and we're back

so, if you hadn't noticed, I've been a little out of touch. In my two month absence, quite A LOT happened. First, in November, John's mom came to visit, and we went to lovely, quaint Salzburg. Seriously, I think it might be one of my favorite places that we have visited. It's the quintessential ski town that vail and aspen modeled (although skiing is about an hour away) and yet it has this young hip vibe that is way cool. Plus, the shopping is fantastic!

After that, I spent the better part of the following two weeks visiting Vienna's famed Christmas markets in search of the perfect Christmas presents for family and friends. The markets are so beautiful and fun! They sell great stuff, and Chloe and I had a blast (except for the not so minor incident where I got my wallet pickpocketed - keep those purses zipped!). The whole family even went in to Vienna for Saturday night festivities. Here's a photo of Vienna's most famous one at their city hall.

John, Chloe and I also went to a Christmas market in Schlosshof, a castle/estate in the Austrian countryside. They had camels, llamas, mountain goats, a live nativity scene and yummy food! We even bought a fruit cake that tastes nothing like the fruit cakes of the US - it was delicious. We also accidentally bought some cheese that smelled up our whole house and gave new meaning to the word stinky! Here's Chloe checking out the camels:


Then, we made our trek back to Texas for the holidays. We had a wonderful time visiting family and friends, and Chloe's first Christmas was amazing. She had a fabulous time playing with her cousin Tessa who is one year old. If we didn't get to see you while we were there, it wasn't because we didn't want to! In 2 1/2 weeks we went from Austin to Houston to Dallas and back to Austin - trying to fit in doctors' appointments, fingerprinting (!), birthday celebrations, Christmas, family and friend visits, etc. And of course, I tried to do just a little shopping for essentials - what's a visit without a trip (or trips) to Nordstroms? Here's Chloe and Tessa on Christmas Eve:
aren't they so cute! And, they had a ton of presents to open followed by more presents at the Cummins' house. Chloe with her presents:


On our way back, we ended up with about 350 lbs of luggage consisting of 5 checked bags, two carryon suitcases, a stroller, a diaper bag, my purse and John's computer bag - 3 of the 5 checked bags were full of toys! Wow, we are blessed.

I will be posting tons of pics soon and as my Christmas toy was a new HD video cam, I'll also be posting video!

We miss you all and really enjoyed our time with you for those we were able to see! We also realized once we got back that we are in the right place for right now and are thankful for it. It seems that before we left we had put so much emphasis on getting back to Texas for Christmas that we forgot to enjoy the simplicity of our life over here. We also are excited for our upcoming travel plans (snowboarding in a week) and for those of you planning visits.