Christmas in Seattle: Vancouver Day 2

The next morning in Vancouver we woke up and headed over to Tim Hortons and McDonalds for breakfast. I don't know if you've ever tried the little bite-size donuts from Tim Hortons, but they are A-Mazing! During breakfast we got a call from Brian and Cathy's alarm company saying that the alarm went off and they were sending the police over to the house. Poor Carly's mom who we asked to stop over to take the dogs out didn't know the alarm was on and didn't know how to get it off. Luckily the police didn't have to go over when we explained the situation to the alarm company, but it make our morning interesting. We decided to go shopping after breakfast and walked over to the mall. On our way over we found a really cool countdown clock to the olympics and an art museum.

I was a little antsy from all of the shopping yesterday so I asked Russ to take me back to the hotel. As we were walking back, we decided to head down by the harbor and were in for a real treat as we found Canada Place. We walked around and got some great shots of the city and harbor.

Then we headed off to Whistler where a lot of the events for the Olympics are to be held. The drive up there was absolutely gorgeous. I couldn't believe all of beautiful lakes and majestic mountains. When we got there it was really really cold (you'll notice Russ has two sweatshirts on--the crazy boy didn't pack a jacket for our trip). We were worried about the ice on the roads coming back so we only stayed for an hour up there. We walked around the plaza and checked out all of the little shops. Here are some fun hats we found in one of the shops. I really wanted to buy Russ the bear hat, but the with the look he gave me... I decided I'd rather not be eaten alive.

On our way back through Vancouver to Seattle we couldn't help but stop at Shabu sha again. They boys went crazy with their Toro rolls and the food was again excellent.

We made it back to Seattle around midnight and Russ and I quickly packed up our things for our flight that had us getting up at 5am to catch. As we snuck Baxter back on the plane again and settled down, we talked about what a fun Christmas trip it was! Something we'll never forget. Thanks again Brian & Cathy!

Christmas in Seattle: Vancouver Day 1

The day after Christmas we headed up to Vancouver Canada for a mini-vacation. We got there early afternoon and walked around downtown looking at the shops and taking in the sites. It was Boxing Day, so there were a lot of good deals going on and a lot of people on the streets. We went to Shabu sha for dinner which was an all you can eat sushi/shabu place. Russ was introduced to the Toro Roll... which now he has a major obsession over. I don't think I've ever seen him down so much sushi in my life! The food was really amazing though and he atmosphere was fun too where everyone cooks their dinners in the little grills that are on the table in front of you. Brian was our master grill chef and cooked all of our beef and chicken for us.

Here is Russ and Scott representing the Shabu chop sticks.After dinner we walked around and found the coolest thing in the Hilton Hotel... a gingerbread house contest. They had about 50 entries that people from all over the city made--some from professional bakeries who made these elaborate detailed houses, and others from local elementary and junior high schools. It was really cool to see all of the houses. I got some good ideas for mine for next year! Here is a HUGE real gingerbread house behind us. The whole thing was made out of gingerbread, frosting, and candy. It was amazing!
Here are Cathy, Carly and I showing off our new coats and Coach bags (presents from Cathy and Brian--this isn't my new one, but Cathy had given me this black one a year or so ago--she really knows how to hook a daughter up!) on the streets of Vancouver.

Christmas in Seattle: Christmas Morning

My parents tell a story about when my sister Jen was around 9 years old on Christmas morning she decided to complain that she didn't get enough gifts and that present time didn't last long enough. While we were eating breakfast an hour or so after the gift opening, in revolt she said "All the rich people are still opening presents." Well this Christmas morning was full of at least two hours of unwrapping. I don't think I've ever spent that much time unwrapping presents in my life! Cathy and Brian really spoiled us rotten. Russ also surprised me by going shopping and buying me about 20 items for my wardrobe! What a stellar husband right? My coolest surprise gift came from Cathy and Brian which was a coach purse! Russ got the cams he wanted for his car (supposedly they add another whatever horse power to it.. which puts him over 500?)
Carly made Russ and I this beautiful blanket. Here we are opening it. I love how Baxter is looking right at the camera. Here's Scott getting his gameboy (maybe PS3?I'm not good with the names for these things) which I guess he had snuck under the tree and opened a day early so he could charge it and put it back in the box without his mom seeing he had already opened it... so it was all ready for him to start playing on Christmas morning.

Brian made us the coolest clock ever! It's our favorite picture of Baxter. It now is featured in our kitchen and is our favorite clock ever!

Here are Russ and Brian doing a high-five on their awesome presents!

Here we are opening our stockings which were LOADED! They had gift cards and our favorite candies, t-shirts for Russ and Scott and COACH keychains for Carly and I. They were the coolest stockings ever!

After the long present opening festivities, and a nutritious breakfast of more cinnamon rolls and sugar cookies, we lazily sat down for a game of New Moon with my new board game. Even though the boys refused to play with the pink and purple game pieces and had to use their own army men on the board, surprisingly Scott ended up winning the game. I think we might have helped him out a little too much with the trivia, but hey, a winner is a winner. Congrats Scott on being the Twilight New Moon Champion (a title I'm sure you'll want to share with all of your friends.)

Christmas in Seattle: Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve day started out with Russ running on the treadmill with a cinnamon roll. You think I'm joking? I kid not. But if you've ever had one of Cathy's cinnamon rolls... you'd understand the sugar heroin that somehow makes you addicted to the point of running on a treadmill while eating one. After his workout, we hit Bellvue where we met up with everyone for lunch at the Cheesecake Factory which was near Scott's work. After lunch Scott went back to work, Carly went to finish her Christmas errands and the rest of us decided to go shopping and to a movie.

Yeah, I know, Russ and I look so cool, don't we? Here we are with our 3-D glasses right before seeing the Christmas Carol with Jim Carry. I was surprised that didn't get too sick with the 3-D... but the movie was pretty cool.After the movie we headed back for some yummy dinner--Brian made this amazing shrimp dish--and some of the Taylor movie classics-- Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, and Polar Express. Cathy and I decorated cookies and we all hung out in anticipation for Christmas morn.

Christmas in Seattle: Family Photos

So it's been over a month since Russ and I last blogged. I can't believe it's been that long! We've been so busy that it's been hard to sit down to take the time to upload pictures and share everything we've been up to. But I couldn't sleep this morning, so I thought this would be the perfect time to catch up.

For Christmas this year we headed up to the Taylor's in Seattle. We had so much fun! We took family pictures the morning after we got there. We went to a really cool park about 30 minutes away from their house--near Carly's work so she could meet us during her lunch break. I thought the photos turned out great! Here are a few of my favorite shots.

Cute mother and daughter-in-law shot!

The boys being funny... they liked this little statue because they thought it looked like he was peeing... so they had to pose the same.

This picture says a lot! We were trying to get our gang signals going, but then we figured out we didn't know what gang signals to throw... and then I couldn't even get my fingers to do it... so we ended up just laughing until we figured we were to lame to attempt even trying in the first place.

After two boys for 20-something years, Cathy now has her two girls! :)

Russ Bungie Jumping

So I found this video today while organizing my iphoto library. This is from 2005.... please excuse Russ' choice of words... but isn't it cool?

Mission Stow-Away Baxter Successful

So the trick to sneaking Baxter onto the plane is to

1. Check in separately--one of us watches Baxter while the other goes and checks in. (Security does not check to see if you have a ticket for him, so you just take off his collar and walk him through the metal detector.)

2. You don't sit in the proper terminal, so that people don't come and pet him and make a big deal about him being there.

3. When handing in your ticket, you put your jacket over his carrying case when walking in.

4. You put him right under the seat, so the stewardess don't see him........ and

5. You've made it! :)

Luckily Baxter is such a good dog, he's easy to stow-away! Hopefully we'll make it back successfully too! I think this was Baxter's 7 flight this time!

Santa Scarf Delivery

Yeah, I finally feel like I've caught up a little on the blog! Its funny because I uploaded the pictures in between wrapping each present this weekend.... so it would be upload a picture, go wrap, come back choose the next one to upload, go wrap, come back.... it was a vicious cycle, but I got both the wrapping and the blog done.... so I'm happy! There was one more thing I wanted to write about before we head off to Russ' family for Seattle.

This weekend my friend Narine and I were given a special opportunity from our friend Alice. She makes these absolutely stunning scarves. She travels a lot for her business, so she makes them while she's on her plane rides across the country. She gave us about 20 scarves and 15 ornaments to take to people we thought would be in need. My grandfather John, before he passed away earlier this year, was taken to Freedom Village in Lake Forest to stay during one of his harder medical periods. My grandmother recommended that we take the scarves there because there were a lot of lonely people that might really enjoy something as beautiful and amazing as a scarf. So off Narine and I went.

At first we didn't know how we would approach them with the scarves, but we quickly saw them bright up as we told them we were bringing them a Christmas gift. One lady was so excited... and said "this is my first Christmas present!" Another told us that she was so touched and also teared up. A third lady was so excited to talk to us for 10 minutes and brought us into her room where she showed us her monkey collection-- she literally had hundreds of stuffed monkeys in her room. As we made our rounds on the two floors, our hearts were full. It felt good to really brighten these peoples day. They were all in awe by the beauty of the scarves and when we told them that they were handmade, they were so excited that someone took the time to do something like that for them.

It was an amazing experience. Narine and I walked away so grateful that we had the opportunity to stop by and deliver and meet some new friends. I know that it really touched me to be able to do it too... it was the perfect thing to do for Christmas. We're going to try to make it a tradition.

This was two of the ladies that we met that were so excited for the scarves. The one with the orange scarf was so funny! She kept telling us she felt like a queen with her scarf on.

Gingerbread Follies

On Monday night we planned on meeting up with Rok & Narine and making gingerbread houses. I was really excited because Narine was going to make dessert and I was going to bring the houses for us to make. With a busy day at work, I rushed home and on our way over to our house I ran into Michael's and bought three kits. When we got to their house, we opened the kits to find that they were the accessory kits to the gingerbread houses-- the ones where you melt the chocolates for the windows and trees and stuff. It wasn't even the right stuff! But it all worked out because Narine had made these amazing desserts and we couldn't pass up trying them out, right? :) So we had dessert and planned to make the houses later the week. Narine is the one who helped me get the desserts ready for the Halloween party, and no joke, she is the most creative food person I have ever met. She hand made these beautiful peanut butter icecream and coconut snowmen... which were not only the most adorable dessert I have eaten, but also were delicious. For the snowmen hats, she made these round cookies and then blow-torched marshmallows onto them giving a weathered hat look... I wasn't kidding when I said she was creative. Cut gumdrops were used for the nose and chocolates for the eyes.

She also made this amazing chocolate silk pie-- where she handmade the chocolate crust using a food processor and then also used the torch on the meringue on top. Russ was in heaven--- you can see it on his face.

Since the houses were out for the night-- unless we just wanted to make chocolate trees and windows, we decided to meet up on Thursday to finish the activity. I went back to Michaels, and guess what? They were all out of gingerbread house kits. So I tried Costco, which was also all out. So I sent Russ to Target and he found these really cool mini gingerbread villages. They looked pretty easy, but man were they hard! The little houses were so much more work than a large one.. but they turned out so cute! Here are some pictures.

Here I am starting on the houses...

Here's Russ coming to terrorize the village instead of help build it. He pretend to throw some sprinkles on... but that was about it.

I think Rok actually put some of the sprinkles on... so I guess he went one step farther than Russ.

Having way too much fun!

Narine and here finished village.

My finished village.

Um...yum!!! Did they ever smell good. Here's me ready to plunder and eat my village whole.

Yeah, the boys really didn't help with the ginger bread houses at all... this is what they did end up doing... along with a car meet at the In-N-Out. But they didn't complain, they loved the video games and cars... and we girls loved the gingerbread houses... so no complaints on either side! :)