Christmas with the Hoyts

Hailey, Golda, and Gramps :)

 We loved spending time at the "Tree Farm" with Pete's family. Pete's siblings are getting pretty widespread as time goes on. However, for a couple precious days, all of the Hoyt kids were together. This was no small feat, considering there's 11 of them and they came from all across the country (Utah, Arizona, Vermont, Texas, Georgia, and Washington). It was a full and happy house! :)

Here's some highlights from our visit:

* Brother time. Pete got to spend good quality time with his brothers, who hadn’t all been together in the same place in a decade. The love and friendship all the Hoyt boys share is one of my favorite things about them.

Workin' time. Pete missed this picture because he was, well, workin' :)

A big congrats to Ush, for winning the "manliest photo" contest ;)

John and Eric shooting guns

Lauren, Eric, Tim, and Daivid opening presents

The football games were plentiful

*Sister time. I have so many wonderful sisters-in-law and spending time with them was sooo fun and good for the soul. Whether running together, baking, or reading, the sister bonding was abundant! It was also fun to see and play with my cute nieces...they're getting so grown up!

Hailey and Ashley

Heidi, Hannah, and Ash walking to the riv

Getting ready to eat yummy food.
Notice that Hannah had to forego wearing her red matching top in order to wear her styling' Wal-Mart turtleneck.

Lauren, Ems, and Hailey reading books

Hannah with the cute nieces: Ivy, Hannah Z, and Megan

Me and Hannah! Thanks, Toin, for giving me some camera pointers!

* Princess Diaries Marathon. Me and John B watched the Princess Diaries (1 and 2) movies together and I am happy to report that they are still as awesome as they were back when I first loved them (in middle school, or, mayyybeeee that was high school?) ;)

*Shopping and Mexican Food. I went baby clothes shopping with cute Golda and Sosh (Hailey) and it was so fun! We met up with the boys afterwards at a Mexican Restaurant in Ferndale. Good family + Good Mexican food = Good times :)

* Watching these crazies jump into the freezing cold Pacific Ocean:

Ashley, Heidi, Brian, Hannah

*Singing Christmas songs: Simple but sublime. We made quite a sizable choir and it was beautiful to hear all the different parts harmonizing together in song after song.

Paul, Brian, Todd, Asher, and Eli

Even Ems joined in! Actually, she just really liked the hymn book

Hailey, Ashley, me, and Hilary

We are so grateful we got to visit both our families for Christmas and are missing them lots these days! 

Christmas with the Jensens

Considering the fact that I am still reminiscing about our epic Christmas 2011, March really doesn't seem too late to get my Christmas posts in :)

Being farther away from family than we’ve ever been before, the long Christmas break was a huge blessing. I thought we might get sick of being on vacation for so long, but boy was I wrong! We spent two weeks with each of our families and it was so much fun. My ultimate favorite thing about our time spent with family was just that: the time spent with family. I really feel like I am related to some incredible individuals, and want to do better at keeping in touch with them!

Here’s some highlights from our time with the Jensen clan:

* Nate's cute grin and attention to Emery. Talk about a good uncle! Nate was always sneaking over to hold her and play with her. Emery got excited anytime Nate walked into the room and one evening he had her laughing hysterically by hopping all through the house. Once I finally got her settled down and ready for sleep that night, I had to stay away from Nate because the mere sight of him sent her into giggles. 

* Desert trip. So we spent 2 hours packed into the suburban on “roads” that were meant for ATV’s. But it was fun.

*Grandparents. It was wonderful to see both my Baxter and Jensen grandparents while we were in Nyssa! I wish I would've gotten more pictures of them with Ems.

* Ward Christmas Party. Watching the traditional Nativity performance by the kids in my home ward put me right at home and secured the Christmas spirit in my heart. The primary music, the familiar church building, the cute kiddos…it just really solidified the fact that I was home for Christmas.

* Friends. Got to spend some time with my Whit! Also got a much needed visit in with Kim and some time with other good friends from high school.

*Food. We ate some GOOD stuff. From green smoothies and tofu to outback steakhouse and homemade cookies, I'd say we covered the full spectrum. I wouldn't have it any other way.

*Crafts. My sister Mallory, my mom, and I did some fun crafts together, including sewing cute tote bags which I gave to my niece and sis-in-law for Christmas and forgot to take pictures of (Bahh! They were so cute). Emery joined in on the crafting fun and I can tell that she inherited my mess-making skills.

(Note to self: I can't seem locate more of my Jensen fam Christmas pics right now, so I'm going to put them in later. I just really need to get these Chrsitmas posts up, pics or not)

My kind of pretty

Often when I tell people that I'm from Oregon, I get comments such as, "Ohhh, it's beautiful over there," and "I love how green and pretty Oregon is." And then I proceed to tell them that I'm actually from the other part of Oregon. The desert part.  But you know what? I still think it's pretty, and while it's not green and rhododendron-scented, I think sage brush smells great too.

Over Christmas break, my dad convinced us to go for a drive out in the desert. 

It was long. 

It was cold.

And the dirt road had pot-holes the size of  the suburban we were piled into.

(well, that may be exaggerating just a wee bit) 

But...

Nate thought he was the coolest person ever because he got to stand on top of this rock.

And Wyatt got to shoot guns with his dad and Pete

And we trekked up a frozen river to find...

A frozen waterfall.

 Which was actually pretty cool.

So it turned out alright after all. It was great fun to be in the car complaining and getting lost together. Ahem, I mean, spending time together. 

Okay, all joking aside, thanks Dad! Even Emery had a good time---she doesn't give out her full, four-toothed smiles for just anything.

My Favorite Gift

I'm feeling oober overwhelmed with the amount of blog-age I want to do about our vacation. I reeeeeeally want to get it recorded, because we made such good memories, but I think it's going to take a little while. For now, here's a little spur of the moment photoshoot I did with Emery amongst the leftover wrappings on Christmas Day.  

Vacation

{Pete working outside at the "Tree Farm" as his home is affectionately called.}

{All the Hoyt brothers}

{Me and one of my wonderful sis-in-laws, Ashley}

{Emery watching the football game with cousin Hannah Z and Aunt Hailey}

The holidays have been good to us. 

Verrrrry good to us.

2 weeks in Nyssa with my family, 2 weeks in Washington with Pete's family, and in 2 days it will all be over and we'll be home.

I wish I would have kept up with the blog posts, but, quite honestly, I was having waaaay too much fun. 

I'll try to catch up once I'm home :)

Christmas Countdown {student style}

One of my favorite Christmas activities was a "12 days of Christmas" countdown that my family did for Pete and I one year. They gave us a big box full of small gifts with numbers on them and each day we got to open one of the presents. The gifts were so cute and creative, correlating well with the days of the week. For example, on Friday night we got popcorn and a movie, on Monday night we opened a talk from a General Authority and packets of hot chocolate (for FHE). It really made that childhood "magic" of Christmas come back into my somewhat adult life and ever since that Christmas, Pete and I have wanted to do it for someone else. When my friend Marie (who's hubby is in school with mine) told me about a similar idea she was doing for her husband--- a "4 Days of Finals" countdown---I couldn't help but catch the countdown bug and copy her :) 

This week was finals week, so each day for four days, I put a little gift/treat on Pete's desk...sometimes it would be there when he woke up in the morning, sometimes it made its appearance in the middle of the day...I had to keep him on his toes, ya know? All in all, it was super fun for me to surprise Pete with some of his favorite treats, and I hope it was a nice boost for him during a tough week.

Garden Lights, Holiday Nights

There are few things more magical than bunches of twinkling Christmas lights. 

We witnessed our first lights of the season at the Atlanta Botanical Garden and, for the first time this fall, I actually missed cold, winter weather. It would have been fun to bundle up in scarves, coats, and hats and see the lights amid the snow. As it was, we were nearly overdressed in our single layer, long-sleeve shirts. Don't get me wrong...I'm not complaining. Every morning before running I check the weather outside and the weather at home and I'm grateful that where I'm at, it's usually warm enough to run in a T-shirt (and it's December! This truly boggles my mind!). I'm growing more and more nervous about going west in a few days to a 20 degree temperature drop and what that's going to do to the great running routine I've got going. On the other hand, it will be nice to truly enjoy this hot chocolate season and maybe even a white Christmas :)

Hey Santa...

Emery meeting Santa for the first time:

First, she checks him out (or maybe she's just looking for some face in all that white fluff)

Then she looks at me wide-eyed as if to say, "Mom, who is this guy?"

Next, she looked at him again and that cute little hand (aka "iron gripper") went straight for the beard.

 Not sure if tugging Santa's beard is going to win her "nice" points down the road or not, 

but I guess we'll find out :) 

Too bad we didn't get a picture of that part.

In other news, the Ward Christmas Party (which I've been working on for the past few weeks) is now over and the only thing separating me from home are 5 days and a lot of cleaning and packing. 

Oh, and 2,222 miles. 

Gee, I'm far from home.

Belated Easter

I know I'm a little late...but I still wanted to say Happy Easter.

 (To read one of my favorite Easter talks, click here)

As per tradition, we did a quick egg hunt on Easter morning.

the husband looking for his basket...

Emery's basket
(she napped through the whole hunt and couldn't care less...but I still had to get her a little something:)

Isn't it interesting how much life can change in just one year? 

Flashback to Easter 2010.

I'm grateful for all the reasons I have to celebrate new life this Easter season :)

Easter 2010

I tend to get really excited about things like playdough, finger paints, easter egg hunts, and paper chains (like the kind you do in red and green to count down to Christmas). The other day I saw a book from my childhood called "Rainbabies" and I almost cried...we're talking intense nostalgic, emotional, where-did-my-childhood-go experience.

Basically, this is all pretty hefty evidence that I need children. At the current time, however, I just have a husband. So sometimes he has to participate in the little kid activities that are just building up inside me and needing to be carried out.

Like Easter egg hunts: