More Pictures, As Promised

Heather arrived on Wednesday and we must thank her for the following pictures. Thank you Heather.
Yes those are potholder hanging from stocking holders. Don't judge us, we're poor.

Pat and Stacie came on Friday and after a short office visit, and a trip to REI, we headed home to meet up with Matt.

We hung out for a little while as we made plans for the evening.

Tummy Time. Abbey and Baily have already met, but they needed to get reaquainted.
After driving to Starbucks for a carmel apple cider, we went to see the light show and then returned home for spaghetti and meatballs with Russ and Vickie.

We had a few appetizers...there's just something fun about Wheat Thins. Don't deny it.
We had a great time eating spaghetti (it always tastes so good), and visiting with Russ and Vickie.

Then came the beginning of a very long and incredibly fun night.The table got a little crazy.
And everything ended in pure bliss at 4am.Saturday, after we all slept in as much as possible, we got ready to drive up to the Mesa. Matt's brother Ryan had made it into town earlier that day, so Matt went and hung out with him and the family as Pat, Stace, Heather and I headed up to the lodge.

Bundled Baby Baily ready for the winter cold.

The drive up.Pat wanted to take on cross country skiing, and I decided to snowshoe. Heather, Baily and Stace stayed inside and had a nice long chat by the fireplace.

And this is how it's done.

Pat skiied a few miles...

While Megan mastered the incredibly complicated art of putting on snowshoes.

Pose.
Off we go. Good times bro.

On the way down, we stopped at a beautiful overlook, (well, it wasn't really a formal overlook, more just the side of the road, but we looked over anyway), and took some pictures.

Rudy's Cute Heather and huge head Megan...seriously, I must have been wearing like 3 hats.

The Girls.
Beautiful View.

When we returned from the mountain, we headed straight to Russ and Vickie's for an incredible dinner with the whole crew including Ryan, who was visiting from Iowa. (Stace was kind enough to take the picture so sadly, she is not in it.) Matt's parents were so kind to let everyone into their home and Vickie really cooked up a storm that week! Thank you SO much for the fun times and yummy yummy food!!This was Matt's parents first time meeting Baily and as everyone does, they loved her to pieces.That night after the Cooks, we returned home to open presents...and heather busted out the old school video camera to capture everything!

Opening Gifts.
A Cook/Rudy Family Christmas

And, in true Patrick Rudy fashion, their trip ended with a Monster truck to trump all Monster Trucks...this thing is literally as tall as the house...how do you get in there?

After the Rudy family left, the fun continued with the Cooks as we opened presents again, this time at Russ and Vickie's house.

Thank you everyone for such a wonderful holiday!! The majority of the above pictures came from Heather, Stacie and Ryan...thank you guys so much for capturing the memories!