Christmas Day at the Beach

Christmas morning dawned bright and sunny, with a crisp winter breeze. It was a perfect day to enjoy our annual visit to Mukilteo Beach after all the presents were sufficiently torn into and our tummies were full with Eric's yummy breakfast.

Erica was very entertained with the ferries that came and went at the dock and all the seagulls flitting around.

She also learned how to toss pebbles....Watch out! They were flying everywhere!

Elise applauded her sister on!

Ethan made use of the telescope my dad made for him for Christmas. Ahoy maties!!

Heidi, under the delusion that it is not still winter here....Of course, it made for a good picture! She is sporting a new Christmas outfit.

Heidi is also a fabulous photographer. Here she caught the old ma and pop.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

'Twas the night before Christmas.....

'Twas the night before Christmas, and all is quiet at the White house.

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Quiet for now, that is.....

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The kids have just gone down for bed, and although visions of sugar-plumbs are not yet dancing in their heads, they are at least starting on the journey down the road to dreamland. Now as I enjoy the peace for a few moments, I have been reflecting on this evening, and what a great night it was.

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We were lucky enough to enjoy dinner tonight with our friends the Sisco family. I had originally not taken her up on the invite to dine with them, since I was planning a nice turkey dinner for us at home. However, I have been a little neglectful this past week and did not get my turkey out of the freezer to defrost soon enough. It should be ready for a Christmas feast tomorrow, but as for today, we were turkey-less.

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So we enjoyed ham and potatoes au gratin, with rolls and salads, and plenty of desserts to round out our bellies even more. After stuffing ourselves past capacity, we played games together and then sang some Christmas songs around the piano before heading home.

Here is our homage to good old St. Nick, in the hopes that he will not forget the White house this evening!!

Right before bed, the kids opened the traditional gift of new jammies. We then gathered together in a circle for family prayer and thanked our Father in Heaven for this wonderful season to celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and to be grateful for His life of service and love, but especially for the sacrifice He made for each of us. As the kids went to bed I quietly played some of the Christmas hymns on the piano. "Silent Night" was the last one I played. I wanted the feeling from that song to be the last thing dancing around in their heads before they drifted off to sleep. With all the bustle and excitement of what tomorrow morning will bring, I want them to always remember the true meaning of this holiday.

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Silent night! Holy night!

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon virgin, mother and Child.

Holy Infant, so tender and mild,

Sleep in heavenly peace;

Sleep in heavenly peace.

My Girl Can Dance!

Tonight I was playing some tunes while I goofed off on the computer. Erica decided this song was more than she could resist, so she climbed up on the coffee table and showed us her moves!
My girl can dance! I must say, she got it from me, not from her dad! Ha ha!

Going Nuts

I just had a patient the other day who is deathly afraid of squirrels. You know, the cute little critters that daringly dash out in front of your car, just begging for some kind of ridiculous accident. (I am just now picturing explaining to an officer that you side-swept three cars on the side of the road because a squirrel ran out in front of you....)


Now, I can understand having a phobia over rats. I mean, they are dirty, gross, and ruin all sorts of pantry items which happen to be stored in the garage. They do not have bladders, so they pee everywhere as they scamper around. GROSS.


I can even see mice, they are just a miniature (and much cuter, I must say) version of a rat.


But squirrels?


She told me how she was traumatized last time she was at our office because a squirrel kept coming up to the window in the operatory (which is full length) and looking at her through the glass. Then when she got home afterwards there was another squirrel running all over her yard while she was trying to get into the house. She swore the office squirrel had to have followed her home.


Wow.

Paddle Down to Portland

This weekend we took the kids and headed down to Portland to stay with our friends the Barners. While we were there we also got to attend a fantastic performance put on by my aunt and uncle's Stake, a production of "A Christmas Carol." On Sunday night my aunt Tina hosted an impromptu Thanksgiving dinner to celebrate all the family that was there over the weekend. We had such a great time! It was a wonderful visit.

This is Erica on the way down. She kept fussing, being tired of her car seat, so Heidi plugged her into her Ipod. It worked like a miracle. What can I say, I have techie kids....

While we were in town we visited the Portland Temple and got some great pictures of the kids.
This one cracks me up, it is so typical Erica!!



I foresee a budding romance....

The Barner Family

Paul and Michele', with Gabrielle, Olivia and Jack

Our crazy crew!

The kids are in front of the reflecting pond. It is such a beautiful temple!

Erica got a foot and her pant leg wet, of course.

Twilight Strikes Again

Last night was the much-anticipated premier of the movie "New Moon," the second in the "Twilight" book series. Like my other Twi-hard friends, I was excited to see this next installment. We planned on attending the midnight showing, and attempted to get tickets online several weeks ago, only to find they were all sold out! Luckily, seeing a guaranteed boon to their weekend gross, the theatre decided to open some more showings at 12:30 am, which we grabbed at quickly.

As it so happened, it has been pouring rain here for the last week. And cold. Now imagine a line of soggy, excited teenagers and giddy groups of women of all ages extending the length of the mall parking lot, waiting for one to two hours to get into the theatre.....Can you see it? Here are some (terrible, I know) pictures from my little camera to illustrate:

I know they are fuzzy, but you get the idea!!

Here are my friends Maryanne, Laura, Amy and Lindsey, anxiously waiting to be let into the theatre.

Maryanne and I got our tickets seperately, so we were in a different theatre than the other girls. They got to go in at about 11:15, while we waited outside for another 30 minutes.

Here we are, seated and ready to roll!!

I went equipped with a full bag: a crochet project, awaiting my attention, my camera, some popcorn from home, and a soda to keep me awake.

Maryanne and I were both in agreement: the movie was.....fantabulous!

I liked it much more than the first movie. The characters were a lot more developed, and there was a lot more action. Of course, an interesting love triangle never hurts either. I can't wait to take Eric to see it. He wasn't too excited to go, saying it's more my thing, but I think even he will like it!

I crept into the house at about 3:30 this morning. I don't remember the last time I was out that late.....Wait a minute, I have never been out that late! I am a self-proclaimed night-owl by all definitions of the term, but that was really pushing it for me!!

Today I am in the dreamy haze of extreme sleep-deprivation, but I must say that it was totally worth it! It's not very often you can get excited about a goofy thing like a movie, and revel in the experience with a bunch of soaking-wet strangers. I highly recommend doing it whenever such an opportunity presents itself!

Welcome to the 21st Century!

It's official....the White family has now entered the 21st century!!!

A few weeks ago we got a webcam. It's a nifty little camera that sits on top of our computer. We can use it to take pictures and videos of ourselves, which I have had some fun playing with.

But the really exciting thing is that we can talk to other people who are hooked up with a webcam, face-to-face. We do it through the free network/program Skype.

Last night I talked to my little sister, Diana, via the computer. I got to see her cute little apartment in Provo, Utah, along with some mosaic projects she and Jordan are working on. She also showed me the free chairs she got on Craigslist and recovered herself. It was like I was there in the room with her.....This thing is AWESOME!

Our first "phone call" was to my parents in Boise, Idaho. We spent nearly the whole call just staring at each other on screen, it was such a strange thing to do at first! The kids didn't know how to act, so they just acted goofy, you know...the old stand-by.

Next we talked to Eric's Aunt Patty, also in Boise. We caught up on a lot of stuff and had a good heart-to-heart. There's something different about talking to someone face-to-face. It's a lot different than talking on the phone.

So now I would like to ask if any of the rest of you out there have a webcam so we can "Skype" together? So far we only have those three "phone numbers," and we would love to add more!!

Hope to be talking to you soon!!