christmas on the pecos

this year matt and i spent christmas and new year's in austin with my family.  we had a good long visit and got to see a lot of loved ones.
see our updated bucket list for what we accomplished while we were there! no worries, there's always our trip back at the end of this month.  and april. and june.

friends, thanks for making time for us, and thanks mom and dad parks for having us!

 

after a major delay in vegas, we finally landed in austin at 2:30 am!

we were so happy austin's trail of lights came back.  it was our first outing as a family.

after the traditional spinning under the tree, we indulged in my very first (yes, really!) funnel cake and because that wasn't quite enough sweets, my family took us to gourdough's donut truck.  it. was. awesome.  fried goodness.  mine was actually way too sweet for me, but hannah got one topped with bacon, matt with chicken strips, and my dad had this wonderful jalapeno jelly on his.  sounds weird, but really it was divine.

what a beautiful city.

 

 

 

the next day we celebrated christmas with my mom's family, the longmires.  we had fun eating good food (including elgin sausage), exchanging presents, and talking with aunts, uncles, and cousins.  i love this family.  we missed the docherty's!

aunt tara & hannah

hannah, uncle pat, & me

on christmas eve, we went to the austin christmas bazaar with my parents and hannah.  it was amazing!  we got some coasters featuring our favorite spots in austin as well as a really neat print of the republic of texas.  i would love to make that a new tradition, we had so much fun looking at the different artwork and displays.  after that we stopped by sandy's for some snacks before going home to prep for our traditional christmas eve dinner of shrimp and hushpuppies.

matt + hannah = bff

 

 uncle pat, aunt tara, and grandma longmire came over for dinner with trout and an extra fryer.  one flipped braker later, we had a feast of delicious seafood!  matt was my helper, and as you can see he was was way too fast for me!

isn't he the cutest thing?

christmas day was lovely and relaxing.  

i loved this note santa left for hannah, who is known for her deep sleep.

we also got to talk to hilary and trenton on the phone while they are on their missions, learning lots and loving the people they serve and teach.

traditional christmas breakfast

the next day was torchy's (amazing. go. now.) and making six batches of peppermint bark popcorn for parks family christmas a couple days later.

parks family christmas 2012 was so much fun! i love my dad's massive family (he is the 9th of 12), and we had a good showing this year.  we of course missed everyone who couldn't make it though!  i remembered to take pictures right before we left, so i'm sorry those of you who already left and i missed!  

lindsay, hannah, bailey, & me

hannah & uncle dennis

after that, we spent the rest of our time loading our schedule with lunch and dinner dates with friends, driving past matt's childhood home (he didn't let me knock on their door to look around, what a weirdy!), and ringing in the new year with the hatch family.  

matt's old house

cute sister driving -- she's so little! 

erin hatch's gingerbread house - the shire -
on its way to be blown up by fireworks

rudy's

happy new year!  this was our third new year's eve with austin and janessa before they left for georgia for the year.  we will miss them, but are hoping for year 4 together!

another year flies by.  hello 2013.  welcome.  i look forward to all the surprises this year has in store, but most especially i can't wait to meet some of the new little people being born this year!  more on that to come, but don't worry, this is not an announcement.  :)