A President's Day Hike

 Last week Kyle had to go to Spokane for some work events, but the girls had off school on Monday for President's Day. I didn't want to just sit at home and listen to them tell me how bored they were, so we joined up with Kim and the boys for a fun hike! We decided to try someplace new and headed north of Abbotsford to Sumas Mtn.

The plan was a 3 mile out-and-back hike to Chadsey Lake. It was a pretty trail, and thankfully was well-marked. However, it was steeper than we had anticipated...and not 3 miles. We also didn't anticipate the snow. But again, it was very pretty! 

And the kids all did amazing! No complaining and very few requests for snacks!

Elias and Malachi getting started!

This part was really steep...the pictures don't show it at all!

That's ice on the lake!

January

 Hard to believe that January has already come and gone. It was pretty unremarkable, as far as fun adventures. We talked about cross-country skiing, but it's been rather warm and rainy, which doesn't make for great skiing conditions. We talked about hiking, but never made that happen either. 

We have filled our weekends with lots of basketball...Haleigh is playing with LYS right now, which means one practice during the week and a game (or two) on Saturday. But since the weather has been so mild, we've also done a fair amount of basketball at home, helping her to learn more of the lingo and playing HORSE together. 

And that's about all the fun we've had. There are hardly any other photos from this month!

Smokey and Amarah watching a raccoon

I did find this gem on my phone!

The Northern Lights from my kitchen

A fun little crochet project I made!

Christmas Break

The whole month of December went by so quickly! Between all the school functions, Christmas concerts and dress-up days, it was nice to make it to Christmas Break!

There was also another big flood...this is my normal running path!

Usually a grassy field...now an extension of the Nooksack River

Haleigh got her top braces put on!

Lydia had her Christmas Concert! (she's in the second row from the top, third one to the right of the steps)

Baking fun with Addie

I really wanted to go see some Christmas lights, so one weekend we drove up to White Rock, BC. We'd heard good things about their light display, but we were a bit underwhelmed by it all. We did walk to the end of Canada's longest pier, and, overall still had a good time!

The next weekend we drove down to the Tulalip Casino. They do an incredible job with all of their lights. (I think we read that there are over 9 million lights!)

We also made it up to Canada for swimming (no pics!) and ice skating.

We ended our break with some gym time at school. Annaliese had a total of 6 sleepovers, we didn't do anything special for New Years Day, and most days, slept in until at least 9:00 (unless you were Kyle and still had to work.)

Christmas

 We celebrated Christmas with my family on Christmas Eve. Grandma didn't think she'd be ready to host yet (they just moved to Lynden,) so the plan was to spend the day at Kim and Thane's. However, Mom and Dad had most of their stuff unpacked and even a few decorations out, so we decided to start the day at their house with stockings and snacks. 

We headed over to Kim and Thane's for lunch and the rest of the fun! We had a fancy Italian themed meal, followed by all the presents and some fun games that Kelsey put together. 

Annaliese made this for Grandpa and Grandma

All of the grandkids went with Grandpa and Grandma back to their house for their annual Christmas sleepover. They stayed up late watching a movie, while the rest of us just went home and went to bed! 

After picking the girls up in the morning, we did our own Christmas before I had to go to work. 

We all had a wonderful Christmas and we are so blessed!