Days leading up to Christmas was a little bittersweet. Watching a lot of our friends leave and travel to their families made me wish I was doing the same. In the four years we have been married, we have actually have never made it home to Oregon for Christmas but have always spent it with my sister Alice-Anne and her family in Salt Lake. This year was different. It was just going to be the 4 of us. Which at the same time I was kind of excited about...... and plus who doesn't love a 70 degree weather Christmas anyway?  So here were some pre Christmas events

• Every FHE in the month of December, we talked and showed Evelyn pictures of the nativity. She was so enthralled by it all. It was hard for her to grasp the concept of Jesus as a little baby since all the pictures we have is Jesus as an adult but overall she understood that Christmas was Jesus's birthday. 
• Along with some friends we drove to Mesa to see the temple Christmas lights and enjoyed some  Cafe Rio. Inside the visitor center they had a room full of different nativity sets from around the world. I wish I could have taken picture of them, so so cool!

the avatar tree

• Our neighbors asked Evelyn to play and feed their two cats while they were gone for 10 days. Evelyn was thrilled. Her love towards the cats was sometimes a tad bit aggressive which makes me understand why the cats tried to hide every time we were there but Evelyn still took awesome care of them. Much better care than Bryan and I have done in the past to other animals we've tended.

• We had a fun visit from Mom and Dad Williams, Ashley and Tesa. They were en route to Florida and came down the southern side of the US to avoid the snow. Even though they were only here for 12 hours, we laughed tons, ate much and stayed up late. They were so kind to bring Bryan's kayak and surfboard with them. I can't believe we have successfully stored them in our small 2 bd apt.

future kayakers

my beautiful sil Tesa and Evelyn