Christmas 2013

1st Christmas, we celebrated as a family a couple days before leaving on our trip to Kent and Seaside.

In stark contrast to last year, Hayley was quite excited about Santa coming and eager to leave out cookies and milk by Grandma's tree. 

Christmas Eve, Grandma Forbes was able to come visit! 

(This was taken late…after a long day…)

This year I got a little crazy and made 7 pairs of these monster slippers for my kids and some of their cousins. They were pretty fun to make.

One night we went and walked along the path at Gene Coulon Park. 

They had some really pretty lights up.

Mom and Dad and grandkids…and Alyssa. 

(Sorry Mom and Dad that you have branch mustaches…)

A couple days after Christmas we made our way down to Seaside to visit Skyler's family. 

Kid's Table

As per New Years tradition, Jodi and Ben bring their Chocolate fountain. 

It is quite the spread if indulgence!

Jodi and Kylee

Nick, Jenna, Brenna

Hayley and Skyler, celebrating New Year's for kids…at 9pm.

Let's be real, we love them, but 12am would be 4-5 hours past bedtime 

and they don't know the difference at 9pm. 

Break out the streamers and noise makers for 5 min, do a fake countdown…. and bedtime! 

When in Seaside…ride the Carousel.

And of course, visit the beach! 

We had a few family photos taken, this is one that I snapped right before my batteries died. 

Go figure.

We had a wonderful time visiting both our families and getting to see just about everybody.

Good Tidings!

A Merry Christmas to all!

We, not unlike every other American have been uber busy this month. Finding time to Celebrate with family, visiting family and friends, hosting, planning parties and the like.

I've been trying a new experiment on magazines that try and simplify your life. Actually DOING the advice instead of reading and saying "Hmm. that's a good idea." and forgetting it two seconds later only to return to the cluttered, confused, notoriously scrambling, late, flying by the seat of your pants style. One area I have been focusing on is the food. (surprising I know) Making meals for 5-6 people, even though it's just Sky and I and freezing the rest in portions. It's really great when you're tired or too busy and you cant stand the thought of eating another greasy burger or slurping one more milkshake tummy-ache combo.

I have also taken a liking to making my own baby food for Hayleyroo. I know the kind in the jar is fine, but wow it adds up! So typically a couple times a month I buy extra squash or sweet potatoes, carrots, fruits like pears, bananas and go to work. I find it especially easy to do it while getting dinner done too. The oven is already on, or the pasta water is already hot, making baby food a breeze.

This Christmas has been wonderful so far. I truly enjoy my calling at church and was able to plan the food and help set up for a fantastic Adult Holiday dinner. Which turned out great, excellent ham, tons of talented people singing and sharing musical goodness. Beautiful cheerily decorated tables and a lovely almond cake for dessert.

Skyler and I are lucky enough to be able to celebrate Christmas four times this year! We had my family come and visit last week which was great! We chatted, ate homemade peppermint white choc. cookies, choc. peanut pinwheels, peanut butter choc. balls, and dipped marshmallows. Then Saturday we ventured down to the Willamette waterfront to check out the famous Saturday market and eat lunch at the carts.

This weekend we traveled West to see Skyler's family which hasn't been all together in years. A full house, lots of kids and great food. Exchanging gifts by the tree, listening to stories of years past, rounds of Domino's accompanied by convincing stories of caramel corn made in the bath tub.

This week I'm pretty excited to celebrate with Skyler and Hayley for her first time. This year we decided we had an extra 4x4ft in the living room and got a tree! I've been filled with child-like thrill to have our first very own tree to decorate and leave gifts to friends and family under.

Even with all the Christmas parties and gatherings, the strains of life don't disappear for the latter part of December. Work schedules, and whatnot still needing attention. So we are back out to the Coast for the 24 & 25th for one last Cheers.

Till New Years!

Marching Along..

March has been such a great month. We started it off with losing an hour on day-light savings. Every year I am amazed at how much lighter or darker it is at certain times, mainly around 5 p.m. Now it's light until past 7! That same day we were able to visit my side of the family for my cousins wedding in Olympia. It took place in a country club on the water, it was beautiful.

Later this month, A few of my close friends were so kind and threw me a Baby Shower! I couldn't have been more excited and grateful to have had so many people express their excitement for me. We played creative games and ate really good cake, a super moist banana cake and a fudgy chocolate cake with berries. I also received many items for our little bundle of joy that I really needed. So a large thank you goes out to you ladies!

Later in the month, I was able to have one final ultrasound at the doctors. I was excited to have a little peak at our lil' girl while we wait in anticipation and excitement these last 2-3 weeks.

Typical baby though, she's moving and jostling around the whole appointment and once the Dr. applies the goo she turns into a statue. It was still neat to see the little feet and outline of her head and nose. She obviously didn't want me to get the fullest enjoyment because she also fisted her hands over her face. The two parts I have most enjoyed seeing on the screen. O well, she can't hide from me much longer : )

This month Skyler and I also had the chance to squeeze in some birthing classes. I thought I knew a lot from reading and talking to others, but wow. I learned there are so many different ways your delivery can pan out. Skyler was out of town the second class, but my mom was so nice and decided to come down and attend with me. It was fun to spend time with her and learn about my own birth and my siblings.

This last week has been especially nice due to the fact that Skyler has been on Spring Break. He has had the opportunity to travel for work and cover NCAA basketball games the past few weeks, so it was extra nice to just spend time together. We went to the movies and then out to Seaside for a day or so to see family.

We had "Chinese Ice Cream," went for a drive, saw our nephews (Skyler and Abe), watched Quantum of Solace (oo7) with his parents and ate breakfast at this cute little bakery I have been dying to try. I also bought my own first pair of basketball shorts at the Nike Outlet.