Christmas Day

Christmas day was spent in Salem driving back and forth between Grandparents homes. 

We woke up at the Friess' home. 

Here are the girls coming down the stairs to see what Santa brought them. 

"The reindeer ate the carrot!"

Opening up stockings and checking out the doll house.

Princess dolls for the new doll house. 

Later in the morning we went to the Montgomery house (5 minutes down the road) to open presents there. The girls got the scooters they'd been asking for. 

Eventually we ended up back at the Friess house. 

Bailey is setting up her doll house. Robert made this by himself during the week before Christmas, with lots of hard work. It was very difficult to transport since it's 52 inches high and 50 inches wide. 

The Montgomery grandparents joined us at the Friess house for a Christmas dinner prepared by Robert. We love spending time with our families and find it a great blessing to have them so close by to us and to each other. 

Christmas Eve 2011

We spent the night in Corvallis with Robert's sisters. They cooked an amazing seafood dinner and I provided a salted caramel chocolate cake. It was delicious.

Siblings: Lisa, James, Stacy, & Robert

Merry Christmas!!!

In case you didn't get our card this year

Zoo Lights

We braved the cold this week and went to Zoo lights at the Portland Zoo. 

The Demcak family joined us for the festivities.

Addie, Sammy, & Bailey

KJ's Wedding

My best girl got married this weekend at the Portland Temple. The weather was perfect considering it's December in Oregon and should be raining non-stop. 

Jordan & Kerry

Kerry with her nieces and my girls. 

Bailey, me & Addie

The girls were so excited to get pretty Christmas dresses and to be part of the wedding party. 

Kerry married a great guy. Jordan is super nice and friendly to everyone. He treats her like a princess and they have a ton in common. We are so excited for them to begin the adventure that is Newlywed-hood!

Congrats guys!

Joy School Nativity

It's Christmas time and that means reenacting the Nativity scene. 

All the Joy School families got together to have a potluck dinner and have the children show us all they've been doing/learning at school 

The kids practiced  for several weeks to get their acting parts down.

Even though Bailey doesn't go to Joy School we let her be a last minute Wise man so she didn't feel left out. 

Zara (shepard), Keagan (Mary), Cara (wise man), Baiely (wise man), Addie (shepard), Karston (Joseph), & Sammy (Angel)

The best part of the play was when the narrator said "and the wise men saw a star in the sky, they pointed at it" then Bailey pointed at the star with her middle finger waving in the air. All of us parents couldn't stop laughing, it was too good. 

Christmas Tree Hunt

Thanksgiving dinner has been eaten and the weekend weather was nice so we took a drive out to Sherwood to cut down our tree. 

The girls are so excited to find the "perfect" tree. 

The man had to do the man job and cut down the tree. 

Luckily, Robert had some good helpers to assist in getting the tree to the car. 

We are so excited for Christmas, it really is the best time of the year!

November Beach Trip

We went to Pacific City for a weekend at the beach with my brother Dan's family and our friends the Richards. It was great weather for November and we had a great time together. Katie took a ton of pictures with her super nice camera. If there is a picture in this post that is super nice, she took it. 

Bailey building sand castles

We brought along my nephew Caden as a third child. He's get's along so well with our girls it's takes no extra effort to have him come along. The only problem was his dad packed his bag and forgot that it's cold at the Oregon Beach. Thus, he had to borrow clothes from both the girls and the boys of the group. 

The kids sliding down the sand dunes.

Cohen pointing to a plane. 

Bailey rolling down the hill like it's grass. Except you get sand in your mouth. 

Addie loved sliding on the dunes.

One afternoon we climbed up the huge sand dune in Pacific City. The little kids practically ran up this mini-mountain. 

Addie and I took our time, it is steep and tall. 

Once we got to the top of the dune it was windy and cold. Our feet felt the effects. 

Bays taking a break. 

On our way down the dune, Caden is upset because his feet are so cold. 

After a few days of good food and fun it was time to go home. 

We love the Oregon Coast. 

Family Foto Shoot

While at the beach we had our friend, Katie Richards, take our family pictures. It was a beautiful setting in Pacific City and it wasn't raining, bonus!

Here are a few of the shoots she got. I'm posting mostly candid ones because they're the funnest to look at anyway. 

This will be this years Christmas Card!

San Juan Islands

For our 10 year anniversary we took off to the San Juan Islands for the weekend. We just drove 5 hours north into Washington State and rode a ferry to Friday Harbor. 

On the ferry at night. 

The next day we explored the island and collected some rocks. 

Victoria BC is behind me on the other side of the water. 

The view from our roof top. We enjoyed watching the ferry come in while drinking hot chocolate to stay warm. 

Our last night on the Island we went out to dinner, but had to make a quick stop when we spotted some Orcas in the water. 

The whale season is from April to October and we were considered lucky to see a whole pod in November. We could hear them breathing through their blow holes. It was amazing.

Leaving Friday Harbor

And to round off our trip we stopped at Pikes Market to shop. 

It was great to get away, just the two of us. Time to relax and just being together is a rare treat as parents. I treasured every moment of it.