Recap of my time in Texas

As many if not all of you know I spent my holidays stateside this year because of the immigration laws in Denmark. I had soooo much fun seeing everyone in Texas and getting to spend time with my family! :) Its been a busy few months and since most of the people reading this blog are the ones I was spending time with I didn't feel I needed to update while I was there, but I'll do a quick recap just for fun! :)

I arrived in Texas in early November and was able to go with my mom up to St. Louis, MO to visit my grandparents for a few days. Thanksgiving was spent at CJ and Jess' house with 7 adults, 4 dogs and a tortoise! :) (Klaus got "skyped in" for part of Thanksgiving so he could say hi to everyone too.)
At the end of November Mom and I got to go with Project Linus to deliver blankets to the kids at Snowball Express (they are the children of the fallen soldiers). This was my 4th year to get to go and its always one of my favorite experiences of the year! The kids are always really sweet and so happy to be there, so for me helping them find the "perfect" blanket is really neat. And when they pick a blanket you made its that much more special.

This little girl picked up a quilt that mom and I had made together! :)

December was a really busy month too, mom and I spent the first couple weeks working on getting things organized for the wedding as well as the Texas reception! I also picked up a temp job at Kim's company for a couple weeks which was really great since it meant getting a paycheck right before Christmas! woo-hoo! :) It also meant I got to spend a lot more time with Kim during those two weeks which was really cool- we also got to run another 5k together, but this time we had to dress up like Santa for the run which was really silly and fun to see over 1000 santas running through Plano! haha!

Waiting at the start line! :)

 

Klaus got to Texas on the 20th and we spent the weekend in Grapevine since he had never seen the Christmas Capitol of Texas! :) If you haven't been you really should check it out, they go all out with the lights and decorations. And of course the Gaylord is beautiful! :)

Dinner at the Gaylord

For Christmas mom had gotten tickets to the Chinese lantern festival at the fairgrounds so all 8 of us (mom and dad, CJ and Jess, Jess' parents and Klaus and I) went on Christmas Eve! I think we were all thoroughly impressed! :) Christmas day Klaus and I opened presents at my parents house before going to CJ and Jess' for lunch and more presents and SNOW!!! On Christmas!!! In TEXAS!!!

The Girls at the Lantern Festival

For New Years Eve, Klaus and I joined Kim, Bart and Juan on a trip to Austin to celebrate the new year on 6th street! We had a great time being with friends and laughing a LOT! :)

Bart, Kim, Me, Klaus and Juan! :)

Klaus had to go back on January 6th and things definitely did not slow down for a second between then and now! :) There was my bachelorette party, 3 bridal showers and my birthday to be celebrated! As well as just trying to squeeze in as much time with people as possible! I'm going to miss everyone so much, but some of you will be here for the wedding in just a couple months (AH!) and the rest I will get to see when Klaus and I are there in the summer! :)

Spa day for my bachelorette party!

The rodeo clown at Billy Bob's!

Project Linus bridal shower

Community Quilters bridal shower

Shepler Girls

Hunters' Glen bridal shower

Birthday Celebration with Kim and Nichole!

I had a wonderful time in Texas, but I'm so happy to be back in Denmark with Klaus!! :) Right now I'm sitting in our living room with him watching the snow fall outside :) And to think 2 days ago I was driving around in a tank top with the windows rolled down! haha!

XOXO,

Joy





Me and The Dress making our way to Denmark! :)