Happy 2019!

We drove to Garland on New Year's Eve to "re-swap" after the kids' sleepover, and had dinner with Jacob before heading to Wylie for a New Year's Eve party with our old neighbors Mark and Ashley! We had a blast celebrating with them and they were sweet enough to let us sleep over so we didn't have to drive home that night. We are ready to take on 2019!

Post-Christmas Fun

The Brooks family came up for a night, and we left all the kids at home while we went out for a sushi dinner before coming home to watch Baylor win the Texas Bowl (Jenna and I watched Bird Box instead during most of the game). After they went home the next day, all the Stewards minus Jacob came up for a quick visit and lunch at Pappadeaux. We then had a fun day with the Jolly family in Dallas the next day celebrating Meredith's 30th birthday! That night we headed to Garland to have some hibachi with the Dixons and Halls for a combo late Christmas/Daniel's birthday celebration (Jason and Kelly joined us too!). We had a low-key birthday for Daniel at home the next day. The kids' friends Ryleigh and Brady came out for a "sleepover swap" and I made Daniel some cherry cobbler.

Christmas with the Lewis's

We had Cookie, Jeff, and Gigi for a visit a few nights before Christmas (forgot to take any pictures) and then the whole Lewis family came to visit on the 22nd! It was so fun to see everyone, especially Hudson who we hadn't seen in 10 months! I might have taken way more pictures of him than of my own kids, and he and Aidan ("Aina") were thick as thieves! We ate a delicious dinner at Babe's, then had prime rib on Christmas Eve, and my favorite chicken fried steak/rice/okra/gravy birthday meal on Christmas (plus a birthday cake that my mom and Kelly helped Avery bake and decorate)! We always eat well with this family. For Christmas, Avery got her first phone and tickets to see Hugh Jackman with me later this year! Aidan also got an upgraded phone and tickets to see Jim Gaffigan with me later this year as well! After opening presents on Christmas, the girls went out that night to see Mary Poppins Returns, while the boys stayed home to watch Die Hard. Daniel and I went out with Jason Kelly the next night while Papi and Grammy baby-sat all the grandkids before everyone headed out the next day.

Closing out 2018 and kicking off Christmas!

Avery had Grandparents Day at school (it was a breeze for Grammy to drive up since she and Papi moved to Waco last month!) where she sang with her class...and also sang with her choir at chapel! On her last day of the year her class had a fun party.

Aidan survived his first middle school final (algebra) and was ready for a break!

I enjoyed two super-fun nights out with friends in a row to celebrate Christmas and my birthday! A few months back Daniel and I had won a big on a Christmas lights bus tour at a gala we went to. I invited some of my friends to come with me and we got to enjoy drinks and fun while being driven around to see some beautiful lights! The next night I went out with my mom friends to celebrate December birthdays (me and Susan)!

We went to Sundance Square in Fort Worth to see the big Christmas tree!

Daniel and I went to his office Christmas party!

San Diego Part 3 (AKA LA)

My favorite day of our vacation was taking a day trip up to Los Angeles! We walked along Hollywood Blvd to see the stars on the sidewalk and the handprints at Grauman's Theater. There was a huge crowd waiting to see someone which we found out later would be Snoop Dogg getting his star! I wish we'd had more time to hang out and celebrity-watch but we had a scheduled tour at Warner Brothers Studio which was so much fun!! We saw lots of backlots, sets, memorobilia, and I even got to hold a real Oscar! After the actual tour Daniel sat and had coffee while the kids and I walked around to see more stuff, and got our picture taken on the couch at Central Perk! We all had a blast, especially me!