The new president in the eyes of an 8 year-old

Yesterday Karina and her classmates each wrote a letter to the president about something they wanted to change or have the president do. Since I was working in the classroom later that day, her teacher showed me what she had written. It was something like this:
"Dear Mr. President, Could you please find some more medasins for canser? My uncle Cody and Aunt Alecia have canser and they need better medasin. . ." I was really touched. We've been praying as a family for Jarrett's cousin Cody, a 26 year old who is on hospice with melanoma, and Alecia, his 38 year-old cousin on the other side of the family who is currently undergoing chemo. We also pray for their families, that they might be comforted during this very tough time.

And on a lighter note, this evening Karina tells Jarrett and I, "Did you know I don't like Obama? . . . He made a rule that we can't eat peanut butter!"

We assured her that it wasn't the president's fault!

Warm getaway

Jarrett and I took a weeklong trip to Cabo San Lucas a few days after Christmas. It was so nice to be warm. I think a trip to someplace warm every winter is just part of the cost of living in Western Washington! Leave me a comment and tell me how you like this slideshow!

Yes, we did celebrate Christmas!

I'm late with my Christmas post (thanks for checking up with me, Shelly!). We will remember it as our first real white Christmas! It snowed and snowed on Christmas day!
We hosted the family Christmas Eve dinner at the request of Tristan. We had a traditional ham dinner with family members pitching in on the side dishes, and everything was delicious (especially the tried-and-true Costco ham!). After reading Luke 2, and playing the yearly pass-the-present game, we played Bunko. Somehow we even convinced Jarrett's dad to play!

On Christmas morning we got up and saw what Santa had brought. Jarrett's parents came over, too. The kids were very excited that Santa had brought each of them their #1 wish - a Nintendo DS for Tristan, and a "Bitty Baby" doll for Karina. After a nap we took our 4 wheel drive and picked up Cameron's family and went to Jack & Tammy's for a Prime Rib Christmas dinner. It was a great day.