Hey, let's drive halfway across the country

Ok, we will! For Christmas, we went to Kansas. Last year when we went we flew and got stuck in DC. So we figured we'd try out driving this year. We could get equally stuck, we knew, but at least it feels like you're a little more in control. So we packed up the car with all our presents and made the 19 hour trek halfway across America.

We broke up the trip by stopping in Nashville and were able to stay with my friend and former roomie Ashley and her husband Mikael. Before we left the next day, Ashley took us to a cute coffeeshop called Fido. According to the People magazine I recently read, Taylor Swift and Jake Gyllenhaal had a date there. So I was mildly disappointed we didn't run into them or anyone else famous. But hey, we did have a great time with Ash!

After that, we hit the road for the 9 hour trip to Kansas City. Although it was a long trip, it really was fun to get lots of time to talk and hang out with each other. And much to Josh's dismay, listen to Christmas music nonstop.

We spent one night with Josh's middle brother and sister in law, Ben and Alissa, who live in Kansas City. It's always so great to see them and we're sad we don't get to very often. A highlight that day would be watching Cinderella with my sweet little niece Ella.

After that we had our last 3 hour drive to Josh's hometown of Concordia. We had lots of good time with Josh's family finishing Christmas shopping, wrapping presents, doing lots of baking and having some good down time. We also spent a few days in Nebraska visiting Josh's oldest brother, Abe and sister in law Arian. While we were there, we got to see two of our nephews, Eli and Ike, in their Christmas program at church. Here's a pic of Eli doing his thing as a wiseman (he's on the left)...

A few days before Christmas, all of Josh's fam gathered at his parents house and we all got some good time together. Lots of playing with kids, more baking and playing games. On Christmas Eve we celebrated with presents and the Christmas meal. Josh started off the day by reading the Christmas story to the kids

It was a little hard for them to focus because to the right of us in this picture is a big pile of presents! Here was a pic of the calm before the storm, before the middle of the room was filled with boxes and wrapping paper!

It was really fun to watch all the kids open presents. Here are a few pics of that

Ike (with Star Trooper Mr. Potato Head) and Ella (with her new doll)

Eli, excited to get Despicable Me

Sweet little Lydia with her cooking toys

How cute are my nieces and nephews?! (I somehow had no pics of our nephew Gavin opening stuff! Sorry that is missing!) We had a great time seeing everyone in Kansas. We headed back Christmas day, stopping in Nashville again on the way back. Then we had a quick Christmas with my family on the 26th. But that's another post for another time.