Christmas in Seattle

Here is a big shout of appreciation to Julie Klett and Gina Thomas - thanks to them we had ornaments to decorate our first Christmas tree.  thanks to Rob for bringing this bit of holiday spirit to our home.  thanks to Aunt Renee for our awesome stockings hung on the bookshelf with care.  thanks to Nana and Aunt Linda for 2 sweet nativities that Ely enjoyed. 

Thanks to our lovely friends, the Seery's, who made our holiday special by sharing Christmas dinner of duck and cranberries.  Rob made his grandmother's delectable apple dumplings, and I made Aunt Brooke's sweet potatoes with gouda.

 

 

Christmas through Bob's lens

Hoorah that Bob is so skilled with his camera.  His photographs are colorful and crisp!  He arranged a lovely Santa train ride, which his grandsons loved.  Aunt Brooke prepared a delicious Christmas Eve dinner and two kinds of cookies.  We loved our Christmas vacation this year.

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas season in Connecticut

This December we enjoyed a vacation to visit the Thomas family in Connecticut.  We walked on the beach in Branford, where Brooke and August live.  We visited with Lennie and Ralph, a painter, at Nana's gallery. There were many fun activities, including playing at the park, a trip to the natural history museum, and a tour of Ashcroft- Papa's gauge factory.  We also were glad to see Cindy who drove down from Hartford just to see us. Lots of quality time with our loved ones!

 

This post will be followed with the top quality photos from my father-in-law.

parents are awesome

 I miss Emily.  she is so smart and just all round wonderful!  beautiful new daughter.

 my parents are so awesome. they drove up from SLC just to spend Thanksgiving weekend helping us work on the basement. 

 

 My mother brought the whole Thanksgiving meal. it was delicious.

 Grandpa conquered an ugly big old stump. thankyou!

 this is how to build walls. first 2x4s every 16 inches.

 always remember to measure twice, then cut once.

 i feel so much more civilized to have a ceiling.

 

 Grandma is an expert with mudding, perfatape, and sanding!

 

 Grandpa was the master carpenter.

 it was a Big project.  we have a bit more to go before it is finished.

 and now its Christmas.  We had dinner at church and sang songs. E was a little nervous, but sat for a photo with Santa.  He will tell you that Santa has gone back home to the North Pole.