Holiday trip home, continued ....

Ok .... it took me a few days to get to the second part of our trip home, but better late than never, right? Seriously, there is a lot to report and I needed to set aside lots of time for this :-)

We left NC on Tuesday Dec 23rd and headed to Danville - we made a stop by Chick-fil-a first for a tasty chicken sandwich (WARNING: much of our trip was centered around eating at places that we do not have in Michigan) :-) We arrived at my parents' house and got settled in. We then headed over to Sarah's parents' place to visit with Sarah, Mike, Henry, Martha, Roger & Anne Rylee. After a quick visit Sarah, Mike, Jason and I went to Rockola (we LOVE their cheese fries - see, I told you it's all about the food) :-)

Wednesday was Christmas Eve - Jason and my Dad went out to Jason's place in Cascade to do some work and my mom and I hit the stores. That evening we visited my mom's friends Barbara and Melvin. It was probably the most relaxing day that I spent in D-ville!

Thursday was Christmas Day, which in typical fashion was extremely busy! We started with breakfast and gifts at my parents' house, then headed to Grandma Francis's place, then stopped by Jason's grandma's, next we hit up Martha's house and finally ended at Stacy's to hang out and relax with some friends. WHEW! Here are a few pictures from Christmas Day:

Little Bit is not very happy with the gift I got her :-)

My brother Jacob, checking out Bits' hat

Aunt Bettie & cousin Val, playing a Christmas BINGO game

Aunt Lois trying to keep the gift-giving organized this year!

Check out Grandma opening some of her Christmas gifts:

And here is Anne Rylee opening her present from Jason & me:

On Friday my Mom, Martha and I hit some of the after-Christmas sales at Gingerbread House and Target. Mama and I also stopped by Bojangles for some of their delicious fries and sweet tea. I babysat Anne Rylee for a few hours Friday evening and then Martha and I began cooking for Amy Daniels' baby shower that we were hosting with Amy Hill the following day.

Saturday was another busy day - the shower was at 2pm at Martha's house .... check out the pics from the shower:

the yummy cupcakes

Luke Evan Daniels will be here soon!

Me with the mom-to-be

On Saturday evening, a big group of our friends got together for dinner at San Marcos Mexican restaurant. We then went out for drinks at Buffalo Wild Wings .... after B-Dubs a few of us headed to Sals for some dancing - it was a great time!

Sunday my mom, dad, Jason and I had lunch at the Yancey House - we all had steaks and they were delicious! Saturday afternoon my aunt Cindy, cousin Kristin and Popey Daniel came by for a visit. Sunday evening we watched Polar Express, which was one of the new Blueray DVDs that we gave my parents for Christmas.

Monday we had a great lunch with Stacy at the Tokyo Grill and had dinner with Jason's family at Lonestar. In between the two meals my Dad, Jason and I headed out to Jason's place where we ran into some issues with the waterline ... here are a few pics of Jason and Daddy in their work gear; I figured since they spent most of the week working I should put it on the blog, right?

The damages to the waterline caused us to get a late start on Tuesday - we had a last minute lunch with my parents at Ham's before heading back to NC to the airport. We had a great time, but as usual time passed too quickly. We are looking forward to our next trip home, which will most likely be sometime this summer. And of course, each of you are always welcome to visit us anytime!!!