Christmas Crazy!

We had such a great time on our travels at Chrismtas time, we were exhausted after but TOTALLY worth it!

We were able to both spend a whole week up in Indiana before we parted ways and Brad headed back home to Austin, and I was on my way to South Carolina, but it was a fantastic Christmas!

On Sunday we were able to spend the day and evening with Brad's family. We haven't seen his extended family since last winter time so we had so much fun catching up and just relaxing! Ally, Kelsey, and Kenny have all grown so much since we saw them last. They're so grown up! That Sunday it was absolutely bitterly cold in Indiana, and I realized that I have become a huge wimp when it comes to weather. (However, I do maintain that even my Indiana friends and family considered that day HORRIBLY cold! So wimps or not, we weren't alone!) Either way, we had a great meal and a great time just catching up with Brad's parents and his family. We wish we could see them more often!








On Monday, we headed back to Lafayette and spent the rest of the week at my parents' house. We were busy pretty much every minute, but we loved it! I felt like we were able to see most of our friends that were around, although we really missed some of you! Monday I was able to go shopping with Mom, Nana, and Roxanne which was great, and then we had a big family dinner to celebrate our December birthdays of the family. Even Uncle Mark and Aunt Margaret were able to come now that they live in Carmel! It was great! Played some cards afterwards, spent some time with Emily. Doesn't get much better than that.

The rest of the week is a bit of a blur at this point. I know we were busy every day and as alwasy it was so hard to leave! Coming home to Austin though, it was nice to be back to our house. Such a torn feeling.










We had one more day in Lafayette after Christmas, and I did some shopping while Brad hung out with Dad and then we had to leave. It's always sad to leave, but we're hoping to get back soon because the baby is here!!! Not to mention, we're SUPER excited for some visitors this spring and summer!

Speaking of that baby, Sarah and Phil had their new baby girl on Monday! I can't wait to see her! All for now! Hope you all had a fantastic Christmas/New Year's.

Christmas Fiestas!

We love the Christmas Party! Last Sunday evening we had our small group over for a Christmas Party with some fabulous sweaters. We were pretty pumped to see the theme embraced. We're loving our small group, they're awesome! See Below.
Rebecca dressed Cason. Perfection.I was so excited about learning to knit the day before that I showed all the girls. Then we decided to go to Walmart in our sweaters to buy supplies for Lisa and Tara. I had literally just bought my sweater from the front rack at Walmart two hours before.

What I like about this: Jordan's shirt is also a sweatshirt that is crazy decorated. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that it's a ladies shirt as is my husband's. They were twins! How this was supposed to work: We were supposed to find Brad a new sweater, to pass on the tradition to our friends at the Mullin's Christmas party...but I just couldn't find one to do this sweater justice, so we stuck with his for this year. Next year though, it's on. Shauna and Aaron also had their annual Christmas party this past week, white elephant gifts and all. We had a great night, with a fantastic two rounds of Guesstures. I didn't have my camera for that part of the night...but there were some classics.
1. Dave's representation of grunt.
2. Blair and Adam's team effort without words.
3. Amy Bean's mad tuba skills

The tree with all the glorious white elephant gifts...see below for the fantastic items!Lights from the Campesi home. The golden candlesticks. These things were amazing.
What's sad is that this look of absolute excitement was taken away. Charles used his steal to rip that from Evan. Sneaky, but well played.
I love the campaign to move everyone to Round Rock. I believe that mug says there's no place like Round Rock, TX. (Something along those lines)
Brad Bean with his new desk picture of Mike Jones.
The perfect trailer hitch decoration.
The tradition remains...
The white elephant gift Brad received. I found this to be hilarious!
Amy's fishing set with the one armed man. Who knew fishing could be so risky?
I received the melted candle which will make it's return next year! My picture will be up soon of this beauty.
Overall, as always, some great times down here in the Austin, TX. Have a great week! We're back to Indiana in 3.5 days!!!

SNOW!

Just so we're all clear...tonight during our Bible study we thought we heard freezing rain. Afterwards we took a look...there is SNOW on our Rodeo. Clearly, it won't be there in the morning..but tonight we have SNOW!!!!!

GREAT week!

We have had such a great last week! We have been able to have some time with friends, and with each other, and we've been learning, AND we decorated our house. I must say, I've been ALL smiles this week!

The finished products...
We also were able to go the the Heart Hospital's 10th Anniversary Gala on Saturday evening. It was a great time! We haven't been so dressed up in quite some time, and sometimes that's just nice to do. We had a great meal, were able to hear some neat stories about the hospital, and even danced a little bit. It was a nice date night!

On Sunday we had an ugly sweater Christmas party with our small group. It was great! The outfits were fantastic and we loved it! I'll post pictures from this very soon!

Overall, we are just so thankful to finally be on the same schedule. We really feel the Lord is going to use this time to grow us together and prepare us for whatever is ahead. We have needed some time to just be together, and thankfully He has blessed us with that. Hopefully, I won't drive my sweet husband too crazy.

Also a MAJOR highlight of the weekend. I learned to knit! A huge thank you to Amy Bean and Kathrin Campesi for the patience to teach all us ladies, I had such a great time! We had a little girly day on Saturday, and ate some good treats, learned to knit, and Shauna did my hair for the gala (clearly I should not be trusted with hair for an event like that), we had a great time!

Now, just two more weeks of work for us...which really equates to 6 days for me and 7 for Brad, and then we're headed to Indiana for Christmas!! I can't even explain how excited I am.

Then to South Carolina for a roommate reunion and a wedding for my sweet former roommate Summer! I'm pumped.

Hope you all have a great week! Be ready for the party pictures, I will give you a taste though. Cason, thank you for this.