OK, tomorrow I promise I'll get back to some actual pre-trip content
The whole family has spent today recovering from Fri/Sat. Friday DW and I had a full day of work and doing last- minute prep for ye ole company Christmas party. We had spent the past couple of days loading up our minivan with all the stuff that needed to be taken down to the space that had been rented for the party. MiL would be driving the van to the venue and would have help with unloading and setup.
We then packed up our stuff for overnight and drove 2hrs north to Springfield, OR checked into the Crossland Suites in prep for DD11's first cheer competition. Crossland had THE HARDEST beds I've ever attempted to sleep on. And we were lucky enough to have a room next to a young mom with two small children. Needless to say it was not a restful night
6:45am wake-up, shower/food/dress and off to the meet. We were there from 8:30am until 2:15pm sitting on bleachers ...wheeee!

Anything for the kids, right

Here are some shots from her meet:
Gabbing with the girls ahead of time (she's sitting on the left in profile with her head cocked to the side
Here she is in the middle of a triple back-handspring
She's on the far right bracing the "flyer"
Far right jumping
On the right getting ready to catch the flyer
Far left with teddy bear in a sea of cheer
And finally awards (she's standing on the right) - they caught 3rd
As soon as it was over we were back on the road to finish the setup for the party. We were back in town by 4:15pm and went straight to the venue to finish up setup. We were done by 5pm and the party started at 6.
It was at that point that we realized that although the ladies all were set for clothes, I needed a shirt. I'm not a shopper and generally let DW handle it, but she needed to get the girls together and do makeup and stuff. All you shoppers out there would be proud ...I went into JC Penny and was pointed to the clearance rack and found a $42 black Pierre Cardin shirt for $15.
Then home to finish getting ready and I drove the van down with the presents. The rest of them followed soon after and we had a very fun evening lasting until after 10pm. Here are some shots from that:
First my lovely DW
MiL with DD11
DD8 with Santa & Mrs Claus
DD11 with Santa & Mrs Claus
Both girls with Santa
And the whole fam with the Clauses
We then had MiL take the girls home while DW and I cleaned up. We got home sometime after 11pm - loooonnnggg day. Today rest, ordered in pizza and all that. Tomorrow back to work and at some point I'll get that trip-related post up

G'night all!