Christmas in the Northwest

The holidays are always my favorite time of the year.
Spending Christmas in the warm Arizona sun last year was...different to say the least. So this year, I was excited to be back in the beautiful Pacific Northwest for Christmas. It was our year to be with the Manchak clan so we spent it with Joel's parents and his sister Joy. It was a lot of fun.

Pillow cases we made

Christmas is such a special time of year, spent with family, serving others and remembering Christ's birth and we really tried to focus on that this year. We decided as a family that we wanted to set aside some money to create baskets filled with some different "treats and prizes" to deliver to a few local women's shelters. The weeks leading up to Christmas we collected all of the items we would need including toothpaste, shower gel, soap, socks, hair ties, paper plates, tin foil etc. We also spent many hours sewing Christmas pillow cases to deliver to the shelters. After making about 20 pillow cases, we are definitely pros and I think if I never made another one for the rest of my life it would be too soon! We had such a good time doing it though. When we delivered the baskets to the women's shelter they were all so grateful and happy it was such a good feeling to know we could help make their Christmas just a little brighter. The fun didn't stop there. We had also decided that we would all help Meals on Wheels deliver Christmas meals to some of their families.

Santa Hats

We decided to start the day of right, we got up early Christmas morning and went to breakfast at iHop. After breakfast, upon request, everyone put on their Santa hats and we delivered Meals on Wheels... It was wonderful and a lot of fun! The people we delivered Christmas dinners to were so grateful and sweet. It was a wonderful experience I will always remember.

Around noon, we went home to have our Christmas morning It was wonderful and I loved elongating the magic of Christmas. We opened presents, face timed with my family, built gingerbread houses, watched Christmas movies and skyped my baby brother on his mission in Peru. It was an unforgettable holiday season filled with lots of love and laughter!

Gingerbread Houses 

Elder Woodburn from Peru 

A festive Puppy!

End of the Year Recap 2012

I cant believe another year has already flown by. I wanted to do a quick recap of some recent events:

November:
You've just won a new CARpet! I wish...We purchased another car, meet Willow! Up to this point, we have somehow made it work with just the one car but recently it has been getting really tricky to coordinate and with the other car paid off it seemed like a good time. Enter Willow, she's a 2010 Hyundai Sonata and we really like her.

Joel's 26th Birthday:
Man we are getting old! 26 already, I can hardly believe it. We had a crazy night out on the town. PF changs for dinner, that's as crazy as we get...it was delicious! PF Changs is one of the few places that is gluten free "friendly" so we seem to find ourselves there often, which isn't such a good thing because they really aren't cheap. It was a fun night though and a good birthday for Joel. We opened presents and I even got him to pose for a picture. What a good boy. He might be getting wiser with age!

 December:
Jocylin and Arylnn came to visit for a bit. We had a lot of fun. It was Arylnn's first time playing in the snow. Isn't she the cutest?

 Can't forget this sweet puppy. She is so dang cute which really has saved her many times in her short life so far. Like when she ate a pair of my flip flops or destroyed my homemade photobook or even the time she ate the TV remote! Yes, she is one of a kind that's for sure. Joel and I often ask ourselves how we got quite so lucky!

The remote, after Lucy partook