David was here. (!)

Our oldest son, David, moved back to Michigan's Upper Peninsula in early September, so we were all very eager to have him here for two weeks at Christmas time.  It was so great to have him here!

Right after we picked David up from the airport in Mesa, we spent some time exploring one of the malls on the East side of the Valley.  Naomi was SO excited to have David here... most of the time we were out places, she was holding hands with him.  Super cute. :)

As we walked around, it was fun to watch the whole family together.  So nice. :)

Taco Bell.

This is from David's phone.  These two take the craziest, funnest (can I just make that a word?) photos when it's one of them shooting the pic.

Our church Christmas program.  All of us (including David, who jumped in at the last moment) were in it.

David jumped back into the worship team at Oasis for his first Sunday back. 

Matt, David & me waiting for the choir's turn in the Christmas play.  Marissa was also in the choir, but she had a speaking role in the play (the postmistress, Mrs. Deegan... with an awesome British accent, by the way) and was up front the whole time.

We went to an amazing Christmas pageant at a huge church in Phoenix again this year.  Last year, though, David wasn't able to go with us, so this was his first time going.  It was great.  See the flying "angels"? :)

Up in the second balcony at the Christmas pageant.

Another crazy fun shot of David & Marissa, from David's phone.

While he was here, I dragged him to appointments.  Here he's modeling frames after his eye appointment, for me to email Marissa for her opinion.  We ended up only getting him contacts when we saw how crazy expensive getting both was going to be.

Same day, waiting for his dental cleaning. 

They were watching a movie on David's laptop, and he fell asleep.

Caroling with our church family at nursing homes in the area.

Naomi loves mothering the younger kids in our church.  Estella fell asleep in her arms when she couldn't stand up any more to hold Naomi's hand.

Me in a Christmas ornament at church.

Went on a hike with Matt's brother and his wife.  Beautiful views up there. :)

This is the hideousness I wore to the youth group's ugly Christmas sweater party.  I wore it with knee high, mismatched Christmas socks, a red swirly twirly scarf, and a Santa hat.  I *almost* won the prize but was nudged out by one of the teens.

Some "tacky awesomeness" Matt & I saw while out hitting the thrift stores.

David getting kissed by Parker the dog at Nate & Alyssa's house for the youth group party. 

Friends had us over on the 22nd for dinner, and we played a game where you had to "build" snowmen.  This one is David's.

And then it was the day after Christmas, the day before David was leaving.  It felt almost like he was leaving home all over again! :(  This is the crazy look he gave me when I took the first picture, feeling all nostalgic about him leaving.

Then he said, "Oh, wait.  I'll do a nice one." and smiled like this.  I sure love that young man! :)

I had all these great ideas of taking family photos while he was here.  The night before he left, right before we prayed with the younger kids, I realized we never did it.  So this is our family shot from David's visit at Christmas time. 

And then he flew back to Michigan and got settled back in up in Marquette.  We'll see him again when we're up there in June.  Six months until the next time.  Ugh.