New Year's Eve and Driving Home

New Year's Eve was our last full day in Laramie.  While we spent much of the day packing, and getting things together for our trip back the next day, we still got to have some fun.  The girls slipped away in the morning for pedicures and manicures (Miley included!).

The boys hung out at home, and this little guy practiced walking around with his Poppa.

And sadly, after these pictures, I packed up my camera and failed to get any pictures of our New Year's celebration.  In the evening we set out a spread of meatballs, spinach artichoke dip, 7-layer dip, a veggie tray, a meat and cheese tray, and shrimp cocktail.  We wanted to just have some appetizer type things to snack on all night, and boy, did it last ALL night!  There was a ton of food!

After the kids went to bed, the adults killed the time till midnight by playing Mad Gab, Finish Line, and Buzz Word.  It was fun to be able to play games that take more than two people for once.  :)  We all made it to midnight (a major accomplishment!), watched the ball drop, and then went to bed.  You know you are getting older when you can't wait to get to bed after midnight on New Years.  :)  But seriously...it was great to spend New Year's with my family.  This is the first one we have all spent together since Cameron and I have been married.

The next morning, we got all of our last minute things together and hit the road at about 10:00 am, Minnesota time.  We figured the drive would take a little longer this time since we were driving through the day, and our kids were sure to be restless.  We really had a pretty great drive, though.  Miley was happy as a clam with movies and her new Leapster Explorer.  We had to take a few breaks to fill up the tank and hit the bathroom, and made one stop for dinner, but other than that we were able to just go.  Landon did pretty well, but would get a little crabby around his naptimes and bedtime.  The weather was great until we hit Des Moines...I swear, as soon as we turned to go north we got hit with gale force winds for the rest of the drive.  We had to go a little slower because of it, but still managed to get home by midnight, so about a 14 hour drive with stops.

It feels good to be home, but we are so sad our vacation is over.  This is most likely the last Christmas we will spend in Laramie, for at least a few years, so we are glad we got to spend so much time there, and see so many people!