Christmas 2013!

OK so I am finally catching up to the end of 2013! We had a wonderful week in Arizona celebrating Christmas with the Moss family. As always, lots of photos...and heads up the children are adorable. And did I mention the weather? Christmas in warmth and sunshine is a new concept to me, and one that I think I could get used to. So here we go!

We started out the week with some shooting! The shot-putting of the pumpkin was pretty noteworthy. 

 

Another highlight of the week was riding the Polar Express. We drove up to Flagstaff and enjoyed playing in the snow for awhile. That evening we got to board a train that served hot chocolate & cookies and see Santa as we drove past the North Pole. Lots of people wore their pajamas- so fun!

Chelsey is such a kid-magnet! This picture is adorable!

they even punched out our ticket stubs! No words, though..

checking out the north pole.

And soon it was Christmas Eve! There was delicious food and lots of excitement.

missing Hermana Moss already!

check out the elf socks! the best.

 

waiting at the top of the stairs Christmas morning! I think they had to sing a song first, haha :)

 

 

 

We got to go to the LDS Mesa Temple with Kacie for her first time as she prepared to leave on her mission for Mexico City. This is such a gorgeous temple!

 

Oh, and one more...because we miss all of your kids! Maybe one day we won't live so far from family.

And that wraps up our Christmas! Feliz Navidad!

Pre-Christmas

This past Christmas I caught the bug super early. I've always been pretty adamant about keeping Christmas in December...but let's be real. With all these beautiful pine trees and my husband far away I just wanted the cheer to start ASAP!

We really were able to celebrate Christmas lots of different ways, in lots of different places, and with lots of family. Even as we were in Tokyo (not a Christian city in the least) for Thanksgiving,the city was decked out already! So I guess I will just highlight a few of our favorite parts of the month.

it was kind of "Thanks-mas-y" here for awhile.

kids got SO excited about the "frosting"

 We got to attend the Bellevue Festival of the Nativities that our LDS Church puts on every year. There are hundreds of nativities from all over the world, tons of  lit Christmas trees, and beautiful live musical performances. It's become one of my favorite Christmas traditions we've developed while here.

School ended about December 7th for me which meant a few things...#1: Christmas came EARLY! This is just a taste of the generosity of the sweet parents & families at the school where I work. They were so thoughtful, sending gift cards, homemade goodies, scarves, lotions, and more chocolate than I'd dreamed possible.

Okay and the #2 thing school ending early meant was....lots and lots of babysitting! Haha

Aaaand next thing you know we were headed to see our fabulous families. We were in Kansas with the Pridays last year so that meant it was time for Arizona with the Moss family! We were both very excited to see everyone, especially the two new babes. But first, we were super lucky and able to stop in Utah for a 48-hr pit stop. We got to see some people we miss dearly since having left BYU and Provo. And bonus, it was Grandpa Lee's 88th birthday!

the campus that holds my heart! Go cougars.

 

 these 2 pictures are huge so you can really soak in Paul's (above) and my (below) facial expressions...we don't see the sun much, OK?? These make me laugh so much.

Grandpa Lee turned 88!

I love my momma!

 

Goodbye, Provo! Til next time. In our next post I will share our wonderful week in Arizona! Stay Tuned :)

Tokyo! WHAT??

Well a lot has happened since the beginning of November, and I really have no clue where to start!

Paul is officially done with the long distance trips to Japan. It's amazing. It was a great opportunity, but I am overjoyed to have him (mostly) back in Seattle with me.

Many know this, but I was able to alt-travel to Tokyo to be with him for Thanksgiving! It was so great to see so many beautiful shrines and temples, and to be surrounded with the Japanese culture.

It's a place that means a lot to Paul. He served a 2 year Latter-day Saint mission right there in Tokyo, and worked there this year for about 4 months. The very best part of visiting was watching Paul speak and interact with the Japanese people. Despite Paul's top-notch translating, I was still a bit confused about what everyone was talking about :) Not to mention all of the subway systems, trains, and characters in the writing and whatnot. Good thing I didn't go by myself!! But everyone was so kind and friendly. It was definitely a memorable trip, and one I'm glad we were able to experience together. Here are just a few actually quite a few pictures. (Sorry in advance for the wide variety of photo sizes, some were super grainy and that seemed to help! haha)

so excited about business class OJ!!

& even more excited about business class ICE CREAM!

view of the city at sunset- beautiful!

Paul was a shabu shabu regular & they LOVE him haha

shabu shabu is hands down our fave

Harajuku (ie tween girl fashion/ hello kitty epicenter)

we checked out Tokyo Disney Sea!

Midway Mania had about a 3 hr wait. Crazytown.

our giggly best buds we met on a cramped Small World boat ride

visiting the Imperial Palace Gardens

more Imperial Palace Gardens. So beautiful.

maybe my favorite site- the famous Meiji Shrine

people write on these wooden blocks (a type of prayer roll)

one of the Meiji Shrine welcome gates

Paul's Mission Home

the Tokyo LDS Temple!

one more of the actual temple.

last but not least...TOKYO TOILETS! haha!

Whew! Very impressed with anyone who made it through all those...it was an action-packed 4.5 days!

(More to come on other memorable happenings of December & January now that things have settled a bit)