During our first week home, Ryan's parents took us downtown to a fantastic restaurant called Nose Dive. If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend it as the perfect lunch spot before an afternoon of shopping. I loved my sweet potato bisque and lobster roll.
After lunch, we visited a couple shops and then found a new cupcake place to try for dessert.
Later that week, we had one evening where Rachel's fiance and Rebekah's boyfriend were both in town for the same day. So Mom made a delicious dinner, and we enjoyed spending time with everyone all together.
The next day, I baked Christmas cut-out cookies with Mom Hudson. We had the best time decorating the cookies (which turned out to be more Easter-colored than Christmas).
I wish I was better about getting pictures, but unless Ryan is with me, we don't usually have pictures. One of my favorite things about this vacation was meeting so many sweet new babies! I think at least 6-7 friends had babies since this summer, and I loved getting to see each one.
The youngest baby that we met was born to my cousin Jason and his wife, Olivia, just a couple days before Christmas! My parents took us out to our new favorite Chinese restaurant for dinner before heading to the hospital to meet little Halle. She is absolutely precious, and I'm glad our kids will be close in age.
One of the highlights of any trip home is getting together with our dear friends at church. We loved getting to spend an evening with three other couples, and we can't wait to get together again over the summer with you all!
On Christmas morning, we enjoyed an amazing breakfast with my family before heading to church for our morning service.
Later that afternoon, we opened gifts at our house before heading to Aunt Laura's for our extended family Christmas.
The next morning, we drove up to Asheville with my parents and Rebekah for the amazing breakfast buffet at the historic Grove Park Inn.
We enjoyed the make-your-own-omelet station, pastries, fresh fruit, hash brown casseroles, waffles, and so much more. Following our meal, we walked around the gingerbread contest display and then made our way to the shops at Biltmore Village. Mom had been talking about a certain yarn shop for months now, and I couldn't wait to see it for myself. I've never seen so much yarn in one place, nor such a variety of colors and textures. Once we move back to the States and have a little more room, I will definitely be stocking up there quite often.
That night, we celebrated Christmas with Ryan's family. Ryan's brothers are already spoiling their niece or nephew!
The next evening, Ryan's parents took us all downtown for dinner to celebrate Ryan's birthday. The waitress surprised both of us with special desserts!
My cousin, Joel, was able to spend a few days with us around New Year's. It was great having him in town again. On a somewhat rainy afternoon, we went bowling with a few of my cousins. And thanks to a friend's coupon, the shoe rental and two games of bowling were free for all 5 of us! We had such a fun time together.
After church on New Year's Day, we headed to Aunt Lisa's house where we spent the next few hours eating delicious lasagna and watching football.
Before we knew it, it was time to pack up and head back to Grenada. We're excited to be back and to finish up Ryan's last semester down here. It's hard to believe this chapter of our life is about to come to an end.
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