This was my first Christmas home in 2 years and Andrew and I filled up our time pretty quickly. We flew in a week before Christmas so we could take care of some wedding stuff, engagement photos, our food tasting and meeting with the reverend, before relaxing with the family.
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| Mom and Dad got us free tickets into United's Red Carpet club so we got to spend our layover in LAX eating cheese and drinking wine, the only way to travel |
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| Mom wanted us to have a true New England Christmas so we went out and chopped down our own Christmas tree, and by we I mean Andrew and Dad |
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| Everyone got busy cooking in the kitchen |
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| Dad making his traditional beef wellington for Christmas Day |
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| Andrew and Mom relaxing by the fire |
We had multiple family Christmas' which were all full of food and fun. In addition to that Mom and Jess threw me a surprise bridal shower, it, as things go, wasn't much of a surprise by the time the actually shower came around as people kept slipping up but it was a lot of fun. We had some wine, lots of tasty food, which Mom had me help make.
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| Mom made kangaroo cookies that she tried to get me to decorate, for my own surprise bridal shower, since I knew about it I put my foot down and made Andrew do it. e even made a special chicken just for Nana who though that was what they were. |
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| Jess, PJ and Dad making very tasty cake pops |
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| Stephanie and Michelle traveled down with Gail, Caitlin and Justin from Vermont for the shower |
The day after the shower a group of us went to David's Bridal for Michelle and Jess to try on some bridesmaids dresses and make sure that the color looks good with my dress and on the girls, it looks like we are all good to go. Jess even tried on a few dresses as well and looked amazing. I can't wait to see her final choice.
We left Mom and Dad's on the 29th to head down to spend a few days in Austin with Ashley and her husband Joey. I hadn't seen either of them since their wedding and Andrew had never met them so it was good to get a few days together. All I can say about the pictures from Austin is yum!
We rented a house just across the river from the city and spent our time wandering the city, eating delicious food and even driving out to Lockhart which is supposed to be the BBQ Capital of Texas.
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| Lockhart, TX - one of the oldest bbq places in Texas |
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| A fish tried to eat me, it's ok, I made it out alive |
We spent NYE doing a bit of bar hopping, mechanical bull riding, playing games and watching everyone on the street running around. It was a lot of fun.
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| Yea that's right, we rode it |
From Austin we flew to Denver to spend a few days with Jess and PJ. We got shown around the city and had some more great meals (really this trip was all about food).
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| Andrew made friends with a pirate... |
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| while I chose the bear who sits in front of Rocky Mountain Chocolate, I think my choice was better |
Jess' car was broken in to a few days before we arrived so we weren't able to go skiing as we had planned, but instead they drove us up to the Continental Divide and we also went ice skating which none of us had done in years. It was lots of fun and I can definitely see why they like the city.
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| Continental Divide |
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| Ice skating |
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| Buckets and pizza after ice skating, great way to end the evening and our trip to Denver |
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| Well, this was actually the perfect way to end the trip to Denver, I am now on a mission to make my own delicious pancakes |
After that we did a quick jump over to Las Vegas. Andrew had been before but I never had and it was quite an experience. We stayed at Ceasar's Palace, the place is just so big that you feel a bit lost in there. The first night we dressed up and went out for a night on the town, we started with Jimmy Buffett's Margarittaville because it's Jimmy Buffett's Margarittaville. From there I won some money at the blackjack table, we had a great guy sitting at our table who gave me good advice.
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| Bellagio before the fountain display |
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| And we gambled |
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| And had some drinks |
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| And gambled |
After the first night the second day was a bit rough so we laid low and did what everyone does when they've had a big night, rode the New York, New York roller coaster. It was a lot of fun and we had a great time wandering the city in the sun enjoying the day seeing the strip.
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| We found a matching sculpture to the one Jess likes in Denver |
After all of the excitement, and spending all of our money, we hopped on 4 planes and arrived back in Australia. As you can tell by how long it took me to get this post up, we have been very busy since arriving home. Nothing exciting, of course, but busy. Hopefully some more excitement to come.
