Christmas 2011

This Christmas season was a busy one as usual.  It all starts off with Sinterklass at the first of December we had a great time with my family doing the usual eating of delicious Dutch food and singing or trying to sing dutch songs.  Sinterklass did not dissapoint in the gift department, Sadie got a new pair of Christmas Jammies and a Christmas book.  She also got to open her gift from Wendy.  A sacrament meeting quiet bag, we have loved having it!  Then we had Christmas with my family early because we were going to be in Seattle with Grandma and Grandpa Taggart on Christmas day.  I was bad and forgot my camera so no photos to prove it, but we had our usual Christamas breakfast and exchanged gifts.  Fun Fun Fun!

We left on the 19th and headed for the homeland of Seattle.  (even though my parents are no longer there, it will always be where my roots are!)  We had a warm greeting at the airport from Grandma,  Grandpa and Kelsey.  We had a little vacation within a vacation while we were there.   We went to Birch Bay, Washington.  We had such a fun time there, the wheather was beautiful and we enjoyed hanging out in the condo, walking on the beach and spending time together.

                                         So Cute! Grandpa and Sadie walking on the beach...

                                                              and finding rocks

                                                                  Ice Cream!!!!

                                         Grandma with her plate of sugar cookies...we about
                                         burned the condo down when we left to go sight seeing
                                         and forgot the cookies were in the oven!  OOOPS!
                                         No harm was done so it made for a good laugh but
                                          not so good cookies! 

                                      Sadie loved playing with Grandma and Grandpa's Ipads

On our way home from Birch bay we stopped in a little city called Lynden.  It was the cutest little Dutch city.  They had a giant wind mill, a huge mural that looked like a dutch town and a fun little souvenir shop.  I loved it and wish all of my Dutch family could have been there to enjoy it with us!

                                              This was just a small part of the mural

                                                     Sadie and I in the giant wooden shoe

After checking out Lynden we were on our way back to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We arrived home to find that their water heater had broken and flooded their house! So we spent the rest of the trip surrounded by giant noisy fans and dehumidifiers. But that didn't stop us from having a great time. We spent friday with Kelsey, Sammy and Harmon at the YMCA swimming. We had so much fun with them but didn't get any pictures =0(. On Christmas eve we spent the day at the Seattle aquarium. Sadie had a great time running around, splashing in the touch pools and sometimes looking at fish! That night we had fun singing Christmas songs around the piano and reading the Christmas story.

                                                

Christmas morning was great!  We started off with Grandma's yummy cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  Sadie still didn't quite get the whole idea of Presents but it didn't take her too long.  Grandma and Grandpa spoiled her like crazy!  She got some fun gifts...

                                          This is her new baby doll that she named Lily...after
                                             her cousin Lily of course!

                                          She even got a cradle for Lily including an entire sheet
                                          and blanket set that Grandma made.

                                                   New jammies!

                                                stocking!

                                          After the morning festivities we got to go to church,
                                           what a great way to celebrate the birth of our Savior.
                                           Grandpa sang in sacrament meeting, it was beautiful and
                                           it lulled Sadie right to sleep on Daddy's lap.  I love this
                                          picture of  two of my most favorite people!

    The day after Christmas we got to have dinner with my brother Brad at Red Robin.  It was fun to see him and catch up.  Sadie loved seeing her Uncle Brad again!

                                          
                                            
A trip to Seattle would not be complete without a visit to Grandpa's work to check out the candy show room.  This was Sadie's first visit and it didn't take her long to figure out how things work!

                       We came home with a whole box of candy!  Why do we always go crazy?!

                                                 Brian and his Dad did most of the work on this
                                          puzzle I just wanted to be there for the last piece!

                                           Grandma built Sadie such a fun house with her mega
                                         blocks it even had a chair for her to sit on!

                                                    cute picture Grandma snapped in the car

It wouldn't be Seattle without rain...and puddles!

We had such a fun trip. Lots of spending time together as family and we even got to see some of our good friends!  It will be a Christamas that we will remember forever!  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for such a fun time!