The BIG Win!!

Tony's work Christmas party is pretty fun. There is always delicious food, good friends, and of course, the raffle. Now, every year we buy 5 tickets for $20, and every year we win NOTHING. Which is totally fine, but wouldn't it be cool to just win something? Tony is always hopeful that we will win the big prize, which is always some really cool flatscreen tv. We have been wanting a new tv for a very long time, but it just isn't in the budget, you know?

So this year we went to the party (which was at the Embassy Suites in Tigard) and as usual, bought 5 raffle tickets for $20. They started doing the prizes, and lo and behold, we won a night in a newly renovated suite at the Embassy Suites! We were super excited that we finally won something! The next prize raffled off was a Sunriver trip. That would have been cool, but we were happy with our win. The last prize was the tv. A 50 inch LG flat screen tv. The officer doing the drawing drew out a name and promptly asked everyone if they thought that someone who already won something could win the tv. After a bit of a fiasco and lots of yelling, he announced that the name on the ticket was.... BASTINELLI!! WAHOOOOO!! We could not even believe that we had actually won the tv!

After church the next day, Tony and his friends, Mike and Aaron, went to the police station to pick up the tv and came home to set it up. Here is our old, pathetic tv.

How many guys does it take to put up and 50 inch tv, anyway?

And there she is! We are thrilled to have won something so great and will enjoy this tv for years to come!

Holiday Hayride

Our neighborhood is awesome. Every year right before Christmas, there is a Christmas party at the little schoolhouse down the street that includes, Santa, lots of cookies and hot chocolate, a kids' craft, and a horse-drawn "hay"ride! (There usually isn't really hay, just a carriage pulled by gorgeous draft horses). It is definitely something we look forward to every year!

SANTA

Singing Christmas songs while we ride!

Our friends/neighbors, the Retzlaffs

Mom and Boy

Kids and horses

Christmas Card 2010

Here is our Christmas card for this year. I was going to do a card with just the picture of our whole family, but Tony liked this one better. I really like it too!

Sadie's Theater Debut

Sadie has had an affinity for the dramatic arts since the day she was born, I think. She is loud, expressive, and we have always known that acting would be something she would do well at. She finally got the chance to try out acting when I signed her up for a theater class through the Hillsboro Parks and Rec Department. We have a beautiful Cultural Arts Center that is only 5 minutes from where we live, and this is where her class was. It was a 6 week class with them kids performing the play the last day for family and friends. It was called "The Treasure of Sierra's Padre" and was a bilingual play with both English and Spanish. Sadie played Sierra, and she did an awesome job and really loved it!

Here are a few posters that Sadie's teacher made. The picture on the top right board was actually in the Hillsboro newspaper a couple of weeks ago!

Sadie as Sierra:

We are so blessed to have many supportive people in our lives. Sadie had 11 fans at the play!

Sadie's teacher, Mrs. Danley, came to watch.

Her best friend, Lizzie, did too!

Papa David and Grandma Marie even brought her flowers!

We are so very proud of Sadie and her wonderful acting abilities and the all work that she put into her play!

My 34th Birthday

December 12 was my 34th birthday. I know, I know, I am getting so OLD! ;) Anyway, that day happened to be the kids' Christmas program at church. So the kids got all dressed up and of course, I had to take lots of pictures of them in their Christmas outfits!!

The greatest Christmas gifts I could ever have received. :)

Brothers

Big bro and sis

Little bro, big sis

The boys are kind of in the middle. I know, I need a better camera. Someday...

Sadie got to sing a duet, she did great!

After church we went to Red Robin for my birthday lunch. I had my birthday burger... the Banzai Burger! It was soooo yummy!! Chrissie, Aaron, Marie and David joined us!

The kids just love their Auntie and Uncle!

We had a lazy afternoon and then I went to Bible Study, where we had an ornament exchange and a special December birthday dessert. All in all, it was a great birthday!

The Final Product

Growing up, my mom saw to it that I had at least one new ornament every year (and she kept a record of when I got them and from whom). She has made sure that the tradition continues with my kids, and Tony has some ornaments from his childhood as well. Needless to say, we have a LOT of ornaments and the kids just love going through and finding their own special ornaments and getting to put them on the tree!

All done! We are super happy with our beautiful tree this year!

The Hunt For A Tree

Every year we go to a local tree farm, called Loch Lolly, to cut down our tree. We have settled on the Grand Fir as our favorite and know just the right spot on the farm to search. The kids have a blast running among the trees and playing whatever games kids play (usually shooting games, since we have two boys!)

I love this picture!

Zack being silly

And... we found the ONE!

Of course we had to take a million pics of everyone with the tree.

"Helping" Dad cut down the tree

The kids found tons of ladybugs. They must like Christmas too!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving this year, my mom and brother came down from WA and they joined us, along with Tony's mom and step-dad, for dinner! It was my very first time hosting Thanksgiving, and first time cooking a turkey! I think that everything turned out pretty good!!

Yum, she was delicious!

Mom helping me set the table

The whole family!

My mom and Tim

Grandma Marie and Sadie

Drew (and fork) and Dad

The kids showing off the dance moves they learned at the summer weddings

After dinner, Drew decided to cook us some more food!