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Friday, December 31, 2010

Goodbye 2010, Welcome 2011!

2010 was a fantastic year for the Wolfley household. It didn't have as many life changes as 2009. but was filled with adventure and family fun. It was the first full year we spent living outside of Utah (minus Nate's mission), which was a big change for all of us. We spent more time as a family which I think has brought us closer together. We were also constantly surrounded by amazing friends and neighbors, enjoyed visits to and from our families and did plenty of exploring around Oregon. Nate excelled in law school, I worked here and there and the girls occupied every other minute of our time - which is just how we like it! While there were definitely good days and bad days, overall I think it was a pretty amazing year for us and I can't help but feel overwhelmed by how blessed we have been. We have angels both seen and unseen constantly watching over our family and we have so much to be grateful for. Now I look forward to a new year with excitement and anticipation. Welcome 2011...it's going to be a great year!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Christmas 2010!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Christmas Eve was spent with the Wolfleys making gingerbread houses! We started a tradition of making them out of cardboard so anything goes and everyone gets to be really creative with their designs. It was a lot of fun - although I think Makenna and Sage mostly liked playing with the cardboard boxes in the living room! That night before we went to bed, Nate assured Kenna that white chocolate macadamia nut cookies were definitely Santa's favorite (and surprisingly Nate's, too!), so we left them out with carrots for the reindeer. However, it took some effort getting the girls to go to bed without eating the cookies!

Christmas morning was a blast. Kenna is to the age where she is starting to get the concept of Santa coming during the night and bringing presents. She was so excited in the morning to see if he'd come! Both she and Sage loved every present, it was just hard getting them to leave the one they'd just opened to open another one. We did presents and had a gourmet breakfast with the Wolfleys, then headed over to the Evans' house to start over again! (Luckily they only live 5 minutes apart!) By the time we were done I think the girls were on excitement overload. However, that was not the end of our fun! My family has a tradition of everyone meeting up at my parents cabin Christmas day and having a huge sleepover that night. I love it! The cousins get to spend time together and it makes all of Christmas day fun. My uncle also has a cabin close-by so the next day he took us mega-sledding! He pulled us up a giant luge run in a sleigh behind his snowmobile and then we got to ride down. It was awesome! The hill was a little too steep for the girls and after one run with a few crashes and white-washes, they were happy to just be pulled around in the sleigh! That left the adults to do some crazy tubing and we had a blast. We ended up sleeping over another night and enjoyed lots of games, food and great company. It was a fantastic Christmas!

Making gingerbread houses

The Wolfleys are a very creative bunch :)
If only I could zoom in on the little details, like Susan & Nicole's slide from the balcony into a hot-tub complete with bubbles!
This is Nate's and my beauty. I was especially proud of Nate's awesome tile roof! :)
The girls enjoying the boxes! Who needs toys?
Christmas morning!
Kenna ended up with about 7 color-wonder books - her favorite!
(and mine, too because they're mess-free & she can spend hours coloring in them)
My coloring beauty!
Sage got a flashlight (which she loves), unfortunately her big sister taught her how to shine it right into her eyes...or at least she tries. :)




The Evans crew in our traditional Christmas morning stairs picture.
My parents have been making us do that since I was little!
Makenna got a super cute vet kit. She wasn't quite sure how to wear the stethoscope...it usually turned into a headband!

Kenna also loved playing with Sage's toys. Luckily Sage was asleep while Kenna spent about an hour with her Little People castle!
4 of the 6 girl cousins up at the cabin...so beautiful!
from oldest to youngest Sydney (3), Makenna (2), Lauren (23m), Sage (14m)


Sledding!


Monday, December 27, 2010

Sweet family time!

After our fantastic trip to the coast, we headed to Utah for another fun-filled visit with family. It is truly an understatement to say that we have been blessed with amazing families. We love time that we get to spend with them and while it always goes by way too fast, we fit in enough fun to fill a year. This trip was exceptionally wonderful because we were able to spend the holidays and finish off the year surrounded by family. Then we started off the new year with a cruise with my parents, all my siblings and their spouses (and no children!). We are so spoiled! It was wonderful getting away to 85-degree weather instead of 15 in Utah. That's one thing I forgot while living away...Utah is freezing!! We did have a few very fun days sledding, but other than that I can't say I miss the snow.

Another fun part of our trip was a special visit from Santa, right to Grandma & Grandpa Evans' house! I guess our girls have been extra good this year to deserve such a personal visit. When he got there all the girls were playing upstairs in my parent's playroom (Makenna, Sage & their cousins Sydney and Lauren). When we heard the "jingling bells", Kenna looked a little concerned so I said "Look how excited Sydney is!" Kenna matter-of-factly said, "Well I am not". (We hadn't quite stressed the excitement of Santa by that point.) :) She was a little nervous, but after getting a candy cane she opened right up and told Santa exactly what she (and Sage) wanted. Sage, on the other hand, was happy as could be with the candy cane until she looked up and saw who it had come from. Then it was over! We also made a special trip to Thanksgiving Point to see Santa's reindeer. The trip was complete with ice cream in December - you can't go to Thanksgiving Point without getting ice cream - which translated into 4 very sticky girls. We had a wonderful time and, as always, are already looking forward to our next trip!

One of our snow days!



Santa's visit
Makenna sat on Santa's lap...while she hung on to Nate's neck!


Just figured out who's lap she's sitting on... :)


Thanksgiving Point!





Random Fun:
Kenna and Grandma Suzanne (my mom) made a snowman to keep in the freezer. He lived for almost 2 weeks in there!
Nate helped install a new sink at his parents house...Sage was his biggest helper!



Swimming at Grandma & Grandpa Evans' pool house - always one of our favorites!
I also had the chance to get together with some friends from the hospital in Utah. It was great to see them and catch up. Here are some of our kiddos.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Vacation before our vacation!

Wow! I have seriously been MIA from blogging for a while. We have had an incredible month long break and I am happy to say I was having too much fun to blog! :) Now I need to catch up (and thanks to backdating posts, I can log them from around the right time!). Well to start, we survived finals! It was a pretty miserable couple of weeks for everyone, but boy did we celebrate it being over! Our wonderful friend Melinda had a hotel stay in Newport she couldn't use that she SO sweetly gave to us. So Wednesday afternoon, after Nate's last final, we packed up and headed to the coast! We stayed in a hotel called the Elizabeth Street Inn, which is situated right on the beach. Each room had a fireplace and private balcony that overlooked the ocean - it was heavenly. She had 2 free nights at the hotel, but since we didn't have much time (or a babysitter), we were able to get two conjoining rooms for one night. That way we were able to put the girls to sleep in one room and have a true date night! The whole trip was fantastic. Thursday was unseasonably warm so we were able to run around on the beach, go exploring, see the sea lions and enjoy some long awaited family time. What a wonderful start to a wonderful vacation!


The girls loved playing hide-and-seek in our room. This is one of Kenna's better hiding places. :)
Getting ready to go swimming
The beautiful views from our balcony


Visiting the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse
We went on a 'secret adventure' to the beach. It was awesome!
(minus the fact that I stepped in a swamp and had to walk around with a wet shoe and sock for the rest of the day!)



How many people can say they had 55-degree weather on the Oregon coast in December, with the beach all to themselves? Can't get better than that!



The day before our trip, we got together with some friends to make gingerbread houses. The kids were way more interested in eating the candy than decorating the house (to be expected when you're two!), but I let Kenna do it mostly by herself and she did a pretty darn good job!