A Low Key New Year!

We decided to have a laid back, stay-at-home New Years Eve celebration with just our family. Mom and the girls went to Harmons in the morning and picked up some fresh shrimp for Mom and Dad. It was soooo busy! Jocelyn and Ivy used one of their $2 bills from Christmas to buy two donuts (they picked matching chocolate with sprinkle rings) and Mom got a chocolate éclair for her and Dad. Millie had a free pumpkin cookie. When we got home, Jocelyn and Ivy helped Mom prepare finger-foods for dinner. They made ham/cream cheese/pickle roll ups all by themselves while Mom made some baked raviolis and a vegetable tray. They also built a table centerpiece with candles and silver tinsel for our party. Along with food-making and decorating, we all spent the afternoon outside in the cold weather. The girls jumped on the trampoline and played at the Woodbury's home while Dad worked on building a new rabbit hutch and Mom worked on tearing the garden beds apart. Millie wandered the yard watching the work and then had an afternoon nap. At dinner time Jocelyn and Ivy sat at the table with Mom and Dad and had sparkling current juice in plastic goblets which they 'clinked' together and said "Cheers!" After we'd eaten our dinner, we started our party! At each hour we did a new activity. We made 'snow' and played in it with plastic animals first. Then we played a family game of Pie Face with Millie even participating! She didn't like the whipped cream to the face so much but she did like eating it off of her own and everyone elses faces. Then we turned on the TV and had a dance party with Kidbopz music and played the balloon game where you try and not let any balloons touch the floor. Then we played hide and seek with the balloons. We were going to try and stay up until the 10pm (eastern midnight) hour to see the NYC ball drop but we were all really tired by 9:00 so we did a Netflix kids countdown and then sprayed silly string and made noise at "midnight." It was a lot of fun spending time together and not having big plans. :)

So This Is Christmas....

...2015!

We had a wonderful holiday surrounded by all of our family this year. The girls are the perfect age for enjoying all of the things that make up Christmas; the lights, the songs, the pajama days at school, the gift giving, the gift reCEIVING, the train under the tree. I tend to think every year is the best one though :)

We usually go get a tree the weekend following Thanksgiving but this year the mountains were blizzardy and under 10 degrees on that weekend and so we waited until December 5th to go up and hunt down a tree. Last year we got a tree from Pine Valley mountain but it is getting pretty hard to find a nice looking pinyon there within a reasonable distance from the roads (our last years tree ended up being about 1/2 mile from the road and was a beast to get back to the truck). We opted to head up north to Cedar Mountain and look for a nice fir instead, seeing as we'd found such a nice one two years prior. Trent, Ashley, and their kids bundled up and came with us to get themselves a tree.
We wanted to hit the area just south of Cedar Breaks as we'd done before but the gate was locked at the turnoff so we continued up toward Duck Creek and stopped at a random spot that looked well forested. The kids followed us into the trees and, at first, the snow wasn't too deep; the ground was a bit muddy in places. We spread out and looked around for a few minutes finding a few ok options. The snow got deeper as we went on and the kids started complaining. We decided to clear a spot of snow near a fallen log seat and have Ashley hang out with them and feed them cookies while we kept looking. The three of us headed down a hill covered in deep snow and found a few better trees. We stood assessing them for a few minutes and finally picked two that we thought would fit our houses. I slung Millie onto my back as Kyle cut down ours, and then Trent cut down theirs. They were heavy and getting them back UP the hill in deep snow took some work. When we got back up to the top Ashley and the kids were gone. We correctly assumed that she'd decided to hike them back to the truck but they weren't visible through the trees. We decided to take an alternate route back, one that was in snow instead of across mud, hoping to protect our trees from breakage and dirt. It was slow going through the snowy woods. As we got closer to the roadway, I thought I could hear wailing. It sounded like a kid so I told the guys I'd go ahead and see if I could help out. I hurdled lamely along and the wailing turned into screaming and I could tell it was coming from more than one child. As I broke out into the open I could see a gaggle of children following Ashley, all of them a good distance apart screaming and crying. They had also taken another route back, one that was in deep snow. I hurried to the last in the line and he was dragging his coat behind him. I asked him why he'd taken his coat off but he just cried. I helped him put it back on but my two were still ahead and I was worried about them so I told him to keep hiking and I rushed to mine. Ivy was screaming hysterically and I found that the snow had swallowed one of her boots and she was walking in snow with a wet sock. I quickly found the boot and pulled her up onto one of my hips while I tried to get to Jocelyn who was also crying. She was just freeing cold and mad about the deep snow. I couldn't carry all three of them so I kept Millie and Ivy up and walked with sobbing Jocelyn until we reached the roadway and met up with Ashley who was also near tears. While we were searching for trees the kids had started complaining about the cold and she thought they'd take a more direct route back to the truck which ended up being through deep snow. Once everyone was back to the trucks and the trees were loaded, we mixed up some hot cocoa and warmed ourselves up. The kids still swear they'll never ask to go tree-hunting again :D And I think next year they'll do just fine!

The second weekend in December the girls had their Christmas dance performance at Desert Hills High School. They were well supported by their Grandmas and Grandpas - in addition to Grandma Dee - they're adopted Grandma from last years visit to Kolob Care Center. They danced beautifully, remembered all their steps, and smiled big the entire time! They also performed one of their dances at the Dickens Festival at the Dixie Center later that week,

The third week in December brought a wonderful surprise - Uncle Kalin flew home from North Carolina for the holiday! We hid him from his Mom until our Gingerbread House Party, and then, disguised as a homeless man, he knocked on the back window and scared her. She still didn't know who he was until after Kyle opened the back door and demanded to know what he was doing. He took off his beanie and wig and then, recognizing him, she cried happy tears.

A few days before Christmas, SGPD had a Santa and Cocoa party which we attended. The girls sat on Santa's lap and recited their wishes; Shopkins, makeup, a slingshot, Heely's, and gum. Then they ate treats, sipped cocoa, and colored with friends. Later that evening we went to dinner at Pancho and Leftys with our Whitehead cousins and family.

On Christmas Eve day we collected our old toys together and put them into our red bags and placed them at the ends of our beds.

The family Christmas Eve party was at our house this year and we had our traditional six-foot-sub and picnic salads. The adults participated in a White Elephant Gift exchange where many interesting presents were given; an inflatable ice cream cone, gold dollar sign glasses, an antler hunting knife in a cheesy display, a top of the head basketball game, along with others. The kids played downstairs and also with the train around the Christmas tree.  We made it a short party so that everyone could get their kids to bed at a decent hour. After the party, our family of 5 visited the temple and viewed the nativity. Then we returned home, sat around a candle by the tree and read the birth of Jesus from Luke. We opened one present; pajamas and a new doll that looked JUST LIKE us with matching pajamas. Jocelyn's doll had dark blond hair with brown eyes and Ivy's doll had blond hair with blue eyes. They named them? Jocelyn and Ivy. Millie started looking around for a doll; she hadn't gotten one with her pj's. She was feeling bad so we let her open Grandma Candy's present, a doll with a carry bag. That cheered her up. We ALmost forgot to set cookies and carrots out but remembered just as we were falling asleep. Whew! So many things to remember on Christmas Eve!
After all the plans, bedtime still didn't happen until 9:30pm.

On Christmas morning Ivy was awake first but stayed in her bed until she heard Christmas music playing in the living room. Then she woke up Jocelyn and they both ran into the living room to find that Santa had come during the night. He'd left them an outfit, their own makeup, press on nails, Roger Hargreaves Little Miss and Mr. books, a slingshot, and a stocking full of treasures such as gum, chocolate, jeweled bobby pins, and stickers. They also noticed a large family present by the fireplace; a trampoline!!! Yay! Later when Millie woke up, she found an outfit, a Mouse in the House book, three Vtech animals, a wooden school bus with removable people, a metal school bus (she likes watching the girls school bus come and go), and a slide! There was a lot of happiness Christmas morning, even before the other gifts. We ate egg mcmuffins and yogurt and raspberries for breakfast, had just one (ok maybe two) pieces of chocolate, and then sat down around the tree to exchange family gifts.



Jocelyn received from Millie a pop up Night Animals book, from Ivy some Ugly Pets in a can, and from Mom and Dad a real accordian, a pink dance bag with your name on it and a black dance skirt inside, another outfit for your doll "Jocelyn," and a new coat.

Ivy received from Millie a pop up Bugs book, from Jocelyn some glow in the dark stars for her ceiling, from Mom and dad a Spirograph, a new pair of Bearpaw suede and fur boots (maybe for tree hunting?), a pink dance bag with your name on it and a black dance skirt inside, and an outfit for your doll.

Both girls received from Grandpa Doug a new school backpack with a set of legos, from Grandma Candy a Doh Vinci art kit, from Grandma Marj a Fisher Price digital camera, from Grandpa Lamoreaux a paper and bamboo umbrella and some Frozen art supplies, from Grandma Dee some coloring books, crayons, and chalk, and from Great Grandma and pa Lamoreaux a card with $2 and a snickers bar.

Millie received from Jocelyn a See and Say pull string toy with animal noises, from Ivy a Curious George jack in the box, from Mom and Dad a Vtech track for your Vtech animals, from Grandpa Doug a caterpillar crawl through tunnel, from Grandma Candy a dolly in a bag, from Grandma Marj a talking Thumper bunny, from Grandpa Lamoreaux a baby doll with a binky, and from Great Grandma and Grandpa Lamoreux a card with $2.


The girls said that the best presents of all though were each other. While watching the 'dancing lights' at the Stapley house earlier in the season, they had picked up on the song, "All I Want For Christmas is You!"


"I don't want a lot for Christmas
There is just one thing I need
I don't care about the presents
Underneath the Christmas Tree....."


Frequently throughout the days leading up to Christmas and even on Christmas day one or the other of them would exclaim, "If all the presents were gone, I would still be so happy because I have my family!" Let me vouch, nothing can make a Mom cry faster than hearing her child say those words!

Celebrating 10 Years in Seattle!

We caught our flight out of Vegas at 7am and arrived in Seattle at 10am. We were starving when we arrived but noticed that if we hurried, we'd catch the Bainbridge Island Ferry, saving us at least an hour of daylight. Once we were safely on the Ferry, we went to the upper floor, bought ourselves some Pike's clam chowder, a muffin, and some cocoa, and watched the foggy islands sail by.

Once we were safely across, we drove another hour to Port Angeles and decided we were still hungry; our breakfast of chowder had worn off. We stopped at a highly rated place, Gastropub, and had a tasty burger; I had the Ms. Newton with fig spread and Kyle had the regualr burger. We hit the road again and it took another hour to reach the Crescent Lake Lodge.

Nearing Lake Crescent on our drive

We took the turnoff for Lake Crescent Lodge and the forest we drove though was different and beautiful! I had to hop out of the car once twice a few times to snap pictures.

We got to the lodge at about 2pm. The grounds and lodge were really pretty and rustic. We tried to check in but the man at the desk said we were two hours early for check in so we'd have to come back.

I asked him about hikes in the area, one in specific, the Mount Storm King Trail. He shook his head and told is it was too late in the day to start that hike - that at least a half day was needed to hike that one, but he recommended some nice paths around the Lodge. So, naturally, we set off for the Mount Storm King Trail.

It was a much more difficult hike than I imagined. A 1.9 distance seems quite short in my running mind, but a 1.9 steep uphill climb turned out much different. Kyle was fine on the ascent but I had to stop every few minutes to let the burning in my calves cool down and it was a good time to take pictures of the ferny forest.

The terrain changed as we got higher, from green forested switchbacks to scrambly gravel. The back side of the hike afforded us views of the Olympic range.

Once the trail steepened even more, ropes were tied to trees here and there to help us keep traction on the steep hills and pull ourselves up. It was steep buggar, and a whole body experience for sure! The first view of Lake Crescent was pretty amazing but we weren't yet to the top.

I knew the view would get better. We continued with the ropes and soon reached an insanely scary point only about 100 feet from the end; a rocky ridge with sheer drop offs on both sides. One side dropped off to the forest trees surrounding Lake Crescent. I could see the tops of the huge spruce trees below me. The other side dropped off to the jagged Olympic granite. I'd have to walk balance my way across the ridge. I cheerfully declared, "This is far enough! I came, I saw, I did!" Kyle made fun of me for a minute and then said, "Watch! Just use your hands and crawl across!" He started across and I said no. He kept encouraging me and I finally took a few test steps. The rocks seemed securely fastened to the mountain so I kept going, but not looking off the edges. After crawling the last 50 feet on my hands and knees, We were to the outcrop which was a bit wider and felt safer. I stood up and the sight we were rewarded with was worth the scare!


After we took pictures, we crawled back across the ridge noticed that the sun was beginning to set so after carefully crossing the ropes, we turned the downhill into a trail run.

The descent was harder on Kyle, his knees were unhappy. We made it down pretty quick though. The four mile hike took us 2 hours; 1.5 hours up and 30 minutes down. We reached the lodge just as it was getting too dark to see well and found some deer welcoming us back.

We checked in and headed to our room. It was lodge-like, no frills, but we were there for the location and not the room. If we could do it again we'd probably have driven all the way to Forks that night to be closer to our next day's destination. There wasn't much in the way of food at the lodge either, just an expensive, mediocre restaurant. We ordered "takeout" food and ate it in the lobby; me clam chowder and Kyle fish and chips. Both were not great but did the job. We returned to the room and watched the first episode of Walking Dead on Netflix.

We were strangely both up and ready to go at about 5:30 am (time change + zone change). Our legs were a bit sore from the previous day's hike.   We had scheduled to hike Sol Duc Falls first thing that morning but since it wouldn't be light for a few hours we decided to use the dark time to drive the long distance to Hoh Rainforest and then hit Sol Duc later on the way back to Seattle. The sunrise view leaving Lake Crescent was so serene. It was quiet and still and so peaceful.

We drove an hour to Forks and had breakfast at the Forks Coffee Shop; both of us bacon, eggs, and pancakes. It was an odd hillbilly place with ripped vinyl seats, dusty fake flowers, and moths in the lights. Old guys in their sweatpants B.S.ed about fishing on one side of us and on the other side a whole group of loggers passing through Forks. Forks, I learned, is the logging capital of the WORLD. Cool.  The food was a lot like Denny's, salty and perfect for a day of upcoming hiking. We continued toward Hoh and another 45 minutes later were entering the area. I made Kyle stop a bunch of times to take pictures along side the road; the mossy rainforest started long before we reached the park and it was absolutely beautiful!

We paid the $20 entrance fee and parked. (If I'm being honest the forest coming into Hoh was just as beautiful). We were one of three cars there and I wasn't really surprised. It was a remote place to be; several hours from anything major, off-season, and it was a damp, *cold* morning.

Even the pay booth and visitors center were closed. Did I mention it was cold and damp? Its amazing how 45 degrees in dry weather is mild but 45 degrees in a humid rainforest just seeps into your body. It's strange to me that a rainforest could even be cold in the first place. I have always associated rainforests with hot jungles. Anyway... we hiked and trail ran along the Hoh River Trail for 3.5 miles and then turned around and ran back. The scenery was breathtaking the whole way.

There were huge deciduous trees losing their fall colored leaves and with moss hanging from them. There were gigantic sitka spruce, fir, bigleaf maple, and hemlock, all of them covered with moss from base to top. The forest floor was completely covered with all types of ferns, small leafed shrubs, and mushrooms.

A PADDED forest toilet! Jocelyn would have been so happy :) 

There were no grasses or flowers and no sunlight. Everything, even the shadows, were pure green. We passed several waterfalls along the way and came up alongside a turquoise river in a rocky gray riverbed that looked straight from Alaska.

 Kyle commented how he expected to see a bear fishing or a moose on the bank. We only saw one other person the whole time - a photographer near the river.

On our way back we did see one very old lady, about a half mile up from the parking lot. I had to get a picture of her after we had passed her because the effort she was putting into making her way up the trail was inspiring. She was walking with a crutch under one arm and a cane in her other hand and she was moving along at a snails pace. But she was out there enjoying nature right along with us and she had a smile on her face. Go slowly but Go!

When we finished our hike/trail run we headed back toward Forks for some food, stopping once for a picture of a pair of bald eagles fishing.

Standing on the sandbar is the tiny outline of a bald eagle

Coordinating food stops seemed to be the hardest part of traveling this remote area and were quite hungry by the time we got there even though we'd snacked our way through most of our snack stash. Other than the Forks diner dives, the grocery store was our only option so we stopped there to see if they had a deli. We both grabbed a deli sandwich and ate in the parking lot.

We then traveled another 30 minutes back up the highway and then cut west toward the coast and the beaches. With the day wearing on we decided we could chose Rialto Beach or LaPush Beach but not both (they are separated by a wide bay and would require a lot of drive time tracking back around it to visit both). We chose LaPush because it was on the Quilete Reservation (Wolf Territory, Twilight). We got there and it was pretty darn windy and cold, the sun was behind clouds. We spent only about 20 minutes at the beach, gathering some neat driftwood, looking at washed up dead sealife, and taking pictures. We hopped back in the car and drove through the reservation (very dumpy and reservation like) back toward the main highway. The sun was getting lower, we were tired from our earlier hike, and we had a long drive time ahead of us to be back in Seattle by 7pm, the time we had told our Airbnb host we'd arrive. Sol Duc Falls was looking like it might be out of the picture which I was feeling pretty bad about considering that it had topped my list after recognizing it from an old poster my Mom had hanging in her room years ago.

We covered the distance from LaPush to quickly and were in the area of Sol Duc when we (I) decided to just go for it. I messaged our host and told her it'd be more like 8pm and we turned off the highway again toward Sol Duc. Thirteen miles off the highway we leapt out of the car and shot off through the forest, running to get there quickly.

We weren't running fast enough to miss that the forest was absolutely, crazy beautiful. I'd thought that I'd have seen enough green forest in Hoh earlier in the day to dull the thrill of seeing Sol Duc but it turned out not to be the case. Sol Duc was Amazing with a capital A and I was every bit as enthralled with it as with Hoh.

It was a quick, flat, 1 mile each way to the falls. The falls turned out the be MUCH bigger and carrying much more water than I'd judged from pictures. Only one other person was there, another photographer. We caught the falls during that early-evening-warm-colored-sunlight part of day and the green colors were almost fluorescent. The mist from the falls made it that much more surreal.

I was so glad we made the stop, it was totally worth the delay! I commented to Kyle as we drove out of the Sol Duc area that if I was recommending this trip to someone who didn't have a lot of time or who didn't especially care to hike a long distance, that only driving as far as Sol Duc and hiking to the falls would get them plenty of rainforest for their money. Hoh was still nice and I'm glad we saw it because we got to do the hiking and trail-running I wanted, but you could see just as much and as beautiful of rainforest closer to Seattle/Crescent Lake.

We got back on the highway, drove for what felt like forever, passed Crescent Lake and Port Angeles, and then hopped the ferry toward Seattle, a view of the city skyline at night.

We arrived at our Airbnb at 8pm sharp, unloaded our crap, and then walked into town for a late dinner at Jamjuree, a Thai place. It was good and typical Thai, not greasy or saucy, and full of lots of fresh ingredients.

The next day we had planned on either driving to Mt. Rainier or just staying in Seattle. The weather cams showed a snowy Rainier and we both had very sore legs and were tired of driving so Seattle won the vote. Pike Market was our first must see. We'd heard from multiple places that you needed to hit Pike Market as early as possible in the morning, 6 am even, so we went there first. We walked downtown from our place, about a mile downhill. We arrived at 7:30am and nothing was even open yet! The fish were out for sale and the flower vendors were just setting up but all of the shops were still closed. We waited around for awhile and stopped to eat a crumpet breakfast at Tea and Crumpets. They were tasty but not nearly filling enough. Pike's still seemed to be asleep so we bagged it and headed back UP the hill into the shopping district and then spent the rest of the day shopping. My head was hurting a bit from lack of food and being off my normal healthy diet. We hit Starbucks at least twice and ate at a salad kiosk called Toss'd for lunch. Kyle even approved of their salads (after I made him order one). I started feeling better after the salad and we shopped until dinnertime. We walked back to  our place and showered, got prettied up, and went to our anniversary dinner at Vio's, a greek restaurant. It was better than average but not great. The portions were pretty small and the lamb kebabs were a little big tough and cold but the chicken kebabs were good. I like my Mad Pita best :)  We tried driving downtown to look for a Seahawks shirt for Millie but there was LITerally nowhere to park. We drove around the blocks for a half hour hoping for something to open up but nothing did. Kyle dropped me off at the tshirt shop while he circled around to wait for me. The shop ended up being closed anyway. We went back to our place and called it a night.

Our flight left early the next morning. We had a great time but we missed our little girls and were grateful to be going back home to see them!