Our last few days at home (the beginning of January) found some of us nestled in + staying warm.
Okay, not really. Truthfully, the only one “nestled in and taking it easy” would have be our dog, Ryker, who definitely was and is enjoying his well-earned retirement days of life!

Everyone else..was bustling about getting things ready for a 3month tour! We took precious few pictures but here are a couple!

Lots of new music + practice in preparation for upcoming recording sessions!

The time of year right before our tours always includes last minute get togethers with various friends before we “drop off the map” for a while. Allison + I had a lovely evening out at Olive Garden (above) with two ladies that we love so much!

Last minute sewing. Last minute outfit prep. Last minute EVERYTHING.

A lovely little tea/luncheon with friends!

With five of the older ones gone, and Carson + Allison working long hours, the cooking fell to child #10! =) Rebecca got dad’s phone one morning and sent out (on our family loop) this picture of her making pancakes, along with the caption “this is me, doing slave labor”. (inside joke) She was pretty thrilled to be feeding the family!

Denver enjoyed dinner out with the parents to celebrate his seventeenth birthday!

We got our family outfits finished, just in time to get family portraits done for the new album! (I will spare you the pictures of 12am sewing sessions, online shopping, and various other moments of these endeavors)
Stay tuned for the updated family pictures, coming to the website in a few weeks!

The legendary “last supper”, as we call it. This would be that last meal that we have, all together, around one table, our table, just us…until we return home. We usually go all out with a particularly scrumptious spread. This one? Pancakes, sausages, fruit, raw milk, and hot coffee, amongst other things.

Whilst half the family was in Nashville getting started on our new album…the remaining seven enjoyed a fun candlelight dinner at home on the eve of a full day of packing! Basically, with five of us having such fun in Nashville, they felt like they needed to have some fun too…so they sent us this picture to try to make us wish we were home!
In complete reality all parties involved were flying around in their various spheres (whether farm or big city) but we are working on learning the art of taking those times, sometimes, to just slow down and savor a little more. Hence the candlelight steak dinner.