Just What I Always Wanted

We had such a fun Christmas this year! Chad had a long break from work, Jane is now old enough to believe in Santa Claus, and Clark...well...this is Clark's first Christmas.

We kicked off the Holiday by heading to the tree farm early in December to cut our own Christmas tree. We then spent the rest of the month every-which-where enjoying the season.

We took several trips to Seattle to ride on the holiday carousel downtown. We spent countless evenings perusing the mall for Christmas gifts. And, we decorated more than our share of Christmas cookies.

We also had a really fun evening with Chad's family celebrating with all of the adult siblings and Chad's parents. We played Yankee Swap for our annual gift exchange, and I fought hard to take home the coveted Chop Wizard (for chopping up vegetables).

Jane went to a grandchildren's Christmas party with her cousins where no parents were allowed. She had a great time, but all those kids and no parents might have been a little hard on Grandma.

Christmas morning was so much fun! It was just our own little family. The four of us opened gifts from Santa and played with our new toys. Princess dresses were the coveted gift this year, and Santa delivered. As Chad's mom always says, "It's just what I always wanted."

Aloha

We just returned from nine days in beautiful Hawaii on the island of Maui. We went for the (somewhat) bi-annual Brown Family Vacation, and for the wedding of my sister Meagan, and her now-husband, Tom.

It was amazing! Everyone agreed that Maui is one of the most beautiful places on Earth. We spent a lot of time at the pool and at the beach. Jane really took to the water and loves playing in the sand, building sand castles. We also took a daily walk and did lots of shopping at our favorite spot in Lahaina - Front Street.

And the dining... We ate A LOT of fish. We sampled some authentic Hawaiian cuisine when we visited the Old Lahaina Luau. On our first night, we used Chad's birthday as an excuse to indulge in one of our favorite treats only found at our favorite Hawaii restaurants: Hula Pie. Nothing quite says Hawaii like mounds of macadamia nut ice cream on an Oreo cookie crust, topped with hot fudge, macadamia nuts, and whipped cream. Hmmmmm....

One morning, we took a catamaran excursion snorkeling. Jane came along and really took to the boat. She even swam in the ocean for a bit, despite being a bit timid around the sea life. While snorkeling, several of us saw and swam along side some giant sea turtles.

On October 18, Meagan and Tom were married. The ceremony took place in the morning on a beach at nearby Napali Bay. Tom's immediate family had flown in to be there. Together, we all stood close as Meagan and Tom took their vows as directed by a Hawaiian minister officiating the ceremony. It was very beautiful.

By the end of the vacation everyone had agreed it was everything they could have asked for and more. It was such a success our family is already talking about going back.

A Day at The Pumpkin Palace

Fall is so fun! We went to the pumpkin patch today with our friend Margaret and her daughter, Amelia. Aptly named The Pumpkin Palace, it was the perfect spot to enjoy an October day. Jane loved the farm atmosphere and seeing the chickens, donkeys, sheep, pigs, goats, and turkeys. We even got to sit on a big tractor.

Best of all, the pumpkin patch was full of little pumpkins, just Jane's size. She got to pick her own to take home and decorate for Halloween.

Puyallup Fair

We spent a day at the Puyallup Fair with Grandpa. Jane had tons of fun on the kiddie rides. She liked driving the little car and riding in the helicopter; but the Merry-go-round was by far her favorite attraction. We also had some delicious smoothies and scones of course. Visiting the animals was also a hit. We saw a GIANT pig with lots of adorable piglets and spent some time at the petting zoo as well. Grandpa even got in trouble for letting Clark ride the goat.

 

 

 

 

A Return to Provo

We spent the first weekend of September visiting Utah. Chad couldn't stand to miss the opening game for the Cougars. We also decided that Provo is beautiful in the fall and there is an atmosphere on BYU campus when school starts and football season gets underway. We visited with old friends while we were there. We stayed with the Harper family and Jane and Dax totally hit it off. They loved riding next to each other in the car and playing on the swings outside. We visited BYU campus and went by our old stomping grounds: The Department of Integrative Biology and The Center for Family History and Genealogy; and checked out the new buildings on campus. We even took the kids down to the duck pond and discovered that it is now inhabited by turtles as well. Chad and Hutch went to the football game, the Cougars won, and we celebrated with lots of good food. We hope to make an annual trip to Utah each fall.