Home for the Holidays and Our 1st X-Country Adventure

Matt and I traveled back to PA for the holidays this year to spend Christmas with my family.  As usual, it was a very busy trip, but lots of fun.  We were able to visit with lots of family and friends!

For the first part of our trip, we went to visit my sister and her husband near Altoona, PA to see their new house!  On our way there, we stopped by Penn State to snap some photos with the Joe Pa statue (in case they decide to take it down - ugh) and some other fun pictures, too.  Being back there was bittersweet:  it was great to be there and see all the places we used to love to go (Irvings for Bruschetta Grande, Rathskeller for cheap pitchers, etc.), but it was also sad thinking about all of the things that have happened recently and how they have impacted PSU.

My sister's house is really nice and I am so glad that we got a chance to visit them while we were in PA. After our Altoona trip, we drove back to my parents' house where we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas.  Whenever we are back in PA, we have lots of people to see.  We got the chance to visit with my aunts, uncles, cousins, and even with my Great Aunt and Great Uncle!  We also stopped by to visit with Jane and Frank, close friends of my family.

For our last night in PA, Matt and I got a hotel room in Philly in order to get together with lots of our PSU and high school friends.  Thirteen of us met for dinner and then went out for drinks after.  I am sooo glad we got the chance to get together while we were there since we hardly ever get to see them.

Matt and I flew back to Calgary and celebrated New Year's at home.  We made lots of yummy snacks, had champagne and got all dressed up but decided to ring in the new year at our house since we had just been traveling so much.  We made sure to say, "Happy New Year" to everyone that we know in multiple time zones (which is becoming a New Year's tradition since we are all so spread out!): my family on the east coast, Matt's family in Indiana and Texas, and of course our own New Year's in Calgary!

Also, shortly after New Year's, we went cross-country skiing at night with my friend, Brooke and a bunch of her friends.  It was our first time cross-country skiing and we weren't quite sure what to expect.  It was definitely a workout, but lots of fun!  It was so pretty to ski at night with the moonlit mountains all around us!  Matt and I were really good at coasting downhill, but uphill was a whole other story.  After skiing for about 2 hours, we all went to dinner at a Mexican restaurant nearby.  It was a nice treat after lots of hard work!  Matt and I can't wait to do it again...