Beech Tree: December 2009

Christmas!

Ok, lots more pictures... ^

Brind and I agreed that this Christmas was perhaps, THE BEST EVER! :) Christmas eve-eve we had dinner and presents at my Granny's. She made a FEAST! Ham, mashed potatoes, gravy, two kinds of stuffing, lamb with mint jelly, baked sweet potatoes, candied yams, jello salad, peanut butter, chocolate and walnut fudge, hot apple cider... and grandpa made cranberry sauce so yummy you could just eat it with a spoon! Oh, I could go on and on. It was amazing.

We spent Christmas eve with the Bennett's and feasted again! I loved seeing all the kids... it breaks my heart that I am a stranger to the out-of-state babes! But they are so sweet, they let me love on them anyway. Miss Ruby is a doll, she feels like a little bird with hollow bones compared to my little chunk! Brind and I got new books! We were so happy... the last few weeks we've taken turns pacing in front of our bookcase looking for 'somthin' else'. Thanks guys!

We then went to my parents and spent the night and had Christmas morning with them. It was so fun, my brother and his wife, Brenda, came over in the a.m. to open presents with us. My parents got me tickets to Beauty and the Beast on Broadway! The play is in Portland and Brind and I are going tomorrow night! AGH! I'm so excited! The boys played risk and the girls watched movies and ate cinnamon rolls till we were sick! We stayed up late and soaked up every last ounce of my dad that we could... he left the next day :(

We love this season, and our great family!

xoxo - Brind and Julia

Christmas in Richmond and D.C.

BEWARE: lots of pics

Cole loves helicopters. He's been asking for one (a remote controlled) ever since I can remember. However, Geof. and I never want to spend the money to get a decent one. And to be honest, we don't even trust the "decent" ones. Cole found this at a mall up near D.C. and insisted on spending his own money: all $35 of it. He LOVES it!! And you know, it works pretty well. (;

We went up to D.C. and stayed at my cousin Ivy's apt. for 3 days (she's in CA). Day one was good, day two was fantastic, day three was FREEZING. Geof. and I both hate the cold. The kids did okay..We went to a few monuments the last day but left early, went to IKEA and Costco, and then drove home. Geof. found the girls in the boy's bathroom at one point. Hm...what else do I need to say about the pics? Day 2 we went to the D.C. Zoo. Great zoo. Dayne built a little snowman and was so proud. I sat in the stroller and couldn't believe how out of shape I felt (lots of hills in that zoo, surprisingly). Geof. got a new hat on my birthday date. Doesn't he look GOOD?! Day one we went to museums. June was tired. Happy, but tired. Cole was sweet..and Dayne was whiny. I took a pic of her whiny face and she took a pic of me making fun of her. We could stay in D.C. forever. Geof.'s extremely happy there. We need to go up more often. We forgot our camera when we took the kid's to D.C. Temple's Christmas lights. Very pretty..

On Christmas Eve, our wonderful friend's Aimee and Shane had us over for a Christmas Eve open house. Aimee does everything perfect; her hair, her clothes, her food, her house...her girls. (; We love them. Cole was the only boy, btw. It's always like that!