Oak Creek

A couple of weeks ago we headed to Oak Creek to check on the elk and sheep herds.  The elk  were sticking to the high ground, but we were able to see the sheep.  It is such a fun experience to see them out there in their natural environment.

Christmas Recap

A Merry Christmas it was!  Though I have had my camera out less than I would
have liked (believe it or not :) Here are a few pictures to record our holiday
and some of the great memories.....

This year Dan & I hosted Christmas Eve dinner at our house.  It was a lot of fun getting everything organized and ready and only a tad bit stressful....no really!  We had our
Bugni folks here and my mom and dad and it was really a great relaxing evening. 
We made prime rib for the first time and thanks to Theo and Karen's help, it
turned out pretty great.  We played games and the cousins sang songs.  It was definitely a night for the memory books.

After the last of our family was gone for the night, we started preparing for Santa's arrival.  Max let Chase be in charge of the prep work and he took it very seriously.  We set out the cookies we had made and some milk.  Chase wanted to be sure Santa would find them, so he pulled the table from his room close to the tree.  Chase asked me to snap the picture below for Santa and we wrote him a little note telling him to check the camera so he would see it and we left the camera on the table by the cookies.  Dan and I finally got the boys all tucked in and we were relaxing ourselves when Chase burst into the room and exclaimed that we had forgotten about snacks for the reindeer.  We quickly pulled out the extra veggies from dinner and made two long straight lines of carrots, celery and cucumbers in the driveway so that each deer could have his share. 

When we woke up Christmas morning, there was a shiny red trike under the tree for Max because he had been such a good boy this year.  And for brother....

A new drum set!

Some of the fun things we did that didn't get recorded in pictures....

• Christmas Eve with the our Bugni Family at Aunt Gloria's house.  There is always so many family members there to catch up with and we had a lot of fun playing Bingo.  Aunt Gloria let Chase help call the numbers and he did great!
• Christmas Lights parade in Yakima with Grandma, Aunt Jill, Uncle Andy and Teagen
• We went to cousin Gloria's for a Christmas party with Noelle and Samuel.  The kids sang beautiful Christmas songs.
• Christmas breakfast at Grandma & Papa's house and Christmas dinner at Grandpa & Grandma's house.
• New Year's Eve fire works at Uncle Theo's House

We had another beautiful tree this year orchestrated by Chase, with a bit of love added by Max, Mama and Daddy.  I am happy to report that all ornaments are in tact and Daddy has a new Cougar ornament dangling from the branches.  Happy Birthday to Jesus and happy holidays to all!!

Romania

In November my work sent me on a trip to Romania and it was amazing.  It was my first trip to Europe and I couldn't have gone with nicer people with the added bonus many of them were seasoned travelers or actually natives.  We ate crazy good food, drank lots of great beer and worked hard.  It is an experience I will never forget. 

Be still my heart....

Oh how I love the magic of Christmas with my kids.  You know on the Grinch cartoon where it shows his heart growing like five times it's size, I swear that is exactly how my heart feels when I see my babies so happy.  I took the boys to see Santa at the mall about a week before Christmas and I wasn't sure exactly how smooth the encounter would go.  We decided to take it slow and we watched a few other families take their turn with Santa before we decided we were ready.  Surprisingly, Chase wasted no time in hopping up on Santa's lap and Max and I followed behind a bit slower.  Before I knew it Max let go and ran to Santa.  He crawled right up on his lap and gave him the biggest hug.  Both boys snuggled right up and Santa said his heart was breaking.  It was so sweet.  We were a one shot done family and according to Santa's helper, that is a rare feat.  Chase asked Santa for a drum set and Max left the decision up to the big guy. 

Santa.....this Mama can say without a doubt that these little
boys have been so good this year!

Marshall Christmas Party

Talk about starting the holidays off with some fun.  Our family Christmas party has become one of my favorite traditions of the holiday season and this year was a doozy.  Jill, Andy and Teagen hosted the event and in true "event coordinator" fashion,
Jill didn't let us down.  We had an ugly sweater competition, a white elephant gift exchange and other wild and crazy party games. 

This year, my camera was passed around quite a bit and look at
all the fun pictures we took.

Happy Holidays!

We missed Michael, my dad and Alivie and Lila.  Hope you guys can make it next year!

Christmas Program

A few weeks back we had the pleasure of attending the Christmas program for the boys school.  Both of the boys have been practicing their songs for at least a month and they were ready.  Chase's class took on the extra challenge of singing songs in three different languages.  First they sang O' Christmas Tree in German, next they say Away in a Manager in Japanese and finally they sang Feliz Navidad in Spanish.  I was amazed at how confident this little preschool class sang those songs and as you can see from the picture above, they sang their little hearts out.  Chase was pretty nervous before the performance and we weren't quite sure how it would turn out.  Once he got up there, he sang with all of his heart and once the song was finished he winked and gave Daddy a thumbs up from the stage.  We were so proud.

  One of my  favorite memories of the whole thing is listening to the boys practice their songs at home. Chase's interpretation of the Feliz Navidad with whole hearted innocence was Feliz Naughty Dog.  He would sing so sweetly "Feliz Naughty Dog, Feliz
Naughty Dog......" and then when he got to the I want to wish
you a Merry Christmas, he gave it his all!

Max's class did a sweet version of Jingle Bells to which he does a great "HEY!" and they also did Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Star.  Max knows all of the hand motions and had the song down pretty good, but he got a bit of stage fright during the performance.  As you can see from the picture below, Mama swooped in to lend moral support and gave him a big love when he was all done.

Grandma Sandy, Teagen and Aunt Jill came to watch and I
had to snap a picture of these cute cousins.