Peas & Carrots: Christmas Update

So, for the 0.5 of ya'll who read this blog, lol....here's a recap of our month-long road trip over Christmas.

Hubby saved up enough leave to be able to take 28 whole days off! WOW! We had a wild idea to drive, yes DRIVE!, the entire trip from Arizona to Louisiana to South Carolina. We had some furniture for my brother for his new apartment {we got it at a sale the base was having...I highly recommend checking out when they have those sales. They'll have everything from furniture to tools to household items. You can get tons of stuff SUPER cheap!!} And we love roadtrips, so it really wasn't bad at all! We packed it all up, got Bella all comfortable in the backseat, and hit the road.

We stopped in at my family's in Louisiana for a couple of days to unload the furniture and rest. Then we headed on to hubby's family in South Carolina for 2wks {it was their year for Christmas}. Back to my family in LA for almost a week, to Wichita Falls, TX to see hubby's southern OK family, then allll the way straight through back to AZ. All of this for a grand total of 4,120 miles people!!

We had a great time in South Carolina just hanging out with family. It's always cozy and there's tons of super yummy food to eat while we're there. I think I gained like 100 pounds, lol We went shopping a few days, but mainly just hung out at home watching movies, playing board games, going bowling, eating some awesome food you can only get in SC, and visiting. We even got a really good family photo for the first time which I was ecstatic about!! :-D This was my second Christmas there since we got married, so it's all still a little new to me. That's one of the downsides to our story is that hubby got to spend a lot of time with my family and get to know them while we were dating. I haven't gotten to spend much time with hubby's family other than his parents a few times. So, this trip was really great because I felt like I really got to know his brothers a whole lot better and his parents even better. They're all really wonderful. We had an awesome time with them. I really did get blessed with great in-loves :-) {side note: an old preacher of mine would call his in-laws, "in-loves"...I don't know, but I liked it. So it stuck}

While at my family's in Louisiana, we had to cram 2wks worth of visiting into 5 days; but I'm so thankful that I was able to see them this year for Christmas since it wasn't their scheduled year. We got to see my dad's band play {yes, I have a super cool Daddy who still plays in bands :-) }, ate some aweome food and seafood {ahhhh, there's nothin' like good LA seafood....I miss it soo much}, visited with my family, and enjoyed our time together :-) I LOVE my family and miss them soooo very much!!! Just the little, everyday things you miss out on when you live a million miles away. You try not to think about it, but sometimes those feelings creep up on you.

While there, we saw my Pappy, whom you'll remember from this post. He was surprisingly good! The first time I saw him it was really hard, and I just broke down. I didn't realize it had gotten that bad..... When you don't see someone for 7months, they change. He knew who I was and carried on a pretty good conversation. Hubby went with me the second time, and Pappy even knew who he was! He didn't stay awake long, so we didn't stay long. The last time, it was just my Momma and I; but he wasn't having a good day. He was pretty restless and didn't know us, so we didn't stay long. The Veteran's Home he's in is great {the best in the area}, so I'm happy he's getting good care. I'm so thankful that I was able to see him!

On a bit happier note, my little brother got engaged a couple of weeks before Christmas!! I love his fiance', she's wonderful and fits into our family fabulously :-) They're getting married in June this year, so looks like another trip home :-D annnnd, she asked me to be her Matron of Honor!!! Wow! I was blown away by this, and of course accepted :-) I cannot wait to get to know her better and to have her in our family!!!!

We left there and went on to Wichita Falls, TX to have supper with hubby's family from southern Oklahoma. This was my first time meeting them in the 3yrs. we've been married! Sad, I know...but that's military life. Anywho, I met his aunt {mom-in-love's sister} and uncle and one of their daughters and her 2 daughters. SO.MUCH.FUN! I loved them!! Can't wait to see them again hopefully real soon :-D

The next morning we woke up and drove 14hrs. straight {yes, I helped} back to the wild west. We were going to try to take the northern route to see the Grand Canyon on the way home, but decided to wait to take a long weekend trip around our birthdays in February to have more time. Then, when we decided to take the southern route, we were going to see White Sands but decided to come straight through on home. We had already seen it before on our move out.

Anywho...so that was our Christmas! It was absolutely wonderful...one of the best Christmases in a while :-D Hopefully we can do this again next year!

Here's a few scenery pics: