Christmas Holiday

Two days after Joe finished up his finals, we hit the road for the great state of Arizona! We left super early, drove ALL day to Santa Fe, stayed the night there then got up early for the final 6 1/2 hours to Gilbert. 19 1/2 total hours of driving and we were there! I was 22 weeks pregnant at that point and man was I feeling it! The drive traumatized me a bit in that regard so I was dreading doing it again to get home to Lincoln. 

We had a wonderful time being home with our families. We tried to soak up all the time we could get with everyone, spent waaaay too much time on the couch getting sucked into Parenthood on Netflix, had delicious food, got sick (boooo!), celebrated Christmas multiple times, and even fell asleep at 11 on New Years Eve. Yes I know, we are p-a-r-t-y animals!

We also bought our first baby items there. Craigslist is SO much better in AZ than in Nebraska so we took advantage. We ended up buying our car seat, 2 strollers (including a NEW BOB JOGGING STROLLER for a smokin' deal that I am pretty much dying to use!), a super cute new crib, and various other little baby items. The first week was spent waking up early every day scouring the latest craigslist ads. 

If you live in AZ and are buying a crib, or really anything, any time soon heres a tip - we went to this store on Val Vista and Baseline called Shoppers Outlet. They are only open Thursday - Saturday with each day getting progressively higher in discounts applied to the WHOLE store. They have so much random stuff, baby items are just a smidge of what they carry. GO THERE! You will likely find something you need/want. All of the items are rejects or leftovers from Amazon. We got our brand new crib that is normally $200 for less than a hundred, including tax!! Awesome. 

Anyways, now for the good part. Pictures!

We took family pictures since this was the first time the whole family had been together in almost 3 years. Crazy to see how many grandkids are born in 6 years!

Bennett and his suspenders!! Too cute to handle!!

Baby boy Grimes was spoiled! We should have showed off the ridiculously awesome elbow patches on the yellow/gray cardigan! Jimmy and Meghan's other gift just arrived this week, a super cute Pack N' Play! 

Christmas night with the Grimes! 

This was also when we had to say "see ya later" to Rochelle and Eric until July! They left to Taiwan to teach English the next morning. So excited for them and their grand adventure!!!

Birthday celebration for Kate (middle). 

Nana and Kate share the same birthday, January 3rd, so we celebrated before we left town!

My mother-in-law, Vicki, is pretty much AWESOME! For Christmas she surprised us with the cutest, softest, swaddler (left) along with burp cloths. She and Corinne (sister-in-law) also filled my maternity closet! Finally some jeans and tops that fit right!! I was so taken back and excited!! A couple days later, Vicki took Joe and I to pick out fabric for a baby quilt and crib bumper. The next night, she surprised me with a totally finished and adorable crib bumper she made!!!!!! Also, a crib skirt to go with it!!!!!! A-m-a-z-i-n-g I tell you!!! I am sooo grateful for these perfect items made with love for her first grandbaby! We will love it all forever!

Our trip was perfect (minus all of the sickness that seemed to be running rampant throughout the LeSueur family) and it flew by. The road trip home wasn't nearly as bad as driving there thankfully and we were welcomed with snow covered grounds. Beautiful! We were so excited to be home in Lincoln!