Winter Holiday Highlights

Tomorrow...if we don't get snowed in...is the first day back to school and work after the holidays.
These weeks have been wonderful...full of relaxing and enjoying our little group of five.

After Thanksgiving we started off with some Yakima Christmas activities.
The lighting of the downtown Christmas tree and the Lighted Christmas parade.
These always seem like a good idea to me until I have to actually leave my warm house and go, but Jenelle keeps me honest!

We've been having snow off and on since the winter break started. 

One day Hannah and I walked to Johnson's for some photo ops and apples.

Christmas morning came and went, and somehow I managed to catch none of it except snow through my wreath.

It was a wonderful morning.  

Relaxed, together and all of us full of gratitude.

There has been no shortage of snow!

Donald built a huge sledding hill in our front yard and while everyone has had a go on it, Jenelle was the die hard sledder in the family!

It's a constant work in progress and Donald's always out there adding more snow and adjusting the turns.

Pounce has a nice warm box to sleep and relax in, but when we are outside, he likes to hang out for a while.

This is Pounce hiding from me and getting ready to...well...pounce!

 And here he goes!!

Snow and more snow!

 A pinecone that still hangs from the Mohawk days!

On New Year's Eve we took a walk in Cowiche Canyon.

Our valley looks so beautiful covered in white!

We celebrated as a family that night with games and homemade confetti like my sister and I used to make.

And so, a new year begins.

I love new years.

They are clean and fresh and full of unknown adventures.

So here's to 2016 and whatever it may bring!

Christmas (2014)

We tried something different this past Christmas.
Instead of our normal "at home" Christmas Eve and Day, we rented a home near Mt. Bachelor in Oregon and spent our days skiing.
Renee was without her boys this year, so we asked her to join us.

We did keep things festive around our house prior to our trip during the month of December.
Jenelle, in particular, had a hard time getting used to the idea of not being home for Christmas morning, but having the tree up in the house and doing some usual Christmastime baking helped her know that the holidays would still be the same...just in a different place.

We arrived in Sunriver, Oregon and checked ourselves into our nice home away from home.
It was a beautiful home.
We had plenty of room and a hot tub!!

Christmas Eve skiing was pretty cold and foggy.
We did happen to see Santa getting in a few runs before his big night though.

Michelle and Ivan

 Santa!

On Christmas morning we took it a bit slower and exchanged some gifts.
Santa managed to find the kids all the way in Oregon and left them a stocking!

Christmas Day was nicer than Christmas Eve.
It started out foggy, but cleared up in the afternoon!
We were finally able to see how gorgeous Mt. Bachelor really is!

Skiing on Boxing Day was even more amazing!
It was a blue bird ski day!

This trip turned out to be such a good idea!
Great memories were made!

And when we returned home, exhausted but fulfilled, we found that Santa had been at our house as well!

It was a very Merry Christmas!