Tis the Season

We spent our Christmas vacation with the Bates family in Olympia, WA. We had a perfect time! Here's what we did....

Helped out with Toys For Tots

Of course, after helping out with Toys For Tots, you have to go eat some Tater Tots! YUM!
We went to the Seattle temple and did baptisms together. Here we are all wet:

We decorated a gingerbread village:
Look how it turned out!
Ha ha, just kidding!
Did I get anyone? We also went to see Gingerbread Houses on display in Seattle and we liked the one above.

We each ate the famous bacon-topped maple bar. (I was wary, but it was great!)

We celebrated Marie's 24th birthday! Party!

We went snow-shoeing on Mt. Rainier. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had a great time!

If we were recording a cd, this would be our album cover...don't we look hard core?

Jeff slid down the hill on his belly with his feet in the air. It was quite hilarious.

We enjoyed our 2 hour guided hike with our trail guide Casey. It was entertaining, a good workout and provided gorgeous views!

We sure missed Jeff & Kate who were unable to make it. But we enjoyed seeing them through Skype, which is awesome!

We had Christmas Eve dinner at a Thai/Chinese restaurant. (A tradition in our house from the movie A Christmas Story.) I ordered a dish called "Naughty Jungle Princess" which was delicious and we all had a good laugh.

Other things we did that I didn't get pictures of:
Walked around downtown Seattle, shopped at H&M, ate at the Cheesecake Factory, saw Mission Impossible & The Christmas Card, delivered cash to families in need, had a fabulous Christmas Eve talent show program, enjoyed Christmas Sunday church, opened presents, celebrated Mom & Dad's 30th wedding anniversary!, and ate tons of yummy food including a fancy Christmas dinner provided by chef Mom.

We got some great Christmas presents this year....the big things were: a blue-ray DVD player, bikes, and Jeff bought a Power Washer and has already used it to wash his car...twice! We were spoiled this year!

It was a perfect vacation with lots of laughs and great times. We made wonderful memories...isn't that what it's all about?