Christmas Cheer

We had our annual get together with a group of people I work with and all of their families. Santa arrived and delivered gifts to 18 kids. It is always so much fun watching the kids' faces light up and share their Christmas wishes with Santa and his helper!



We went to church on Christmas eve and all of the cousins and Sunday School kids sang, "Go Tell it on the Mountain." Then we started back up a Heimbigner tradition of going out to dinner on Christmas eve. It has been 8 years (we took a break when all of the kids were little) and it was so fun starting back up with dinner at the Onion. After that we went to grandma and grandpa's house for treats, presents and so much excitement with the kids!




Christmas morning brought some good family and play time, followed by an afternoon with the Liezen side of the family and then a delicious Christmas meal at Aunt Liz and Uncle Craig's house. Uncle Hans was a hit with his "hat store" and coupons for the kids to pick a hat. Andrew said, "Are these hats really for free?" So cute!




Following the holidays, we are really trying to take time to give thanks for all we have and the heaps of blessings we receive everyday from the people in our lives. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Highlights!

October....
We had a beautiful October and we were so thankful for great weather at all of EWU football games. We bought a family season pass this year and had so much fun tailgating and cheering on the Eastern Eagles. Nikki and I even had our picture taken with Michael Roos (who the red turf field is named after and plays for the Tennessee Titans). Our family also hosted 3 young girls and an adult from the Watoto Children's Choir from Uganda, Africa. This is our second time having members of the choir stay at our house and we always feel so blessed by them. What remarkable children! And of course, we spent alot of time playing in the leaves at Woodridge (Andrew's school). Such a joyous activity! Halloween was busy with school parties, field trips to the pumpkin patch, trunk-or-treat for boy scouts and trick-or-treating with cousins. Abigail was a zebra and Andrew was a skeleton.

















November...
The month of November was quite busy. We went to 4 GU women's basketball games and it's always a highlight to get a picture with Spike. Grandma snuck in too! The kids and I spent Veteran's Day weekend in Gresham while Matt was in Sun Valley for his annual boy's weekend. And all of the Liezens were in one place for Thanksgiving this year and we had a great time of course!











December (so far)...
The week before Christmas we took a little 5 day adventure to Gresham for Nick and Abi's wedding. It was a special day and Abigail is quite fond of her new aunt Abi! Olivia and David were wonderful hosts and the cousins had major play time. We even squeezed in a trip to the Portland Zoo to see Zoolights with Jen, Brent and the girls. So much fun! While in Gresham, Andrew lost one of his top middle teeth. I love his toothless grin and giggles!

July, August and Part of September!

It is now October and I haven't posted anything since the end of June. So, here is a snapshot of our summer and some of the things we were able to do. Not all of the pictures are in order, but include:

Lake Pend O'reille and Frog-O-Rama,Splash-pad fun, visit from the Dukes, our new fire pit porch area, Labor day weekend, Abigail's 4th birthday, Riverfront Park, first day of 2nd grade, preschool and Sunday school, Heimbigner family reunion in Moses Lake and a visit from the Stallcops.

It was a fabulous summer with lots of family time and fun!