Howdy and Happy Holidays, Y'all!

After a refreshing, relaxing, and FULL trip to Texas, we are back in London and exhausted! I didn't take a ton of pictures during our visit back home, but here are the few that we did manage to take! 

One of my BFFs, Anneke, came all the way to Pecan Grove from Austin for a visit! Our families both live in the same neighborhood, and it was so nice walking around our old stomping grounds and chatting. Her mom made us some delicious French Toast and tea. My time with Anneke was much needed and I wish she could live in London, too! 

Of course, we spent a LOT of time with my baby girls. We walked them daily on the bayou, where Cole liked to fetch her ball and Dakota loved chasing ducks around. I was covered in dog fur pretty much the whole time we were in Texas- not a bad thing!

 We had time to see all of our grandparents and most of our other extended family. It was so nice just sitting and talking to them all! This is Daniel's Nana and Papa. Along with Daniel's parents, we got to visit them on the 26th.

We celebrated Christmas at my Mimi's a day late. It was GREAT- everyone was there! That night, my sister and I spent the night at Mimi's, along with my 2 aunts and all of our girl cousins. I was basically sleep walking because it was my first full day back in Texas and because of the time difference, I wanted to go to sleep really early. However, the time difference was in my favor for the morning and I got to spend some alone time with my Mimi while everyone else was sleeping. She told me she checks this blog every morning and is disappointed when there aren't any new posts, so Mimi, I hope you are happy to read this!

Along with the above, we...

- Celebrated Christmas at my Gigi's right when we arrived- we were SO out of it, so I made sure to go visit Gigi and PawPaw again when I was no longer a jet-lagged zombie. I loved looking at their scrapbooks from all of the trips that they have taken!

-I got to spend some quality one on one time with both my brother and sister. With my sister, we shopped and ate some Niko Nikos! With Gregory, we also shopped and got our nails done with my mom (Gregory's first pedicure!). I took advantage of the shopping in Houston- it's too expensive to shop in London!

-Spent SO much time with Daniel's family. It was nice just relaxing on the couch, popping oreo balls left and right, and playing games!

-Ate Chickfila with Daniel's mom, dad, and sister. I got an extra large fry and didn't regret one single bite!

-Ate our favorite Tex Mex, Lupes, and watched Anchor Man 2 with my family at the new cinema by their neighborhood. I am already regretting the fact that I didn't gorge myself at Lupes- I only had 1 fajita! What was I thinking?!

- Celebrated New Year's Eve with Daniel's family in cypress. Popped some awesome fireworks and laughed 'til we cried playing Headbandz!

-Ate the best steak EVER at Churrascos for my dad's birthday. Seriously! It was voted one of the top 20 steaks in the USA by Esquire!

- Got our BBQ fix- once by ourselves, and then again on our last day with my family.

-To counteract all of the eating, I got to go to both my friends Yemike's and Michele's yoga classes. It was so nice taking classes from someone whom I have been practising with for a while!

-We got to meet our Houston friends Vincent, Damion, and Brittany at Local Foods for lunch one day and it was so nice catching up!

The trip was SO what we needed. The time spent with family and friends was just so...full and filled my heart with great joy! Although the time we spend with our loved ones is infrequent now that we live in London, I feel like when we DO get to be together, the time is just of such great quality- full of intention, greatfulness, and lots of love and appreciation! It was just so comfortable being around our loved ones and family and reminded me of how lucky we are to have them all in our lives!