dear friends! and a jazz game!

 Emily, Grace and Leah Hill came to visit us today!  All the way from Sherwood OR (;  They are in town visiting family and were kind enough to make time for us!  I am so happy for dear dear friends.  Emily is one of my favorites because she is very intellectual and always shares good books and things to listen to.  She is also very calm and fun.  It's so wonderful to have good friends. Someday maybe I'll make friends here!

 Julia, anna, Grace, Leah.  Grace and anna are good buddies.  They played really well, no fighting - until Julia came along.  She bothers everyone.

 Later last night rich and I had a date to a jazz game.  I hate getting a babysitter and didn't feel like going so he took Anna.  She was so excited.  Julia was mad they left without her.  poor baby.

 i guess he had to buy some popcorn to keep her entertained.  that is a lot of popcorn.  i was there that probably would not have happened.

 counting chairs.

I guess she said:  "daddy, why aren't there any girls playing?"   love it, she's a thinker!

sweet little anna.  she went to bed at 9:30.  thats a big deal, she's a 7:00 everynight kind of girl. She's still asleep though so we should be okay.

They sleep with toys

Julia with a princess
Anna with a ferocious Tiger

Sunday Morning

Anna said "come get Julia out of bed so I can read to her."

anniversary trip!

 uncle tay tay came to watch the kids

 it was his christmas present to us.  anna loves him.  she had a great time and even took a nap!

 you can't see, but we got out above the smog!

 we just went up millcreek canyon on the elbow fork hike.  it was perfect.  no people, sunshine, pretty trees.  It was very reminiscent of when we dated in logan and our first few months of marriage.  We did a lot of exploring in logan canyon.  To say it cheesily: a piece of my heart lives in logan canyon.

 this is in 2009, our first winter in portland (crater lake)

 this is 2008, our first few months of marriage (logan canyon, temple fork, isn't it beautiful)

this is rich 2008 (logan canyon, temple fork)

 back to the present: it was a steep hike and i got scared.

 i bought this trendy head wrap at the used year sale this morning.

 steep!

 i dont know if you can see, but the smog in the valley is intense and gross.

 on the south slopes we ran out of snow, but kept the snowshoes on for the crampon

 i love sunlight filtering through the trees

 Paul gave us some walkie talkies.  We talked to eachother on them since you cant hear when you snowshoe.

 yikes!  a steep drop down!

 we got up on the backside (south side) and found a secret little valley.

 rich is in the top right corner.  i was scared here, it was a straight drop down!

 have to get the wilderness sign pose.

 we found a road we didn't know existed.  Turns out it was a family history trip.  My mom's side are Bowmans - this picnic site is bowman fork.

 My dad's side are gardeners (we are direct descendants of archibald gardner).

 great trip, very rejuvinating.  staying in a hotel overnight doesn't do much for me.  I do love to get out on adventures with richard though.

more portland visitors!

the great thing about Utah is that at some point most of my friends from Portland will visit here.  Most people I know have roots in Utah.  So hooray for Kristin Obermire for visiting me today!  She came and brought Eve, who is 6 month younger than anna.  She has another wee one, Eli, but he was napping.  It's so fun to catch up with friends.  Julia and Eve had a big battle of the ariel toy that julia loves, but they got over it and by the end of 2 hours Eve didn't want to leave.  We will see them again though!

 Kristin and her hubby Ryan were our first friends in portland.  We met them in our Lake Oswego ward and we did a few things with them before we moved and had kids.  They are so much cooler than us, so we always feel special when they are willing to take time to be with us (:

Anna plays well with pretty much everyone.  She had a great time with Eve.  Julia, on the other hand, seems to bother just about all kids that she comes in contact with.  But I sure think she is a dolly.

Once there was a snowman

Tall tall tall

Uncle tay tays book

Tay is watching.the kids saturday for our 6 year anniversary.  He wrote.this.book.to.prepare.the girls.  I hope he lives up to all he put in it because anna has read it mUltiple times

christmas, part 2!

 I went down to pick up grandma and grandpa.  We brought them over for our christmas day lunch.  Grandma told me she had taken a shower.  She lied.  She was wearing yesterday's clothes.  I couldn't get her clean, but I did get a new shirt on her!

 this is just so grandpa glenn.  He's reading our family letter. (with his impeccable eye sight he would say.  At home he would be using a magnifying glass the goof!).

 dinner at moms.  always delicious.  this year she made a dish great grandma heiner would make - potatoes with cream and garlic.  very german.

 Here we all are listening to my mom read a journal entry from my dad's mission journal.  he is a good writer.

 Jill holding sterling.  she loves the little babies.

 Mom reading.

 everyone listening.

 anna nd amber not listening.

 virginia remi chloe

 dad and janers

 rich got to read my dad's letter.

 julia snuck down to un decorate the tree.

 remi!

 my mom got all the girls christmas night gowns.  so lovely.  although amber looks grouchy.  love my moms face in this picture!

 and so does anna.

 love this with amber and grandma.  amber, getting a little pep talk.  this is so how you would talk with amber.

 jane and grandma.  jane dancing with grandma.  this is so how you would play with jan.

 anna and grandma.  this is so what anna always wants to get, a lovee from grandma.

 the boys got jammies too, gavin loved his.

 julia, what a little princess, she was in heaven.

 virginia retrieved sterling from jilly.

 here are amy's kids with the hats from grandma elaine.  jane.

 amber the elephant.

 gavin and tiger (like his stuffed animal stripes)

 evan a puppy.

 rich's parents were kind enough to come along with us.

 oh julia!  what a princess.

 julia got hungry and went to find grandpa heiner because she knows that he is a pleaser.  look at her imploring him to pick her up.

 and she got him to get her come cookies.

 the gift exchange.  each year we make our own gifts for eachother.

 amy and kelby got some article of faith flash cards from virginia.

 again richards parents got some entertainment.

 anna gave her gifts to grandma heiner and grandpa heiner.  she was so delighter to give them to them.

 I made this turn table for my mom.  it was a lot of work.

 anna also gave my dad some gum and had him smell it.

 oh look!  a picture of me!  im wearing my new outfit from joyce and a hat from my mom.

and this is this morning, anna enjoying her pirate ship some more.  I think the day after christmas is better than christmas itself!  Anna has been playing and playing all day wihtout any breaks!  hooray for christmas toys!  thank you so much paul and joyce for spending the holiday with us and thank you mom for all your cooking, preparation and hard work.  We love you all.