Yes, I know it's January 6th 2013, but I should start this post with a belated Christmas card from our family to yours. It's arguably the best card known to man and ranks pret-ty high on the awesomeness meter {but I'm a little biased}.
Thanks again to
Jason Hornick Photography for the awesome pics and our P Brennan's family for lending their spaces and faces to us :)
So I've crossed Vegas and Lubbock off the "updates" list... so that leaves the whirlwind known as December. So let's see...
The Monday after we came back, my brother and I volunteered at the Farrington Food Bank, an extension of my Nana's church. It was fun, and was quite the workout {for my brother at least}. Nana and I made the box-o-goodies, Ryan lifted and arranged them.
Afterwards, Nana treated us to lunch at the fabulous Humble City Cafe.
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| Confession: This was my 3rd serving of CFS in 4 days. Oops. |
Later that night, we went with my dad to pick out a real live Christmas tree :)
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| Looks like a winner! |
Tuesday, my brother and I knocked out most of our Christmas shopping {wearing short sleeves and flip flops} in Highland Village, then rewarded ourselves with a cold beer and some sushi at RA.
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| 80 degrees, palm trees and $3 Miller Lite. Doesn't get much better! |
I spent Wednesday and Thursday with Tara, Steven, and my boyfriend Brayden. It's quite ironic that last week, we were all dancing on tables, singing Nelly, and chugging bottles of vodka in Vegas together. This visit was a liiiiiittle bit different.... we were dancing in Gymboree class, singing nursery rhymes, and chugging formula. And I loved every minute of it :)
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| My idea of bottle service ;) |
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| Wanna play, Aunt Kate? |
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Tara and I even made an entire home cooked meal! Delicious.
{Ignore the burned bread, please. We were opening wine and forgot about it. Double oops} |
Friday, we headed to Dayton to spend the weekend our Smith side of the fam and our precious little niece. So many cute babies, so little time!
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| Santa brought MK her first rocking chair |
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Aunt Kate gave her some sparkly gold Ugg Boots.
{Because every 15 month old needs some... duh} |
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| Reading with Uncle Zeke |
Sunday, we woke up at the crack of dawn and drove back in to town to tailgate for the Texans game vs. the Vikings. The only redeeming factor of the day is that we were with great people. The game, however, sucked.
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| Pre-game festivities |
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| Watt band |
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| Tailgate beer pong |
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| Winner winner chicken dinner! |
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| Favorites! |
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| Sweet seats to watch an ass kicking. |
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| The kids behind us didn't think too much of Mike's Vikings Jersey. |
The next day was Christmas Eve, and we drove back to Humble to spend time with the Jerden clan. This year was a bit hectic, however, because Zeke and I spent 8 hours of Christmas Eve in the Emergency Room with my sweet Mimi. It turns out she had pneumonia and spent the next week {and her entire Christmas} in the hospital :( We were all busy going back and forth to see her while catching up on sleep.
None of us changed out of PJ's, either, so I didn't snap any embarrassing un-showered pics. But I did snap a pic of what Santa brought!
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| Merry Christmas to me! |
We hung around Humble for a few days then headed back to Houston to spend the last few nights with friends. As usual, we were spoiled by spending so much time with so many great friends. It makes it THAT much harder to come home every time.
Thurday, Jon and Liz invited us over to their beautiful new home for a yummy dinner...
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| Steak and potatoes... yeah baby! |
Later, we met friends at a cool new-ish bar called
Cottonwood. Love that place!
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| Dogs like pot pie, too. |
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| Jon's impression of Bane. |
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| Devon and baby Levi came to see us!! Can't wait to meet him soon :) |
Friday, we headed back to Reliant to do some tailgating for the TTU game and caught up with some long lost friends :) So good to see you, Em and Haven!
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| AXO Reunion!! |
Saturday, Shannon hosted our girl's white elephant gift exchange at her pretty new house.
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| The only blog-appropriate pic ;) Love you girls! |
After, we headed to Cedar Creek to meet up with a few of our Canlas Cousins.
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| The girls |
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| Ryan and Uncle Zeke playing by the fire. |
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| Stick gathering buddies |
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| Pinsans |
Sunday, we were up at 6:00 am to catch our flight back to DC. Of course, I boo-hooed the whole way home and was again reminded how much we miss our family and friends. We do love our lives on the East Coast... but there's no place like home. Thanks to everyone who shuttled us around, let us sleep on your couch/guest bed/floor, fed us, and dropped everything to come hang out. You guys rock.
Monday was a big day... not only was it New Year's Eve, but we made an exciting addition to the Smith family. And no... not a baby. We are now a 2-car family because my new job {details on that tomorrow!} isn't metro accessible. I'm pleased to introduce you to Black Betty!
We ran home, changed, and welcomed 2013 with Kyle, Brittany, and a group of their friends in Alexandria. House parties are definitely the way to go! Thanks for hosting, Thad and Lisa. We had a blast!
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| Started with sushi... ended on the sidewalk. Good times. |
And that's a wrap! I'm off to bed now... big day tomorrow considering I start my new job. Eeee! More details on that later :)
Have a great week, Happy New Year, and sweet dreams!
