cat snuggies

we iz snuggled as a bugz in a rug

belly rub

This is the life.

walking in a winter wonderland

This was our first Christmas since moving to Austin and you’d think we’d have our family come to us since the weather is nicer, but noooooo. We decided to go big for the holidays and visit ALL of our family. That meant 4 Christmases. Yeah, I suppose I can’t complain about that.

I also can’t complain about the snag-free flights and the mild weather we had in both our destinations—Flagstaff and Chicago. We got lucky.

When we decided to spend Christmas in Flagstaff, AZ, I immediately pictured driving through a blizzard to get from Phoenix (where it’s warm) to Flagstaff (in the mountains.) But the weather cooperated and was actually 50 degrees on Christmas day!

A dumping of snow a week or two earlier made for a beautifully idyllic Christmas setting in the mountains amongst the juniper trees.

Spending Christmas in Flagstaff with my dad and his wife, my sister and her husband and my brother was so wonderful. We enjoyed a wine tasting, a crackling fire in my dad’s retro wood stove (which is actually a new gas stove made to look old), and a wonderful stroll on Christmas day followed by drinks on the deck (did I mention it was 50 degrees?)

After Flagstaff, Drew and I flew straight to Chicago for the rest of our Christmases. We celebrated with Drew’s dad and siblings in Chicago with dinner and breakfast. We were also celebrating Kari (Drew’s sister) and Brett’s last night in Chicago. That week, they were moving to Boulder, CO!

Then we all headed out to visit with Drew’s mom where we played a little Wii and I did my annual photo-stalking of the kitty cats.

I got a new lens for my camera for Christmas – the Lensbaby Muse. I was playing around with it to practice and it seems I still need a lot more practice – but it was fun seeing some of the effects!

Our last stop was to visit with my mom and some of our friends and their husbands and babies. Our friends Jill and Sean just had their baby boy Flynn in early December. Cuuute!

Stefanie and Adam are expecting their first in March!

And Sara and Brady brought their 4-month-old Jameson. He’s getting so big!

Ummm…I think my friends are trying to tell me something. 🙂