Holiday Re-cap!

Weeeeeeee're baaaaaaaack!!! We finally made it in around 11:30pm MST last night and fell straight into bed for some much needed rest. Jack was up early and off to work and I was...up...haha. We had a fabulous time on the east coast. So here' a little recap of everything that went down, pictures included, but not too many because I don't want to overload anyone probably too many.

1. Flew out to Raleigh, from Albuquerque with a stop over in the ATL on Christmas Eve. Thankfully there wasn't much holiday traffic and they were both nice flights full of free wi-fi internet access and extra pretzels from the flight attendant because Jack has a way of making people really enjoy him because of his antics and smile (seriously, not sure how he does it sometimes, people just like him!). The long flight from ABQ to ATL wasn't full, YAY, so we split a 3 seater and made sure Jack's laptop bag's seat belt was securely fastened with it's seat in the upright position and tray table locked and stowed (or not that last part). Shew.

2. We arrived in Raleigh safe and sound around 9:30pm and headed over to see the Lowthers and pick up some Christmas gifts we had shipped to save room for packing clothes, etc in our bags. Thankfully they had some yummy Christmas Eve dinner left-over that Jack and I were able to enjoy because we all know there wouldn't have been a fast food restaurant open that night. After enjoying some entertaining home videos we headed down to Wilmington and arrived there close to 1am. Took some pre-Christmas festivities pictures of the tree and wreath (there's something special about being up the night before Christmas with the whole house quiet and just the Christmas tree lights being on, it was pretty) and then we crashed into bed.

3. We woke up Christmas morning and I got to hang out for a bit with my bro-in-law, Jon, and enjoyed catching up with him. Everyone else was still asleep so we chatted and hung out with AJ. KyLee began to stir so off he went take her to Mom (Julie) in order to get her morning feeding and I was off to wrap some gifts! We had a nice relaxing morning and then opened some gifts. Julie got the Michael Jackson dance game for Wii so she and I danced our heads off until we were sweating and tired while Jennie cuddled KyLee and the guys went on a forever hunt for an open grocery store! We had a nice big dinner that night together and then headed to bed. We enjoyed a nice church service on Sunday at Jennie and Gary's church and KyLee was oohed and aahed over by many :) She's such a hit! Julie and Jon packed up later that afternoon to head back home but it had started snowing. After making it a little ways out they decided for safety sake to turn around and come back. YAY! We enjoyed some Pinochle and just hanging out. The next morning Gary, Jack, Jon, Julie and I headed out for a run. It was so great to get back out running again (it's been since my last 1/2 marathon in October that I actually went out and ran some) and it was enjoyable getting to run as a family. After that it was showers and then J,J&K packed up to head home and Jack and I packed up to head to Raleigh for the Brewer Christmas fun!

KyLee loved looking at the tree and all the lights. Melt my heart :)

Jack and I obviously missed the memo to get ready before we came downstairs...ahem. :)

That's one adoring Grama! I think K was singing Hark the Herald Angels Sing or something like that.

Sweet fam :)

Hanging out on Grampa's knee!

Uncle Jack's mimicking her face hahah.

Their other love, AJ!!

Hey Dad! This hat's so cool, but it is a bit itchy.

Did I say I loved my niece? Well, I do :)

Hanging out with Grama while she reads her a book!

I love my nephew, he's just the cutest!

So happy. LOVE this smile!

KyLee looks a might bit afraid :)

Loving the way she's cutting her eyes at Uncle Jack :)

Uncle Jack, you're so goofy!

4. We made it to Raleigh by lunch time and enjoyed some yummy homemade soup by Debbie. My niece, Keirsten, was there and was raring to go to open some presents! We all crowded around the tree in the living room and had an enjoyable time opening gifts. Some of us got some board games so we migrated to the kitchen table to give them a try! We had a lot of fun and then decided we needed to walk off some of the snacky foods we'd been munching on all day. Tracy, Rob and K decided it was time to head home so Mom, Dad, Debs, Brian, Jack and I took a fun trip around the neighborhood through the snow and ice. We had numerous games of kick the ice ball while on our trip which was fun and at least one short snowball fight. We decided to do some Pei Wei take-out for dinner (yum!) and settled in to watch Despicable Me. Such a great movie. The next morning we all got up and headed to Chick-fil-a for some breakfast before Debbie and Brian had to head to work. It was fun having the whole family together. Mom and Dad were heading home that afternoon so after D&B left for work the rest of us decided to do a little shopping. Then we said our good-byes and Jack and I headed back to Wilmington.

Keirsten showed off her new gymnastics skills!

Rob's version of smiling for the camera :)

Mawmaw and Pawpaw with their grand baby :)

w00t

If you know my dad....this is so true :)

Rob got the gag gift!!!

Snowball fight!!! Nice follow through Debbie! Look at that leg kick!

Good shot!! Right in the hands!

Brian fires back!

Jack's turn!!

Nice shot!!

Eeeek not at the camera!!

Fun stroll through the neighborhood. :)

Love these two.

Anything can become a soccer ball with a little imagination.

5. We hung out in Wilmington from Tuesday until Friday and enjoyed some really nice dinners out on the town including  Bonefish Grill and The Oceanic. I enjoyed some yummy fish which I hadn't had in quite a while. We made it to the Oceanic in time for some beautiful views of the ocean and that was enjoyable. Also while in Wilmington we went to see The Voyage of the Dawn Treader which was awesome (we watched it in 3D but unfortunately were a little late so we missed the beginning of the movie...guess we'll just have to go again, shucks haha :)) and worked on putting a puzzle together (didn't quite get it finished before we had to leave).  One of the mornings the four of us got up and went for a run at the beach. So pretty. It was cold out but definitely a lot of fun. The head wind at times sure made it feel like we were running in one place but the views were spectacular and I always love the sound of the ocean. Sadly I didn't have my camera with me the two times we were at the beach because it was just gorgeous but that's ok.

6. Friday morning (our 5 year anniversary!!!) we woke up really early and headed back up to Raleigh. Once there Brian, Debbie, Jack and I decided we'd go out to the nearby Bond Park and play some disc golf. It doesn't have a course so we made up our holes and we had a blast. We trounced through woods and parking lots and down the path around the lake and enjoyed playing boys vs girls captain's choice. I don't think we really kept track of score but had a lot of fun trying new and tricky things to make the holes harder :) . After that we lazed around trying to figure out lunch plans, dinner plans, NYE plans. We finally decided on Greek Fiesta and it was DELISH! After lunch we shopped a bit at REI and other places (we really shopped Jack out, he was exhausted) and then we grilled some steaks and chicken kabobs and had a wonderful dinner together. Our good friends, the Apples, came over to enjoy the fire pit with us and headed home around 11pm. We went for another walk close to midnight and then rang in the new year watching the Apple drop in Time Square and sipping on some sparkling cider. We were all exhausted and conked! It was an enjoyable new year celebration and anniversary.

Mmmm dinner was so yummy!

Jack did a great job chopping all the veggies.

Rebecca and Debbie fun times with fun friends

Seth enjoying the fire pit!

Our traditional New Year's Eve picture! By traditional I mean we did this last year, too :)

7. Saturday we got up early and all four did Insanity together. Jack had never done it and it had  been a little while for the rest of us. We enjoyed it, pushed ourselves, sweated like crazy, and had a good ol' time! We were all sore by Sunday! Later that night we went to Brixx for dinner and hung out with Stint friends! It was so fun with lots of laughs and it was good just to catch up. While there we also ran into some old high school friends (hadn't seen them since freshman year of college, holy guacamole) and also some great college friends we hadn't seen in a few years. It was so good to catch up with them as well!


8. Sunday was a super enjoyable time at Harvest North Raleigh. SO wonderful to see everyone there and get some much needed hugs! If you live in Raleigh or the surrounding area should definitely check this church out. The message was on Heaven - Something Real to Look Forward To and boy was it a good reminder and encourager to fix our focus on eternal things and to get excited about what is to come! I very much enjoyed it. Sweet Alinna came to church and brought the Rubester with her and then a few of us went out to lunch afterwards to Red Robin (yum burgers!) then it was time for Jack and me to get to packing to head out. We finally got home safely and were SO thankful for such a sweet trip. So happy to have had time to spend with our family and friends and are definitely missing everyone! We've got 2 possibly 3 visit from peeps planned for Feb and March and I'm already looking forward to that! Seriously, our doors are open and we'd love to have you come visit. Just let us know :)

9. So now that we've settled back home I also wanted to post a quick tid-bit about the Bible reading plan a few of us are doing together. I'm hoping that because there are a few of us doing it together that it will help hold me accountable. I also wanted to extend the invitation to you to join us! You're not too late. We're only on the 3rd day so come one, come all and let's get into the Word this year! I give each and every one of you permission (and I really do ask you to do this) to Facebook me, email me, text me, call me, Skype me, etc and ask how I'm doing with it. Ask every day if you'd like. It'll help! Besides, that's one more way of communication I get with you!!! :) Sneaky huh? So let me know if you are doing some sort of reading plan this year, or if you want to join us! Any other resolutions anyone has made? All I know is that I will do at least one half marathon this year, to continue my at least 1 every year tradition! Looking forward to picking out the date and place and then training for it!!