VHS Winter Retreat

This past weekend we went on a retreat with the high schoolers to Mt. Bachelor in Oregon. It was a lot of fun! Richard had been planning this for a while now and we had about 30 people go on the trip.
We stayed in 3 houses that were close to each other in a community called Sun River.

Here's Richard and Nathan playing some worship songs during one of the sessions we had with the group.

It was about a 4 hour drive and we got there Friday night. On Saturday we all went to the mountain and half went skiing/snowboarding and half went tubing. I went with the group that went tubing. It was fun for a little while but I guess the conditions that day made the tubing kind of slow so we didn't get to go really fast.

Mt. Bachelor was beautiful and it snowed most of the day we were on the mountain. Richard just got a snowboard and used it for the first time this trip. I wasn't able to get any pictures of him snowboarding but he's pretty good and picked up on it very fast.

Snow 2 years in a row!

Last year, right around Christmas time, Vancouver got a whole bunch of snow. Everyone was saying that it was so unusual and that it hadn't snowed that much in 10 years. Well now I'm doubting the locals because it just snowed again!

On Tuesday, I was at work and a coworker came in and told me it was snowing outside. That was at 2pm. When I left at 6, there was a good 4 inches on the ground and it was still snowing pretty hard. The forecast for that day was rainy and 40*.

This is what it looked like when I stepped outside, it was so bright and beautiful outside.

My car was covered! Thankfully I made it home safely, even though it took me 40 minutes and it usually takes 10. That night we even ventured out to the Doe's house to celebrate Christmas with them. We were joking about how it was deja vu from last year!

The snow is almost melted away today, but it was fun while it lasted!

Christmas in AZ

This year, we spent Christmas in Arizona with my family. Richard and I are going to try and switch off the major holidays between our families every year and we spent last Christmas in Washington with the Doe's.

It was great weather while we were there and we had a lot of fun spending so much time with family and friends.

Here we are with Jared, Marcie and Sophia outside of In-N-Out, one of Richard's favorite places in AZ.

Richard and my brothers got tickets to the Cardinals game for Christmas, this was before they left.

My mom and I in the aprons I made for us baking for Christmas.

Apparently there was a dance party in Jonny's room.

Here I am making cookies with Aunt Gail, Karie and Marcie.

There is a link to the right to all of the pictures from Christmas this year.

Christmas Day 2009

On Christmas morning, I was always the first one up and then I would wake up my brothers. Well now that I like to sleep in later... my parents are the first ones up. It was a lot of fun spending Christmas morning with my mom, dad, brothers and Richard.


My brothers were a little sleepy...

Richard got a new scarf, that I crocheted myself!

My cool snuggie from Jesse, that will get used all the time up in Washington.

My brothers got a Wii and my parents got the Wii fit, too bad we live so far away!

Rusty is very good at opening his own presents too.

Christmas Eve 2009

On Christmas Eve my family always goes to church in the evening and then to my grandpa's to eat and open presents. Our family has grown so much in the last few years that it's getting a little cramped in his house, but it's always a great time : )

There was a beautiful Arizona sunset outside of our church.

Sophia and Uncle Richard.

Joey made the mistake of wearing a santa hat to the party so he had to be santa and hand out all the presents.

Our family. I will forever be the shortest now...

Richard and I on our second Christmas together : )

Thanksgiving 2009

This year, we spent Thanksgiving at Richard's Aunt Rena's house. It was small and quiet compared to what I'm used to but it was still a great time with family.

I made green bean casserole (one of my faves) and a new recipe called Buttermilk pie. It was a hit and the only pie completely gone at the end of the day. I will definitely have to make that a tradition.


All of the family around the Thanksgiving dinner table. Lots of yummy food : )

Fall 2009

I did a post just like this last year and I'm doing another one because the fall colors here in Vancouver are so beautiful I see something new every year.


Here are the pumpkins we got at a farm this year. We were told they are "Cinderella" pumpkins because they are short and long. We were supposed to carve them with Danny and Alex while they were here, but we just forgot. At least they still look good on our front doorstep : )

Here is one of the buildings next to the preschool I work at. I didn't know ivy changed colors too!

Here's our front doorstep looking "fallish".

A centerpiece I made using twigs and berry's I found outside our door. It's so great to live in a place with so much natural beauty!