Festival of Lights Parade

Tonight we went down to where Chris' brother and his family live because their town was having their Festival of Lights Parade. We all ate dinner at a yummy pizza parlor, then headed downtown to see the parade. They started it out with a few fireworks, which the kids especially liked. It was pretty cold, but the parade wasn't very long, so it was okay. After it was over, we went to Weston and Stacy's and just hung out and talked a bit while the kids played. They don't get to see their cousins too often, so they always have a lot of fun when they do get to be together. I love this time of year!
Look how cute they are watching the fireworks.

Weston holding Brooklyn, Chris and Stacy enjoying the fireworks.

Allie is such a cutie!
Stacy with little Brooklyn.
Chris thinking Nick is loving the fireworks; he looks a little frightened to me!

MaKenzi and Sophie giggled the whole time.

Sam, Noah and Jaeddenn always have fun together.

It's snow fun!

Saturday we woke up to a beautiful layer of snow, that continued to fall throughout the day. Of course, being early in the season, it looked so fresh and pretty. (I'm sure by about February I'll be fully prepared to ditch this place for a warmer, sunnier venue!) The kids were in a big hurry to get out the snow pants and head outside. Unfortunately, just as Chris was getting up for the morning, settling in on the couch to enjoy some breakfast and relax on his day off, the phone rang and he was called out to work; there were a lot of slide offs and accidents on the freeway. Luckily he only had to work a few hours, but it's a part of his job that we don't particularly look forward to each winter.

My how things change.

Today is our Sophie's 7th birthday! She is such a loving, thoughtful, spiritual child, and we're so blessed to have her in our family. I don't know what I'd do without my girl! Here she is at 1 year old...
And today...
Happy Birthday!