Arizona

We were able to travel back home to Arizona this December! It was so good that ALL of us could go. Sam had not been back in almost 3 years, so he was really excited to go as well. Unfortunately, our camera did not make it into our luggage so we have no pictures of any event while we were there. But I am hoping that those of you who check our blog will see this and email me any picts that you might have!
I will give you all the highlights as best I can!

Our travel was stress-free and relaxing for the most part. I just wish there was a faster way to get from here to there. Two- three hour plane rides and two- two and a half hour car rides just isn't the ideal traveling scenario.
Once we got to AZ, we were all tired but glad to see family. We stayed with Sam's Dad for the first few days and nights. It was a lot of fun and the kids loved Grandpa and Grandma Nae!
My extended Nikolaus family party was on a Sat. afternoon. It was so good to see many of my relatives that I hadn't seen since before we moved in 2006. It also reminded me how fast kids grow. I hardly recognized a lot of the kids since they all are huge now compared to last time I saw them.
My immediate family had our party later that evening. It was a lot of fun! We rented the local teen center that had ping pong, Wii, basketball, board games, etc. to just hang out and have fun! We did our annual ornament exchange and had fun playing a ping pong game where everyone in the room had a paddle- it got a bit crazy at times.
Though we were only there for a week and the time went by really fast- we were able to see who we needed to see and enjoyed every minute of it.
Thanks to everyone for everything! We love and miss you all so much!