, we headed to Spearfish, SD to stay with Joe's Grandma Fern. We had a nice visit and she kicked our butts in cribbage, as usual! On Monday morning, we started our longest leg of the trip. We drove to Alliance, NE to spend a couple of hours and eat lunch with my Grandma Genie. She is doing well and looking forward to having my Grandpa's book published in a month or so. Next, was to Leigh, NE to visit the Folkens, family friends of the Halls. They just built a beautiful new house and grilled us up some outstanding steaks on their indoor grill, yes, indoor grill. It was very cool.

On Tuesday morning, they gave us a tour of the feedlot that they operate and Gabi got to see Papa Dave's cows getting all fattened up. It was an interesting tour to see how that end of the business works. Later that morning, we headed to Lincoln to pick up my Grandma Dorothy and head to Des Moines, Iowa to my parents' house. It was nice to arrive there and just spend some quality time in one location. They fed us well, we saw the play Triple Espresso, and had lots of fun playing games and visiting. Gabi, Joe, my mom, and I had a bout of the stomach flu. It was short lived and wasn't too bad. Gabi came down with it shortly after we arrived, so she must have picked it up somewhere along the way. That was the only hiccup in the trip, so we were lucky.

On Saturday afternoon, we drove back to Lincoln to drop my Gramma Dot off and spend some time with my Aunt Virginia, Uncle Gary, and cousin Allie. It was great to see them and Gabi just adored Gary, just like I did when I was a little girl (and still do!) We heard all about Allie's wedding plans. She is marrying Brad on May 23rd. That just happens to be my due date, so I doubt we'll make it to the wedding, unfortunately, but we are so excited for them! Finally, on Sunday we headed home. It was was quite the undertaking in the middle of winter with a little one, but we probably won't be able to do it again for quite sometime with another little one on the way. We are so thankful that we saw so many people and that everyone is doing wonderful! Thank you all for your hospitality and time!

Well, I've rambled on long enough for one blog posting. We do hope you all have a Happy and Blessed New Year!

Love, Joe, Tara, & Gabi