Holland Family Christmas

And yet another post......I'm on a roll!! Since we spent Christmas weekend with Scott's family this year, we had Christmas with my family over New Year's weekend. I love, love it when we all get together....it reminds me of all the happy times we had growing up (plus 5 additional family members now!). It's never a big production....it's just great food, lots of laughs, and the joy of being together!

I can't tell you the last time the 4 of us had a picture taken together. And for the record, mom and I are standing on a small step....we aren't that tall, and dad's not that short!
Hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.....

Growing up SO fast!

Me and my big bro. I love this guy!

There HAS to be a crazy pic...

And a good one of the 9 of us.

There's ALWAYS time for games!

Let me just say how proud I am of my dad and envious of his talents and abilities....he decided a couple of months ago to try his hand at oil painting and painted these amazing pictures for me and my brother for Christmas this year. God has truly given him a gift! Dad came over this weekend and hung mine over our fireplace. I think about him everytime I sit and look at it. I couldn't have asked for a more precious gift.

Primm Family Christmas

HA! See.....I DID remember my userid and password to get on here! And to think that there were those who doubted me.... I know, I know, I know.... these are few and far between these days. I'm not promising how many more you'll see between now and May, but I'll do my best with every spare minute that I have!

This was our year to spend Christmas with the Primms, so we headed down to El Dorado on Christmas Eve, and then stayed through the weekend. It was great to be together again! We did the immediate family Christmas, the extended (Grandmommie) Christmas, and all got to go to church together on Sunday. One of the best parts of the entire weekend was visiting great-uncle Alex and singing Christmas carols together. He'd been sick for a couple of years with cancer and passed away just 3 days after we were there. He was a very special man, and I'm so appreciative of that special time with him.

So....this is me trying to get a photo of the girls for Christmas cards, and this is their idea of "posing". Very natural, though.
Papa reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" (and Payton reciting it from memory)

Christmas morning!

Payton and her iPod touch - worth EVERY penny!! Seriously, this has been one of the most used Christmas presents ever!

Holland and the sweatshirt she begged for....I think I can safely say that our days of being able to buy clothes at Wal-Mart are over.

No, I did not give her that knife.

"Can I have my present back, please?"

Group photo

Alaine and her sisters, Bonnie Jean & Belinda

Cute kiddos!!

Grandmommie's "friend", Bo, gave us all scratch off lotto tickets for Christmas. A couple of people came away with some cash!

Beautiful Grandmommie

Rockstar Sullivan. "I'm really just looking...."

Superhero Oliver. This kid cracks me up!!

The kids reading the Christmas story from the Bible

Happy times, indeed!!

Everyone loves new jammies!

And toys!

What great memories we are making together! Love you all!!

Myrtle Beach or bust!!

We spent the first week of August road-tripping to Myrtle Beach with the Hanbys for one last hoorah before the summer is over. What a great vacation it was!! There were LOTS of hours spent on the road just getting there and back, but we definitely made the most of it. Our first stop was for BBQ at Rendezvous in Memphis. YUM!!

Then we ventured on to the Opryland hotel in Nashville for the night. It's such an awesome place! We didn't even come close to seeing it all in the short time we were there, so we're looking forward to a return trip when we'll have more time. The girls all took a boat ride through the middle of it....

And Jake found the one thing he was looking for - a new flag!!

Payton holding up the "statue man"

And the girls learning a line dance. They know how to cut a rug!!

Our most favorite thing to do on this trip was EAT! And we ate WELL! Let's see....there was Rendezvous, Liberty, Landry's, Joe's Crab Shack, Key West Grill, Hard Rock Cafe and here we are at Senor Frogs for Jake's 11th birthday. Yeah....the scales were not kind when we got back home....

There was a complex right down from our hotel called Broadway at the Beach, and this is where we ended up every single night! The kids LOVED the rides....

Yeah, even this big kid.

And I use the term "loved" loosely....

Ahhh, the beach....besides the one day of rain, we had fabulous weather. And Myrtle Beach was PACKED!!

So...... I was so sad when it was over, but so thankful for the memories!! We knew after spending 8 days with the Hanbys during the ice storm this winter that we all wanted to spend another week together under better circumstances, and these definitely were! Now, it's time to plan the next vacation.....