Christmas #4, also entitled our trek across the world

I was so excited to visit home. My family all got to see McKenna over labor day, but Uncle Brandon, Uncle Tim and Aunt Trisha as well as cousin Andrew had never met her.

Being the OCD planaholic that I am, I checked in for our 6am flight from Des Moines to Denver then Denver to the tri-cities. Then I went to sleep. I got up at 3am and checked the status of our flight (to ensure it wasn't delayed.) To my horror it was cancelled! And if you read Christmas #3 blog you know that there was a huge storm in Denver just days earlier. I called United and they said they couldn't get the plane that we were supposed to leave on out of Denver, and the earliest that we could make it Pasco was the 27th! That was 4 days later!!! I went ahead and booked that flight, and Josh got on the internet. He found a flight leaving the next day from Minneapolis to Seattle - this could work! We planned on renting a car to drive to Minneapolis, then renting a car in Seattle to drive over the treacherous Snoqualmie pass in the middle of Christmas morning.

Gona and Baca were so sweet and volunteered to take us to Minneapolis (so very amazing!) There we got on a plane around 7pm. That was actually great timing, because McKenna usually goes to sleep around then. She slept almost the whole 4 hour flight. Once we made it to Seattle we got our bags, and the car and I called the Wa DOT pass hotline. Snoqualmie was closed...NOOOOO. We decided to drive to North Bend (last city before the pass) and check again. If it was still closed we would spend the night. Once we got to the pass we decided to press forward (keep in mind this is around 10 pm, midnight our time.) McKenna was zonked in the backseat and we stocked up on energy drinks and snacks. Josh was white knuckled for 2 hours while we drove through horrible snowy weather. We called my family once we got over the pass to find out that they were up baking and delivering papers at 2 in the morning waiting for us!

So long story short we made it home at 3am, 5 am our time, then McKenna got up two hours later and didn't even know what happened!

So we had a delayed Christmas so we could all sleep in a little. I got to meet my little nephew Andrew and my sister in law Trisha. It was so good to see Tim, Don's son; it had been way too long!

--Andrew opening presents--

--Andrew a little sleepy eyed, isn't he a cutie?--

We proceeded to open presents and catch up and tell our crazy travel around the world story. I think in retrospect we may not fly through Denver during winter again! McKenna sported her santa suit one last time. She got a singing animal train, a wiggly ball, a plush elmo book, and a crazy reverse vacuum toy that spits balls everywhere - too fun!

We got family portraits from Tim and Trish, a DVD video camera and accessory kit, a Seattle picture, and I got a cookbook, gift card while Josh got a really need woodworking book. Of course in true LaRue style, we had to take the camcorder back because we already had one :( It was a really thoughtful gift dad! And we already had the Seattle photo. But it worked out great because we got a gift card for the camera, and mom gave us money to pay for the picture as well as buy a nice frame. We put the gift cards to good use already buying a harmony remote (so amazing) and a little picture printer from HP. We are planning on getting an external hard drive to backup our thousands of McKenna photos with the rest :) Dad got mom a DVR (and man is that thing complicated!) And he got his three gifts that he posted on the fridge on a napkin :)

--the aftermath of the LaRue Christmas--

--McKenna's not sure what to think about this person that can crawl--

--Here is the only time I have ever seen Brandon hold a baby, besides Chelsey--

--I think McKenna preferred paper as her favorite gift--

After Christmas presents were open we couldn't wait for Aunti April to come over. She had flown into Portland a few days prior and had to leave that day to fly back to California. I am just glad that we got to see her, and that she got to meet McKenna, even if the time wasn't long enough :(

--It was passed nap time, she loves April I promise!--

We got to see a lot of our other friends that week as well! Corinne (my college roommate) drove down from her hometown in Quincy. She is getting her PhD in Neuroscience (I fondly refer to her as my smartest friend.)

Jason came down the last day we were there from Yakima. He was sporting a FULL BEARD! I little warning next time! He spent the night and slowly became addicted to Settlers of Catan. Tim and Trish introduced us to this highly addictive board game, and we have since gotten many Iowans addicted as well!

On Thursday we went snowboarding. We brought Chelsey, her friends Mason and Ian, and Josh and I. We went to Bluewood and the weather was just perfect. I think I only fell maybe once! After some pointers on skiing from Josh Chelsey did really well as well! Chuck and Sam drove over to Bluewood with Sam's two nieces and one nephew. They played in the snow then we headed to our place for dinner and you guessed it, Settlers of Catan :) It was really good to see everyone!

I also got a chance to see Maren, meet her baby girl Jocelyn and catch up with her mom. As usual the time went too quickly, but we had a good time seeing everyone!

We got some family photos taken of everyone of which I will post when I scan them!

--McKenna took her first bath in the sink at gramma and grampa rues, I will never bathe her anything ever again (well until she gets too big) She obviously loved it!--

--Who would have known that a Johnny Jump up from my baby years would have been such a hoot!--

--Here is a cute one of her beautiful aunti chelsey while pulling daddy's hair--

We flew home on New Years Eve. I thought by now all the problems would be over. Think again! We flew into the very last gate in the B terminal (75th gate!) Our plan left from the A terminal. So we are hustling with baby, stroller, car seat, bags, etc through 75 gates, people movers, crowded airport, train ride, and make it just when we thought we would board. Well - come to find out the windshield was broken (of course.) So we were delayed just an hour and finally made it home! Needless to say we went to bed early, and there were no New Years festivities at the Skinner household!