Baby Update

Might as well add some more pink to the bunch! It's a GIRL!!!

Snow, Santa and Christmas Trees!

We had our first snow before Thanksgiving. I woke up and looked outside and thought I was still in Utah. I thought we moved away from the snow, but I guess it just couldn't live without us. The kids didn't mind though! School was canceled and they bundled up and played with dad in the backyard.

Jumping on the tramp with snow on it is super fun!

Of course, Samantha did a snow angel.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we told the kids we were taking them somewhere for a surprise. We headed to the mountains in Snoqualmie and North Bend and rode the Santa Train. The train was all decked out and there was a cute little old man going up and down the aisles singing Christmas carols.

When the train arrived in Snoqualmie, we headed to the kitchen car for cookies and hot chocolate.

Then we waited in line to see Santa.

Hallie and Samantha thought Santa was hilarious. Amy, like previous years, wanted nothing to do with him. Samantha told Santa she wants a scooter, a pillow pet and slippers. I think Santa can handle that!

Here's Amy in front of the train.

After the Santa Train, we headed to a local tree farm.

Samantha by the Snoqualmie River

The plan was to cut down our Christmas Tree, but being the bad mom that I was, I forgot the girls' snowboots. I didn't know there would be so much snow on the ground. As you can tell by the above picture, Amy was not too happy. Her feet were wet and freezing, and one by one, I had to put each kid in the car to warm up. So....we ended up getting an already cut tree from the farm, but it is still beautiful! And next year, I will remember snow boots.

On the way home, we stopped at Snoqualmie Falls. It is BEAUTIFUL. Too bad it was rainy and misty and you can't really see it in this picture. I never would have guessed that such a big waterfall appeared out of nowhere! I can't wait to go back in the spring or summer. And come to find out, it is the 2nd most visited attraction in Washington after Mt. Rainer. There's a little bit of trivia for you. So, if you come to visit us, we'll take you there!

We had so much fun and hope to make this a tradition every year.

Christmas Card Give-Away

I heard from my friend, Emily, that Shutterfly is doing a 50 Christmas Card give-away to those who blog about it. I have never actually used Shutterfly, but in checking out their website, I am very excited to become more familiar with them. I used to scrapbook, but since having more kids, I kind of stopped. I have always been intrigued by digital scrapbooking and things like it because all of my pictures are already on my computer and ready to use. We do Christmas cards every year, but with Shutterfly, I can customize them to my style, which I really like. Sometimes the generic templates just don't seem very personal. Here are some samples that I am excited to choose from:

They also do baby announcements, which for me, will come in handy come May! Here are some samples for those too:

So sign up today to get your free Christmas cards and maybe, if you're lucky, you just might get one from us! :)

San Juan Islands

You may notice a recurring theme in these posts--that Brandon isn't in many pictures. That is because he works ALL THE TIME! We are so grateful for his job and can't wait until one day he can join us on our adventures. Blake and Shawna came up Labor Day Weekend and we had it planned that we were going to Deception Pass. Well, on the way, we changed plans and found ourselves in Anacortes waiting in the Ferry line for Friday Harbor. I had never been, so I was excited. The wait was pretty long, so we got out and explored the area.

Hallie's absolute favorite thing to do is throw rocks in the water. She even tried to get in a few times.

Grandma and Amy hanging out at the beach.


Grandpa found some rocks with barnacles on them and the girls loved them. They had to bring them home, of course.
Finally on the ferry. It was WINDY!


SOOOO beautiful.

Hiking to Cattle Point. The tide was in, so it made it interesting. Hallie walked the whole way.
Some sea urchins.
Cattle Point
The next place we went to was my favorite: Lime Kiln Point. A weird name, but it had a beautiful lighthouse and lots of rocks to climb on.
The girls were intently whale watching because there were signs for it and they were very disappointed that we didn't see any. We did see a jellyfish though!
A little piece of heaven.




At the end of the day, we went to Friday Harbor for dinner, no fish and chips for me though!
It was so much fun and I can not wait to go back! Next time, I'm going on a whale watching cruise.

Life in Washington

Here's a little bit of what we were up to in September:

Lots of time on the tramp

Grandma Price came to visit, and of course, the girls had to show her how it's done!
We took Grandma to Deception Pass. It was so cool. This is the part where the ocean and the river meet.


We went on a hike and Hallie was the leader the whole way.

At the beach with Grandma.


We also took Grandma to the Mulkilteo Lighthouse. Too bad it was closed. When the girls and I first went looking for the lighthouse, I was expecting something much larger. It is still fun though.
Ringing the bell.
This is the Ferry to Whidbey Island

Brandon celebrated the big 33, and so of course, we had to party!
It was so fun to have family come up and celebrate with us!

3 Grandmas for 3 Girls!

Hallie got her 1st pigtails

And we went to the Puyallup Fair

The girls went to the petting zoo,

and rode tons of rides.

We also discovered a cool place called Kayak Point.

It has a really cool pier, firepits on the beach, tons of picnic tables, a big playground, and even camping in teepees.

We are loving it here and can't wait to explore some more!