We continued our Christmas celebration with a trip to the Oklahoma City area to visit Mark's family. His parents and all of his siblings live there now, so we were the only ones coming from out of town. And this was the first time we've visited since Mark's parents moved there from Missouri. Actually, we think the last time we were in Oklahoma was probably when we drove from Tucson to BG for our move in 2010!
We stayed with Mark's parents, but they had all coordinated so that everyone hosted a meal, and we got to hang out for a bit at everyone's place. It was really fun to see all the different Christmas decorations! We also got to meet all the pets. :-)
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| a big pile of presents at Mom & Dad's |
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| more presents under the tree |
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| presents out of reach of the dogs ;-) |
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| Katie & Kaden's tree |
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| the Carey family tree |
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| Damon & Jill's tree |
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| Damon & Jill's mantel |
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| Jill's Grinch bathroom |
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| more of the Grinch bathroom |
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Hannah's dog Daisy with Zach and Bella
(the Carey family dog) |
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| Mom & Dad's dog Cody |
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| Katie's dog Molly, in a Mickey Christmas bandana |
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| Cody & Molly are best buds |
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| Molly also loves Mark |
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| ...and Cody loves Mark! |
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some of Jill's rabbits
(freshly relocated to the garage because of the cold) |
And we went to a few fun places to eat out.
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| me, Mom, Jill, and Heidi out for lunch & tea |
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| all the girls at proper tea |
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| the beautiful, tasty food |
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| the menu |
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| Mark at Torchie's (a really good taco place) |
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Heidi & Katie at Torchie's
(coincidentally matching outfits :-) |
On Christmas Eve, we decorated Christmas cookies, had meatballs for dinner, sang carols, read from Luke, and opened gifts from the siblings. (Heidi's family opened all of their gifts, since they'd spend Christmas morning with Jeremy's parents).
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| Kaden decorating cookies |
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| me, Dad, Jill, and Damon |
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| Dad showcasing a frosted cookie |
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| 2022 cookie (I think this is Jill's) |
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| family photo before dinner |
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| Heidi & Jeremy |
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| Mark & me |
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| Jill & Damon |
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| Zack |
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| Hannah |
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| Mom & Dad |
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| Katie & Kaden |
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Uncle Mark & Kaden with the
Cars blanket we gave him |
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| Hannah's Friends blanket |
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| Katie's Harry Potter coloring book |
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a Disneyland puzzle for us
(from Heidi's family) |
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| Jill's Abu plush (from Aladdin) |
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| Heidi's Pixar puzzle (from us!) |
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| Kaden laying on his new blanket |
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| Carey family photo |
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Jill baked everyone a beautiful
loaf of sourdough bread! |
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Kaden plays drums!
(from Heidi) |
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| the aftermath! |
On Christmas morning, we opened gifts from Mom and Dad, had breakfast, and hung out together.
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| Kaden liked my new headband |
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| Mark's fancy headphones |
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| a bag of lotions & potions from Mom |
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| egg and french toast breakfast casseroles |
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| a panorama pic of everyone opening gifts |
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| Uncle Mark teaches Kaden to play egg shakers |
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| Kaden & Grandpa wrestle on the floor |
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Kaden & Nana play in his kitchen
(this thing was so impressive!) |
Damon and Jill hosted Christmas dinner at their place.
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| such a pretty table setting! |
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| an impressive appetizer spread |
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| more apps! |
Mixed in with all of that was lots of quality time with Kaden--he turned 2 in October, and it was really fun to see what he's into these days. His most favorite thing is the Disney/Pixar Cars movie, which he'll watch anytime anywhere!
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| me with Kaden |
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| Katie & Kaden |
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| more wrestling...with mommy |
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| getting a sweet hug from Kaden |
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| books and a snack with Kaden |
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| Uncle Mark! Cars! |
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| goofy boy plays in the dog bed |
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| Uncle Mark! Cars! |
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| saying goodnight on Christmas Eve |
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| Kaden does yoga? |
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| Uncle Mark! Cars! |
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| snacks with Nana |
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| say cheese! |
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| Kaden found a hideaway in his kitchen |
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| say cheese! |
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one last pic with Uncle Mark &
Aunt Amy before our flight home |
The day after Christmas, Hannah took us on an excellent tour of OU (she'll graduate this May!).
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| Hannah's office on campus |
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| Mark & Hannah walking through campus |
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| Hannah & me with a cool sculpture |
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| in front of the historic library building |
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| inside the library |
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a quick selfie in the library's
silent reading room |
Here are a few other things we did:
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| Mom & Mark by the fireplace |
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| Zack, Damon & Mark playing video games |
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| Jill takes a family photo |
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| and a selfie version :-) |
It was a great visit...with a frustrating end: our return flight was caught up in the Southwest Airlines meltdown, so we ended up staying two days longer than planned. Of course, we were in a comfortable guest room with our lovely family, so it wasn't the kind of hardship so many others had. But it did make for a stressful re-entry to work since I had less time than I'd planned on to gear up for the spring semester. On the other hand, we got the miles Southwest awarded to everyone impacted, and that went a long way toward booking our flights to visit family this summer, so that worked out nicely.
PS: thanks to everyone for sharing your photos!
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