Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

A few days before Christmas Steve...aka Santa Claus paid a visit to a retirement home here in our area. He took one of his trusty elf's with him. They had fun handing out candy canes and visiting with the members there.

 

Santa Claus and elf Brooklyn.

After the program we stopped by the swimming pool where Mackenzie works to say hi to her.

Christmas eve we had our traditional fondue dinner. Here we are after dinner before our little program.

Brooklyn really enjoys playing the piano and we really enjoy listening to her! We enjoyed listening to many different Christmas pieces throughout the month of December and we loved it.

Every year Steve puts up our train and village. Here he is relaxing by it on Christmas eve.

As is tradition we all opened up one gift on Christmas eve...new pajamas! But this year we let Mackenzie and Brooklyn open up one more gift. I had made them each a skirt for Christmas and I wanted to give it to them on Christmas eve. I was thrilled that they liked them and that they fit perfectly! Here they are giving their momma a kiss on the cheek!

Mackenzie and Brooklyn waiting patiently Christmas morning for us to see if Santa Claus had come! Check out those cute footie pajamas! They reminded us of when they were little toddlers running around the house.

Brooklyn got a guitar and was so excited about it. She has wanted one for a while. We can't wait for her to learn how to play it so she can serenade us around a campfire on camping trips!

Check out the cute wrapping job Mackenzie did on her gift to me. It looks like a giant piece of candy!

Steve gave Brooklyn a note that was written backwards and the only way to read it was to look at it in a mirror. The note told her to go upstairs into her bedroom.

There she found a cute wardrobe mirror. Steve bought the mirror and refinished it to make it look brand new. Brooklyn was so excited about it. A few days after Christmas we deep cleaned Brooklyn's room and found a perfect place for the mirror.

Mackenzie was most excited about the iphone 4s that she got this year. Oh and this blue nail polish!

We sure had an enjoyable Christmas day opening gifts, going to church, talking with our families on the phone and through face time and having a delicious prime rib dinner. But the best part of Christmas was being together as a family. We feel incredibility blessed and feel the love of our Savior in our lives.

Celebrating Cynthia's Birthday!

Monday, December 12th was Cynthia's birthday. As is tradition I took the day off from work so we could spend the day together. We went shopping at Bell Square and out to lunch at Daniels Broiler in Bellevue. It was wonderful.

   

When we got home Cynthia got a big surprise from her girls. They had made and decorated a birthday cake for her. Mackenzie put together the cake and frosted it in chocolate frosting and Brooklyn did the decorating. Cynthia was quite impressed!

  

Cynthia got an iPhone 4s for her birthday. She has been waiting a long time for one and has been in heaven since. Happy Birthday Cynthia Kay! We Love You!

Mackenzie's 18th Birthday - family party & shopping downtown!

Mackenzie's birthday was on a Saturday this year. We asked her how she would like to spend the day and she said she wanted to go down town to shop and eat at the Cheesecake Factory for dinner.  So that's what we did.

Mackenzie and Steve playing with the ipod ear muffs at American Eagle. 

We had fun shopping for Birthday gifts and Christmas presents. Check out how many bags Brooklyn carried for us! Wow!

We stopped by the Rainforest Cafe for a picture.

We ate dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Mackenzie and I shared our favorite "Bang Bang Chicken and Shrimp".

The waiter brought Mackenzie a small sundae and a bunch of waiters sang Happy Birthday to her.

Mackenzie finally got to open her gifts when we got home late that night. She got a Kindle for her birthday and was excited about it. Happy Birthday Mackenzie! We Love You!

Mackenzie Kay is 18 years old!

We threw Mackenzie an "Amazing Race" 18th Birthday party with a bunch of her friends.

 

Can our daughter really be 18 years old? Wow! Where have the years gone. 

 When the kids arrived we had pizza and soda for everyone before we sent them off on the "Amazing Race".

After dividing them into groups they were given their first clue.They were given a bag of items including some string, duct tape, a rock and a Barbie. To get their next clue they had to work together and figure out how to make the Barbie scuba dive in our swimming pool and land inside a hula hoop that was weighted down near the bottom of the pool. Here is Mackenzie's group figuring out how to make their Barbie sink!

Here they are performing their first task - Scuba Barbie in the freezing swimming pool water!

Another clue they were given was to go to a store and purchase one of four types of baby food. Then they took that jar of baby food to a certain address (one of our friends) and they each had to take a spoon full of baby food and someone in the group had to finish off the jar of food before they got their next clue.

One clue gave them $10.00 to use at a local thrift shop to buy one complete outfit for someone in the group to wear the rest of the race. Here is Mackenzie wearing the beautiful dress and belt that her group purchased. In this picture they are at the roller skating rink. Before they could receive their next clue they had to skate around the rink 10 times. Another clue they were given was to drive to the mall and count the tables inside the food court before they could receive their next clue. There were 114 tables - I know because I had to go count them!

Here is Damon and Mackenzie sporting the new outfits that they purchased at the local thrift shop.

The winning team received trophy's and $100,000.00 candy bar!

Mackenzie wanted a Costco birthday cake with a dinosaur on it. We are sure glad that Mackenzie is still that fun little girl with lots of energy and spunk! I told her with a cake like that we should put her in a baby high chair and place a bib on her! She thought that was pretty funny!

Mackenzie's friend Bailey gave her a giraffe pillow pet and Heidi gave her a pair of Dr. Seuss "Thing One and Thing Two" footie pajamas.

It was such a fun night celebrating Mackenzie's 18th Birthday with her friends.