It’s almost April, so I guess that means it’s time to blog about Christmas.

…

#LIFE

We spent a wonderful few weeks with my family in Oklahoma for the holidays. It was a much-needed escape from life and weather in Wyoming. And because we can get from Point A to Point B in 12 hours, we took a chance by driving (more on that later). Joe accompanied his band to their Bowl Game, got back after midnight on Christmas Eve and then we were in the car by 6am high-tailing it south before a snow storm hit.

*Disclaimer: I only used my phone to document the trip. Time off= Lazy!*

First stop on Christmas Day…Aunt Pam’s cookie extravaganza!

Memaw showing off the goods.

This is how you can normally find us — laughing.

We made double batches of four different cookies. It smelled delicious!

Joe was half-horrified, half-impressed that these cookies are older than him. #freezermagic (We’re weird.)

Love these two and my new Honey Hush shirt (thanks, Hotrod and Sugar Bear!).

Next day was Christmas at my Mom’s, where I caught this cute picture with a few of my favorite boys.

Bryan, Robbi and Rowan had a Texas holiday. How cute is this little one for his first Christmas?

Next day was Christmas at my Dad’s with Lily modeling her new bike helmet.

We only had a few bucket list items for our trip, but my #1 was visiting the Pioneer Woman’s new Mercantile store.

She’s like Oklahoma royalty, but we had no idea how popular until we got there and found ourselves in a four-plus hour line for L U N C H with people from around the world. Yeah, waiting outside, standing on pavement, in December for over four hours. It was insane, but worth it. (I think. I hope!)

It was a Girl’s Trip with Joe!

While waiting in line, we got to review the menus…

…and I jumped at the chance to play a humiliating game for the masses that won me a bowl.

Oh, my sister’s face when she saw me wearing a pair of pantyhose on my head. Priceless.

We had plenty of time for selfies with the best of backgrounds…

…and got to meet a lot of the Pioneer Woman crew, like her husband Ladd…

…her father-in-law Chuck…

…and her boys, Bryce and Todd, with Cowboy Josh.

The food was fabulous and plentiful. We were star-ving by then.

Joe was thrilled with his blanket of gravy.

The store was also a ton of fun and full of whimsy.

Back at the homesteads, Bella, who rarely gets to see all of her favorite family members, was thrilled to be with everyone. She showed her appreciation by claiming her spot on the couch…

…as well as Lincoln’s little arm chair. Come on! Awwwww!

We spent over three weeks there (thanks to an ice storm), and here are some of the non-work (for me) highlights:

Movies! We watched a ton at my Dad’s, and I visited the old Circle Cinema to see La La Land and Jackie.

Sunny days with Lily and Linc, riding bikes and getting creative with spelling. What does your name start with?? O! What does it end with?? S! …okay.

We also played basketball with our favorite girl…

…and enjoyed her new Chewbacca mask.

We hit up Joe’s all-time favorite place to eat, Shiloh’s–home of the desserts for side dishes!

I went back to work right after New Year’s, so our weekends were spent enjoying slumber parties with the littles. We played Clue…

…I visited Lily’s Salon…

…and we celebrated Bella’s 12th (!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) birthday!

We also played old-school Nintendo with them, which basically made me melt into a puddle of nostalgic bliss.

This might as well be Booh and Bryan.

Omg, how cute is he?!

We also had a LiNo’s Libros movie night with homemade snacks to watch The BFG…

…and watched Lily’s team play some mean bball.

We were also so thankful to spend special time with sweet Molly, who we miss dearly.

We had a slim window of driving time after the big ice storm hit to get back to Wyoming before another snow storm invaded. But, I’m glad we waited, because check out these huge trees brought down from the ice, with it still clinging to their branches. Ei yei yei.

That’s a wrap on a wonderful holiday season!