December

December 1st hit and we ran out the door to get a tree!

 I hate decorating for the holidays but we stuck with it and got the tree done!

At the church Christmas party, Sienna was a narrator and Noah was a shepherd.

WE BELIEVE!

Sienna did a great job at her Christmas piano recital. She played Up on the Housetop, and O Christmas Tree.

A friend invited us over to make gingerbread houses.

I invited some friends over to make cinnamon ornaments and sugar cookies.

Adam made the neighbor gift tags and I made the cookies inside. Teamwork. Boom.

My friend had a cookie exchange and I gave these to teachers. Pretty packaging, eh?

We saw a viral video of an Amazon delivery person doing a little dance after being excited that people left him treats at their doorstep. We decided to do the same.

A week before Christmas, Adam's grandpa died and we drove to SLC for the funeral. We stopped in Twin Falls on the way to see my sister.

In SLC we had a Ware family reunion.

We saw the lights on Temple Square.

The funeral service and burial reminded us of what a wonderful man Adam had for a grandpa.

Maurice was such a nice man and I was lucky to get to know him and so were my kids. He will be remembered always.

The drive home was a bit harrowing since Adam and the kids got sick and were throwing up constantly. We made it, however, and everyone went straight to bed and felt at least mostly better the next day.
The next day was Christmas Eve, I picked up Owen at the airport, and he and I went straight to the grocery store to pick up food for dinner, including crab legs. 
Noah's like WHOA.

Waiting by the stairs on Christmas morning!!!

YAY!

Had a lovely Christmas! Love these cuties. They make it so fun.

November

November was:

Dinner at a friend's house. They're Indian and they have a roti-matic!!! I love alllll the breads of India, and it was so fun to have them show me this cool machine that they use twice a day for fresh roti. Ah man. Love it.

I took another trip to Portland, this time on an Amtrak train with two of my friends from design school, Kate and Esperanza. For our interior design studio class we've been designing two train car interiors all semester as a way to understand ADA dimensions and specifications, and an optional field trip to learn about trains was this trip to Portland. So fun!

 I'd never been on a train in America. It was too loud and too bumpy. But I'd do it again! Getting to Portland that way was a cinch!

 We ate and shopped and went back to Powell's Books! I just love Portland. Perfect day trip with these two fun ladies.

Do you want to see some real American train interiors? This is the snack bar and dining car.

The trains we came up in class with were far more spectacular than these (cuz no clients and no budget) but it was fun to see a real train in use in America. A novelty for sure!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch. Noah pulled out his own tooth.

 A few weeks of hitting it hard at school and work, and then we took a nice break in Bend, Oregon to visit our friends John and Krista. The kids played swimmingly all week. Board games for days!

 We did some snowy hikes.

 The sledding was soooooo fun!

 They hosted our family and two others. 8 adults, 11 kids. Really good food and company.