BACK to school...

Dare I say this is a very

BITTERSWEET

moment for me tonight...

to say that we are only a few hours of sending our kids

BACK TO SCHOOL!

We have had so many amazing experiences over these last 2 weeks,

and it is hard to believe it is over.

During this time I had SEVERAL amazing Christmas gifts. I thought I would share them tonight as a reminder of 

the JOY I felt this holiday season and why I feel a sense of sadness that it is already over.

1.  I got to celebrate Christmas DAY with my four children and husband.

Family is always FIRST so for me so a FULL day with them is the best gift I can have.

We started the day opening presents...

with everyone being "happy" with the gifts they received.

Ron loves anything Duck Dynasty!

 We eventually spent the day at the movies...

and as tradition would have it we finished off our Christmas festivities with dinner at 

DENNY'S.

Everyone got along...

everyone was happy...

and I felt like I scored the best Christmas gift of all!

2.  My sister and her family showed up December 26th!

I'm always grateful for FAMILY...

so to have one of my siblings come to visit is a great gift!

We did soooo many things and I took pictures of ALL of it 

so I will post more on their visit another time!

3.  We made some AMAZING new friends who we grew to LOVE and who we felt we had known for years!

Having great friends is a special GIFT since great friends are like family!

In fact we love them so much we went shooting with them, 

had an outdoor MOVIE night,

spend most of our New Year's EVE day with them full of games and a barbecue,

and lastly a day at JUMP STREET with all our kids!

4.  Speaking of FRIENDS,

we love our friends we have known for years and having Ron off this last month has also given us a chance to meet up with

A LOT of them.

We love our friendships with so many great people who enhance our lives so much...

and I totally regret NOT taking single picture of our time with them but they know who they are and we LOVE them so much!

Thank you LYSY'S and LETNER'S for your amazing friendship!

Now we must MOVE on,

as is LIFE,

but I will always remember the holiday season of 2013

and the many amazing gifts I received!