Well it’s officially been a week today since I’ve got back home to Portland from my trip to Michigan…so I figured it’s high time I share some photos from my visit!
Last month Cam had to go out of town for work for a week, so I decided to fly back to Michigan the week before Thanksgiving to get a jump start on my visit with my family! I was there for just over two weeks, which is kind of a long time but it always ends up going by fast. The first few days I was pretty much just working the entire time, but my first weekend there I went with my parents to get a Christmas tree. My family usually has an artificial tree but this year I thought it would be fun for us to get a real one! It was a bit of an adventure getting it, but we ended up finding the perfect balsam fir 🙂
Found it!
Cutting the tree down…
It made it home in one piece!
The finished tree all decorated for Christmas 🙂
My sister and her boyfriend flew in from NYC and Cam flew in from Oregon the day before Thanksgiving; when everyone finally got to Michigan, we all had dinner in Ann Arbor at Zingerman’s Roadhouse! I am slightly obsessed with Zingerman’s and would definitely recommend this restaurant if you’re ever in Ann Arbor! It was fun for us all to catch up and I got an early birthday surprise!
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| Love my parents! |
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| I think these three were all a little tired from traveling 🙂 |
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| The Roadhouse is famous for their mac & cheese – I got the pimento cheese bacon version and it was to die for! Really rich but totally amazing. But then again you can’t go wrong with bacon can you? |
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| My birthday donut sundae 🙂 |
Thanksgiving morning, we got a little bit of snow in Michigan so it almost made it feel like Christmas!
We had a relaxing day at home before heading over to my aunt and uncle’s for Thanksgiving dinner. And even though I had tons of time, I was still the last one to be ready by at least a half hour. Ha.
Why do I look like Jan from The Office here? So weird.
My aunt and uncle live super close to my parents, so we didn’t have to go far for Thanksgiving dinner!
It was so nice to see my cousins and for everyone to be together 🙂
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| Kayla clearly got my memo about wearing leopard print. Just like the pilgrims. Ha. |
Carving the turkeys…with Cameron snacking. LOL.
Everyone at dinner!
Kayla, Ben, and Melissa
Mom & Dad and Grandma & Grandpa
Obligatory Christmas tree picture 🙂
I couldn’t decide which one I liked better…so I put them both up 🙂
My cousin Olivia and her husband Jake just had a beautiful baby boy the week before Thanksgiving, so getting to spend time with him was definitely the highlight of the day…he is so precious!
Pretty sure that in this picture I’m being told by my sister/my cousins how I was a huge baby hog back in the day when my youngest cousin Evan (who’s now in middle school, eeek!) was a baby because (according to them) I used to not let anyone hold him but me. I don’t remember this but whatevs.
He is so cute…and the baby isn’t bad either! Bah-dum-bum-pshhh.
Baby Luke with his “aunts” who like to rock a red lip on holidays, apparently.
All the cousins with Grandma & Grandpa 🙂
Tried to get one of the six of us all looking at the camera…
…didn’t quite happen, but that’s ok 🙂
The next day, we went to go visit my aunt who unfortunately broke her arm and couldn’t be at Thanksgiving this year. She’s an avid reader of my blog – hope you’re feeling better Aunt Harriet!
I think my cousin Michael belongs on the West Coast 🙂
Casual group shot 🙂
Friday night, Cam and I got to spend some time in Ann Arbor, which really is my happy place. We have so many good memories in that town and I love going back any chance I can. Main Street was all decorated for Christmas, so it was fun to walk around…even though it was freezing cold!
That is definitely one thing I do not miss about Michigan!
Saturday morning, we were up bright and early because it was time for football!
When we realized we were going to be in Michigan for the weekend of the Ohio State game, we thought it would be really fun for us to go to the game with my sister and her boyfriend. Ben has actually been to Ann Arbor a few other times before but not for a game. A football Saturday in Michigan Stadium is really something special to experience and the Michigan/Ohio State game is a pretty big deal.
I couldn’t lug my giant camera into the Big House, so I had to be sure to get a bunch of pictures before we headed out to tailgate!
So…I thought Ben was just taking a picture of Cam and I…
…and I guess I didn’t realize Melissa was trying to get in it too?
Awkward.
There we go…ha.
This was definitely not Melissa’s football Saturday in Ann Arbor!
We also got to see our friends Jeff and Neil (who was rocking a pretty awesome Movember stache since the game was on 11/30) – it was great to spend some time with them!
We got to see the marching band making their way to the Big House…so much fun!
Tailgating before the game 🙂
Unfortunately, Michigan hadn’t been doing so hot in the later part of the season this year, and Ohio State was expected to beat us by a lot so we were expecting a kind of meh game. However, it ended up being SUCH an incredibly exciting game! Michigan/Ohio State is such an intense rivalry to begin with, but the fact that it ended up being so so close made it a really crazy game to be at!
I think our strong performance was partly due to Ben’s “Beat Ohio State” pin. LOL.
Also, we were worried we were going to be freezing but we ended up being in the sun the whole game so it really wasn’t too cold. Unfortunately, Michigan did end up losing by one point (the final score was 42-41) but it was definitely a very thrilling game for Ben’s first time in the Big House.
Win or lose, we will always be proud Wolverines 🙂 GO BLUE!
Melissa and Ben flew back to New York super early on my birthday the following day, and it was a pretty low-key Sunday. If I’m being honest, I was not in the best mood on my birthday, which was really hormonal dumb. I’m human and occasionally let irrational emotions get the best of me and put me in a funk for no reason, which really sucks, but it happens. And even though I can be a little ridiculous sometimes, I’m thankful I have a family that loves me no matter what.
Plus, I did get a delicious cake that I proceeded to eat for the next four days 🙂
Overall, it was a great visit to Michigan this time around. With Thanksgiving being so late this year, it was really nice to get to experience some of the magic of the Christmas season in the Mitten. I really loved being able to enjoy the tree at my parents’ house as well as seeing all the decorations that were out in full-force everywhere, especially since we won’t be back for Christmas.
I really love the tree my parents ended up with, it looked so pretty!
Holiday decorations at the mall in Michigan 🙂
Heading back to Oregon last week 🙂
Welp, if you’re still reading I’m impressed. I realize this is a lot of photos, but I wanted to remember everything and it’s easier just to put it in one post 🙂 Plus, I seriously have so many random, unflattering outtake photos from this trip that I didn’t post so you’re welcome for that. Trust me.
PS: Linking up with Shanna for Random Wednesday today! 🙂