Christmas 2009!

The boys with their Christmas sweaters

Christmas 2009 has already come and gone so fast!  Im a few days late posting this but I still wanted to post anyways.  The holidays are really hard with us being so far away from all our family, however, we do have my two brothers who live only 3 hours away and some close friends who we love dearly.  

Me and Andrea Christmas Eve 2009

Me with some of the kiddos on Christmas Eve

We started off the holidays with dinner with the Romkowske family! We met them nearly 8 years ago right here in Twentynine Palms!  They say the Marine Corps is a small family and yes it is!  We never thought we would ever be in the same place again, let alone the place we first met...awwww.....lol.  Jeremy and Tom met on the bus on their way out here, 8 years ago.  They attended school here together and then I later met Andrea, who had just gotten married to Tom and had no kids and no desire to have one at the time........but only a few months later she was pregnant! I was also pregnant with Kaleb, my second.  So it was pretty cool that we were both new Marine wives living in this foreign world out here in the middle of the desert.  We hit it off really well and we spent alot of time together, she was even in the delivery room when I had Kaleb!  We then both got stationed in Yuma, AZ a few months later.  She had her first child, Hailee. This was all back in 2002!  We were then stationed in Okinawa, Japan then Oklahoma on Recruiting duty and they got sent back here to 29 Palms and have been here every since.  Me and Andrea always kept in contact over the years and always chatted online.  So when I got the news we were back to 29 where they were, we were super excited!  Since we have gotten here we have spent alot of time together, our kids get along great, even though I have 3 boys and she has 3 girls.  We always say that one of her girls will end up marrying one of my boys, hehehe! 

Shea boys with the Romkowske girls Christmas Eve 2009

Future husband and wife.....

So, back on track to what I was originally saying.......

We went over to the Romkowske on Christmas Eve for dinner, I made a pork tenderloin and Andrea made some Bacon Wrapped Chicken! Yummmm, that chicken was awesome, Ill post the recipe for it in a few days!  Then we played some spades while the kids played the Wii.  It was a good night!

The boys goofin around eating candy canes

Christmas morning we got up and opened gifts, ate pancakes and then was on the road to Yuma, to visit my brothers!  As soon as we got there the food was ready, so there was no waiting around. We ate an awesome meal prepared by my brother Mark.  Then we watched movies, played dominos, and just vegged the rest of the day! 

My neice Ella being silly

More silly times....

 Saturday we did the same, relaxed, and ate some yummy Yuman Burritos that were huge! Literally HUGE....

I told you they were huge!

Showing you how big the burritos were

It was a good weekend and we enjoyed every bit of it.  We all missed my sister Melanie and her family but we both know that is life and we will be seeing here in a few months anyways! 

~Becky~