A Very Merry Christmas!

This Christmas was a wonderful adventure for us. It was the first year we haven't gone home to Seattle for the holidays. Despite missing being with grandmas and grandpas, we had a great time. Emily got really into Santa this year and that made it even more fun. Christmas Eve we made cookies and frosted them for Santa and left carrots for the reindeer. Emily loved this part. She was very concerned that Santa eat all of his cookies. After that, Deborah's girls read some Christmas books to the little ones and we sang carols. Emily was very anxious to go to bed so Santa could come.





Christmas morning-the traditional lining up on the stairs.

Lauren in her dream car!

Emily really wanted a dog ( a real one) for Christmas but she seems to be satisfied with the next best thing- Lucky, The Wonder Pup!



I think Lauren was a little overwhelmed Christmas morning-so much going on, but she slowly warmed up to the idea.

We definately got spoiled this Christmas. Thanks to everyone who made our Christmas so great, especially Deborah and Allen for hosting. We had the best time!

Christmas Dresses!

Christmas dresses was always one of my favorite traditions as a little girl, so it's fun to have little girls to dress up. Special thanks to Great-Grandma Polson, she sends the girls their dresses every year. We love it!

Serious Skills!

We think Lauren has a future as a hair dresser. What do you think?

Disneyland x2!

We've been to Disneyland twice in the last 2 weeks. Disneyland is so fun at Christmas it was hard to resist. Last week we took the girls so they could see Santa. It's the best Santa, he looks so real. Emily loved it, Lauren, of course, did not. She refused to sit on his lap but did oblige and joined it the family shot. We stayed late and watched the fireworks and snow (fake, of course). Although it was crazy busy we still had a fun time.







Our second visit was an adults only visit. Wednesday was Tyson's birthday, so we dropped off kids and went alone. Special thanks to our families that took our kids. Unfortunately it was pouring rain the entire time but that meant the lines were super short. So, although a little wet, we had a blast. We had dinner in the Blue Bayou, which was very cool and then we enjoyed all of the "big kid" rides that we never get to go on. We did take a break from the rain and ride Small World, which was just as I remembered it, long and loud. Thanks Tyson for having a birthday.

Future Occupation??

Lately the girls like to get out Jason's tool and "fix" the chairs. Future auto mechanics? Maybe they should just stick to chairs.

Little Helpers!

The other night Jason decided to make smoothies and of course the girls wanted to help. Jason made a rookie mistake and left the blender plugged in with the lid off. And the result is, Lauren pushed one little button and made one big mess. I have to admit, from across the room it was pretty entertaining, shear panic, arms flying, little girls screaming, ending in tears for the girls and laughs for us. Notice the large chunks of frozen strawberries strewn about.

Trimming the Tree!

In the past we have never stayed home for Christmas, so we have never had a Christmas tree (sad, I know). Since we are staying home this year, we invested in a small, pre-lit (love that) Christmas tree. Sunday night we dusted off the Christmas music and let the girls decorate the tree. They had so much fun. The test now will be to see how long Lauren leaves the ornaments on the tree. I have a feeling we'll be re-decorating quite a bit. Despite our 75 degree weather, we are so exited for the Christmas season.

Just like Dad!

Thanks to some friends of my sister, each Thanksgiving we get to go to the Calloway Golf Test Center and play a little golf. This year Emily got to go with her dad. She had a great time, although Jason said she's a little stubborn. "I already know how to do it." So independent.

Christmas Star!

Ok, so I don't usually post pictures of things that I've made but I just loved this so much I had to share. My sister taught this class at her Relief Society Super Saturday so when I was down for Thanksgiving she let me make one. It's just a metal star with scrapbook paper decoupaged on. It was not too hard to make and turned out so cool. I love it!!! Now I want to do some just for my regular decor.

Our Seattle Visit!

Sorry we've been absent for a while, but we just returned from a wonderful visit to Seattle. It was chilly, rainy and cloudy. So perfect. Actually we had some really great sunny days too. We had a great time visiting family and old friends. It's never enough time but we were able to do lots of fun things. Sorry about the picture overload that follows but we just had lots to share. Just think there even things we did I forgot to take pictures of. We owe both our parents, family and friends a big thanks for making our trip so wonderful. Although we will miss being there for the holidays, it was fun to go at a time when it's not quite so crazy. Seattle is so beautiful and it will always be a special place for us.

The Lake House

Always one of our highlights of our visits to Seattle is our trip to Jason's parents lakehouse. Jason's dad has built it almost entirely by himself and it's wonderful. It is so peaceful and beautiful. We always love to go stay a night. This time grandpa treated the kids to a ride in his little boat, Emily even got to steer. So fun!

Point Defiance Zoo

We had a great visit to the zoo. They've remodeled it a lot since I had been there last and it was really great. It was a beautiful day, sunny but chilly, perfect.

Tuppance a bag...

Whenever we are in Seattle, one of our favorites spots to visit is Ivar's. It's a little seafood resturant on the waterfront. The food is great but what we really go for is to feed the seagulls. They'll take french fries right out of you hands (if you're french fry isn't long enough, they might take you finger too.) The birds were particularly crazy this time, tourist off season I guess. The girls were very brave and had a great time.

Seattle Science Center

When Jason got to Seattle, we took the girls downtown Seattle to the Pacific Science Center. It was a great day, not crowded at all. The girls basically had the place all the themselves.

Emily in the Butterfly house...she was a little disappointed that none of them would land on her.

Lauren loved this snake...yuck.

Fun with Bubbles!

Don't worry, it's fake.

The girls loved using umbrellas...crazy kids.

Carnation

One of our days in Seattle, we did a little tour of the Snoqualmie Valley. I spent a lot of time there growing up since my grandparents lived in Carnation. We started at Snoqualmie Falls, went to Carnation, saw my grandparents old home, had lunch at Xtapa (not sure that's spelled right, my grandmas favorite Mexican resturant), went to Remilinger Farms and finished off by driving by Carnation Milk Farms. My grandpa worked for Carnation Milk Farms and we used to go visit when we were small (it's actually now used as a camp for special needs children.) It was a fun day. It was nice to show my girls some of the places I loved as a kid.

Snoqualmie Falls

The falls were amazing this year. There had been quite a bit of rain before we came and there was so much water coming over. I don't know that I've ever seen them that big. It was actually difficult to see them at some points because there was so much mist coming up. It was very cool though.

Raking Fall Leaves

Something we don't get to do very often, but the girls loved it. It was so fun to bundle them up and send them out. They had a great time!

With their friends, Mike and Woody!