Jolly Old St Nicholas

For Family Night on Monday we decided to go out to Washington Square Mall and see Santa. We were a little worried about how the kids would handle him, but they were both champs, at least for the picture. Topher wasn't so sure about him, but he didn't cry at all he just reached for me after I snapped this photo. Bekah wouldn't talk to him until after she was off his lap, but she snuggled right onto his lap when he picked her up. She really loved it.

At this mall there is also an 8 foot tall bear named Chester that will talk to you and sing Christmas songs with you. Bekah must have carried on a 10 minute conversation with the bear about the Tickle me Elmo she wants for Christmas, bicycles, her Christmas tree and who knows what else.

We had a lot of fun just walking around the mall and looking at all the decorations in the windows and the hallways. Bekah especially loved the Build a Bear store and the Disney store, it was kind of hard to pull her away from them. It was a really great night though, I sure love having Chad home so early in the day, we were able to get to the mall before the crowds got there. We've been able to have some really fun time together as a family thanks to his schedule. We are a very blessed family!

Cutting Down O Tannenbaum

On Saturday, we decided to get our tree. We thought that this year that we would go to one of those U-cut places because Chad thought it would be fun. We drove around to different places looking around and feeling kind of disappointed in the selection of trees they had. So we didn't stop at any of them. We then saw a handmade sign that said Martin's U-cut Tree's in Boring, so we followed the signs for a long way out and found the cutest little Christmas tree farm! It had probably thousands of trees in all different varieties and sizes, they provided the saw if you didn't have one,(we did of course, have you met my husband?), they had a darling little wreath shop with free hot cocoa and twine to tie up your tree. Once we found the tree of our dreams and Bekah and Chad cut her down and put it top of the car the people there gave us all a little candy cane on our way out. It was such a fun experience, despite the bitter cold that was going right through us in sudden batches of wind. We recommend this place to any of you Oregonians that are looking for a good, real, fresh tree. Bekah had an absolute blast picking out "her" tree, and "helping" dad cut it down. Christopher was happy as usual, doing whatever, even in the cold! I was enjoying doing something Christmasy with the family and Chad was thinking he was pretty cool with his little tree saw. It was a fun family activity for all.

It's Beginning to look a lot like Christmas

After we brought the tree home and Chad got it all ready for the house, we got straight to work making our home ready for the Holidays. We got out our two huge totes of decorations, made a mess of them and then put them in all the nooks and crannies of our small little apartment. The tree was a lot bigger than we thought it was and takes up a good portion of our living room. It's really pretty though and both of the kids' eyes light up whenever they come into the room. They love it! Bekah was a lot of help decorating the tree this year, she even put the star on top! Christopher loved the lights, but the tree kept brushing the top of his head when he crawled under it, so he didn't want to be under it at all. He is having a ball with all the metal canisters though. I have about a dozen of them and decided since I don't have holiday goodies in them yet, they can be his drums for now. I have them all in a little corner with the Christmas stuffed toys and board books. It is feeling quite Christmasy in here!

My Little Artist

Bekah loves to draw, she is drawing all the time and telling us to draw her things all the time. Until today though her drawings have been indistinguishable scribbles and cute little doodles. I couldn't tell the difference between a polar bear and a carrot, but she was always sure of what she had drawn. Today she brought me this picture and said it was me, her dad and herself. I couldn't believe it! (She is the smaller triangle, I am the one on the left and her dad is in the middle). She drew all their little faces and feet and everything. Of course I have a 3rd eye or something, but they actually look like little people! I am so impressed! She is growing up so fast! Watch out art world, Bekah is coming!

Halloween 2006

Our Halloween lasted a few days this year!
On Friday the 27th we went to a Halloween Party at the Carter's house. It was a lot of fun, we all dressed up, ate spooky or nauseating looking treats and played some crazy games! I made a disgusting looking kitty litter cake, that just about made my mom vomit, but the guys thought it was pretty funny to eat and make comments about it while eating it, (I won't give you the details of their comments here, you'll have to use your imagination, if it's disgusting, they said it!).
Before the party we went to our wards trunk or treat, The kids got quite a bit of loot and had fun seeing their friends there! Look at all that candy, and they got even more than that last night!
For Halloween, after flu shots, we went to the mall and got some pictures taken, (though the kids would not cooperate when they were in their costumes!). Then we did the mall trick or treat. Bekah and Chad also hit my mom's neighborhood while Topher slept. There is so much candy in this house right now! We are all a little sweeted out! Hope everyone else had an equally delicious Halloween!

Discovering Louis and Clark State Park

This last week, we went to Louis and Clark Park. It is right next to the Sandy River, has lots of places to walk and the dog is welcome there. We got there a little late in the day, so the light was fading fast. There were pretty fall leaves though and we had fun just being together. We encourage everyone to discover where you live, there is so much beauty that God has created for us to enjoy and we just have to pull ourselves away from the TV to see it. 

Toothless

Well my mom finally got me pictures of her trip to Utah. She got to see Zachary and Ryeleigh while she was there and got some cute pictures. Ryeleigh has lost her two front teeth and is pretty stinkin cute! The other picture is of the 2 of them with their older sister Koko, she is 13. Zac & Rye will be joining us this year for Christmas. They are flying out on the 16th of December and we are driving them home on the 29th. We will get to be there for the Hewlett Family Service Auction! We are so excited! For those of you who are not Hewletts and do not know what this is, quick synopsis: Everyone brings things to auction off, whether something physical that they have made with their talents, such as crafts or foods, or something they bought, or they auction off their services or fun things such as mechanic work, babysitting or a fishing trip. You earn points by taking fun little tests or by doing good things within the last while, such as told your kids you loved them today, or been to church last Sunday, or even got your teeth cleaned within the last 6 months. You never know what the questions are going to be, but you really want the points, because the stuff you get to bid on is so much fun! We all get together for dinner and have the auction and then stay up for festivities at midnight. It is a fun tradition that we had to miss last year. We are super excited to get to see everyone too, it has been almost a full year since we have been back to Utah. Can't wait!

Giving Thanks

This Thanksgiving was really fun. I hope you all had a great Turkey day and got to reflect on the things that you are thankful for in your lives. We spent the day at my moms house and had a meal that was of course over the top and truly delicious. Jim's parents and brother were in from California and his sister was in from Seattle. My sister and her new husband were there as well. Not quite as big as a group as last year, but still plenty of family around to make sure Bekah always had a tea party partner.
This year as a lot of you know, I have really tried to get mine and my family's history down. I want to make sure my kids have written down memories and I want to get to know the people who are still here, before it's too late. I'm not sure why it is such a strong motivation, perhaps it's because my father died last year, and even though we had a falling out, and we weren't close when he passed away, I don't know that much about his life. Which means my children, when they want to know about my father, will know very little. I will only have the few foggy memories of my childhood and a very few of the little stories that my dad would tell to us on rare occasions. I want to make sure that I take advantage of the time I have with family members and get what I can from them, so that these memories and stories will last for generations.
The point of all this is that for Thanksgiving this year I started what I hope will be a little tradition in our family. I got a picture of everyone at Thanksgiving this year, and I made everyone a place card for dinner. Inside the card was a place for everyone to write specific things they were thankful for this year and a place for their pictures. I put them all together and next Thanksgiving we can pull them out and see how we change each year. How our perspective changes, and what is important to us changes. I also made a beautiful memory jar for Jims parents because they have nothing written down. Their children don't know much about them and I know nothing about them having only been in their family for just a couple years. They are not young and my hope is that they get to write down some of these memories for us to read after they are gone. We had fun just listening to their answers as they pulled out a few of the questions from the jar. In just those few moments we all learned that Jim's mom Betty, doesn't like her name and wishes it would have been something like Elizabeth, and that they have never been in a snowstorm since they have been married for the past 60 years. I really hope they will write some of this down, and I hope that you all write down your memories as well and keep them in a safe place. Your children and grandchildren will thank you for it. So I just want to give thanks that I am still alive and that I am able to know all of you, and that you are all part of my memories that make my life so blessed. Thank you!

Farewell Sweet Amy

One of my very good friends Amy Simpson is moving away to Wyoming this week and I am more than a bit distraught. She has been the one who has made me feel like this is home here in Portland and I am going to miss her very much. She and most of the other girls in this picture are all married to chiropractic students and live in my ward. When their husbands graduate they will all likely leave as well. We had Amy's last girls night with all of us on Saturday. We went to a Lebanese restaraunt downtown that none of us had been to, and likely never go again. None of us really had the palate for that kind of food. Though we did have a blast! There was a very beautiful belly dancer who danced for us and even pulled Amy up to dance with her. Our friend Mandy was giving her one dollar bills, it was pretty funny. This is the closest thing this lot of Mormon girls will ever get to an 'exotic' dancer! Anyway to Amy...we will all miss you and your family very, very much!

Playing

We were getting ready for church yesterday and the kids were in their room. After a while we realized it was awfully quiet in there. We snuck a peek and they were playing so good together with some puzzles. We had to get a picture. They really do get along quite well, Bekah is very glad to have a little buddy to play with and Christopher is thrilled that she is paying attention to him now. Hope it lasts....