Christmas in Oregon

Christmas is by far one of the greatest holidays! I love being around family, and enjoying the beautiful scenery and spirit that Christmas always brings with it.

This year, Natalie and I flew to Oregon to spend a week with my family while Nathan studied for exams. We had a lot of fun playing with Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Jason, Aunt Lisa, and Uncle Scotty! I think they all missed Natalie, but she remembered everyone and was such a joy to watch this Christmas season.

I got to go snowboarding while we were in Oregon. Yes, I know. Not the smartest thing to do when you’re 3 months pregnant – but I was very careful to go slow, and not to crash! It was so much fun being up there with my brothers and Lisa again. Jason and Scott had fun showing off their new jumping skills for me, and Lisa and I enjoyed watching as we slowly made our way down the mountain! It was a blast!

Natalie had fun riding on the sled behind Grandpa. He took his daily walk with her and I tagging along. It was so much fun and Natalie loved seeing the dogs and birds on our walk in the snow.

Two days before Christmas, Oregon decided to welcome about 2 feet of snow to the valley. Ordinarily, this would have been very fun and exciting, but it caused quite an upset in our family. Nathan’s flight to Oregon was canceled and we were worried that he would have to spend Christmas all by himself in Arizona. Well, after lots of prayers Nathan was able to get the last seat available on a flight to Oregon the next day. I couldn’t believe it but having Nathan with us made our Christmas complete! First we went sledding at Dad's house!

The snow didn’t stop when Nathan got to Oregon, and of course, Jason and Nathan had to make the best of it on Christmas Eve at Dad’s House! I love that they get along so well, and have so much fun together – but seriously – making a ramp over an electric box . . . probably not a good idea! Lisa and I had to laugh at them! What more can you do?

Christmas at Dad’s house was great – all the kids had a lot of fun playing in the snow, eating dinner, and playing games. I think Dad (Grandpa) got a little worn out after chasing Natalie all day, but they had a lot of fun together.

Christmas Day took us to Jason and Lisa’s house where we had our Christmas festivities with Mom, Mike, and Mike’s kids. It was a lot of fun having everyone there – and my mom never fails to make getting together an adventure! First, we had to wait for everyone to get to Jason and Lisa’s so we had breakfast in the morning. Then we got to open Christmas presents. We all got lots of fun things, and enjoyed spending the day together!