2014 Christmas/New Year Letter--It's a Wonderful Life

Happy Holidays to all of our family and friends.  We love you and wish we could see you more often!  We are looking forward to celebrating the New Year together as a family.  Christmas was a busy and fun.  We weren't able to sit down and watch a holiday favorite, "It's a Wonderful Life" until December 29th but better late than never.  We do feel like life is wonderful because even with the ups and downs, we know that our Savior has a plan for us.  

The kids have had a fun year.  Max loves Tae Kwon Do, he played soccer and took swimming lessons, is a self-proclaimed book worm and loves school.  He is an exceptional helper around the house.

Ryan started kindergarten and loves it.  He played soccer and took swimming lessons as well.  He is my artist.  He loves to create.  He is a really caring person.  Both boys are lovers of Lego, Star Wars, Ninjago and bike riding.

Jason is talking up a storm lately, saying his abcs and counting.  He loves to tell you his colors and even test you on them. ; )  He loves jumping, airplanes, cars, trucks, playing catch, Winnie the Pooh and Mickey Mouse.  He loves his friends and siblings.  He's a very social little guy.

Evelyn walks and runs.  She and Jason have the cutest relationship and can make each other laugh.  She also likes to take his cars and run away giggling.  She is a really snuggly little girl which we LOVE.  She is also really social.  She loves puzzles and books and pushing the doll stroller around whether or not there's a baby in it.    

Tony was finally able to move to the day shift which makes us do the happy dance every time we think about it.  He now leads a crew working in the Boeing P8-A program.  He also substitute teaches at South Seattle Community College in the Aviation Maintenance program.  Debbie volunteers at the elementary school and works from home and is a happy, busy mom.      

We are looking forward to more fun in 2015.  Most exciting of all, Max's baptism will be on July 11th and you are welcome to come.

Much love,

Tony, Debbie, Max, Ryan, Jase and Evelyn

Ward Christmas Party

We had a fun Christmas party last night.  It was really relaxed.  The primary had the assignment to help kids paint salt dough ornaments.  It was actually really fun.  I didn't even think about getting pictures until I saw how adorable the missionaries looked with their tags on the outside of their garbage bag smocks, haha.  This was at the end of the night so I missed the boat  on taking pictures of all the cute kids, but there were kids with paint and glitter.  They had my full attention. :)  There was even a Karaoke corner which was a real treat because people were able to shine in a different way then we're used to seeing at church.  People got up there that I wouldn't have even expected to.  So fun!  The girls are singing Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in the 2nd picture.

A Special Baptism Day

I was lucky enough to get asked by the missionaries to do a church tour with them several months back.  I was able to meet and become friends with some amazing people who are so dear to me now.  Yesterday was such a special day as they were baptized.  I and L asked Tony to baptize them.  Today he will confirm L a member of the church.  There are no words to describe what a special day it was to share this time with people we love so much.

Clam Lights 2014

Every year at Gene Coulon Park on Lake Washington, they have a lighting ceremony and have tons of Christmas lights.  There are also decorated boats that go by.  Our baby-sitter, Danielle's high school choir was singing at the ceremony, plus Tony doesn't work nights and the weather was great so we went!  Ivar's seafood restaurant is the sponsor and that's how it got the name.  Do you see the dancing clams?  If only the pictures could capture the beauty of the night.

Grandma and Grandpa visit/Settling In/Trimming the Tree

Grandma and Grandpa were so nice to visit and help with the move and spend Thanksgiving with us.  The kids were quite happy to have stories, play chess and get lots of snuggles.  Jase called both Grandma and Grandpa "Namma" the whole time, haha.  Ev still sometimes prefers grandma snuggles to mine.  I love that they love their grandma and grandpa.  They know that mom and dad are here all the time so they stock up on as many snuggles as they can get during visits.

And Jason transitioned to a toddler bed.  Tony's going to make a trundle to slide under the bunkbed but for now it's just on the ground.  Ummm, not fun to see how much Jason wakes up and comes into our room at night, haha.

And a few cute videos:

Goodbye Emerald Crest

This house was a blessing for us to get back on our feet after the plane crash.  Being property managers taught us a lot and it was a great source of "income".  But then ownership changed and things changed.  I have more to say but I don't really wish to go there on the blog.  Here are some last pics as we did the final cleaning.  I don't think it was this clean when we moved in.  We had so much help with the kids, moving, dinners brought, cleaning and painting.  We felt very blessed.

My Packing Helper

Becoming Homeowners

On November 17th, we signed for our house.  Our brokers came and brought us gifts.  It was actually fun and not as long of a process as we had thought because our broker had gone over everything so well.

After we signed we had to drive by the house again. :)

On November 20th, we got the keys!!!

Tony and some friends painted the living room, and hallway including the ceilings because walls and ceiling were all green.  It's funny that even something as simple as sweeping in your own home feels different because it's yours.  We are very happy with our house.  More pictures will come as we continue to get moved in and painting projects done.