Sarah and Johannes Visit (December 23-26)

Mark's younger sister, Sarah and her husband came to visit surrounding the weekend of Christmas.

Friday Evening

Friday Evening, Sarah and Johannes came over to visit and play some games, and we had pizza. It was nice catching up with them and playing games! We played a game they brought over, although the name escapes me right now. It reminds me of the card game Speed, though, except with 4 piles. I really enjoyed it!

Saturday Evening (Christmas Eve)

Saturday evening, we met up at church for the Christmas Eve service, then enjoyed dinner and gifts at our home afterwards.

For a full recap, click here!

Sunday (Christmas Day)

On Christmas Day, we spent the day in Minneapolis celebrating with Mark's Mom's family there.

For a full recap, click here!

Monday Afternoon (Christmas in Worthington)

The day after Christmas, we headed down to Worthington to celebrate with Mark's Dad, Pam, Jess, Tyler and Grandma for the day. We met them at HyVee for lunch, then headed back to their home to visit, Skyped with Daniel a bit and then opened gifts together.

For a full recap, click here!

Christmas in Worthington (December 26)

Brunch at HyVee

The day after Christmas, we met up with Kent, Pam, Jess, Tyler and Grandma at HyVee for brunch and enjoyed visiting there for a while.

Skyping with Daniel

While we were at HyVee, Daniel had called via Skype, so when we got back to the house, we were able to visit with him over Skype for a while, which was a real treat!

Gifts and Gab

After Skyping with Daniel, we went upstairs and opened gifts!

Sarah and Johannes brought some of their wedding photos to show everyone too!

We also brought our Alaska scrapbooks that I had gotten for Christmas to show everyone.

Family Photos

Sarah, Grandma and Johannes

Sarah and Grandma

Mark, Grandma and Sarah

Mark, Grandma and I

Grandma and Mark

Grandma and the Grandkids

Jessie and Tyler

Dinner with Friends

Later that evening, after the festivities had died down a bit, and Sarah and Johannes were getting ready to start their trek back to Omaha, we met the Studes and Grabers for Pizza Hut to visit a bit. With all that time off for Christmas, we hadn't really seen our friends in quite a while, so it was nice to catch up!

Christmas Day in Minneapolis (December 25)

We were up early and on the road to Minneapolis for a fun day at cousin Mark and Meghan's in Plymouth.

As always, there was entirely way too much food, lots of goodies, and a great time visiting with family.

After enjoying a delicious meal, we all settled in for a fun afternoon of games and visiting.

We had a wonderful, albeit very very long day, and made it home around 10:30pm. We're not so sure we can do a one-day trip like that all over again - especially not 8 months' pregnant - but we sure enjoyed the day!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve in Windom (December 23)

We spent most of Christmas Even relaxing around our home and prepping for dinner that evening. Mark and I attended the Christmas Eve service at our church here in Windom, where Sarah and Johannes joined us.

Afterwards, they came over for a yummy dinner of crockpot glazed ham, cheesy potatoes, stuffing and freezer corn. Diane hadn't been able to make it to church or dinner as she had been busy at her home, but she joined us later for leftovers and gifts later on.

After dinner, we waited for Diane to finish up a few things at her home before she came over and we opened Christmas gifts together.

We had such a nice time visiting with Sarah, Johannes and Diane, but called it an early night as we were going to be up early to head to Minneapolis to celebrate Christmas the next morning.