Anyway--we got to head home for the first time on December 20th and it was a wonderful, albiet extremely busy, trip! The long trip to San Francisco wasn't too terrible (except for the meal choices), but the flight from San Fran into Raleigh was utterly terrifying! It was pretty bumpy all along the way, but when we tried to land in RDU, the pilot couldn't land the plane and had to continue circling until he got a break in the weather. Needless to say, I had a minor panic attack and was in tears for the last 15 minutes or so of the flight. Luckily, we landed safely and got our bags ok and Lesley & Raleigh were waiting for us with open arms! As you could only imagine...Drew & Raleigh ran into each other's arms and stayed that way the entire ride home!
The next day was an early one and a long one...we filmed our first day of House Hunters in Raleigh and had to be up and raring to go by 8am. We filmed mostly at the house, doing our 'formal interviews' and such in the morning, then headed to the FBI station to recreate getting our fingerprints done. They finished up by doing a scene with me talking to Becky and then one with Drew talking to Charlie since they had this same experience when they were our age. After finishing at 6:00 on the dot, the rest of the family came over for a joint birthday dinner for me and Charlie. We finished off the night with a White Elephant gift swap with the whole fam...Drew & I are very excited about the board games we got!
After that, we were off to Greensboro on Saturday to spend a few days with my parents. We got to indulge in all sorts of things we had been missing out on...yummy, cheap Mexican food, Target, Maxie B's cake, Natty Greene's, hot dog pizza, visiting with Pa...and I got to see MY puppy, Layla! We got my parents' DVR set up, exchanged Christmas gifts and attempted to go through the lights at Tanglewood (but after sitting in line for an hour we decided it wasn't worth it.) 
We also got to finally cut out wedding cake since we didn't get to on our actual one-year anniversary. As much as I hate to say it...it was not good. FAIL! But it sure did look pretty!
We headed back to Raleigh on Christmas Eve and got to go to our home church, Hope, for their Christmas Eve service. Then we headed over to Catey & Ken's for their traditional Christmas Eve dinner. When we got home, Drew made us watch 'The Night They Saved Christmas', but it was followed up with 'Christmas Vacation'...so, all in all, it was a pretty great night!
Christmas morning, we woke up and just relaxed with Drew's parents, Lesley, and Grandmother. We got to have a leisurely morning of opening presents and talking about what everyone got. As usual, we were completely spoiled and are so thankful for everything we were able to give and to receive this year. We had a delicious Christmas lunch and then played some of our new games before Catey, Ken & the girls came over later in the evening.
The next day, we braved the mall (which actually wasn't that bad) and met up with our friends, Densay & Laura. I got to eat at one of my favorite restaurants, get my nails done and shop with my best friend while the boys went off to see a movie. We all met up for dinner they night before they both headed back to Wilmington. We stopped by Catey & Ken's for a bit to hang out then headed back home.
Thursday, the 27th, I got to do some shopping with Catey and Megan in the morning, then Drew and I headed to Chapel Hill to have lunch with John D. & Lisa at Spanky's. We then checked into our hotel, met up with my parents and headed for downtown to begin celebrating Alex & Zan's wedding! It was so great to see a whole bunch of my family at such a joyous occasion. We had a great time at the rehearsal, but called it an early night so we could rest up for the big day. The next morning, we joined everyone for a welcome breakfast and then my sister flew in from Nashville!! We got to have lunch as a family and then the girls got to get primped for the wedding. I had to be ready earlier in the day for pictures and such while everyone else relaxed. The wedding was absolutely wonderful...we all had such a great time! A big congrats to the newlyweds, Alex & Zan!!
Heading home the next day, we stopped by Cooper's BBQ so Drew could get his fill then swung by Brian & Caroline's apartment to see them and their puppies! That night the whole Peters clan gathered at Catey & Ken's house again for pizza, jell-o shots and game night! We were all rolling on the floor laughing at the new board game we got called Quelf (awful name, awesome game!)
On the 30th, we had lunch with my parents and Leigh before trekking up to DC for New Year's Eve with our friends, Walt & Kate. We got to finally see their new apartment and hang out for a little bit that night before heading to our hotel (where Drew officially made his Marriott Platinum status again!) We got to spend the day in DC with our dear friends, having yummy Mexican food for lunch, checking out the portrait gallery and prepping for the evening's festivities. We all headed to a friend's place for a pot luck dinner, a rousing game of Catch Phrase, champagne and the ball drop! It was the perfect 'we're too old to go out and deal with crowds and waste money' kind of New Year's Eve!
The next morning, we headed out early so we could relax for a little bit at home and have a family dinner at the house. Lesley and I got to go shopping at Target and then ended up having an impromptu game night with her new favorite game...Blokus!
Wednesday was our last day in Raleigh...I went with Lesley to a trampoline park and to have lunch with Catey while Drew went to lunch with one of his buddies. We spent most of the afternoon packing before making the rounds to say our goodbyes to everyone. We missed seeing Ken who was at work and Megan who was sick, but we'll be back soon enough! We had a wonderful last dinner at Winston's with Becky, Charlie, Brian and Caroline...where the waitress proceeded to dump butter in Caroline's hair :)
Once we were finally packed up, mom and dad drove over from Greensboro to spend a little bit more time with us and take us to the airport. Surprisingly enough...there were no tears shed this time! I definitely think it was easier to leave this time around because we knew what to expect coming back to New Zealand...and we got to look forward to arriving to summer weather! Our flying day was extremely long and exhausting and then we found out when we arrived in Auckland that one of our bags never made it on the plane in LA...womp womp!
We spent the rest of the weekend relaxing, unpacking, doing laundry, napping, and...oh yeah...planning our next big trip--Singapore & Thailand!!
We had such an amazing time back home and got to see almost everyone we wanted to see! It's hard to believe that we'll be heading home again in 2 and a half short months.
Cheers!
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