Month: December 2008

The last day the Anaya family was visiting we went sledding at a park in town. We had lots of fun and got a few bumps and bruises along the way. Everyone went down the hill a couple of times so I posted pictures of everyone below.

For Christmas this year we had the Anaya family at our house. It was an extra special white Christmas. It was nice to have everyone together for the holidays. Almost everyone came the weekend before so we had a lot of time to spend together. We had fun shopping, wrapping presents, playing in the snow, and Bryan and his brother went snowboarding. One day we went sledding right down the street from our house. We found a spot where some people had built a jump, and we built is up a bit more. It was pretty good because the first time Bryan went down the hill he got enough air to just stand up. Below I posted pictures from their time here.

This morning we woke up to yet another fresh blanket of snow. Between 4:00 PM yesterday and this morning it snowed at least 5 inches. So, earlier today Bryan and I just had to go explore. There is a nature trail right behind the houses across the street that belongs to our neighborhood so we thought it was the best place to look.  We walked around a bit and Bryan got some great pictures. We also found a HUGE open untouched field of snow behind the nature trail. We will wait for Bryan’s family to come and we can make a whole family of snowmen! I can’t wait to see how many more inches we are going to get today.

Temperatures here in the Pacific Northwest this past week have been in the teens and twenties. It snowed close to 6 inches at our house last weekend! However, that didn’t stop Bryan from putting one more strand of lights on the house. It is definitely a big change for Bryan and I after living in the desert for 22 years. It’s a little too cold for my comfort, but I have never lived anywhere where it has snowed for Christmas. So, I’m hoping the weather man’s predictions are right and that we will indeed have a white Christmas.

A few weeks ago Bryan and I were on the search yet again for a 10 to 12 foot tree. Being the evergreen state you would think that it would be easy for us to find a tree of that height but it is not so. Most lots carry only up to 8 foot trees. I called one lot and they assured me that they had 12 foot trees, but when we got there and walked around several acres of trees they had one tree above 10 feet and the bottom half was completely dead. After visiting another lot and nearly dying at the $70 price for a tree we stumbled upon a lot in some guy’s back yard. He had a lot of tall trees, his price was way below $70, and it was starting to look very cloudy so we went in search for the perfect tree. I found the perfect tree; but unfortunately Bryan refused to cut it down and take it home because it was about 18 feet tall. So, we settled on another tree standing just under 11 feet. I’m not sure which was more difficult, cutting down the tree, or putting lights on a tree of that size. The saw we had was about as sharp as a butter knife so it took Bryan quite a bit of time to cut it down. I tried to help him but I was about as useful as the saw. We finally got the tree home then more hard work began.

The task of putting lights on a tree of that size is no easy feat, especially for a light crazed maniac. It took me two days, and Bryan several light bulb changes to put the 1500 lights on the tree. I’m sad to say that one of the branches still doesn’t have lights on it because I ran out of lights. I’m tempted to go to the store tomorrow to get just one more strand of 100 but I think if I do my husband might have me committed.

So, after all was said and done, Bryan and I agreed on an 8 foot tree next year.

We are having the Anaya family at our house for Christmas this year so we figured we better go all out on the decorations. This afternoon we started putting lights and decorations on the outside of the house. I’m not sure how many more lights Bryan is going to put up but we want to make sure you will be able to see our house from Mars. I will post more pictures when we finish.
*Perr if you look closely your graduation present is in the background of one of the pictures; I took that picture just for you.

  

It is a tradition that every year, the Saturday after Thanksgiving to have a Christmas Party with family and friends. The tradition started over 30 years ago with a few couples and it has now grown to three generations and about 30 people. The married couples and families pass out photo pages of what has happened with their families over the past year; and the younger non-married kids exchange gifts. Since Bryan and I live so far away we aren’t able to attend most years, but this year we were lucky enough to be in California for the party. We had lots of fun seeing everyone and getting to catch up!