Calmness amid chaos...well, semi-chaos. At the beginning of January...right after we got back from Washington & while Carrie and Ben were still here, one evening this is what we found Joshua doing...sitting quietly in Brian's chair reading his scriptures. We'd gotten him a paperback triple to go with his Bible in his scripture case from Primary and he was breaking it in before taking it to church the next morning.

Spilt Milk...

A couple of weeks ago, Nathaniel decided that he didn't have enough milk in his cereal bowl. I can't remember if the milk had been left by him on the table or if he'd taken it out of the refrigerator himself (something he does constantly now). Anyway, I was helping Brian get his stuff ready to head south for work when he suddenly looked into the kitchen and said, "Uh oh!" The following is what we found...

Who me?

I didn't do it, Daddy.

THE EVIDENCE

Nan'iel did it!!

Mommy?

I'm so cute!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Sarah & Dave surprised us Christmas Eve evening with their arrival. Sarah had to work Christmas Eve and the 26th, so we weren't expecting them. They were up here for roughly 24 hours, but it was fun to have them.

The boys got new Disney jammies for Christmas (Buzz Lightyear for Joshua & Mickey Mouse for Nathaniel) and opened them Christmas Eve...here they are listening to Daddy read a story about Baby Jesus.

Christmas morning we had to wake up Nathaniel around 7:30 am because poor Joshua really wanted to see if Santa had come! He had. Nathaniel got a cool jungle and Joshua a container full of art supplies...he really likes to draw.

Joshua wanted to make Nathaniel a stuffed worm for Christmas. Here he is giving it to Nathaniel Christmas morning...I love my sweet boys!

Sarah brought the boys these cute T-shirts:

Even the cats enjoyed Christmas and were nice to each other (or ignored each other) for awhile.

Ward Christmas Party

Backtracking a little to get Christmas up...too crazy at holiday time to get it done. Anyway, our ward technically had two parties...at the beginning of December they host a community Night in Bethlehem which was nicely done. Then, a couple of days before Christmas they have the regular ward party where families can do skits or sing songs, etc. and Santa comes to visit.

Our family did "The Little Drummer Boy." I played it on the piano, Brian and Joshua sang it and Nathaniel played a toy drum (that I'd taken the batteries out of beforehand). Nathaniel lasted about one verse before he took of crying for Mommy (Grandma saved him), but Joshua & Brian did a wonderful job. Hopefully, I'll find someone who took pictures of that part, because we didn't get any.

Brian sang "O Holy Night" and it was beautiful. Hopefully I'll learn to play it by next year.

Then it was time for Santa. The boys stood in line with their friends waiting for their chance to see Santa and get a Santa bag (in years past it was peanuts, an orange, a candy cane, a popcorn ball and some miscellaneous candies...this year the candy cane was switched out for a Twizzler (YUCK!), and there were rice crispy treats instead of popcorn balls).

Nathaniel was a little nervous, but later went back and hugged Santa.

Happy 2009!!

I'll get Christmas pictures posted after I get them resized. Today's post will be about our trip up to Chehalis, Washington, to visit Brian's sister, Stacy and her family. We left last Monday afternoon (basically early evening). I'd had a cold for a few days and wasn't sure I wanted to travel. Finally decided that I felt up to it and we left. Went a few hours and the stayed in Roseburg, OR. We left Tuesday morning and headed the rest of the way north.

We took a break at the temple in Portland. I haven't been up there since Carol's wedding in July 1997. It was cold, but we walked around and took a few pictures.

I had Joshua stand by the date here because I was able to attend the Open House & Dedication of this temple when I was 16.

Brian & Stacy

Once in Washington, it was fun time! Nathaniel had fun with Travis (who is just a few months older than he is) and Joshua loved playing with Tyler (almost 15) - they played so much Xbox and Game Cube that Joshua should be satisfied for months (yeah, right!). Poor Raelene (12 1/2) was very outnumbered with all these boys.

Here are a few pictures of the boys on New Year's Day. Joshua tried to stay up late to welcome in the new year, but just didn't make it. He did stay up later than Uncle Ruben, Travis & Nathaniel, though. On New Year's Day he did stay up until almost midnight watching PRINCE CASPIAN with his cousins and two friends...he stayed up later than Mommy that night!

Nathaniel had fun playing with all of Travis's toys...and learning how to climb up on the counters in search of M&Ms.

Happy New Year's from us!