Christmas break

We had an amazing Christmas morning: big breakfast, church (where Spencer, Deco and Audrey played a brass trio with the choir), and gifts. Then we headed up to Puyallup for a family dinner. I loved it.

Winter break was super fun--we kept busy! We met up with Monterey friends at Defy (trampoline park), and some of my siblings/family joined us too. I laughed and played so hard, I was sore for a few days. And Ian was delighted to see his friend Mako.

A Christmas dinner photo. My sister Laura was in town for two months to be with her new grandbaby. I adored every second I got to spend with her--she lives in Texas now.

We surprised the kids with a Christmas gift of a day at Great Wolf Lodge. So fun. I love that place, especially the crazy water slides. We might have to go again for no reason one of these days (but it's pricey!). We partied hard over winter break, but we also had some good down time. I ended up not feeling great on NYE, so we were mellow at home, and it was actually very nice. We'd hoped to have one last party with my family while all my siblings were in town, but we'll meet up again soon, I'm sure!

 

December Delights

We celebrated Audrey's 16th birthday at our house with an extended family dinner. I finally got to hold this perfect baby (my niece's first).

For a birthday gift, Spencer took Audrey to the Olympia Symphony--a John Williams tribute. Audrey is a fan of his compositions (as are most of us!)

(fake snow machine--the ambience for the concert was very cool)

Photo of Declan with his church class. This is his last month in Primary and in January he begins the youth program for 12-18 year olds. No more Primary kids in this house, and that's bittersweet.

It snowed! We had a couple of late starts for school, Declan had a blast building snowman and throwing snowballs, but it was fairly short-lived. He got some snow gear for Christmas and hopes for more snow.

Cute pic of my dad and Deco in beanies.

Ian, prepping for a band concert and looking sharp. All three kids did great in their holiday band concerts. 

November

November was full of family time, fall leaves, starting Pandemic Legacy 2 (Spencer, Bonnie and Audrey playing; it's an ongoing board game), Thanksgiving, and normal life. It's starting to feel a lot more like home the longer we are here in Washington.

 

Halloween

 We hosted our annual Halloween party, even though we had a brand new guest list. We missed our Monterey friends and we were grateful that our new Olympia friends have a lot of Halloween spirit. We're looking forward to making the party even better next year! The kids had fun dressing up and going trick or treating with friends, and the ward trunk-or-treat party was fun as well. I didn't get a picture of Declan in his scarecrow costume (same one Ian wore last year), but he wore a different costume to school because the scarecrow one relies heavily on the mask to look cool (no masks at school).

Fireplace mantle, just one of many ways Halloween takes over our home.

Spencer as Grunkle Stan from Gravity Falls

Me as Winifred Sanderson from Hocus Pocus

My sister Kelley and bro-in-law Patrick came as the Incredibles.

My dear friend and roommate Kristin and her husband John came as Addams Family siblings Wednesday and Pugsley.

We had about 11 other couples from the ward and neighborhood show up too, all great costumes!

Here's some of the food:

Declan dressed up as Dipper from Gravity Falls for school (and creepy scarecrow for parties and trick-or-treat).

Ian dressed up in a steampunk outfit.

Audrey was President Loki again. I'd vote for her!

Declan let me suck some of his life force, so if I'm looking younger and more beautiful lately, that's why.

Pumpkin carving

My amazing sister Kelley invited us to the annual Rood pumpkin carving night--so much fun! Our kids carved their own pumpkins for the first time (usually Spencer does most of the work), and we got to hang out with our people, eating good food and having fun. My brother Kenny was up for participating, and it was so lovely to see him enjoying himself. Kelley painted a beautiful skull on Jamie's very pregnant belly (Jamie is my niece, my sister Laura's daughter). Lindsey surprised us by flying in from Texas, so my parents had all their grandchildren together!

Grandkids plus Jamie's husband Avery and Lindsey's boyfriend Cameron.