We're back home

After finishing exams & work on the 18th, packing up that Saturday and heading down to Brookhaven (4 hr drive), we spent Christmas there. As I wrote a little bit below, we had a wonderful first Christmas together. It was really fun to spend Christmas with Madison's family, and see the different traditions and such. We had a great time there. And I got a sewing machine!!! I am so excited to use it...last night when we came home, I immediately went to the office and looked at it again. :-) I'm pumped to use it, and it will be nice to have stuff to do while Madison is busy with his classes. I will definitley blog about my projects. I have a feeling I won't see Madison nearly as much this semester...his classes are obviously going to be harder, and with some of the profs he has, I feel like it's going to be a lot more time consuming than it already was this semester. So, I will sew, and I will do fun projects, as well as getting back into composing music which I love to do for fun. I also plan to learn something difficult on violin, and work on my Chopin piece I'm learning on piano.

After driving to Preston, MS to see Madison's grandparents on the 26th-27th, we made the trek back to Oxford and arrived that evening. We did laundry and packed back up for Illinois. We got up somewhat early on the 28th, and drove to Normal, IL. (8.5 hours). After hanging out with dad and doing our Christmas with him, we went to Wheaton on the 30th. It was a really busy time and we didn't get to see everyone we wanted to see, but it was really fun. Just not long enough! We wanted to go to IKEA & Aurora outlet malls and such, but our time was limited. We had a great New Years Eve with friends, and had a blast. It flew by way too fast! We went back to Dad's the night of the 1st, watched the Cotton Bowl on the 2nd and hung around Normal, then on the 3rd, we headed back home. And here we are!

We are figuring out our schedules and I am coming up with a master copy of both of our schedules so we both can keep track of each other. We have been rocking out to our Rock Band 2 and having fun playing mario party and such. Madison is reading a Law & Bioethics book for fun, and I'm working on menu planning & finding new recipes. Madison's grandma gave me 2 huge binders of all her favorite recipes, so I have been flipping through the one Bekah made of all my family recipes, and that one, and making lists. It's more fun than it sounds!

We both start back on the 12th, so it's nice to have a completely chill week. We are taking walks every day and trying to get back into being healthy & being in shape. We're having fun spending time at home after a very crazy but fun couple of weeks. We're exhausted!