Christmas!

We spent Christmas with my extended family this year (my immediate family is in Thailand, remember?).  We went over to my Uncle Gene and Aunt Kathryn's for dinner on Christmas Eve.  The food, as usual, was simply divine.  I probably gained 5 pounds just from the delicious candies and desserts.  After dinner it is our tradition to share talents and have the kids act out the Nativity story.  We don't really have any talents worth sharing, but Austin did played the part of a little lamb in the Nativity.  It was so cute.  I quickly made his costume the night before, but I was quite pleased with how it turned out.  After visiting and eating even more we headed home to open our Christmas Eve presents....pajamas (surprise, surprise)!

Toren woke up bright and early Christmas morning (probably at like 7), and was SO excited to go downstairs and start opening some more presents.  However, little Austin was still sleeping.  I got up to brush my teeth and Austin woke up almost instantly.  Toren swears he didn't do anything, but I'm still a little suspicious.  Anyway, we headed downstairs for some fun!

Toren surprised me with an Ergo (finally!) and a label maker.  He got a new watch and some Playstation games.  Austin got some sippy cups, more pjs, and some teething toys (and some proper toys from Grandma Forsberg).  And the dogs (we were babysitting Toren's parent's dog, Frisbee) got bones.

We headed over to Nana and Papa Spader's house for Christmas breakfast, spent the rest of the day relaxing and napping, and then we went to Aunt Shelby and Uncle Cesar's for Christmas dinner.  We had a wonderful day. 

Though it isn't reflected in any of these pictures, we are so grateful for the time we had to reflect upon our Savior and the numerous ways He has blessed us this year.

Family Christmas Letter (of sorts)

This year was a big one for us Forsberg's.  Here's a quick review of what happened...

...In January we moved from a tiny one bedroom apartment to a two bedroom.
...In March we went to Mexico for a quick Spring Break getaway.
...In May we welcomed an adorable baby boy into our lives.
...In July we traveled to Utah for my brother's wedding.
...In September we accepted a new job with Collette Vacations and celebrated our 3rd anniversary.
...In October we moved from our two bedroom apartment in Oregon into a five bedroom home in Washington.
...In December we reflected on a busy, happy year and started prepping for the new one.

Living in Oregon for two years brought my inner tree-hugger out, so enjoy our digital Christmas card.  We hope it finds each of you healthy and happy.

Thirty Years Ago

Today is my parents' thirtieth wedding anniversary!  I know they are happier today than they even thought they could be thirty years ago.  I'm so grateful to them for giving me a wonderful example of a great marriage.  I love you Mom and Dad!

Two Peas in a Pod....

Or, uh, a bed.

We never let Baxter in the bed (anymore), but the other night we had a terrible thunder/lightning/rain/wind storm and I ended up with both boys in bed with  me (Toren is in Boston).  Combine the storm with a heat machine baby and a puppy that has no regard for others' personal space and you can imagine the quality of sleep I got.  Needless to say, Austin couldn't contain his excitement when he woke to Baxter in his face that morning.  This boy loves his dog.

And I think Baxter is really coming around, too.  He slept under Austin's crib the other day while Austin napped.

"Solid" Foods

Thanksgiving Week: Part II

The guys spent Thanksgiving morning relaxing while the girls slaved in the kitchen.  One green bean casserole, one pumpkin cream cheese roll, and two apples pies later and we were off to Aunt Shelby's for an amazing Thanksgiving dinner.  The only time we've spent Thanksgiving with my family in our marriage was during our trip to Mexcio.  It was so nice to have all the delicious fixings I drooled over as a kid.  Austin had a ball playing with his cousin Parker and being smooched a thousand times over by the ladies in the family.  Toren killed everyone at Monopoly (for the record, I wasn't playing, otherwise I would gave won...naturally).  And I ate A LOT of food.  It was absolutely fantastic.  Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures.  I must've been too busy eating.

Friday we set up the Christmas tree and decorations.  Last year we had a beautiful, real Christmas tree.  This year we took the lazy route and grabbed my parent's fake tree out of storage.  It looks great though.  Eventually I'll get a picture of the tree as a whole, but I do have some cute pictures of Austin hanging an ornament on the tree.  He was absolutely fascinated with the bright lights on the tree. 

David, Mandy and Jana headed home on Saturday.  It was so good to spend time with them.  To be honest, my favorite part was that they were so eager to play with Austin all the time which left me with much more freedom than I'm used to.  It was simply blissful. 

Thanksgiving Week: Part I

We were lucky to have David, Mandy, and Mandy's sister, Jana, visit us for the week of Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately they brought the snow from Rexburg along with them.  The snow started in Sunday evening and didn't really stop until Tuesday.  Needless to say, we were stuck in the house for the first couple days of their visit.  We played some games, watched some TV, and had a good time just visiting and laughing with each other. 

Once we were finally  brave enough to venture out on Wednesday we headed to Seattle.  The temperature high for the day was 29 degrees, but that didn't stop us.  We started out at Starbucks for peppermint hot chocolate, then made our way down to the gum wall and Pike's Place Market. As you can see, we ran into a few big celebs as well.  We're so lucky.

After the market we went down the the waterfront to check out Ye Old Curiosity Shop and then to stuff ourselves with delicious fresh seafood at the Crab Pot.  Austin desperately wanted to crack one of the crab legs.