December 2013

The weekend of Thomas' birthday, we took a trip up to Nampa, Idaho to visit his sister, Elizabeth, and her family, who had just moved there from California!

We arrived Friday night just as a snowstorm was beginning. It ended up being a snowy weekend, which the kids sure enjoyed!

In honor of Thomas' birthday, Elizabeth made a cookie tree:

We tried out Thomas' ice cream maker for the first time, too, and I made a Bûche de Noël to share:

It was a really fun weekend and we loved getting to see the Vakalalas in their new place! But man, was it a cold weekend! This is ice on the inside of our car on our drive home!

During the rest of the month, we had some Christmas fun. Here is our ward Christmas party:

We took advantage of Thomas' Tucanos birthday card:

We ended up sick around Christmas, but were feeling ok enough on Christmas Eve to go to A Night in Bethlehem put on by some neighbors:

 

We enjoyed a nice, quiet Christmas at home again, just the two of us.

 

Thomas spent some time that afternoon/evening putting to use new lighter fluid, wicks, and flint in a Zippo lighter he'd inherited from his grandfather a while back:

We also got to video chat with our families, including my missionary sister! It was a good day.

oxox