Snow Days

Marty and Sarah spent 5 nights in Turckee. We rented a cabin with 5 other couples. Jack stayed in Sacramento. He alternated staying at Poppa & Nana's houes and Grandma's house. Though we missed him, it sure was fun skiing, snow-shoeing, and visiting with friends.

Snow-Shoeing:





We did great skiing, espically since it had been over 2 years since Marty or Sarah had been skiing (since before Jack)! Here we are in the lodge warming up, we headed back out there for more runs!



Sledding is an all day event! First gear up. Second, prepare the run. Third, lots of trials. Finally, a run so dangerous no one wants to use it!

First:


Second:


Third:


Finally:

Christmas Morning at Grandma's House

Merry Christmas! Time to get up and open presents. “Wake up Daddy!”



Before we opened presents Jack got to play Uncle Tom’s guitar and sing “Jingle Bells.”



We let Jack pass out the gifts. He got the least, but he didn’t seem to notice.



Look what Jack and Mommy made for Daddy



Check out the monkey slippers Grandma got Jack.



Jack got a new basketball. Tucker (our dog) popped the other one! This one seems Tucker-proof.



Look at Grandma’s living room after opening all the gifts

Christmas Eve

We celebrated Christmas Eve at Poppa & Nana's house. We had a delicious Turkey dinner. We visited with Aunt Pam & Uncle Larry, Uncle Bob, and Great Grandma.



Uncle Bob is a vegetarian throughout the year except at Thanksgiving & Christmas. We got him to pose with the turkey leg . . .



Jack with Great Grandma



Jack tried egg nog for the first time. He LOVED it. "More egg nog please"




After dinner we opened a few presents with Poppa & Nana. Maybe the “Elmo Potty” book from Poppa and Nana will get Jack closer to being trained?





We tried to get a family picture (so hard with a 2 year old)



Better get to bed now! Santa comes tomorrow!

Aunt Sandy's Christmas Party

Every year Sarah's Aunt Sandy hosts a big Christmas party for the "Jumper" side of the family. The truth is, alomost all of the Jumpers are female, so there are only 2 Jumpers left, Sarah's Uncle John & Sarah's brother Tom. "Unka Tom" as Jack calls him.





The family is BIG so we didn't manage to get a picture of everyone. Here are a few...









Each year we have a gift exchange for the kids. Then we do a "Bad Santa" game for the adults. The competition for gifts can get heated! But we always have FUN!

Bumpy visits Seattle

Bumpy made a visit to Seattle for a weekend. We were so happy to show her our new town. We took Bumpy and Jack too Zoolights at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium.





We also took Bumpy to Marty's office Children's Christmas Party, had a wonderful dinner in the Space Needle restaurant, and took Bumpy to our church. Bumpy also taught Jackson to put up his thumbs.

Happy 2nd Birthday Jack!

Jack turned two yesterday! We celebrated his birthday with family. The day after Thanksgiving Marty's Anut Betsie made Jack a cake & organized a small family party. He loved when we sang to him, and caught on to opening presents very quickly. Nana, Pappa and Grandma didn't want to miss his birthday, so he had a cup cake and candles at Nana's house on Thursday.

Snow in Seattle

Our first winter in Seattle was graced with some early season snow. It was beautiful but didn't last long. The next morning it rained and the snow was gone by the afternoon. This is the view out of our front window.

Mother Daughter Weekend

It all began 6 years ago with an idea to get together to do Christmas shoping in San Francisco. My mom and I, Rema and her daughter Holly, and Patti and her daughter Natalie have been going away togther for 6 years now!



We pick a fun city to meet in a tour for the weekend. We have had pregnant "daughters" and babies join us. We have gone to San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Monterey, Portland, Apple Hill and this year; San Diego.



We enjoyed the beach, shopping for Christmas presents, and good food!



No weekend is complete with out a silly hat picture!

Happy Thanksgiving

We drove to Bend for Thanksgiving. It was very crowded on I-5 on Friday so the drive took 8 1/2 hours. Jack and our dog Tuck were both well behaved and being with family made the drive worth it!



Here's a picture of Louisa Stark. She is the newest member of the family!



Jack & Ben loved it when Bumpy showed them how to play the piano. Both Ben & Jack are so gentle on the piano, no banging, only soft rather musical play.



We had fun trying on our new shirts Bumpy gave us. Now were ready for the Hoildays!




You can find the rest of our photos from the trip here:

http://www.calmarty.smugmug.com/gallery/3927868#227868488

Happy Halloween

We celebrated Halloween a few days early. Nana & Pappa were in town for the weekend. On Sunday we all went to the Pike's Place Market and then down to the Wharf for some trick-or-treating.





The highlight of the day for Jack was the fire station. He loved sitting on the fire truck. He would not move! He eventually had to be removed by force.

Happy Birthday Sarah

We celebrated Sarah’s birthday with a night out in Seattle just the two of us. We enjoyed a special bottle of wine that was a gift from our friends Mike and Courtney for our wedding. The wine was delicious and the meal savory. The waiter even brought a special cake with 3 candles! One candle for each decade.

Vegas

This year I turned 30-Yuck. What better way to deal with it, correction, CELEBRATE then going to Vegas?! Who better to go with then Liz, my oldest friend!





We actually won money & met Elvis- one of them is the REAL Elvis, not sure who though.