Christmas 2018 Memories

This Christmas season was probably one of the most fun and magical we've had yet since our boys are at such wonderful ages.  They both fully believe in Santa and all the magic of the holiday season and of course they were super in to all our traditions and fun activities of the season.  I know the window for them believing is limited so we are soaking it up as much as possible.

Here were some of our favorite memories from the Christmas season starting with the weekend after Thanksgiving:

Black Friday spent downtown with Nana and Pops visiting the train at Macy's, riding the carousel, starting Christmas shopping and visiting the gingerbread houses at the Sheraton

Annual trip to Molbaks to see the poinsettias with Nana & Pops

Visited Santa and had dinner with Gramma and Grampa & Nana and Pops

This year's turned out with lots of smiles!

Got our Christmas Tree at our favorite place: Keith & Scott Tree Farm in North Bend

The boys were in our church's children's Christmas play. Nathan even had a speaking part as the character "Little Billy."  And Cameron was a shepherd...finally after many years of being a sheep.

Got to see the Lion King Broadway musical at the Paramount!

Our favorite Christmas tradition: riding the Santa Train from North Bend to Snoqualmie.  Freshly baked cookies and hot cocoa, visiting Santa, and dinner at North Bend Bar & Grill

Christmas Eve with the Warners

Laila's 1st Christmas!

My favorite photo of the season!

Christmas morning at our house

Santa came!!

Christmas dinner at the Spauldings'

What a busy and fun-filled season it was!  I love looking back on all the memories and moments.  So grateful for family and the chance to celebrate and reflect on our most meaningful and important gifts.  

Another New Family Member

Our sweet niece/cousin, Laila Marie Warner was born on Thursday, September 20, 2019!  And we are absolutely smitten.  Isn't she adorable?  We are thrilled to finally have a little girl in the family!  Carly and Ryan are amazing parents so far and it's been so fun seeing my brother as a dad.  Laila just gets cuter and cuter every day and it's been so fun to love on her.

Nana and Pops with her the day she was born

I got to visit just 2 days after she arrived and was in heaven holding her for a couple hours to give Ryan and Carly some much needed rest!

Finally a couple weeks after she'd been born Nathan, Cameron and James got to meet Laila.  It's darling to watch the boys around her because they are so calm and gentle.  Cameron is just drawn to her--he definitely loves babies.  Eventually though they get restless and I think they want her to just get up and play with them or start talking to them.  ;)

Of course Ryan has captured some amazing shots of her since she was born:

Love this family photo!

The name Laila is Carly's middle name.  And Marie is Carly's grandma's name.

I personally am so excited to have a niece and to finally get to be an auntie.  I'm excited for our bonding times and to be the source of support and fun that Ryan and Carly have been to our boys.  It will also be such a joy to watch the cousins play together and build relationships.

Congrats Ryan and Carly!  Welcome to the world baby Laila!!

Cameron's 4th Birthday

Cameron is 4 years old!!  Wow!  I just can't believe it.

We celebrated his birthday this year at the Si View Park in North Bend with family and lots of his friends from school.  His party theme was Disney Cars.  The entire summer had beautiful weather and then of course on the day of our outdoor party, we had clouds, rain, and cooler weather.  But we didn't let that stop us and luckily our guests were great sports and made the best of it.

In true Cameron fashion, he didn't want a cake for his birthday...just a maple bar doughnut.  ;)

And another maple bar on his actual birthday! 

Here is what I want to remember about Cameron at 4 years old:

• He is luckily still our major snuggler.  He always wants us to snuggle for a long time at night, sit on our laps to snuggle, be carried, etc.  I'm trying to soak it up because it may not always be that way.  
• He really likes vegetables!  Especially carrots, broccoli, peas, and cauliflower
• He is his brother's shadow and his brother can drive him mad sometimes.  I guess it's the normal tension of a brotherly relationship.  But the boys truly are buddies and really love being together.  They take care of each other and complement each other's strengths.
• Cameron can write his name by himself
• His a rough and tumble kid still.  He loves to wrestle, play sports, and be physical
• If the kiddo could eat one thing every day, it would definitely be Mac n Cheese 
• He has his own little posse of friends already thanks to school.  His most loved friends are Vander, Daniel, Evelyn, Anavey, Keaton, Avery, Charlotte, and Zachary.  
• Cameron loves to ride his bike, play Legos, read books, color, "do homework" while his brother is doing homework, watch shows, play make believe with Nathan, play baseball or soccer in the house, and have dance parties.  He has quite the little dance moves!
• He still hates chocolate and doesn't like many sweets in general.  His weaknesses though are doughnuts and anything gummie
• Cameron is brave and pretty independent.  Nathan is playing soccer this fall and while he plays, Cameron jumps on his bike and rides around the park by himself just in his own little world
• He is our little fashionista.  I swear he changes his clothes at least 3 times a day every day.  It's either he wants to be in shorts, wants to wear red, wants to be a superhero or in a costume, or just feels like changing just for the sake of it.  He also loves to dress up fancy--anytime he can wear his little clip on tie or dapper cap, he will.
• He LOVES the color red
• He is very curious and loves to be in conversation.  He also likes to talk about God a lot and what God is like or why He makes us do the things we do.  :)
• Cameron is pure joy to our family and we love him!!

Summer 2018 Recap

Summer has always been one of our most favorite times as a family especially living in the Northwest and this summer did not disappoint.  Here are some of the highlights in photos:

I forgot to write that in May, James and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary in Cannon Beach!  A relaxing, beautiful, decadent 4 days of beach walks, movies, yummy food, the Haystack rock many times over, runs on the beach, and quality connection couple time.  Not to mention a harrowing bike ride from Cannon Beach to Seaside. (Note to ourselves: don't try to road bike in Cannon Beach ever again).

Enjoyed our annual tradition of a Snoqualmie Ridge 4th of July complete with neighborhood parade, celebration at the park and fireworks show at the Kilburns.'  Between the festivities we took the kids to Centennial Park to ride bikes and Cameron rode without training wheels for the first time!

Right after we returned from Chelan, we participated in what has become another beloved summer tradition--the Torchlight 5K run and Torchlight parade as part of Seafair.  James and I did the run which went along the Alaskan Way Viaduct for the very last time.  And then this year we watched the ENTIRE parade and closed the place down!  The boys are always mesmerized by the parade (and a little scared of the Seafair Pirates and their cannons.)

In early August we spent a weekend at Lake Entiat in a rented house with our couple friends, the Faders, Paynes, Ridges, Carter & Brie and no kids!  We did some wine tasting in Lake Chelan, made meals, floated on the lake in a huge inner tube, watched the guys play cornhole for hours and literally laughed until we cried playing games like Cards Against Humanity.  So. Much. Fun.

Despite the smoky August air, we had a wonderful long weekend camping at Johnny Creek with the Spauldings and Antis' again.  Because of the forest fires there was a burn ban which meant no campfires.  How do you camp without a campfire?  Luckily Uncle Johnathin saved the weekend and brought his fire pit.  One of the best moments was watching a full sky of shooting stars.

I got to sneak away one evening to enjoy my very first concert at Chateau Ste Michelle with my girlfriends.  We saw Ben Harper in concert and of course laughed, ate and drank our way through the evening.  Just love these girls.

We capped off the summer months with a family camping trip to the Olympic Peninsula for the first time.  James and I went to the Olympic Peninsula before we were married, but we were up in the northern part. This time we camped at Kalaloch campground along the coast.  How fun to camp by the beach!  We had a great campground where the boys could explore and run around.  We also drove up to see some tidepools at another beach and visited Lake Quinault Lodge.  One evening there was a beautiful sunset and the entire campground gathered around to watch it.  

And then I can still hardly believe it but I had my 20th high school reunion in September.  Luckily the event was just down the road at Salish Lodge.  I was nervous about it, but it ended up being a blast!  I saw so many friends I haven't seen in years.  This photo is my favorite of all my wonderful buddies from growing up in Timberline.  My conversations with these long time friends were some of my favorites of the evening.   

It's always so fun to do this recap and reminisce on the entire summer at one time.  Grateful for such wonderful memories!