Birch Bay Part 1

J and Kate booked their time share at Birch Bay, WA so we could enjoy some time away from it all. Unfortunately, because of J's new job, he couldn't be there but his job is a blessing anyway. And Stacey had to work unfortunately, but most of us were able to trek up north for some R&R.
The boys loved exploring the beach.

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4I just love being near the water.

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There was much Wii time had with the older crowd.

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Goofy picture of Tony but this is such a cute picture of Max doing Karaoke on the Wii.

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The Epperson boys looking at an App of the ocean while at the ocean. That was the joke. No, this is a pose...really, they did look at the ocean...I think ; )

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We did an explorer hike. Max is looking at the woodpecker holes with the binoculars. Haha.

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I spotted Baldy, the Eagle!

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And then it became a blustery day on the beach. We did get some exploring done before it got too cold though.

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The next day we explored the little dutch town of Lynden. There were a few windmills, toy shops, and antique shops.

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Check out those wooden shoes.

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A windmill posing as a hotel.

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Ice cream at a chocolate shop. Tony and I had hot chocolate with real Belgian chocolate. Yum!

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Thursday, Tony, Doug and I visited Vancouver. It took us a long time to get into Canada and no time to get out which is not what we were expecting. Here is the Vancouver cityscape.

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It was so calm at Stanley Park.

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Here is, "The Girl in the Wetsuit", a statue in the water. :)

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Gastown. Check out those lights and that clock!

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A cool church.

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An awesome little ice-skating rink where there were little "walkers" for parents to help their kids learn to skate.

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This is just a simple thing, but in France (on my mission) there were Doner Kebab places all over. I've seen places where you can get Gyros here which are similar, but never where they shave the meat off of the rotisserie like I saw in France. Anyways, I got nostalgic when I saw this place and had to take a pic.

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Science World had a cool building.

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And we visited the temple.

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Here is our Canadian loot. I was in heaven seeing everything in French and English. The gummy bears are maple flavored, haha.

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Christmas Day!

What a special day! I love Christmas being on Sunday so we can go to church on the same day! I woke up early to make sure I was awake and had the tree lit before the kids came out. Doug was the first one awake and opened his stocking. After stockings we got ready for church and I loved listening to the music. The primary kids even sang a song.
Here is a pic of the stockings (see that Doug's is already gone).

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And the tree. We have much to be thankful for.

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Tony and I decided to incorporate a friend's tradition and give 3 gifts just like the 3 wise men. That way the number of gifts is always the same and it's simpler. I don't want Christmas to get out of hand for them. So, we had fun grouping a few things together to make it three gifts and watching the kids open their presents.
But back to the early morning. Max was bleary eyed but happy opening his stocking.

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Ryan didn't pay much attention to his stocking after he got the candy cane off the top.

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Max and Ryan helped Mike and Nicole air down their mattress.

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The family picture right after church.

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After the traditional breakfast of ice cream and strawberries on waffles, we had present time.

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Christmas dinner.

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We had put Ryan down for a nap midway through presents because of the late hour. Here he is unwrapping his kitchen.

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It was a fun, busy day. Oh and something else about Max. I just love this kid. Everything he opened was, "JUST WHAT I WANTED!". He was ecstatic about the peanuts in his stocking, the orange, EVERYTHING. What an awesome kid. So with all of the fun and joy we had seeing the happiness on each others faces, it was great to remember that all of the giving was because we were taught by our Savior who gave us the greatest gift of all.

The Christmas Eve Marathon

It was a busy but fun day! Normally we wouldn't do this much in one day, but there were so many things we wanted to do with Grandma and since she didn't come until the evening of the 23rd...well, away we go!
We had a Christmas Eve breakfast with the Buhlson family. They are so fun and generous and they have this huge (wide with the top cut off) Christmas tree! There's even a ventriloquist dummy hiding in the branches, haha.
Nope this picture is not on it's side.

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The kids playing Christmas carols...or something.

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Good times.

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Then we did the girl's baking Night, this time in the afternoon.

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We had help frosting the sugar cookies.

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Max and Stacey dipping oreos.

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We acted out the Nativity and sang carols. I was the narrator/picture taker.

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The boys got to open up Christams Eve pajamas.

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Then we decorated a gingerbread house.

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And we cleaned up the boys and watched, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas".

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Then we had "Nog Night", an Epperson tradition. Nicole and I who married in to the family don't like Egg Nog but it's okay with vanilla ice cream mixed in! :)

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Apparently, that was not one of the good flavors according to Grandpa J.

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The spread of our baking-ness which was way too many goodies of course.

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Our little family's traditional Buche de Noel (yule log). It's a french tradition that I picked up from my mission. Someday I'll get all fancy with decorating it like the Patisseries in France, but for now, it's just yummy goodness that looks like a log.
What a tiring, fun-filled family day!