We just arrived home from our trip out to California to visit family for Christmas. This was my (Karyn's) second trip and Darby's third trip home since moving out here to Texas nearly one year ago. It was wonderful seeing and spending time with family. Webcams are wonderful, but they don't replace real hugs. Though it was a fantastic trip all around, our highlight was probably officially meeting our new baby nephew Silas:
Doesn't he look a lot like Darby? He was such a pleasure to hold and spend time with, a very cuddly and sweet and adorable baby! And it was amazing to see how much Jasper has changed in the 6ish months since seeing him. He is such a big boy now, and talks so much. He was constantly talking about "Spiderman," and when posing for this picture, he said, "Cheese, Spiderman!"
We got in late in the evening and spent the evening at the empty Langless house. The next day, we spent time with Darby's Mom, Shelbie, Jasper and Silas. Then we helped Darby's Mom out with a ministry at a hospital, giving gifts to children and adults who had been in the hospital a very long time. Darby and my Dad played their guitars and sang to the patients, while the women helped them open gifts, as many of them were not mobile. It was a huge blessing to minister there! After that, we spent some time in California traffic on our way to Steph and Kyle's, who had us over for dinner. It was so nice to see such dear friends, and I was so thankful that our schedules worked out to see them, since they were leaving for Kansas early the next morning.
Part of the fun was going to the Hauptman side of the family, where we relaxed, ate yummy food, and pretended we were on Dancing with the Stars. 
Friday, I got to have lunch with my Mom and Sister. Then we went shopping (Robyn was thrilled). After that, I met Shelbie to get our nails done. She got a pedicure and I got a manicure. That was a lot of fun! After that, we had dinner with Morgan and Shelbie, Ravanelli's pizza... yummy! Saturday was spent in Acton with my family. One of the hightlights was In 'N Out for lunch and spending the night, then going to see my family's new church. My Mom was gracious enough to have the Hughes side of the family over after church on Sunday, where we were able to hang out with both sides of the family together. Cody loved his new hotwheels toy he got from my mom, and Heather loved her Carebear doll.
At the Hughes family Christmas, we were missing the Lang family so much! Christmas is not the same with them missing. They were with Scott's side of the family in South Dakota, and we weren't able to see them at all, as their flight out was the same day as our flight in. Christmas was still fun, starting with breakfast consisting of Pecan pies, chile cheese casserole, cinnamon rolls, and muffins. Oh yeah, and fruit, gotta at least be a little healthy!! The pecan pies were special, as they were baked with pecans that we gathered from the trees at the seminary here in Texas and brought out. And I learned how to make my first pecan pie to carry on the tradition for Darby someday. After breakfast, we read Scripture about the birth of Christ and then sang some songs to Him.
We got some wonderful gifts, including a great cookbook, perfect clothing, boots, sweaters, jewelry, the movie Amazing Grace and a DVD player!
We gave Jasper and Silas a book called Goodnight Texas, which talks about all things Texan like cowboys, bluebonnets, and Tex-Mex food. Darby made little cowboy pictures of us and put velcro all over the book, so the boys can move us around the different pictures of Texas.
After taking Shelbie, Morgan, and boys to the flyaway for their trip to Washington to see Shelbie's fam, we drove out to Acton for the Hauptman family Christmas. Again, family was very generous, and as you can see in this here picture by Darby who should be a professional model, he got an i-Pod!
I got lots of presents, including speakers for me to use at work, an electric blanket, a Rachael Ray cookbook, and a Netflix giftcard! After Christmas gifts, we ate dinner and then celebrated Shannon's birthday. She was happy to get her i-pod too!
We drove out to the airport early the next day. I forgot to check the flight status or get notifications, which I am usually good about. As we got close to the airport, my mom said, "Did we even check to see if your flight is on time?" We checked, and found out it was delayed for 2 hours! It turned out to be such a blessing, as we got to meet my dad at Porto's for lunch, which is one of our California favorites.... meat pies... mmmm..... After being dropped off, we got on the plane and sat in the runway... and sat... and sat.... for over an hour. Due to high winds and too much weight on the plane, we had to wait until they figured out what to do. They didn't want us crashing into the mountains! They decided to empty the plane of 2,000 pounds of fuel, then stop in Phoenix on the way there for more fuel to get us to DFW. My mom texted me and said that they should just make all the people get off and run around the plane ten times to lose some of the holiday weight! Well, after all of the delays, instead of arriving at DFW at 6 pm, we arrived after midnight. Full day's work tomorrow, remember! This is me waiting in the airport:
After getting home from work on the 27th, I got to open my gifts from Darby that he thought were too bulky to take with us to CA. I got these really cool light-up flowers to go in our bedroom that he found at a museum gift-shop and knew I would love:
He also gave me decorative pillows for our bed, which I have been wanting for a long long time. And... one of my most favorite gifts of all.... a Chia Herb Garden!!! Sounds funny, but I've wanted to try to grow my own herbs like cilantro and basil, and these are supposed to be fool-proof. Pray for my herbs!
This week has been nice, but we hear that it will drop into the 20s next week! Yikes! My boots and warm clothing will come in handy!
After getting home from work on the 27th, I got to open my gifts from Darby that he thought were too bulky to take with us to CA. I got these really cool light-up flowers to go in our bedroom that he found at a museum gift-shop and knew I would love:He also gave me decorative pillows for our bed, which I have been wanting for a long long time. And... one of my most favorite gifts of all.... a Chia Herb Garden!!! Sounds funny, but I've wanted to try to grow my own herbs like cilantro and basil, and these are supposed to be fool-proof. Pray for my herbs! This week has been nice, but we hear that it will drop into the 20s next week! Yikes! My boots and warm clothing will come in handy! 
