Way too long...Happy New Year!

So wow ~ I think I am way overdue for a fresh post! We have been doing a lot of traveling with the holidays. We loved every minute of it, but definitely appreciate being back home and normal schedules, not living out of a suitcase. :) In fact, we had to buy new suitcases because the zippers were done on both of ours by the time we made it back.

So I guess this post will be somewhat of a recap of the last couple of months...Let's see...end of October.

I officially visited my first pumpkin patch this year. If this is something I did as a child, I honestly have no recollection of it (Mom?). So that was really fun! My girlfriend Jen organized the event for Junior League. So Dave and I enjoyed finding the perfect two pumpkins to grace our home.

Below is Jen, Janet, myself and Keri.

While we did pick great pumpkins, they actually never made it to our home. I can't remember why, but for some reason I left them in my car after the picking, where they stayed for a couple of weeks! Whoops! We actually weren't in Pittsburgh for Halloween, but in Lubbock where we watched my Red Raiders play/beat the Kansas Jayhawks. It was a great weekend ~ we had lots of family come to Dad's and Dave's parents and brother drove in for the event. Here is Van, me and Dad.

On Friday, we did our usual pumpkin carving contest and Dave and I won! We may have borrowed an idea or two from our visit to the Pumpkin Patch.

Then, on Saturday we attended the game and it was gorgeous weather. It was really fun to show the Buchanans what game day is like in Lubbock.

Then it was time for a little Halloween bash at my cousin, Heather's home. We were a little bit last minute on our costumes - so ghosts we were. Although, as the night went on, we took on a bit of a Joseph and Mary look. Whatever, it was hilarious and we are all still talking about it.

Then, in November, we got a special visit from our dear friends Ashley and Grayson. They had a hard trip getting here, but we so cherished the sweet time we had together. We always love getting stay up late with them talking about marriage, family, work, friends, well anything really.

Grayson went to Notre Dame for grad school and so it worked perfectly for them to come up for the Pitt-Notre Dame game. We had yet to go to a Pitt game and they are really neat because they play in the Steeler's stadium (Heinz Field). It has an awesome view of Pittsburgh, so that was a great way to show Ashley and Grayson our new town.

We also got a little shopping in! Ashley and I found these woven coffee sleeves at Carribou. I shockingly use mine mostly everyday because I take my coffee to work in paper cups. So while most people think I bought my sleeve to help the environment, they have no idea about my paper cup abuse. A New Year's resolution perhaps. Nonetheless, the sleeves are really cute and work great.

Before Thanksgiving, our friends Andy and McKenzie got married in Kansas City! We are so happy for them and excited for their new marriage. Their wedding was so much fun! The ceremony was so thoughtful and heartwarming. Their reception was a blast with yummy food, great dancing! She looked stunning and it was so special for us to see all of Dave's friends from KU and their spouses and girlfriends. They are such a sweet group and I always love getting to catch up when we can.

Dave and me

From Kansas City, we worked our way to Wichita stopping over for a night to spend some time with Dave's parents and Julie, Jerry, Grayson and Carter. It worked out perfectly to get see them before Thanksgiving. Then, we headed down to Fort Worth for the rest of the week to celebrate Thanksgiving with my mom's side. We loved our time there because it was so relaxing! I got to see my girlfriends early in the week before we all parted ways to travel for the holiday.

I also got to hang out with my mom's parents and several of my nieces ~ Lexie, Hannah (newest addition) and Addi. Unfortunately, I think I tried to fit too much in and was under the weather for the last couple of days. Praise God for the invention of the z-pack! (I am furiously looking for pictures of this week on my computer and can't seem to find them...I must ask mom for them...will update later!)

We started off December with a brother/sister trip to NYC! It was a hilarious, fun trip that I hope to do again soon! Brett and Marianne met us there on a Friday and we played very hard for the entire weekend. We shopped, walked around and ate like our lives depended on it. Very little sleep was had and it was perfect. :)

The tree!

Us back at the tree when it was turned off in the middle of the night - Dave was not happy.

We had delicious food! On Friday night we went to Megu and cooked our own steak strips on lava rocks.

On Saturday, I made everyone go to Tavern on the Green since it closed on December 31st. While it is definitely a little dated, everyone was kind of enough to humor me and go. We actually had good food and lots of laughs!

I can't even explain this...

One last pizza at Serafina's - near end to a wonderful trip!

Christmas! Here is our tree from this year....

It was a little bare...but served its purpose. :) We loved all the Christmas cards! Such a fun way to celebrate the season and feel closer to those who may be far away!

This year, we celebrated Christmas with Dave's family in Wichita. I was really excited as this was my first Christmas with his side of the family. It is always fun and interesting to see new traditions at the holidays. We had a great time! The weather was freezing and I was quite concerned about our Christmas Eve 6 am flight from Pitt to Chicago to Wichita. We were incredibly blessed that we had no delays or cancellations as the next flight to Wichita from Chicago was in fact cancelled. So good job Dave on scheduling that flight!

We had so much fun hanging out with Dave's parents, Brett, Julie, Jerry, Grayson and Carter. The boys seem to get bigger even in the short intervals between our visits. I got a new camera for Christmas and I couldn't capture them enough.

The cold weather kept us holed up inside for most of the trip, but that was great because we loved catching up with Julie and Jerry and helping Brett pick out furniture for his new home.

It was a certainly a wonderful, white Christmas! You can see how deep it is as Grayson jumps into the snow!

Unfortunately, all the white kept my mom and stepdad from driving up for the weekend. We were hoping they could come to hang out and Terry could hunt with Jerry. Maybe next time ~ the roads were in no condition to be driving on. But I so missed the opportunity to see them! However, those of you who know my mom also know that if we had a short layover in DFW on Sunday, she was going to be there to give us a Christmas hug. So thankfully, we did get to see her! A little shorter time than we expected, but a visit nonetheless!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! We were so blessed with time with family and friends. We look forward to the next time we see you!