The First Noel

 This is how we are celebrating the First Noel in our home this year.  It's been so fun to be surrounded by our nativity scenes and Lulu has been acting out the birth of Jesus quit a bit. 

 I love this Mary and baby Jesus because she's holding her new born baby.

This is the town of Bethlehem.  Mark's mom bought it for him when he was in high school for his home someday.  It's now in our kitchen on display.

 Here is our Jesse Tree that Mark made us this year.  We don't have all the correct ornaments yet but we are slowly collecting them.  We have some "regular" ornaments hanging on there too.

 Here is our basket of Christmas cards.  Lulu loves digging through this and looking at all the pictures and fun cards.   And the picture below is the "fun" nativity scene that the kids can play with.  Under that table is where we are keeping all the presents. 

And here is our little Mary.  She loves acting out the story of Jesus being born.  I have to play Joseph and knock on all the doors looking for a room for her to give birth in.  But of course no one had room for us so we have to go to the stable in the living room amongst the cows and sheep.  It's very entertaining in our home right now.  Come on by and we will put on a show for you!

Luke 2:11 Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.  This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

A Little Dance From Our Family To Yours!

Our Drive Home

 After our fun weekend away we had about a 6 hour drive home.  On our drive we saw 3 Bald Eagles!  Here's one that we saw heading up a mountain.

 About an hour or two into our trip we came to a river where the highway ended and the only away across was this ferry.  We took one last year but in a different spot.  It was about a ten minute trip across the river.

 Mark getting some fresh air and chatting with the ferry driver.

 After we crossed the river we had to drive out of a valley and up these mountains and this picture is when we reached the top.  Isn't that just beautiful?  God's creation is amazing.  This was really breathtaking. 

 This could be a post card. 

 Miles and miles of snow.  Normally this would be miles and miles of wheat or whatever they grow out here.

Then about 3 hours from home we stopped to have burgers at a local burger joint that we found and the kids got to burn some energy.  Yes they are on the table.  Normally we don't let them climb on tables especially in a restaurant but we were on vacation and they needed to move.

Christmas Party 2010

This past weekend we went to Mark's company's Christmas party.  This was our second time attending and it was better than last years, and lasts years party was very nice.  His company put all the families up in this beautiful lodge for the weekend.  The picture above is of the lodge and I took that as we were leaving.  The party was Saturday night at the lodge and they had a nice breakfast for everyone Sunday morning.  They catered a wonderful dinner at the party and had dancing and a fun gift exchange for the adults.  Santa and Mrs. Clause showed up after dinner to hand out presents to all the children.  Lulu remembered this part from last years party and she was so excited when they arrived.  She asked us if Mrs. Clause rode in the sleigh with Santa or if she drove her own car.  Where do these questions come from?  We told her they came together.

 Here is a picture of our room.  We were up stairs in a corner room.  We had two windows with beautiful views of the snowy mountains surrounding the lodge.

Here we are in the lodge right before all the fun started.  All the families that work for this company are so kind and we had such a great time catching up with them again.  The company that Mark works for has two offices.  Most of the families live on the other side of the state from us so we traveled about 6 hours to get to the lodge. 

 Here is Lulu getting ready for the party!  She was so excited to get dressed up in her new Christmas dress.  The main part of the lodge had two fire places with comfy couches and stuffed chairs to relax by the fire in.  In the middle of the main room between the two sitting areas was where they set up the tables for dining and dancing.

 Here is Lulu waiting to see Santa and Mrs. Clause.  They called out each kids name and they would go visit with them and get their gift.  There were about 45 adults at this party and 55 kids.  The kids outnumbered the adults and there were 3 of us who are pregnant.  So next year there will be even more.  This company is very family focused. 

 Lulu kept telling us that she only wanted to sit on Mrs. Clause's lap and that's what she did.  I don't even think she looked at Santa. 

 Santa actually handed Lulu her gift.  Lulu said "thank you" without even looking at him and here she is beelining it for us. 

 Once the kids get their gift they get to open it with their families watching.  So there are kids all over opening gifts.  Lulu got a darling doll and book to go with her doll.  She was thrilled! 

 A bit later they called out Levi's name.  He was not enjoying this at all.  So it was a quick on the lap and off again.  I needed my picture.  Mrs. Clause was so cute and leaned over to me and said "bring him back after all the kids are gone" so we did and Levi did much better.  I got video of that visit. 

 Once Mark got Levi quickly off of Santa's lap Lulu helped Levi open his gift they gave him.

 Both Lulu and Levi were excited about getting a Mega Bloks pirate ship. 

 Once the dancing started it quickly turned into all the kids dancing and the adults taking pictures and watching.  Here they are doing the limbo.  Levi loved watching everyone and he would try to go in going the wrong way.  Finally Lulu took his had and they went around and under together.  Levi is a dancer and was loving the music.

 Here are the guys and just moments later here they are again......

 Levi dance his little heart out and was soon out himself.  Mark carried him around the rest of the night like this.  And we all headed up the stairs and went to bed when all the fun was over.  It was so nice not having to drive anywhere after, just going up to our room and crashing.

The next morning I found Lulu sitting in bed reading her new book with her new doll.  She actually slept with both.  We had a great mini get away and the company really made it special for all the families.