Last Night's Zoo Lights!

Last night we got to go down to Portland and see the Zoolights! It was really great! Freezing cold, but GREAT! :-)

We wanted to make sure and get a train ride in so we did that first. :-)

Okay so the pictures aren't totally in order, but that's okay! :-) Ryan and I waiting in line...he's a giant...but decided he needed to be in the stroller! LOL!

Daddy with Cole in the backpack!

I thought this was the coolest! The huge light snake! :-)

I took this one for mom...The Wizard of Oz! :-)

Ryan and Cole in the stoller together!

The scary crocodile...the zoo lawn looked AWESOME!

Josh and Cole on the train.

Me with the boys on the train.

After the train ride.

It was so much fun and I'm really glad we got a chance to do it. The boys did great and loved getting to see all the different lights. Ryan enjoyed pointing out every animal and Cole spent most of the night saying "Look! Cool!" It was REALLY cute.

Our Day...

This morning we woke up desperately late for church...I know...me, late for church?! You all are probably shocked! LOL! Anyway, we got there in time for classes. Ryan got to have the primary sing happy birthday to him and he got a special candy.:-) He was SO excited! Ryan was AMAZING all through primary! He did really great. Colebear got to hang out with daddy, and took a little nap in the foyer. :-) After church we had lunch and got all bundled up to get our Christmas Tree. Basically since the beginning of December, Ryan has been literally PRAYING for snow on his birthday. Well his prayers were answered and it started snowing! (I told Jenn I was going to start having him pray every night for a million dollars! :-)) We didn't get any of it to stick down here, but up in the hills where the tree farm was had a decent amount. Ryan was in heaven. :-) We got to have hot cocoa, see Santa and his reindeer and pick out and cut down our very own tree. Cole was in the front pack the whole time, but he stayed warm and I think liked seeing everything. :-) Josh and Ryan did a great job cutting down the tree. We were planning on decorating it tonight, however, by the time we got home it still had icicles on it so we are going to do it tomorrow night and give it some time to thaw! Now everyone is worn out and ready for bed! I think Ryan had a really great birthday weekend. :-) He keeps telling me he is going to turn seven tomorrow...I told him No way Jose!! :-) I really am a seriously lucky and blessed person.

Christmas at our house this year was awesome! Jenn's family came from Utah and Tommy and Nicole came down from Portland. Sadly, Mom and Dad didn't get to come home and they were very missed! On Christmas Eve, we kept up with our family tradition and headed to Papa's Pizza for dinner. It was nice to know that we didn't have to cook a big dinner at home (considering there were 18 people staying the night on Christmas Eve) that we would have to clean up after. The kids got to play and have fun while us adults got to relax and eat some yummy pizza! After that we came home to open our Christmas Eve gifts! Each year our family opens one gift on Christmas Eve and it's always new pajamas...cause we don't want to be in old pj's when Santa comes! :-)

This is Ryan getting his jammies on.

Uncle Timmy and Ryan in their new Christmas jammies!!

Christmas morning was wonderful! It was a blast to get to watch the kids open their presents and have so much fun with their new things!

All of the kids, 18 and under, waiting on the stairs to come and see what Santa brought for them!

Ryan's Santa gift. Santa knew how much Ryan loves to go hiking with his daddy so he brought him a Lightning McQueen tent, hiking backpack, sleeping bag and water bottle set!

This is Ryan sitting in his tent looking at what he got in his stocking. He spent most of the morning sitting in there! LOL!

When Jenn got here, she was reading a book called "Twilight" by Stephenie Meyer. I had heard a lot about this book so she was almost done reading it and when she finished I started it. She brought the second book "New Moon" with her also. So as I started the first one, she started the second. We finished close to the same time (in about 10 hours) so I started the second one. I finished the second one on Christmas Day and luckily we both have wonderful husbands who only occasionally hate our reading obsession and they got us the third book "Eclipse" for our Christmas presents! Although I finished all three books in about five days, I'm excited to go pick up the first and second ones (selfish Jenn took them home with her!) and reread them! They are really amazing books, and even written by an LDS author! We even got Nicole hooked on them too! We would have roped in Jessica, but she was too wrapped up with her Pillars of the Earth sequel book to get involved. :-) So if you are looking for a really good set of books to read...definitely pick these up! The fourth book doesn't come out until August, so I'm going to have to find something to do to keep myself busy until then! :-)

As crazy as our house was with everyone here, it now feels so empty that everyone is gone. Tommy and Nicole had to take off after Christmas dinner and Jenn and Nate's family had to leave today. They took Timmy with them to spend some time with our Cousin Jeff in Idaho and work on baseball stuff during winter break. It's hard to imagine that a house that still has 8 people living in it can feel empty, but it does.

I had my third doctor's appt on Thursday. Everything is still going good. We got to hear the baby's heartbeat again and Dr. Cooper said that hopefully the horrible pains that have been plaguing me since the beginning will soon go away. I did get to schedule my BIG ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby!! We are really excited! January 16th will be the big day! I got the earliest appt at 8am so I don't have to wait all day! :-) We will be happy either way but keep your fingers crossed for me that I'll get a little princess! :-)

Okay Ryan is patiently waiting for me upstairs for prayer so I'll go now. I hope you all enjoyed this little update!

Lane Rural Fire Christmas Party and Parade...

Ryan decorating his first Gingerbread House!

Ryan was VERY meticulous about putting on the gumdrops. He wouldn't let ANYONE help him with it. :-)

Josh with the finished product. Ryan went with a "less is more"

Ryan playing in the fire truck.

The Santa sleigh in the parade. Josh said by the end of the parade they had the whole thing FILLED with toys for tots and food for Lane County! YAY!!

One of the decorated trucks.

Ryan giving Smokey Bear a hug! :-)

The party and the parade were awesome. All the firefighters and their families were very nice. Josh also got a really nice present from his Captain that will make Christmas a little brighter. :-)

In other news...we kept Timmy and Ryan pretty well drugged yesterday so they could rest. Timmy was well enough to go to school and Ryan is feeling much better. I'm feeling better, just tired and Josh is doing good too. Jordan had to stay home from school, but Jessica is keeping him upstairs resting and drugged so hopefully he can shake it too. We are keeping our fingers crossed that this will be the end of this sickness at least until after Christmas! :-)

UGH!

We are all sick sick SICK here! I hate being sick. I decided to keep us all home from church because why get the whole ward sick right before Christmas? That would insure coal in my stocking!! :-P Yesterday was Josh's fireman's Christmas party and parade. It was awesome! They put so much effort into it and it turned out great! Ryan won a whisk because it looked like a microphone. :-) And he also got a level for his daddy. I'll post pictures from the party and the parade a little later. I think I'm going to lay Ryan down for a nap and take a nap too!