Christmas in Texas - Part 3

The next family Christmas was Stacy's family.  We went to his sister, Marilyn's house, and had appetizers and desserts and did a white elephant gift exchange.  It was fun because there were 4 babies there.  Two, Rhett and Morgan, are more like toddlers (22 months and 20 months).  Annabelle is Allison (Stacy's daughter) and David's 9-month old.  We are looking forward to the next time we go to Houston when Austin is mobile and he can play more with his cousins. 

 DiDi and Granddaddy with their grandkids!

 Drooling, chubby legged, with DiDi

 All the girls and their little ones (Allison & Annabelle, Brooke & Rhett, me & Austin, Meredith & Morgan, and Ricki)

The next day, I met my friends for lunch at Zoe's.  It was brief, but it was fun to see Jenny, Peyton and Mallory.  We even got to sit outside since it was such nice weather.  Peyton was in the US from Guam for about a month and we were lucky to see her.  She brought Austin some cute clothes and a hand-me-down book from her childhood.  We missed Annie and Sara!

 Jenny, me, Peyton, Mallory & Austin

We also visited great-Grandmother (David's dad's mother) - She is 94.  This was her first time to meet her 3rd great-grandchild.  She loved holding Austin!

That night was the Holiday Bowl (Texas vs Cal).  My mom and Stacy had their friends over for Goode Co BBQ and game-watching.  We decked out in burnt orange for the game.  Thankfully, the Horns pulled off a W.  (Don't worry - my shirt has a longhorn on it, you just can't see it.)

 Our little future longhorn!

We stayed 2 nights at Mimi and Big Deal's house (Tues and Wed), so Austin got to spend some quality time with Mimi while I went running on the bayou each morning.

 Loving Mimi's lap

On Friday morning, we got on the road to Dallas.  We spent Friday and Saturday night at my dad and Michelle's house (Pop and maybe G-ma or Gram).  David played 9 holes with my dad on Friday and 18 holes on Saturday.  And we had a special visitor- aunt Lauren!  She had to work at the hospital on Christmas eve and Christmas and couldn't take any time off so she was not able to come to Houston. :(  But, she finished her last day at the hospital job on Thursday 12/29, and drove to Dallas to see us!  We went out to eat on Friday night at the Porch in Dallas.  On Saturday, I went on a 6 mile run while Dad and Michelle stayed with Austin (Lauren was still sleeping :) ).  Michelle, Lauren, Austin and I went to a nice lunch at a French restaurant called Rise (specializing in souffles).  Austin enjoyed his time at a girly restaurant while the guys played golf.  Lauren drove back to Austin after lunch and that night (New Year's Eve), the rest of us went out for a casual pizza dinner.  Austin fell asleep at the dinner table and didn't make it until midnight....David and I didn't make it til midnight either.  We are lame.  We did have to wake up at 5:30 the next day to drive back to Denver.  Is that a good excuse?  Our 12 hour drive back to Denver was uneventful and went by fairly quickly.  Austin was an angel in the car and we made it back before 6:30pm.  It was a wonderful week in Texas with family and friends!  We miss everyone already!

 

At lunch with the girls

 Aunt Lauren is fun!