Festival of the Nativity

On December 3rd we went to a stake activity called Festival of the Nativities. It was my favorite Christmas activity I have ever been to in my whole life. We got displaced from our ward building for a couple of weekends but it was totally worth it. The stake puts together this community event for all religions, peoples, and neighborhoods. They gathered as many nativities as they could, turned the auxiliary rooms into scenes from the Saviors life, and then had musical performances of different kinds. Some were reverent and some were more Santa like. It was such a great event. So many people came! There were activities were kids, videos of the Saviors life, and I loved that all around the hall there were questions about Christmas and the Savior. The spirits was so strong. I loved how a community came together to celebrate the birth of our Savior.

At one point we lost Kelsey, and when we found her, this is the scene we found. It was perfect and beautiful.

Zipline Park

It was a sunny day so we thought we would go to the new park at the lake. I don't remember the name, but we call it zip line park because it has a super cool zipline that the girls LOVED!! Even Madison tried the zipline and did really well. They were so cute and so brave.
The park itself was also really cool. It is completely Washington themed and had super cool toys. I know we will be going to this park lots and lots in the summer. It is really close to the beach. I can't wait for summer to come.

Picture Dump

I wanted a family picture for Christmas cards to represent our life now in Seattle so I got it all planned out and got everyone ready. Well  life happened between the time they got dressed and Dallin came over and we went from a potentially solid Christmas picture to this. Its not bad but there are many reasons we didn't use it. I got so mad at this picture at first but now I think its hilarious. I wish I was better at laughing in the moment.

 Our girls wake up too early for my taste and so I always try to sleep in more while they are awake. You know how the story ends. But look how happy she is so see me!

 I lover her after braids hair

 I don't have an amazing camera but phones can pick up some amazing pictures all the same. We have some great lighting in our house so I was playing around with it. I love how this one turned out.

 Girl loves pizza

One cloudless day (while it was 33 degrees) we played outside and were rewarded for it. I can't wait for nice weather!!! 

 Fun fact: That JOY was 3 dollars at Target. I painted it and glittered it and love it

We decided that we wanted to be fit so we exercised. I lasted about a pushup pass this picture, but Ethan has been exercising every day since! I'm so proud of him. 

We were laughing about how little college tree because I can literally hug it. See...
but we love it so much! I don't know if we will ever replace it. Its just perfect. 

 A rare sight these days. It made for a lovely run

 My girls never want me to read to them anymore which sort of hurts, but Kelsey reads to Madison and they love it. She makes up the stories and Madison sings along. Its so adorable.

The week we had snow, I got some GREAT pictures of our back house thing (not sure what to call it)

snowing with sun

snowing

19 degrees outside!!!

Foggy (this was taken at 9:30!)

Fog from the lake. We are high enough that we don't always get the fog. Its so fun to see it though

 Stop it. This is hands down the cutest Madison I have ever seen

 Princesses frequent our dinners quiet often

 She is ALWAYS wearing Kelsey's underwear. Heaven help me that I have to potty train another child. I already did that. Don't the rest just come pre-potty trained?

We were downtown and obviously is was a P-Day or something. There were missionaries EVERYWHERE!!! 

 First monorail ride

 Yeah, its 6:15 in the morning. Too early for this mom

 Kelsey is genuinely the happiest riser I have ever met. She walked out of her room with toys and this smile.

 Loved our neighbor gifts this year. We gave 4 cookies and a bunch of fruit. It was a fun and easy mix up. I only had to make one batch of cookies but still gave a great gift. Also, Ethan made the tags and I bought these bags at Hobby Lobby last year for about 10 cents a piece. Winning all over the place

"Hi mom!"

 I know right?!

Kelsey literally writes everyone shes knows about a letter a day. She is ALWAYS writing letters. We send them out sometimes, but sometimes its just too much. Lately she has started writing the letters, filling the envelopes, and then we show her how to "put them in the mailbox" aka, open our slot with the key and throw the letters in. She's happy and we don't use quite as many stamps as she requires. One day I didn't know she was ready to deliver, I looked up and saw this: coat, boots, mail key, ready!

Will the mailman know where to send these? I only put my name?

 It was cold outside but she didn't care. The sun was out!!!

They were trying to see if the markers tasted their color. they don't

We were on the couch and heard a dragging sound. I went in the kitchen to see Madison, sitting on the counter, feet dangling, chalkit in hand. She had carried the stool from the bathroom (which is AS big as her) climbed onto the counter, grabbed a chocolate, and treated herself to a "nack" or a "tet" as she calls it