Other Memorable December Moments

Christmas Part 2

We were lucky to make it to Portland for Christmas. With all the snow they were having, all the flights the day before we left were cancelled, and flights out the few days before that were spotty. To make things worse, I had us booked on two separate airlines to use our two different free tickets, not something I'll do again in the near future! I'm just glad both airlines could fly out that day so we could spend Christmas all together with Kevin's family. There were people on our plane who had been waiting to fly to Portland for 3 days! And I'm glad the delays weren't too long and we eventually got our luggage, even with hassles on both ends. My goodness.

Portland did get tons of snow and it was great to hole up for the week and relax. I don't have all the pictures from that week yet, but here are a few.

Cora thought it was great to play ping pong. She also loved cheering along everyone else and shouting "be nice!" while they were playing.
All the little girls in the tub. They had lots of fun together, even with the two two-year-olds being... well, two-year-olds!
Cora in her darling nightie (made by Grandma) on Christmas morning.
Sledding on the hill next to Grandma and Grandpa's house... yes, this is the street and not a park, and no, they don't really plow roads in Portland (we saw farm equipment at the airport that was brought in to plow the runways!), and yes, chains were necessary to get up and down the hill the house was on. Kind of crazy. It made for good sledding though! Uncle Kurt also made a cool kiddie slide and a tunnel in the front yard that kept all the little girls busy.
Violet watched but didn't last too long outside.

Other highlights were visiting the Columbia employee store, seeing Great Grandpa and Great Grandma, having Grandmother in Portland for the holidays too, family parties and visits, Uno and Quidler tournaments, and yummy food. We won't be going to Portland for the holidays for quite a long time, so it was an especially nice, and memorable!, last Christmas visit.

As for the New Year, it was especially un-memorable. We all brought colds/coughs/pinkeye/strep home from the holidays with us, so last week we just holed up and struggled through. I lost my voice and we went to bed at 9 on New Years Eve. We are all finally all feeling well. Better luck next year!

Christmas--Part One

We had our Salt Lake celebration the Sunday before Christmas. It was great to have a Christmas with Mom and Dad and lessen the amount of presents to take on the plane to Portland. I tried a new Chicken Masala recipe in the crockpot that was pretty good....
Violet got her first taste of raspberries... and loved them!
Cora loved playing Mary as we read the Christmas story....Kevin was Joseph and I played the donkey.... And, Violet helped play our Christmas songs as we sang along.

There were presents to be unwrapped....
And eaten....Gifts for fun-filled days in dreary January...
and a little dress-up bling...
Comfy gifts from Kissie and Pata for lounging around...and sister hang-out time...
Gifts from Keyton and Liz and family...
Gifts from Shad and Jen (and doggies)...
And one extra special gift at the end of a string maze....Cora's first words were "It's my kitchen!"
I think many phone calls will be made from this phone.
And Violet will be giving lots of help in the kitchen!

What a happy evening!

Bows

I went on a bow-making spree again this month. Luckily, I got to do most of them on 'craft-dates' with friends, so it was fun crafting with other around instead of by myself while Violet was napping and Cora watching Mickey Mouse Christmas again. I've found tutorials on how to make other kids of bows on the internet, so it's been fun figuring out new styles. In progress: and ballerina bowholder wallhanging-- a place to store all these bows! I'm hoping to get it done with my neighbor in January... more pictures to come then.

Merry Christmas from the Andersons!

We hope you have a lovely holiday filled with family, laughter, good pictures, great food, and of course, remembrance of the Savior Jesus Christ.

Christmas Cuties

I never thought I'd get so much joy out of cute girl matching outfits. I just love it! Who knew???

Visit with Santa

Yesterday Cora asked out of the blue if she could see Santa, so we stopped by a mall today inbetween errands. She was a little shy, but pretty excited to see him!

Last Weekend

We had a fun family-filled weekend last weekend! Friday Shad graduated with his BSN in nursing from Weber State. Jen fixed us a yummy lunch at their house, the girls played with Butterscotch and Oreo, and we headed up to the graduation. The girls actually did pretty well for the first half, and then after we saw Shad walk, we left so they could nap in the car before dinner. The graduation ceremony was really nice, they had a live orchestra which was a nice touch. I was glad we could be there. Congratulations Shad! Afterwords we joined Jen's family for dinner.
Saturday morning was... snowy! The roads were kind of crummy driving to Salt Lake and back, but I guess that's just winter around here. At least we made it into Salt Lake in time to spend time with my Grandma and Grandpa DeGiulio, who were headed up to Blackfoot from California for the holidays. It's always a treat to see them!
The girls went shopping while the little girls slept, and then we all went to The Roof for a delicious dinner. The girls did fairly well there, as to be expected for their ages, and Violet enjoyed her first bite of eclair! Well, just the pudding, but she loved it and thought Kissie was the best relative at the table. We had fun walking around Temple Square after, seeing the Christus, lights, decorations in the JSMB, nativity displays... Temple Square is so fun especially at Christmastime. Thanks for the fun day Kissie and Pata!(I feel really bad that Cora's belly is showing on this picture!! I think I'll blame it on Kevin!)

Piano

A nice side benefit of my parents moving to Salt Lake was that they moved their piano with them.... and then we bought it from them and moved it to our house. It's so fun to see Cora playing the piano I used all growing up, and it'll be nice to practice at home instead of arranging to practice at church. Thanks mom and dad!

Christmas Devotional

We lucked out and got tickets for the First Presidency Christmas Devotional Sunday night. We had great seats, the music was beautiful, the conference center was all Christmasy decorated, and the talks were spiritual and filled with fun Christmas stories. It was such a nice way to begin the Christmas holiday season. Thanks Mom, for watching the girls!

Thanksgiving

We had a fun, fun, fun Thanksgiving holiday up in Boise. We kept busy but still had lots of relaxing time, so it was a great combination. My parents moved to Salt Lake the week after the holiday, so it was super nice of them to still host us all!

We drove up Tuesday afternoon and Violet cried for a good portion of the trip, and Cora had a horrible time getting settled for bed once we got there. So we had to revert to our early morning strategy for the way back. We left at 5:00 am Monday morning coming back and it all went much better! It was nice to be able to spend all day Sunday in Boise too as a side benefit.

Kevin was planning on working from 'home' in Boise on Wednesday, but due to some internet problems, he couldn't, so lucky him, he got to see Twilight with Shad, Jen, and I. My mom and dad were nice enough to stay home and watch the girls. I went in with low expectations for the movie and was pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately, the is the SECOND trip to Boise in a row that I have forgotten to bring garments with me! So we made a stop by the distribution center too, luckily they were open... When I forgot in July, they were closed for two weeks! It makes me wonder what I'll forget packing if I'm ever packing in the future for more than 2 kids.

Mom had this photo cubes craft all set for Jen and I to do, which was a lot of fun. I got about half of it done... I need to finish the other half soon! I love the way they are turning out.
It seems like our holiday gatherings in Boise have always had an unofficial theme... one year we watched tons of 24, another year it was almost constant Settlers of Catan... This year, although we had a variety of things going on, I think the theme was Dr. Mario! Yup, we all got addicted and played 'just one more game' a whole bunch of times, on the Wii. I told Kevin we couldn't ever get it at our house because our children would get neglected. Cora did enjoy holding a controller and pretending to play though. It was pretty fun, and although I'm not sure we got good enough to really present a challenge to masters Keyton and Liz in January, hopefully we'll put up a good showing! We also had a lot of fun figuring out a new version of Ticket to Ride. I think I like the original better, but it was a nice variation. AND we saw a great movie that I loved, Amazing Grace. It was unbelievibly good.
Cora and Violet had a fun time hanging out with the doggies, Shad and Jen, and Kissie and Pata. Of course, the trampoline and dress-up clothes are still a big favorite.
Thanksgiving dinner was delicious! Cora took an extra long nap that day and missed it. She did love it when she woke up though. And Violet liked her little mashed potato bites too.
Jen, Mom, and I didn't do the true early morning day after Thanksgiving shopping, but we did visit a few stores that weren't too crazy that afternoon and got some good deals on craft items. I'm up to my elbows in ribbon now making bows for Christmas!
Dad got released for the bishopric on Sunday, so it was nice to be there and hear Mom and him speak in church. We took a family picture right before we left.

What a fun holiday trip! I love Thanksgiving!