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Home for the Holidays

For the first time since I've lived in Arizona we went back to Illinois for Christmas time.  It was definitely a little colder than I'm used to, but it was a lot of fun!  We basically went from one place to another trying to see as many family & friends as possible.  It was chaotic and crazy, but made the holidays so worth it! 

We got picked up on Tuesday late night by Kevin's parents, as soon as we walked out of Ohare I was shivering like crazy. The next day we woke up bright and early and hung out with Kevin's niece & nephew all day.  They are non stop energy, we tried to keep up and play with them, running, reading books, and playing jungle gym on Uncle Kevy! That night Kev made me and his parents a really delicious dinner.  Then we relaxed the rest of the night, and it was great.  The next day we had to make our rounds seeing the grandparents, we went to see my Grandma Johnson first. It was good to see her and catch up even if it was for a short time.  Then we headed over to see Grandpa Lundeen, he looked good and it was good to talk to him for a little bit before we headed out to the next stop. We stopped by Foxy's parents house to say Hi and to pick up some of Jordan's stuff.  After all that running around, we left with Jackie (Kevin's sister) to meet up with my Mom & brother.  

We met up and went out to lunch, and then headed back to my Mom's house.  We hung out, made dinner, opened presents, etc.  We also looked through old pictures getting some together for something we have planned for the future.  It was so fun reminiscing, laughing, and showing Kevin my childhood in snapshots; birthday cakes, bikes, Christmas, Easter and everything in between.  The next day we ran some errands and started packing up our stuff to be off to our next adventure.  Kenny & Bernie picked us up from my Mom's and we were off to Chicago. 

Bernie & Kenny planned a joint bachelor/bachelorette party with some help from our friends.  We all met at our friend Steven's apartment and then headed to dinner at a yummy sushi place.  It was so fun with a big group like that, and then we split up the boys and girls and went our separate ways.  The boys wandered around Steven's apartment to a couple different bars, and the girls went out to Howl at the Moon a dueling piano bar.  Dancing, Drinks, Friends,etc...it couldn't get any better than that!  Bernie was so awesome and got us a pretty hotel room on the magnificent mile, that we woke up in on Saturday morning got ready and headed to our next stop...Lundeen Family Christmas.

Lots of food, family, and chaos at Lundeen Family Christmas.  We all opened our presents, and the kids had an absolute blast.  Kevin's sister and mom put an awesome dinner/lunch together and we all sat and enjoyed it and each other's company. 

 Later that night after some card games and goodbyes we met up with my Dad and headed out to Elgin.  The next day we had Slack Christmas at my Aunt Kathie's house, the highlight of the evening was the annual white elephant game and the Left Right Center game. Lots of fun was had by all! When we left we went home and played even more games, and stayed up to talk and soak up the last couple hours of our winter vacation away. 

The next morning, it came to an end. Christy brought us to meet Aunt Kathie and Ryan and we headed to Ohare.  Got our last breaths of that icy cold Chicago air before we boarded the plane to warmer weather! 

Christmas Eve was spent at ABC's with our traditional Portillos and Tom & Jerry's.  We played some games and got some shut eye, for an early Christmas morning.  Christmas morning, was awesome with the kids. Everyone loved their presents, and we feel so blessed to spend our Christmas celebrating, being with family, and spreading lots of love. We hope you and your family had a great holiday season and even better New Year! 

NYE, at Jess & Daryl's house like the past two years. :) Can my life get any better in 2013?  We will see!