Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Dearest Jackson and Colton,

We spent Christmas Eve morning running around buying a few last minute odds and ends and finishing our gift wrapping.  We left for church at 4:00 and enjoyed a beautiful service complete with my favorite part, a candle-light singing of Silent Night. 

We swung by the Vaughn's house afterwards to enjoy a yummy dinner.

 

Grandma and Grandpa's house was our last stop of the evening.  Jackson, you insisted that Santa's reindeer needed carrots so Grandma loaded us up with "reindeer food" before we went home and left out treats for our special visitors.

 

I set the alarm for 6am on Christmas morning just so that I wouldn't miss seeing your precious reactions to Santa's goodies!  Y'all ended up sleeping until 6:45 though! 

 

The entire morning was spent assembling and testing out all of your new treasures.

After nap time, we drove to Grandpa and Grandma's house to have Christmas #2.

 

Grandma prepared a huge Christmas dinner so we all returned home with full bellies and happy hearts.

Christmas #3 took place via Skype as we hooked up with Grandpa, Grandma, Uncle Mike, Aunt Jess, and Hailey on the tablet.  We took turns opening our respective gifts and just enjoyed being "together".

 

Now we're living in the after-math.  There are boxes, instruction manuals, and new bits and pieces strewn around the house.   And we get the pleasure of watching you enjoy it all.  What a wonderful life!

 

Mid December

Dearest Jackson and Colt,

After Icepocalypse 2013 came and went, I suddenly realized that we hadn't done many of our yearly holiday traditions so we kicked it into high gear!

First stop was Bass Pro Shop...we played around until it was our turn for Santa...

 

I think y'all were all smiled out by the time you sat on his lap...

 

Seeing the man himself reminded us to bake him some treats!

 

My favorite night involved driving around in our pajamas and looking at the local Christmas lights...you two were pretty excited too!

 

Last, but not least, we took a carriage ride via our favorite horse - Hopey.

 

Such sweet memories with my sweet boys!

Early December

Dearest Colt and Jackson,

December has been a nice balance of chaotic and calm.  We started by attending Highland Village's tree lighting ceremony on Wednesday the 4th.

 

What we didn't know is that 24 hours later the entire city would be shut down!  An ice storm came in and, thanks to temperatures that stayed below freezing, took forever to melt!  School was cancelled on Friday the 6th and Monday the 9th!  We spent a lot of time cuddled at home together.  It was relaxing and fun!

The front yard:

 

The back yard:

 

Of course, you two wanted to bundle up and play!

  

By Monday, we were all a little stir crazy from being in the house for so long so we ventured to the Gaylord for their annual festivities.  It seems that folks were still a little freaked by the road conditions so we had the place practically to ourselves!!!

 

Colt, I promise you did enjoy yourself ; )

 

We spent a little time exploring the beautifully decorated hotel afterwards.  

Again, Colt, you weren't in a smiley mood:

 

So, Jax, you tried to remedy that:

 

We all resumed our normal schedules on Tuesday but we're hoping that wasn't the last of the winter weather....because any additional cancelled school days don't have to be made up!  ::fingers crossed::

Two weeks ago...(Part 4/4)

Dearest Boys,

Saturday, the 30th, was our day to get to know Oahu.  We loaded a tour bus bright and early that morning and tried to take in as much as we could as we went from spot to spot.

 

We visited the cutest macadamia nut farm where they let you crack open, sample, and buy delicious macadamia nuts. 

 

It was in the middle of paradise:

 

Next stop:  goofing off at Mokoliʻi ("Chinaman's Hat").

 

Finally, we made it to North Shore!  Gorgeous beach, beautiful water, and talented surfers...

 

The waves were serious!

 

After a lunch of fresh shrimp, we visited Laniakea Beach.  While the water was far from pretty (it was filled with algae), sea turtles were in abundance!  We attempted to snorkel with them but I ended up settling for just hanging with them in the sand.

 

 

 

Our final stop was the Dole Plantation.  We walked through the pineapple crops and had some pineapple ice cream.

 

After our day of exploring, we were ready to crash! 

We went out for sushi for dinner and then took in the sunset.

 

 

A storm blew in sometime while we were sleeping and we woke up to grey skies and a steady rain.  We were supposed to visit Pearl Harbor but we knew it wouldn't be open.  So our final day of vacation turned out to be the most relaxing of them all.  We stayed in the hotel room all day reading books, watching movies, and looking through all of the video footage from Uncle Mike's GoPro.  We stopped every now and then to go to breakfast, lunch, and dinner but that was it.  Before we knew it, it was time to head to the airport for our 11p.m. flight.  We weren't on the plane long before we both fell asleep but, before we did that, we acknowledged how grateful we were for the vacation and how excited we were to get home to see YOU!