Whoops.

It's here. It's been here a week now. Whoops. This is certainly not how I planned to start off the blog in the new year, but ya know, the holidays are busy, especially when you travel!

A recap of our holidays:

We were all set to drive back to Illinois early Christmas Eve morning.  Ben had suggested driving back after work on 12/23 and I'd shot the idea down for fear of driving over night and us staying awake (last summer Ben's family drove out to CO and his mom fell briefly fell asleep at the wheel. Thankfully the rumble strips her up immediately, but because of that we instated the rule that someone needs to always be awake with the driver). Monday morning, 12/23, I got to work anxious to get the day over. After checking the forecast and road conditions, I emailed Ben and said "what the hell? we might as well drive after I get off to have the extra time with family" and we did just that.

We arrived home at 4am MT/5am CT and immediately hopped in bed for a few hours.  By 10:30 we were up and at 'em. We even made it to 10pm Christmas Eve Mass!

This year's Christmas was a strange one.  With our nephew being here, my SIL decided they wanted his first Christmas to be in their own home in Chicago.  My brother and his wife decided that their dog is on her last leg (so sad!) and it was best not to travel with her but they hated the thought of leaving her behind, thus we both missed siblings at Christmas. None the less, it was so nice to be home with our parents and Mr. Sister. Home is always home.

My parents wonky tree

Sleeping in my own bed

Family Tradition: Ticket to Ride and wine :)

 Thursday I got my first EVER spray tan. I went to a place called Flesh Tones as recommended by my hair stylist/wedding make up artist, Glam 2 Go. A person did airbrush spray and it was only $15! I was pretty nervous that first night, but overall happy with the results!

Friday Ben and I hopped in the car for our next roadtrip, a five hour drive to Indianapolis for MT's wedding! We were supposed to have arrived with an hour to spare before rehearsal, but do to the worst back up I've ever seen, thanks to a overturned jello and pudding semi load (REALLY! I could not make up a worse excuse!), we barely caught the end of rehearsal.

Wedding day was perfect.  MT had arranged for hair and makeup (and food) in the private loft area of an adorable salon called A'Do.  From there we went to a beautiful Catholic church for pictures and the ceremony.  Who would have thought that the last Saturday in December in the Midwest would end up being 50 degrees?!

I was pretty proud of my makeup! I saved $50 and did it myself :)

The party bus and reception were a blast. One of my best friends, MJ and her husband were there. I hadn't seen her in months so it was great to catch up and hang out. 

I die. Love the look on MT's face

 

Sunday morning, dead tired, we drove back to the QC to watch the Bears lose. My inlaws had driven to Chicago on Christmas day and taken our gifts for SIL with, returning with their gifts for us; so Sunday night we FaceTimed and opened another round of gifts.

10 months old; isn't he adorable?!

...because we were up early on Monday to get on the road back to Denver!

The loves of my life

We got home around 5pm and had our last Christmas tradition: Ben and I's exchanging of gifts. I love this quite wrap up (or should I say unwrapping? ha!) of the holidays and the time between the two of us after the chaos of family.

 

 I hope you had a great holiday season!