A whirlwind of a holiday... I am exhausted!!!

WOW... I know it's been FOREVER since I've posted... I will try to catch up in the next few days, I promise!

Let's see, where do I even begin? It all started on December 23rd, we had our 1st of 4 Christmas Candlelight services @ Community Of Faith. December 24th we spent all day at the church again! We had 3 more services, they went really great! We had a lot of fun, especially because Blake and I got to sing together again, it had been WAY too long! In between two of the services, we invited the special needs children from our foster home the we support to sing with us. They came up on stage and sang with us and the band, we video recorded it and made many of their dreams come true! Such a neat experience that I will never forget!!!   

After we finished up our last Christmas Eve service at COF, around 8:30 PM, we headed to Katy to open presents and hang out with Blake's family. It was so fun to see his nieces get excited about the gifts, it made us remember how fun Christmas can be when you are with family. We are definitely blessed and had a blast hanging out with the Jacksons! :) Love you guys! We spent the night at Kari, Blake's sister's house that night and woke up to stockings from Santa and a family breakfast on Christmas morning.

We then, jumped in the truck and headed to the Woodlands to have Christmas morning with my family around 10 AM. My parents hooked us up with a video camera and we got all kinds of great stuff, but the best part was just getting to hang with my familia. I love them so much and adore the time we get to spend with them. We hung out for about an hour, then jumped in our cars and hit the road to head to Borger (it's an itty bitty town 1 hour Northeast of Amarillo, where all my family lives). It was a long road trip, but fun because Blake and I LOVE to travel together, we are a great team! ;) Christmas Day was full of driving and we ate Christmas dinner at a gas station Subway in Quanah, TX... wah-hoo! (oh the memories) About 10 or 11 hours later, we finally arrived at my grandparents house. 

Friday, December 26th, we had Christmas with my Nana and mom's side of the family. It was probably the last Christmas we will have at my Nana's house (she lives in an assisted living center and is planning on selling her house this year), so it was a little emotional. It is so sad to see those you love getting older. I am struggling with that right now, I am not a big fan of change. I love traditions and have a hard time dealing with change. Overall, we had fun and I loved getting to spend some time with my Nana!

Saturday, December 27th, we started off the morning with a phone call that Blake's grandma Jackson had unexpectedly passed away, thus began the true chaos of our holiday break. We quickly began making plans of how to get from Amarillo, Texas to Cody, Wyoming ASAP.

Sunday, December 28th, we woke up and went to my Papa Jim's church (my dad's dad has been a pastor of a church in the Panhandle for 50 plus years). It was great to see the whole family and we even sang a special song together. I mean ALL OF US... Dad, Blake, me, Whitney, Eric, and Nathan. Mom wouldn't sing with us but she ran sound. We are quite the traveling family band! ;) Hehehe. It was a lot of fun! We came home with my dad's whole side of the family and had a big family lunch and played games all afternoon. It was such a precious time that I am so thankful for! After the cousins, aunts and uncles left my Granny Bev's house, Blake and I began packing to leave the next morning.

Monday, December 29th, it was time for Blake and I to leave my family and drive home to Houston. It took us ALL DAY and we got home late that night, just in time to repack and get ready to fly out to Wyoming the next morning.

Tuesday, December 30th, we drove to the airport and flew to Denver, Colorado, where we had a short layover. Then got on a teeny tiny plane that took us to a hole in the wall town in Cody, Wyoming. That itty bitty plane ride is a totally different story all it's own... short version, I thought I was going to die... we were on row 9 of the 9 rows of the entire plane!!! We got into Wyoming late that night and drove about 30 minutes to an even smaller town called Powell, Wyoming. It was there on the Jackson far that I finally got to meet the whole Jackson clan for the very first time! :) They were so so sweet... gentle giants. I am not even 5 foot tall and not a single one of them were under six feet tall... I felt like I was in the land of the giants, but the entire family could not have been more excepting and loving towards me! 

Wednesday, December 31st, today was a hard day. We had to bury his Grandma J. Blake and I sang at the funeral and I was so proud of him, he was so strong! The family was incredibly strong as well. It was such a neat time of hearing all of the neat stories of the legend of the woman I never got to meet. She was the backbone of the Jackson family and left a huge legacy behind and I am so blessed to have been a part of this special day that brought honor to Grandma J. We love and miss you very much and know that you are smiling down, so proud of the family you left behind!!! Then we got to hang with all the cousins and bring in the New Year all together... what a sweet time!

Thursday, January 1st, we woke up at the butt crack of dawn and flew home... FINALLY. We were exhausted!

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Here are some pictures from our crazy Christmas Holiday

Blake, Robin, Nathan, Whitney & Eric

(The kids of my (Robin) family)

The COF Band

Blake & I after the Christmas Eve services @ COF

The FULL COF Band from the Christmas Eve Services

My mom's side of the family kids doing stockings...

Santa still visits us! ;)

My Nana (mom's mom) and all her grandkids!

The Gillmore Clan

We finally found Internet in one corner @ Grandma's house :)

We are such dorks!

The WHOLE Gillmore clan... My dad's parents, his sister and ALL the kids! :)

The teeny tiny plane we rode on to fly to Wyoming

Grandma J's gravesite

Blake's dad (Dave), Me, & Blake @ the funeral

Blake and all of his cousins

It is soooo cold in Wyoming in December...

I had to borrow a jacket!

Life on a family farm :)

3 Generations of Jackson men...

Blake, Grandpa J, and Dave Jackson

A beautiful sunset we got to enjoy...

It is gorgeous country up there!

Heart Mountain

The view from the Jackson Family Farm

New Years Eve on the Farm

Play time with Little Will

He is the cutest Cowboy EVER!!!

We played "Rodeo" all night

Such a cutie... Will Jackson

Flying home!