Most. Boring. Ever.

This...is the only shot I have from New Year's Eve. Lame, I know. So, instead of Chloe and Kayla in their matching dresses (we forgot until after Chloe had zonked out for the night), or the girls playing cards, or everyone toasting with sparkling cider at midnight...you get...the backsides of Jason and Jake as they prepare New Year's Eve snacks. Granted, they were DELICIOUS, but still...not the greatest photo. But it's the only one I have, so, there you have it. Rest assured, though, that the evening was SUPER fun. Even though I only ended up with 6 hours of sleep, thanks to someone much smaller than me...

Are You...Blueish?

Well the weather was this morning! I woke up to between 3 and 4 inches of new snow. It was really pretty, so I had to take a picture. (I actually took this to send to you, Ruth! Sorry it never made it there!) I didn't realize until I posted it here that you can see the Christmas lights still on. They've been plugged in 24/7 for the last two weeks or so. It might be time to unplug them... This is the view from our dining room window.

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Dad! I love you!

Secrets

Today Kayla turned 5 months old, so we had to take her 5-month photo with the bear. It took a few shots to get the right one, and I LOVE this one. It looks like she's trying to tell her teddy bear a secret. This next one is adorable, too. HUGS!!!

The Other Side

Today Kayla had her first encounter with extended family on her mommy's side. Great-Grandpa Massey and Great-Grandma Ann came through town on their way home from Seattle for Christmas, and were able to see Kayla for the first time. She loved her Great-Grandpa and sat with and smiled at him for half an hour. She was a little overwhelmed by Ann, however, and wouldn't let her come too close! This adorable picture would be even cuter if Kayla hadn't pulled the bow out of the ribbon on her hat. We met them at Thai Ploy and enjoyed curry, avocado spring rolls, rice, and...yes...wait for it...pork. Jason and I accidentally ate fried pork roll things, and they were GOOD! I won't eat them again, but I'm not necessarily sorry I made the mistake. It was my first time tasting meat in my life, and it was all accidental, with unclean meat! Gotta laugh, really. What else can you do?

Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Mom St. Clair!

Smiles All Around

Hanging out with Great-Grandma Beddoe (Jason's paternal grandmother)
before heading home today.

Look, Ma! Ah's a Cowgirl!

Kayla had fun playing in Auntie Whitney's boots...though she probably would have more fun with them if she could stand on her own. It was a lot of fun to watch her, though...the boots were gigantic on her. I laughed good and hard, let me tell you. All she needed was her pink "Check Out My Ride" John Deere onesie.

Burning Skies

That...is the sun. It's Christmas Day, and what a sight to wake up to. The clouds were so thick you could actually look directly at the sun, and it was glowing determinedly. Fog moved in later in the day and covered everything in a shroud of dull grey, but the early morning was a breathtaking scene to behold! This is the view out Jason's parents' back window.

Happy Christmas Eve

Jason's parents' Christmas tree
Christmas Eve 2009

Brilliance

When we woke up this morning the sun was shining brightly on the top of Mt. Emily. This was the view from Jason's parents' front step. The camera of course doesn't capture the sheer WHITE sparkle of those trees along the top ridge of the mountain, but it was so beautiful it truly did take my breath away.

Stay!

We got to La Grande around 7:00 tonight. Fortunately the roads were good; just a patch or two of frozen snow in the left lane. Hooray for easy traveling! Jason was showing his mom the best trick Raina could do, and for the first time Raina actually caught the treat when she was told "Okay!" Good girl, Raina!

First First Christmas

Tonight we celebrated Kayla's FIRST first Christmas. To avoid carting the gifts from her Grandpa and Grandma around, we decided to do our family Christmas before we left for Nana & Papa's house. We are leaving for La Grande tomorrow as soon as I get home from work, so tonight's the night! Kayla had fun ripping the paper off the packages...and putting it in her mouth. Which was way more fun than seeing what was under the paper! The above picture is her in her new bib and booties from Grandpa and Grandma. Her outfit kind of clashed...oops.

Half a Decade

It was our fifth anniversary today. We didn't go on a date, per se, but we did have a couple of mini-dates throughout the day. First of all, we got to sleep in until around 7:30, which was super nice. (Well, I guess that's not sleeping in for Jason, but it was for me!) Then we never made it to church due to Little Miss Kayla messing up her schedule and sleeping right through church time, so while she napped, Jason and I chatted. During lunch she napped again, so we got to enjoy our delicious fondue meal in peace and quiet, without having to balance a baby on our laps or watch her in the swing. We had Martinelli's with our meal, and drank out of the same flutes we used at our wedding - complete with the original blue and siver ribbons on them, tied into bows. Later in the evening we got her down for a nap again, and we started "A Christmas Carol" (the one with Patrick Stewart) and were able to snuggle on the couch for half an hour before she woke up. And finally, when we went out driving to look at Christmas lights, she ended up falling asleep in the car after about 10 minutes, so I climbed into the front seat (I'd been in the back to entertain her if she got fussy) and Jason and I were able to enjoy looking at lights together. What a day! Happy anniversary, us!

Melted

All the snow is finally gone; it lasted much longer than I thought it would. Today I worked from home again in order to more easily watch Kayla, as Jason spent the day driving to and from Vancouver, Wash., for his grandfather's funeral. As I was walking across the dining room one time, I glanced outside and saw this tree, leaf-less, and covered with droplets of water that were sparkling in the rising sun. I grabbed my camera and after several tries, finally got one focused right.

Natural Teether

Tonight while making dinner, we offered Kayla a celery stick. She seemed to enjoy it. It was cold and pliable, making it comfortable on her gums, and she could hold onto it easily. The perfect chew toy for a teething baby! Plus, she doesn't have teeth yet, so she can't bite off pieces and choke on them. Handy and cheap! The best kind of toy.

Christmas Dinner

Tonight was the university's employee Christmas dinner. It was pretty fun - it really depends on who is at your table as to whether or not you truly enjoy the dinner. We sang a few carols, enjoyed some delicious mashed potatoes and spinach salad (and other things), and generally relaxed for a couple of hours. The theme was "Cruise to Antarctica" and there were penguins everywhere. There were even a few kids (and one teenager) dressed up as penguins. It was great. This was the decor on the food tables.

This was how our tables looked. Those hot drink travel mugs were gifts from the president. Quite nice, actually. The dessert is black forest brownies. They weren't bad.

And here is a poor picture of the penguins. (I didn't have my camera, so I was using my phone.) The youngest one is 3; the oldest one might be 18 by now. The people in the foreground are Trevor. Trevor C, nonetheless. Chinn on the left, Congleton on the right. We sat with them for dinner, as well as Melissa MacPhee and her boyfriend's mom, Linda. It was a good time!

The World is an Ice Rink

The snow turned to rain last night and then froze to everything. This is the passenger side window of our car today. And that is NOT the window. The window is rolled down, as you can see in the bottom right-hand corner of the window. This is part of the giant sheet of ice that froze to our car. Needless to say I did NOT go to work today. I worked from home, which I sincerely enjoyed. But I wouldn't want this to continue for more than a day or two. Here are a couple other pictures of this crazy ice world.

Jason chipped this quarter-inch-thick piece of ice off the side of the car.

Everything was coated in ice. Trees, cars, the roads...

Wonderland

It snowed. This was the view outside my office window today. It's grey and dreary, and I'm okay with that. Because the nativity is over, my Christmas shopping is done, and now I can relax and enjoy the Christmas season. First on the list: Relaxing by the fire in the light of the tree, playing with my daughter and chatting with my husband. Ahhhh...this is the life!

The Second Star

This is Izzy. He was a huge hit at the nativity. He lives about half an hour away from us, and we were privileged to have him as a part of the scene. I learned a lot about dromedary camels while we sat out there in the cold tonight. For instance:

• They can tolerate temperatures ranging from -40 (F) to 140 (F).
• They have three stomach chambers and chew their cud, as cows do.
• They can live to be 50-60 years old (in this case that probably means Izzy will outlive his owner).
• You train them the same way you train horses.
• Camels are smart; if you let them get away with something once, they will stubbornly refuse to accept that it's not okay the next time.

People really had fun seeing Izzy. I hope to have him back next year. Thanks to Charley Coleman again for the photo.

Our 2009 nativity is officially over, but next year is going to be incredible and I'm already excited about it! I've got three ladies already volunteering to help organize next year, so I'm stoked! It took two years, but finally people are catching on to what it is and what it can be. You won't want to miss it next year!

Playing Dress-Up

Tonight was the first night of our church's living nativity. It went well, but it was pretty cold. We were short quite a few props (my fault for not arranging things earlier), but I think some people are bringing more tomorrow night. Jason and I played Joseph and Mary, and Kayla actually did very well as Baby Jesus. We didn't have enough people to do shifts, so everyone was outside for the full two hours. After 90 minutes Jason took Kayla in to warm her (and him) up a bit and she was asleep, so we left her with a church lady we know and went out to use her stunt double (a doll from Cradle Roll). This picture was taken when Kayla was still outside with us. Thanks to Charley Coleman for the photo. It's my favourite from the event.

Monster Visitor

I heard some odd machinery noise coming from outside the house this morning, so I went to see what was going on. This is what I saw. This was taken from my dining room window. I think they were trying to unblock the gate so water could get through. It had frozen over earlier in the week and there was really nowhere for the rest of the water to go. I'm still not 100 percent positive what they were doing, but it was fun to watch.

Roll Over, Beethoven!

You get a video today - hope you don't mind. Jason was home alone with Kayla this evening while I rehearsed for the Christmas concert tomorrow night, and Kayla rolled over! From her back to her tummy, over she went. So he grabbed the video camera to document the second time. Here it is!

NOTE: It's a little dark because they were enjoying the Christmas tree, but you can still see the video just fine.

First Attempt: Not So Bad

This was my first attempt at fixing my hair after washing it following my hairdressing appointment. It NEVER turns out looking the same, but fortunately I liked how it turned out this morning! I got it done on Monday, but didn't actually wash/fix my hair yesterday due to not having a shower. So today was the first day I did it on my own. And I now own a diffuser for my hair dryer. It's kind of fun! So we'll see how well subsequent days go... As a comparison, here's a picture of how it looked on Monday after Rachel (my hairdresser) cut and styled it:

And yes, that is MY OWN HAIR. It is not permed, nor did she use a curling iron. Crazy, eh?

Cold Much?

This is our bathroom faucet this morning. It may appear to be completely uninteresting, but note this: The faucet is turned on FULL BLAST for hot water. And this is all that's coming out. That's right, our hot water pipes froze. It got down to around 4 degrees last night and when I got up to get ready for work, there was no hot water. Fabulous. So Jason started a fire to get the house warmed up, and I heated water on the stove. I poured the hot water out of the kettle into a bucket and used that with a washcloth to wash my face and body (I felt quite Victorian) and then dressed for work. Fortunately I got my hair done yesterday so it still looked semi-presentable without being washed. I worked from home for two hours until I had to be there for a meeting, hoping the hot water would come back on and I could shower. No such luck. Fortunately, when Jason got home a couple of hours later, water was pouring out of the hot water faucets, so we showered this evening. Needless to say, we're taking precautions the rest of the winter!

Perseverance

In spite of our creek being frozen over, water continues to flow over the top of the ice and pool when it meets the other branch of the Little Walla Walla River that runs in front of our house. It's fun to watch. And when it warms up, you can hear the ice cracking. Welcome, winter!

Traveling Babies

Today we spent the day with the Nickoloffs. We met them at their house around 10:45 and headed to Tri-Cities, where we met up with Merrie Beth's mom and grandma, and our friend Melissa. We all had breakfast/lunch at Denny's, then the five of us younger folks went shopping. We went to the mall and then ended up at Wal-Mart (well, the girls did - the boys headed home for small groups). We were going to go to Target afterwards, but Kayla got very fussy (she didn't like the freezing cold wind - it was around zero degrees with windchill) and she was tired and getting hungry, so we decided to head home. As soon as we got to the stoplight to turn onto the highway, both girls fell fast asleep in the back of the car, and MB and I enjoyed a quiet trip home with easy conversation. In this picture, the girls (Chloe, left, and Kayla) are playing contentedly with their toys while the adults enjoy their food at Denny's.

Parade of Lights

Tonight we decided last-minute to check out the Macy's Light Parade in downtown Walla Walla. Seems it's the thing to do on the first weekend of December. It was cold. (Around 20, maybe?) So we bundled up and headed into town about half an hour before the parade was to start. We had been warned to arrive early to find a decent parking spot, but we didn't quite make up our minds early enough to manage that. So...we chanced it anyway, and found a nice parking lot about two blocks from where the parade was set to go through. Not bad! Kayla slept in the car and stayed asleep for the first third of the parade. While she slept, we took pictures and enjoyed the hot chocolate and hot sweet potato soup we'd brought in thermoses. When she woke up, Daddy and Mommy took turns showing her the lights. She was...mildly impressed. We saw some great floats, including a snowmobile "sleigh" pulled by light reindeer, a Jazzercise group dancing through the parade, and a group of 50-60-year-olds line-dancing on a flat-bed truck lined with lights. Really fun! And definitely rang in the Christmas season!

Little Decorator

We got our Christmas tree today. We bought it at a little roadside stand on the highway for a fraction of what people pay at "gourmet" tree farms like Klickers. And it's still a nice tree! Kayla helped us hang some ornaments. What a good little helper!

Renewed Tradition

Tonight we went to our first tree-lighting ceremony at the university. They used to do it, years ago, but somehow the tradition died...perhaps because the tree they used got sick and had to be chopped down. This year they purchased a large (30-50 feet?) tree and set it up in front of the administration building. Then they invited everyone to come out and watch them light it up for the first time. They plan to make this an annual thing, and I think that's fantastic! We also enjoyed hot chocolate and delicious (tasted like home-made) Christmas cookies. Somewhere, someone was passing out candy canes, too, but we missed that. The tree was beautiful, as were the other lights in nearby trees and on the ad building. It was cold, so we bundled up. Kayla ended up falling asleep, she was so warm and cozy. The only thing cold was her adorable little pudgy red cheeks. She's actually wearing the very first piece of clothing she ever owned: A Tigger bundler from Grandma Sevison. It's the first time she's worn it, actually! And it was adorable. (And Ruth, just as a note, yes, I DID pick out that hat and those gloves on my own. They came with a scarf, too. And yes, I do realize they're pink. I don't know what's wrong with me...)