#LIGHTtheWORLD

Tonight, for FHE, we will be discussing and preparing for the #LIGHTtheWORLD initiative, which begins December 1st.


We will begin by watching this video:

and reading Matthew 5:16:

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

We'll discuss the video and scripture, and think of ways that we can serve others. 

I plan to use these FREE tools to help us with ideas and to record what we are doing as the month goes along:

• 25 Ways to Serve Calendar
• Kids Calendar of ways to Serve
• 25 Days of Service Journals

The important part isn't so much what happens tonight, but what will happen each day in December as we lead up to Christmas.  I'm excited to celebrate this season by serving others and I know it will bring a greater spirit into all of our festivities.

For Unto Us a Child Is Born

This week we celebrate Christmas and the birth of the Savior. And so, for this week, our “ponderizing” scripture will be Isaiah 9:6,

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

Here are my FHE lesson plans:

What does this scripture mean to you?

“Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given..”

He was sent here for us. He is a gift from our Heavenly Father to us.

“The government shall be upon his shoulder...”

In the Dec 2009 New Era, it says, “In ancient Israel, the priests and kings were clothed with a robe and wore the insignia of their office on the shoulder (see Isaiah 22:21–22). Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came “as one having authority” (Matthew 7:29). And He will reign as King of kings and Lord of lords during the Millennium, when “he reigns whose right it is to reign” (D&C 58:22; see also Articles of Faith 1:10).”

What are some of the names he is called? Why is he called them? What do these names for him teach us about him?

Have each person in the family choose one of these names (it is okay if more than one person chooses the same one) and ponder on how Jesus Christ can be that name for them personally. 

 Encourage them to share their thoughts & testimony. 

 Encourage each person to study and ponder that role that Christ plays in their life during this week as we celebrate Christmas.

A Day in SLC, With Friends

We usually go to Idaho for a weekend before Christmas to see our friends and have our annual Christmas party.  But this year, circumstances were unique and instead we went for a few days during the week after Christmas. 

I always get anxious about this trip.  It is long, over mountain passes, in the winter.  Our biggest car problems have occurred while we make this annual trip.  But this year, the roads were competely clear the entire way there and back!  Good for us, bad for the region.  The mountains just aren't getting enough snow this year. :S  But during our drives, I was very grateful for clear roads. ;)

I don't have very many photos of our time actually in Idaho.  We did a lot of hanging out and the kids played together.  I do have these photos from when the guys took some of the older kids back into the hills to do some shooting.  Acadia LOVED it!

But even though I don't have many pics from Idaho, I do have lots of pictures from the day we all spent down in SLC...

We began at the Joseph Smith Building and watched the new Joseph Smith movie.  Then we went to the church office building and went all the way to the top to get a bird's eye view of SLC and Temple Square.

After that, we journeyed over to the Conference Center for a tour of the building, including the roof.

We wanted to be down on Temple Square for the lights once it was dark, so we headed over and visited the North Visitor's Center first.

By the time we finished that, it was just dark enough for the lights to come on... it was beautiful!  We started right outside the visitor center where they have a huge nativity scene displayed and had the scriptures of the Savior's birth played over a speaker with beautiful music accompanying it.  Then we walked along the grounds, looking at all of the beautiful lights.  The weather was very cooperative and even though it was cool, it was not freezing and we were able to take our time to enjoy it.

Finally, our stomachs told us it was time to go.  We loaded into the cars (right after I got to have an "orchestrated chance meeting" with a very good friend that I haven't seen in a few years :D) and headed towards home, with the intent on stopping for dinner along the way.  That is what happened, but not without a little excitement.

It seems that along with our tradition of getting together every holiday season, we also need to have car drama.  I admit, I was SO GLAD it wasn't us this time!  But I felt really bad for our friends who's car's power steering completely gave out, leaving them stranded.  Stranded, but not alone.  The guys made a quick run to a store to do a quick fix right there in the parking lot, which allowed everyone to travel home in safety after dinner, then they spent the next morning giving it a more permanent fix.  If you've got to break down, they picked the right friends to break down with. ;)

Next year, we'll most likely be back to our usual routine of spending just a weekend together right before Christmas, but it was fun to try something a little different a new this time.  :)

Christmas Day

On Christmas morning, we woke the kids up early - yes, WE woke the kids up!  It was Sunday and we had church at 9am, but we knew it would be easiest to let the kids enjoy their stockings before church than to expect them to get ready with the stockings sitting there exposed and waiting. ;)  We had fun seeing what Santa had brought, then got dressed in our Christmas Sunday finest and enjoyed a wonderful Christmas centered Sacrament meeting. 

After church, we came home, changed into our comfy Christmas jammies and opened gifts.  We spent some time on Skype with some of our family, too.  Then, when it was time for dinner, we went to the Hills to spend the rest of the day/evening with them.  We had a delicious dinner, exchanged a few gifts, played some games, and had a lot of fun!

Chad played with this cool setting on his camera...

Chad also went around making sure he was in a picture with EVERYONE.  Well, almost everyone. :)

I do not know how it started, but at some point, we began having fun with magazines.  It was so great to have some of these celebrities come to our Christmas dinner/party.  We had fun interviewing them. ;)

Even Rori got in on the fun. lol

Christmas Hair

I'm almost 2 months behind, but I'm fixin' to do some catching up.  Are you ready?  Get set...  Let's go!

I contemplated for weeks about what to do for Rori's hair on Christmas.  Being on a Sunday morning, I wanted it to be gorgeous, but easy.  I was looking for that "WOW" hairdo, I admit it.  I decided to try a new way of curling her hair, using nylons.  We've used the sponge curlers in the past but they are not comfy to sleep in.  Using the nylons was much more comfortable, easy to take out, and gave us the same cute curls.  I took pics of the girls with Rori in her nylon curlers and them both in their Christmas jammies.  Rori got a little crazy... lol. 

Acadia rarely lets me do her hair.  She usually just likes it down and straight, and it is beautiful that way, so that's okay.  But after we took the pics above, she decided to let me put the nylons in her hair, too.  Her hair is very thick and heavy, so it didn't hold the curl quite as well as Rori's but it still gave her a nice, soft curl that she pulled up and I think she looked beautiful!  (While we were taking the pics, she kept blinking - every time!  It had us laughing as we tried to get just one decent pic of her with her eyes open. lol)

For Rori, we did something a little more fancy and I LOVED how it turned out!!!

The pictures don't quite do it justice, and I definitely did get the "wow"s that we were going for. ;)

Here are a couple of the girls together right before we headed to church...

These are a few of her favorite things...

For the last 11 years, our stake has hosted an annual Festival of the Nativities and a few years ago, my mom started coming up that weekend to attend with us.  This year she brought my brother, Andrew with her.  We had a really nice visit!

On Saturday, we headed into the gorge for a small hike to Punchbowl.  My mom loves nature and she loves the green Pacific Northwest, and I think she really liked the hike.  It was really pretty.  It was easy to imagine it even more green in the spring or more vibrant with fall colors just a month or two earlier, but even as it was, it was beautiful.

On Sunday, after church, we went to the Festival of that Nativities.  My mom loves nativities as much as I do; that's probably where I got it from.  We loved seeing the beautiful displays, listening to lovely music, and checking out the hundreds and hundreds of nativities.  I had several of my own displayed, including one from the Philippines.  I want to collect a nativity scene from the countries where we have family history, and the Philippines is one of them (my mom's father was Filipino).  There were a few Filipino nativities and my mom didn't know that one was mine, so I was so glad when she showed me her favorite one... MINE! :) 

Another really fun part of visiting the nativities is the children's room.  Rori always loves it!  There are lots of things for them to touch and play with.  And they can dress up!  

After the Festival of the Nativities, we invited the local family to come say hi and visit a little with Mom and Andrew.  I know mom likes seeing her siblings and neices and nephews.  And Ryan made a cake that he has made a couple of times before for my mom and she really likes.  It's a super rich, dark chocolate cake.  Visiting family, eating rich chocolate... yes, these are definitely more of her favorite things.

And I like to think that we are some of her favorite things, too. :)  We were so glad to have them come visit and hope they enjoyed it as much as we did.

Two Weddings and a Front Door

We had the opportunity of celebrating two new marriages today!  The first was for a woman that Ryan home teaches in our ward.  It was small and quiet and really nice.  The second was for a young woman that used to be in my Mia Maid class years ago... I just can't believe how grown up these girls are now!  She was absolutely beautiful and I'm so happy for her!

Almost nine years ago, we moved here and bought this house.  It has had a banged up front door with poor weather stripping around the sides and a scratched up door knocker that says "LEE" on it.  Well, finally, today, we bought a new front door.  It will be installed in a few days and I am excited!  I know, it is slightly pathetic to be excited over a new door, especially since this is not a super fancy door in any way... but I am! 

Today is one week away from Christmas Eve and I'm really looking forward to this week.  We're all ready here, and I love it because it lets us just enjoy the season with no stress or crazy shopping trips to fight our way through.  I think instead we'll do some caroling, spread some Christmas cheer, visit with friends, and watch some holiday movies. :)

What are your favorite ways to spend the last few days before Christmas?

A Month of Thanksgiving Day 28

Well, I knew posting would be sparse during our visit home for Thanksgiving, but it ended up being non existent!  We had a great visit though and THAT is what I'm thankful for now.

I am thankful that the car did run great, the weather was perfect for traveling, the kids didn't get carsick, and we arrived home in enough time for me to finish planning my Sunday School lesson (and for Ryan to clean the gutters while Cadi raked the backyard).  I'm also glad we were able to visit and see so many of our family and friends, though we never have enough time to see everyone.  I'm thankful for those who opened their homes to us, fed us, put up with us, etc.  I am thankful for Thanksgiving dinner because it was so incredibly delicious!  I am thankful for Forced Family Fun day (what we began calling the day after T-day because it is usually the one day that my family can all get together, and whether or not we all want to do whatever we're doing, we do it because we can do it together... sometimes other days are called Forced Family Fun days, too, but this is the original).  I am thankful that Ryan's parents were able to join my family for Thanksgiving again so we didn't have to go back and forth in order to see both.

Now that I'm home, I'm thankful that it is officially the Christmas season!  I am thankful that we have begun decorating.  (4 trees up, 3 to go!)  I am thankful for the music, smells, sights, and sounds of the holidays.  I love this time of year! :)

I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas!

Christmas 2010

We had such a wonderful Christmas and hope that everyone else did as well!

Our celebrations began on Christmas Eve.  We like to have a nice, quiet, Christ-centered dinner.  We sit on the floor, have most of the lights off, eat finger foods, and talk about what it might have been like for Mary and Joseph on that first Christmas.  This year, we invited some friends who are new to the area and do not have family around.  We loved having them with us!  After our dinner, we played Apples to Apples and then took turns playing around on the piano.  I took only a few pictures that night, but here they are:



Christmas morning was so fun!  This is what we woke up to:



We had a lot of fun opening gifts!  We like to open presents one at a time so we all get to see everything that each person gets.  It's easy since our family is pretty small. ;)  I remember one year growing up, though, when we were still opening gifts the next day! lol



Even though we don't take as long as my family did growing up, we still managed to "lose a few" before we were done... At least one of these was the real deal. ;)



Later in the day, we headed over to the Hills to spend Christmas evening with them.  We had delicious soups for dinner, played games for a little bit, goofed off, and made a video.  Yep, we made another crazy video, what else do you expect?  It was loads of fun!







The last group of photos were from the making of our holiday video (to be posted soon).  Acadia was cast as a hippo, the rest of us were little kids.  My Aunt Kris stayed to watch us make some of it, she observed that our craziness is in direct correlation to the lateness of the hour.  I have no idea what she's talking about. ;)

Our Christmas was so much fun!  We had a wonderful Christmas Eve focusing on the true reason for the season and sharing our home and tradition with friends, then had a super fun Christmas Day with our wonderful, crazy, totally fun family!  I hope that yours was just as wonderful! :)

Over the river(s) and thru the woods...

Every year we get together with some good friends we made when we lived back in Idaho during the early years of our marriage.  They still live in Idaho, so we head over (weather permitting) for a weekend each December to celebrate Christmas together.  It's a tradition that began when we were all young, newlywed students living away from family.  We would spend each holiday together and began several traditions while making many wonderful, fun, and often funny memories.

Last weekend was our annual Christmas weekend get together.  As always, we had a lot of fun!  And added so many more memories and stories to our growing collection.

Saturday is the party day.  We have a huge dinner, a fun gift exchange (pass the present), get a visit from a certain jolly man, and play games.  On Sunday, we tone it down a little, we still have a big dinner, have our real gift exchange, and usually act out the Nativity while Steve reads from Luke 2.  (This year, the nativity scene didn't quite happen.)

Here are a few photos...

Santa always brings every child a little gift.  (There are TWELVE kids in our group - plus this year, we had some other friends join us for Saturday night and that made SEVENTEEN KIDS!!!)  This year, Santa also brought something for the parents as well!  We all got a baggie of candy and an LED flashlight.  Oh, and of course a candy cane. :)  It must be hard to think of something for everyone in a group our size and with varying ages and interests, but I think everyone liked their gift from Santa this year - Thanks, big guy!



The girls showing what they got from their Pass-the-Present exchange:



Just some of the crazy people we choose to spend our time with:



I wish I had taken more photos, but as I've mentioned before, I've just been underwhelmed with my camera.  I think Ryan took half of the pictures we did get this time.  Thank you, Babe!

O Come Let Us Adore Him

Every year, our church has a Festival of the Nativities where hundreds of nativities are put on display.  There is one huge display in the cultural hall of our building, a smaller, cozier display in the multi-purpose room, decorated to appear as though you've just stepped into someone's home, and two children's rooms where there are nativities to play with, stories to hear, crafts to make, costumes to try one, etc.  In addition, there are live musical performances held in the chapel, a live nativitiy one of the evenings, and even the lawn and foyers are decorated beautifully to welcome thousands of visitors.  The festival is a four day event and open to the public for free.  It's one of our favorite ways to start the holidays!

My mom came up a couple of years ago to attend the festival and has been hooked ever since.  She was back up this year, with my brother, Ben.  I wish I had taken more pictures, but here are some of the few I did take.  First of all, Ben was SO patient with Rori!  She loved having him here and I dare say, abused the poor guy quite a bit.  Proof:



Here are some pictures of the Festival:


These were taken in the first children's room.  In this room, there are nativities that are kid-friendly so the kids can play with them, trees decorated by the children in our church, a story corner, and my kids' favorite: costumes to dress up in and a stable scene to take pictures in:



In the other children's room, there is a craft to make, building blocks to play with, and a corner where wood whittling can be demonstrated.  This room is called Jospeh's Workshop:



We really love this event and are so grateful to be able to share it with our family.  This year, I had about 20 nativities/items displayed in the festival, including the handmade nativity that my cousin made me last year.  I love participating in it!  I love the spirit of the whole event: going to set up my nativities, seeing all the other contributors and volunteers putting it all together, hearing the beautiful music during the festival, seeing the hundreds of different kinds of nativities, watching the kids dress up as part of the Nativity story, feeling the spirit, seeing the community come to celebrate and worship our Savior, etc. 

Recently, my mom posted this and this on her blogs.  Good thoughts and reminders about our Savior during this season as well as every other day of the year. :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We finished decorating for Christmas last week and one of my friends asked to see pictures, but Ryan had my camera so I had to wait before I was able to take any.  Now I've got my camera back (and a ton of uploading/editing to do so I can also share our Thanksgiving visit in California) so here are some pictures of our decked halls...

To start, we don't have many, but we do have a few non-Nativity decorations.  I don't mind Santa being a part of our Christmas, so long as he, and we, know his place, which is after the Savior.  Santa represents kindness, generosity, good will toward others, etc.  He gives without asking for anything in return and he wants everyone to treat others kindly.  The true spirit of Santa is a wonderful part of the holidays, it's just when Santa starts to overstep his bounds that we have a problem with him.  So, we teach our children what Christmas is truly about and what Santa can remind us of, but that he is NOT a necessary part of the season.  Our children understand that Santa is fun and gifts are fun, but that their purpose is to remind us of the Savior and that the Savior will always come first in our home.



The rest of our home is full of nativities!  We have over 40 nativity scenes throughout the house!  I try to set up some that the kids are allowed to play with first, so they are not tempted to play with my breakable sets when I'm setting them up later.  My kids are pretty good kids and I've never had a problem with them playing with the wrong nativity sets. :) 

Here are some of the decorations in our family room, the bottom two are some of the childrens' nativities, I didn't take pictures of all of the stuff we have, the kids also have another 5 or 6 nativities they can play with.  I love all of my nativities, they are each different and represent something unique for me.  For instance, under the TV, I love the olive wood nativity, made from wood collected from Olive Trees surrounding Jerusalem.  And my brother gave me the snowman set one year for Christmas - I had been wanting a snowman set but didn't always like the ones I saw, this set is exactly what I was looking for - I LOVE IT!  And my in-laws gave me the Brushkins set from the Phillipines (the lower left under the TV); I think it's cool - I really like foreign nativities and have a list of other countries I would love have a nativity from, too. ;)



The desk in the family room... My favorite part is the handmade nativity that my cousin made for me last year (the large set under the nativity advent calendar in the top right photo).



Next, the front room.  I love the nativity set on the mantle, it's a depiction of a children's pageant.  Adorable!  And I'm excited that this year I found a nativity stocking holder set that would work for our family and match our front room.  :)



And the trees... We have 7 set up in our home this year.  Here are most of the small ones.  From top left, clockwise: The nativity and mini tree in our entry way, Rori's room, Cadi's room, and finally, the bathroom tree and rubber ducky nativity.



This is the tree in the kitchen, the first picture doesn't show what is on it at all, the second picture only does slightly better. lol  It is decorated with nativity cookie cutters!  I love it!! :)



And finally, our big trees.  I put up two full-size trees every year, one in the front room that is matching and fancy and looks like it's straight out of a magazine or something, and then one in the family room that we all put up together, full of ornaments the kids have made or that we purchased on family vacations or received as gifts, etc.  It's a hodge-podge of our family memories and we love it!  Both trees are beautiful and since I could never choose between which I love more, I always do both! :)



Like I said before, I do have some other nativities/decorations that I didn't take pics of, but this is definitely most of it!  We also have a few more advent calendars/activities that we do daily that I didn't take a picture of.  I love the holidays!  I love that our home feels warm, cozy, and full of the Christmas spirit as we have lights, nativities, and trees all over.  I love sitting in a room with only the Christmas lights on, the soft glow is so beautiful! 

How do you decorate for Christmas?  Do you collect nativities, or snowmen, Santas, or nutcrackers?  Share your favorite parts of decorating for the holidays!  I love seeing and hearing about other peoples' deocrations as much as I love sharing my own! ;)

Thank you Grandma and Uncles!

One of the gifts that the girls received for Christmas was a gift card to Build-a-Bear from my mom and my brothers who still live at home.  Acadia had a half day of school today and we decided that it would be a good day for us to go visit the mall and redeem their gift card.

We got there and had fun looking at all of the different choices.  Aurora almost got a monkey that looks just like Curious George, but in the end she decided on a super cute and fuzzy teddy bear.  Acadia likes to sleep with all of her stuffed animals and prefers them sans clothes, so she was able to make two animals instead of just one with an outfit.  Both girls were very happy with their new friends!

(Click on the collage to make it bigger.)


When we got home, they made this video to say thank you:

16th Day of Christmas?

I think this was a record for me, we only JUST got our Christmas decorations put away today. Usually, I take them down around the first of the year. I don't remember why, but for whatever reason, Ryan wasn't able to bring the tubs and boxes down from the shed, so it waited... until today.

The funny thing was, I really didn't mind too much. Okay, the last day or two were starting to feel like we were pushing it. ;) But usually, I start to feel antsy if the decorations are up after the first of the year.

I really love Christmas and I love having the whole house decorated, celebrating the season and our Savior's birth. But it is also nice to have our house back to normal. Not that we're back to normal quite yet, we're still working on getting things put back in place, but we will be back to normal soon. ;)

Our Christmas

We had a really nice Christmas!  It began on Christmas Eve with our traditional quiet meal, focusing on the first Christmas.  We read a new story book and enjoyed the simple "shepherd's dinner".  We invited some friends who are new to the area and don't have family to spend the holidays with; it was great to share it with them!

Then of course, came Christmas morning!  Our first Christmas gift was that the girls slept in until 8am!!!  I was up well before them! lol  I was able to start breakfast and have the cameras all set up and ready to capture their faces as they came down the hall to the family room.

We took video of everyone opening their stockings, but here are some pics of other presents being unwrapped.



My family draws names for Christmas; we have two exchanges: storebought and homemade.  We all get most excited about our homemade exchange, I think it's one of the best parts of giving/receiving at Christmas!  Here are pics of the gifts we received: 



(Top left) My brother-in-law, Tom, bought me a beautiful necklace.  It's hard to see, but engraved along the circle are the names of Ryan and each of the girls.   (Top right) Ruth made Acadia a mirror and a picture frame with her name on it.  (Bottom left)  Ryan is wearing one of the three sweaters that Debi bought him and is also wearing the "manly apron" that Tom made him.  (Middle Right)  Teresa gave me this box... what could it be?  (Bottom Right)  The Official Teresa's Question Game, of course!!!

We all loved our gifts. :)

The girls' big gifts came at the end of the gift opening.  They got a puppy AND a pony!



So spoiled... ;)

That afternoon, we went to my aunt's house for Christmas dinner.  Every time we go to my aunt's house, I look forward to the beautiful view of Mt. St. Helens through their huge picture window in their great room.  And almost everytime, it's cloudy and we get a beautiful, snow covered view of the valley and hills, but no Mt. St. Helens.  This year, however, it was bright, sunny, and clear!  I can finally show you what the view is like at my aunt's house:



It is just so gorgeous there! :)

Rori kept laying under their tree.  My uncle, Jeff kept teasing her that he was going to put a bow on her because she was a present.  She would then say, "No, I'm not a present, I'm a princess!"  lol  And isn't she though - and she was wearing a "princess" shirt, so I guess Jeff should have known better. ;)



We had a delicious meal and great company.  The kids (and Ryan, too) always love playing with the games in the basement (ping pong, air hockey, fooz ball, etc.).  We watched It's a Wonderful Life (in color - I think it was my first time seeing it in color; I liked it!).  By the time the movie was over, the cats were really getting to Ryan and Rori was getting tired, so we headed for home. 

We had such a nice day, it was a wonderful Christmas. :)

Up on the rooftop...

I seriously hear someone up on my rooftop right now. Did Santa come early??? He's not due for about 15 hours!

Just checked... nope, it's just Ryan doing some work up in the ceiling. ;)

Christmas Eve

I took this quiz this morning:

You Are Christmas Eve

You are a patient person, and you would agree that anticipation is sometimes better than the main event. There's something magical about the night before Christmas - when it feels like anything could happen! You are a somewhat quiet and spiritual person. You need a lot of alone time to process what's going on around you. You are optimistic and idealistic. You can't help but feel like things are going to work out.

Are You Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?

I love Christmas Day but I think this is pretty accurate.  I was thinking last night about how much I love the whole holiday season and I'm almost sad when Christmas Day actually comes because that means it will be over.  I do like the anticipation and I do love all of the build up and preparations.  I love the spirit of it all and even though we try to keep it with us all year round, the truth is: it's just not the same.  In a few days, most of the world will go back to thinking of themselves, not others.  While people will sing hymns about the savior publicly today, in a week we will be back to taking God out of anything public.  I wish this season COULD last, truly last, all year round. 

But for now, it IS Christmas Eve and I LOVE it!  I am happy that Ryan has the day off and we can spend it as a family together.  I am very excited to have our special evening tonight, focusing on the Savior's birth.  I am looking forward to conspiring with Santa tonight, tapping into his spirit of selfless and annonymous giving.  I can't wait to see the joy on my children's faces as they wake up tomorrow morning after having been very patient for the last month.  I am looking forward to gathering with aunts, uncles, and cousins for Christmas dinner.  I am excited to call family and loved ones to wish them a Merry Christmas, including getting to talk to my brother who is serving a mission in Canada right now.  The next two days have alot of great times in store!

I hope you will all enjoy these special moments, too.  Merry Christmas (and Merry Christmas Eve)!

Christmas in Idaho

When we lived in Idaho, we made dear, dear friends that we've stayed close to over the years.  When we lived in Pocatello, none of us had family close, so we often spent our holidays together.  Now that we have all moved on, we don't live as close to eachother and don't get to see each other as much.  But we still all set aside one weekend in December to gather and have a special Christmas weekend.  We have the best time, every year!  And every year, we create more memorable moments that we look back and laugh at for years to come. 

This past weekend was our annual Christmas get together.  I didn't take as many pics as I usually do because Rori wasn't feeling too good, so I usually had her snuggled up with me on the couch.  But we still all had a fun time and I did manage to get a few pics...



On our drive home, we reached the beginning of the Columbia River Gorge right at sunset.  It was BEAUTIFUL! 

Festival Pics

Earlier this month, we visited the Festival of the Nativities.  Here are some pics from our visit: