Christmas time is among us...Isn't it lovely!

I have been following several friends' blogs for a while now, and have decided to try on of our own!

It was a lovely weekend for the start of a Blog, I must say! Friday afternoon, Aiden had a early release from school. So we all hopped in the car and drove to portland for Ben's Family Christmas Brunch! A friend had led us on to a wonderful idea...The Holiday Express! It is a cute little train ride in Portland that is similar to the idea of the Polar Express. We chose an evening ride, which was fun because the whole train was lit up with Christmas lights. We squealed into the parking lot, late due to a few detours and that lovely google maps on my husbands phone. But they were so kind to have waited for us, and we made it! We got onto the train, and the kids' faces were lit up, and boy were they ready for Santa! Soon after the train started we heard his bells, and around the corner he walked with his elves! Chloe yelled "SANTA", and ran to him and jumped into his arms and held him as tight as could be. It was the sweetest thing! Aiden wasn't far behind, and pretty soon Santa was holding both kids! We were the first family they came too, so we got a little bit of special treatment! That evening we got back to the hotel in time to swim, which the kids LOVE! They feel like they are ontop of the world when we stay in a hotel...it's really funny!

Saturday morning we awoke and got all fancied up for Ben's company brunch! It's always an amazing party, and we always have such a great time with his co-workers! The kids were given $25 gift cards and ben and I both won prizes as well! OAR hires a professional photographer to take family photos every year, which i will post as soon as we get them! And before leaving town Aiden even got to see the Star Wars crew...Storm troopers pictured. Darth vador, chewbacka, etc. were too cold for more pictures...Whimps!! We drove home Sat. afternoon dropped the kids off with the LaVassaurs and were off to the 8th annual Iverson Christmas party! We had such a wonderful time, as always...Thank you Iverson's, we love you and are so blessed to have such wonderful friends in you!

Sunday consisted of a wonderful family day shared with the Lord! The service Sunday morning was exceptional as Dr. Ogalvie spoke. He was the Hollywood presb. pastor for years and also the pastor of the US senate! What a wonderful story teller and teacher he is! Then the Faith Center had their Christmas family night, complete with hilarious skits, beautiful music and reception to follow...what a great time to catch up with old, current and new friends! Whoa...jam packed weekend you say?! Well as the snow started coming down at about 10pm we woke up to approximately 4 inches on the ground and a snow day! Growing up in Klamath Falls, it cracks me up how little snow it takes to close down schools in the valley! The kids got dressed in their snow clothes and went out side with the goal of a snowman. They had to settle for snow angels, since we had pure powder on the ground! It didn't take long before the neighbor kids were banging on the door all bundled ready for a snow ball fight! As they say....It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!