Holiday Photo Dump

So in an effort to recap all the holidays, a rather large, massive, yet still ladylike, photo dump is in order! I realize I'm a little late, but I can't let our Christmas & New Years festivities go undocumented!

Christmas vacay started 2 weeks ago and this was my view that night. Sweetest thing!

Our dining room table was finally delivered on Saturday the 22nd, just in time for all the festivities!! I was so giddy & still am whenever I walk by! A full post is coming on this room :)

Saturday after the table delivery, my cousin Erin & I finished up the last of her Christmas shopping and got a very necessary holiday beverage!

Saturday night we hosted the 2nd annual pre-Christmas Family Soup Night! My mom made Veggie soup and I made Chicken Tortilla soup & cornbread. Everyone just chatted & enjoyed each other. It was a full house and it made my heart so full!

That night, Erin & Berkley took a little catnap on the couch :)

We kept with tradition (started last year, so it's tradition now!) and went to the Panther's Game the Sunday before Christmas!

This guy is single ladies!! For real, snatch him up! ;)

As you can tell, it was windy & COLD!!! So naturally, we took turns sitting in the running car to warm up!

I freaking love them!

And all of them!!

We grilled out with a bunch of friends at our house after the game & the boys made a big fire! Good times were had by all!

We slept in a bit on Christmas Eve, then a lot of fam came over to hang for the day while the women got to cooking in the kitchen! We postponed a bit of the cooking long enough for a little mani/pedi action & all enjoyed hanging out!!

Christmas Eve night, my brothers & SILs are always with the SILs sides of the family and my aunt, uncle and cousins go see their other side as well. That leaves B & I, my parents and my grandmother. So the past 2 years we've gone out to eat and then turned in early. We came home to finally watch Home Alone! Turns out I took zero pictures Christmas Eve :(

This is what our tree looked like Christmas morning! Lots & lots of gifts!!

Sweet Abel sleeping through the madness :)

We watched as the kiddos opened all their gifts first!

Roen was so surprised to get her American Girl Doll!!

Wells sure was proud of his new sword!

Rob, Gale, Brandon & I went in together and got the 3 big kids Razor scooters! They had a big time riding them in the driveway!

And I couldn't leave out a pic of all the dogs!! 7 in all, what can I say, we're a dog loving family!

It was a really loud, fun filled day! 14 adults, 3 children, 1 baby, and 7 dogs all crammed into our house and I wouldn't want it any other way! We ate a big dinner that afternoon! We ate and ate and then ate dessert :)

That evening, everyone was on their way which meant Brandon & I needed to pack since we were mitten bound the next morning! We pulled out of our driveway for Michigan at 6 am in the pouring rain on the morning of the 26th!

It rained...

And Berkley slept...

And then it snowed...

And snowed some more...

B wasn't amused with my photo taking! I blame the snow.

It took us 15 hours and 45 minutes, but we finally made it to Brandon's sister & BIL, Ashley & Casey's, house! It's normally only about a 12 hour drive. Yuck!! Still better than our 24 hour trip in 2009. But that's a story for another day!

Berkley finally met his terrier cousin, Charlie! And Jameson, too.

He & Charlie were fast friends. Jamo's ornery, haha.

Thursday night we celebrated with Ashley, Casey & B's mom! I wore 2 of my favorite presents, a sweater from my parents and my monogram necklace from my SIL.

Of course, mama Joan got the doggies gifts, too!!

This pic cracks me up!! Sad Santa Berkley!

The dogs & their toys!

Friday we mustered through a workout and enjoyed being lazy...

Played in the barn...

And then toasted to good friends and a fun movie night!

We met Brandon's best friend Jordan for dinner (where I had the best Chicken Parm of my life, omg!) and came home to watch Ted with Ash & Casey!! Hilarious by the way!

Sadly, Saturday morning, we attended the funeral of Brandon's Grandma Shuck. I never really got to know her when she was well, she suffered from severe dementia. It was a nice service, though, and I got to learn a lot about the woman she was! We got to see a lot of family as well!

Saturday night was our dinner out with Brandon's mom's side of the family and our gift exchange!

We took one picture all night. Fail! But it was a fun evening seeing everyone and eating Grandma's fudge! Yum!

Sunday morning we were QC bound again. Our trips to Michigan always seem so short, I wish they could be longer!! It was a really wonderful visit, though! I'm blessed to have such a great second family!

Monday, Christmas 2012 came down and our house went back to normal! Hallelujah!! I was not sad to see it go. I met Ashley & Rachel for breakfast, ran some errands and then worked out.

We really wanted to just sit on our couch for New Years, but we'd made plans to head to our friend's house party, so we grabbed dinner beforehand & then had just the right amount of fun!