Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas. We were able to spend time with Scott's family. His sister Donna, her husband, David and their 2 girls Katie (19) & Kristin (16) came from Wyoming for a week. We missed Kevin who is on a mission right now in Mexico but it was nice to be able to talk to him on Christmas day. We had a fun filled week traveling back and forth from our house to Scott's parents home (who live 40 miles away). We spent Christmas Eve at Scott's grandma's house and then spent the night at his parents house and opened presents there on Christmas morning.

Our Christmas tree at home before we took all the presents to Scott's parents house for Christmas.

On Christmas Eve, we received a big package from my mom & dad. We enjoyed opening presents from them while talking on the phone. My mom made Lindsay & Caleb their own robes. Caleb wanted Steelers and Lindsay wanted "plain" pink. They love wearing them all the time!!

Here are pictures of Katie & Kristin and one of Donna & Dave. Kristin is playing Guitar Hero in the top left picture. The top right picture also has cousin Rachel along with Katie.

Grandma Vicki & Grandpa Ken's house (Scott's mom & dad) on Christmas morning.

At Grandma Vicki & Grandpa Ken's

Lindsay opening some of her gifts

Caleb opening some of his gifts

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and we would also like to wish you and your family a

Happy New Year!

-Love, Scott, Natalie, Lindsay & Caleb

12 Days Of Christmas

This Christmas song is dedicated to my brothers and my dad! (Mom, I would dedicate it to you too but I know what your reaction will be.) Anyway, it's sad to say that I have enjoyed potty humor my whole life. It is gross but funny. My brothers use to tease me by saying "diaper" or "potty" and it made me laugh. So this Christmas, one of the gifts that my brother Neal and his wife Sarah gave us is a calender called What's Your Poo Telling You? It is a daily calendar that delivers a years worth of poo trivia, interesting nuggets, dates in digestive history, and illustrated dookie descriptions. We will definitely learn a lot! So here is a song to thank you. When we saw this, we had to watch again and again and again! Enjoy!
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(Don't forget to pause the music on the bottom of the page!)

Farting Elves: 12 Days of Christmas Funny Jokes at JibJab

Yes, Lindsay, There Is A Santa Claus

Last Wednesday night, Caleb had Cub Scouts so Lindsay & I decided to have an hour of Girls Night Out. We decided to do some shopping at the mall and at Target. As we were walking in the mall, Lindsay asked me if she could go and see Santa. I was a bit surprised at her request. It was something that I did not think of doing this year since they both know the "grown-up secret". When we arrived, surprisingly no one was around. I suppose since it was a school night, Santa had some time to relax. Lindsay walked right up and started talking to him. He asked her to sit and asked her what she wanted for Christmas. As I stood there, (this may sound lame) I started to get tears in my eyes as I am now, thinking about this. For you to understand my emotions better, this past week we have been watching videos of the kids when they were little. We just started transferring the old tapes onto DVD's. We have enjoyed sitting down as a family and revisiting the past. I cannot believe how fast Lindsay & Caleb are growing up and how so many of the videos we watched seemed like yesterday. As she was sitting on Santa's lap, he was the sweetest, most caring Santa I have even seen. (Nothing like "Grouchy" Claus who we saw later in the week at Scott's work party for the kids). As Lindsay sat there talking to him, he had a smile and a twinkle in his eyes. He was slowly rocking her back and forth as he listened to everything she had to say. You could just tell that this Santa truly has a love for children. As I was fighting back the tears watching my little girl sitting there, knowing how precious she is, I was realizing how fast she is growing up. Next month she will be 11! Next year she will be in middle school! We always hear how we need to treasure the time that we have with our kids. I have always felt like I am trying to do so but now I hope to treasure our time and relationship even more before another year passes us by. Thank you Santa for your kindness and for listening to my little girl's Christmas wish! I love you Lindsay!

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"Yes, (Lindsay) there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy." -Francis Pharcellus Church

-Natalie

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

It's beginning to look a lot like...

This week we have snow! This does not happen much in Oregon but I personally love the snow and dislike the rain! It started on Sunday, snowed off and on during the week and it is still snowing today! Since Oregon is not equipped to handle the snow, even if it is an inch or two, they will cancel school. So the kids did not have school on Monday, Tuesday or today this week. Some schools in the valley were cancelled all week. I bet those kids were happy to get a 3 week Christmas break!! Lindsay & Caleb were excited when school was cancelled except for today. They were looking forward to their classroom Christmas parties. But instead, they are having fun outside playing, enjoying the snow before it goes away! Caleb has been out there for awhile now. He is trying to make an igloo. I think it is about a foot high now. I don't think he will get much further. I am making hot chocolate for him right now to warm him up. Thanks to Alison, I have a cool hot chocolate maker that I received last year for a birthday gift. It is getting used quite a bit!

The Banks (Scott's sister and family) just left from Wyoming today for Oregon! Can't wait to see them! Only 6 more days until ...Christmas!

-Natalie

Kids Christmas Party

Every year, the company that Scott works for has a few of Christmas parties. There is one for the kids, teenagers, and the adults. Last Saturday, the kids had their party. There are a lot of games and activities for them. Lindsay had fun having her face painted, Caleb enjoyed the games. There was pizza, chips, cookies, pop and cotton candy to eat. Of course Santa came. He arrived in a golf cart throwing stuffed animals everywhere. I was really proud of Lindsay. She caught a few stuffed animals and then decided herself to give them away to younger kids who did not receive one. Both kids also saw "Santa". When you look at the Santa pictures, take a good look at him. He looks looks really grumpy. It probably is because he was obviously having a bad hair day!

Caleb On The Right

Dance Dance Revolution

A Balloon Sword

Caleb Enjoying Some Cotton Candy

Lindsay With Grumpy Claus

Caleb & Grouchy Claus

-Natalie

Salmon Release

A couple weeks ago, Caleb's third grade class went to the river and released baby salmon. They have been raising salmon and learning about their life cycle and habitat in school. Once the fish reached about an 1.5 inches, the kids took a small field trip to release them. It was a cold day and thankfully it was not raining. The fish were in a big bucket and the kids each received a small cup containing a few fish. The kids had a lot of fun releasing them and watching them take off down the river.

I Better Hurry Because...

It Will Be Here Before We Know It!!!

Hope You Are Enjoying This Holiday Season!

Our Dancing Elf Family

Caleb requested that we "Elf Ourselves" again this year. This was something that we did last year and had so much fun with it. It is so funny to watch ourselves dancing as elves. The kids were in tears because they were laughing so hard. Since you can add up to 5 members of your family, the kids wanted Zeke to be a part of it too. We put the dances in the order that we like the best. 1. Disco, 2. Country, 3. Classic, and 4. Charleston. Please let us know which one you like the best. If you "Elf" your family, please let us know. We would love to see your family dance around too!

(Before you select play on any of them, remember to pause the Christmas music at the bottom of the page!)

Elfed Ourselves - DISCO

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Elfed Ourselves - COUNTRY

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Elfed Ourselves - CLASSIC

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Elfed Ourselves - CHARLESTON

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Basketball

Caleb just got done playing basketball. He had fun and learned a lot. Many of his friends from school were on the same team which was nice. Caleb enjoys trying many different sports but he told me that basketball is his favorite sport to play so far. He is already looking forward to next season.

Caleb with ...

Logan (top left)

Miles (top right)

Jacob (bottom left)

Coach John (a.k.a. Jacob's dad)

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We were able to spend the holiday here at home with Grandma Vicki, Grandpa Ken (Scott's parents) and Aunt Barbara (Scott's Aunt). We had lots of things to be thankful for and plenty of good food to eat. This year we decided to deep fry a turkey for the first time. It was delicious! Friday morning, we hit some of the sales starting at 4 am. Thanks to Aunt Barbara who willingly stayed home with the kids. The rest of us are crazy, I know, but we had a fun time!

Happy Thanksgiving!

-Scott, Natalie, Lindsay & Caleb

Seattle

Well Thanksgiving has come and gone and Christmas is right around the corner. Who has time to blog? I certainly don't but will try to find time to do so even if it means staying up late. I don't know how much will get posted tonight but most importantly I have the background changed and added Christmas music! Can you believe it is already December 1st? I can't and I am very excited for this time of year.
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Anyway, I wanted to post some pictures of our trip to Seattle. Like I said in the Forgotten Carol post, we were gone for 2 days. The main reason was to see the Forgotten Carols but while we were there we decided to see some of the famous sites as well. The day we arrived, we went to the Space Needle. We decided to walk there since our hotel seemed so close by. We could see the Space Needle and it was close - or so we thought. It is just big - that is why it seemed close by. The kids were pretty good about not complaining while walking there. It took awhile since we did not have a direct way there but once we arrived it was worth it. What a sight to see! It was a beautiful day so once we were on top, we had a wonderful view of Seattle.

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The Seattle Space Needle

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After we went to the Space Needle, we decided to take a Taxi back to our hotel. I think the kids were just as excited to take their first taxi ride as much as anything else. All I can say is at least it did not smell! We then were off to see the Forgotten Carols.

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We had a really nice room to stay in. The kids were excited to have their own bedroom and their own bathroom.

The next morning, we decided to go to Pike Place Fish Market. We had to at least say that we have been there and hopefully see the guys throw the fish. We have seen the fish market on T.V. a couple of times so I thought it would be fun to see in person. Not only were we entertained seeing the fish get tossed around, there was also plenty of shopping. Lindsay wanted to see all the fun crafts, jewelry and hair accessories. She finally decided on a multi-colored, rainbow, twisty, hair clip accessory with a panda charm on the end. I am not sure what the technical name of it is but she had to have it. Basically there were a lot of stores selling various things and it was like going to a Flea Market. Lets just say the girls had more fun than the boys while shopping!

And finally, the last activity of our tip, was taking a ferry ride just for fun. We bought round trip tickets to go to one of the islands to turn around and come back again. It was fun especially for Caleb watching all the cars drive on and then off the ferry. On the way back to Seattle from the Island, the captain spotted a whale. A few other people saw it but unfortunately we missed it.

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The Ferry Ride

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After the ferry ride, we headed home. Even though our time in Seattle was short, we accomplished a lot. It was fun and well worth the trip!

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-Natalie