USA Trip - Christmas

I'm feeling the pressure to get caught up on blogging since it is already February! It has been a busy beginning of the year between traveling and MOVING. Yes, we have moved to a different house but I will have to write a blog post about that later.

We were able to travel home to the US for 3 weeks during December and January. It was really busy but also really fun. We feel like the first couple years of living overseas will be full of learning experiences to figure out how to travel internationally with 4 kids. We learned a lot on this trip alone! We left the KSA on December 23 at 1:00 a.m. and flew to London and then onto Dallas. We had a pretty short layover in Dallas but Steve (Allen's brother) and his family came to the airport to visit with us for about 30 minutes. It was a short time but we loved seeing them and it gave us a little energy boost to make the last leg of our journey to Portland.

Makenna and Lauren were thick as thieves the moment they were together. It was so cute to watch them chatting and giggling like no time had passed. Cousins are the best.

Allen, Steve and baby Ben who was leery of us but much loved!

I could tell as we were boarding the flight from Dallas to Portland that the people around us were not happy to see us board with 4 kids. I know people don't love to fly around kids normally but all 6 of us slept for the entire flight. Like didn't even stir. We were exhausted and were going on 40 hours of traveling.

My sis picked up in Portland and the kids were so excited to see their cousins. Emery crashed out as soon as we got her in the carseat. We knew that she was a little bit sick at that point and that she just needed sleep.

After getting everyone settled and into bed Allen, my brother and I headed to Target to finish up our Christmas shopping. We did the bulk of our shopping online (thank goodness for Amazon) but had some odds and ends to get there. We ended up shopping until the store closed and this was our cart by the end. I was bound and determined to not have to do any shopping on Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve morning started with a fun breakfast made by my nieces Brooklyn and Morgan. They made snowman and Santa pancakes for all the kids. You can see my sister's AMAZING new house in some of these pictures. It is a true dream home and every detail is so well thought out and beautiful.

After breakfast Allen took our older kids and the cousins ice skating. I stayed home with Emery who was very sick and grumpy and jet lagged. After ice skating Allen took her to the insta-care clinic and we found out she had strep. Poor thing was so so sick.

On Christmas Eve we acted out the Nativity with all the cousins. Again, my cute nieces did all the work of putting the costumes together for everyone.

The kids also made and decorated cookies for Santa before we ushered them all to bed.

I expected the kids to be up early on Christmas morning but they all slept in after a late night. (There was lots of giggling and talking late into the night on this trip and we just decided not to fight it.)

Christmas morning on the stairs. Emery was still feeling sick and wasn't very happy for most of the morning. It was a bummer because this was the first year she really understood Santa and Christmas. See how unhappy she is in this picture?

Our family before opening stockings. Santa left soooo many yummy treats that we can't get in Saudi that we had treats for the entire time we were in the US.

A rare happy moment from Miss E.

After LOTS of present opening this was the aftermath. It took us a few days to get everything cleaned up and put away.

Allen's cousin Shaina makes these darling custom dolls that I ordered for the girls. They just love them! They are very high quality and affordable. Here's a link to her shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/KrinkleKut

Later that day the kids had a gingerbread house decorating contest and had a lot of fun eating the candy!

Emery spent most of Christmas day and the following days sick and asleep. The jetlag for the little girls was pretty brutal. It wasn't as bad as when we arrived in Saudi but they were up at all hours of the night for the first few nights. I can safely say I hate jet lag!

Addie succumbs to sleep at the dinner table!

Emery and Addie really love my niece Brooklyn and she spent so much time playing with them. She dressed them up in old dance costumes and taught them songs that they performed for us. I wish she could come live with me to be my little helper. She is awesome!

One fun treat is that our dear friends from Seattle came to visit us on the way home from Utah. We got to spend the entire day playing together and we all had the best time. We lived in the same neighborhood in Seattle and had kids the same ages and genders and the fact that we adore the parents,  it was a match made in heaven. They are some of the best and most supportive friends we have ever had!

The kids were so happy to play with their cousins all day so Allen and I were able to run errands together. We did so much shopping while we were in the US. What most people don't understand about living here is that other than food shopping we really don't buy anything. Prices aren't that good and it's super inconvenient to get places and deal with prayer times.  That means is that anything we wanted and needed for the previous 6 months was put on a list to buy in the US and we also had to try to anticipate anything we will need for the next 6 months. It was honestly totally overwhelming and took a lot of time. We did get to stop at a few of our favorite places and grab food between errands. Of course 5 guys was on that list.

This is the food we bought at Costco to bring back with us. We actually went back to Costco another time and bought 60 pounds of meat that we froze and brought back and more snack foods. It's really hard to find healthy snacks here so we brought lots back with us. I think we also brought back about 15 pairs of new shoes. It was crazy!

Up Next: New year's Eve and time at the Washington Coast with Allen's mom

December Festivities

We had a busy and wonderful December full of lots of different activities. These pictures cover most of our pre-holiday activities this year. We always kick of the month of December by giving the kids a new pair of Christmas pajamas. It's getting harder to find cute jammies for my older kids! They also receive their chocolate advent calendars and we start our tradition of reading Christmas books every night.

Our ward held a wonderful Christmas party. The theme was Christmas around the world and each auxiliary had a  booth that highlighted a country. There was a traditional craft or activity, traditional treats and decorations from each country. Each child received a passport that was stamped at each booth they visited. The YM were in charge of England so we did lots of prep work to get ready for their booth. The other countries were Japan, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands and the Holy Land. At the Holy Land booth families could dress up in traditional costumes and have their pictures taken. I still haven't received a copy of our family's picture but here is Makenna with a couple of her cute friends:

After some time to visit each of the booths we had dinner and a short program. It was a great party!

We took the kids to visit the festival of the Nativities that one stake in the area hosts every year. It was extremely well done and it help set the tone for our holiday celebrations:

 Our family in the dress up booth at Festival of the Nativities:

 We took the kids to downtown Seattle to attend the Gingerbread Festival. Companies donate gigantic gingerbread houses as a fundraiser for Juvenile Diabetes research. This year the theme was fairy tales and the houses were incredible!

 I was able to attend the Nutcracker with Makenna's school class. It was a shortened version but still fun to see. I always love going with my kids on their field trips because i love watching them interact with their peers. Her class had a fun winter party after the performance that I helped organize.

We attended 2 different work parties at MS. Man, they really know how to throw GREAT parties. I've never seen anything like it and they go all out. Our kids had a fantastic time at both parties - there were games, crafts, delicious food, rides, arcade games, face paint/tatoo/balloon animal booths, gift bags, and more. 

Party #1

Party #2. Makenna and her friend showing off their henna tattoos:

 Addie playing a life-sized game of Connect 4:

A few days before Christmas my parents and brother Steve flew into town to spend the holiday with us. We did some fun sightseeing while they were here. We spent a day in downtown Seattle. Our first stop was Pike Place Market. With the brass pig:

Before we headed to the market we gave everyone in the family $10 to spend on someone that we encountered during the day. It was our way to do some random acts of service during the holiday season. The kids opted to buy flowers from one of the vendors and pass them out to people on the street. It was so much fun to watch people's expressions as our kids approached them with a flower and wished them Merry Christmas. Priceless. They had the best time too. Our intent wasn't to have them all pick the same thing but it worked for this year and we will definitely do something like it again next year. My mom and I used our money to buy Starbucks gift cards and passed them out to people in line. My dad loved giving his money to the different performers on the street and Allen used his to buy balloon animals for some kids. It was a really fun way to bring the holiday spirit into our day.

We made a stop at the famous Top Pot donuts to get a treat.

We ended the day by attending the Festival of Ships that Seattle is famous for this time of year. You can stop at any number of beaches throughout the month and watch a procession of ships that are decorated for the holiday that cruise the lake. There is also live entertainment on some of the ships and they make scheduled stops to allow the performers to perform for people on the shore. It was SO neat and definitely worth the effort to see it.

One of the ships:

It was freezing but there was  a bonfire on the beach that we huddled around:

 Our crew huddled together trying to stay warm:

 We had a great month and did lots of other little things to celebrate the holidays but we tried to focus on some things are unique to the Seattle area. We only scratched the surface this year and I can't wait to explore more things during the next holiday season!

Gingerbread Parties

Hi friends. Hope you had great holiday celebrations! I've set the goal to do MORE BLOGGING in 2013 so I'm planning to be posting lots more than I have in recent months. I have a lot to say but first I have to catch up on the busy holiday season.

This year Makenna asked if she could have a Christmas party with some of her friends. We thought about a few different ideas but ultimately decided to have a gingerbread party. As soon as Addison heard us planning she decided she wanted to have a party too. I decided to have 2 separate parties since the age difference was so large and it worked out beautifully.

Addison had her party first and we held it in the middle of a school day. I loved doing it this way because I felt like Addison's smaller party was "practice" for the bigger party a few days later. We invited 3 of her friends from church and their moms and had them over to decorate gingerbread houses. I pre made all of the houses out of graham crackers and used hot glue to stick them together. I made 15 houses for both parties and it only took me about an hour. Way easier than baking and assembling real gingerbread.

 We had tons of different candy for the kids to use to decorate their houses. This is only about half of the options we had. My plan was to have the kids snack on the candy while they decorated (good plan!) and then I had a few healthier things for the moms and kids to eat.

I was SO SO sad that after Addison's last friend left that I realized I hadn't taken a picture of all the girls together. I almost called the moms to come back to my house but I knew it was too late. Here's silly Addison with her house:

I sent all the little girls home with a fun gingerbread goodie bag. The bag and gingerbread house sticker set are from the Target dollar spot and I got the gingerbread girl Christmas ornament at a local craft store. 

A few days later Makenna had her party. We invited 6 friends from school and church and I was very pleasantly surprised that they all came. I kept the set-up really similar to Addison's party. 

 While we waited for all the girls to arrive I had the girls work on painting and decorating gingerbread men birdhouses (Michael's). They had a really fun time with these and embellished the heck out of their gingerbread people - thank you leftover scrapbook supplies.

The girls decorating their houses:

The finished products:

For food we set up a hot chocolate bar for the girls. I made a huge pot of hot chocolate and kept it warm in my crockpot. We had several different kinds of creamers, different flavors of marshmallows and candy canes to spice things up. We also had a popcorn bar where we had a couple different flavors of popcorn and a few varieties of cookies.

 The girls had a really fun time working on their creations and ate more candy and treats than I thought was humanly possible (seriously). We sent the older girls home with their gingerbread houses and birdhouses, a gingerbread painting set and gingerbread ornament. The girls are already talking about plans for their parties next year and I think we'll probably make this a new tradition!

Christmas 2011

I was really hoping my new iMac (!!!!) would be here this week so I could do all my Christmas blogging on it but it won't be here until late next week. By next week even I won't care about Christmas pictures anymore so I figure I should get the blog updated NOW.

I got a wild idea to make my kids some cute Christmas shirts. I don't know why I do this to myself and I'd like to say I'll never tackle a bunch of projects during the month of December again, but we all know better by now. I was up until the wee hours of the morning finishing these for my girls to wear to their class parties. They turned out C-U-T-E though!

Carter clearly did not want a Rudolph shirt so I found him a fun Grinch shirt instead.


Having my parents and brother here for Christmas was super fun. We were busy with a lot of things but took a lot of time to just be together. Before Christmas we had to finish off some of our traditons. We decorated a gingerbread house with my mom. I bought a different kit this year and ended up having to hot glue the pieces together which was a huge pain. It stayed together really well though. My little girls ate the candy while the rest of us decorated.

I was bound and determined to be done with all our projects and stuff (delivering neighbor gifts, wrapping, grocery shopping, etc) before Christmas Eve Day so we could enjoy the day together. We baked and decorated cookies in the morning, went to a movie in the afternoon and had a delicious Mexican fiesta for dinner (enchiladas, tamales, chile rellenos, flan). After dinner we had a fun Christmas concert that my kids worked hard on preparing for all month. We let the kids each open a gift before tucking them into bed.

Christmas morning was different since we had to work church into the morning. The adults got up early and got completely ready before we woke the kids up at about 7:15 (we have yet to have an early Christmas morning). We got everyone downstairs and opened stockings and had breakfast. The kids got these funny googly eyes in their stockings and Emery was completely fascinated by them.

Before we headed off to church. I wish you could see the girls dresses better because they were so cute this year!

After 9:00 a.m. church we all came home and climbed back into jammies and opened presents. I hardly took any pictures of the gift opening this year and regret it a bit but I loved just being in the moment with my family instead.

I got these HUGE Bubba mugs for Allen and Steve kind of as a joke but they love them. Years ago we got some huge mugs at Lagoon during a family reunion that everyone in my extended family loves. They need to be replaced so I got these for the boys. So funny!

My parents, Allen and I worked very hard and late into several nights building beds for the girls’ American Girl dolls. Allen and my dad built and painted the beds (using this plan from the amazing Ana White site:Doll Farmhouse Bed ), my mom did all the fabric cutting and I did all the sewing. We wouldn’t have been able to pull it off with my parents helping out. The girls love, love, love their beds and have played with them constantly. We made a bed to give Emery eventually but I haven’t made bedding for it yet. (Again with the insane projects!)

Makenna was my only child who wanted a picture with her gifts. Santa brought her an electric scooter (huge, huge hit) and we got her a GoGo puppy, sewing kit, school play kit, movies, AG bed/bedding and stocking stuffers. Allen’s mom got all the girls BYU cheerleading outfits and my parents took the girls to Build-A-Bear a few days after Christmas. Her sibs picked out yet another baby doll for her.

Carter got an electric scooter, Nerf Gun Dart tag set, BYU jersey, LEGO idea book, Harry Potter movies, watch, and stocking stuffers. My parents gave him a leatherman and Gma Frost gave him a BYU shirt and hat. His sisters picked out a Battleship game for him.

Addison got a Bitty Twin from Santa and we gave her a GoGo puppy (after she fought with Makenna over hers we returned a gift and got her her own), Cinderella castle alarm clock, magnetic doll kit, AG doll bed, movies and stocking stuffers. The kids picked out some princess Polly pockets for her.

Emery got a Bitty Twin from Santa, a ball popper from us along with some clothes and books. Our kids were quite concerned about the lack of gifts for E but it is so hard on the 4th child to find anything we don’t already have. The kids gave her a fun light up/talking ball thing that she loves!

As a family we got a Blu-Ray player and a bunch of new movies.
We spent the rest of the day playing with toys, snacking on yummy treats and watching movies. After a yummy ham dinner we acted out the nativity

In the days following Christmas we ventured to the mall to go to Build-A-Bear. Addison chose a cupcake bear that she dressed in a Rapunzel dress (of course). Makenna chose a monkey that she dressed in a sparkly ball gown. My girls loved the experience and keep begging to go again!

We also spent an entire afternoon making homemade ravioli. All my life my mom has made ravioli during the holidays. It is a recipe that has been passed down for many generations and is a huge treat for us. My kids also had fun helping and I think this is the year for me to get my own ravioli supplies. It’s so fun to share a generations-old tradition with my kids!

We put together our "Christmas Carol" puzzle that my family has been doing since 1978. I've blogged about this puzzle before but can't find the post for the life of me. My parents bought this puzzle in 1978 and we have done it every year since. We love this puzzle and it holds one of the most fond sets of memories of my childhood. I love all that it represents - tradition, love, family, the holidays. A few years ago my little brother scoured eBay and was able to find each of the kids the exact puzzle we had growing up. AWESOME! So now my little family does the puzzle each year and so do each of my siblings families (one might say we are a bit obsessed with this puzzle!)

We spent an afternoon bowling together where my mom and I tore it up!

We had a fabulous and BUSY holiday season. It was wonderful to have my family in town and to make so many fun memories together! Until next year!