Christmas in the Midwest-Our Trip Home!

We left the 80 degree weather of Hawaii on December 3rd and arrived in 20 degree Sioux Falls, South Dakota. We were greeted by Rudolph (aka my mom with antlers and a red nose) and a car with the heat on high! :) We celebrated Christmas with my family while we were home. We also got to see my good friend, Jessica, from high school and her husband and daughter. We enjoyed seeing my little sister's baby bump too. We'll have a new niece or nephew in April! On Tuesday we went to Chaelor and Hunter's school and ate lunch with them. Hunter's class was learning about Hawaii so we were guest speakers in his classroom. The time passed way too quickly while we were in George!

The Stille family

Jessica and I

On Wednesday, December 9 we flew from Sioux Falls to Chicago to stay with Chris' family. Despite the snowstorm we made it safely to Illinois/Wisconsin. We got to see our nephew, Austin, for the first time! It was so fun to spend so much time with him! We also celebrated Christmas with Chris' family while we were there. I also got to see my Grandma Stille and Aunt Linda. Chris got plenty of basketball in with his dad, brother, and brother-in-law. The girls got pedicures. Several of Chris' extended family members joined us for lunch on Sunday afternoon-Grandpa and Grandma Mulder, Uncle Tom, Uncle Jim and Aunt Sue. Our time in Wisconsin passed far too quickly as well!

Austin with his favorite uncle and auntie!

The Mulder Women

My Aunt Linda and I

Grandma Stille and I

We are thankful that our families made our time at home so special and a big thanks for turning up the heat! :)


We got back to Hawaii on December 14 and returned to work on December 15. I get off work at 1pm tomorrow and Chris has to work the whole day. We plan to go to our church's Christmas Eve service at 6pm. We both have off Christmas Day! :) Chris was supposed to work, but he was able to get it off. We plan to head to the North Shore Christmas morning to see the 20ft. waves. After that we are headed to one of the other intern's house for chili and Christmas movies. At 3pm we will have Christmas dinner with our pastor's family and church family. Although we would love to be with our own family on Christmas Day we are very thankful for our Hawaii family!