Christmas and Mom's 60th!!!

Well I have to say that I am very sad my break is coming to an end :( I have really enjoyed my time off, especially spending time with family and friends!! I am so glad I have tomorrow off...I think I am officially instituting pajama day tomorrow ;) The whole break I have been so busy and had so much to do that I have not had one day to just stay home and relax. So, that is what I will be doing tomorrow!!

I guess Christmas started for us on the 22nd when we celebrated with Allen's family. His sister had to work Christmas Eve so we had to open presents a few days early! Little Hannah is still the cutest ever. She is walking, or running everywhere now! And into everything!

Allen's family is way too generous at Christmas! They always spend way too much on us!! This year I was really wanting some new shoes....so...that's what I got :) His parents got me the black boots and the TOMS and his sister got me the brown leather boots. I have gotten so many compliments on those already :)

Our presents to each other

Christmas Eve Allen and I did a little shopping. I needed to return something to the mall (HA!) and he wanted to go to Bass Pro Shops!! YIKES! It actually wasn't all that crowded. We went ahead and drove up to the outlets in Pigeon Forge! Allen bought me the Wii game Just Dance 3 for my stocking, but he let me open it early. We had so much fun playing it. Allen always beats me no matter what, and this game is no exception!! :(

We had a blast playing this with everybody we hung out with over Christmas though!!!

Even Hank got an early present :)

Christmas morning we woke up and exchanged gifts! As usual, Allen did way too much!! He got me some Nike shorts, a jewelry box, an Amazon gift card, Forever 21 gift card, and the cowboy boots I've wanted for a while!! Allen loved his AE shirts I got him! He also was very excited about his wheels for his BMX bike! I got him some Nike tennis shoes too. We got ready and drove to JC to meet up with my family. We dropped Hank off and then went to Kingsport to have Christmas with my dad's family. My grandparents were there and it is so weird to see them slowing down. My Papa has a very hard time doing anything by himself :( I love them so much and wish I could see them more often. We had lunch and opened some presents. It was wonderful to visit with all my aunts, uncles and cousins, and of course my cousins kids! I still cannot believe we are old enough to have families of our own. It seems like just yesterday we were kids ourselves. I always loved spending time with my cousins around the holidays. We would spend all day together and then usually go to a movie or go shopping the day after. Now that most of us have families of our own, or in laws to visit with, its usually just a few hour visit and then we go our separate ways. It is nice that we can still get together.

One of the best parts of the trip was getting to see my best buddy Laura!! They live in Canada now and she had a baby in July named Grayson. I was so excited to meet him and to see her little girl Claire. They can only come in once a year so it is so strange to think a year has passed since we last saw them. I went over to her parents house Christmas night to give the kids their presents, and then Laura, her husband Charlie and Grayson came over to my parents house to hang out and play Just Dance. We also went shopping with them the day after Christmas and visited one more time the morning we left. I was so happy to get to spend so much time together! I miss Laura sooooooooo much!!

They are such sweeties! Claire loved her Princess Barbie and Grayson loved his book!

Claire showing that she will be 3 on her bday!!

My bestie!!

Auntie Beth and sweet Claire and Grayson

I didn't take any pictures of my Dad, Glo or Nick :( BOO!! But we had an awesome time with them as well!! They got us some wonderful new sheets, a PF Chang's gift card, a couple of other little things and some cash to help with baby expenses. We all went in together to get Nick a guitar and I think he was really surprised. Allen even gave him a Blue Chip Pick and a box to keep it in with his name engraved. We had some fun times hanging out, playing the Wii, and we even watched The Help! Glo even hooked us up with a few boxes of formula in case we have an adoption happen soon :)

We left JC Tuesday morning and our original plan was to stay the night at home and then get up Wed and go on to Indiana for Mom's bday and Xmas. But Allen decided he would rather just drive on up Tues night, so we stopped off at home to pack a few more things and grab some more presents and headed on to Indy. We got in about 9 Tues night which wasn't bad at all! We were definitely ready to get out of the car!! Wed morning we went over to my brothers house. Anne and I made some things for Mom's party and we got to hang out with sweet Grace. I swear, I have the most beautiful nieces. Grace is 7 months old and is already pulling up on her own. She even stood on her own a few seconds while we were there. Look out world, she will be walking soon!!

Our co-pilot, Hank

Aunt B with Grace (she is wearing the bib I had made for her!!)

Leslie and Thomas got into town Wed afternoon. We all ate pizza and opened gifts at Shane's house. We draw names now instead of getting everybody something. Leslie drew me and Anne drew Allen. Leslie has such a creative gene and made me this beautiful wall art for our future nursery!! I love love love it!!

Thursday we did a little shopping. My Forever 21 gift card was burning a hole in my pocket :) I got a cute dress and some jewelry! We had dinner at Mom's Friday night and played the game Quelf. I don't know if anyone has heard of it but it is a silly nonsense game, but actually a lot of fun. If I drank I think it would be hilarious. You would almost have to have some alcohol in your system to really enjoy it! We had a lot of fun playing tho! Friday was my mom's 60th birthday. I personally think she is the best looking 60 year old out there! I really really hope I continue to look as good as her as I get older :)

Me and my Momma

We had a party for her Friday night. Instead of gifts my mom wanted donations made to a local pit bull rescue. She has always had a love for animals and felt this was a way to give back. My sister made an awesome slide show that really recapped all of the animals in my Mom's life so far. She has always had dogs, cats and horses it seems, and has passed on that love of animals to her kids. Shane, Leslie and I all have rescued pups. Leslie had the pictures blown up and hung them above the donation table. It was really really neat! We had desserts such as puppy chow, cupcakes, fruit and sugar cookies in the shape of fire hydrants and dog houses. The party went really well. She had lots of friends show up and I know the pit bull rescue was very grateful for all the donations.

Mom, Grace and Me

Mom and her 1st grandbaby

Mom, her kids and grandbaby

Grace was getting sleepy!!

Mom with me and Allen

Mom with Shane, Anne and Grace(yep, she's asleep!)

Mom and Dan with Thomas and Leslie

My Dad and Gloria gave this picture to Mom! So of course we had to get a picture with the picture. I'm looking real chunky in the picture  :) HA!! 

All in all it was a wonderful week of fun times with family and friends. We got to see sweet Grace one more time before we left Saturday morning. She is such a cutie pie!

I hope you and your families all had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! The New Years party we usually go to was canceled, so we spent the evening eating pizza, watching E.T. and Super 8 (Allen's fascination with BMX bikes), and watched the ball drop. Then watched those crazy men on ESPN jump motorcycles and snow mobiles really far distances :) HA!! Hoping 2012 brings many blessings your way :)