Festivities

Don't you just love this time of year? Everything about Christmastime just cheers me up. Here are a few of the things we've been doing lately.

I finally got a few pictures of John and Mike (his dad) playing accordians. A guy in the ward owns a couple and let their family borrow them because he thought it would be cool if they could learn. John and Mike pull them out every once and a while have picked it up on it pretty well. I think they're having a little bit too much fun though. (btw John's accordian there is over 100 yrs old.) They were playing a duet of "Jingle Bells" but I could get the video to work.

Lana (John's mom) and I made 8 different cookies using the same sugar cookie dough. She got a thing in the mail about the 12 cookies of Christmas. We would have made 9 kinds, but I happened to drop the dough and a bowl that shattered into a million little pieces. Holy cow that glass got everywhere! It was pretty hilarious actually. We had a great time.

Jenny, Amanda (John's sisters) and I then made homemade candy canes. Wow, that was intense let me tell you! The white part ended up kinda yellow, and I don't think any of us really even like candy canes all that much, but we sure had fun! We had to butter up our hands and pull the candy like taffy, while it was still so incredibly hot. We had to eventually have everyone else in the house help at the end when we were still pulling, twisting, and cutting the canes. We got a few really good ones. Sorry, I forgot pictures of the finished product.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Happily Ever After

Four years and we're still jumping for joy!

Over the river and through the woods...

I took Lexi to Nana's house this week to make a gingerbread house. John's mom made Christmas cookies with her last year, so it's become a tradition to work on some kind of treat each December. Lexi thought it was pretty cool to make something pretty out of candy. It's such a blessing to live near family. Lexi's started eating it and I think she will need some help, don't you think? ;o)

Washington Travel bLog

We recently got back from our trip to Washington. It was great to see family and get a break from the rain and gloom of wintertime. James and my parents were at home and Marisha and April and George came for Thanksgiving. April even stayed a few days longer because she loves us so much! :o) We had a great time playing games, jumping on the trampoline, having pillow fights, going to playgrounds, movies - Twilight for the girls (yes, I very much liked the book and movie - never thought I would!) and James Bond for the guys. John and I also spent a night away at Leavenworth, WA and hit the Cheese Factory for a tour on the way home. We also were able to go the temple a couple of times, which was awesome. We got to go through when James went for the first time too. By the way, for those I haven't told, he's going on a mission to South Africa.

Dad and George test drove this smart car and came to show us. Marisha took a little spin too.


Lexi and Grandpa had a lot of pillow fights. Lexi just "pushed" him off the bed here

Playground of dreams

George and April took the girls to McDonalds Playland. Too bad they couldn't play too...

They also took Lexi to see the Temple John and I were married in. She's been into watching our wedding DVD that has us walking out of the temple. She was adamant about getting married right then since they were at the temple, but had to settle for some pictures and a tiny peak inside.


Us at Leavenworth

We helped Marisha make cookie dough, cinnamon rolls, and cheese balls to earn money

Lexi getting James. What a good sport.

Oh, and I almost forgot...she's wearing pull-ups in this picture. April worked with her a lot while we were in Leavenworth to get her potty-trained. She's pretty much there now, which is AWESOME! We're home now, I'm getting over being sick (of course, it's the holidays!), and James just got here to stay for a week and a half. He drove our car up on the ferry which means we now have 2 cars! Wahoo! Happy December!