Roarin' New Years Eve

We did a murder mystery dinner party at the Popes this year.  I was a little unsure about it, but it was a lot of fun!  I even won for best character-Ginger:)

Boxing Week

Headed up to Canada boxing day...and got to stay a few extra days too!

Happy to almost be in Canada

 Tina has lots of ornaments on the tree that play music...very entertaining for these 4-year-olds

Peeta slept with Summer every night:)

 Prom dress shopping with Jordan and Becca

 

We even celebrated Eric's 5th birthday (a little early)

We also got to meet up with Ginny and Ashton for dinner, watch Perfect Strangers with Mom and Dad and eat turkey dinner with all the family together--my favorite.  So blessed.

Merry Christmas 2018

We had a wonderful Christmas this year!  The big kids were up first and had to wake Summer up...I think it was about 8:30am.  Everyone was happy with their presents (except the size 7 in MEN'S shoes I bought for Jordan by mistake and the Dollan Twins crew neck for Kya that showed up AFTER Christmas).  We had a delicious turkey dinner, played with all our new toys, and a few of us (NOT ME) had naps.  I wound down the day with my favorite Christmas Movie "It's a Wonderful Life"

Christmas Eve 2018

Christmas Eve is usually my absolute favorite...but this year was a bit disappointing.  Jordan had to work, Tyson was banned from video games and was in a bad mood most of the day, nobody wanted to do the talent show, we didn't go ice skating and it was warm outside.  

The day picked up when Jordan got home and we headed out for our traditional Mexican food.  Tyson's mood picked up, we had full bellies and when we got home we all found new Christmas jammies on our beds!  After changing into our new duds and taking a few pictures, the kids opened up their sibling gifts.  Nobody wanted to watch a Christmas movie so I put Summer to bed, I think we watched a few episodes of Friends then everyone trickled off to bed.

When Jordan got home from work, we said we couldn't leave for dinner until she jumped on the "dogpile" for a picture:) (not sure what Jordan's doing with her hand--haha)

 Love Christmas jammy pictures!!!

 Sibling gifts!

Christmas Festivities

The Nutcracker

Even though we've lived in WA for almost 6 years now, and we've seen The Nutcracker quite a few times, we've never seen PNB's Nutcracker.  So this year, Jordan and I went.  It was amazing!  Getting Jordan to pose for a picture was NOT amazing.

Decorating the House

I absolutely love decorating for Christmas, but I think it took me an entire week to finally get it all done.  Summer and the girls were eager to help...Tyson and Mike, not so much.

Baking

Seems like I never quite get all the baking done that I plan to.  This year, the Pula got forgotten.  But Mike got his Nanaimo bars and Summer got to decorate sugar cookies.  And the girls did their baking extravaganza with their friends.

(Can you tell which ones Summer made?)

Christmas Sunday

One of my very favorite days of the year!

 "Bishop" had to stay late...even on Christmas Sunday, so we got a picture of the two of us when he got home.

Lights

We only managed to get a couple of us at Evergreen lights this year, BUT...we made up for it by taking the whole family to Zoolights.  Too bad it was POURING rain the entire time (only in Seattle is the zoo completely packed full of people looking at lights in the pouring rain).  But it was a pretty great display and Summer was so excited to see a tiger and sharks!!  

 

Preschool Performance
It's nice to have a little kid Christmas concert to go to again!!  Summer walked in with her tongue sticking out, they sang so many cute songs, then when it was over some kid yelled "what about the cake"--hahaha.   They all wore crowns that said "Happy Birthday Jesus" so I guess she hadn't been to a birthday party without cake!  I love that she goes to a church preschool...even if it isn't our church.

Here she is with her best friend Dana...I should have taken one with her other best friend Antone as well.

Thanksgiving 2018

It was a low-key Thanksgiving this year, but I loved it!

They did a "feast" in preschool that consisted of chicken nuggets and pumpkin pie...and I'm not sure what else;)

Had to make the brownie trifle...a family favorite for sure!

I used Grandma Winters' old cookie jar for our thankful jar this year...I think I should make that a tradition.  

 Our table looked beautiful.

 I snapped a picture of the turkey before I put it on the nice plate...but boy does it still look delicious!!

President Nelson at Safeco

We were lucky enough to have our Prophet, President Nelson travel to Washtington to speak at Safeco field in Seattle!!

There were enormous lines, blocks of walking in the pouring rain, crazy crowds, terrible seats, busy parking lots and major traffic jams...but totally worth it.

The most memorable part for me was standing and singing "We Thank Thee Oh God for a Prophet" while President Nelson walked off the field.  Grateful to have a prophet today and to hear him speak in person is extra special.

JV Volleyball

Last year when Kya was a freshman, she decided to try out for the HS Volleyball team.  Even though she played in middle school, we had no idea how competitive North Creek High School would be.  She made the C team (developmental team) and we were all thrilled.  She had a great season, played really well and made lots of new friends.  But after the season ended, most of the girls continued on to play Club but Kya didn't.  The reasons for not playing were many:  she didn't want to play volleyball every day all year round, all teams had either games or practices on Sunday and it was super expensive...like $3000+ expensive!

So when tryouts came around this summer, we weren't sure if Kya could even make the C team.  Well, she surprised us all and made JV!!!  And her C team coach moved up to coach JV, so Kya was really excited.  The girls had a great season!  Kya didn't get to play that much because she was one of the new kids, but she did really well and had a great time (except when she sprained her finger-ouch).  Once again though we opted not to do club....so we'll see what happens next year!  Hopefully, she'll get at least one more year.

Little Baby Blackberry

I was sitting at a restaurant in Mt. Vernon with Ginny when I got a text from Mike "Little Baby Red is dead"

Little Baby Red (Kiki) was Kya's hamster, but Summer really LOVED her, and claimed her as her own.  She played with her almost every day.  She was going to be devastated.  Well, turns out being able to pick out her very own new hamster was just what Summer needed to...um...forget Baby Red ever existed?  Yeah, she was a little too happy. 

So back in September (I forgot to post) we welcomed Little Baby Blackberry into our family--Summer's very own hamster (which means Mom gets to clean the cage every week-ugh).   

Look how happy she is!!