Get ready for a loooong post!

Wow, I can hardly believe it's January already! Time sure does fly by... especially when you don't have anything to do! Britt has had a couple of weeks off and he doesn't return to work until Monday. So we have been lounging around, doing things around the house, watching movies and just hanging out. It has been great... but now I think we're both itching to get back to school and work. Like I said, he goes back to work on Monday and I start school on Thursday. We're sad to have this time off end, but are looking forward to start doing what we do!

The holidays for us were somewhat packed. It started on the Friday before Christmas. Britt and I had our gift exchange. It was so fun to be able to do that. We gave each other stockings filled with goodies- and being since it was my first official filled stocking- I was VERY excited! Britt got me some great and thoughtful gifts and he loved his- especially his Baylor polo.






The Saturday before Christmas- We drove to Dallas for Britt's annual family Christmas party. It was so good to see people we hadn't seen since last Christmas. The food was great too! Oh my goodness, we had brisket, salads, potatoes, and PIES! Lots and lots of yummy pies. We ate way too much of them... but in a good way. Even Britt who doesn't care too much for sweets just had to have a second (or third) slice. But more than just the food was good- our family time! We exchanged gifts, told stories, and laughed a lot!




The following day Britt and I began the 7 hour drive down south to the Valley to see my parents and family. We had such a great drive with hardly any traffic- which, if you've ever driven through Austin at any time of the day know how big of a pain it is to get through that city! My family was so excited we were able to visit for that many days (5 days) since we hadn't been able to do so in quite a while. We had a traditional Christmas Eve dinner and opened presents early! We're never able to wait until Christmas... we always open them on Christmas Eve, but we seem to open them earlier and earlier as the years go by. It's pretty funny. One of the best parts of our trip was that Britt got to meet a lot of the extended family. A lot of my cousins came down for the holidays and it was so fun getting to introduce him to them. It's funny because I don't think he'll ever stop meeting new family members! Sadly, I don't have many pictures of the extended family- I was too carried away talking and catching up. I loved getting to be back in Harlingen with my family and friends. I miss them so much once I get back to Waco.

I think we're her favorite grandchildren... that's why she's smiling. :)

Together again!

a trip to Harlingen wouldn't be complete without IHOP and the girls



We realized over the holidays just how blessed we are to be with family. They are all so important to us and we love getting to spend time with them. Our families are so different from one another... but they are why we are the way we are and we love it.