Merry (Belated) Christmas!!

Whew!!! The past couple weeks has been non-stop!!! My brother (Cory), sister-in-law (Cassy) and niece (Austyn) came into town last Monday, before Christmas. They haven't been back to Dallas in SO long so it has been a real treat for us all! We took off a few days on Christmas week so we could spend lots of time with family.
My brother & Mike went to a couple of Dallas Mavericks games while me, Cassy, Aystyn and my mom had girl time. We also went to the Gaylord Texan to see the ICE display. It was pretty impressive but not sure it was worth the 2 hour wait (with a 1 year old!!)! We were lucky enough to have a White Christmas. The snow and big winds started on Christmas Eve and the snow stayed overnight through Christmas, SO fun! Last night we got snow again and went to a local neighborhood, Deerfield, to look at Christmas lights. Tonight we are having a 'crab-feast' at my mom's house. We have been craving a big crab dinner ever since we went Alaska last year and did the actual crab fishing excursion. Ahhh, can't wait! Cory's family leaves on New Years Day so it will be super fun to bring in the New Year with them tomorrow on NYE. We are having a delicious dinner and playing games...all...night...long. I love playing games with the family!!!! Here are a few pics that we have taken so far. I hope you had a Merry Christmas and a super-duper HAPPY New Year!! Cheers!!

me & sweet Austyn

me & Cory in the SNOW!!!

Austyn & my mom at Christmas Eve church service

me, Cory and my step-brother Paul at ICE!

my mom, stepdad & the Grinch at ICE :)

AMAZING candlelight service at church on Christmas Eve.

Jason Castro at Church

Jason Castro at Christmas Eve service

19 hours...!!!!

...until I get to see my brother, sis-in-law and BEAUtiful niece!!! They are flying in from Los Angeles tomorrow for TWO whole weeks!! I'm thrilled!!! The 2 weeks are pretty much packed with tons of fun stuff around town to get in the Christmas spirit. Today I spent most of the day baking decorated sugar cookies & strawberry cupcakes for Mike's employees, my co-workers and of course my family!

My reindeer decorated sugar cookies. I thought they were cute. :)

Austyn & Cory. I can't waaaait to see them tomorrow! :)

Man-Day Monday!

Today I took over the 'man duties' of the house. I took out the trash for the 2nd time EVER! (The 1st time was when Mike was out of town.) AND I grilled our dinner tonight...outside in the freeeeeezing, icky weather! Of course Mike had to document this moment with a photo! We...er, I mean, Mike grills out quite a bit but I always do the veggies/salad (inside stuff). Anyhow, it was fun. I even had the day off work and literally sat on the couch and played iPhone apps, watched TV and ate popcorn most of the day!! What a fun 'man' day!!! I'm off work tomorrow & Friday toooo! Wonder what tomorrow will bring???

I must say...my bison burgers were quite delish! Afterall, not too hard to mess up. :)

Wow!!!

...I just love Thanksgiving BUT I REALLY love Christmas even more!!! This time of the year is my absolute favorite (minus the really cold, wet and often icy weather)! My neighborhood is already packed full of Christmas wreaths, garland, lawn decor, candy-cane walkways and amazingly beautiful lit houses!! We pulled out all of the Christmas decorations last weekend. I love coming home from work and turning on the Christmas tree. We even wrapped all of the presents we have purchased so far!

We enjoyed being with family over the Thanksgiving holiday. Mike's grandmother came in town and had the annual HUGE Thanksgiving feast at his Aunts house in Plano. So many friends & family came and it was great. The highlight was Carli & Benton's sweet baby girl, Haven. She is the newest addition to the family...she was only 6 DAYS old. She didn't make a peep the whole day! Friday morning my mom & I went shopping ALL day long. It was wonderful, somehow we managed to go at the perfect time and missed all of the crowds! We went to Target at 8:30 and Northpark at 9:30. They were definitely busy when we left around 2pm...but it was great to get 90% of my shopping out of the way!! Since my step-dad & brother have season tickets to the Dallas Cowboys we celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday night with my family. Everything worked out perfect! Of course my mom sent us home with tons of leftovers. We finally finished them up yesterday...I'm SO OVER turkey for now!!!

'Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.' --Psalm 118

Our Christmas Treeeeeee! Sorry for the blur & the chopped off top, but you get the idea!

Mike & I in Vegas. (I just realized I never posted pics.)

Not real sure...? After a few beers in Nebraska.

My step-sister, Kinsey, during our Nebraska visit. Her bday is 1 week after mine...so we celebrated both. :)