Christmas with the Billings 2015

Merry Christmas for the second time!

I must say, two Christmas' is the best!!

We love both of our families!

Alrighty, so after arriving in Kansas City on Dec. 26 in the evening, we drove back to Hesston to sleep for the night and grab all of our presents for the Billings Christmas Celebration!  We got in at 11:30pm and left the next morning around 9:00am.  Sleeping is our bed was so nice after a week away.

Aaron so kindly packed the truck and got it de-iced.  It was definitely very cold, icy, and windy in Hesston.  So Sunday morning we drove to Garden City and arrived for Christmas lunch!  Basically we ate and then opened presents!  Casey even got a wrapped gift!  He tore it up minutes later.  Money well spent :)

Enjoy these sweet pictures!

Aunt Jenna helped the kids open their gifts!

Hungry, Hungry Hippo was a huge hit!

Hi Bry! 

The Grandparents got the oldest kids some outside lounging chairs, complete with umbrellas!  How cute!

Okay, how cute is Logan??  He loves his Uncle Bear!  His smile is priceless!

She's 6 months and counting!!

Feeding the Dino!

Makenah gave us a nice ballet dance one evening!

Here's a screen-shot I took of Danielle's Instagram picture...I should've just asked her to send it to me!  ha!

Anyways, Merry Christmas everyone!

-Maria

Christmas with the Yoders 2015

Merry Christmas!!

First up, a few pictures from our house in Hesston!  Four stockings, 1 for Baby B and our Christmas Tree!

On December 19, 2015 Aaron and I flew out of Kansas City to Philly to meet up with Nate and Maggie and the rest of the crew.  They took us straight to an awesome lunch spot in downtown Philly called the Reading Terminal Market.  So cool! 

Pickles galore for the pregnant lady!

A huge train set!

Lots and lots of people shopping and eating!

We ordered some Philly cheesesteaks and a pastrami sandwich.  

Hi Maggie!  She ordered some Indian food and Phil and Mom found a massive salad bar!

You can't even see the store fronts because of the many people.  But it was pretty awesome!  

Next, we drove to the Liberty Bell and the Independence Hall.

Aaron and I both thought that this would be a bit more protected...there was just a simple rope around it and a guard watching.  We did go through security, but it was a lot more low key than we thought!

Here's the Independence Hall building.  There are a few spots out front where it says a few presidents gave speeches from.  Below is G-W!

So that was Saturday.  

On Sunday, we woke up and had Christmas together!

The boys got hot chili pepper aprons from Mom!

Us kids got mom an iPad!  She loved it!  We had a great time being hosted in PA for a few short days!  On Monday morning we headed back towards VA.  It was about a 4 1/2 hour drive.  Not too bad!

Aaron and I got to relax some on Monday evening and then Tuesday we got together with the Risser family for lunch, afternoon games, and then dinner in the evening.

This is a big group, and not even everyone was there!

Clean-up duty for a bit!

My favorite aunt and mom!  (They ALWAYS match - not ever planned.  It's crazy!)

Here are some of the cute boy babies!

Ty, Levi, and Gideon!

Here's Levi!  He's such a sweet boy!

Wednesday we got to hang out some more and do a little Lowe's shopping, etc. 

Thursday Christmas Eve and Aaron helped sing and play Electric Bass with his friend Kevin during the service! (This was a picture during practice - I got sick on Thursday and couldn't make it.)

Friday was Christmas Day and my mom always makes a meal for whoever in the family is around and we always invite our neighbor, Neil.  I really like this picture of Aaron and my grandparents and Neil!

After a great trip in VA we flew home on Saturday afternoon.

Hope you enjoyed these pictures!

Love, Maria

Upstairs Bathroom Remodel!

Let's start this post by saying how amazing my husband is!!  He is so handy and will take on any house project!!  Our upstairs bathroom looked OK - but we had dreams of making the shower look much better!!!  So Aaron started by ripping everything out and starting fresh!  

First, he put the shower base down and got it all level.

Then, he painted the walls a light gray and filled in the wall with cement sheets and sealed it up!  It took some extra work because we live in an old house and not everything was quite level or straight.

Lookin' good so far!

Next, he started tiling the shower.  This was where we wanted the shower to look different than before.  It was just thin plastic liner on the walls and it didn't look very nice.  I actually started helping with this step.  

It looks so great!

Next up, the floors!

It went from dark, dark tiles to a light color and it really opens up the space!

He got the toilet all set and level - again, nothing is every level in an old house!

And finally the shower has a door!  We had a cloudy set of doors before, and this just look 100% better!  Love it!  Can't wait to use it!

We ended up not buying a new vanity because it was in good shape, but it still fits with the colors we chose!  

Lastly, he needs to finish hooking up the water to the sink, putting up the trim, and putting in our storage shelf!  Whoo hoo!  We love the updates!

-Maria