Christmas 2011: Belk Bowl

We left Raleigh on Monday night and drove to Charlotte for the Belk Bowl.  I love driving into a city at night and getting to see the tall buildings and lights.





We are strictly Marriott-goers unless we HAVE to stay somewhere else.  They have the best beds.  What I also love is that we rarely have to pay for our stay when we use our saved up points.  Plus, because Jereme lived in a hotel for two months when he first moved to Atlanta while EG and I stayed behind to sell the Raleigh house and wait to close on the Atlanta house, he has Platinum status.  One of the perks to that status is an arrival gift.  This particular night we went with wine and ice cream.





Side note: Another perk to his status with Marriott is the private lounge for other elite members where you'll find food ALL DAY LONG.  You better believe I milk that for all it's worth.  Sometimes I go in and act as though I'm picking up a bunch of snacks for people back in the room when in reality I'm just excited to take it home and put it in my pantry for later because...hello, it's free!  All of this just goes to show that you can dress up a girl with Platinum status but you can't take her anywhere.
We spent Tuesday walking around downtown for a little bit and having lunch and dinner.  My cousins, Meredith and Mary Katherine, came to the hotel that evening to "tailgate" before the game.

This is me and Jereme before heading out.  I love how my husband has his jacket zipped up to his neck.  It seems like he's trying to hide the fact that he was wearing red underneath.  No lie.

This was my first bowl game and it was pretty exciting.  State played Louisville (also a red team) which made it hard to tell who was who in the stands.

Coming onto the field.

Cold but happy.

Half time show.

Did I mention it was cold?  Like really cold.  Luckily there were many moments to stand on our feet and cheer because the Wolfpack won!  Even my tarheel husband enjoyed himself.  (Oh, look!  The jacket is zipped up again!)





This was taken with my phone as we were leaving and you can't make out the scoreboard, but you get the idea!




This building was nice and red after State's victory!




It was a fun game and we had a great time!  Thanks to Dee Dee for watching the girls for us so we could go!

Christmas 2011 Recap: Christmas with the Bridgers Family

We drove to Raleigh on Monday to have Christmas with my Mom's family.  There were over 20 of us there!  We had lunch and then did our gift exchange (we draw names for the adults).  I remember, not too long ago, when I was the baby of the family for many years.  Now there is a new generation of kids...it's so neat to see how our family has grown.

There's no way around it...the kids were wild!  But it was so fun to see them enjoying each other.  Emma Grace spent so much time with Bryant and Malone when we lived in Raleigh.  She talks about them a lot and I know she enjoyed playing with them.  

Poor Phoebe...trying to escape the madness.

The kids table.

The "years of wisdom" table.

Malone (5), Caroline (2 months), Bryant (9), Abby (3), and Emma Grace (2).

I'm too busy trying to fix EG's bow to notice that she has started opening her gifts before everything had been passed out...

"Every woman wants a Bailey Box"...too bad this one was recycled.

Christmas 2011 Recap: Christmas Day

Both of our families got together Christmas morning to watch the girls open gifts from Santa and have breakfast.

After the girls woke up, we kept them in the bedroom for a few minutes while we waited for my family to arrive and read one of EG's books about the first Christmas.

Once we let them out, Emma Grace discovered her tent from Papa and Nana.  Needless to say, she loved it.

Here is Caroline with her very first stocking from Santa.

EG opening her gifts from Santa.

Caroline was smart and had Cee Cee feed her a bottle while Daddy showed her all the gifts from Santa.  What a diva.

Then Jereme got to open his gifts from me and the girls and the girls got to open their gifts from Mommy and Daddy.  I didn't do much opening here because I'm driving one Christmas present and talking on the other...I just got them a little early!

Poor Caroline...I put all of her gifts into one box because I knew she wouldn't care.  And she didn't.

Later that morning, we exchanged gifts with Jereme's parents.

At lunch, we went to my parents' house to eat and exchange presents.

Mom surprised at her new Nook...

And now crying over her charm bracelet.

Then we went back to Jereme's parents' house, along with my parents, to have dinner.

We ate a lot, opened a lot of gifts, and had a great time.  I think it was good to give the grandparents special time with the girls and I think it helped Emma Grace to break up the gifts and attention a little!  Our families were generous to us and we enjoyed celebrating Christmas with them!

Christmas 2011: Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we went to church and a Christmas party.  After coming home and tucking the girls into bed, it was time for Santa to get busy!